After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Huo Toeyi twice deep into the Hexi Corridor to defeat the Xiongnu, the Hexi Corridor has been influencing the history of our country for thousands of years since that moment.
From Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty to open up the Silk Road, to Tang Xuanzang in the Tang Dynasty to travel west to ancient India to learn the scriptures, or today's Belt and Road, all along the road of the Hexi Corridor to pull into the connection between the Central Plains Dynasty and the countries of the Western Regions.
Howe does not exaggerate to say that this corridor has promoted the cultural, economic and development of the East and the West, and has also consolidated the homeland security of China's northwest region.
After Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty opened the Hexi Corridor, in order to better control this area, he set up Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang and other places here, and these places also became the resting places for merchants on the Silk Road.
In 1910, a photographer from britain, George Ernest Morrison, set off from Xi'an, passed all the way through Pingliang, Lanzhou, Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou in Gansu, out of Jiayuguan into Xinjiang, and through Hami, Urumqi, Shihezi and other places to reach Osh in Russia.
This is a photo taken by Mo Lixun when he came to the outside of Wuwei City in 1910, in front of which is the entrance to Wuwei, you can see that there is a majestic Guanlou on the city tower, which is used by soldiers on the city tower to observe the enemy situation, and the land outside the city is also full of yellow sand, because there is not as much rain in the northwest region as in the Central Plains.
Because it is on the Silk Road, and close to the Western Capital Chang'an City of the Western Han Dynasty, you can see that Wuwei City was built very majestically, looking at the four directions from the heights of the city, you can see that the scale of the city is very large, and the walls of this city are also built very strong, because in ancient times, in addition to guarding the merchant groups that came and went, they also had to undertake the task of guarding Chang'an City.
This is a corner of Wuwei City, the wide street is full of vendors selling goods, a man with his hands under his sleeves walked forward, the weather should have begun to cold, and there is a beautiful flower pig in the lower left corner of the camera.
In the photo is the Gushe Pagoda located in the Qingying Temple in Wuwei, this pagoda was built by order of Zhang Chonghua, the fourth emperor of the Former Liang Dynasty during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but it was not called Qingying Temple after it was first built, and at the beginning it was Zhang Chonghua's royal palace, known as the North Palace, which was renamed Qingying Temple later in the Ming Dynasty.
This is in the corner of the south gate of Wuwei City, where the city wall looks more spectacular, you can see that the wall below the pass is built with a large and small pattern below, which will increase the difficulty of the attacker's siege, and a large stone pier in front of the photo is a stone pier tomb.
This is also a city wall, but compared with Wuwei City, it is relatively small, this is a guard house near Wuwei City, in ancient times, in addition to building a city on an important traffic artery, in an important location near it will also build a guardhouse to defend the main city.
This is a photo taken by Mo Li in a village in Wuwei after leaving the main city of Wuwei all the way to the west, you can see a very old towering tree in the photo, under this tree there are several merchants who are rushing to the road, and two people are leading two white horses to rest under the tree, this ancient tree is also a witness to this trade road, I don't know if this tree is still alive?
The photo shows the Pingfan River near Wushengyi, which can be seen as a large oasis formed here because of the irrigation of this river. During the Ming Dynasty, Feng Sheng under Zhu Yuanzhang was named Wushengyi because he fought a big victory here and built a post here after the victory of the war.
In the photo, a water mill near the small waterlogged pond in Wuwei, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a Liangzhou thorn history named Zhang Jie introduced the water mill technology used in the Central Plains to the northwest region in order to help the local people better sow grain.
Because the introduction of water mills has improved the production methods of local farmers and promoted the development of local agriculture.