[Dengxiangying House.] 】
The main peak, the Small Phase Ridge at an altitude of 4,500 meters, runs through the three counties of Ganluoyue west of Xide. Just in the steep mountainside of Xiaoxiangling, in its inextricable passes, in its remote and desolate foothills, the most thrilling and historically profound section of the Southern Silk Road- Lingguan Road, which has truly and tenaciously existed for nearly two thousand years.
Recently, with the development of Xiaoxiangling as a scenic spot, the historical sites hidden in the lofty mountains and mountains on the Lingguan Road, especially the important town of Jianying, which is of great military significance in its key pass, have gradually returned to people's vision. Unfortunately, the long Lingguan Ancient Road, the dangerous Guanjian City, now there are clear relics to be found, there are conclusive physical evidence of the military camp and post, only because the Shu Han Emperor Zhuge Liang set up a camp here, only passed down the name of the Dengxiang camp to this day.
Strangle the Lingguan Ancient Road to rush
Dengxiang Camp was built in the early Ming Dynasty, and it is both a military castle and a transportation station. According to the "Chronicle of Xide County", "Dengxiangying Shicheng is located in the southern foothills of Xiaoxiangling, under the jurisdiction of present-day Shengou Township. The city wall is inlaid with stone, oval in shape according to the mountain plane, opens four doors, is located in an alpine area, and there are no agricultural residents in the city, only hotels, shops, and garrison guerrilla offices."
Soon after driving from the town of Lugu in Mianning to the west, it entered the Lugu Gorge where the cliffs were facing each other. The township road under the wheel, held hostage by a dangerous cliff exposing yellow-brown boulders, sometimes overlapped and separated from the Lingguan Road. In the deep canyon, the water of the Sunshui River is squeezed by the narrow riverbed, colliding with the rugged rocks, and the waves on the river surface are splashed, which is dazzling. From the Lingguan Ancient Road into the flat and rich Anning River Valley, the last Xiongguan SunShui Pass controls this throat road.
Dengxiang Camp is just off this road. Looking around, outside the eastern city wall of Dengxiangying (this section of the city wall no longer exists), there is a river called the Deep Gully River by the locals, like a natural moat, on the other side of the river is a steep hill that rises directly from the river; outside the well-preserved west wall of Dengxiangying, it is the road I am about to cross xiaoxiangling, and on the west side of the road is Ma'anshan, which stretches from the main peak of Xiaoxiangling. Sandwiched between two mountains and a river, the city wall is shaped like a crucian carp from a high place, and it is located on a narrow river beach.
After entering the camp, I listened to the locals say that when I crossed the Lingguan Road, I could only enter through the south (north) gate and exit from the north (south) gate, and I could not get around it. Today, outside the North Gate, the outline of the roadbed of the ancient road is still faintly recognizable. In the cramped space between the south and north gates of the camp, there is a main street about 5 meters wide, paved with rubble and silt, and equipped with drainage channels, so that visitors can imagine the prosperity of this ancient caravanserai.
The epitome of the splendor of the South Silk Road
The Lingguan Road was excavated in the sixth year of the Western Han Dynasty (135 BC), and its route in Sichuan is roughly Chengdu - Qionglai - Mingshan - Ya'an - Xingjing - Hanyuan - Ganluo - Yuexi - Xide - Mianning Lugu - Xichang - Dechang - Huili - Panzhihua. This is the famous Western Han Dynasty scholar Sima Xiangru, who was on an envoy to Xiyi, on the basis of his relatively good understanding of the human geography of his hometown, along the general direction of the wild path that existed intermittently in the pre-Qin period, carefully selecting the route out of the river. He was also instructed to personally serve as the commander-in-chief of road construction, and traveled back and forth along the road to supervise the construction.
Sima Xiangru not only wielded the magnificent words that moved his world on the bamboo jane, but also composed the colorful music of the Southern Silk Road, which is famous for the history of China's transportation, on the dangerous mountains and bad waters of the Big, Small Xiangling and Daliang Mountains.
This route bypasses the more harsh climatic conditions and the overall elevation of Tuowu Mountain in the west, and passes by the edge of the desolate and remote and barren Daliang Mountain to the east. Therefore, the difficulty of building roads is relatively low, and the logistical support is relatively easy to solve.
In the fifth year of the Western Han Dynasty (112 BC), the Lingguan Ancient Road was completed. This military and commercial main road, the Western Han Dynasty called zero pass road, the Eastern Han called yak road; Shu Han Jianxing three years (252) Zhuge Liang southern expedition, through this road, in order to facilitate the march and grain transportation, the Lingguan ancient road was rectified and repaired, so it is more smooth, so this road is also called "Kong Ming Bird Road"; Tang Taihe four years (830), Jiannan Xichuan Jiedu made Li Deyu set qingxi pass, this road was renamed Qingxi Road; Ming Jiajing eighteen years (1539), in order to comply with military and commercial transportation, the imperial court ordered the use of detours and bridges and other measures. Patched up the road.
As the only relatively complete remaining camp on the Lingguan Road, Dengxiang Camp initially had only the function of a post station, and only a few aborigines operated small inns here. In the second year of Ming Chenghua (1466 AD), Ningfanwei (present-day Mianning County, Liangshan Prefecture) built the "Three Passes, Two Battalions, and Seven Forts" tunbing to protect the road, and the Dengxiang battalion was officially tun bing from then on and became a military fortress. Its walls are inlaid with stone, oval in shape according to the mountain plan, and open four doors.
In the later Qing Dynasty and Republic of China period, it was the land of tun soldiers, and became the most important post station and pass from Xichang to Chengdu. Today, there are still Ming and Qing Dynasty forts, prison cards, mule and horse inns, theaters, shops, temples and other architectural sites in the Camp.
[Dengxiangying Ming Dynasty City Wall.] 】
Traces of the station culture still exist
As Dengxiangying Station is an important checkpoint of the South Silk Road, there were many houses and pavilions in ancient times for passing businesses, catering and accommodation. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, its prosperity reached its peak, with an average daily passenger flow of nearly 2,000 people, and a maximum of 3,000 people.
Goods sold from Chengdu to Xichang, Yunnan and even Southeast Asian countries include tea, silk, sugar wine and ironware, and goods shipped from Xichang to Chengdu are mainly corn, buckwheat, cattle and sheep and white wax.
The perennial gathering of merchants and continuous horse gangs has spawned the most distinctive horse gang trade and station culture in China. The temple dedicated to the "Horse King" in Dengxiang Camp is located in the bustling Upper Street. When the horse-driving hanzi arrived at the Dengxiang camp, they generally had to stay overnight, and the main reason was to go to the Mawang Temple to burn incense and kowtow, hoping that their small but extremely heavy climbing horses would not fall on the long journey.
There is also a mansion in the camp, where administrative officials and combat troops are stationed, and prison cards are built to hold prisoners. From this, it can be speculated that the function and importance of Dengxiangying and other stations on the South Silk Road at that time.
Today, Dengxiangying is a concentrated residence of three groups of small mountain villages in Mianshan Town, Xide County, with more than 30 households, and the number of Han compatriots and Yi compatriots is basically half of each, totaling more than 150 people. Most of the ancestors of the Han residents moved from Hubei, Hunan, either from Shubian or on official errands, and a few came from Sichuan in the early Qing Dynasty. The Yi people did not settle here for a long time, probably from the 1950s and 1960s.
In Dengxiangying, although the Yi and Han lived together, they lived in harmony and were as close as a family. To this day, the camp still maintains the habit of not closing the house at night, inheriting the folk custom of not picking up the road.
Somewhat regrettably, in 1989, a fire broke out in Dengxiang Camp, and the houses in the city were almost destroyed, and only a few old houses near the South Gate were less damaged. As a result, few remains of buildings other than the city walls have been preserved.
Dengxiangying, its guest house has stayed in Chinese civilization for more than two thousand years, and its stacks have read more than twenty centuries of Gange Jade. Today, its splendor is dull, and its splendor is silent. Ma Hengjian Text/Photo