〔Chengyu Ancient Yidao Series〕
▲Sexi River in Rongchang District, the new and old Shiji Bridge "accompany" each other
Core tips
From the Dazu Postal Pavilion shop along the Chengyu Ancient Post Road all the way to the west, it enters the territory of the current Rongchang District, a horse Pingchuan.
According to the "Chronicle of Rongchang County", the Chengdu-Chongqing Ancient Yidao in Rongchang passes from east to west through Shipanpu, Fenggaopu, Wutongpu, Banqiaochang, Anditangpu, and then crosses the Shiji Bridge along the Sexi River, and crosses the Gao Porcelain Shop, Guangshunchang, Porcelain Kiln Shop, and AnfuPu into Wufu Township on the border with Longchang, with a total length of 52.5 kilometers.
Different from the steep slopes of the previous mountains, the Rongchang section of the ancient post road, which is dominated by shallow hilly terrain, suddenly opens up, showing a horse flat river similar to the Sichuan Plain. The "Chronicle of Rongchang County" also records that the ancient post road in the territory is 1.5 to 2 meters wide, and porters, mules and horses travel in opposite directions, without giving way.
Rongchang ancient name "Changzhou", known as the "West Gate of Chongqing", a total of 9 town streets and Sichuan 11 town streets adjacent. Xie Jinyuan, the Rongchang teaching of the Qing Dynasty, once used the verse "The ground is connected to the upper reaches of the Bayu stronghold, and the tangxiang belongs to Changzhou from ancient times" to explain the important geographical location of Rongchang.
Because of this, since ancient times, this place has been an important place for soldiers and merchants to gather, and Rongchang Anfu has become one of the "four towns" in the famous "five stations, four towns and three streets" on the ancient road of Chengdu and Chongqing.
Shiji Bridge
In the Qing Dynasty, it was once known as the "Dongchuan Guarantee"
From Shipanpu through Fenggaopu and Wutongpu all the way to the west, the place where you pass is lined with high-rise buildings and longitudinal roads, and the remains of Dongda Road have long disappeared. Liao Zhengli, an expert in Rongchang Literature and History who accompanied him, told reporters that in the past, from Fenggaopu all the way to Anfupu, there were about 15 stone arches. During the Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Menggeng was promoted to the prefect of Chongqing, and when passing through Rongchang, he wrote the Five Laws "On the Road of Rongchang", in which "Ask Rongchang Road, the long pavilion follows the short pavilion." Honghu Sha'an Is White, and the Road Forces Distant Mountains and Green" writes about the scene of Dongda Road in Rongchang at that time.
West of Rongchang City, on the Seki River, a stone arch bridge stands quietly. This bridge is built during the Reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is a must-pass place for the ancient yidao of Chengdu and Chongqing, in the Chongqing Geographic Information Center, Chongqing Geographical Map Bookstore released in 2014 "Chongqing Ancient Bridge Map", Shiji Bridge is known as the oldest existing stone arch bridge in Chongqing.
From a distance, the bridge is more than 100 meters long and has 7 bridge arches. The sides of the bridge are covered with weeds, and one of the piers has a yellow kudzu tree. Approaching the bridge, you will see a warning sign of a "seriously dangerous bridge". On the cement bridge deck, there are only pedestrians walking.
According to historical records, a stele was erected at the head of the bridge, with the four characters of "Dongchuan Guarantee" written on it. Legend has it that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement left the Xiang'e and Hubei regions, which relied on Huai salt, to be eaten without salt, and the Qing government ordered sichuan salt to be eaten. At that time, Shiji Bridge was the only place for Sichuan Salt and Chu, and it was also known as the "Dongchuan Guarantee".
Shiji Bridge is not only located in a traffic fortress, but also won the favor of poets because of its quiet and beautiful style. "Ten miles of smoke in the evening is a mysterious ancient crossing, and february is clearly printed on the long bridge." This is the true portrayal of Xie Jinyuan, a teaching of Rongchang in the Qing Dynasty, to one of rongchang's "eight scenic spots", "Hongqiao Printing Moon", which is the old Shiji Bridge. During the Republic of China period, when the famous white house poet Wu Fangji passed through Rongchang, he also wrote a poem entitled "Shiji Bridge". The poet describes the beauty of Shiji Bridge this way: "The mountains and rivers are shining, and I am flying in the air." I don't feel that the two sides of the strait are far away, but the heavens are fragrant..."
On the side of the old bridge, there is a new bridge "side by side" with it, this bridge is a lot higher than the old bridge of Shiji, and the traffic on the bridge is busy. Locals told reporters that the Shiji Bridge lasted nearly a thousand years, and although it has been repaired many times, it has become a dangerous bridge. On January 15, 1998, Rongchang built a new Shiji Bridge, which diverted the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway to a new bridge, which gave rise to the scene of the new and old Shiji Bridge.
Time does not dwell, the years flow. The old bridge of Shiji under the sunset is low and old, like an old man who has gone through vicissitudes, standing quietly; the new bridge on the side is tall and majestic, quietly guarding the "big brother" of nearly a thousand years old. Liao Zhengli said that this is exactly the imprint of the times left by Dongda Road.
High porcelain shop
There are thousands of porter days on the ancient post road during the agricultural leisure time
From Rongchang District, follow the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway all the way west, about 5 kilometers later, to Guangshun Street Gaocera Village, the name of this village is from the ancient post road on the high porcelain shop.
"In the middle of the old road is a long stone slab, with stones pressed on each side." Zeng Gaofu, an 80-year-old villager in the ninth group of Gaocera Village, told reporters, "My grandfather, my father and I were all porters and made a living on this road. ”
Liao Zhengli told reporters that the Road to Chengdu-Chongqing Ancient Station in Rongchang is spacious and flat, and from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the Republic of China, the official cars, horse-drawn carriages, and porters on this road are endless, which is very lively, and it is the most direct land road traffic line between Chengdu and Chongqing. In this regard, the "Rongchang County Chronicle" also records that from the Ming and Qing dynasties, this road was the way for porters to make a living, especially every winter before the idle farmers to the following year's spring ploughing, the number of porter days on the road was thousands. The porters were mostly poor commoners, and along the ancient road of Chengdu and Chongqing, they picked Rongchang's clay pots, Xiabu (sackcloth) and other specialties to Neijiang, Zigong, Chengdu and other places, and then exchanged them for grain, salt, sugar and so on for local merchants to sell.
"Go out with a load of goods, come back with a load of food." Zeng Gaofu said that Gao porcelain village is rich in clay, and the local people use it to burn bowls, altars, cylinders, pots and other daily life pottery, and porters carry kiln goods along this road to the north of Sichuan to make a living. The flat burden of picking kiln goods is specially made, and there is a sharp tip at each end to prevent the rope from sliding down and the kiln goods are broken. "Along the way, the porters 'hum hum and ho ho', the flat shoulders 'creak', the road is not busy." Zeng Gaofu smoked leaf cigarettes, squinted his wrinkled eyes, and fell into memory.
"Chengdu people like our Rongchang clay pot the most, using clay pots to fill grain for ventilation, and rats can't drill into it." Zeng Gaofu told reporters that the Chengdu Plain is rich in grain, and the locals will exchange grain for clay pots, and if they pick up eight or ninety pounds of clay pots, they can be exchanged for one hundred and twenty or thirty pounds of millet, and the burden of returning is even heavier than when they went.
Rongchang is famous for Shabu (sackbu), and it reached its peak during the Qing Dynasty, and the British diplomat Edward Colburn Barber mentioned sackcloth when he wrote about Rongchang in his 1881 "Travels and Expeditions to West China". "The main industry in this place is the manufacture of sackcloth, and we have repeatedly seen people along the way bleaching a large amount of sackcloth and spreading it on the shore to dry it," he said. And an alley built on an ancient post road in the Qing Dynasty specialized in selling twine, which was the main raw material of linen, so the street business was booming, and people called it "Twine City", which was quite famous at that time.
▲The three sharp corners near the Mengzi Bridge were formerly a bustling section of Dongda Road
From the city of Ma Line to the west, the Mengzi Bridge, which used to be the place where the ancient post road had to pass, has long disappeared, and in its place is a new Mengzi Bridge, with a well under the bridge, which is on the mengzi river. The wellhead is protected by a railing and hung with a nameplate of "Rongchang District Cultural Relics Protection Point". Look closely, the well water is less than 50 cm from the wellhead, and it is crystal clear. Local residents told them that the well was called the Well, which was the main source of water for residents in the Mengzi Bridge area at that time, and it was clear and bright all year round. What is amazing is that two or three meters away from the well is the Mengzi River, which is so close, but the water source of the river and the water source of the well are completely different, and this phenomenon is jokingly called "well water does not violate the river water" by the locals.
Anfu Shop
Miss embroidery building becomes a frontage scenery
Further west, you will reach Anfu Street at the junction of Sichuan and Chongqing.
Anfu was built in the forty-first year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1702), which has a history of 318 years. At that time, the ancient post road connecting the Chengyu River in the Qing Dynasty passed through Anfu and set up a post station for the food and accommodation of the people who came and went.
▲Anfu Old Street in the 1970s and 1980s
Initially, apart from the Imperial Court Station, Anfu had only a few grass huts. In order to continue their hometown feelings, discuss business, and worship the ancestors, these immigrants built temples such as Nanhua Palace, Huimin Palace, Yuwang Palace, Imperial Palace, and Fire Temple, and people built houses around the temples, and in the early years of the Republic of China, they formed a five-mile long street. "Anfuchang, five miles long, porcelain kilns, shochu shops, clay pots lined up in rows, shochu dripping alley incense..." This folk song that circulated in the Ming and Qing dynasties is still sung today.
There is a huge "kimchi jar" at the entrance of the old street, on which are written the four big characters of "Andao Town". Liu Shouqi, director of the Rongchang An Pottery Museum, told reporters that Rongchang pottery is one of the four famous potteries in China, of which pottery in the shape of a kimchi jar is the most famous. Therefore, rongchang has reshaped the pottery culture in recent years, built a new antao museum, and built an antao town, and used a kimchi jar as the "image endorsement" of the town.
Walking through the "kimchi jar", you will reach Taobao Ancient Street, which is an ancient road of about 500 meters, paved with bluestone slabs, and the quaint and elegant Houses of Eastern Sichuan on both sides. "The old Chengdu-Chongqing Ancient Yidao road is just below this bluestone slab road." Liu Shouqi said that Anfu Old Street was 2.5 kilometers long at its peak, but only about 1 kilometer has been preserved today. Rongchang District protects the only remaining part of the old street with the principle of repairing the old as the old, and Taobao Ancient Street is one of them.
▲Anfu Street Taobao Ancient Street
When passing through Taobao Ancient Street, I found that the railings of several wooden buildings facing the street were very exquisitely carved, and there were two-step wide corridors behind the railings, like the old lady embroidery buildings of large families. The lady's embroidery building should have been "hidden" in the courtyard of the big family, but why has it become a street-facing scenery here? Liu Shouqi said that in 1933, the then Sichuan Provincial Government built the Chongqing Highway, and the stone slab street of the ancient Yidao Road, which passed through the street for about 3 meters, had to be widened to 9 meters, and the residents on both sides of the street had to demolish the houses facing the street to "make way" for the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway. As a result, most of the old gatehouses, lintels and cornice corners of the street-facing houses were demolished, and the miss embroidery building that originally needed to enter the gate, go around the wall, and cross the patio to see was "exposed" on the street side.
Interestingly, also in order to widen the road, in 2012, Rongchang did not choose to let the shops along the street demolish and expand the road again, but changed the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway to pass by the old street.
On Tao Bao Ancient Street, pottery halls with exquisite pottery are everywhere, and the streets are bustling with tourists. On the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway on the side of the ancient street, a large truck loaded with pottery wine altars, pickle altars, and pickle jars replaced the porters of the year. As the Sichuan-Chongqing region is closely linked year by year, the ladder kilns along the ancient yidao are once again booming, "My kiln farm produces 10,000 pieces of pottery a year, and more than half of it is sold to Sichuan." Yuan Xinquan, head of the Rongchang District High Porcelain Pottery Factory, who has been making pottery for more than 40 years, told.
▲ Guangshun Street High Porcelain Pottery Factory, workers use ancient techniques to make pottery
During the Xinhai Revolution, the Chengdu-Chongqing military government merged here
As one of the "four towns" in the "Five Stations, Four Towns and Three Streets" on the Chengdu-Chongqing Ancient Yidao Road, Anfu is naturally extraordinary, and the merger of the Chengdu-Chongqing military government during the Xinhai Revolution took place here.
"This is now the subdistrict office, and it used to be the location of the Yu King's Palace." Xue Xiaojun, the compiler of the Rongchang Kiln, who had worked in Anfu for many years, pointed to the building of the Anfu Street Office and told him that in 1912, the then Chongqing Shu military government and the Sichuan military government held talks at this Yu Palace.
"Why is the Chengdu-Chongqing military government talking in Anfu? This has to start with Zhang Peijue, who was born in Rongchang's Ronglong Field..." In Xue Xiaojun's narration, time seems to return to that smoke-filled time.
In 1906, Zhang Peijue, who joined the League of Revolutionary Parties headed by Sun Yat-sen, actively organized and developed the members of the League, and planned armed uprisings on the other, but several times failed. Soon after, Zhang Peijue returned to Chongqing to continue to develop the revolutionary ranks and became the core leader of the Chongqing branch of the League.
In 1911, the famous Wuchang Uprising broke out. On November 22, 1911, Yang Cangbai, Zhang Peijue and others in chongqing led the people to rise up and overthrow the rule of the Qing government in one fell swoop. After the successful uprising, Chongqing declared independence and established a Shu military government, and Zhang Peijue was elected by the revolutionaries as the governor of the Shu military government.
On November 27 of the same year, the Military Government of Sichuan of the Great Han Dynasty was established in Chengdu, with Pu Dianjun and Zhu Qinglan as the governors and deputy governors. On December 8, during the military parade at the school grounds, there was a mutiny between the soldiers demanding wages, and Pu and Zhu fled. Yin Changheng, then minister of military affairs, led the new army into the city to quell the chaos, and was later elected as the governor of the Sichuan military government.
"In this way, there are two military governments in Sichuan." Xue Xiaojun said that in fact, the situation in the Shu military government at that time was very good, and after the establishment of the Shu military government, with the support and influence of the Shu military government, all parts of southeast Sichuan also revolted, and a total of 57 prefectures and counties announced that they accepted the leadership of the Shu military government. However, in order to avoid disputes caused by the civil war and for the sake of national justice, Zhang Peijue took the initiative to negotiate with the Sichuan military government on merger matters.
Today, in the Zhang Peijue Memorial Hall in Rongchang District, only a few brief words have been recorded about the meeting: "In mid-January 1912, the Shu military government sent Zhu Zhihong and the Sichuan military government sent Zhang Zhixiang to hold talks at the Rongchang Shochu Factory on the border of the two jurisdictions to discuss the merger of the Chongqing military government. One of the "shochu shops" is Rongchang Anfu. Xue Xiaojun said: According to research, the place where the two sides held talks was the Yu King's Palace in Anfu Town at that time.
After this meeting, on March 3, 1912, the Chengdu-Chongqing military government was formally merged, and the Sichuan military government of the Han Dynasty was renamed the Sichuan Governor's Office of the Republic of China, and Zhang Peijue took the initiative to cede the position of Zhengdu Governor to Yin Changheng and made himself deputy governor.
Later, Zhang Peijue actively launched a revolutionary crusade against Yuan Shikai and was arrested in early 1915. In the face of Yuan Shikai's coercion and inducement, he was always strong and unyielding, and eventually suffered in prison, only 39 years old.
Although the Shu military government led by Zhang Peijue existed for less than half a year, posterity has examined and believed that its historical merits in ending the Qing Dynasty's feudal autocratic rule over Chongqing and spreading democratic ideas are indelible.
(The content and pictures in this article come from the Internet, the copyright belongs to the original author, there are abridgements, there are additions)