Map of the administrative area of Fang County
Fang County is located in northwest Hubei, known as "Fangling" in ancient times, because of "Fang County, which runs through thousands of miles of Fang County, mountains and forests, and its solid high tombs, like rooms". The county is located in the geometric center of China's territory and the combination of central and western regions, with Jingxiang in the east, Chang'an in the west, Shennongjia Forest Area in the south, Shiyan in the north of Checheng and Wudang Mountain, a Taoist holy land, and has been known as "the throat of Qinshan and Shaanxi, the barrier of Jingxiang" since ancient times.
Tang Zhongzong Li xianshi
Why is the Tang dynasty royal family, whose capital city is located in Chang'an, inextricably linked to Shiyanfang County, thousands of miles away? During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (655), Emperor Gaozong deposed the crown prince Li Zhong and moved to fangzhou to serve as the assassin of Fangzhou, and established Wu Zetian as empress dowager, and his fifth son Li Hongwei as his wife. In 684, after Emperor Gaozong's death, the third prince Li Xian succeeded to the throne, that is, Later Zhongzong, Xuan was the mother of Wu Zetian, deposed Emperor Zhongzong as the King of Luling, Emperor Ruizong deposed Ruizong, in 690 he proclaimed himself emperor, and in 687, the King of Luling went to Fangzhou. Li Xian, the king of Luling, was demoted to a tomb for 14 years, and he built a city and a palace here in an attempt to make a comeback. In the first month of 698, because the chancellor Di Renjie persuaded Wu Zetian to summon back the King of Luling, in March, Wu Zetian sent people to Fangzhou to welcome the King of Luling and the princess and sons to Chang'an. In the first month of 705, Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian was restored to the throne and exempted Fangzhou from taxes for three years.
Dating back to the Sui Dynasty, the Sui Tang Emperor Yang Guang killed the crown prince Yang Yong and posthumously established Yang Yong as the King of Fangling. Why did the Tang royal family repeatedly favor Fangzhou as a place of exile? When we look at Chang'an, we find that there is no danger on the east, west and north sides, only the south is close to the Qinba Mountains, which is an ideal place to abolish the royal family, although there is a certain distance from Chang'an, but the whip can reach, although it is in a secluded place, it is not barbaric. Fangxian is also a plateau basin in the Qinba Mountains, with superior living conditions, another preferential treatment for the deposed royal family, and also a strategic base for the royal family's rear strategy. Therefore, Fangxian played an important role in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and actively performed against the rule of Wu Zetian. During the Tang Dynasty, the yichuan system was perfect, according to the "Fangxian Chronicle": There are three ancient yidao roads in Fangxian to the west and northwest, which lead directly to Zhushan, Zhuxi, Yunyang, and Chang'an in the west. Fangxian and Chang'an are closely linked, and in fact, it is also an aspect of the close relationship between Shiyan and Chang'an.
Fang
It is worth mentioning that these exiled imperial generals are not all people who want to put them to death and then hurry, and if they are placed in the court, the court will have to exile them to a place that is not far from the capital and is desolate and rich. Therefore, for the dynasty that built the capital Chang'an, Fangling was the most ideal place of exile, where the mountains and rivers were dangerous and the land was fertile, and the exiled people could neither run nor starve to death when they arrived here, and the moderate distance was also convenient for the imperial court to monitor and inspect. This gave the brutal exile a warm hue.
In short, so many emperors were exiled to Fangling, which had an important impact on the culture of Fangxian County. Compared with the local culture, the palace culture brought about by the exile culture will inevitably merge and integrate with it and form a new unique culture, which can be called the essence of The Fangling culture. In addition, the exile culture also forms the Fangling cultural circle with the Fangxian Shennong culture, bashan culture, and Shijing culture.