【Liu Bang guobairen city】
In 200 BC, Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, who was fighting at Baishan Mountain in Pingcheng (present-day Datong), was on the verge of a desperate situation, and his troops were surrounded by the Xiongnu's Mao Dun Shan Yu Tuantuan, the troops could not be supplied, and 20% or 30% of the soldiers who were not accustomed to winter warfare froze their fingers. At the critical moment, it was still Chen Ping who offered a strategy, and the Han army spent a lot of money to bribe the wife of Mao Dun Shan Yu, and the Xiongnu army opened a corner and let Liu Bang's army escape.
Images of Ying Kuni
Where did Liu Bang, who had been half a horse, suffer such a fiasco. In February, he passed by the Zhao Kingdom, where his son-in-law Zhang Ao, who was waiting for him, was respectful and respectful, but Liu Bang sat down and scolded him incessantly. The good-tempered Zhang Ao's face did not change color, but his subordinate Guan Gao was very unhappy.
Guan Gao is an old minister who follows Zhang Er to fight the world, and he is very dissatisfied with Zhang Ao's humble attitude, he misses the blood and pride of the previous king, and can't help but sigh, our king is too weak!
【Assassination】
Liu Bang left, and Guan Gao wanted to assassinate him in order to repay his humiliation, and said, "The world is full of heroes and heroes, and those who can stand up should stand." Guan Gaoneng had its own reasons for this idea, at that time Han Gaozu was called emperor for seven years, but the internal and external situation was unstable, and the internal rebellion was not concerned, and the Xiongnu in the north were looking at the tiger and causing headaches. Liu Bang was a monarch, but his actions before his departure were clear to all the high-ranking people.
Moreover, their predecessor Zhang Er had a good relationship with Liu Bang in his early years, and he finally led his troops to submit to the King of Han and became the founding hero of the Han Dynasty. The relationship between the two was not ordinary, and Liu Bang and Lü Hou's only daughter, Princess Lu Yuan, married Zhang Ao, the son of Zhang Er. Zhang Er was the king of Renxia and righteousness, and his subordinates adhered to the concept of "soldiers can be killed and not disgraced", and naturally resented Liu Bang's rude behavior.
Portrait of Zhang Er
Zhang Ao was the "second generation official" who grew up in peacetime, inheriting his father's throne, he was respectful and humble to the superior, and he did not have the idea of committing trouble at all. Such a clash of ideas caused Guan Gao and Zhang Ao to disagree on the assassination. In the end, Guan Gao united more than 10 companions and decided to act privately.
In the eighth year of Han Gaozu, Liu Bang once again passed through the Zhao Kingdom, and Guan Gao and the others had the Assassin ambush him in the toilet of the emperor's residence, waiting for the opportunity to kill him. Bairen City was one of the largest cities in the Zhao Kingdom, and Guan Gao predicted that the emperor would inevitably stay here. However, their wishful thinking ultimately failed.
Today's former site of Bairen City | pictured from the Propaganda Department of the Longyao County CPC Committee
Years of conquest have made Liu Bang naturally alert to sensitive and dangerous events. When he was about to enter the city, he suddenly felt that the situation was not right, so he asked his subordinates what the name of the city was, and replied "Bai Ren". Liu Bang sighed: Those who are bo people are forced by people also. Therefore, Liu Bang left overnight and did not stay here.
Probably in Old Chinese, "Bai" and "Force" have some kind of meaning or pronunciation similarity, so Liu Bang feels unlucky. This is probably the most famous case of emergency hedging with "harmonic terriers" in history. This assassination that was enough to change the history of the Han Dynasty ended in failure, and they did not know how guan gao and other people had waited for such a result for a day, how did they feel at this time?
【Righteous Soldier Guan Gao】
Originally, the assassination was not successful, and if it was handled in a low-key manner, no one in the world would know about it again. But there was no impermeable wall in the world, and the next year, Guan Gao's enemies denounced the assassination, and Liu Bang was furious when he heard the news, and he ordered the arrest of Zhang Ao, the king of Zhao.
Today's Bairencheng | picture from the Propaganda Department of the Longyao County CPC Committee
Guan Gao was a good man who did things well, and quickly came out to defend that Zhang Ao was not involved. Zhang Ao was sent to Chang'an in a sill car, and Liu Bang made it clear that those who dared to come with him would be exterminated. Zhang Ao Renhou, usually good to his subordinates, sees that the leader has difficulties, and everyone is willing to follow. As a result, in 194 BC, a rather tragic scene appeared on the land of Hebei: Guan Gao and the others shaved their hair and put on chains, followed Zhang Ao's sill car, and walked all the way to Chang'an City.
Here, Guan Gao was beaten all over the body, but he just gritted his teeth and insisted that he was the mastermind of the incident, and the assassination of the emperor had nothing to do with King Zhao. Gaozu Liu Bang was touched by Guan Gao's righteousness, and at the same time, the matter was boiling over, and public opinion also put a lot of pressure on the emperor. In the end, he decided to pardon Guan Gao and release Zhang Ao, the King of Zhao.
After Guan Gao learned the news of Zhang Ao's release from prison, he realized that the task had been completed. He said that the people and subjects had the name of usurping the throne and killing the lord, so what kind of face did they have to serve the emperor? Even if the emperor pardoned me, I was ashamed in my heart. Guan Gao committed suicide by slitting his throat and ending his life.
The people of the world admired GuanGao's loyalty and admired his iron bones and his ability to commit suicide with full name. This is a footnote to the spirit of "a soldier dies for a confidant" in the pre-Qin period. In an era of increasing utilitarianism and people gradually forgetting the spirit of sacrificing their lives for righteousness, the behavior of Guangao is valuable!
【Historical Kashiwa City】
It is no accident that Emperor Guan Gao expected emperor to stay in Bairen City, which was one of the largest cities in central and southern Hebei at the beginning.
According to the scale of today's urban ruins, the circumference of the Boren City wall is more than eight kilometers, and the area is four square kilometers, which is likely to be the second largest city in the pre-Qin Period zhao state after the capital city of Handan. The Ling River flows from the north of the city, the Bairen City is bordered by Ma Shed Gang in the west, The Pig Gang in the south, guangtai Gang in the east, and the Ji'nan Plain in the Pingchuan River, such a dangerous terrain is naturally a place where soldiers must fight, which is why people build cities in this area and send heavy troops to garrison.
Because of its geographical importance, Kashiwa City has also witnessed many wars throughout the ages. In the late 5th century, during the civil unrest in the Jin Dynasty, Zhongxing Wenzi fled to Bairen City for refuge. Zhao Jianzi sent troops to besiege the city of Bairen, and the Zhongxing clan fled again. When Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, passed through Hebei, he defeated Wang Lang's general Li Yu outside the city of Bairen, laying the foundation for the eventual killing of Wang Lang to pacify Hebei.
In the years that followed, although the military status of Kashiwa Castle was not as good as before, it was always the seat of the county seat of Kashiwa Prefecture (also known as Kashiwajin County). It was not until the first year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (742) that the city of Bairen was destroyed due to flooding, and the county seat was moved to today's Yaoshan Town, and the ancient city was gradually abandoned.
Later generations settled and built villages around the former site of Bairencheng, and the surrounding villages were named "Yicheng" and "Chengjiao", and the name of the village witnessed the glorious history of Bairencheng to some extent.
Later generations excavated pottery from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, bronze mirrors from the Warring States Period, bronze swords from the Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty from the Excavations of the Bairen City Site in Longyao County. The depth of the cultural layer of the Bairen site and the number of excavated cultural relics are breathtaking. In 2013, the ruins of Borencheng were listed by the State Council as the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units, and the ruins of this thousand-year-old city have been properly protected and developed in the new era.
The relevant references and citations of this article are: "History of Zhang Er Chen Yulie Biography", "History of Gao Zu Benji (Eighth)", "Book of Han, Volume 1 (Part 2) • Gao Zu Benji 1 (Part 2)".