Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

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After chanting poems by literati and scholars in the past dynasties, Baqiao has been contaminated with the cultural atmosphere of sadness and parting.After a long time, the Baqiao in the east of Chang'an City was renamed "Qingjin Bridge", "Broken Heart Bridge" and "Ecstasy Bridge" by people.

The ancients broke willows and gave them farewell, which is very meaningful.Because "Liu" and "Liu" are homophonic, it not only expresses the emotion of reluctance, but also implies that people go to other places, just like willow trees that are at peace with each other and grow stronger.

There is no evidence for the origin of the custom of folding willows as a farewell.The earliest documented records can be seen in the "Book of Songs? Xiaoya? Caiwei" "I have gone in the past, and the willows are Yiyi, and now I am thinking about it, and the rain and snow are falling."

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, after literati continued to write poems and Fu, the sorrow of parting and the deep friendship of farewell were fixed.

This Baqiao is not only a cultural carrier for the parting feelings of Sui and Tang literati, but also a scenic spot outside Chang'an City.

The river beaches on both sides of Baqiao are wide, the long bridge crosses the river, the weeping willows are close together, the clear water and blue sky stretch as far as the eye can see.Whenever in early spring, catkins flutter like snow, forming the landscape of "Ba Liu Fengxue", which is one of the famous "Eight Scenic Spots in Guanzhong".

Although it is the golden autumn season and there is no scene of catkins flying snow, the former Baqiao Station and the current Baqiao Town are still a prosperous place with many merchants and pedestrians.

Through the willow forest, Ximen Qing led the others to Baqiao Town on horseback.

Chapter 744 Farewell to the Wasted City

"After Chang'an was abandoned and moved to the capital, Qumao was desolate in a dream.

It is said that the old garden is lush grass, lonely and red. "

If we can still see some remnants of the Han and Tang Dynasties in the counties around Chang'an City in Jingzhao Prefecture, which makes people think about the past, then when Ximenqing and his party traveled westward from Baqiao to the outside of Chang'an City, it was difficult to find the ancient capital. The past glory of Chang'an.

What appeared in the eyes of Ximenqing and his group was just a crudely rebuilt state city, which was slightly inferior to the state cities on Jingdong Road such as Dongping Mansion and Qingzhou City.

Chang'an City, the prosperous capital of Tang Dynasty, has long been in ruins.

In fact, Chang'an lost the opportunity to compete for the national capital after the Tang Dynasty, and a large reason was due to the complete destruction of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty.

During the more than 100 years after the Anshi Rebellion, although the majestic Chang'an City was damaged many times, it was still able to be repaired in time.

But at the end of Tang Dynasty, the war continued, and the destruction of Chang'an City became more and more serious.

More than 200 years ago, in the third year of Tang Zhonghe, the army of the rebel Huang Chao occupied Chang'an City and fought fiercely with the Tang army in Chang'an.

When Huang Chao left Chang'an, he set fire to the palace. After the Taoist soldiers of the Tang army entered the city, the damage to Chang'an City was particularly serious.

According to the "New Book of Tang Huangchao Biography" co-authored by Ouyang Xiu, Song Qi, Fan Zhen, Lu Xiaqing, etc. in the Song Dynasty: "Zilu Mountain fell into Chang'an, the palace was completely majestic, burnt by Tubo, and only Qunong Lushe was settled for more than a hundred years. , The healing gods are as beautiful as in Kaiyuan. When the nest was defeated, the Fangzhen soldiers entered and plundered each other. In the fire, only the Hanyuan Hall survived, and the only ones left behind by the fire were the West Inner, South Inner and Guangqi Palaces."

The "Old Tang Book·Xi Zong Benji" written by Liu Yan and others in the later Jin Dynasty also contains: "At the beginning, Huang Chao was in the capital, with nine Qu and three inside, and the palace was just like it. In cities and villages, six to seven will be burnt out of ten."

According to the records in these historical books that Ximenqing had read, during the Huangchao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was not the Huangchao bandit army that destroyed Chang'an City, but the various warlord troops of the Tang Dynasty.

It was these warlord troops who set fire to Chang'an City in order to loot property after they broke through Chang'an City.More than half of the entire city was destroyed in this battle.

Of course, although the central government of the Tang Dynasty, which has not yet perished, has lost control of the warlords of the feudal towns, it still tries to restore Chang'an City.

After Tang Xizong fled to Sichuan, he ordered Wang Hui to serve as the envoy of the Daming Palace to stay in Beijing and Ji to appease the system and restore the Chang'an Palace.

According to historical records, "the army was transferred outside Huizhou, and Fusui went into exile in Fusui. Over the years, a little reunion was over. Restoration of the hall, and the tailoring is appropriate." He devoted himself to the restoration of Chang'an City and achieved certain results.

However, two years later, Wang Chongrong, Li Keyong and Tian Lingzi fought in Shayuan. Lingzi was defeated and ordered to burn Fangshi and Gongcheng. ".Although it was restored later, it was burned by war soon.

In the third year of Tang Zhaozong's Ganning period, Li Maozhen invaded Chang'an from Qiqi, murdered and set fire to it, so "the palaces and houses were turned into ashes, and the work of repairing structures since the neutralization has been wiped out."

The wars launched by the warlords of these feudal towns caused damage to Chang'an City again and again, and the slightly restored Chang'an City became even more dilapidated.

Eight years later, Zhu Quanzhong's atrocities in Chang'an had more serious consequences, leading to the destruction of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty.

In the first month of the first year of Tang Zhaozong Tianyou, the warlord Zhu Quanzhong forced Tang Zhaozong to move his capital to Luoyang and completely destroyed Chang'an City.

According to the "Zizhi Tongjian" compiled by Sima Guang, the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, it is recorded in the first month of the first year of Tianyou that Zhu Quanzhong led his troops to the river.

"Ding Si, go up to the Royal Yanxi Tower, Zhu Quanzhong sent Kou Yanqing, a general, to present the table, saying that the soldiers of Bin and Qi are forcing Jidian, please go up and move the capital to Luoyang and go down the building, Pei Shu has already obtained Quanzhong's transfer of letters, urging all officials to go east.

In the Wuwu period, the scholars and the people were expelled.Crying all over the road, cursing and saying: "Cui Yin, the thief minister, called Zhu Wen to overthrow the country and make me wander here!"

On Renwu, driving to Chang'an, Quan Zhong took Zhang Tingfan as the imperial envoy, destroyed Chang'an palaces, hundreds of departments and folk cottages, took their materials, and floated down along the river, and Chang'an has been a ruin since then."

In order to completely control the puppet emperor Tang Zhaozong and prevent the Chang'an officials and people who moved east to Luoyang from returning westward, Zhu Wen, the Taizu of the Liang Dynasty, learned from Dong Zhuo's practice at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and completely demolished Chang'an City.

After this catastrophe, Chang'an, the magnificent capital of the Tang Dynasty, was destroyed.The famous city of a generation was reduced to ashes, and the Guanzhong area also suffered great trauma, with dilapidated scenes everywhere.

During the Five Dynasties period, during the transition process of the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou dynasties, a series of wars took place in the Guanzhong area.The entire Guanzhong area became even more dilapidated.

After Ximenqing entered Guanzhong from Tongguan, what he saw along the way convinced him that, like the declining Chang'an City in front of him, the Guanzhong area was in complete decline, and it would be difficult to support a separatist regime that would rival the Guandong.

In Ximenqing's view, in addition to the damage to Chang'an City caused by the war, the deterioration of the ecological environment in the Guanzhong area, the drastic reduction of trees and vegetation, and the shortage of water resources are also important factors for the continued decline of Chang'an City, which is difficult to recover.

The Guanzhong area was originally a "Land of Abundance" with a beautiful ecological environment. According to literature records, the Guanzhong Plain is fertile and wild for thousands of miles, known as "Land and Sea". It is the earliest "Land of Abundance" in Chinese history.

Sima Qian said in "Historical Records", "Guanzhong is from the east of Qianyong to Hehua, with fertile soil and fertile fields for thousands of miles, and the tribute from Yuxia is considered Shangtian".

There used to be many rivers and lakes here, with abundant water sources, including Jing, Wei, Ba, Chan, Feng, Yu, Ju, and Lao.

Among the eight waters, the Wei River is the largest, flowing continuously from west to east.Most of the other waters flowed into the Wei, criss-crossing, forming a pattern of "eight waters around Chang'an", making it the most suitable place to build a capital during the Qin and Han Dynasties.

However, during the Sui and Tang Dynasties for more than [-] years, the population of Guanzhong area increased greatly, the Loess Plateau was over-developed, and the forests disappeared rapidly.

Natural vegetation has been greatly reduced, soil erosion is serious, soil fertility has declined, leading to environmental pollution, and floods and droughts have occurred continuously. All of these have largely destroyed the ecological environment of the Guanzhong area.

Under the double blow of the wars since the end of Tang Dynasty and the deterioration of the ecological environment in Guanzhong, the once-rich Guanzhong finally lost its important position in China's territory. In the Song Dynasty, it finally became a frontier.

Although Chang'an City was already dilapidated, Ximen Qing brought everyone into the Chang'an Jingzhaofu City and found an official store to stay.

Ximenqing wandered around the city for two days, observing the geography and defense of Chang'an City.

Later, Ximenqing asked the people in the city whether some of the famous generals of the Western Army he knew were among the forbidden troops in Jingzhao Mansion.

Unfortunately, after some investigation, Liu Qi, Li Xianzhong, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, Wu Jie and other future famous anti-golden generals are not in Chang'an Jingzhaofu city at the moment.

Ma Kuo once told Ximen Qing that Liu Kai was with his father in Weizhou's army, obviously they had not been transferred to Chang'an City.

In addition, Ximenqing knew that Han Shizhong had participated in the battle against Fang La in history, and captured Fang La alive.Although Ximenqing changed history and let Wang Zhi capture Fang La alive, Han Shizhong may still be chasing and suppressing the remnants of Fang La's army in the south of the Yangtze River.

As for the other generals, they should still be junior officers in the Western Army, unknown young generals.It was reasonable for Ximen Qing not to find out their whereabouts.

Since he has no chance to make friends with future famous generals, Ximen Qing has no intention of staying any longer.He led the team out of the north gate of Chang'an City and headed straight for Wangjiazhuang in Xianyang County.

Chapter 745 Gives You the Dharma Name "Chongyangzi"

For those famous anti-gold generals who left their names in history, Ximenqing knew that sooner or later he would see them show their demeanor in battles in Hebei, Hedong, Bianjing and other places.Therefore, Ximenqing was pressed for time, and he did not plan to look for them on Shaanxi Fifth Road.

Most of these people are now low-level junior officers in the Western Army. They are able to leave their names in history, both because of their own hard work, and because of the fact that the times make heroes.

These few people are not the only ones who fought bravely in the Western Army, but some heroes died heroically before they grew up.