Zhao Lixin
Ever since I knew that there was a ruins of Liuzhong City in Shanshan County, Turpan, I had a dream and wanted to go there, take a look, and then leave some of my own clear and shallow words on the plain white manuscript paper.
There are no fixed riverside bones, and people in the dream of spring boudoirs. Wherever there have been tragic and tragic wars on the land of the Western Regions, where wolf smoke and beacon flames have been ignited, and where soldiers on the border have sworn to defend the country to the death, they can attract my attention to explore the ancient world. I hope that one day, I can stand on the old and desolate ruins, in the boundless silence, or in the long swept desert wind, listen to the distant echoes of history - the battlefield soldiers, blowing the horn company camp; At the same time, he did not forget to lower his temples and frosted heads, solemnly and solemnly worship the heroic souls who have feelings for their family and country and are born to die.
In July 2023, I made an appointment with a mainland literary friend who traveled to the "Ring Tower" the year before last, and went to Eastern Xinjiang together, to the ruins of Liuzhong City in Lukeqin Town.
Arriving in Liuzhong City by car, it was noon, and the heat wave hit people. Liuzhongcheng, which is surrounded by many Uyghur courtyards, is not open to the public. I touched the iron fence of the fence, and my hand was burned so painfully that it reflexively retracted as if it had been electrocuted. I wanted to ask where there was a ticket window, but there was no one around.
Unlike other places, grape farmers avoid the heat of the day, and go out of the day at night, contrary to the law of "work at sunrise and rest at sun". During the day, hide in the shade of the house and fall asleep soundly to recuperate; At night, he wears an electric light and endures mosquito bites in the night-covered vineyards.
We walked around Yanaka Castle and couldn't find any gaps or doors to enter, so it was a luxury to even take a few photos as a souvenir. When I was stunned and at a loss, the courtyard door of a house flashed the figures of three children - the girl was my sister and was in the second year of junior high school; The two boys are younger brothers, in the third and fourth grades of primary school. During the summer vacation, they returned home from school. Their Chinese is very pure, and if they don't look at their facial features, they will mistakenly think they are children of Han people just by listening to them.
They said: Go to the roof of their house, and you can take pictures of Liuzhongcheng.
I was overjoyed, as if I had survived the heat, and followed them up the ladder to the roof. Under the unobstructed sunlight, a set of photos of Yanaka Castle was taken against the background of a clear blue sky.
Yanaka Castle was once a rectangular castle with a length of 1,000 meters from east to west, a width of 400 meters from north to south, and a circumference of 2,800 meters. In the long history, in the stormy years, after the destruction of the war and the invasion of the wind and frost sword, the city wall is incomplete, but the outline is still there. One of the ruins is still more than 20 meters high, which shows how magnificent and magnificent the original scale of Liuzhong City built by loess ramming.
Liuzhong City, founded in the Western Han Dynasty, was once a military and political important place to govern the vast Western Regions, and it was also a post station for transit and replenishment on the ancient silk road. Because the willow trees are widely planted around the city outline, and the willow color is like smoke from afar, it is named after the beautiful name of "green willow city". The ancients also sang about the city in the willow and the willow color with the verse "the city outline is full of willows every year, and the willows are new under the flame mountain".
Since ancient times, in the hearts of Chinese children, the willow tree represents the revival of spring and the breath of spring; It represents the hometown, the sorrow of lovesickness and parting, and their deep emotions. Yanaka Castle is an ancient and poetic castle, and these elements and symbols alone are enough to make people fascinated. I don't know how many different versions of the human plot of "Baqiao Folding Willows" have been performed here for more than 2,000 years.
Flipping through the yellowed thread-bound books and searching carefully, you can see the fragmented history and misty past of Liuzhong City; saw the battle scene of "chariots, horses and horses, flag hunting, heavy snow and bows and knives" that had been staged again and again-
In 74 A.D., Guan Zhong, the captain of Wuji, went to the Western Regions with the Eastern Han Dynasty army and led 600 soldiers to guard Liuzhong City. Liuzhong City has always been a battleground for soldiers, guarding the traffic channel between the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. In the second year, under the siege of wave after wave of 20,000 iron horsemen of the Northern Xiongnu, Liuzhong City, which was isolated outside the fortress, finally fell. Guan Pet does not lose his heroic nature, the horizontal knife is immediate, the knife is up and down, and he has killed countless Huns. Although the enemy was outnumbered, the soldiers still swore to the death, and finally the blood was spilled on the city, and the whole army was annihilated. "No one collects the scrapped accounts, and the horses know the remnants of the flag", which is a true portrayal of the tragic and tragic battle to defend the city.
In 123 A.D., after the famous family, Ban Yong led 500 soldiers to the west of Yumen for the second time, stationed in Liuzhong, and served as the chief historian of the Western Regions. As the grandson of the historian Ban Biao, the son of Ban Chao, the nephew of Ban Gu, the author of the Book of Han, and the family history, he is qualified for this role. Tiger fathers have no dog sons. Ban Yong lived up to expectations, and while defending the border of Tuntian in Liuzhong City, he also pacified many states that rebelled after paying tribute to the Han family. Ban Yong was born in the Western Regions and grew up with his father in the Western Regions, so he is familiar with the historical changes, geographical features, products and customs, and humanistic stories of various countries. He went to Ma Nengwu and got off Ma Nengwen, inherited his grandfather's style of historian, and left us today a precious historical classic - "The Records of the Western Regions".
Liuzhongcheng, in the Qing Dynasty, was renamed Lukeqin, and once became the political, economic and cultural center of the Turpan Basin, and also the birthplace of the Turpan Twelve Muqam. Lu Keqin is a transliteration of Liu Zhongcheng. In the city, there are the ruins of the county palace of the king of Turpan County in the Qing Dynasty, Emin and Zhuo, the local people call it "Wang Yetai", which is rammed by yellow clay. There is a three-storey Chinese classical style pavilion hall built on the platform, carved beams and painted buildings, flying eaves and arches, and the momentum is magnificent. Emin and Zhuo used the city wall as a carriage to reach the palace. The palace was later destroyed by turmoil and frequent wars.
Emin and Zhuo were distinguished in their lives, following the Qing army to pacify the Dzungar Department and the rebellion of Hezhuo, and were named the king of the county by Emperor Qianlong, and hereditary replacement. In recognition of the outstanding achievements of Emin and Zhuo, Emperor Qianlong once hung a statue for him in the Ziguang Pavilion of Zhongnanhai, and personally wrote an inscription for it: "The Turpan tribe, who returned to the right in the early years, ordered to praise military affairs to recognize the nature; Knowing everything, saying nothing inappropriate, his heart is a stone, and it cannot be transferred". Standing high on the outskirts of Turpan, the Sugong Pagoda, also known as Emin Pagoda or Bao'en Pagoda, was built by Emin and Zhuo and his second son Suleiman with 7,000 taels of silver. It is the only ancient brick structure in Xinjiang in Islamic style, with a history of more than 200 years.
The situation is changing, the dynasty is changing; The river is mighty, geese come and go, and more than 2,000 years of time have passed quietly - how many heroes have returned to the mountains and rivers.
Liuzhong City is not submerged in the smoke and dust of history, the wind and rain eroded city wall, still unyieldingly standing in the July sun, as if in a sad story of the rise and fall of a city, prosperity and withering, but no longer see the once dreamlike smoke willow, leaving home to guard the city; I no longer hear the sound of the Qiang flute and the sound of the Qiang flute and the hu of missing my hometown on a moonlit night.
When the ancients traveled far away, they all had the custom of folding willows to say goodbye and folding willows to send them away. When I set out on the way home, I also wanted to say goodbye to Yanaka City and fold a bunch of willow branches as a gift. It's just that the stars are shifting, things are people, looking around at a loss, and there is no willow to fold...... It was inevitable that a burst of desolation and sadness swelled up in my heart, and I secretly thought: With the help of the classic verses that have been passed down through the ages in the "Book of Songs", I will talk about expressing my feelings of saying goodbye to Liu Zhongcheng-
In the past,
Yang Liuyiyi;
Now I think,
Rain and snow.