Today, we all know that the Sui Emperor was the farthest emperor in ancient Chinese history to travel west, once reaching the Hexi Corridor to meet the leaders of the 27 countries in the Western Regions. However, Emperor Wu of Han also made many trips to the west in his lifetime, and he successively went to the area of present-day Gansu and Ningxia nearly ten times, reaching as far as the Zuli River in the area of present-day Jingyuan and Huining in Gansu, and the two counties of Jingyuan and Huining were under the jurisdiction of present-day Baiyin City, Gansu.
Emperor
Both the "Records of History" and the "Book of Han" mention that in the third year of Han Yuanding (114 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty toured Zuli in the west and established Zuli County, which is the earliest establishment of present-day Huining County.
The Zuli River is a tributary of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is located in the central part of Gansu Province, China, on the east side of Lanzhou City. It originates from Nanhuajialing in Huining County. It flows north through Huining County and Jingyuan County into the Yellow River. This river is also called the Bitter Water River because the basin strata contain more salinity and alkali, and the water taste is bitter and salty. However, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty toured Zuli in the west, the river must not be like this. Regarding its records, we see that Lu Ying, the chief soldier of Ningxia in the Ming Dynasty, was a person in that area, around 1520, when Lu Ying returned to his hometown to visit his relatives, the Zuli River once had a big flood, and Lu Ying also "fought floods" with the villagers! But now, the river is nearly dry.
According to historical records, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made a total of 39 tours after succeeding to the throne, and among these 39 tours, except for the sacrifices in Yong (present-day Fengxiang, Shaanxi), Ganquan (present-day Chunhua, Shaanxi), Fenyang (present-day Hejinnan, Shanxi), Taishan Fengchan, and huizhong and Zhenbing brigades, there were only 6 trips in the strict sense. Of these 6 times, the southern tour is once, after the Yong Sacrifice to Anding and Beidi County twice, after reaching Ganquan, it is specially to Anding County once, and the special trip to Anding County is once. If you count his zhenbing release brigade, the sacrifice of the earth, the taishan sealing zen, and the east Sea immortals on the way to visit the road, it is hard to imagine that he has been busy with government affairs and has been entangled in all things in his life, and he has come to Gansu and Ningxia 9 times.
The proportion of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to Gansu and Ningxia is second to none. Why do you come to Gansu and Ningxia so frequently? Of course, it was for inspection, for the sake of fighting the Huns. The journey of the most mysterious Tianzi of the Western Han Dynasty is famous for its journey to the government and the public, and there are many accounts. And we prefer to look in the details outside of the main history, to find the little-known legends.
Today the Zuli River
The chaotic Zuli River flows through Huining County and flows into the Yellow River near the county seat of Jingyuan County. More than 2,000 years have passed, and the river that never stopped running is no longer what it used to be. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty toured the west and set up Zuli County, even in today's view, it is not a simple concept of setting up a county for the sake of setting up a county. Huining and Jingyuan have been "the key to controlling the northwest of the Three Qins" since ancient times, and what they contain is, of course, a military vision. Although the location of zuli county in that year is still controversial, the western tour of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty has brought this with many legends.
In the vicinity of the ancient city of Dalashi in Huangyao Township, Pingchuan District, about 40 kilometers from the county seat of Jingyuan, we interviewed an old man in a place called Shenmutou Society, who told us the legend and story related to Emperor Wu of The Han Dynasty that had been handed down from generation to generation.
"Our place is amazing, Emperor Wudi of Han has come to our place before!" The old man said.
It is said that there is no wind and no waves. The old man told us that in 114 BC, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty toured the west to Huining (Zu Li), he heard that two "sacred trees" had grown in the mountains south of their village, resembling human forms, one large and one small, so he came to worship the sacred wood. Later, in order to commemorate Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who worshiped the sacred wood, a temple called the Sacred Wood Palace was built under the cliff where the sacred wood grew. The temple was still there until the liberation, but because of why it was demolished, the sacred tree disappeared.
One side feeds the other. No matter what kind of place to raise any kind of person, from a perceptual point of view, it is always biased towards that place. So is the old man in front of us. When we asked him if he knew the whereabouts of Shenmu, his answer surprised us: "Let the people of Shenmu County in Shaanxi take it!" The old man's theory is based on the fact that at the time of Qin Shi Huang, the area around Pingchuan belonged to The Northern Prefecture, and there were often "people who had made mistakes exiled here." And it is reasonable for the people of Shenmu County in Shaanxi To "take" Pingchuan Shenmu. Legends, of course, can not be verified. But the old man stubbornly believes that all this he says is "true", and from it, we see the weight of an emperor more than two thousand years ago in the hearts of the people.
The legendary point will be the platform
Secondly, near the village of Shenmutou, we also heard legends about Huo Zhiyi and Su Wu: on the road not far from Shenmutou Village, there was a mountain bag that had been cut off, and the locals said that it was the "point general platform" that Huo Wentai used during the Western Expedition. In the middle of a mountain beam near Shanbao, there is a demolished temple, which local villagers call "Suwu Temple". There, we saw green bricks and tiles everywhere, as well as two huge stone tablets that had fallen, but the handwriting on the stone tablets was blurred and difficult to read. Near the stele there are two cypress trees as thick as small bowls that have died. Villagers say that this cypress tree has been around for a thousand years, and now people come here every New Year's Day to chop a piece of cypress wood with a knife and take it to their homes to ward off evil spirits. We also saw marks of knife slashes on the trunks of cypress trees...
In addition, my former colleague Wang Wenyuan, a reporter for the Lanzhou Morning Post, also heard legends about this when he was interviewing in the Baicaoyuan area of Huining, where there was a mysterious field castle with tall and thick walls, but no city gate. Who built such a mysterious castle? No one can say for sure. Some local literary and historical experts even speculate that this is the palace where Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was stationed when he was touring Zu Li in the west.
Legends always enrich history, and legends themselves are part of history. In the dry text of the history books, we see that the legend is alive in the footprints of Emperor Wu of Han. (Text/Lu Sheng)
Huining
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