In the cold weapon age, cities were an effective way to resist foreign enemies, especially in vast plains. As an attacker, the cities on the offensive line must be captured one by one, otherwise they may face the threat of being cut off from supplies. The cities in the ancient plains mainly relied on tall city walls and wide moats. There are many ancient city walls in my country, such as the ancient city of Xi'an, the ancient city of Jingzhou, the ancient city of Xiangyang, etc.
The terrain of Anhui Province is roughly divided into four major plates. To the north of the Huaihe River is the Huaibei Plain of the North China Plain. From the Huaihe River to the Yangtze River are the Jianghuai Hills. Along the Yangtze River are the Wanzhong Plains in the middle section of the Yangtze River Plain. To the south are the Wannan Mountains. Let’s take a look. These ancient cities in Anhui.
【Ancient City of Shouxian County】
Shouxian County in Huainan was called Shouchun in ancient times. It belonged to the State of Cai in the Spring and Autumn Period. Chu destroyed Cai and Shouchun was merged into the State of Chu.
In 279 BC, during the Battle of Ying between Qin and Chu, Baiqi flooded the capital of Yan. King Qingxiang of Chu led his ministers to flee east from the capital of Ying, then went north to Chencheng to briefly establish the capital, and soon went south to establish the capital in Shouchun.
In 223 BC, Qin defeated Shouchun, the capital of Chu, and Wang Jian captured the king of Chu, carrying Chu, and Chu died. During the Qin Dynasty, Shouchun was the capital of Jiujiang County.
In the early Han Dynasty, Liu Chang, Liu Bang's youngest son, was granted the title of King of Huainan and his capital was Shouchun.
The existing ancient city of Shouxian County was built in the Northern Song Dynasty from 1068 (the first year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty; the fourth year of Xianyong in the Liao Dynasty; the second year of Qiandao in the Western Xia Dynasty) to 1220 (the fourth year of Xingding in the Dajin Dynasty; the thirteenth year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty; Guangzhou in the Western Xia Dynasty). (Determined ten years), which lasted more than 150 years and was built several times. Later, it was repaired and improved many times in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and finally formed into its current scale.
The ancient city of Shouxian County is slightly square in shape, with a checkerboard layout. The city wall has four gates, the east gate is Binyang Gate, the south gate is Tongfei Gate, the west gate is Dinghu Gate, and the north gate is Jinghuai Gate. There are urns at the four gates, all of which have been preserved to this day. The city wall has a circumference of 7147 meters, a height of about 9.7 meters, a bottom width of 18-20 meters, and a top width of 6-10 meters. The city area is about 3.65 square kilometers.
[Fengyang Ancient City]
There were three capitals in the Ming Dynasty, namely Fengyang, the central capital where Zhu Yuanzhang flourished, Nanjing where Zhu Yuanzhang made his capital, and Beijing where Zhu Di made his capital.
Chuzhou Fengyang was the land of Huaiyi in ancient times. It belonged to the Zhongli Kingdom (Viscount) in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and Zhongli County was established in the Qin Dynasty. From the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, Haozhou was established in 582 (the second year of the founding of the Sui Dynasty), and Zhongli was the administrative seat. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang changed Zhongli County into Linhao County and Linhuai County, and later established Zhongli Prefecture and Fengyang Prefecture. Zhu Yuanzhang built the Zhongdu City. Because the Zhongdu Palace was built in the south of Fenghuang Mountain, it was eventually named Fengyang.
The jurisdiction of Fengyang Prefecture is constantly changing. At its peak, it governed twelve states and twenty-four counties, and was later fixed to five states and thirteen counties. The general scope was the north and south banks of the middle reaches of the Huaihe River, with an area equivalent to half of Anhui.
Fengyang City, the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, had three inner, middle and outer city walls: the outer city has a circumference of 30.36 kilometers; the middle city is called the 'Forbidden Wall', with a circumference of 7.67 kilometers and a height of 2 feet; the inner city is called the 'Forbidden City', with a circumference of 30.36 kilometers. It is 3.68 kilometers long, approximately square, 15.15 meters high, 6.9 meters wide at the bottom and 6.4 meters wide at the top.
The existing Fengyang Ancient City is only the inner city. The inner city is about 6 kilometers away from the Huaihe River in the north and about 16 kilometers away from Fengyang Mountain in the south. The outer city at that time was probably close to the Huaihe River, not far from Fengyang Mountain, and backed by mountains and rivers.
【Suzhou Ancient City】
Suzhou Ancient City was founded in about 809 (the fourth year of Yuanhe in the Tang Dynasty), and its name comes from the Su Kingdom of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The original Suzhou city wall was a rammed earth wall with four gates. The east gate was called "Wanghuai". The west gate is called "Lian Bian", the south gate is called "Fucai", and the north gate is called "Gongchen". The east and west gates of the ancient city of Suzhou are both water gates. The Sui and Tang Dynasty Grand Canal passes through the city, with a Yong Bridge connecting the north and south. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Suzhou was controlled by Fuli County and Baojing Army. Its economy and population were second only to the imperial capital Bianjing among the cities along the Bian River. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Suzhou became the front line of the battlefield and Suzhou fell into decline for a time.
html In 11377 (the tenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty), the city was built with stones, three feet high and two feet five feet thick. The surrounding area is six miles, and there is Hao below the city, which is eight miles long.
[Chuzhou Ancient City]
Chuzhou is named after the Chu River and is adjacent to Langya Mountain to the west. The ancient city of Chuzhou is in the north of the city and adjacent to the West Lake (Xijian) in the west. Chu is surrounded by mountains. The peaks and ravines in its southwest are particularly beautiful. The one that looks awe-inspiring but deep and beautiful is Langya. The wild fields are fragrant and fragrant, the beautiful trees are beautiful but densely shaded, the wind and frost are noble and pure, the water falls and the rocks emerge, these are the four seasons in the mountains. Going in the morning and returning at dusk, the scenery is different in the four seasons, and the joy is endless.
The water of Shahe River comes from the Shahe Reservoir about 10 kilometers northwest of the ancient city. The downstream is called Qingliu River, which flows into Chuhe River and then into the Yangtze River.
The governor of Chuzhou in the Tang Dynasty visited Xijian and wrote "Xijian in Chuzhou": The lonely grass grows beside the stream, and the oriole sings in the deep trees. The spring tide brings rain in a hurry, and there is no boat crossing the wild crossing.
Ouyang Xiu, the prefect of Chuzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote the immortal chapter "The Drunkard's Pavilion", "The drunkard's intention is not in wine, but in the mountains and rivers", "Fishing near the stream, the stream is deep and the fish are fat. The spring is brewed into wine, and the spring is Famous sentences such as "the fragrance is fragrant but the wine is sour" are often quoted by later generations.
[Dangtu Ancient City]
Dangtu Ancient City in Ma'anshan City was built during the reign of Sun Wu and Huangwu of the Three Kingdoms Period (222-229).
html In 1364 (the second year of Xingning in the Eastern Jin Dynasty), Great Sima Huanwen moved to Gushu and rebuilt Gushu City (Dangtu Ancient City).
Gushu city wall is square in shape, with six gates in total: Xingchun Gate in the east; Chengjiang Gate in the west; Qingyuan Gate in the north; Guxi River in the south, and Longjin Gate, Nanjin Gate and Hushu Gate from west to east. Door. Gushu City is large in scale, majestic and majestic.
