Last summer, I was invited by a friend to attend his high school reunion in Nong 'an. I'm glad that the opportunity to see the Liao Tower has come.
Driving on the vast plain, the car saw endless cornfields and was unhappy. Nong 'an is just a county seat, a very ordinary county seat on the Northeast Plain, but it also has a very famous name, called Huanglongfu, which has a long history than Changchun, the provincial capital 60 kilometers away.
The ancient city of Nong 'an was built in the ancient Fuyu country, the capital of Fuyu country in Han Dynasty, Fuyu city of Yugur nationality in Sui Dynasty and Fuyu House in Bohai Sea in Tang Dynasty. After Liao destroyed the Bohai Sea, it was renamed Huanglongfu and Huanglong County was established.
Why did the ancients build cities in Nong 'an? The endless black land in the northeast plain is fat and oily. Yitong River with abundant water and Songhua River with huge soup slowly flow through here. On the plain, there are abundant vegetation and strong crops, and the superior natural conditions make Huanglongfu emerge as the times require.
In 926 AD (the first year of Liao Tianxian), Lu Ye Bao Ji, the emperor of Liao Dynasty, led an army to attack Bohai, occupying Fuyu City first. In the first month, the Bohai King was captured by Huhan City (now Tokyo, Ning 'an County, Heilongjiang Province) and surrendered. In February, the Bohai Sea was changed to Dongdan, the title was changed to Tianxian, and Huhan City was changed to Tianfu City.
In its heyday, the Bohai Sea governed five capitals, fifteen counties and sixty-two states, with a vast territory, including parts of northeastern China, northeastern Korean Peninsula and Russian Far East. It fought the Tang Dynasty twice and won both times. Such a powerful regime was easily destroyed by the Khitan.
Since then, Liao Taizu has returned to Yucheng as a teacher, "Liao History Ji Er": In autumn and July, the second Fuyu House did not go to. At night, a big star falls in front of it. Xin Siping Dan, seeing Huanglong around the city, can grow a mile, dazzling, into the palace. Violet-black gas covered the sky, but it dispersed after the day. It was the day it collapsed, and it was 55 years old-this is the origin of Huanglongfu recorded in historical books.
In 975 (the seventh year of Liao Baoning), the Shoujiang of Huanglongfu rebelled and killed Governor Zhang Cong. Liao sent troops to suppress the rebellion. The war caused heavy damage to the ancient city. Later, Liao abandoned Huanglongfu and moved south to Siping City. Forty-five years later, in 1020, in order to strengthen the defense force in the northeast, Emperor Shengzong of Liao moved Huanglongfu back to the ancient city (Nong 'an), and changed the one-sided city from Huanglongfu to Tongzhou to avoid the same name. The ancient city (Nong 'an) is still called Huanglongfu. Leading five states and three counties: Yizhou (Xiaochengzi), Anyuan, yu zhou, Qingzhou, Yongzhou, Huanglong, Qian Min and Yongping.
1037 (Liao Chongxi's sixth year), Liao set up an envoy in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang Province, under the jurisdiction of five Nuzhen departments, under the jurisdiction of Huanglongfu. This is the heyday of Liao. At that time, Huanglongfu was a place where people of all ethnic groups lived together, with dense population and developed industry and commerce. According to historical records: "Where people from different countries can't communicate with each other, they can be distinguished by Chinese." Since the relocation of Huanglongfu, Liao focused on the construction of Huanglongfu, making Huanglongfu one of the seven major towns of "five capitals and two houses". Huanglongfu is square and located in the highlands on the west bank of Yitong River, with a wall circumference of 3,840 meters. In addition to the gates on all sides, there are small doors on the south, west and east sides, and there is a tall turret on each corner.
The Khitan people believed in Buddhism. During the reign of Emperor Sheng Zong of Liao Dynasty, the economy, culture, military and other aspects reached their peak. With the prevalence of Buddhism, while building castles, temples and pagodas were also built in Liao Dynasty, so Nong 'an Pagoda was born.
There is a vivid legend about building a tower: in those days, Liao and Qin watched the celestial phenomena at night, and a superstar landed near Huanglongfu. Grab the holy religion: If there is a local dragon in Huanglongfu area, a tower should be built to suppress it. The holy father got a fright and immediately let him play. An imperial envoy led his army day and night to the border of Huanglongfu. When the ship sailed to Xiangzhou (now Wanjinta Town), he found the leader of Longtu here and decided to build a tower in Xiangzhou. Who knows that the tower has just been repaired, and I found that Qin, the earth dragon, turned around and ran to Huanglongfu! So the construction site moved and rushed to Huanglong House to repair the tower overnight. Recruited a large number of migrant workers, day and night, finally built the tower and killed the earth dragon.
According to many archaeological experts' research, the exact construction date of Liao Tower in Nong 'an should be three to ten years in Taiping, Emperor Shengzong of Liao Dynasty, which was completed in A.D. 1030 and lasted for eight years.
Surprised, who knows 1 1 14 years, akuda vowed to fight Liao and lead an army to attack Huanglongfu. Jin Jian is located in Huanglong House. 11On March 26th, 25, Emperor Zuo of the Liao Dynasty was captured in Yingzhou, and the Liao Dynasty perished. Later, Jin continued to send troops to attack the regime of the Northern Song Dynasty, and invaded Kaifeng in 1 126 (the fourth year of Jintianhui), taking away Huidi and Qin Emperor.
An hour later, we arrived in Nong 'an County, and my friend's classmates were already waiting under the Liao Tower. Liao Tower is a brick tower with octagonal 13 floors and a height of 44 meters. It is the earliest stupa built in the northeast of China and the northernmost Liao pagoda in China. Simple and spectacular, it is a symbol of Huanglong House. I saw the ancient pagoda that still stands tall after thousands of years of wind and rain, and I saw the extraordinary skills and creativity of skilled craftsmen in the Liao Dynasty.
The students enthusiastically introduced me to the history and legends of Huanglongfu and Liaota, and also took me to visit Kongoji. On the wine table, everyone is talking about the celebrities of Nong 'an: Wan Fulin, Zhu Hongxun, Li, and so on. Boys are generous, girls are enthusiastic, drinking in a big bowl and eating meat in large chunks, which truly reflects the Khitan people.
Looking at this majestic Liao tower that has stood tall for thousands of years, I feel infinite. This tower is almost the same age as the Leifeng Pagoda near the West Lake in Hangzhou, but the Leifeng Pagoda collapsed as early as the 1920s, while the Liao Pagoda in Nong 'an is still tall and radiant. It seems to be telling: Khitan, a great nation!
"History and Geography of Liao Dynasty" goes to Beijing: (Yongzhou) There is Muye Mountain, on which the Qidan Ancestral Temple is built, the South Temple is strange and Khan, and the North Temple is Kedun, with two saints and eight sons painted. According to legend, a man of God rode a white horse from the alluvial river of cocoon to the east, and a goddess drove a green ox cart down from the flat pine forest to the Pan-Yellow River. To Muye Mountain, the two waters meet, meet as spouses, and have eight children. Later, the clan gradually flourished and was divided into eight parts. Every March and spring and autumn, you must use white horses and green cows to show that you will not forget this cloud.
The original meaning of Qidan is "wrought iron", which can be used as a sword and is extremely sharp and tough. This fierce and belligerent horse-riding nation has an iron will. Lu Ye Abaoji, the tribal leader, unified the ministries of the Khitan, established the Khitan State in 9 16, and renamed it Liao in 947. It once dominated half of northern China, with a total area of more than 4 million square kilometers, extending from Xing 'an Mountains and Lake Baikal in the north, Sakhalin Island in the east, Altai Mountain in the west, Baigou River in the south of Hebei Province and Shanxi Province in the north. The Khitan Dynasty lasted for more than 200 years in China, and formed a pattern of confrontation between the North and the South with the Song Dynasty, which almost wiped out the Song Dynasty and unified the whole country. The famous Yang Jiajiang tells the story of a fierce battle between Song Jun led by Yang Jiajiang and the powerful Khitan Army. Men die in battle, and women wave upon wave, which shows the strength of Liao's fighting capacity. During this period, the Silk Road was blocked, so that many western countries mistakenly thought that the whole of China was under the rule of Qidan. Thus, the Khitan became synonymous with China. When Kyle Poirot introduced the East to the West for the first time in his travels, he named China after the Khitan. Even today, in Slavic countries, China is still called the Khitan.
Liao experienced nine emperors. After Emperor Sheng Zong of Liao Dynasty, several generations of emperors became increasingly corrupt. They worship Buddhism, build large-scale buildings and spend a lot of manpower and material resources to build temples. As a result, the national situation is getting worse day by day, and the people are living in poverty. At the same time, the ruling groups also killed each other for power and profit, and the tribes clashed with each other, which greatly weakened the military strength of Liao country. 1 124 years, Liao lost the decisive battle with Jin in Beijing. 1 125 years, Liao perished.
There is an outstanding figure in the Qidan nationality, Yelushi. He is the grandson of Lu Ye Abaoji, the eighth emperor of Liao Dynasty, and a scholar in the middle of115 years. He is the only recorded Qidan scholar in Liao history. He served as a secretariat in Thailand and Hunan, and served as our minister in Liaoxing Army. Familiar with Qidan and Chinese characters, good at riding and shooting, can be described as both civil and military. At that time, Emperor Tianzuo, the ninth monarch of Liao Dynasty, was confused, incompetent, headstrong and utterly confused. One year before the demise of the Liao Dynasty (1 124), YeLvdashi failed to remonstrate. Seeing that Liao was about to perish, he led the remnants to flee to Kerton, Mongolia today, where he became king. During Jin's reign, the army of nomads from the Golden Army was in hot pursuit, and Yelvshi felt that the Mongolian plateau could not be prevented and decisively led the army to the west. In A.D. 1 132, Yale proclaimed himself emperor in Ye Mi (now southeast of emin county, Xinjiang), with the title of "Gulhan" and "God Bless the Emperor" in Chinese, and established the Jianyuan Yanqing and Western Liao Dynasties. Later, Yale expanded to the Western Regions, Mobei, Central Asia and other regions, with its capital in Husuluduo (now southeast of tokmak, Kyrgyzstan), with an area of 35 1 1,000 square kilometers. 1 14 1 the battle of katwan defeated 100,000 allied forces of the seljuk empire, dominated Central Asia, and its reputation spread far and wide in Europe. Gaochang Uighur, West Karakhanate, East Karakhanate, and Hualamozi surrendered to West Liao successively in the prosperous period. After the death of Yelvshi, the national power of Western Liao declined in Yelvshi Lu Gu, and was finally destroyed by the rising Mongolian Empire in 12 18, which lasted for 88 years.
Yelvshi was an outstanding politician and strategist in the history of Liao Dynasty, which influenced the situation in Central Asia for nearly a hundred years. During his military career, he summed up the lessons of the decline of Liao Dynasty, absorbed the experience of indigenous rule, and created and formulated a set of systems and policies, which played a positive role in the social, economic and cultural development of Central Asia. Muslim historians praised him as "a just monarch who was respected for his justice and talent".
1222, the general of the Western Liao Dynasty, Balahei Hazhibu, who died four years ago, led some subjects of the Western Liao Dynasty to flee to the Iranian Cirman region, and established the completely islamized Kutuluhan regime-Cirman Dynasty. In China's history books, it is called Post-Western Liao or Western Qidan. This is the last regime established by the Khitans in history. After eight emperors and two emperors, Manchu existed for 86 years, and was finally destroyed by Mongolian Ilhan in 1306.
China people like to talk about history from the standpoint of Han standard, so they have contemptuous titles: Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong and Beidi, thinking that they are all uncivilized nations. I know a lot about Northern and Southern Song Dynasty, but I know little about Qidan.
Qidan is a nation with a high degree of sinicization. The Khitans accepted China culture and its Confucian core ideas in their contacts with Han Chinese. When Lu Ye Abaoji established the Liao State, the Khitans were almost no different from the Han people in thought and culture. In order to delay and prevent the Khitan people from being assimilated by the Han people, Bao Ji ordered the creation of the Khitan language and deliberately created differences between the Khitan people and the Han people in various aspects. However, because the Khitans are a minority in Khitan, and the culture of China is so profound and colorful, although the government deliberately promoted the artificial Khitan culture in various ways, which limited the deepening of China culture, the Khitans were still tempted, attracted and conquered by China culture.
In A.D. 1068, Su Song, Minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, as the birthday envoy of the Empress Dowager Chao and Liao, went to a strange Liao country. Su Song visited Yelv Hongji of Liao Daozong and found that the other party was not the barbarian chief he imagined. He doesn't wear a felt hat and drink blood without a hood. The supreme leader of Qidan was wearing a yellow gauze robe of Han nationality and a jade belt. If it weren't for the queen wearing Hu fu, the Khitan maid-in-waiting standing beside her would be a monarch of the Central Plains. He lost his initial fears and doubts and changed many inherent ideas. Interested readers can look at Su Song's Liao poems.
Liao country selected talents through the imperial examination, and pulled out the educated and talented people at the bottom of society.
Liao calendar has made progress compared with Northern Song calendar. When Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty, the Qidan began to use the Yuan Tiao Calendar written by Ma Zhongji at the end of Jin Dynasty, and the Daming Calendar was used in the twelfth year of Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty. This Daming Calendar was revised with reference to the Daming Calendar compiled by Zu Chongzhi in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which is more accurate than the calendar in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The medicine of Liao Dynasty has a long reputation. As a nomadic people, the Khitans have lived in the northern desert for a long time, and the winter is long and extremely cold, so frostbite has become a common disease. In practice, the Khitan people developed a specific medicine for treating frostbite-"apply a little when it is extremely cold" to treat frostbite and prevent frostbite. Acupuncture, a traditional treatment method of traditional Chinese medicine, was also quite good at it in Liao Dynasty.
The buildings in Liao Dynasty are not well recorded, but there are some physical objects-temples and Liao pagodas. Among them, the main hall of Fengguo Temple in Yixian County, Liaoning Province, Guanyin Pavilion in Dule Temple in Jixian County, Hebei Province and other buildings have experienced thousands of years of wind and rain. Among them, the wooden pagoda in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province, which is made of pure wood structure, was praised as "a unique great work" by the famous architect Liang Sicheng. It is the most widely used building among the ancient buildings in China, and it can be called the bucket museum.
People in Liao Dynasty could refine low carbon steel to make weapons, and the smelting technology was very mature. The metal processing industry is also very developed, and the harness is fine in workmanship and beautifully decorated. The Qidan saddle was rated as "the best in the world" by the Song people. The clever Liao people also invented a new means of transportation-boats and cars, amphibious. In addition, a toothbrush was found in the excavated tombs of the Liao Dynasty, which is very similar in shape to modern toothbrushes and can be called the first toothbrush in the world.
Generally speaking, the Liao Dynasty had strong scientific and technological strength and made great achievements in many fields. It is in an advantageous position in the political power established by ethnic minorities and occupies an important position in the history of the development of ancient science and technology in China.
It's a pity that such a great nation has disappeared.
I remember many years ago, I met a new friend and chatted with him. I knew that he was from Nong 'an and worked in a university. Ask him what his last name is, and he says his last name is Lǜ, which I think is rare. I asked again, which Lǜ? He said the law of discipline. I asked, are you a minority? He said Han nationality with a smile. I am ashamed of my ignorance. Seeing my embarrassment, he told a story: We were originally Khitans, surnamed Lu Ye, but at the time of the census, there were no Khitans among the 56 ethnic groups in China. I asked the staff, and he told me that there are no Khitans, but you are free to choose other nationalities. Which nationality do I want to choose? After thinking about it, I felt that I was the closest to the Han nationality, so I became a Han nationality. However, if I use the compound surname Lu Ye, it will be neither fish nor fowl among the Han people. The staff told me that you also have the freedom to choose a surname, so choose one. I don't think Zhang Wang Li Zhao has anything to do with us. It was cruel to throw away his original surname, so I said "Fa". I had some contact with the Khitan, so I took the law. Say that finish, his expression is a little lost.
Yes, an iron-clad people with great influence in the world is not as good as Hezhe and Oroqen people whose number cannot exceed 10,000. If you think about it, you will be relieved. Ethnic integration is a law and a trend. There is no possibility that any ethnic minority will not be assimilated before the culturally advanced Han nationality. How many ethnic groups have lost their languages and scripts now, and what is the significance of their names?
I thought of another problem: a good place name, covering the rich history and culture of this area, has unparalleled value.
Huanglongfu was a famous military town in Liao and Jin Dynasties, and the Liao State built Huanglongfu twice. Jin Jun captured Qin Hui, the emperor of the Song Dynasty, and was once imprisoned here. Yue Fei's famous oath "Go straight to Huanglongfu and drink with all the gentlemen" is still in my ears. This clanking oath has made Huanglongfu famous for thousands of years. Li Dazhao's poem "When to Drink Huanglongfu and Build a Wind and Rain Building in China" made Huanglongfu more famous. Huanglongfu is well known to women and children. The name Nong 'an was only used in 1889 (15th year of Guangxu reign of Qing Dynasty), and it has been in use ever since, with a history of 13 1 year. The word "Nong 'an" is only a wish for agriculture, and there is no historical and cultural gold content. Place names with the word "an" abound, and it is difficult to have an impact.
It has been 1000 years since the relocation of Huanglongfu in Liao Dynasty. It is suggested that the relevant parties solemnly commemorate and restore the original name of Huanglongfu, which will be a matter of infinite merit.