Shuidonggou cangbing cave

Shuidonggou cangbing cave

In the deep and unpredictable Grand Canyon between the water cave and hongshanbao, there is the Tibetan soldier cave of Ming Dynasty preserved more than 500 years ago. Relying on the magnificent Great Wall, precipitous cliff and mysterious ancient castle, it is even more magical. Shuidonggou Tibetan soldiers cave bifurcation, like a labyrinth. There are more than 20 earth chambers in the nearly kilometer tunnel, including small granaries, water wells, cooking stoves, weapons depots, powder depots and traps, concealed weapon tunnels and the fort pointing to the Grand Canyon and other military defense facilities. There are small niches and broken pottery on the walls of the earthen chamber, which seems to belong to the oil lamp. On the ground, we can also find fragments of Ming Dynasty weapons, coins and porcelain.

According to the archaeological experts in Ningxia, zangbingdong is a part of the military defense system of the ancient Great Wall in Ming Dynasty, and is the most complete three-dimensional military defense site of the ancient Great Wall discovered in China. The "zangbing cave" cleaned up by the local cultural relics department is more than 3000 meters long, accounting for one seventh of the total length of the road. Relevant archaeological research is still in progress.

Introduction to Shuidonggou zangbing Cave:

Overall introduction:

Black holes on the cliff of hongshanpu Grand Canyon are known as "zangbing cave",

The so-called Tibetan soldier cave is a tunnel where the garrison of hongshanbao turns from the ground to the ground, conceals the army, protects itself, stands ready to attack, or sets up an ambush in an open place. This is the only ancient three-dimensional military defense system with the most complete preservation in China. In China's defense system of the Great Wall, the Great Wall, the castle and the underground cave are closely linked, but not in the whole country. This is the only place. The zangbing cave excavated at present is the earliest tunnel warfare site and prototype in China. If we can say that the tunnel warfare between the Eighth Route Army and the guerrillas during the Anti Japanese war can make the enemy scared, we can imagine that the frontier garrison of the Ming Dynasty more than 500 years ago blocked the invaders out of the Great Wall with the same wisdom and courage. In the past, due to the lack of development, there was no condition to enter the cave for sightseeing. People only know that the road of "cangbing cave" is tortuous, like a labyrinth. In addition, the cave roof collapses, many places are covered by soil, there are traps in the cave, and there may be snakes and scorpions in the cave, so people dare not go far into the cave. No one can tell exactly what is inside the cave. In this way, the "cangbing cave" has become a very mysterious place for people to fear.

Introduction to the cave:

The cave is winding in the overhanging wall. It is connected from top to bottom and from left to right. There are many forks in the cave. It turns right on the left side and never ends for a long time. It's really like a labyrinth. It's hard for those who are not familiar with the situation in the cave to go out. In addition to the cave Road, there are earth houses on the left and right, which can accommodate people. It is about for the leader to live in. There are also grain storage rooms, water wells and cooking rooms in the cave. As long as enough food is stored, the soil stored in the cave will not come out of the cave for a certain period of time, so it can still survive. Because the cave is more than 10 meters above the bottom of the ditch, it is not afraid of flooding. For many years, even if there were mountain torrents, the cave had never been flooded. We are really amazed at the wisdom of the ancients.

In addition, when we enter the cave, we will find that there are many small niches on the wall of the cave. These are the places where the ancients placed cave lamps to light up the cave. In the process of cleaning up, we found some broken pottery in the small niche from time to time, which should belong to the oil lamp. On the ground, we also found a lot of fragments of Ming Dynasty, which should be the fragments of daily necessities of the garrison in the cave of Ming Dynasty. What's more, we can see the ancient weapons such as knives, spears, halberds, swords, arrow bags and other weapons, as well as the military artifacts such as helmets and shields in the armory and Hall of the Tibetan soldier cave. It's about the first time for many young friends to see these treasures. As for the samples of food and vegetables displayed in the niches, they are all the food left by the Ming Garrison when they were cleaning up the Tibetan soldiers' cave. They have a history of nearly 500 years, which is a rare cultural relic.

The structure of shidonggou cave is as follows

tunnel

This is the main body of the cave. It can be used for military transportation, passage, attack or entering the cave in wartime. It can be used as a resting place for soldiers in peacetime.

Conference Hall

It is mainly used to gather people to hold meetings to discuss military aircraft, research, arrange military operations, carry out operational deployment, etc.

view port

We call it the observation port. In fact, it has a multi-functional function. It can be used not only as the observation port to observe the movement outside the cave, but also as the ventilation and light transmission equipment inside the cave. At the same time, it can attack from here when necessary. Judging from the facilities at the entrance of the cave, after the sergeant enters the cave, it can be guarded by more than one soldier. Even if the city barrier is surrounded, it is difficult for the enemy to enter the cave.

Housewear & Furnishings

Within a certain distance, there is a living room, which is about for the commanding officer to live in, and it can also be used in the headquarters.

storeroom

It is mainly used to store grain and other food. No matter what the situation, if the army withdraws into the cave, as long as there is enough grain, it can be used for a certain period of time.

kitchen

It can be used to prepare cooked food. Ingeniously, there is a chimney outside the kitchen, which can not only cook food and burn fire, but also overflow smoke to the outside of the cave through the chimney. It will never stay in the cave and smoke its own people.

Zeughaus

It is mainly used to store arrows and ammunition for wartime use.

battery

The key parts of the cave are equipped with battery. If necessary, it can attack the enemy and turn passive defense into active defense.

well

This can be said to be the lifeline of the garrison in the cave. If there is no water, it is not easy to survive. Can we still stick to it and attack it?

trap

It's about one foot deep, and there are many antlers in the trap. Because only one person can pass through the cave, once there are enemies entering the cave, they can only follow up in one line. Moreover, they are not familiar with the terrain inside the cave, so they are easy to fall into the antlers of the trap, either dead or injured. The garrison in the cave guards the opposite side of the trap, and it is difficult for the enemy to pass through. Seeing this, we can't help but marvel at the wisdom of the ancients. Only here can we provide us with the three-dimensional physical combat facilities of mutual cooperation between the ground and underground in ancient times. It's really an eye opener!

The function of the cave is as follows

history

As we know, Tatar and Wala lived in Hetao in Ming Dynasty, and the line of Lingzhou Great Wall was the northernmost defensive line of Ming Dynasty in Ningxia and other places, while the terrain of hongshanbao was flat, which made it easy for the enemy to ride in a large area. This area became the first place for Tatar and other nobles to lead their troops southward. We also know that the main purpose of Tartars and other nobles to ride southward was to plunder people and property. They quickly retreated when they got hold of them. Therefore, it's up to them to decide when to attack and when to retreat. But after the middle of Ming Dynasty, building the Great Wall was only a passive defense all day long. Tatar and Wala nobles broke down the wall from Lingzhou to Yanzhou several times, plundered Lingzhou Ningxia (now Yinchuan) and so on, and returned to the north after plundering. However, after several times of demolishing the wall and going south, they didn't attack from Hongshan fort. About Hongshan fort has three-dimensional fortifications including the Tibetan soldier cave, which played a great role.

effect

First, once hongshanbao is surrounded, the garrison will enter the cave of Tibetan soldiers, so that the military struggle will turn underground and the living forces will be preserved, which makes it difficult for the enemy to capture. The garrison entered the cave to hold on and wait for reinforcements, which was obviously not good for the enemy cavalry who attacked by flash attack and quickly captured and retreated.

Second, when the enemy rides into the attack, the gap opened will certainly serve as his own retreat. Once the garrison of hongshanbao entered the cave of Tibetan soldiers, they could still attack with surprise soldiers when the enemy's cavalry retreated. Once captured successfully, the enemy's cavalry will carry a large number of people, livestock, cattle and sheep. It is not as light as it was when they came to attack. It is not easy for the enemy's cavalry to successfully withdraw from the north after being blocked by the garrison in the cave. It is also possible that the garrison in the cave and the reinforcements have already set up battle lines here. At this time, it is even more difficult for the enemy's cavalry to retreat. About the same thing, the Tatar and Wala nobles went south several times and did not invade from hongshanbao, which may be inseparable from the military role of the Tibetans' cave.

Conservation excavation:

The first excavation

Since 2006, Ningxia Institute of cultural relics and archaeology has carried out the protective cleaning and dredging of zangbing cave. At present, the length of the cave is 1200 meters and the cleaning area is about 4000 square meters, but this is not all. According to the investigation, the total length of the zangbing cave on the north and south sides of the Grand Canyon is about 3 km, which needs to be further cleaned up. For the part that has been cleared up at present, we have taken protective measures to reinforce the cave wall and collapsed cave roof.

Shuidonggou new Tibetans Cave (No.2 Tibetans cave)

It was officially opened to tourists on September 20, 2012. The total length of No. 1 and No. 2 caves has exceeded 3000 meters. The total length of No.2 zangbing cave is 2600 meters, the overall width is 2 meters, the height is 2.2 meters, and the total area is about 6850 square meters.

Nowadays, Tibetan cave has become a popular tourist attraction in Ningxia.

Unearthed cultural relics

It is understood that 11 kinds of cultural relics such as stirrups, scales, oil lamps, Dou, Sheng, Ge, leather bags and crossbows were unearthed in the No. 2 Tibetan soldier cave, including 182 iron stirrups, 171 bronze and wooden scales in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 10 iron oil lamps, 36 wooden Dou, Sheng, GE and 7 leather bags. As a result, archaeological experts said that compared with the No. 1 Tibetans cave, which is an important defense work for underground troop transportation and ambush, the No

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