the Beacon Tower

the Beacon Tower

Beacon tower is also known as beacon, commonly known as beacon hous, Yandun, pier. In ancient times, the high platform used to light fireworks and deliver important messages was an important military defense facility in ancient times. It was built to prevent the invasion of the enemy. In case of enemy situation, it was used to smoke during the day, light the fire at night, connect the platforms and deliver messages. It's the oldest but most effective way of messaging.

Architectural structure

The beacon tower, also known as beacon, was a measure of military intelligence alarm in ancient times. That is to say, when the enemy invades during the day, it will burn smoke (Flint) and when it invades at night, it will light (beacon) and report to all parties and superiors with visible smoke and light.

A beacon tower is usually built on a high hill which is easy to look out at each other. On the platform, there are watchmen's houses and facilities for burning smoke and setting fire. Under the platform, there are soldiers' houses for living and guarding, sheep and horse pens, warehouses and other buildings.

The distance between the beacon towers is generally about ten li, usually choose Gaogang which is easy to look out at each other, and build on Qiufu. In the Ming Dynasty, there were also soldiers about 5 li away. When the soldiers found out that the enemy was coming, they immediately set up a beacon fire on the platform. When the neighboring stations saw it, they followed suit. In this way, the enemy's situation could be quickly transmitted to the military central departments.

Beacon towers are generally built independently, and there are also three or five horn shaped beacon towers. The shape of beacon towers varies from time to place, generally square or round.

As for the structure and application of the beacon towers, the Han bamboo slips unearthed from the Fengsui sites in Dunhuang and Juyan have a description: "the height is four Zhang and two feet, the width is six feet, the volume is 672 feet, and the rate is 237.". "Four feet wide and two feet high.". Han bamboo slips also show that there were five, six or more than ten people guarding Fengsui at that time, including one Suichang. On weekdays, a garrison must have one person to watch, one to cook, and the rest to build and collect firewood (including firewood for lighting the beacon fire).

The origin of the name

"Beacon fire" is two kinds of ancient border warning signals. In the daytime, smoke is called "flint", and in the night, fire is called "beacon". Beacon towers were called Beacon hous (beacon Hou) and tingsui in Han Dynasty, beacon towers in Tang and Song Dynasty, and the word "beacon" was also extended to beacon towers. In Ming Dynasty, they were generally called Yandun or Duntai (in Northwest Ming Dynasty, the large pier had the function of defending the enemy, while the small pier had the function of looking but not lighting beacon fires).

major function

The main function of the beacon tower is to facilitate investigation. At the same time, when the enemy invades, it can burn straw and other combustible materials. In this way, fireworks can be used to inform the enemy, so that the next post can be on the alert. The most important thing is to convey military information, which needs to be closely coordinated with the enemy platform, wall platform and other great wall buildings.

The enemy tower can be used as a pier for transmitting the information of beacon fire. There is no place for the enemy tower or a wall suitable for beacon fire. According to the route of beacon fire transmission, beacon towers must be built. Qi Jiguang, chief soldier of Jizhen Town, said in the training Documentary: "since ancient times, guarding the border is only a way to denounce the Houjin beacon fire. Jizhen can rely on danger, and the beacon will not be built for a long time. Due to the fact that the soldiers and horses are fighting and guarding, they don't practice the assignment, so they regard the beacon fire as useless. This proposal is to be submitted to the governor of the Council for deliberation and determination: where there is no hollow platform, the original pier will be used to fill it; if there is a hollow platform within 100 steps, the hollow platform will be used to fill the pier. Qi Jiguang also formulated the method of transmitting the beacon, and compiled the popular song of transmitting the beacon for the officers and soldiers to memorize. After strict training, the garrison in charge of transmitting the beacon can accurately transmit the military information with the beacon fire, and it can spread the whole Jizhen defense line in three hours. The beacon tower is burning wolf dung in the daytime and firewood in the evening. Burning wolf dung in the daytime uses smoke obviously, and burning firewood in the evening calls the police by fire light.

guarding method

In the 1970s, the penghuo contract on the fortress obtained from the excavation of Juyan Fengsui site clearly records the penghuo system of the Great Wall in the early years of Jianwu in the Han Dynasty. The Han bamboo slips say that the penghuo contract was issued by the military organs at the level of Duwei mansion, and it is only binding on the Houguan fortress it belongs to. The contract varies with the issuing unit and time, but the warning signal and the general situation are different The criteria are much the same.

There are six kinds of warning signals, namely: awning (awning grass, some scholars think it is a cage covered with cloth and silk on straw or wooden frame), watch (treetop, some scholars think it is a flag of cloth and silk), drum, smoke, chicory fire (torch tied with reed pole), Jixin (elevated firewood and haystack), raising awning, watch, smoke during the day, fire at night, Jixin and drum for both day and night; raising beacon fire to offend Xiongnu For a thousand people, if they are less than one thousand, they will burn one plot of pay; if they are more than one thousand, they will burn two plots of pay; if they are more than one thousand, they will burn three plots of pay. In addition to salary accumulation, there are also different but specific regulations on lifting awning, lifting watch and lifting fire.

If the Huns entered the fortress and besieged the pavilion, they would raise the canopy or add a cigarette in the daytime and raise the fire at night. "Clutch fire" is a kind of special signal in the emergency and special situation of "Lu Shou Ting barrier", that is, several fires separate and close at one time. If the besieged Pavilion can't send out the signal of burnt pay, the nearest beacon should carry out burnt pay as usual according to the regulations and transmit the signal accurately.

The treaty also stipulates that if the signal reported is wrong, it should immediately "go down to put out the fire", cancel the signal, write a written report and send it to Duwei mansion. If the weather is bad, or the pavilion is too far away, in the case of "no smoke in the day, no fire in the night", a written report should be written immediately and submitted to the higher authorities by means of urgent transmission.

Some Han bamboo slips also record the guarding utensils and daily necessities of a certain beacon, including alarm objects such as cloth awning, cloth watch, chicory, Jixin, drum; architectural utensils such as vertebrae, aiming instruments "deep eyes", defensive weapons such as crossbow, gun, sheep's head stone, etc. It also shows that the Fengsui was managed by the waiting officer. He was responsible for keeping equipment, repairing buildings, managing "Tiantian", inspecting and reporting in time, while he was responsible to Duwei. In order to ensure the strict implementation of the beacon system, there was a complete set of strict system in the Han Dynasty.

Construction history

Shang and Zhou Dynasties

It is said that more than 3000 years ago, the king of the Zhou Dynasty was cruel and moody, and he was fascinated by beauty all day long after the peerless beauty Bao Si entered the palace. From then on, the queen of you king Shen Hou was imprisoned in the cold palace, but she dared to be angry.

A year later, Baosi gave birth to a boy, who was very popular with you wang and named him Bofu. From then on, Bao Si secretly arranged to send his confidants to spy on Shen Hou for revenge.

Shen Hou was living a lonely life, and he was extremely worried. One day, an older maid in waiting, fully aware of the Queen's worries, offered advice to the queen, asking her to pretend to be ill and ask her mother, Wen Jia, to take the opportunity to send her letter to her father, Shen Hou, and Prince Yi Jiu, in the name of seeing a doctor, so that the prince could return to Beijing for further discussion. After hearing this, Shen went according to the plan and gave his mother a silk. The secret book was hidden in the silk. Unexpectedly, Wen Yi came out of the Shenhou palace, but she was caught by the people who had been watching her for a long time. She was sent to Baosi and found the secret book hidden in the silk on the spot. In a rage, Bao Si tore the silk that empress Shen had given to Wen into pieces and told you about it. The king of you, regardless of the situation, broke Wen's sword in two ways. He abolished the crown prince and made him the people. He made Bao si the queen and Bo Fu the crown prince. Baosi became the queen, and the power of the palace was gradually monopolized by her. There are no courtiers who flatter her inside and outside the palace. The king of you dotes on her more and obeys everything.

After entering the palace, Bao Si never laughed, which made you feel that the beauty was not enough. He used many methods to make Bao Si laugh, but they all failed. One day, you Wang asked Bao Si what was the best. Bao Si said: "that day, when I caught Wen, I tore the silk that Shen sent to Wen. The sound of tearing the silk is very nice." As soon as the king heard this, he immediately ordered to send 100 pieces of silk into the palace every day, and asked the maids to tear them to the queen. But Bao Si didn't laugh. You Ren also issued an imperial edict. If you can make the queen laugh inside and outside the palace, you will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold. Guo Shifu, a treacherous minister, thought of a way to deal with it. He told you, "when the former king was alive, he set up more than 20 beacon towers and dozens of drums in Lishan because of the strong Nanrong and the fear of invasion. As soon as they found out that the soldiers were invading, they let out smoke and smoke, and the fireworks went up into the sky. When the nearby princes saw them, they sent troops to rescue them. If my king wants to make the queen laugh, he might as well take her to visit Lishan Mountain and light the beacon fire at night. All the princes will surely lead the troops to come. If she is fooled, the queen will laugh. " After listening to the plan, you wang prepared a chariot to fight with him. Later, you wang visited Lishan Mountain.

At that time, a prince named Zheng Boyou was in Kyoto. When he heard the news, he was shocked and rushed to the Li palace to play: "the former king set up a beacon tower for emergency use. Today, he lights the beacon fire for no reason and teases the princes. Once the soldiers invade, who will believe it? Why was there an emergency then? The king didn't listen to the dissuasion and ordered to light the beacon fire immediately. When the nearby princes saw that the beacon fire was lit, they thought that there was an enemy invading Kyoto. They all led the troops to the Li palace. When they arrived at the foot of the Li mountain, there was no enemy soldier. They just listened to the music played in the palace and talked about it. At this time, you Wang was drinking and having fun with Bao Si. Hearing the arrival of the princes, he sent someone to thank them and said, "I am invincible tonight. Thank you." After hearing this, the princes looked at each other and had to leave with their soldiers. At this time, Bao Si saw the princes busy for a while, and he could not help laughing. The king of you was so happy that he immediately rewarded Guo Shifu with a thousand gold coins

Chinese PinYin : Feng Huo Tai