Ningwu pass

Ningwu pass

Ningwu pass is a northern pass, one of the three outer passes. It is located in the hometown of Loufan (ancient tribal name) in northern Shanxi.

During the Warring States period, King Wuling of Zhao once set up a building to guard against Xiongnu. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, Loufan County was located with Loufan pass. Now Ninghua village in the south of the county is the south entrance of Loufan pass, and yangfangkou in the north of the county is the north entrance of Loufan pass.

In the Northern Wei Dynasty, Guangning County and Shenwu County successively ruled this area, which was collectively called Ningwu.

In the Tang Dynasty, Ningwu county was established, which was named Ningwu at the beginning. It was derived from Guangning and Shenwu. In other words, there is an old ningwen fort in the area, which means that it corresponds to the culture and martial arts.

brief introduction

Ningwu pass is the place where the chief garrison of Sanguan garrison is located. Guancheng was built in 1450 A.D. and was repaired in Chenghua, Zhengde and Longqing of Ming Dynasty. Guancheng is located on the Huagai mountain, which is located at the end of Hengshan Mountain. It is adjacent to Huihe River, overlooking the East, West and south. It has a circumference of 2 kilometers and opens the East, West and South gates. After the second year of Chenghua (1466 A.D.), the surrounding area of Guancheng was about 2 kilometers, with a base width of 15 meters, a top width of 7.5 meters, and a wall height of about 10 meters. In the 11th year of Chenghua (1479 A.D.), Wei Shen, the governor, extended Guancheng, with a perimeter of more than 3500 meters. He added a north gate and built a flying tower on it. It was named zhenshuocheng. It was narrow in the north and south, and long in the East and West. The perimeter of Guancheng was seven Li, which was rectangular. The city wall was tall and solid, surrounded by artillery and enemy towers. By the 11th year of Hongzhi (1498 AD), Guancheng was expanded to about 3.5 km. The wall increased by 1.5 meters, and the north gate was opened. However, the wall was still rammed with loess, and the brick wall was built in 1606. During the Wanli period, when all the walls were built with green bricks, two gate towers were built in the East and West. On the top of Huagai mountain in the north of the city, a towering city guard pier was built. On the pier, a three storey tower was built, named Huagai tower. Guancheng is not only connected with the inner Great Wall, but also built a 20 km long side wall in the north of the city. Ningwu is located in the north of Fenghuang mountain. It is said that it was changed by Fenghuang, so it is called "Phoenix City". It can miraculously fly away when it is invaded by the enemy. But you can see that the city is like a Phoenix, the Huagai mountain pier in the north of the city is like a phoenix head, the two fortresses extending from east to West are like Phoenix wings, and the Yingxun tower in the south is like a high phoenix tail. The drum tower in the city is the heart of Phoenix, which makes people have wonderful associations. At the end of the Wanli period, the walls were raised and bricked up, making the city stronger and more magnificent.

At that time, in order to resist the attack of Mongolia, they constantly set up dangerous customs and built defense lines in the north, forming the outer and inner borders. The inner side refers to the inner Great Wall, which starts from Pianguan County in Shanxi Province in the west, passes through Shenchi, Ningwu, Daixian, Shuo county, Yuxian County in Hebei Province, and reaches Yanqing County in Hebei Province, winding more than 1000 kilometers. On this line of defense, we should create a barrier, set up a fort, and garrison the army. In Hebei Province, there are three passes of Bauhinia, daoma and Juyong along the line, which are called neisanguan. In Shanxi Province, there are Piantou, Ningwu and Yanmen, which are called waisanguan. Among the three outer passes, Piantou is the most important one, Yanmen is the most important one, and ningwujie is the most important one. Therefore, it is said in the frontier defense examination that "with heavy troops stationed here, Yanmen can be defended in the East, Pianguan can be aided in the west, yunshuo can be responded in the north, and the land can be covered and powerful."

Ningwu pass is one of the three passes with the most frequent wars. At that time, the nomads in the north had to go through three passes when they went south. Because of the Yellow River as a natural danger in Pianguan, only the Xiongnu cavalry could cross the ice in winter, while the mountain was a natural danger in Yanmen, so it was difficult for the cavalry to break through. The Huihe River, which ningwuguan relies on, is a seasonal river. In the season when the Huihe River stopped flowing, the Xiongnu cavalry moved southward along the river valley to reach guanxia. At that time, the Huihe River Valley could accommodate "ten cavalry entering at the same time". Therefore, most of the time, ningwuguan became the main battle field for nomads and farmers. In history, because of the plunder of Xianbei, Tujue, Khitan, Mongolia and other nomadic people, Ningwu pass was often chosen as a breakthrough. Therefore, in many historical periods, the war here was almost continuous year after year. In the thousands of years of war records of ningwuguan, the last big battle took place in Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty.

When the northbound train on the Beitongpu railway line passes through the mountains northwest of Xuangang, a coal town, like a giant dragon, a modern town appears in the Valley West of the railway line. This is the location of ningwuguan, an important ancient town in northern Shanxi. The former site of ningwuguan is now Ningwu County, Shanxi Province, where Luya Mountain and Yunzhong mountain meet. The mouth of the valley is wide and open to the north of shuoxian basin. Surrounded by mountains on three sides and the inner Great Wall in the north, it lives in the hinterland of shielding on four sides. The situation is stable, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is located in the southern margin of Datong Shuo county United basin, with high terrain. Sanggan River and Fenhe River, two major rivers in Shanxi Province, originate from this and flow from north to south. On both sides of the East and the west, there are tributaries of the Hutuo River and the Yellow River. Therefore, although it is a mountainous area, it has the advantage of roads and convenient transportation. From here, you can reach Datong in the north and Taiyuan in the south.

Ningwu pass is located in the urban area of Ningwu county. Built in the middle of Ming Dynasty, it is an important pass on the Great Wall with dangerous terrain. Because it is located in the middle of "three passes", it has the strategic role of "Datong in the north, Taiyuan in the south, Pianguan in the West and Yanmen in the East".

Historical evolution

Ming Dynasty is a dynasty that is difficult to summarize in one sentence in Chinese history. Since the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has been fighting against the northern minorities. First Mongolia and finally Qing Dynasty. At the beginning of the founding of the people's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang was well aware of the weakness of his national strength, but he failed to clear away the remnants of the "Dayuan" forces. So Zhu Di was sent to the north to contain the invasion of Mongolia strategically. However, after the king of Yan's expedition to the south, it may be that he took the throne of his nephew and was ashamed of his ancestors, so he moved his capital to Beijing. However, this move to move the capital, but will show the center of the Ming Dynasty in front of Mongolia. So Zhu Di began his Northern Expedition ten years later. After the five northern expeditions, except for the first two, most of the others were labor and money, which made the newly recovered economy bear a heavy burden and left a long-term hidden danger of war for future generations.

Zhu Jianshen, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, was one of the few emperors who had some achievements after Zhu Di. In fact, the establishment of Ningwu pass in his dynasty had a special meaning. The father of Ming Xianzong was the reckless Emperor Ming Yingzong who created the miracle of being captured alive. During the reign of emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongol forces in Mobei had been divided into two parts: Wala and Tatar. Wala became powerful and harassed the north of the Ming Dynasty. Eunuch Wang Zhen encouraged Yingzong to fight against Wala personally, but the preparation was not enough, the food and salaries were not enough, and the front line failed repeatedly. The situation was not good. Yingzong withdrew his troops and was surrounded by Tupu outside Huailai. The whole army was destroyed and Yingzong was captured. In order to avoid being threatened by Wala, on the proposal of minister Yu Qian, Zhu Qiyu, the younger brother of Yingzong, was established as emperor and named Jingtai. Later, Zhu Jianshen's position as prince was abolished. After the change of seizing the gate, his crown prince was also regained. However, this experience made him under great mental pressure. In the second year of his accession to the throne, Zhu Jianshen changed his name to "Chenghua". In the third year of Chenghua, he established Ningwu pass. He hoped that the Ming Dynasty would not repeat the same mistakes and take preventive measures. After that, the defense function of ningwuguan was fully played, which effectively blocked the invasion of Mongolia.

In 1513, Mongolian cavalry went down from Datong to attack ningwuguan, trying to enter Jinzhong. The officers and soldiers stood up to resist, defeated the Mongolian soldiers and defended the security of Jinzhong. The establishment and reinforcement of Ningwu pass and the construction of the garrison along the pass connected Piantou, Yanmen and Ningwu pass as a line, effectively strengthened the northern border defense of Ming Dynasty, and ensured the safety of the people of Sanjin in a considerable period of time.

At that time, the establishment of the customs defense not only had the intention of guarding against the enemy, but also had the intention of preventing and suppressing domestic resistance. As a result of the previous emperors' excessive levies, as well as the repeated use of military for Mongolia, the Treasury was empty during the reign of emperor Chongzhen. At this time, the Mongolian power gradually weakened and Manchuria power greatly increased. In order to win the war, Emperor Chongzhen increased the rates of conscription. The imperial court collects one point, and the officials collect ten. In the case of corruption between the government and the public, Li Zicheng revolted from northern Shaanxi. In the war against the Ming Dynasty, the Ningwu war was very fierce. If Ningwu is broken, Beijing is in danger. Therefore, in this war, both sides are doing their best. At the end of Ming Dynasty, there was a very important war here. However, it was not the invasion from the north, but the attack from the rear.

When the storm of peasant uprising swept Shaanxi and Shanxi in the late Ming Dynasty, ningwuguan became a fortress to resist Li Zicheng's peasant uprising. At the beginning of 1644 ad, Li Zicheng called himself queen in Xi'an, and then led his army to cross the Yellow River northward to carry out the northern expedition through Shanxi. The uprising army was full of momentum and soon captured Taiyuan. At the same time, we found that the Ming army had gathered a large number of troops in Ningwu pass, and had an attempt to flank the uprising army. At that time, Li Zicheng, who had been defeated by Zhou Yuji in Luocheng, thought that he was a hard bone and was afraid. So I'm going to give up attacking Ningwu pass, go around the city, go straight to Datong, attack the imperial city of Beijing as soon as possible, and then attack the helpless Ningwu. Later, under the persuasion of military strategists and the important position of Ningwu pass in the three passes, Li Zi went back to the South and fought for seven days and nights to defeat Zhou Yuji, the commander of the three passes guarding Yanmen pass, at a heavy price, clearing the way for the capture of Beijing. Today, on the East Bank of Huihe River in Ningwu, there is still a tomb of Zhou Yuji, built with bricks and stones. The war lasted seven days and nights, and the uprising began

Chinese PinYin : Ning Wu Guan