Linzhou of Shaanxi

According to historical records, the city of Linzhou in northern Shaanxi Province was anciently ruled by Linzhou. Today it is Shenmu County, Yulin City. Historically, there were the Great Wall of the Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties through the territory. Warring States, the former Qin Dynasty is the upper county belongs to the Qin Dynasty is Jiuyuan County for the new Qin County. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was Pingding County of Xihe County, which governed Baitu County of Shangxian County, and Hanyang County of Xihe County. In the Northern Song Dynasty, it was called Yangjiacheng. Before 1208 AD, the Southern Song Dynasty completely withdrew to the south. Backed by Xixia, Linzhou County, which was occupied by Liao and Jin, was abandoned for a while. The officials and citizens left the border of Liao and Xia and retreated south to Wu(er) Fort. After the Yuan Dynasty unified the country, the old rule of Linzhou was restored. The former city of Linzhou was finally abandoned in the eighth year of Zhengtong of the Ming Dynasty (1443). Today, it is located in Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province, the birthplace of China's newly-listed coal giant Shenhua Energy, and was approved by the State Council of the People's Republic of China on May 25, 2006, as one of the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units, which were built in the Tang and Ming dynasties.

Shaanxi "Linzhou" is located in the Shaanxi-Mongolia border of the ancient Great Wall, the Yellow River Loop within the Ordos Plateau Basin on the southern edge. Adjacent to China's Mongolian British Lord Genghis Khan's mausoleum - Inner Mongolia Ordos City. Linzhou was founded during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty (742-756 AD). The ruins of the old city are twenty kilometers northeast of the present-day Shenmu County in northern Shaanxi Province, upstream along the valley of the Cave Wild River. On top of a huge high peak, Yangcheng Mountain, you can see the ruins of a rather large-scale ancient city. It is, in fact, the historically famous ancient Linzhou. Figure 1: Jade human head from the Longshan Culture period now in the Shaanxi History Museum

(Typical features of North Chinese)

Before and after the founding of the state, more than 500 inked jade tooth jangs, dating between 3000 BCE and 2100 BCE and belonging to the pre-Hsia Dynasty of the Xia Yu Dynasty, were excavated in the territory of Gulinzhou in northern Shaanxi Province. This proves that in the Ordos Plateau Basin, the area of Linzhou in north of Shanxi Province, when the coastal flooding in ancient China was inundated, it was the breeding place of the ancestors of the water-control heroes Si Si and Si Yu in the era of Yao and Shun, i.e., the family of Si Si, the ancient saint of the family. Jiu Ji, the son of Si Yu, is the ancestor of Si Si family, who was the hero of the Yao and Shun era, when the flooding occurred.

In the Chinese ritual system, the main color of the north is xuan (ink). The Si Yu family, China's water-rule heroes of 4,030 years ago, used the ink jade tooth jang, a ceremonial weapon dedicated to farming, as a ruling seal. It was used to subdue mountain demons and water monsters, to worship the mountains and the earth, and to pray for a good harvest. After the hanging scroll was unearthed with the stone coffin before liberation, many of them were lost overseas. During the Cultural Revolution, many of them were destroyed. Today, there are still more than 40 pieces scattered in Japan, Europe, America, South Africa and Hong Kong and Taiwan in a number of famous museums.

Figure 2: Three-hole tooth jangs (military and governmental runic artifacts) unearthed in Shenmu in 2000 BC. (Non-agricultural tools)

Figure 3. Ancient jade tooth jangles from various parts of the Longshan culture in the late primitive society. Figure 3, second from the left, is the Shenmu tooth jang

One of them represents the center of China's Huaxia race, belonging to the highest level of kingship, ink and jade tooth jang, up to 53.4 centimeters long, the thickness of the whole body is 0.1 centimeters, or the thickness of the whole body is 0.4 centimeters. On behalf of China's northern craftsmen 4000 years ago has reached, extremely high level of jade solution. 1929 the end of the year, the German art dealer salmony (salmony) in shaanxi north shenmu county to beijing peasants in the hands of the emperor of the jang, is now collected in the far east art museum in k?ln, germany. To be redeemed by the children and grandchildren of China. Ancient Shenmu city of the southeast, according to legend, the original three pine trees, branches Ke connected, thick can be two, three people embrace, known as the "Pine". People say that when the Han Dynasty Zhang Qian mission to the Western Regions, had a pillow stone under the pine and sleep, dreaming of traveling the Tianhe River, met the weaver, and gave him a piece of support loom stone. Woke up in a dream, the body is still in the pine stone, feel very strange.

Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei once composed a poem for the "Pine of God": "Green mountain pine, miles away from the present more meet, do not see the gentleman, the heart remembers, the heart to the gentleman should be aware of the gentleman, for the gentleman's color is high and idle, pavilion is very out of the floating clouds."

Today's pine trees have long been gone, but the beautiful legend, but to this majestic ancient city smeared with a layer of mysterious color. When people in this wandering browsing, always inevitably have to hold a "want to find the root cause of the knowledge of the sacred trees," the desire. These legends and poems are the origin of today's Shenmu name. Time to enter the 1000 AD around. The famous Yang Family Generals of the Northern Song Dynasty had their ancestral home in Linzhou, and were a powerful local family. Famous in Chinese history and historical drama in the Northern Song Dynasty against the Western Xia famous generals, and the Southern Song Dynasty against the Jin famous generals family Yang family generals, the folding family army, She Taijun's hometown Fuzhou (today's Fugu), are also in the area of Linzhou and along the Great Wall.

During the Five Dynasties period, Shi Jing瑭 (石敬瑭) of the Later Jin Dynasty ceded the 16 states of Yan Yun to the Khitan. Linzhou was close to the Khitan occupation area. In order to fight against the Khitan nobles, Yang Hongxin established himself as the assassin of Linzhou. Starting from Yang Hongxin, his eldest son, Yang Chongxun, and his eldest grandson, Yang Guang, were the highest local governors of Linzhou for three generations.

At that time, Linzhou in northern Shaanxi Province was garrisoned by famous ministers of the Northern Song Dynasty, such as Fan Zhongyan and Shen Kuo. The border poems they left behind during their residency, which are famous to this day, can serve as evidence. In Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan wrote "Fisherman's Pride - Autumn Lyrics of Linzhou"; and "Remaining Inscription in Linzhou". When Wen Yanbo of the Song Dynasty was stationed in Linzhou in his early years, he inscribed a poem on the red building in the city, which was memorialized by the succeeding officials in stone. Rubble remnants of monuments and column bases can also be seen everywhere in the city's cultivated land, all of which are witnesses to the history of humanity and prosperity in those years.

Shenmu County Records contains a detailed account of the Yang family in the Tombstone of Yang Qi, written by Ouyang Xiu in October of the third year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1051). Yang Qi was the eldest son of Yang Guang, and he was a deputy minister of supply and storage, and he died in June of the second year of Huangyou, at the age of seventy-one.

According to Yang Qi's Tombstone, Yang Jiye was the second son of Yang Hongxin, and Yang Yanzhao was Jiye's son. "Both father and son were famous generals, and their wisdom and courage were said to be invincible. To this day, the world's soldiers, to the wild erection of the children can be said." Ouyang Xiu was a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, and devoted to the study of historical facts, authored the New Book of the Tang Dynasty and the New History of the Five Dynasties, and was a rigorous historian. His account is thought to be reliable, which would solve the controversy about the origin of the Yang Family Generals over the years.

Yang Jiye lived in Linzhou as a teenager, and he was a cheerful, chivalrous man who loved horseback riding and archery and had excellent martial arts skills. At the age of twenty, he left his hometown and went to Taiyuan, where he became a defense commander under Emperor Liu Chong of the Northern Han Dynasty. When Zhao Guangyi, Emperor of Song Dynasty, conquered Taiyuan, Yang Jiye persuaded the Northern Han Dynasty to surrender to Song Dynasty, which led to the unification of the country, and he became a famous general of the Northern Song Dynasty. In 986 A.D., Empress Dowager Xiao, the mother of the Khitan Empire, commanded an army of 100,000 soldiers to invade the Song Dynasty. Due to the betrayal of Pan Renmei and others, Yang Jiye went deep into the battle and fought to the death, and was wounded in dozens of places, and was captured by the Liao soldiers, who preferred to die rather than give in, and died of hunger strike in three days. His son Yang Yanzhao inherited his father's will, guarding the border for more than twenty years, died of illness, the coffin south transportation, the people on the way to look at the coffin cried out in pain. Later, Yang Wenguang, the son of Yang Yanzhao, was promoted by Fan Zhongyan when he visited Shaanxi, and later served under the general Di Qing, who conquered the east and west and won many battles. Three generations of Yang family guarding Linzhou, Yang Jiye father and son of three generations of Liao resistance, are the Northern Song Dynasty famous generals, leaving countless heroic performance. These achievements were later interpreted as "Yang family general" story legend, widely circulated in the folklore. Later, people called the ancient Linzhou "Yangjiacheng", which expressed their love and respect for the ancient heroes.

Linzhou old city ---- "Yangjiacheng" is located in the southwest flow of the Cave Wild River. Not only is it easy to defend and difficult to attack, but the military geographic location is quite important. Western Xia by Xiazhou (now Jingbian County Baichengzi) to the east attack, this place bears the brunt. Control Linzhou, not only can the west against the Western Xia, the east against the Khitan, the south to protect the East River Road, and once the Western Xia waved southward aggression, Linzhou can also send troops to attack the rear of the Western Xia, forcing it to dare not far into. Therefore, the fight for Linzhou became a focal point of the war between Song, Liao and Western Xia. According to the "Song history" records, the war under the city of Linzhou up to dozens of times. Although the Western Xia repeatedly sent troops to the siege, and even repeated setbacks, but also still unwilling to give up, to the point of stationing troops on both sides of the Cave Wild River, planting and grazing, so that Linzhou has become a lonely city.

Today, standing in the Linzhou old city wall to the distance, the Great Wall of China from the southwest direction winding, through the ruins of the ancient city, and to the northeast and go. A towering peak fire pier near and far staggered, as a mighty sentinel stands in the hills. To the Great Wall as a boundary, two very different landscapes in front of us: the Great Wall is the hills such as waves, rolling peaks, the Great Wall outside the sandy sea stretching, endless. Can not help but make people produce a sense of distant history! Issued a heartfelt admiration. It is no wonder that as a militarist of the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu in the "on the matters of Linzhou sparse" called it: "Castle firm, the terrain is high and steep, is a heavenly danger, can be defended but can not be attacked." In the "please do not abandon Linzhou疏" in a loud voice: "Linzhou heavenly danger, can not be abolished!"

Today step out of the old city northeast, the cliff still remains two deep wells, one around about 8 meters, a slightly smaller, unfathomable depth. Historically, although Yangjia City has been repeatedly besieged, but always easy to attack. An important reason for this is that the wells are free of water, and there is no worry about the water source. In such a high and steep mountain, this can not be said to be an incredible miracle. Shenmu County Records, there is a "Yangjiacheng General Mountain Temple monument," an article, is the Song Shao Sheng five years (1098) engraved, it is recorded that, in the Song Kangding years (1040 a 1041 years), the Qiang Qiang of the Western Xia reneged on the peace treaty, attacked Linzhou, see here as if there is a god to command, and therefore to hide away. People rumor is a man of God manifestation, so it is called General Hill and build a temple to worship. Ten kilometers northeast of the city, there is an ancient city, known as Huangyangcheng, and Yangjiacheng into the corner of the situation, which is the Sui Dynasty Liangu Town, Tang Liangu County, the Song Dynasty fortress Heng Yang Fort site. It was abandoned in the fourth year of the Song Dynasty (1114).

In Kaifeng, the imperial city of the Northern Song Dynasty, there are two famous lakes outside the imperial city: "Bao Gong Lake" and "Yangjia Lake". Shanxi Linzhou Yang family, is the owner of the Kaifeng Yang House and Kaifeng Yang Family Lake! In addition to the Yang family, Linzhou City is also closely linked to many prominent names in history: in the Tang Dynasty, there is a great breakthrough Turkic, three built by the city of surrender (now Baotou City, Ulat Qianqi, and Bayannur City) Zhang Renwang; there was the county people called the "imperial history of the rain" of the great calligrapher Yen Zhenqing; a famous shock of the frontier generals Zhang said; the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, Sima Guang, Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Wen Yanbo and other generation of celebrities have left a lot of war and political achievements in Linzhou. At that time, the town of Fuzhou (now Fugu County) folding family army (She Taijun's family), but also with the Yang Family Generals Twin Peaks, closely related to the *** with the town of the border.

In addition, there are a number of historically famous literary figures, poets such as Wang Wei, Lu Lun, Li Yi, Liu Yuxi, etc., or to throw his pen into the military, or banished to the clouds, have left countless immortal poems and articles here. Thirty thousand years ago, in the late Paleolithic period of China, the home of the ancient "craftsmen", "capable people"---- "Loop People" was in the Sala Wusu River Basin near the ancient Linzhou. The "Loop People Site" is also located along the Great Wall at the ancient border of China. In times of war, the Great Wall in the north and south of the Great Wall, each of the 50 to 100 miles, has always been a military no-go area. The city of Yulin, which historically governed the area, has a legend of "three moves to Yulin". The earliest recorded Yulin City (present-day Taiyuan, present-day Jinzhong, present-day Jincheng) was the capital city of China during the Shennong era. And before the Sui Dynasty Yulin County, is the first north from Shanxi, built in Inner Mongolia at the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains in Tokoto County; second south to Inner Mongolia Meijixian (today's Jungar); third south, today this piece of the Loop's ancient lakes and forests have disappeared and receded, in the endless Mao Wusu Desert surrounded by wind and sand in the ravages of the. Today, the descendants of the ancient soldiers who still hold on to the Great Wall and are allowed to live on the Great Wall line still bear heavy double responsibility for the security of the national resources along the ancient Great Wall and the economic prosperity of the place today. In the 1980s, after the promotion of the ancient Linzhou as China's "energy capital", the mineral development zone along the Great Wall in Yulin City, where Shenmu (ancient Linzhou) is located, has been facing the heavy task of protecting the underground water sources, creating the "Three North Protective Forests", restoring the vegetation, and protecting the ancient relics of our nation. The heavy task of protecting the ancient relics of our nation. And can not be ignored and a little delay!