One of the ancient capitals of China: Luoyang

Inscription: With the protagonist of the novel entering Luoyang, the city will also become the center of this novel, in order to help readers have a better understanding of this city, but also to write about the sigh in my heart, I specially wrote this article, I hope someone will like it. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info every piece of historical material is I bothered to find out, but personal ability, it is inevitable that there will be mistakes and omissions, and I hope that everyone can also put forward more opinions at the same time, I will be happy to accept. At the same time, I also have an idea, that is, to follow the footsteps of the protagonist to write enough biographies of China's five ancient capitals, and even biographies of some ancient cities. It's a lifelong pleasure to be able to write about what you like, and if any readers like it, it's a blessing! Without further ado, look at the opening chapter:

The four mountains are surrounded by green, and the three rivers are rippling and sub bright.

The spring breeze does not know the meaning of prosperity and death, and the grass is full of the old city.

Smoke and rain and howling Nai Huasheng, the palace is the old imperial city.

If you ask about the ancient and modern things, please only look at Luoyang City.

Sima Guang's poem "Passing the Ancient City of Luoyang" can't help but vividly describe the scenery of Luoyang during the Northern Song Dynasty, and also expresses the views of a generation of historians on a city, that is, the rise and fall of Luoyang City.

Indeed, not only Sima Guang, but today, as soon as you turn on the TV, you can see an advertisement for "a Luoyang city, half a step in Chinese history". It is true that Luoyang, as the center of the development of ancient Chinese civilization and the ancient capital of the Nine Dynasties, has an extremely important position in the entire history of China, and even the name of its ancient capital has long been deeply imprinted in the hearts of every Chinese.

It is no accident that history chose Luoyang. Luoyang is located in the middle of the land of China, the Heluo Plain has fertile soil, suitable climate, moderate cold and warm, and ancient human activities have been very early. In addition, from the perspective of the general trend of feng shui, Luoyang is located in the middle of the country, the north is based on the Taihang and the Yellow River, the south is adjacent to Yi Yan and the Central Plains, the west is facing the Qinling Mountains and looking at Guanzhong, and the east is close to Runan, so the ancients called it the river and mountain arch Dai, the situation is the world, and it is actually the capital of the emperor.

It is in this way that Prince Taikang of Xia set the capital near Luoyang, and today's archaeology has found that its site is in the Erlitou Village of Yanshi in Luoyang. After the Yin Shang Dynasty, he moved his capital several times, one of which was moved to Xihao, or Luoyang Yanshi.

To the Zhou Dynasty, Luoyang's status as the national capital was officially determined, legend has it that after King Wu of Zhou fell, passing by Luoyang, he liked it very much, thinking that the world was in the middle, and the tributes of the Quartet were equal, so it was determined to be the eastern capital of the Zhou Dynasty. It is a pity that King Wu died young, and this last wish can only be fulfilled by his younger brother Zhou Gongdan.

Zhou Gongdan was a wise and great man, and many later celebrities, including Confucius and Cao Cao, greatly respected and respected him, but in fact, many cultures such as Zhou Li and many other cultures that have influenced China to this day began with this Zhou Gong. Of course, for Luoyang, Zhou Gongdan also has indelible contributions. Since the death of King Wu, Zhou Gongdan completed the site selection and construction of the city in Luoyang, and at the same time, in order to guard against the princes, he also set up eight passes in all directions of Luoyang. At this time, Luoyang City was nine miles away, and there were tall palaces and ancestral temples in the city. At this time, the layout of Luoyang City affected every national capital in later generations.

In the city of Luoyang of Zhou Gongdan, the palace is in the north, and the south is a tall palace gate, as is the Forbidden City and the ruins of the Forbidden City in Nanjing. The system of the left ancestor and the right society, the former dynasty and the latter bedding, has also been inherited by successive generations of national capitals.

In fact, there are two Luoyang cities at this time, one is the royal city with a palace as mentioned by Fang Cai, the ruins are in the Wangcheng Park in today's Luoyang City, and the other is fifteen miles east of today's Luoyang City, which is called Chengzhou. Wangcheng was the palace of the Son of Heaven's Eastern Expedition, and Cheng Zhou was only to arrange the concentration of the old Yin Shang people.

In the year of the Western Weekend, after the princes of Youwang Fenghuo, the Western Zhou Dynasty was destroyed by the dog Rong, and the dense palace under Qishan was destroyed. After King Ping ascended the throne, he suffered from the lack of a luxurious palace to live in, and heard that the palace in the eastern capital Luoyang was well preserved, so he decided to move the capital to Luoyang despite the opposition of the minister. It is known as the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in history.

If it is officially calculated, Luoyang in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is the first time that Luoyang has become the national capital. After King Ping moved eastward, he expanded five miles to the north, making Luoyang in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty a rectangle that was long from north to south and short from east to west. Since then, the Zhou royal family has weakened, the etiquette has collapsed, the king's life has not come out of Luoyang, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period have come, and the Zhou royal family has stood aside.

In the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the rise of the Qin Dynasty was unstoppable. In 256 BC, King Hao, the last son of Zhou, dedicated the city to the King of Qin, and Zhou perished. Luoyang moved east from King Ping to King Qin's destruction of Zhou, and experienced a total of 515 years of Eastern Zhou period.

After King Yingzheng of Qin obtained Luoyang, he changed the name to Henan and gave it to Lü Buwei. At this time, Luoyang's industry and commerce were extremely developed.

Immediately after that, another Liu Bang appeared, and the first glorious era in Chinese history came to the Han Dynasty and Qin. According to legend, Liu Bang first liked Luoyang, and said, "I have a lot of lines in the world, only Luoyang", and wanted to establish this as the capital, but was persuaded by his adviser Lou Jing, Lou Jing said that His Majesty took the world with martial arts, not by virtue, and could not be compared with Zhou Tianzi, "and the husband Qindi, by the mountains and rivers, the four stoppers thought it was solid, suddenly there was an emergency, and millions of people could have it." So Liu Bang chose Chang'an, which was easier to defend and difficult to attack, instead of Luoyang, which was a plain land, and Luoyang also said goodbye to the glory of history for the first time.

Fortunately, history has not forgotten this feng shui imperial capital, the Western Han Dynasty forgot, and Liu Xiu came, considering that Guanzhong was broken, so the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was not weaker than the Western Han Dynasty, was established in Luoyang.

Luoyang is destined to see too many things about the rise and fall. Within two hundred years, the Eastern Han Dynasty was in danger. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was divided into three kingdoms, and the beacon fire was endless. In 220 AD, Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate the throne and built the Great Wei Dynasty himself, which also built the capital in Luoyang.

However, in less than fifty years, the invincible Cao family was hurriedly replaced by the Sima family. Similarly, the Western Jin Dynasty was still built in Luoyang, and similarly, the history of the Western Jin Dynasty with Luoyang as the capital is only 52 years.

Another 180 years have passed, and Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the son of the minority who is determined to reform, withstood the pressure of his ministers and resolutely moved the capital to Luoyang. In his opinion, Luoyang is not only in the middle of the world, it was originally the residence of the emperor, and more importantly, the Central Plains can make it easier for the Xianbei people to be sinicized, so Emperor Xiaowen once again repaired Luoyang City, which was destroyed in the war for a hundred years, and Luoyang City also shined because of it.

This time it was less than fifty years, after the death of Emperor Xiaowen, the courtiers usurped power, the regime strife, Luoyang was once again reduced to ruins, and the Northern Wei Dynasty had to move the capital out.

Luoyang's glory again, and the last glory, was in the Sui and Tang dynasties.

A hundred years later, the war was finally quelled by the Sui who ruled the world. According to legend, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty once hunted in Luoyang, saw the general trend of Luoyang's mountains and rivers, and exclaimed, "Is it Longmenye?" Why not build the capital here since ancient times? Su Wei, a courtier on the side, hurriedly replied, "Wait for Your Majesty!" So, Yang Guang said he would do it, and after returning to Chang'an, he ordered Yang Su to rebuild Luoyang, which took nine years to build.

At this time, Luoyang is in the north of Minshan, and the south is in Yiyun, and Luoshui irrigates the capital, and there is the image of Tianhan. Far beyond the previous generation of cities, it is a new Zhongdu Dayi.

After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, Li Tangjian, who relied on the nobility of Guanzhong, chose Chang'an in Guanzhong, and Luoyang was once again neglected. However, what Li Shimin didn't expect was that his son Tang Gaozong upgraded Luoyang to the eastern capital, and what he didn't expect was that a generation of empresses was born, and he called it the divine capital. Indeed, Wu Zetian, who was unwilling to be influenced by Li Tang, would inevitably choose Luoyang, and the political center of the country also turned to Luoyang.

At this time, Luoyang is the most prosperous period in history, there are as many as six bridges above Luoshui, the north and south of the city are fifteen miles, and the population in the city is up to more than one million people. All kinds of tall palace buildings in the city emerge in endlessly, which is unimaginable, and it seems that the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty is depicted in Luoyang City. At this time, Luoyang was also comparable to Chang'an.

The good times are still not long, after Wu Zetian's death, Li Tang in order to go to Wu Zetianhua, as long as it is the building built by the empress in Luoyang City, it will be demolished, and Luoyang will no longer have the prosperity of the former god capital. After the Anshi Rebellion, Luoyang, like Chang'an, was also sacked by the Huizi, and since then it has been in a state of decline until the fall of the Tang Dynasty.

Later, after the rebellion of the Five Kingdoms and Ten Generations, the changes of dynasties were as frequent as flowers blooming and falling, and Luoyang also ushered in the last two dynasties of his capital: Houliang and Houtang, but unfortunately there is no climate, which is not worth mentioning.

In the blink of an eye, the eloquent Song Taizu appeared, and after the yellow robe was draped, the Northern Song Dynasty also inherited Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. However, the king who established the prosperous Northern Song Dynasty was not very satisfied with Kaifeng, which had no danger to defend, and after the founding of the country, he had been investigating where to establish a capital, and Luoyang first entered his eyes. Compared with the Yellow River north of Kaifeng City, there are many mountain ranges such as Taihang Mountain in the north of Luoyang, which is enough to set up a pass and build a card, although it is a little worse than Chang'an, which is in danger of Guanzhong, but it is still much stronger than Kaifeng. Moreover, although it has experienced the wars of five dynasties and ten countries, the palaces of Luoyang City still retain the basic layout, and Luoyang at this time is more like a national capital than Kaifeng. So, Song Taizu said, "I want to move Luo, to go to redundant troops according to the danger of mountains and rivers, and follow the stories of the Zhou and Han dynasties to settle the world", and moving the capital to Luoyang was officially put on Zhao Kuangyin's agenda.

However, someone resolutely raised objections, and this person was Taizu's younger brother Zhao Kuangyi. It is rumored that Zhao Kuangyi was the mayor of Kaifeng City at that time, in charge of Nanya, it can be said that Kaifeng Mansion is Zhao Kuangyi's political foundation, if your emperor moves the capital to Luoyang, Kaifeng will be reduced to a local city, then what other power position does he have? So under the resolute opposition of Zhao Kuangyi, until the death of Taizu, the relocation of the capital could not be realized. Luoyang, once again with the national capital, and prosperity missed. Like Taizu, who died young, Luoyang is really lamentable.

Luoyang's next missed opportunity was during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, was not very satisfied with his own capital, but Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with a rumor that the dynasty that built the capital of Nanjing would not last a hundred years. Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he also began to plan to move the capital.

As a result, Luoyang once again fell into the eyes of the founding emperor, and Chang'an and Kaifeng were also alternatives. However, the lessons of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty made Zhu Yuanzhang unforgettable, so Kaifeng was defeated. In the twenty-third year of Hongwu, the crown prince Zhu Biao was ordered to inspect Xi'an, and it was obvious that in Taizu's heart, Chang'an was to be ranked before Luoyang. However, what no one expected was that Zhu Biao died of illness in the second year after he came back, and the battered Zhu Yuanzhang was unwilling to worry about that heart anymore, so Luoyang and Chang'an fell into an ordinary city together.

Since then, Luoyang, like the entire Henan Province fell into poverty, it is worth mentioning that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Mingshenzong sealed his most beloved son Zhu Changluo to Luoyang, and at the same time was awarded half of the land of Henan Province to Zhu Changluo, the blessed king. King Fu, who didn't want to be rich, increased the looting of the already barren Henan, and the looted wealth of Luoyang City could not be accommodated, so King Fu built a large number of palaces outside the city, and even called Luoyang rich in Beijing. However, the rich King Fu was unwilling to spend a penny to defend the city, so Li Zicheng captured Luoyang without much effort, and King Fu and his huge palace complex and countless wealth suddenly became the object of the rebel army, and the prosperity of Luoyang, which was as short-lived as a pavilion in the air, became ashes overnight.

Finally, New China was founded. It is rumored that before the establishment of the young republic, when the Party Central Committee was considering building a capital city, Luoyang was still on the list, but at this time, the weak economic strength of Henan was difficult to support the existence of a national capital, so Luoyang was on the list, and even ranked after Wuhan and Harbin. Luoyang also said goodbye to the national capital for the last time.

However, Luoyang's place in Chinese history will never change.

Historically, Luoyang is pivotal. Eastern Zhou, Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Wei, Western Jin Dynasty, Northern Wei Dynasty, Sui, Tang, Later Liang, Later Tang Dynasty nine dynasties built their capitals here, if you count Xia, Shang, Western Zhou and Later Jin, it is the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, from this, Luoyang as the capital of the time as long as 1,500 years, here to point out the country of the emperor as many as one hundred and five, it can really be said to be a thousand years of imperial capital. According to statistics, in the 25 histories of the official history of China, Luoyang appeared 3,549 times, with an average of less than 8,700 words appearing once, and the frequency of occurrence is so high that it can be said that a Luoyang City, half of the Chinese history, Luoyang City, is a place that cannot be avoided by those who read history.

Historically, Luoyang is brilliant. The royal palace established by Zhou Gongdan laid the foundation for the pattern of all the imperial palaces in later generations. Confucius greeted Lao Tzu here and left a good message for the ages. Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty is the starting point of the Silk Road, and at the same time the end point of the White Horse Sutra from the west, the link of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, and the holy place for Buddhism to enter China. Luoyang in the Sui Dynasty was developed like a dream, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was specially folded here, and Luoyang can be called the center of the canal. Luoyang in the Tang Dynasty was like a brocade of flowers, just like his city flower peony as gorgeous, as brilliant as the brilliance, and even Luoyang City at this time also influenced Kyoto, Japan beyond the East China Sea, and Kyoto, which imitated the pattern of Luoyang City, was once called Luoyang of Japan. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the United Nations listed it as a world cultural city, and at the same time, it was called the world's four holy cities along with Jerusalem, Mecca and Athens.

Luoyang in history is sad and lamentable. The ancients said that if there is nothing in the world, it is enough, and if there is something, Luoyang must be the first to be armed. It is true that Luoyang, which is located in the middle of the world and the thoroughfare of ten provinces, is often given special care by soldiers because of its unique strategic position. In the Eastern Weekend year, Qin and Han fought here, and King Hao resisted the Qin soldiers according to the city. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo set fire to the century-old palace. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, traitors and the royal family fought here. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Wang Shichong rebelled in Luoyang. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, An Lushan's iron cavalry broke through the two capitals. In the late Tang Dynasty, the sad last emperor spent the twilight of a dynasty here. The various dynasties are like watching the flowers in Luoyang one after another, you sing and I appear, composing a prosperous and splendid at the same time, but also let the world send out the cry of the people of the world rather than the peaceful dogs. Luoyang has carried too many disasters in history, but Luoyang, again and again, has stood up again, standing in the middle of the world, just like the Chinese nation, although it has gone through turmoil, it still stands in the east of the world and does not fall.

The thousand-year-old imperial capital, the holy city of China. The source of civilization, in the world.

The starting point of the Silk Road, the center of the canal. Peony flower capital, the city of mountains and rivers.

Three generations of creation, Wei and Jin are romantic. The Han and Tang dynasties are majestic, and the Song family is civil.

Indeed, Luoyang, a fantastic city, gives every reader of history a great space for sighing. "Only the peony is true to the national color, and the flowers move the capital when they bloom", if there is leisure, I would like to travel to Luoyang to see the rich flowers. "Zhongzhou is a good land, and the white horse is coming", if I have leisure, I would like to travel to Luoyang and listen to the white horse bell. "The suburbs of Luodu, the victory of mountains and rivers, the first of Longmen", if I have leisure, I would like to visit Luoyang and pay tribute to the legacy of the Northern Wei Dynasty. If I have leisure, I would like to walk through Luoyang and look for the ruins of the royal city.

The endless Luoyang City, the endless history of rise and fall. It's still Sima Guang who said, "If you ask about the ancient and modern things, please only look at Luoyang City." "The thousand-year-old imperial capital, the rise and fall sigh, is all in this poem.