The history of seven towns

Qiji Town has a long history. The Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Place Names in China contains: "Seven-level Town is located in the east of the Northeast Canal in yanggu county, Shandong Province, with Liaocheng County as the road and Gudu. According to legend, Tang Tianzhen's brother cried and lived here. " This place was called Maozhen in the Tang Dynasty. The canal in Shandong province was opened and passed through the town. It is a canal ferry pier, which was renamed today because it has seven stone steps. At the beginning of the yuan dynasty, there was a city gate here, which was managed by officials and stationed by barracks, just like the Ming and Qing dynasties. Shiyanggu, Dong 'e and Shenxian all set up official warehouses here, with busy freight and many ships coming and going. Southern scholars enter Beijing for exams, and officials go to Beijing for debriefing, which is the only place they must pass. Scholars often stay here and recite excellent works. Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong have also been to the south. There are 6 streets and lanes in the town with 4 gates, 6 vertical lanes and 8 horizontal lanes, which are connected by pavements like a chessboard, and the business is quite prosperous. Seven-grade ancient crossing was listed as one of the "Eight Scenes of Yanggu" in the Ming Dynasty. Seven towns, Acheng and Zhang Qiu are also called the three towns of Yanggu Canal. Bao, a famous scholar and great calligrapher in Qing Dynasty, once described what he saw and heard when he sailed south from Guantao on June 6th in the ninth year of Daoguang (1829) and passed through the three towns of Yanggu Canal. He wrote: On the tenth day, starting from Dongchang, passing through Lee Ha dock (that is, Lihaiwu) gate and Zhoujiadian gate, "twelve miles to seven gates". When the gate enters the territory of Yanggu, there are cities on both sides, and Yanggu, Xinhe and Dong 'a counties are also enemies of Cao. 1 1 day, the wind direction in Gui You is slightly fixed, and it goes against the wind for several days. Yesterday was very busy, like a canyon. It's eighteen miles from Acheng Xiazha. "Described the scene of seven ancient crossing at that time. Because Grade Seven is a grain wharf and Acheng is a salt wharf, there was a folk saying that Grade Seven is gold, Acheng is silver and Zhou Dian is iron.