Some people say that falling in love with a city is because you fall in love with a person in the city. I beg to differ, because I am fascinated by Taierzhuang just to feel the vicissitudes of its history and culture.
Taierzhuang prospered because the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal ran through it. According to historical records, the Tai family established a village here in the Tang Dynasty, and built a wafer in the Yuan Dynasty and developed it into a market town. In the 34th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1604), based on the needs of defense, maintenance and management of the Taierzhuang section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, Cao Cao, the governor of the river at that time, At that time, he was asked to set up post offices, set up military patrols, increase river officials, and establish public offices along the canal in the Taierzhuang section. Taierzhuang began to become a regional central city. In the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1647), an earthen city was built with a circumference of more than eight miles and six gates in the east, west, south, north, small south and small north. In the seventh year of Xianfeng (1857), brick walls were restored, crenellations were built, gate towers were erected, and moats were opened for more than ten miles. By the beginning of the last century, there were 8 streets, 13 docks, 437 alleys, 5,000 households, and more than 20,000 houses in the ancient city of Taierzhuang. In March 1938, the Chinese army fought fiercely with the Japanese army here and won a great victory for more than a month, making Taierzhuang famous again.
During the Qingming Festival, I paid a visit to Taierzhuang and soaked up the wind and smoke deep in history.
The west gate of the ancient city of Taierzhuang is a magnificent drum tower-style building. The double-story building has cornices and brackets, and a gilt plaque on the front reads "The No. 1 Village in the World" written by Emperor Qianlong. A little way along the ancient canal, there is a sedan-style Buyun Bridge, with a couplet engraved on the pillars: "The steps can be harmonious and fast, and the clouds have a road to climb first." As you move around, the scenery changes, but the ancient canal docks and inns remain the same. On the contrary, the couplet told me about the prosperity of the past: "Causes of grain travel northward with smoke and clouds and thousands of years of water, and messengers return south with fish and geese traveling thousands of miles to Beijing and Hangzhou." Watching the signs in the wine shops, walking through the archways and palaces, the Tianhou Palace brings the two sides of the Taiwan Strait closer. "Every time the sun and moon pass over my eyebrows, I can always see the endless mountains and rivers of heaven in my palms." Lien Chan, honorary president of the country, came to pay tribute and inscribe the inscription. The old wine from Risheng Old Store exudes the aroma of aging. A sip will nourish the charm of the Four Books and Five Classics.
There are many shops, flowing water and drinking glasses; tourists are everywhere, stone streets and alleys; music is like waterfalls, tables and oars are clanging; people can travel through a thousand years and dream back to the Tang Dynasty. The covered bridge arches over the moon, and the jade steps and railings look out; the green willow silk hanging down, the orchid is a blessing; the wharf brothel, the flower carving meditation hall; I suddenly feel that I am riding on the chariot with tassels, and the phoenix of Tokyo.
Standing in front of the general's office, I looked like a general, with dark eyebrows and dark eyes looking at the sword by the light. In the gate office, there are suddenly thousands of boats with thousands of sails and fireworks in March. I saw batches of literati students walking out of Cuiping Academy, and He Jingzhi was among them. Rishengchang records the entry and exit of merchants with ticket numbers, and the purple energy comes from the east. The Wanjia Courtyard embodies the wisdom of Shanxi merchants, while the Jiuhe Inn embodies Huizhou folk customs.
There are six gates and eight streets, and the objects and images are listed so that I can’t write in time to explain them. But the scene of continuous gunfire made my eyes focus on the only two remaining walls. The gray bricks were covered in gray haze and were riddled with bullet marks. They were ironclad evidence of Japanese pirates invading China. Some reports say that the original ancient city of Taierzhuang was actually reduced to ruins during the Anti-Japanese War. What I see today is just a shadow of "her". It is one of the only two cities in the world that was rebuilt as a world cultural heritage after being destroyed by artillery fire in World War II. That one is in Warsaw, Poland.
"The wheat is green by the Weishan Lake, and the blood is bloody on Taierzhuang." This is a poem in the "Hymn of the Taierzhuang War" written by Mr. Huang Qiaosong, the commander of the 27th Division in charge of the eastern defense line of Taierzhuang during the Taierzhuang War. So sad! Zhuanghuai is tragic! I think back then, 290,000 of our troops participated in the war and fought against 50,000 Japanese troops. The soldiers fought to the death. Hundreds of thousands of artillery shells tilted the ancient city, and Taierzhuang once lost three-quarters of it. Sun Lianzhong, Chi Fengcheng and other soldiers fought bloody battles and blew up the pontoons of the retreating canal, determined to serve the country. All the officers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 186th Regiment guarding the north gate were killed, and 11 of the 57 people in the counterattack death squad organized by the 31st Division survived. In this battle, our soldiers suffered more than 50,000 casualties and killed and injured more than 20,000 Japanese invaders, which shocked the world.
The flowing water is cold and the smoke is far away, and the setting sun is fragrant in spring.
I remember reading Bing Xin's battlefield interview "Into the Great Battlefield Taierzhuang": "Taierzhuang, your beautiful and moving name, have you ever known that this page of immortal glorious history was written with the flesh and blood of thousands of soldiers? Do you? Have you ever known how many loyal souls of martyrs are buried under your land? Have you ever seen the flowing water in the canal dyed red by the blood of martyrs? "My heart is broken and I am drunk!"
I stood still and stared at this ancient city again, my eyes were sore, and the wind was filled with the fragrance of the flowers!