"The Guihua City has been captured, and we haven't had a good tour yet. How about we tour and talk at the same time." Yang Fan seemed to be very interested, or maybe he didn't take these 40,000 people seriously.
Zhang Shize curled his lips and said: "A small town that's only half a mile long and wide, what's there to walk around in? It's not as big as my house."
Although he said that, he still followed Yang Fan towards Guihua City.
Yang Fan couldn't help but burst into laughter. To be honest, the length and width of the British government palace were more than 250 meters. I thought this naturalized city was so amazing before I came here, but it turned out to be really meaningless.
However, this is a grassland, and there is neither manpower nor building materials to build the city. Whether it is wood or bricks, they need to be carried on camels from very far away.
It took Anda Khan and Sanniang Zi a full eight years to build this small town before it was completely completed.
Yang Fan pointed around with his horsewhip and said: "This is Yunzhong County, the hometown of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Starting from the construction of Yunzhong City by King Zhao Wu during the Warring States Period, it has a history of nearly two thousand years of city building."
Zhang Shize also said: "My father also told me before I came here. There are 87 ancient cities of various sizes built in this area in the past dynasties. Among the more famous ones are Yunzhong Ancient City in the Warring States Period and Dingxiang Ancient City in the Han Dynasty.
, Dongshoujiang City in the Tang Dynasty, ancient Fengzhou City in the Liao and Jin Dynasties, and Guihua City since the Ming Dynasty, etc."
“Surrounded by smaller dilapidated ruins, there are Yuanyang Ancient City, Wuquan Ancient City, Taolin Ancient City, Baidao Ancient City, Antao Ancient City, Beiyu Ancient City, Haraqingoukou Ancient City, Dacheng Ancient City, Guchengcun Ancient City, Zhen
Ling Ancient City, Yangshou Ancient City, Tuchengzi Ancient City, Shierden Ancient City, Wucheng Ancient City, Wujin Ancient City, Yunyang Ancient City, Tongguo Ancient City, etc.”
Yang Fan nodded and said: "Cities have been built here in the past dynasties, which shows that this place is very important. This is a transportation hub connecting Qinghai-Tibet, the Western Regions, Mobei and the Central Plains, and Liaodong."
Zhang Shize said: "We have lost this place for almost a thousand years. Now it is finally back in our hands."
Yang Fan agreed. In his opinion, every piece of China's homeland needs to be recovered.
"Do you know when this land in Yunzhong was most prosperous and had the largest population?" Yang Fan asked.
"Is it the Tang Dynasty? During the prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty, the Eastern Turks were destroyed and Shuofang County and other prefectures and counties were established."
Yang Fan shook his head and said: "It was the Western Han Dynasty. It was the period when the most cities were built in the history of the naturalized area, and it was also the period when the population was the largest in history. According to the "Hanshu Geography" record: At that time, the area around the jacket was
The population reached nearly 400,000. In order to strengthen management, the Han Dynasty built more than 20 large and small county towns in this area."
Zhang Shize was very shocked. He then asked: "I found that the Qin Great Wall and the Han Great Wall were three to four hundred miles north than the Ming Great Wall. And many places in what is now Mongolia were once counties. Why have we retreated so much?
many."
Yang Fan said: "I have also studied this issue and found that during the Qin and Han Dynasties, the territory we controlled was far further north than it is now. Basically, the south of the Mongolian Gobi is our farming land. They are all counties."
Zhang Shize also said: "I have discovered this problem a long time ago. I asked my father and my grandfather. They said that the land there is barren. The output is not enough to support the local soldiers and people, and food needs to be transported from the interior. The Han and Tang Dynasties can still maintain their prosperity.
.The subsequent dynasties’ national strength failed. In the end they had no choice but to give up, and slowly it became a land for Mongols to herd horses.”
Yang Fan said: "As far as I know, there is another explanation. That is climate."
"Climate! What is this?" Zhang Shize asked strangely.
The word climate did not exist in this era. Therefore, he did not understand what it meant.
"Climate refers to weather, temperature, precipitation, frost time, the change of four seasons, etc. In Chinese history, there were times when the temperature was high, and other times when the temperature was low. When the temperature was low, there was less precipitation."
Zhang Shize nodded in agreement. "Since the Wanli Dynasty, the weather in the north of Ming Dynasty has become unprecedentedly cold. The rainfall has also decreased significantly. It can be seen that the relationship between precipitation and temperature you said is credible."
Yang Fan nodded and continued: "You know that my workshop has its own set of measurement units. We divide the annual precipitation according to height. 400 mm is a special threshold. If it exceeds this threshold, farming can be done. If it is below
At this pass, we can only graze."
"I can understand this. In places with little rainfall, crops cannot be grown and only grass can grow. Then they can only be used as pastoral areas."
"In the era of Yao, Shun, and Yu, the temperature was high and the precipitation was high, which even caused great floods in the north. That's why Dayu came to control the floods. At that time, even thousands of years earlier, our ancestors established many city-states in Monan.
nation."
In ancient times, from 10,000 to 3,000 years ago, a large number of ancient civilizations such as the Hongshan Culture and the Shimao Culture existed in Inner Mongolia and the Northeast. Even merchants came to the Central Plains from the Northeast to establish the Shang Dynasty.
"The Warring States Period and the Qin and Han Dynasties were the second warm period. At that time, there was a lot of rainfall here, so it could be cultivated. Otherwise, how could this narrow land south of the Yinshan Mountains and north of the Yellow River support a population of 400,000."
Zhang Shize asked: "You are saying that the climate became colder and the precipitation line moved southward. This area became a pastoral area. In other words, the Great Wall was built on this agricultural reference precipitation line. So the Great Wall in Ming Dynasty moved southward.
To where we are now.”
Yang Fan nodded and said, "That's it."
Zhang Shize looked bitter and said: "Then I understand why Taizu and Chengzu clearly defeated Monan and then gave up. If crops don't grow here and rely on inland manpower to transport food, it will affect the country's finances.
It’s going to crash.”
He thought for a while and couldn't help but said: "Look at it this way, after His Majesty asked us to eliminate the Mongols, we are also facing the same problem as Taizu and Chengzu. We are also untenable."
Yang Fan said: "It's different. We can stand firm. Because we have steam engines and can extract underground water for irrigation. Crops can be grown in the entire Monan and even in the far north of Liaodong. We can hold it once we conquer it."
Yang Fan and Zhang Shize rode horses and gradually approached the ancient city with their cavalry guards.
Walking closer, I found that this city is the same as the city walls in the interior. They are all made of rammed loess and covered with bricks. Because they are made of blue bricks, they show a green color. This is also the original meaning of Hohhot in Mongolian. It is also blue.
's city.
The city is not big, but it is very majestic.
Ramming soil is not easy. You need to find good yellow clay. There is sand on the grassland, so it is impossible to ram. The clay is brought by camels. And the loess must be steamed in a steamer to kill the eggs and prevent insects.
After hatching, it will dig holes and damage the city wall.
It is also necessary to mix the steamed clay with lime, add water, fill it up to the level of the building slab, and then pound it firmly with a stone hammer. The amount of work is staggering.
At this time, standing at the foot of the city, looking up at the city wall that is almost as high as the capital city, I was also sighing in my heart at how powerful Anda Khan (Altan Khan) was back then.
This small city has only two gates in the north and south, but both have built majestic arrow towers and urns. The city walls are built with horse faces every fifty meters. The horse faces and the four corners of the city wall are built with turrets. These turrets are painted in gold and color.
It looks magnificent.
The two trusted the reins and walked into the city gate.
"If we want real long-term peace and stability in the northwest, we must meet someone. Maybe he has escaped. Maybe he is waiting for us in the city." Yang Fan said to Zhang Shize.
