Legends about Nanjing

In 472 BC, after the destruction of Wu by Gou Jian, the King of Yue, he attempted to further annex Chu. He took a fancy to Changganli, which is now located at Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing, and called Fan Li, an adviser, to supervise the construction, and named it "Yuecheng", also known as "Fan Li" city.

At that time, "Yuecheng" was very small, only 1km, with 80 steps around the city and an area of only 60,000 square meters, so it was called "Yuetai".

In 333 BC, Chu Weiwang was destroyed, and a city was built in Liang Qingshan (also known as Stone Mountain) in Nanjing, which is called "Jinling City", which is also the origin of Nanjing, also known as "Jinling" and "Stone City".

In 2 1 1 BC, Sun Quan built the "Stone City" in the former site of Jinling City, which is an important historical relic in Nanjing today. This was a military fortress at that time. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the terrain is very dangerous

Stone city

At the foot of Qingliang Mountain in Nanjing, you can see winding city walls and towering stone cliffs from the Shimen in the tiger's dragon pan to the Caomen. This is a stone city built on a hill.

Tongzhi's Shangjiang County Records. "Mountain Examination" contains: "Since Jiangbei, there are no stones in the mountains, so there are stones in the mountains, hence the name.

"Jiankangzhi" also said: "There is a city on the mountain, also known as Shicheng Mountain.

"The' city' mentioned here is the stone city.

The origin of Stone Town can be traced back to the Warring States Period more than two thousand years ago.

According to historical records, in the thirty-sixth year of Zhou Xian (333 BC), the State of Chu (Yingdu, now Jiangling, Hubei) destroyed the State of Yue (Wudu, now Suzhou), Chu Weiwang set up Jinling City, and built a city on Liang Qingshan.

In the twenty-fourth year of Qin Shihuang (223 BC), the State of Chu perished, and the Qin Dynasty changed Jinling to Moling County.

According to legend, Zhuge Liang went to Battle of Red Cliffs on the eve of the Three Kingdoms to discuss with Sun Quan the plan to break Cao Zhi.

According to legend, Zhuge Liang rode to Shitou Mountain to observe the mountains and rivers when passing through Moling County.

He saw the mountains headed by Zhongshan winding in the southeast like a black dragon, while the western hills ending in rocky mountains stood on both sides of the river like tigers, so he praised "Zhongshan is long and flat, and the stone is beside the tiger, which is really the residence of the emperor" and suggested to Sun Quan to move the capital to Moling.

After Sun Quan went to Battle of Red Cliffs, he moved to Moling (now Nanjing) and was renamed Moling Jianye.

The following year, a famous stone town was built on the original foundation of Liang Qingshan.

At that time, the Yangtze River flowed out of Liang Qing, so the military position of Stone Town was very prominent, and Sun Wu always regarded it as the most important naval base.

In the following hundreds of years, it became the military center of war defense. In the civil war, the victory or defeat is often decided by taking the stone city.

Stone Town is based on the cool natural cliffs on the western slope of Shanxi, surrounded by mountains, with a circumference of "seven miles and a hundred paces", which is equivalent to about six miles now.

On the northern edge of the Great River, it reaches the mouth of Qinhuai River in the south, with two gates in Nankai and one gate in the east. To the west of the South Gate is the West Gate, which is surrounded by mountains and waters and separated by the Huaihe River. The danger is great now.

There are stone warehouses and stone warehouses in the city to store military food and weapons.

There is an alarm beacon tower at the height of the city wall, which can send out signals at any time to predict enemy invasion.

In the Southern Dynasties, the status of Stone Town as a military fortress to defend the capital remained unchanged.

In ancient times, the Yangtze River flowed eastward around the foot of Liangshan Mountain. Huge waves beat the mountain wall from time to time and washed it into a cliff.

After the Tang Dynasty, the river moved westward day by day. Since the eighth year of Wude in Tang Dynasty (625), Stone Town began to be abandoned. Therefore, Liu Yuxi, a poet in the middle Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Stone City": "The old country is surrounded by mountains, and the tide hits the empty city and is lonely.

On the east bank of Huaihe River, it is a month, and it is late at night.

The stone city described by the poet is already a deserted and lonely "empty city".

Five Dynasties (924).

The first temple, Xingjiao Temple, was built in Shitou Town, and later became a scenic spot where temples and academies were concentrated.

Today, it is still famous at home and abroad for its majestic posture of "Stone City surrounded by tigers".

Nowadays, when we walk under the stone city, we can not only see the foundation of the ochre pebble wall clearly, but also see the city bricks added to the stone wall in the past dynasties.

According to geological research, the rock stratum here is the Pukou Formation stratum of Late Cretaceous about 654.38+0 billion to 70 million years ago.

Under the wall between Qingliangmen and Caochangmen, there is a prominent oval stone wall, about 6 meters long and 3 meters wide, because of years of weathering and gravel.

Stone peeling, potholes, spots, mixed with purple and black rocks, strange rocks, eyes, ears, nose and mouth faintly visible from a distance, like a ferocious face, known as the "grimace city."

There are many legends about grimace city in Nanjing.

According to legend, this stone used to be as smooth as a knife.

Now there is a clear pond in the west of grimace city, and the reflection of grimace city can be seen from one side of the water. Old Nanjing people are commonly known as "faces in the mirror".

This magical legend has attracted countless Chinese and foreign tourists.

Nowadays, the Stone Town Site has been listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Jiangsu Province, and it has become a good place for people to explore the secluded spots and ponder over the ancient feelings.