Tang Zhiyun Millennium Ancient City Guazhou Pochengzi Ruins in Han Dynasty

The site of Pochengzi is located about 25 kilometers southeast of Guazhou County, Gansu Province. Because it is located in the west of Changle Village, it is also called Changle City.

Bochengzi belongs to the ancient city of Han and Tang Dynasties, with alluvial fans of Yulin River in the west, 25 kilometers from the site of Suoyangcheng in the east and 30 kilometers from Yulin Cave in the south. During the Han Dynasty, the city was broken and Guangzhi County was subordinate to Dunhuang County. However, scholars have different views on the broken city in Tang Dynasty. Some scholars, according to the textual research of relevant ancient books, concluded that the city was ruled by Tang Changle County, but the logic was not perfect. For example, the book Atlas of Yuanhe County written in the middle and late Tang Dynasty clearly records that Changle County in Tang Dynasty is located in Li Tang, west of Guazhou (about 6 1 km), and Guazhou in Tang Dynasty is now the site of Suoyang City, and the broken city is only about 25 km away from Suoyang City. Therefore, many scholars have verified that Tangchangle County should be located in the west of Guazhou County at present. After the Anshi Rebellion, Hangquanbao and Guazhou were trapped in Tubo at the same time. During the period of Guiyijun, Hangquan Town was set up here. Guiyijun surrendered to Xixia and abandoned the city. It has been abandoned for nearly a thousand years.

After archaeological excavation, the Han and Tang cultural layers were found in the ruins of the broken city, of which the upper layer was the Tang cultural layer with a thickness of about 76cm, and cultural relics such as pottery pieces and Kaiyuan Bao Tong were found. The lower layer is the cultural layer of Han Dynasty, with a thickness of about 1 m.. Water ripple gray pottery pieces, brown pottery pieces and burnt bones were also found. Between the two cultural layers, there is a layer of silt with a thickness of dozens of centimeters, which should be caused by flood alluvial.

There are many ancient cities left in Guazhou, and the broken city is also a relatively complete one. The whole ancient city is rectangular, about 250 meters long from north to south and about 145 meters wide from east to west. There is a door and an urn on the north wall. There are many horse faces on the east and west walls, and a small town the size of an urn is built outside the pier in the northeast corner. There is another building about 25 places outside the north gate of the ancient city, with an area of about 1200 square meters. According to the shape and area, this is the remains of a temple, similar to the shape of Suoyang City, but much smaller.

The walls of the city walls are rammed earth, with a base width of about 6 meters and a top width of about 3 meters. Most of them are well preserved, and the rammed soil layer of the city wall is clear, with a thickness of about 12- 14cm. Outside the north wall, due to excessive earth borrowing in the 1960s, the terrain outside the north wall is lower than the inside of the city wall, and part of the wall foundation of the north wall is seriously damaged.

Perhaps it is because there are not many influential historical events here, and the ancient city of Broken City is recorded less in historical materials and there are not many stories to tell. But at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a famous minister named Gai Xun who had a special biography in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty.

Gai Xun (date of birth and death unknown), a native of Guang Zhi County, Dunhuang, was born in an official family and lived mainly in the Lingdi period of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Gai Xun entered his official career as a filial boy, and later became the long history of Hanyang County (now east of Gangu County, Gansu Province). At that time, the satrap of Wuwei County relied on the support of some people in the imperial court, but he ran amok in Wuwei. Liangzhou is engaged in Su Zhenghe, ready to impeach this person to the court, and Gu Liang, the secretariat of Liangzhou, is afraid of offending powerful people in the DPRK, so he should punish Su Zhenghe and ask Gai Xun for advice on this matter. When Gai Xun and Su Zhenghe were at odds, someone advised Gai Xun to take revenge. Gai Xun said, "No way. Murder a lover, disloyalty; Take advantage of the danger of others, and those who are not kind are also. " Gai Xun persuaded Liang Hu, the secretariat of Liangzhou, to say, "The eagle and kite are fed for hunting, and the eagle and kite are killed for hunting. What will you use for hunting in the future? " Liang Hu took his advice and didn't punish Su Zhenghe. Su Zhenghe was very surprised to learn that Gai Xun had saved him, and went to visit Gai Xun specially to express his gratitude. Gai Xun was behind closed doors and sent a message: "I am planning for Liang, not for you!"

Gai Xun was later appointed Jing Zhao Yin. Although he was not in Korea, Gai Xun had a very close relationship with Emperor Han Ling and was deeply trusted by Emperor Han Ling. Whenever the country encounters major events, Emperor Han Ling often writes to Gai Xun for advice.

After the death of Emperor Han Ling, Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang. Later, Dong Zhuo abolished Emperor Shao of the Han Dynasty and killed He Taihou, which made courtiers often turn pale. However, Gai Xun did not fear power, and wrote to Dong Zhuo, saying, "In the past, Yi Yin and Huo Guangquan made meritorious deeds, but the result was chilling. You are just a humble person. You can imagine what will happen. Although those who congratulate you are outside the door, those who mourn you are already at your grave. Shouldn't we be cautious? " Dong Zhuo looked annoyed and helpless. He was afraid of Gai Xun.

Considering that Gai Xun and the left general Huangfusong controlled the military power in Sanfu area, Dong Zhuo was really a menace, so he took the opportunity to recruit Gai Xun as the negotiator and Huangfusong as the captain of the city gate. Huangfusong has 30,000 chosen men in Fufeng County. Gai Xun secretly contacted Huang Fusong, intending to jointly crusade against Dong Zhuo, but Huang Fusong refused for fear of Dong Zhuo. Gai Xun had no choice but to go to Luoyang with Huangfusong because the serenade couldn't start an uprising. At that time, officials or officials below officials had to bow to the ground when they saw Dong Zhuo, but when Gaison saw Dong Zhuo for the first time, he only bowed with his hands, and everyone present was shocked.

Unfortunately, although Gai Xun is upright and fearless of power, his power is weak after all, and he is hated by Dong Zhuo. He was always frustrated in court, and later died of back sores. He is fifty-one, and his family is forbidden to accept any gifts from Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo presented his Eastern Garden Burial Apparatus to the imperial court and buried it with him in Anling of Emperor Hui of Han Dynasty, which showed his tolerance.

Main reference materials:

1, "Yuanhe County Records" Volume 40 Longyou Road

2, "Were Han Shu" Volume 58 "Yu Fu Gai Zang Chuan" Article 48