Four ancient plank roads in the Qinling Mountains

The four ancient plank roads in the Qinling Mountains are: 1. Chencang Road (Jialing Road), 2. Baoxie Road, 3. Tangluo Road, and 4. Ziwu Road.

1. Chencang Road

Chencang Road - the old road, Jialing Road. From Chencang, go southwest out of Sanguan, along the upper reaches of the Jialing River (Gudaoshui) Valley Road to Fengxian County, then turn southwest along the Gudaoshui River Valley, passing through today's Liangdang (Han Dynasty Road), Huixian (Hanhe Pond) to Lueyang (Han Jialing Road) It could reach Hanzhong via Jushui Road, or it could reach Sichuan via Jinniu Road via Ningqiangqiang'an Station on Chenping Road in present-day Lueyang.

The most famous historical story on Chencang Road is that Liu Bang "built the plank road openly and secretly destroyed Chencang". According to historical legend, after the Hongmen Banquet, Liu Bang quickly crossed the Qinling Mountains to Hanzhong, and used Zhang Liang's strategy to burn down the plank road behind him to show Xiang Yu his determination to stay in Hanzhong forever and never return to Guanzhong. Plank roads are suspended roads built on cliffs. At that time, plank roads were an extremely important form of road in the steep Qinling Mountains. After recharging his strength, Liu Bang will fight back to Guanzhong. He listened to Zhang Liang's plan and pretended to rebuild the burned plank road. At the same time, Liu Bang's army took the long way around Chencang Road to Baoji, and then marched eastward to Chang'an. This is a story of trying to conquer the east and attacking the west.

2. Baoxie Road

In the Qinling Mountains, there is a valley that runs through the Guanzhong Plain and the Hanzhong Basin. Its south mouth is called Baoxie Road, 15 kilometers north of today's Hantai District; its north mouth It is said to be Xie, 15 kilometers southwest of Mei County and 235 kilometers long. Since the Warring States Period, some people have been chiseling stones and wood in the valley and building plank roads. They have been built many times in successive dynasties, and later generations named it "Baoxie Road". It is said that 90% of the ancient Shu Road was in Hanzhong. The famous story in Chinese history that Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty adopted General Han Xin's suggestion to "build a plank road openly and cross Chencang secretly" to seize Guanzhong, which happened here. In 1961, it was announced by the State Council as one of the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in the country. In 1969, Shimen Reservoir was built, and the Shimen stone carvings "Shimen Thirteen Products" on Baoxie Road were moved to the Municipal Museum for display and protection. In 1975, the reservoir dam was filled with water at the designed high water level. The Shimen of the plank road, Jiangjunpu, Baosi Pu, the cliff of "Pingge of Plank Road" (the "Eight Steles") and other monuments and plank road relics were all submerged in the reservoir.

3. Tangluo Road

Tangluo Road is the name of the ancient plank road. Tangluo Road is named after its south mouth is located at the mouth of Tangshui River in Yang County, Hanzhong County, and its north mouth is located in Xiluoyu, Zhouzhi County. The Tangluo Road is about 240 kilometers long. It is the fastest and most dangerous ancient road among the Baoxie Road, Ziwu Road, Lianyun Plank Road and other ancient roads. The current flight route from Xi'an to Hanzhong is along the Tangluo Road.

Although the Tangluo Road is named after Tanggu and Luogu, the two valleys are not directly connected. In between, they have to pass through the Xiluogushui, Heishui, Sushui, Youshui, and Tangshui river valleys, and cross Shibapanling between Xiluogushui and Heishui, the main ridge of Qinling between Heishui and Sishui, Xinglongling between Sishui and Youshui, Niuling and Guanling between Youshui and Tangshui There are four or five large mountains such as Liang, and the sections between the West Luoshui River Valley (about 20 kilometers) and the Tangshui River Valley (about 50 kilometers) only account for about 1/7 of the entire journey. Therefore, the Tangluo Road is a circuitous road composed of many valley roads. Twisty valley roads.

4. Ziwu Road

Ziwu Road, also called Ziwu Valley, is the ancient plank road that Liu Bang took back to Hanzhong after he was demoted to Bashu by Xiang Yu and became the Queen of Han. The north entrance is in Chang'an County, called Zikou; the south entrance is in Yang County, called Wukou, with a total length of 420 kilometers. Along the way there are Cai Lun’s Tomb and Zhang Qian Memorial Hall.