Chapter 34 Section 14 Sui Dynasty Baqiao Ruins and Pujin Ancient Ferry

The ancient Baqiao site is located in Baqiao Town, the eastern suburb of Xi'an City, which originally straddled the Bahe River.The bridge site is about two meters below the current Bahe River. In 1994, three-hole bridge holes and four piers were excavated.The bridge piers are made of stone masonry.The shape is boat-shaped and distributed in the north-south direction.The front and rear ends of the pier are pointed, which are water-dividing points.The upper part is decorated with stone-carved faucets. The shape and size of the four piers are basically the same.It is 9.25-9.57 meters long, 2.4-2.53 meters wide, and 2.68 meters high.Between the four piers, there is a three-hole arched bridge hole with a width of 5.14-5.76 meters.This is a porous stone arch bridge.

Under the pier, a layer of stone slab foundation with a width of about 17 meters is paved.The wooden piles are rammed under the stone slabs, the wooden piles are covered with square logs, and the square logs are covered with stone slabs.The foundation is solid.The total length of the bridge is about several hundred meters. According to "Yuanhe County Maps", the bridge was built in the third year of Emperor Wen (Yang Jian) ​​of the Sui Dynasty (583 A.D.). After the bridge was completed, it became the hub of east-west traffic, forming a situation of "a thousand people pass straight through the flat arrow, and the post envoys drive all over the world".Further communicated domestic and foreign business exchanges and cultural exchanges.

Pujin Ancient Ferry, one of the famous key points of the Yellow River.It is an important pass integrating ferry, pass and bridge.The pontoon bridge was built here as early as the period of Lu Zhaogong (541-510 BC) in the Spring and Autumn Period.In the Sui Dynasty, "the tunes of the various prefectures, Henan from Tongguan, Hebei from Puban, reach the capital, and belong to the road, and they last for several months day and night" ("Sui Shu · Shihuo Zhi").In the Tang Dynasty, the Pujindu floating bridge became the main traffic route in the Central Plains of the Tang Dynasty.Therefore, the status of Puzhou is even more important.In the ninth year of Kaiyuan (721 A.D.), Puzhou was changed to Hezhong Prefecture and designated as Zhongdu.In December of that year, the Pujin pontoon bridge was added, "with bamboo reeds and iron oxen".At this time, there were already iron oxen on the bank of Pujin Bridge.Because the boats are tied with bamboo reeds, they are not durable and must be replaced every year. "In the twelfth year of Tang Kaiyuan (AD 724), it was rebuilt. Eight oxen were cast, four oxen on each side of the east and west banks, and iron men rode them. The oxen and iron pillars went into the ground for more than ten feet. There were thirty-six iron pillars at the front and back, and four iron mountains. The shore thinks that the boat is the bridge" ("Fang Yu Compilation Zhi Fang Dian").This is the largest reconstruction since the bridge was built.The iron ox replaced the iron anchor and played the role of strengthening the bridge.

From July to August 1989, on the east bank of the ancient Yellow River road outside the west gate of the ancient Puzhou City in Yongji, Shanxi, the Iron Bull, Iron Mountain, Iron Man, and Iron Column at the head of the pontoon bridge at the ferry were unearthed. There are four iron oxen, facing east and west, all lying down.Each is cast on a rectangular iron plate (3.5 meters long, 2.3 meters wide, and 0.70 meters thick).A cow weighs about 15 tons.There is a horizontal iron shaft [qiuqiu] behind the tail of each ox.The iron shafts are each 2.33 meters long and 0.5 meters in diameter.This shaft is used to tie the bridge iron cables.A total of eight oxen are tied together.There are four big iron pillars under each cow, which are more than ten feet deep into the ground and are firm and indomitable.No. 1 Iron Bull is 3.3 meters in length, 1.5 meters in height, 2.24 meters in neck circumference and 1.25 meters in tail length.The other three cows are basically similar.

Four iron men, following the arrangement of the oxen, there is an iron man on each side of the four oxen.Observing from its clothing and facial expressions, each iron man represents a nation.The iron man on the outside of the No. 1 cow should be a Uighur, the No. 2 iron man should be a Mongolian, the No. 3 iron man should be a Tibetan, and the No. 4 iron man should be a Han. He is wearing a short-sleeved and large lapel top.It can be seen that the clothing of people in the Tang Dynasty is similar to modern suits.Therefore, it can be said that the suit originated from the Tang Dynasty in my country, and this No. 4 Iron Man can be a witness.At the same time, it also reflects that the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to the unity among nationalities.

There are two iron mountains, which are distributed among the four iron oxen. Their function is to increase the weight of the ground anchor and strengthen the bridge. The iron ox, iron man, iron mountain and other precious cultural relics discovered at the ferry site on the east bank of Pujindu have been permanently protected according to "in situ, in situ and original appearance".