Chapter 3 Chapter Two Roads in Different Periods

The road is made by people.It can be said that since the birth of human beings, the history of roads has begun.As early as about 500,000 to 1.7 million years ago, in this ancient land in eastern Asia, there were primitive groups such as Yuanmou people, Lantian people and Peking people.Our ancestors opened up the earliest road on the land of China in order to survive and reproduce under the extremely harsh natural environment and very low productivity conditions. When history developed to the time when Huangdi, Yandi, Yao, Shun, and Yu were the tribal leaders in the legend of primitive society, the transportation in various places has improved significantly.By more than 2000 BC, my country already had ancient roads that could drive ox carts and horse-drawn carts.According to the "Ancient History Research": "The Yellow Emperor made a chariot with heavy responsibilities and far-reaching tasks. During Shaohao's time, he added a little oxen, and during Yu's time, Xi Zhong drove a horse." "Shangshu · Shundian" tells such a story: Yao is old and has been tested repeatedly. He chose Shun as his successor and handed over the throne to him.After Shun came to the throne, the first important thing he did was to "open up the four gates and reach the four Congs" and "understand the eyes and ears of the four directions". He visited Mount Tai in February, Mount Heng in May, Mount Hua in August, and Mount Heng in November.It can be seen that Emperor Shun attached great importance to the development of transportation and opening up roads.Xia Yu's career also started from "publishing trees with the mountains and laying down mountains and rivers" ("Shangshu·Yu Gong").He "traveled by car on land, by boat on water, by skids on mud, and by juju (juju) on mountains" ("Historical Records Xia Benji"), and traveled several times in the two major river basins of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.The Shang Dynasty attached great importance to road transportation, and there are already records in ancient documents that merchants built and maintained roads.The ancestors of Shangtang "served cattle and rode horses" to conduct business over long distances, which revealed the history of using animal power as the driving force for transportation.After the long-term development of the Xia and Shang dynasties, by the Western Zhou Dynasty from 1066 BC to 771 BC, it can be said that my country's roads have begun to take shape.

After Zhou Wuwang Jifa destroyed Shang, in addition to the capital Haojing (near today's Xi'an), he also built the eastern capital Luoyi (now Luoyang) according to Zhou Gong Jidan's suggestion, so as to control the newly acquired large territory in the east and deal with the Yin Dynasty. business remnants.In order to effectively play the role of the political, economic, and cultural centers of the two capitals, a wide and flat road was built between them, known as "Zhou Dao", and with Luoyi as the center, it went east, north, south, and The southeast has been built into different grades and radial roads.Zhou Dao is the lifeline of the royal family of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the central axis of national transportation. "The Book of Songs Dadong" says: "Zhou Dao is like a stone, and it is as straight as an arrow; what a gentleman walks on, a villain looks at; if you look at it, you can't shed tears!" On the way, the common people could not help crying when they saw the princes and nobles taking away the fruits of their hard work. "The Book of Songs Dadong" also said: "There is a dipper in the north of Wei, and the opening of the west handle." It means that there is a Big Dipper in the north of the sky, and Zhou Dao is like a west-facing spoon handle, connecting the seven stars.In the history of transportation development in ancient my country, the significance of building Zhoudao cannot be underestimated.Not only was the political, economic and cultural center of gravity of the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties all on this axis, but in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, this line of communication was still the main artery running through east and west.Zhou Dao played a fundamental role in the history of my country's economic and cultural development.

During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, social productivity developed unprecedentedly, and agriculture, handicrafts and commerce all flourished.During the Spring and Autumn Period, great powers struggled for hegemony, the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period confronted each other, large-scale economic and cultural exchanges, military diplomatic activities, and the gathering and dispersal of personnel and materials all greatly promoted the construction of roads.In addition to continuing to play the important role of the central axis of Zhoudao, the criss-crossing land trunk lines and branch lines have been further improved on both sides, and the development of water transportation has effectively connected the upper and lower Yellow Rivers, both sides of the Huaihe River and the Jianghan River Basin.There were many major road projects built during this period, and the famous Baoxie plank road built by Qin State is one of the important ones.During the reign of King Qin Hui, in order to overcome the barriers of the Qinling Mountains and open up the road from Shaanxi to Sichuan, he began to build Baoxie plank road.This plank road starts from Xieshui Valley, 15 kilometers southwest of Mei County at the northern foot of Qinling Mountains, and reaches Baoshui River Valley, 5 kilometers north of Baocheng County at the southern foot of Qinling Mountains, so it is called Baoxie Road.This plank road with a total length of more than 200 kilometers is formed by drilling holes in the cliffs and laying wood on them.In addition to Baoxie Road, plank roads such as Jinniu Road, Ziwu Road and Tangluo Road were successively excavated in the following hundreds of years.These projects are extremely difficult. People first use the ancient and primitive method of "burning fire and stimulating water" to dig mountains and break rocks, and then cut holes 30 cm square and 50 cm deep on the cliff, which are divided into upper, middle and lower rows. Both are inserted into the stakes.Then build a canopy on the upper row of wooden piles, lay planks on the middle row of wooden piles to form a road, and support wood on the lower row of wooden piles as a frame.In this way, when we look at the plank road from a distance, it looks like an attic in the air, which is truly spectacular.So far, there are still many clearly identifiable plank road relics in Taibai County, Shaanxi Province. "Historical Records·Biography of Huozhi" records: "Guanzhong is in the south of Bashu, and the plank road is thousands of miles away. It is omnipresent, but the mouth of Wanzhu [wangu Wangu] on Baoxie Road." Strategically, it is "the throat of Shu" and has always been a must for military strategists. place.For example, in 206 BC, the famous story of "building plank roads in the open and crossing Chencang secretly" happened here.In addition to the plank road in the Qin State, other major road projects include: the important passage from Yingdu to Xinzheng operated by the Chu State, the east-west channel through the Taihang Mountains opened by the Jin State, and the Huanghuai transportation network extending in all directions built by Qi and Lu. , the traffic lines opened by Yan State directly to the lower reaches of the Yellow River and to the outside of the Great Wall.So far, the people from the Central Plains who wear wide-sleeved robes, the Rongdi people who are good at archery and riding horses, the Jingchu people who live in Yunmeng Jianghan, the Wuyue people with long hair playing in the water, and the Bashu people who like singing and dancing in a bun. It laid the foundation for the further unification of the Chinese nation.