I haven't traveled with a group for a long time.

I still remember that when I was in graduate school, six boys agreed to go to Europe for a self-help tour. They were nervous and uneasy. Actually, it was not so difficult to find it in Italy and Switzerland. Things were stolen, cars stalled, and I was fined for driving in expressway ... All kinds of troubles encountered in travel became the most wonderful memories in the future.

From then on, Al fell in love with self-help travel, preparation in advance and memories afterwards, as if a holiday were extended indefinitely.

However, do you want to help yourself in this challenge to the Great Northwest Link in China? Is the choice we faced from the beginning.

Considering that Qinghai and Gansu are vast after all, the distance between towns is too far, and we are strangers, once something happens, there is really no way to ask for help. So I decided to travel with a group later. There are always four boys in the same trade, and they were also members who ventured into Europe together in those years. In fact, at first, they were always worried about whether they could not integrate into the group. Fortunately, the journey experience exceeded expectations, and the members became good friends, so I decided to write down my travel notes.

Al has always been used to recording all his feelings and joys in his travel notes. However, this trip is closely related to the theme of "Silk Road", so I want to challenge and add more knowledge about history, geography and geology, so as to fill the whole Great Northwest Link into a more complete knowledge chain.

When I came up with this idea in the last few days of my trip, I began to keep looking up information. Maybe some of the content is inevitably boring, but I try my best to sort out these historical stories in a way that ordinary people can understand.

for the completeness of the story, each article will be very long. If you want to know Xining, Qilian, Zhangye, Dunhuang, Delingha and Qinghai Lake, what shaped it to be what we see now? Welcome to browse and help you sleep.

It is also a gift for the new team leader Aonio.

The first story begins in Xining.

Living on an island, I have never been to the western region. Before signing up for this trip, I was full of various imaginations about the northwest. What is the desert like? What's the feeling of plateau? I can only extend from the "seaside beach" and "alpine grassland" I have seen.

"It's probably multiplied by 1111 times, right? This is my psychological expectation. Of course, I was worried about the local conditions, so I brought a lot of dry food and snacks, so that the tour leader was shocked when he saw my heavy luggage.

I flew to Caojiabao Airport in Xining at an altitude of 2184 meters. The runway of the airport is close to the mountain wall, and the scenery is magnificent.

caojiabao airport is located in Haidong city, about 41 minutes' drive from downtown Xining. I took a taxi and didn't see any special scenery along the way because it was getting late.

after putting the luggage in the hotel, we hurried to the nearby Mojia Street for dinner.

For a tourist, Mojia Street is just a night market with all kinds of food. All kinds of kang mutton, yogurt, fermented glutinous rice and yak bone soup are full of the characteristics of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

However, besides eating and browsing, if you pay close attention to the scenic spots you have visited, you will find that many obscure place names in China actually have historical allusions.

Take Mojia Street as an example.

there are two theories about its origin.

The first argument is that Yan Song and Yan Shifan, the great traitors in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, were related to their father and son.

It is said that Mo Huaigu, an official of the Ministry of Rites, keeps a "warm and cool cup" in his home, which is a kind of jade wine glass. When you use this glass to hold wine, it is slightly warm in winter and cool in summer, and the wine tastes mellow.

Yan Song's son, Yan Shifan, heard that Mo Huaigu had this treasure, so he demanded it from him. Mo Huaigu refused to hand it over, but Yan Song and his son framed him and sent Mo Huaigu to Xining. After arriving in Xining, Mo Huaigu built a temple in the local area and dedicated ancestral tablets. The road in front of the temple was called Mojia Street.

This statement is very dramatic, and it also conforms to Yan Shifan's image of "cunning and greedy for money".

After all, Emperor Jiajing was superstitious about Taoism, and Yan Shifan was good at writing Taoist eulogy "Qing Ci". It is said that Yan Song won the favor of the emperor by virtue of his son's skill. Yan Shifan is also divided into Dad as the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry, giving advice and making a plan for Chaogang.

Besides, Yan Shifan also likes to collect rare antiques.

in the Qianlong period of Qing dynasty, Gu Gongxie wrote a story in "Excerpts of Leisure in Summer": "The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, a famous painting by Zhang Zeduan in the Northern Song Dynasty, was collected by Taicang Wang Huan, and Yan Shifan forced him to ask for it, so Wang Huan gave it to Yan Song. Tomson, the framer, recognized the painting as a fake and testified that it can be confirmed only by seeing whether the corner bird has one foot on two tiles. Yan Song was so angry that he found a way to kill the king.

Gu Gongxie is a native of Taicang, Jiangsu Province, and Wang You is also a native of Taicang, Jiangsu Province. It is reasonable and reasonable for Gu Gongxie to write stories for his fellow villagers 211 years ago.

historically, Yan Song did put the official in charge, Wang Huan, in prison and killed him because the Chao River burst its banks. However, is it because of the dramatic factor of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival?

we don't know.

The problem with the story of Mo Huaigu's banishment to Xining is that it is too dramatic, which is almost the same as the content of the Ming and Qing opera A Handful of Snow. The protagonist of A Grab of Snow is called Mo Huaigu (only one word short of the above-mentioned Mo Huaigu), and the prototype figure is considered to be the above-mentioned Wang Ying.

It is worth mentioning that Yan Shifan also has a famous image of "lasciviousness". Ximen Qing in Jin Ping Mei, one of China's four fantastic books, is said to be Yan Shifan.

Then Lan Ling, the author of Jin Ping Mei, smiled and gave birth. There is a saying that his true identity is Wang Shizhen, a great scholar and a senior minister of Nanjing punishments in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty.

Wang Shizhen's father is Wang You.

Therefore, the first statement about Mojia Street is probably only attached to this legendary unjust case involving Jin Ping Mei and The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival.

The second statement is based on the preface of the Mohist Genealogy in Guhuang, which was written by Zhang Sixian, a poet in the late Qing Dynasty.

In this version, the ancestor of Mo family is called Mo De, who followed Zhu Yuanzhang's uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and was named as the hereditary commander of Xining Wei (equivalent to the captain of the public security bureau) because of military achievements, and was later appointed by Geng Bingwen to take charge of the city construction project in Xining.

Please note that the word "hereditary" has been added to this command post.

does it feel awesome?

In fact, when Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, designed the system, he had an extremely conservative desire for control, and he wanted to firmly tie the hukou, occupation and land together.

-that is to say, whatever the father's occupation is, the son can only do this occupation.

-if dad is a butcher, no matter how weak his son is, he can only be a butcher. And you can only stay in your hometown forever, and it is not allowed to go to work in the city with your skills!

militarily, the Ming dynasty adopted the "garrison system". The health center is a military unit. For example, Xining Health Center is a health center. According to Lao Zhu's design, all the soldiers and grass-roots officers in the unit are hereditary.

Therefore, after Mo Mo died, his son Mo Yun succeeded him! Later, Mo Yun was awarded the title of Commander Tongzhi (equivalent to the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau) and granted permission to build the Mohs Mansion in the city.

So the road in front of Mojia Ancestral Hall is called Mojia Street.

This statement is consistent with the historical facts. According to Records of the Emperor Taizu, in 1386 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang planned to build a city in Xining, and Pu Ying was responsible for the construction, but it was not completed at that time. Why didn't you finish it? Because the next year, Pu Ying was transferred to follow Feng Sheng's northern expedition to Mongolia.

Please remember the name Feng Sheng. When this series of stories talk about Jiayuguan, we will introduce him greatly.

although pu ying has been transferred, the unfinished project has to be continued. In 1387, Geng Bingwen, who had just finished fighting in Yunnan, was transferred to Xining to take over the fortification project.

Just look for Geng Bingwen for the job of building a city. His military reputation is "good defense". When he fought Zhang Shicheng, he was responsible for defending Changxing, Zhejiang, and it was 11 years since he confronted Zhang Shicheng across Taihu Lake!

He was also one of the few survivors of Zhu Yuanzhang's killing heroes in his later years, so after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Di, the prince of Yan, launched the Jing Nan Rebellion, and there were only a few veterans left who fought in the war! At the age of 66, Geng Bingwen was ordered to guard Hebei in a crisis, and Zhu Di could not break it. Unfortunately, Emperor Jianwen later replaced veteran Geng Bingwen with Li Jinglong, the son of Li Wenzhong, the Duke of Cao ... Finally, Zhu Di became the emperor of Ming Dynasty.

By the way, it is rumored that the North Temple of Zen, a scenic spot in Xining, was also built by Geng Bingwen.

The story background of the above two statements is more than 151 years apart.

Geng Bingwen and Mod were figures in the early Ming Dynasty.

Yan Song, Yan Shifan, and Mo Huaigu (assuming they really existed) had already entered the late Ming Dynasty.

In these two stories, there is a historical information about Xining. Xining, a city, seems to be isolated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, as if it were alienated from the Central Plains dynasty? Is that really the case?

let me sell it first, and I'll reveal it to you later.

at 11 pm, the tour leader called everyone to have a meeting in the hotel room.

everyone introduces themselves. After a round of introductions, I only feel that everyone is a little brother and sister in their 21 s and early 31 s.

Why did you sign up for this group in the first place? It is because it has an upper age limit that it cannot participate when it is over 41 years old, so we quickly seize the tail of youth on the eve of the upper age limit.

I only remember the names of the team leader and the deputy team leader that night. After a brief introduction of the itinerary, the team leader asked everyone if there were any questions. I immediately raised my hand and said, "What days are the coldest?

The tour leader said, "It will be coldest to enter Qilian Mountain tomorrow.

at the end of August, I arrived in Xining that night, and I felt that the climate was very dry and pleasant, which was not quite the same as what I imagined on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In fact, the climate in Xining is really good. The average monthly temperature in the whole year will not drop to below zero at least during the day, and it is about 25 degrees in summer. However, this is a special case of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Because Xining is located in Huangshui Valley, the valley and river water regulate the local climate.

There are not many warm valleys on the whole Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and Xining and Lhasa each have one.

if you look down from the sky, the downtown area of Xining is cross-shaped. Along the river bank, the Huangshui River is in the horizontal direction, and its tributaries, Nanchuan River and Beichuan River, are in the vertical direction.

As for Huangshui, it is a tributary of the Yellow River, and Xining can reach Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu, downstream.

This geographical factor has greatly changed my understanding of the route of the "Silk Road Starting Point".

When it comes to the Silk Road, we all know that it is a trans-Eurasian trade route. The eastern starting point of the Silk Road can generally be located in Xi 'an.

From Xi 'an, you can go to Tianshui along the Weihe River Valley. From Tianshui over the hills along the Taohe River Valley, you can reach Lanzhou. Lanzhou is already located in Gansu Province, and then it goes from northwest to Hexi Corridor, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang, until it goes out of Yumenguan in the west. From the map, it looks logical. ..... This is the "silk road starting point" that most people know.

unfortunately, there is an immature problem in the middle.

This little problem happened in the section "Entering Hexi Corridor from Lanzhou".

besides Lamian Noodles, the importance of Lanzhou lies in that it is the meeting point of the Loess Plateau, Guanzhong Plain, Hexi Corridor and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with convenient transportation. However, there is a mountain range in the northwest of Lanzhou. Everyone must have heard of it. It is called Wushaoling.

Wushaoling is the dividing line of monsoon Asia in geography textbooks. In other words, the water vapor from the Pacific Ocean can only blow as far as here.

south of Wushaoling is a temperate monsoon climate zone with annual rainfall exceeding 411 mm, which is still suitable for agriculture.

To the north of Wushaoling, there is a temperate continental climate zone with annual rainfall less than 411 mm, and basically only grazing is allowed.

Although the width from north to south is only about 11 kilometers, the average elevation of Wushaoling is over 3,111 meters, which lies between Lanzhou and Hexi Corridor, making business travelers who take this road miserable.

what's the hard part?

The description of Wushaoling in the history books uses eight very figurative words: "It snows in midsummer, and it's cold.".

For example, Lin Zexu was dismissed by Emperor Daoguang during the Opium War and sent to Xinjiang. He recorded his passing through Wushaoling in the summer of 1842 (please note that it was summer) in "Journey to Hogo": "Wuli Wushaoling is not steep, but its atmosphere is very cold. The mountains beyond the mountains in the west are snow-capped mountains. It's Riduling. Although I wear leather, I can't stand the cold.

Why is Wushaoling so cold?

Because Maya Snow Mountain and Leigong Mountain near Wushaoling Mountain are all about 4,411 meters high mountains with snow all year round. The attack of cold air caused the average annual temperature in Wushaoling to be only-2.2 degrees.

The modern transportation in Gannan and northern Gansu is convenient, because in 2113, the double-track project of Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway was started, and it took three years to open the Wushaoling Railway Tunnel, which was the longest in Asia at that time. In 2113, five Wushaoling Highway Tunnels with a total length of 43.84 kilometers were opened.

However, back to the ancient Silk Road, if you want to go from Lanzhou to Zhangye via Wuwei, it is undoubtedly a chore to take Wushaoling.

Fortunately, you still have a second choice, that is, go directly from Lanzhou to the west along Huangshui Valley and enter Xining. From Xining to the north, cross the mountain pass and reach Zhangye. The journey will not be much farther than crossing Wushaoling.

The first half of this route is navigable, and even agriculture can be carried out in the warm valley, which was called Hehuang area in ancient times.

in the second half of the route, there is an ancient road named "Biandukou".

Therefore, we can re-understand the city of Xining in this way.

Although it is located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, because of the existence of Huangshui River, Xining is far from Lanzhou, Tianshui and Xi 'an, which is not as remote as expected.

In the Western Han Dynasty, Xining was already included in the territory, and it was called Xiping at that time, which belonged to Liangzhou.

in the three kingdoms period, xiping belonged to the territory of Wei. Zhuge Liang made five northern expeditions, and two came out of Qishan. The front lines were all in Baoji and Tianshui. After Kong Ming's death, Jiang Wei's northern expedition route went further west, and his strategic purpose tended to contact the Qiang people and cut off the connection between Wei and Liangzhou. Therefore, in 249 AD, Jiang Wei sent troops to Xiping, but in the end he failed.

So we know that historically, Xining was a prominent part of the Han Dynasty on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (although it was sometimes occupied by other nationalities).

A large part of the value of Xining depends on the Silk Road, because it belongs to the southern line from Lanzhou to Zhangye.

when the Silk Road prospers, Xining prospers.

If the Silk Road declines, the importance of Xining will be negligible for the Han Dynasty.

Now, do you remember two stories about Mojia Street?

In that reliable story, Zhu Yuanzhang and Geng Bingwen, who built Xining City, were both from Haozhou, Anhui Province. Pu Ying, from Luzhou, Anhui; Mo De is from Shouzhou, Anhui. These places all belong to Huaixi, and most of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty came from here, which is called "Huaixi Xungui".

in other words, they are all Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown.

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