There is a small bridge lying across the Shah River at the northern end of a section of Jiefang Road. It is the famous Si Ma Bridge in ancient and modern times. Crossing the bridge to the north is a three-way intersection. Go straight and it is Si Ma Qiao Street, and turn right and it is called Si Ma Qiao Road. Regardless of the street or the road, they all use "Si Ma" as their unique "surname".
Simaqiao Road connects Chengdu East Railway Freight Station, Erxianqiao and Chengdu University of Technology; there is a famous fruit wholesale market beside the road, and nine out of ten fresh fruits eaten by Chengdu people come from here. A few years ago, I often rode my motorcycle to buy wholesale goods such as pears, navel oranges, grapes, grapefruits, etc. The prices were much higher than those in the general market. Simaqiao Street is the passage to the north and the starting point of the old Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway. The important symbol on the street is that the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway crosses the highway. Therefore, people say that this is the earliest overpass in Chengdu. It was formed in the 1950s. Basic pattern.
Simaqiao itself is the only place that connects Simaqiao Street, Simaqiao Road and Jiefang Road. Geographically speaking, it is really the hub of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Road at the north gate of Chengdu.
Romantic Sima Bridge through the ages
For me, ever since I wore crotchless pants, I have been hearing people say that there is a Sima Bridge outside the North Gate, but I don’t know where it is specifically. . Once I walked to the Yudai Bridge with my father, and I asked if it was the Si Ma Bridge. My father laughed: "Gua Wa'er! Si Ma Bridge is still outside the north gate, on the way to Mopan Mountain." But where is Mopan Mountain? I'm still at a loss.
It wasn’t until I was in the first grade of junior high school that my class teacher took the whole class to Mopan Mountain for a picnic, and I finally had the opportunity to get to know Si Maqiao. After exiting the North Gate and passing the Second Ring Road, along the dusty Jiefang Road, I walked past the gates of the grinding wheel factory, chain factory, tractor factory, cement factory and other factories. The teacher said that this is the Si Ma Bridge. "Hey! Is this Si Ma Bridge?" I was disappointed.
The river under our feet is not wide, and the bridge is narrow and old. It is far inferior to the Wanli Bridge and Jiuyan Bridge I knew when I was a child; but the railway bridge above the road in the distance made us It was an eye-opener to see the passing trains and the cars on the highway crossing each other like nothing I had ever seen before. The head teacher is a person who is familiar with history. He talks endlessly about the ins and outs of Si Ma Bridge. From the teacher, I first heard the story of Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun.
Later, when I was studying and working, I read the story of Sima Xiangru many times, especially the "Historical Records: Biography of Sima Xiangru", which made me understand this Chengdu talented man and his horse more than two thousand years ago. A clearer understanding of the bridge's relationship.
Sima Bridge was originally called Shengxian Bridge, because the river under the bridge was named Shengxian Water, which is today's Shah River. "Huayang Guozhi" said: "Ten miles north of the city, there is a Shengxian Bridge and a Passenger Bridge. When Sima Xiangru first entered Chang'an, he wrote on his door: 'If you don't ride on a high chariot or a four-horse horse, it's better for you to get off'." So later generations took it. According to the meaning of Sima Xiangru's inscription, the bridge was renamed "Si Ma". In fact, Sima Xiangru did not fulfill his promise when he returned from Sichuan for the first time. Because he was a great talent in Shu, a famous writer in Han Dynasty, and had an eternal love affair with Zhuo Wenjun, people deliberately ignored his past difficulties.
Sima Xiangru, whose courtesy name is Changqing, was fond of reading when he was young and was good at dancing swords. He changed his name because he admired Lin Xiangru as a person. Sima Qian was quite partial to his family member and devoted a lot of space to his biography, but he left intriguing words about the love and marriage between Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun. According to "Historical Records", when Sima Xiangru first arrived in Chang'an, he was treated coldly because Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was not good at reciting poems, and was only rewarded with the position of a regular attendant on martial arts. Xiangru had no choice but to resign due to illness, and met literati such as Zou Yang, Meicheng, Zhuang Ji, etc., and together they became the guests of King Xiao of Liang. But soon after King Xiao died, Xiangru lost his support and had to return to his hometown in despair. How could he dare to ask for a high-end carriage and a horse?
Wang Ji, the magistrate of Linqiong County, is Xiangru's good friend, although Xiangru temporarily lives under his family. But after all, it was not a long-term plan, so the two worked together to perform a "double act." The rich people in Linqiong didn't know how big Sima Xiangru was, so they all wanted to curry favor with him. Xiangru thus got the opportunity to enter the mansion of the richest man in the country, Zhuo Wangsun, for a banquet. During the banquet, the song "Phoenix Seeking the Phoenix" aroused the heart of Zhuo's daughter Wenjun. Zhuo Wenjun eventually eloped with the charming Sima Xiangru. After returning to Chengdu, Wenjun discovered that except for a car, Xiangru was a poor scholar who "lived at home". In order to make a living, Wenjun once again returned to Linqiong to open a small bar, and staged the story of "Wenjun is in charge of the clothes" that has been passed down through the ages. Zhuo Wangsun, who had a wealthy family, finally couldn't stand it anymore. Under the persuasion of his relatives and friends, he had to give him millions of money, hundreds of servants and children, and a large amount of dowry clothes, quilts and property.
Sima Xiangru returned home with his lovely wife and beautiful woman. In addition, the "Zixu Fu" made Emperor Longyan so happy that he even sighed: "I can't be the same as this person!" Xiangru finally answered the call again. Enter Beijing. This time he has enough confidence! Sure enough, a few years later, Sima Xiangru was appointed Zhonglang General and sent two envoys to the southwestern barbarians. Returning to Chengdu was not only a procession of carriages and horses, but also "the prefect of Shu was ordered to greet him in the suburbs, and the county magistrate was asked to carry a crossbow and lead the way." Chengdu people were proud of it, and Zhuo Wangsun even welcomed him with wine and meat. He was secretly glad that he had not messed up the matter back then. Do it absolutely. In the Tang Dynasty, Cen Shen also wrote the poem "Shengxian Bridge": "I went to the long bridge to inscribe the pillars, but I still haven't arrived yet. When I took the four-horse carriage, I returned from the bridge."
However, It should be the Song Dynasty that Shengxian Bridge was renamed Sima Bridge. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Jing Boring, the prefect of Chengdu, rebuilt a bridge on the Fu River. He thought it was the bridge where Sima Xiangru wrote his inscription, so he renamed the rebuilt bridge Sima Bridge and wrote a serious article "The Story of Sima Bridge". Jingbo made an eternal joke, but it also left Chengdu with the names of two Si Ma Bridges.
Traffic Jam Thirty Years Ago
Nowadays, Si Ma Bridge is wide and clean. After treatment, the Shah River has clear water, green banks, and winding paths. It does have a romantic feeling.
However, there was no such experience at Si Maqiao decades ago. Not only was the road narrow, but the mud on the side of the road covered the insteps. On rainy days, if you didn’t pay attention, you would get stuck in the mud, but on sunny days, cars Once it passes, it is a dust cover.
My most unforgettable memory from Si Ma Bridge is the traffic jam. There were no private cars more than 30 years ago, so there should be no congestion, but Si Ma Bridge was an exception. Trucks and buses queuing in and out of the city often stretched for two to three miles. One time when we came back from Xindu to "study agriculture", we couldn't walk until we reached Jiangjun Monument. We heard that Si Ma Bridge was blocked. In those days, students usually traveled by truck. On that day, the driver forgot to install a tarpaulin, and God deliberately made it rain heavily. There was no place to hide from the rain on the side of the road. Dozens of classmates stood in the carriage and endured the rain for two hours, and all of them were drowned. The car finally moved slowly to Si Ma Bridge. Looking at the turbid sandy river water under the bridge, a classmate suddenly said: "I will take a bag of dynamite and blow up this bridge. Then everyone will be more comfortable today!" Originally this was a joke. , but it exploded at that time. As soon as he finished speaking, he was immediately bombarded by thousands of guns: "Your child's thoughts are too reactionary!" Fortunately, this classmate had a good conscience and was severely criticized by the dean. , and asked him to go back and dig out the roots of his thoughts, so forget it.
Everyone who has walked through Si Ma Bridge has suffered from traffic jams. Not long ago, I read a novel written by a writer friend, which also mentioned this point. I talked to him about the changes in Si Ma Bridge today, and he talked about the past: "Oh! Back then, I worked in Qingbai River. Every week when I went back to the city, I had to sit in the Si Ma Bridge for a long time and wash my face. The nostrils are all black..."
The reason why Sima Bridge was so crowded in the early days is because it is the starting point of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway, the only way to go north by land, and of course it is also the only way to enter Chengdu from the north to the south. road. In 1950, the 18th Corps of the North China Field Army led by He Long entered the city from here, so the road to the south of Si Ma Bridge is still called Jiefang Road. It was not until the 1980s that the road out of the city from Si Ma Bridge was widened and built into a "big road". Later, the Chengdu-Mian Expressway was built nearby, and the traffic flow at Si Ma Bridge was finally alleviated.
In fact, since I heard my classmate’s witticism back then, every time I pass by Si Ma Bridge, I have been thinking that if the bridge is really broken, then the North Gate of Chengdu will probably be blocked. Unexpectedly, this ridiculous idea that passed by was confirmed in ancient books. In ancient times, Si Ma Bridge not only had romantic legends, but also staged stories of life and death. Because it was once a battleground for military strategists.
The smoke of war rises to the immortal water
According to the "Book of Changes", Si Ma Bridge is the birth gate of Chengdu. From a geographical point of view, it is located on the main transportation route to the north, so In the era of cold weapons, the Si Maqiao area has always been a strategic location for attacking and defending Chengdu.
In the eleventh year of Emperor Yizong’s Xiantong reign, that is, in 870 AD, Nanzhao’s army attacked Chengdu. They first occupied Shengxian Bridge outside the north gate, and then surrounded the city on all sides. The Tang army defending the city used rolling wood, stones and boiling oil to pour down the city, which weakened the enemy's siege momentum. At the same time, the defenders in the city took advantage of the enemy's panic and led the death squads to suddenly open the door and kill the generals. Finally, the siege forces were defeated. The Nanzhao army was repulsed. However, the key points outside the city, including Si Ma Bridge, were still under the control of the Nanzhao army.
Not long after, the Nanzhao army tore down the bamboo fences of the houses outside the city, woven them into cloaks and put them on the heads of the soldiers, and launched another attack into the city. This time, the defenders on the city poured molten iron down the city, causing the Nanzhao soldiers to retreat in defeat and suffer heavy losses. Afterwards, reinforcements from the Tang Army arrived, and together with the defenders, they pursued the victory, regained the line of Shengxian Bridge and firmly controlled this strategic artery, thus avoiding the fall of Chengdu.
It was this battle for Shengxian Bridge that made Tang officials realize the weakness of Chengdu's city defense. After Yan Qing, the governor of Dongchuan, returned to Chengdu, he immediately carried out a series of defensive arrangements: building city walls, digging moats, opening more gates, and setting up tribulus antlers outside the city. Seeing that the defense of Chengdu had been strengthened, Nanzhao's army did not dare to act rashly, but they still persisted in their evil intentions. In the first year of Emperor Xizong's Qianfu of the Tang Dynasty, that is, 874 AD, they once again raised troops to march towards Chengdu. Fortunately, the old rival of Nanzhao's army, Gao Pian, The timely transfer of the Xichuan Jiedu envoy was able to stop the advance of the Nanzhao army that had already reached Ya'an. In order to prevent Nanzhao's army from coming again, Gao Pian immediately built 25 miles of Luocheng in Chengdu, surrounding the original Shaocheng and Zicheng. At the same time, he opened a new channel on the Pi River outside the city, redirecting the original Pi River's flow. It passed through the city in the north and then flowed south. Since then, Chengdu's city defense has been consolidated, and a pattern of "two rivers hugging the city" has been formed for more than a thousand years.
The addition of a barrier at the north gate of Chengdu actually highlights the military status of Shengxian Bridge. In the future, it will be the place where military strategists set up their positions in all subsequent attacks on Chengdu. In AD 1000, the third year of Emperor Zhenzong's reign in the Northern Song Dynasty, Lei Youzhong led his troops to quell Wang Jun's rebellion, and then lined up against each other near Shengxian Bridge. They fought several battles. Both sides regarded Shengxian Bridge as a strategic point of life and death. land. After that, the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, including Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi Army, all fought in the Shengxian Bridge area.
Shengxian Bridge is not only a strategic location, but also a place for incompetent people to surrender. Historically, the two dynasties of Qian Shu and Hou Shu that divided Sichuan surrendered and surrendered their power here. In the first year of Xiankang in the former Shu, that is, 925 AD, Wang Yan, the second emperor of the former Shu, led hundreds of civil and military officials to carry the coffin, wearing hemp and mourning, with bare feet, a straw rope tied around his head, a jade seal, and holding a coffin. The cattle and sheep cried and howled all the way to ask for the surrender of the Tang army. The former Shu regime, which had ruled Sichuan for eighteen years, was finally destroyed by Zhuangzong of the Later Tang Dynasty. Coincidentally, forty years later, in the third year of Qiande, the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Northern Song Dynasty, which was the twenty-eighth year of Guangzheng in Hou Shu, in AD 965, Meng Chang once again performed the same comedy that Wang Yan had performed on Shengxian Bridge. Hou Shu finally died in the Song Dynasty.
Shengxian Bridge has long been renamed Si Ma Bridge, and the smoke of war shrouding it has long since dissipated in the sky of history. As a famous historical and cultural bridge in Chengdu, only the romantic stories it carries are still charming. breath.