Travel Notes | Travel Notes for the Spring Festival in the Year of the Ox (6)

Bozhou is the hometown of Cao Cao. Cao Cao and his family left many relics in Bozhou. The most famous among them are Cao Cao's troop transportation route and the Cao family tombs. We came here to visit Cao Cao, our hometown. These two scenic spots naturally became the places we must visit on the first day of the Lunar New Year (February 12th).

Cao Cao's Troop Transport Road is located underground in the main streets of the old city of Bozhou. It is centered on Dayusou and extends to the four gates and outside the city. It has a total length of more than 8,000 meters and is like an underground dragon. It is the oldest and best-preserved large-scale underground military in China. facility.

There are four types of troop transportation roads: one-way road, parallel double road, upper and lower two-story road, and three-dimensional intersection. They are all built with green bricks, and the top green bricks are closely arranged to form an arc-shaped dome. The cave is equipped with various military facilities such as cat-ear holes, obstacle tickets, obstacle walls, traps, leg-stirring boards, and command rooms.

The obstacle ticket is set up in a one-way street, and the top of the ticket is suddenly lowered. People who are not familiar with the environment in the road will be hit hard and bloody if they are not careful. The barrier wall is located at the "T"-shaped turn in the tunnel. A brick wall with a wide bottom and a narrow top is built at one end of the tunnel to limit people's movement space.

The trap is located below the ground level of a one-way street. It adopts a method of suddenly lowering the ground. If a person is not careful, he will fall to the bottom of the trap. The so-called tripping board is a wooden board stuck horizontally in the groove at the lower end of the one-way wall. Pedestrians will trip over if they don't pay attention.

After Cao Cao failed to attack Dong Zhuo, he led his army back to Bozhou in an attempt to make a comeback. In order to overcome the disadvantage of having few soldiers and few generals, Cao Cao built underground military defense channels. He sent a small number of soldiers out of the tunnel from the outside of the city, and then transported them into the city from outside the city. He repeated this many times to build up momentum and confuse the enemy so that he could win by surprise.

According to historical records, the Qiaowang Tower built by Cao Cao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was about 20 meters high. It was not only an external barrier for the troop transportation route, but also a high-end club where Cao Cao entertained guests, recited poems and composed poems. From this we can see Cao Cao's three characteristics as a statesman, military strategist and writer.

The existing Qiaowang Tower in the scenic area is located at the entrance of the Military Transport Road. It is a Han-style main building. The underground layer is the underground Great Wall Military Miracle Exhibition Hall, and the six floors above ground are the Jian'an Literature Hall, the Calligraphy and Painting Hall, the Clothing Hall, the Yuefu Hall, Poetry Hall, etc.

A stone tablet at the exit of the ancient military transport road is engraved with the word "Gun Xue". This is the only writing of Cao Cao discovered so far. In the 24th year of Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (AD 219), Cao Cao stationed troops at Baogukou in Hanzhong to coordinate state affairs. He saw the Bao River surging down, hitting rocks and flying flowers, so he impromptuly wrote the word "Gun Xue" with his pen, and his entourage reminded: " The word "gun" means "three points of water shortage." Cao Cao clapped his hands and laughed: "How can a river of water be short of water?" This became a famous saying throughout the ages.

The Cao family tombs are located on both sides of Weiwu Avenue in Bozhou City, covering an area of ​​nearly 12 square kilometers. Among them, Tomb No. 2 in Dong Yuan is the tomb of Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, Tomb No. 1 in Zhang Yuan is the tomb of Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, and Tomb No. 1 in Zhang Yuan is the tomb of Cao Cao's half-brother Cao De.

Cao Teng is Cao Cao's grandfather. His courtesy name is Jixing and he was a native of Qiao, the state of Pei. After Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty came to the throne, he was appointed as a regular attendant. Later, he was named Fei Tinghou because of his meritorious service in planning to welcome Emperor Huan. Cao Teng served in the palace for more than thirty years without any obvious mistakes, and he was able to recommend wise men and was praised by people. After Cao Teng's death, his son Cao Song became a marquis. Cao Cao was Cao Teng's grandson. After Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui ascended the throne, Cao Teng was posthumously honored as Emperor Gao.

Except for the stone door of the Cao Cao clan tomb, the tomb chambers are all built with blue bricks of different specifications. More than 800 tomb bricks with inscriptions were unearthed from the tomb. Some record the number of bricks and the time when they were made, some record the names of Cao clan members or local officials, and some reflect the craftsmen's dissatisfaction with the social resistance of the time. The calligraphy styles of brick script include official script and seal script, as well as cursive script and running script. Among them, the eight-character inscription "What will the general do, I am really sad" has the tendency of wild cursive writing.

The tombs of Cao Cao's clan have large-scale buildings, exquisite carvings and paintings, and rich historical relics. Although most of the burial objects in each tomb have been stolen, the remaining jade clothing with silver threads, jade clothing with copper threads, ivory, jade carvings, amber treasures, gilt car decorations, celadon pottery, etc. can generally reflect the upper class of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The society's extravagant and extravagant burial style.