Many people have the impression that the Great Wall starts from Shanhaiguan in the east and ends at Jiayuguan in the west. In fact, the length of the Great Wall is much longer than that. You can see the Great Wall from Liaodong on the banks of the Yalu River to the Western Regions at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains. In the outskirts of Kuqa County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, there is such a Han Dynasty beacon site. Although there are no crenels, enemy towers, or city walls, it plays the same role as the Great Wall, guarding the border of the country.
Coming out of the ruins of the ancient city of Subash, I came to a more ancient historical site - the Kizilgaha Beacon. Built in the Western Han Dynasty, it is the best-preserved beacon site on the middle road of the ancient Silk Road. The towering beacon can be seen from a long distance, and the high platform rammed with loess has been preserved after more than two thousand years of wind and rain. I have to admire the wisdom and creation of the ancients. Thinking back to how difficult it was to travel thousands of miles from Chang'an on horseback without modern means of transportation, even now it takes two or three days to travel from Xi'an to here by train.
Kizilgaha means "red-mouthed old bird" or "red sentry post" in ancient Turkic language. The beacon tower is located on the east side of the salt water ditch in the northwest of Kuqa County. After the fort, there are military facilities of the Han Dynasty. After more than 2,000 years of ups and downs, it still remains majestic. In 2001, it was identified as a national key cultural relics protection unit.
The plane of the beacon is rectangular, 6 meters long from east to west, and 4.5 meters wide from north to south. The residual height is 16 meters, and it is as wide as it is up and down. On the watchtower, there are still remnants of the wooden fence. At the top part of the wood is exposed, and structurally there are branches, wooden wedges and mixed sand. Due to long-term weathering, the top is depressed to form a large groove. Things from two thousand years ago can still be seen today, and the craftsmanship of people at that time was so exquisite.
The Kizilgaha Beacon is not far from Kuqa County, 12 kilometers north of the city by the Kuqa River. On the flat loess land, the beacon towers with a height of four or five floors are particularly prominent. The beacon firework has been extinguished for thousands of years. Using the clouds in the sky as the background, think about the beacon smoke back then.
Turned around the beacon tower three times, observing it from all angles. The main body of the beacon is rammed with loess, the upper part is made of wooden pillars such as Populus euphratica as the skeleton, and the top is built with adobe. Because the beacon is located in a wind outlet, the south of the beacon has been blown out of the groove by the wind. From a distance, the Kizilgaha beacon is like two sentinels standing side by side standing alone in the loess and blue sky.
Using beacon smoke is a fast way of information transmission in ancient times, and its history can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago. There is a very strict system for the use of beacons. The codes are stipulated in advance, and different combinations of beacons are used to indicate the number of invading enemies. For example, holding one beacon or flint means that 500 enemies are coming, and more than 500 people hold two beacons or flints, etc. . At the same time, horse riding, car riding and beacon fire transmission are interdependent, and this communication method has been used until the Qing Dynasty. Beacon towers are ten miles apart, and the platforms are connected to each other for thousands of miles. The distance of thousands of miles can be passed on in one day through beacons, which are faster than today's trains and cars.
In Uighur, "Kizil" means "girl", and Gaha means "residence". Kizilgaha is where the girl lives. There is a popular local folklore: In ancient times, this place was the territory of the Kucha Kingdom. When the king's daughter was 16 years old, she fell in love with a young man from a poor family.
At that time, in order to distinguish the ranks, the children of the nobles clamped their heads with special utensils since they were young, so the heads of the nobles were different from those of the poor. According to the hierarchy system at that time, nobility and ordinary people could not intermarry.
The young man thought of a way to dress himself up as a wizard. When he was doing fortune-telling for the king, the wizard said that his precious daughter would be poisoned to death by scorpions, and he had to live in the highest place to avoid disaster. So the king sent his daughter to the beacon, so that the young man could often climb up to the beacon to meet his beloved.
Later, when the matter was revealed, the king ordered the young man to be stoned to death under the beacon. The princess was distraught, and finally died on a hunger strike above the beacon. A love story ended in a miserable tragedy.
Not far from the beacon tower, there is a very characteristic Yardang landform, where there are workers and engineering vehicles under construction. I heard that the famous Kizilgaha Grottoes are here. Unfortunately, the road has not been repaired, nor is it open to tourists. go in. Relevant information shows: The Kizilgaha Grottoes are located in a valley 14 kilometers northwest of Kuqa County, Xinjiang, adjacent to the Kizilgaha Beacon Tunnel. Surrounded by a gray and white wind-eroded Yadan landform, there is little vegetation (there are only two elm trees planted by the guardians around), far away from human habitation, and there is no water or electricity so far.
In order to protect cultural relics, the grottoes are not open to the public, and visitors must be approved by relevant departments and led by staff to enter. The Kizil Gaha Thousand-Buddha Cave is a key cultural relic protection unit in the autonomous region. It is the same as the Kizil Grottoes (Kizil Thousand-Buddha Cave), Kumutura Grottoes, Senmusim Grottoes, and Aai Grottoes. An important part of. On June 25, 2001, the Kizilgaha Grottoes, as cultural relics from the Northern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, were approved to be listed in the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
It's a pity that the Thousand Buddha Caves and the characteristic Yardang landform cannot be seen up close, but can only be watched from a distance from the beacon. After finishing the short journey, I left Fengsui and returned to Kuqa County Passenger Station. The last bus to Baicheng was full, so I could only take a car. I thought it was a private intercity bus, but when I went in, it turned out to be a passenger bus. Operated by the station, four people per car, the fare is a little more expensive, and you can also buy tickets at the passenger station. Get on the car and set off, walk through the salt water ditch, pass through the undulating Yadan landform, pass through the Gobi Desert, enter the oasis, and finally arrive at Baicheng at night to continue the next stage of work.
