What's strange about the structure of Shouxian City Wall?

The plane of the ancient city wall in Shouxian is slightly square, with old urns and pagodas, and the system is strict. Later, most of the terraced fields were destroyed, but the city walls still stood on the banks of the Huaihe River, suffering from spot erosion and peeling.

There is a moat in the southeast, water in the north, West Lake in the west, rivers in the four corners, and a water pass in the northeast and northwest corners. There are four gates in the city, namely Binyang Gate in the east, Dinghu Gate in the west, Haimen Gate in the south and Jinghuai Gate in the north.

The city wall is well preserved, with a circumference of "thirteen miles", about 6650 meters. The wall under the crib wall is 7.7m high, with a bottom width of18m to 22m and a top width of 4m to10m. The wall is rammed with soil, the outside is made of bricks, and the lower part of the outer wall is paved with stones with a wall foundation of 2 meters high.

Masonry is attached to the outer wall of the city wall, with a bottom of 1.5m, a top of 0.5m-0.8m and a height of1m.. A rectangular blasting hole with a height of 0.37 m and a width of 0.2 m is set at the lower part of 2.8 m. The shooting hole is in the shape of a pot door, and the lower opening is flat with the top of the city wall. The bricks and stones of the city wall are all bridged with glutinous rice juice mixed with lime, which is very strong and has the reputation of "Iron Shouzhou City".

The four doors are located outside the city wall, and the inner and outer door openings are brick roof structures. Except for the south gate, the urn gates of the east, north and west gates are not on the same axis as the city gate.

The west urn gate faces north and the north urn gate faces west, which are at right angles to its gate, while the east urn gate is 4 meters parallel to the gate.

This ingenious arrangement is based on the consideration of military defense, that is, after the enemy breaks through the urn, he needs to change direction before attacking the city gate, and the defenders can take the opportunity to close the door and beat the dog to destroy the enemy in the urn.

According to the Records of Shouzhou, there were "eight watchtowers and fifty-five police shops" in the city wall. Later, only 1 Zhang Ma's face and three enemy stations were retained. Horse face is located in the northwest corner of the city, commonly known as "underground building".

The part of the horse's face protruding out of the city is 2 meters long and 5 meters wide, and the height is flush with the city wall. There are stone steps in the cave and holes on three sides. Three enemy platforms, one located at160m south of the east gate, protruding out of the city wall, 3.5m long and15.5m wide ... one located 500m east of the south gate, protruding 2.5m and 5m wide.

There are berths outside the city. Bo, also known as the stone dike for protecting the city, was built in 1538 by Yang Zhan, then an imperial minister, according to the book Shouzhou Zhi Guo Cheng. Compared with the previous dikes, it is 3m to 5m high and10m wide. One side is next to the outer wall of the city wall, and the other side is next to the moat, all of which are made of stone. Its use can not only increase the firmness of the city wall, but also prevent the moat water and flood from scouring the foundation of the city wall.

These two culverts are actually Shuiguan, which are located in the northeast corner and northwest corner of the city respectively. The culvert lost its construction date and was repaired in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There is a stone carving on the east culvert wall, which was inscribed by Lu Qian in Wuzhong during the reconstruction of Guangxu period.

The "Jintanggu" stone carving on the south wall of the Western Han Dynasty was the "Sun Inscription in Xin 'an Pengcheng" when it was rebuilt during Guangxu period. The shapes of the two culverts are roughly the same. Such as the west culvert, the cave is square, with a width of 0.6 meters, a depth of 0.8 meters and a length of 50 meters. One end is connected with the river in the city, and the other end extends out of the city, passing through the city wall and stone dike, with a depth of1.5m. ..

A masonry roof with a diameter of 7.7 meters and a thickness of 0.5 meters is built around the culvert, and the roof is as high as the city wall. There are stone steps on the inner wall of the ridge, and the outer wall is surrounded by a thick dike slope. The culvert ditch is closed with slate, with five gates. The setting of urban culvert moon dike can prevent enemy soldiers from sneaking into waterways militarily and has important waterproof function in water system.

People can open and close the gate at any time and control the flow freely, which can not only avoid the swallowing of accumulated water in inland rivers, but also eliminate the hidden danger of backward flow of external water.

Shouxian County is adjacent to the Huaihe River system, with low terrain and vulnerable to floods. The ancient city is like an iron wall, which is not only a barrier against the enemy, but also a solid levee for flood control. It has experienced many floods in history, protecting the safety of people in the city.

Shouxian county wall