travel with yoga

Chapter 150 Visiting the Bell and Drum Tower

When we came down to Yongning Gate, we could see the Bell and Drum Towers. Zhao Cui said that he could just walk there and there was no need to take the bus or subway. Ma Xiaoliang thought about it too!We walked all the way, but not too far, and saw an ancient pagoda on the side of the road with a sign next to it: Tang Dynasty!I can’t help feeling that Xi’an deserves to be an ancient capital, and every brick and tile is where the Han and Tang Dynasties were located!
After passing through the long street market, the two of them came to the foot of the Bell and Drum Tower!The Bell and Drum Towers are located in the center of Xi'an, where traffic and people come and go every day. In the Ming Dynasty, there were neither palaces nor noble residences here. Why were the Bell and Drum Towers of royal standards built here?Here is a little-known story:
Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty and made Nanjing the capital. Xi'an was no longer the seat of the imperial capital, but played more of a defensive role as a military vassal town.At that time, some ministers in the court believed that Xi'an was very important in politics and military affairs, so they reported to the emperor and suggested moving the capital.

In fact, Ming Taizu had already planned to move the capital to Guanzhong.As early as 1370, the supervisory censor Hu Qi had already told Zhu Yuanzhang that Xi'an had better geographical advantages than Luoyang.This suggestion was approved by Ming Taizu at that time.Although this suggestion was later shelved due to difficult times, the matter has always lingered in Taizu's mind.Not long after, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Prince Zhu Biao to "inspect Guanzhong" and told him, "The mountains and rivers in the world are the only ones in the Qin Dynasty that are safe and solid. I ordered your younger brother (the second brother of the crown prince and Zhu Yuanzhang's second son, King of Qin Zhu Chong) to entrust this land. It has been more than ten years. You can come here to observe the customs and comfort the people of Qin." Therefore, Prince Zhu Biao was ordered to come to Xi'an for on-site inspection.Xi'an's customs, customs and natural scenery deeply attracted Zhu Biao.In October of the same year, Zhu Biao returned to Nanjing to return to Taizu and presented the "Shaanxi Map" drawn by his own people. He also introduced in detail the advantages of Xi'an in various aspects and strongly recommended moving the capital to Xi'an.Zhu Yuanzhang approved the move of the capital, and the imperial court began to work intensively to move the capital. Xi'an's Bell and Drum Tower also entered the design and construction stage.Unexpectedly, something unexpected happened, and it didn't take long for the prince to fall ill. He died of illness in the spring of the next year.As a father who suffered the loss of his son in his later years, Emperor Taizu was so grieved that he resigned from the court.What is even more distressing is that when he was dying, Prince Zhu Biao wrote to Zhu Yuanzhang to "plan the establishment of the capital of Xi'an."However, Xi'an became a sad place for Emperor Taizu, and the originally feasible plan of establishing Xi'an as the capital was shelved forever and relegated to the dusty annals of history.The Xi'an Bell and Drum Tower, built in accordance with royal architectural standards, has been completed.The plaque on the north side of the Drum Tower is very interesting. There is a legend that it was inscribed by Empress Wu Zetian herself.These four words are taken from the famous line in "The Book of Songs" "The Cranes Ming Jiugao, the Voices are Heared in the Sky". Di Renjie came up with it after Wu Zetian gave him wine, so the ministers asked Wu Zetian to write down the four words "The Voices are Heared in the Sky". word.Wu Zetian, who was a little drunk at the time, wrote a little less on the word "Yu", but no one cared, and the plaque was then hung up.One day, the Queen passed by the Drum Tower near the palace gate. She looked up and saw that the word "Yu" on the plaque was missing a little bit. She asked the ministers around her why. The ministers around her looked at each other in confusion, and no one dared to say anything.So Wu Zetian ordered to take the pen and ink, dip it in the ink, and use a bow and arrow to shoot it on the plaque. It hit the missing spot and completed the word "Yu". The officials cheered.Zhao Cui was very excited after hearing other people's explanation. I see, but unfortunately, he had just finished visiting the city wall and didn't want to spend money to go up to the Bell and Drum Towers. He could just take a look below. Ma Xiaoliang agreed, so the two of them took a group photo, and Ma Xiaoliang took a photo of Zhao Cui. , and then the two of them continued shopping and came to Muslim Street!

(End of this chapter)