"Tong Zhi" of the Ming Dynasty said: "Tang Lijing asked Xiao Xian to station troops here."
The "Changsha County Governance" during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty also said: "Tang Lijing is here, and there is no offense in autumn. Minde, named Jinggang, does not forget its ambition. "
In order to appreciate the merits of Li Jing, the people of Jinggang specially offered sacrifices to the old stage at Li Jing Temple in Jinggang Town. The couplets are as follows:
Back to Hunan, hundreds of miles of rivers and mountains, this tower is locked;
Sing the river of no return, smoke for nine days, let it be blown away by the string tube.
Jinggang Town is also a military town in ancient Hunan, and the scene of Taiping Army's crushing defeat of Qing Army is faintly visible.
In the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854), on the ninth day of February (March 7), the Taiping Army recruited Xiang troops to occupy Jinggang, and on the second day of April (April 28), Shi led Xiang troops to defeat Zeng Guofan's navy in Jinggang. Zeng Guofan threw himself into the river in Tongguan on the other side of Jinggang in a rage and was rescued. Peng Yulin, the navy division of Xiang Army, and Taqibu, the army strategist, joined forces to attack the Taiping Army. On the eighth day of April (May 4th), the Taiping Army retreated from Jinggang to Yuezhou.
Older people often think of and talk about the glory of Jinggang ancient town. After all, those prosperous days left a deep impression on the old people and once gave them a great sense of superiority.
Yes, no wonder they are so used to nostalgia. The glory of Jinggang is beyond the reach of other towns and villages. At that time, the Jinggang Wharf was very lively. Most of the people in the old street are businessmen. They keep their small facades in order. The prosperity of trade also made many wealthy businessmen in Beijing and Hong Kong. Old street people are very trustworthy in doing business, so most of the rich here have become the embodiment of credibility, so unlike other places, "the rich are rich and the poor are scolded." On the contrary, the rich people here are honest and respected. Perhaps this is also a major feature of the old street! After the founding of New China, Wangjianglou Cloth Shoes Factory is the most famous in the town. Although the cloth shoes in Wangjianglou are simple in shape, they are very comfortable to wear, durable and popular. Its honest management is also famous. It is said that a civil servant of the shoe factory has gone to Shanghai on business. He saw many people queuing in the street to buy shoes, so he joined the team. He didn't read it carefully after buying it, thinking it was fashionable Shanghai goods. When he got home, he opened his bag and took a closer look. He was startled because the shoes were made in his own factory. Wangjianglou didn't advertise, but won the market by word of mouth. This example has become a microcosm of the prosperity of many shops in the town, and of course it can also be used as an example of modern business management! The shops in Jinggang are very famous, such as rice shops, ceramic shops, printing and dyeing shops, repair shops ... all kinds of pavements are relatively complete, but the pavements are small, but the contents are complete, and most of them are handed down from ancestors, so they are particularly old.
On the surface, the decline of Jinggang ancient town is the diversion of Lushui River in 1957. After Lushui River was injected into Xiangjiang River from Xinkang (township), it was actually later that highways began to replace water transportation. As a result, the bustling status of Beijing Port is gradually inferior, the pier is not as lively as when people sweated and moved goods, and the streets are no longer crowded with people. Walking on the ancient and solid stone road, few people come to shop when they hear the monotonous knocking on the stone. Old streets are naturally lonely, and young people have gone out to work and do business, or their families have moved. Some old people who miss their homeland and some collapsed old houses are struggling to support the life of this ancient street.
Mr. Deng Jianhua, a Hunan writer, also said in his "View of Wangcheng Culture: Leave the Ancient Town to Yesterday":
Standing on the long levee, listening to the sound of Jiang Tao patting the shore, my heart trembled with the ancient town once known as "Little Hankou" behind me, feeling the cries of Jiang Na, He Na, temples, ancient streets and Nayoudu, as well as the crisp, crisp and mellow cries ... In Wangcheng, Jinggang, an ancient town with the heaviest cultural accumulation, ushered in the dawn of the new century with vicissitudes of face.
I don't know what kind of person Li Jing, a famous Tang Dynasty player, was. In this place called Lujiang, were there really soldiers stationed in the past? Is it really because of his strict military discipline and popular will that this town was renamed Jinggang ... However, in turbulent years, the people of Jinggang, who are burdened with secularity and disaster, firmly believe in this and will be praised by generations. With the cool erhu coming from the south bank levee, many old townspeople are still telling the charm of Jinggang in the past. The Xiangjiang River flowing from south to north and the Lishui River flowing from west to east depend on each other. Jinggang, an ancient town in the delta, was born of water. In the era when water transportation was dominant, ships naturally took the advantage. Ships come and go from Ningxiang, Changsha, Faxiangtan, Xiayueyang, Xiangyin, Yiyang and Anxiang in an endless stream, and Hunan rice, yam, peanuts, garden tea, broad beans, eggs, silk and brown hemp are also transported and sold accordingly. Ziyun Palace Stage is the most fascinating place. Up to now, there are still people who recite it backwards: "Come back to Hunan and lock it in this stage; Sing the river of no return, nine days of rime, let the strings blow away. ".From Ziyun Palace to yangsi Temple, it is a tortuous Mashi Road, which flows down due to the backwater rapids, leaving a section and a half streets, forming a unique scenery.
During the Guangxu period, Jinggang once set up the "Hunan-Hubei Foreign Hangpeng", which successively sold transit tickets for British businessmen Taikoo, Jardine Matheson and Japanese companies Nissin to pick up passengers and goods. Liang Xiaolan, a tea merchant in Anhua, rented a small steamboat and opened a flight from Beijing to Changsha. Ningxiang's Wuzizi was a sensation in Weishui and Xiangjiang River. "When the ship arrives at Jinggang, it is not against the wind." On weekdays, nearly a thousand ships are worried about the tough arms of granite railings or weeping willows. Women either raise smoke at the bow or take out sewing baskets while sunbathing. The children fought in groups of three or five, or showed their magical powers to salvage an unidentified floating object on the water. The young man who can force a mighty river to open may be wandering in grain shops, money shops and pawn shops, or hanging out among gentry and wealthy businessmen in kiln classes in tobacco houses, teahouses and restaurants, drinking three or four times and charging uncle desperately. A stage built near the water was called a silent monument by the sound of Japanese guns before it could be whitewashed, and it has become a melon shed for the people in today's ancient town. By the middle of Kuomintang rule, Jinggang, which was also known as the three towns of Hunan with Tianjin and Hongjiang, had been far away from the stormy countryside.
Of course, in a good place, there will inevitably be bloody memories of killing each other, and it is difficult not to be disturbed by the interference of fire and water. In the fourth year of Xianfeng, Xiang and Taiping rebels fought in the dark, and Wei Xiang was dyed red with blood. The commander-in-chief of the Xiang army lost his prestige and was shot dead during the training of the Jinggang regiment. In seven years of the Republic of China, hundreds of fake "national defense forces" fled to Jinggang to forcibly claim back and rob money; In 12 years of the Republic of China, warlords Zhao Hengxi and Cai Kui fought in Tongguan and Jinggang respectively, facing each other across the river and harassing Yu Yue. 1944, Japanese soldiers invaded Jinggang and committed various crimes. In the first year of Tongzhi, the water was three feet full and hungry; 1932, the wind and waves were high, and all 50 boats in Xiangjiang River were swallowed up. ...
After liberation, the people's government, taking people's safety into consideration, built dams, dammed rivers and diverted water. In addition, with the increasing convenience of land transportation, natural water transportation has played an auxiliary role, the advantages of a good port have gradually lost, and the ancient town has become less noisy and more silent. In the 1980s, the state-owned and collective enterprises in this town flourished. "Wangjianglou" cloth shoes have traveled all over the world. The factory name inscribed by Wang Shoudao, the political commissar of the South Brigade of the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army who commanded War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in Jinggang, still remains in this ancient town, recording the glory of the town. Comrade Wang Shoudao's wife used to work in the office. 1930, the Hunan Provincial Party Committee has been in Jinggang for nearly half a street, and individual and private enterprises once flourished. Nowadays, a brand-new avenue crosses the highway embankment, and the ancient town is left out by people and traffic. Many people lament that Jinggang is too old to compete with emerging small towns. In order to make a survey of historical villages and towns, I walked along Mashi Street, an empty street with four lanes and seven piers. I always felt that Qinhuai River under the shadow of plasma lamps might not be as clear as the dumb river half a block ago. What fragments and stories are still complaining about the well-defined wooden frame house and the clogs, oil umbrellas, bamboo hats and melons put inside? Have those famous people in history been to the Hongtai House, which still exists today? What can we learn from the famous Jinggang dried incense, grilled fish and kites of different shapes that can be made by every household and released by everyone? In a rapidly changing world, I'm afraid we have to leave a space for future generations to explain yesterday.