Zhangbi Castle is a rare pocket town in the world, but it has a complete urban form and good military defense function.
The castle has two gates, north and south. The north gate is made of brick and has an urn. The urn door faces due east and north, and forms two doors with the north gate. The gates of the two castles are not on a central axis, which not only follows the principle of ancient military defense, but also implies that Feng Shui does not flow out, so that the gate of the urn city points to a hill "zhaobi" 800 meters away and seven locust trees symbolizing the Big Dipper.
It integrates ancient castle tunnels, palaces and temples, military religion and folk history. In addition, there are small bell and drum towers, smooth traffic networks and numerous religious sites. Zhangbi Castle is famous at home and abroad for its "strange ancient temples and strange secret passages".
Beibaomen is the main entrance of Zhangbi Castle. Because of traffic reasons, tourists basically enter from Nanbaomen.
Zhangbi Castle is the only military-civilian castle site in China, and it is also a rare ancient pocket castle in China.
There are mountains in the south, gullies in the east and west, and thick walls in the south, north and east. The wallboard is rammed earth, and there are five ancient military defense systems in the fort, including the gate of the fort, the gate of the lane, the gate of the secondary lane, the gate of the courtyard and the tunnel.
Zhangbi people have a fine tradition of caring for cultural relics. Even in the era of war and cultural catastrophe, they tried their best to care for every brick and tile here, so that the architectural style and many cultural relics of the castle could be well preserved.
The whole village of Zhangbi Castle was built according to the traditional ancient astrology and the concept of honesty in China, so Zhangbi Village is also called "the strange village of astrology".
The layout of Zhangbi Castle is also unique. The wall of the castle on the ground is rammed with mud, hugging a small town tightly. The neatly arranged residential courtyards are several grades higher than the East Alley as a whole, which clearly shows the difference in wealth.
Entering the castle is a traffic artery connecting the north and south gates. This 300-meter-long street is paved with stone slabs, symbolizing the body of the dragon.
In the Qing Dynasty, in order to coordinate the geomantic omen and prosper the literary movement, the residents in the fort spent manpower and financial resources to bring in stone materials, dug up the bluestone slab in the middle of the street, and laid three rows of parallel red feldspar strips, which extended from Nanbaomen to Beibaomen, symbolizing the dragon ridge.
The two religious buildings centered on the south and north gates of the fort, the strewn at random streets and lanes, and the quaint and regular houses in the Qing Dynasty make the whole fort full of ancient customs.
The underground tunnels of the castle are criss-crossed, winding like a maze; The three-dimensional three-way link between the upper and lower floors, and the military facilities are all available, which is even more amazing. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to call it "twin cities on the ground and underground, Baoyuan Miaoyuan Natural History Village".
The most worth seeing about Zhangbi Castle is the underground part. The tunnel is winding and vague, and it is divided into three layers. There is an earthen trough at the top to feed livestock. There is an earth hole that can accommodate two or three people at intervals below the middle cave wall, which is an authentic sentry; This is a cave for storing grain. There are main pipes, general holes, patio wells, granaries, flood control, wall communication facilities and assassination organs. However, when and by whom Mingbao Tunnel was built has always been a mystery to archaeologists.
The underground of the castle is covered with tunnels, which extend in all directions with the castle. The tunnel has three floors, the top floor is only about 1 m from the ground, the middle floor is 8 8- 10/0m from the ground, and the bottom floor is17-20m from the ground. Each section is 2m high and 1.5m wide, with soil structure, and each bend is fuzzy and has a network structure.
There are air holes in the tunnel, which pass through the ditch, and there are three layers below the well. There are six wells in the fortress, and there is a hole or portal in the wall of each well.
Jiangjunbao is the most magnificent, and you can also look at Mianshan's military strategy. There are many kinds of entrances and exits of bunkers. Hanging ropes with holes are tied with buckets to draw water for people and animals in the tunnel, and perforated boards can directly enter another passage through the shaft.
There is a small pit on the wall of the tunnel at regular intervals, which is the place to put the oil lamp. There is an earthen trough for feeding livestock on the top floor, and there is an earthen cave for two or three people to live at intervals under the cave wall in the middle floor, which is an authentic sentry. There is a deep hole on the ground floor, 2-3 meters wide and 4-5 meters long, which is a cave for storing grain.
Such a huge and complicated underground project is by no means beyond the power of ordinary people, but a military need and a confidential strategic facility. According to the textual research on the statues of Liu Wuzhou and Wei Chijingde in the castle, it is considered that it was built in the second year of Tang Wude (6 19), which was done by Weichi Gong when he helped Liu Wuzhou to stop the war, and it is the relic of "building castles by the Ming Dynasty and digging tunnels by the dark".
There are holes in the north-south ditch outside the fort, which can be used as both an entrance and exit and a checkpoint.
Zhangbi Castle Scenic Area not only has tunnels to drill, but also has rich and colorful ground content.
Zhangbi Castle is a magical place, and many mysteries remain unsolved.
The whole castle is a bluestone road, which has been honed by years and experienced vicissitudes.
Walking on the winding stone road of the castle, residents living in it can be seen everywhere with lanterns and red lanterns hanging high.
There are rare weeping willows in the castle, and the ancient houses in Gu Xiang Old Street are full of ancient meanings.
The living pattern of Zhangbi Castle is extremely rare and has great research value. In addition, a complete temple system carrying villagers' beliefs is preserved in the small Zhangbi Castle. From Song Dynasty to Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were 16 temples, each with its own beauty and strangeness.
The most distinctive thing is that there are traces of Li Fang system similar to that of the Tang Dynasty in this ancient village with a thousand years. At the intersection of seven T-streets formed by a north-south main street and seven east-west alleys, there are also special alley doors, some of which are tall towers.
The whole building, except for the three main halls, is a three-color glazed tile roof, which looks splendid from a distance. This is also the most common photo of Zhangbi Castle when it is publicized.
It is worth mentioning that under the porch of the Empty King's Hall, there are two Kong Quelan glass plaques in the Wanli period, both of which are made of glass. The bottom is written in black, and the hole is short of blue. On both sides, there are green, yellow, green, dragon playing beads, blue and black dragon flowers. These two pieces of glass are really rare and unique in China.
Zhangbi Castle has a tight gatehouse.
The small Zhangbi Castle is fully functional. Whether it is a castle tunnel for military defense, a religious temple system believed by villagers, and drinking water and drainage for living and living, it is all complete and amazing.
Because the castle is poor in the east and rich in the west, the west gate facing east is tower style, and the east gate facing west is only a brick arch.
Although the castle is not big, it is very distinctive.
After the gate of the alley was closed, the alley was isolated from the outside world and relatively independent inside, becoming a castle in a closed castle.
The same is true of other alleys. Generally speaking, this is a complete internal defense system.
This is a castle with a long history, and there are rich tourism resources in and around the castle. Climbing up the castle is the famous Mianshan scenic spot, which is worth savoring slowly. With the rise of tourism and the revival of traditional culture, people from all directions come to visit in an endless stream, and the popularity of Zhangbi Castle is growing.