Photo of the stone inscription slogan of the Red Army in Beiba.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, between the towering mountains, a river called Zaguyuan divides Xuecheng Town into two. On one side is a new block with bustling traffic, and the 3 17 National Road passes through here. There are many restaurants and shops in the street, and vendors are doing the business of passers-by in full swing. On one side is the quiet old street, where people live a quiet and ordinary life. This is an unremarkable town, but also a thousand-year-old city with a long history.

Xuecheng Town, located in the hinterland of the inland alpine valley in western Sichuan, belongs to Lixian County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It is 23km away from Lixian County and about180km away from Chengdu, the provincial capital. Qiang people and some Tibetan and Han people mainly live here, which is located in the core of Tibetan and Qiang cultural corridor.

Xuecheng, a land with strong ancient borders, was incorporated into Chinese territory during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (1 1). The Sui Dynasty (584) was stationed in Xuecheng, and the Tang Dynasty (628) was stationed in Xuecheng County. Since then, counties have been established here in the Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Republic of China.

Since the establishment of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Xuecheng has been a border town county for generations, because it is "a golden official show in the east, a hero in Minshan Mountain in the west, a dangerous furnace in the south and silence in the north". Especially from the Wude period in Tang Gaozu in 623 AD to the demise of the Tang Dynasty in 907 AD, there was a long-term war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, and Xuecheng, as an important frontier of the Tang Dynasty at that time, played a role in defending the frontier and controlling the western regions.

Today, Xuecheng Town is no longer disturbed by the war. This is just an unknown quiet town. However, when we walked into Xuecheng and Old Street, there were well-preserved ancient architectural relics, such as Bianbian Building, Ningjiangmen City Site, Red Army Stone Slogan, Xuecheng Old Street and so on. Many of them still retain the charm of the Tang Dynasty, which makes people feel its glorious past.

Bianbian Mansion is the most famous and dazzling architectural attraction in the whole ancient city. It is located on an abrupt natural rock in Xuecheng Town Folk Museum. The building consists of a rock abutment with a height of 7.9 meters and a two-story wooden structure with a height of 18 meters. It is a square two-story single-eave hilltop-resting building with plain tile roof, dripping water and bucket beam structure, which is simple and magnificent.

The preparation of the wing was completed by Xuecheng, and Xuecheng was written for the preparation of the wing. In 830 AD, the Tang Dynasty appointed Li Deyu, a famous minister, as our envoy to manage the frontier. Li Deyu came to Xuecheng. In order to strengthen guards, boost morale and discuss border affairs, he built the border building. Only after thousands of years of wind and rain, the original side building has long been destroyed, and now the side building was rebuilt during the Tongzhi period 187 1.

Climbing up the stairs, we can have a panoramic view of the new look of Xuecheng ancient town, the legacy of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. At that time, Xue Tao, a famous poetess in the Tang Dynasty, was sent to Xuecheng. Because of her admiration for Li Deyu's virtue and character, she wrote in Preparation for the Wing: "With birds flying in the clouds, all the eight windows are autumn, and the pressure in forty states is surprisingly strong. Generals will not be greedy for Qiang horses, they will see each other at the highest level. Frontier architecture is not only a historical witness of the military confrontation between Tang Dynasty and Tubo in western Sichuan, but also a symbol that Tibetan, Qiang and Han people hate war and love peace. Now it has been listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

At the east entrance of Xuecheng Old Street, it is the site of Ningjiangmen, the ancient city of Xuecheng. The city gate was built in the Ming Dynasty and was destroyed by floods in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It was rebuilt during the Qianlong period. The existing Ningjiangmen is a relatively complete doorway left in the ruins of the Qing Dynasty. The gate is 2.75 meters wide, 6.5 meters high and 65,438+0.77 meters thick, with an arched roof, all made of stone, and the attached wall is made of debris. The inscription in Chengmendong is dated "Five Years of Qianlong" and inscribed with the words "Ningjiangmen" and "Defending the Border", which is the moment when the city was built and the embodiment of the political and military importance of ancient Xuecheng.

There is also a stone slogan of the Red Army at the entrance of Ningjiangmen city site, which was carved by the Red Fourth Army during the Long March 1935. There are three slogans * * *, which are well-preserved and eye-catching. It is a historical witness of the Red Army's Long March passing through Lixian County and a well-preserved revolutionary cultural relic left by the Red Army's Long March. Now it has been listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Sichuan Province.

In addition to the border areas and military towns, the ancient Xuecheng still has little-known charming scenery. Due to the peculiar terrain in the territory, there are unique "Ten Scenes of Xuecheng": the lion's head looking at the moon, the bear's ear autumn wind, the ancient snow in Longshan, the water flowing eastward, the sound of Shimen, the strange pen container, the sunset glow of the arrow mountain, the twilight glow of ancient lights and the closure of Hou. Xue Tao, a poetess in the Tang Dynasty, once wrote a poem in praise of Xuecheng: "Zitong Tower is in Nangou, and the peak of the penholder runs through the clouds. Bear ears look up at the beautiful scenery and surpass Jiangnan as Xuecheng."

The sword and shadow have long faded, and the border areas have become history. Now people in the ancient city live a stable life. Only the side buildings in the Tang Dynasty and Ningjiangmen in the Qing Dynasty still stand on this land, telling people about the past glory and glory of Xuecheng.