贛州古城墻：我國最完整的宋城墻

江西贛州不僅因山水秀麗而聞名于世，更由于這座古老城市因完好保存了自宋代沿襲至今的三千多米古城墻而名聞遐邇。贛州宋城墻全長3664米，它以其高低逶迤之勢與秀麗江水形成美妙反差。清晨漫步在古樸蜿蜒的城段上，只見城外一江清流，遠處山鄉田舍煙云縹緲，近處街坊店鋪鱗次節枇，讓人感到猶如置身于一幅美麗的《清明上河圖》之中。為了保護好這道我國現存規模最大、保存最完整的北宋磚砌古城墻，前年贛江市政府又斥資8000萬元對其維修，清除了古城墻兩邊的所有無關建筑，還古城墻以本來面貌，于是，這座宋代古城墻便變得更加豐姿秀色、楚楚動人了!

早在漢高祖六年(公元前201年)郡縣制分江西為18縣，贛州城便正式建制，到了西晉，江上漂浮一只大鼓又改變了這座城市改變命運。那是西晉太康末年(288年前后)，贛州洪水瀑漲，此時寬闊的江面上忽然悠悠蕩蕩地漂來一只大鼓。這只大鼓順著水流，悠晃著飄進一座廢棄多年的名為葛姥的土城內就再也不動了。城里居民發現了這“不速之客”，一下子涌來了許多人對它又拖又拉，可這只神秘的大鼓始終紋絲不動。由此，人們以為這是神的昭示，贛州城只有搬到這只大鼓停留處才能五業興旺，于是一城百姓毫不猶豫地將縣城遷到了這座漢代末年葛姥人拋棄的舊城，也就是現在的贛州城址。

贛州城墻的建造乃至贛州城的形成和發展，說來還得益于四位杰出人物：一位是東晉南康郡(今贛州)太守高琰，他以驚人的膽略在東晉永和五年(349年)夯土筑城；第二位是五代的盧光稠，五代時群雄紛爭割據，使得偏安虔州(今贛州)的百姓軍防御使盧光稠萌發了稱王的念頭，他將城區擴大了約二倍的面積，形成王城的規模，不料背疾忽發英年早逝。不過他人雖走了，贛州城的規模卻被他擴大了；第三位人物是孔子第46代孫孔宗翰，北宋嘉祐年間(1056—1063)他擔任贛州知州。為了解除江水年年灌城的災害，他用鐵水澆固城墻石基，用磚石全面改砌城墻，逐漸把土城墻改砌成磚石城墻，因而他成了贛州宋代磚城墻的創始人。風流倜儻的孔宗翰還特意在三水交匯處的城墻上砌建了一座石樓，營造起一處可以讓官宦大吏、文人雅士們觀景品茗的地方。這位風流才子的遠見卓識，引出了后來蘇東坡數訪虔州，為八境臺賦詩作序的歷史佳話；第四位是北宋虔州知州劉彝。這位著名的城建水利專家一心為民謀福，完成了盧光稠未竟事業，他修建城內福溝、壽溝，整理疏通虔州城的地下排水系統，在臨江水道口又修筑了12座水窗，從而解決了年年江水倒灌的困境。

如今，人口不知翻了多少倍的贛州城，排污水系仍然依靠900年前先人留下的杰作，它成了今天全國僅存的宋代府城完整而又珍貴的地下排水系統。

900年來歷代州民們對贛州城墻不斷修葺，壘高加固，增修馬面、警鋪等軍事設施，特別是清代咸豐年間，因防太平軍兵鋒，贛城清軍又在城門上增建了五座炮城。清代順治間(1655年)，荷蘭派遣公使約翰·牛霍夫朝見順治皇帝。牛霍夫漂洋過海，沿贛粵邊界的梅關古驛道北上進京路過贛州，對贛州城墻留下深刻印象，他在《荷使朝華錄》中寫道：“該城是中國最有名的城市之一……城區四方傍贛江而建。該城有四個大門，依東、南、西、北方向命名，式樣古樸。城墻高大堅固，用磚頭砌成，所有的炮眼都有蓋子，蓋子上畫著兇惡的獸頭，繞墻走約需要兩個小時。站在城墻上向北望去，可以看見來自數省的數不清的船只。”

堅固的贛州宋代古城墻不僅抵御了近千年來洪水的沖擊，還目睹了一次又一次攻城之戰。最殘酷的一次莫過于1932年2月，當時的中央蘇區在“奪取中心城市”錯誤路線的狂熱下，數萬紅軍連續3次大規模地攻打贛州城，雖然動用了挖地道、棺材炮等種種辦法攻城，最終還是以3000戰士的生命代價而失利，從而使橫刀立馬、英勇善戰的彭德懷將軍，慘痛地留下了他一生中少有的敗筆，故而人們又稱贛州為“鐵贛州”。

今天，這座3660米的宋代城墻，不僅給后人留下了悠悠歷史的無限記憶，在它的偉岸軀體還留下了北宋以來的“熙寧二年”、“嘉熙戊戍年”、“至正壬辰年”等數以千計的歷代年號和窯戶、督造官的珍貴磚銘畫押，它成了中華民族燦爛的文化見證，成了全國重點保護文物單位。現在，古城墻已維修一新，并全部貫通，它猶如一條巨形的紐帶，將贛州的眾多名勝古跡連結在一起。游人登上古城墻，可以一路游覽西津門、郁孤臺、蔣經國舊居、八境臺、古浮橋等名勝。海內外大批游客慕名而來，大飽眼福，贊嘆不已。海外客家人更是傾心向往，為先民們的聰明才智和不朽壯舉而感動與自豪。

The Ancient City Wall of Ganzhou

By Zhang Sijie

Ganzhou in East China’s Jiangxi Province combines the wonders of man and nature. What nature gives the city is its gorgeous scenery. Man’s wisdom and endeavor can be best seen in its 3，660-meter-long city wall completed in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Take a stroll on the city wall that undulates with the terrain and you will be awed by the contrast between the beauty of the ancient man-made structure and the beauty of nature. In order to preserve the longest brick wall of the Song period in China today， the city government allotted 80 million yuan in 2004 to refurbish the architectural wonder. The project also involved the removal of indifferent buildings on both sides of the wall. Today， the wall looks more beautiful than ever before.

Administratively， Ganzhou came into being in 201 B.C. when the Jiangxi province was divided into 18 counties in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.). The fate of the city changed forever in the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316 A.D.) simply because of a huge-sized drum that flowed down on the river. Legend has it that around 288 A.D. the residents of Ganzhou were amazed to see a large-size drum flow down the wide river in a flood. The drum got stuck in a deserted earthen city on the river. The residents rushed out to push and pull the drum， but despite all the efforts， the drum refused to budge an inch. The residents then believed it was an oracle from the heaven that they should move to the deserted city for prosperity in the future. Without hesitation， they moved to the site which had been desolate since the last years of the Han Dynasty. This is how Ganzhou stands where it is today.

The birth and maintenance of the city wall of Ganzhou are attributed to four outstanding persons in history.

The man who initiated the city wall was Gao Yan， procurator of Nankang prefecture (today’s Ganzhou) of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420). He organized people to build an earthen wall around the city in 349. The second contributor was Lu Guangchou， a general who guarded the city during the period of the Five Dynasties (907-960). It was a time of wars and chaos when ambitious generals had chances to become a king. The ambitious Lu wanted to become a king. So he started to expand the city， planning to build it into a capital for his future dynasty. However， He died of a sudden disease before he had a chance to realize his ambition， but the city did expand out as much as twice its previous size. The third man who contributed to the city wall was Kong Zonghan， the 46th-generation great grandson of Confucius. Kong came to govern the city during the Jiayou years (1056-1063) of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). In order to free the city forever from floods that would inundate the city every year， Kong first ordered to have the stone foundation of the city wall consolidated with melted iron and then to have the wall covered with bricks. Kong also had a stone pavilion built on the wall where three rivers converge. The pavilion was built for viewing the beautiful scenery. Su Dongpo， presumably the greatest scholar of the Song Dynasty， was attracted to Ganzhou several times and wrote poems for the pavilion. The fourth man who contributed to the wall was Liu Yi， the successor of Kong Zonghan. An expert of water control and conservation projects， Liu had the underground draining system of the city dredged and a network of additional ditches built to drain rain water from streets. And he also had twelve “water windows” built around the city to help divert flood water from one side of the city to the other side. The measures rid the city of annual flood disasters forever.

The draining system built in the Song Dynasty is still in use today in Ganzhou even though the city population has multiplied. It is China’s only existing complete urban underground wastewater system built in the Song Dynasty.

During the nine hundred years after the Song period， the city wall was reinforced and heightened on various occasions. Military facilities were also added to the city wall. In the Qing Dynasty (1944-1911) when troops of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851-1864) threatened to attack the city， five emplacements were built on the city wall.

For nearly 1，000 years， the city wall has not only survived numerous floods， but also withstood attacking troops. The fiercest battles the city witnessed in history took place in February， 1932 when the Communist Red Army tried to seize Ganzhou. Three full-blown campaigns were launched and tens of thousands of Red Army soldiers threw themselves at the city. To bypass the city wall from underground， they dug tunnels. To blast the city wall open， they used explosives nicknamed “Coffin Guns”. But all these tactics failed. The Red Army finally withdrew after a heavy casualty of 3，000. Though Marshal Peng Dehuai is remembered for his military genius and brilliant military career， the combats he fought to seize Ganzhou were a total failure. The city wall was said to be one key barrier and a contributory cause of the defeat.

Today， the 3，664-meter wall still retains thousands of historical stamps showing the titles of an emperor’s reign， the names of brick makers， and the signs of supervisors. It is a key cultural site under the state protection.