Wu Zixu builds a green city.
So under the auspices of Wu Zixu, an ancient Suzhou city with 47 miles of Fiona Fang, 8 land and 8 waters stands on the bank of Taihu Lake.
Textual research on "Eight Gates of Hehe Greentown" by Wu Jun's Illustration;
There are eight land gates in the great city of Gusu, and the one in the south is called "Blue Gate" with a dragon carved on it. It is also said that half of the land and water, the city gate is named according to this feature; The location of the "Snake Gate" coincides with the sixth place in the earthly branch, so it is named. Because Yue State is in its position, a wooden snake is specially carved on the snake gate, with the snake head inward, indicating the submission of Yue State to Wu State. The one in the west is called "Langmen", which symbolizes the wind of opening and closing; "Xumen", Wu Zixu's apartment is nearby, so people call it. He also said that Fu Cha, the prince of Wu, led an army to cut Qi, and the general was named Xu Menchao. The memorandum of the city gate was named after this general. The east is called Loumen, the east of Suzhou in Qin Dynasty is called Laojun, and the Han Dynasty is called Loujun. The word "Lou" is borrowed as the name of the city gate. "Close the door" is named after Guanshan, so it belongs to Wu Jun, and now it belongs to Xing Wu. Also, the Wu dialect "Feng" is homophony with "Feng". Dysprosium, newspaper department. The soil in this area is suitable for planting white rice, so this city gate is named after dysprosium; "Door", because the king of Wu ordered a general to cast a sword here, "door" gradually faded into the name of "craftsman" and was finally mistaken for "incense door". The one in the north is called Qimen. He married his daughter to a son of the State of Wu, and the State of Qi is in the north. Princess Qi often boarded the city gate to look at her hometown, hence the name. Wu Xian, the doctor of the State of Wu, was buried nearby. Xumen was one of the gates opened when the city was built in the Spring and Autumn Period. The Xumen we see now is near the Guanting outside the city, and Wannian Bridge turns a corner, which is exactly the same as the Xumen painted in The Prosperous Age. Now a section of the city wall has been preserved, leading directly to the Panmen. Some historical records are inconsistent with Wu Jun Tu Jing. It is believed that Xumen was named after Gu Xushan, and another is that Wu Zixu hung his head in the city after his death to see where the Vietnamese army entered the city. At present, the preserved Lao Xu Gate has a complete structure, which may have been built by Zhang Shicheng in 1970. The existing walls on both sides are 40 meters high and 4.65 meters high. The entire arch ring is 7.6 meters long and 3.3 meters wide, with a gate in the middle. The tower is 7.2 meters high. The front of the gate faces east, and there is a beautiful brick wall on it. The walls are carved with Ganoderma lucidum, Ruyi, Fangsheng, Bagua and Taiping patterns, which are relatively primitive. Xumen Watergate was closed in the Song Dynasty, and it was called Gusutai. There are notes on the map of Songping River.
According to "Smoke and Water in 100 Cities", the eight gates of Helengcheng were all named by Wu Zixu. We analyze that when Wu Zixu named Xumen, it was not to erect a monument for himself, but because it led to the ancient Xushan Mountain. There are Baihuazhou under Gushu Mountain and Gusutai on the mountain, which is a good place for the King of Wu to relax. The full name of "virtual door" should actually be "ancient virtual door" Later generations changed the full name to the provincial name, mainly out of sympathy and nostalgia for Wu Zixu.
Wu Zixu made great contributions to the State of Wu. His achievements include not only building a great river city, but also digging several waterways such as Xujiang, Hanjiang and Huanggou for Wu, which is one of the earliest artificial canals in the world. The water army was trained for Wu, and the world's earliest fleet was born in Taihu Water Town, Wu Zixu. Wu Zixu also introduced the great strategist Sun Wu to Wu. Wu Zixu himself is an outstanding commander-in-chief. Under his command, Wu Junxi defeated the powerful Chu State, conquered Qi Jin in the north and Vietnam in the south, and was invincible. Such a hero, after He Lu's death, was not allowed to meet Fu Cha, the new king of Wu, and finally ended in "death". There is also a myth: In 5 14 BC, Wu Zixu was ordered by He Lv, the king of Wu, to build the Great City of He Lv, which is now Suzhou City. Wu Zixu chose the Dragon Cave site as a treasure house and built a city, which alarmed the Dragon King. A dragon soared into the air, causing great waves. Wu Zixu fought with it, got rid of the dragon and led it to Suzhou City. There is another story that was caused by Wu Zixu. Wu Zixu was originally from the State of Chu. Because his father and brother were killed by King Chu Ping, he was bent on revenge for his father and brother, so he defected to the State of Wu. At that time, He Lv, the king of Wu, recruited talents and appointed talents in order to compete with Chu. Seeing Wu Zixu as a resourceful man, he treated him with courtesy, valued him, and worked with him for national affairs. On one occasion, He Lv summoned Wu Zixu and asked him how to make Qiang Bing a rich country. Wu Zixu thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty is very valued. Forgive me for telling you the truth. Wu is located in the east, surrounded by rivers and seas on three sides. Once a strong enemy invades, it will be very unfavorable to Wu. " "Then what should I do?" He Lu asked anxiously. Wu Zixu said, "Our city of Melifes is too small, and there are only three hundred and three steps around. Once a strong enemy invades, how to resist? Only by building a big city and stationing troops to collect grain can we keep the great cause of the future forever! " Hearing this, He Lv nodded and ordered Wu Zipi to supervise the construction of this big city. It was not easy to build a big city at that time! Wu Zixu invited many people who are familiar with astronomy and geography. "Xiangtu tastes water like heaven and earth" and took a fancy to Feng Shui. It took three years to circle more than forty miles of land, recruit thousands of migrant workers and choose an auspicious day. Everything was ready, just as the ground was broken, a strong wind blew in the sky and it rained heavily. For several days, it was dark, the water poured down and the ground was full of water. On this day, Wu Zixu saw that the supervisor of the fortification was as anxious as a drowned rat, and came to report: "No,no.. The foundations in 8 places have been washed away by water; The ancient wells in the city are also bubbling day and night, and migrant workers and people are busy running for their lives! " Wu Zixu ran out and saw dark clouds rolling in the sky. A dragon is flickering in the clouds, and its mouth keeps spraying water. It turns out that the Suzhou City built by Wu Zixu chose a dragon cave treasure, which just broke ground and shocked Wang Hailong. He sent a dragon to make waves, making it impossible to build the city. Wu Zixu's eyes were wide open, his beard and hair stood upright, he pulled out his sword and shouted, "I never believe in evil!" And the evil dragon launched a bitter battle. With a good skill, he finally stabbed the dragon in the eye. The dragon rolled several times, fell from the sky to the ground and fainted. Wu Zixu was afraid that it would wake up and do evil, so he cut it into several sections. Since then, this dragon has been lying in the city and can't get up anymore. After Wu Zixu killed the dragon, he ordered migrant workers to build eight land gates, "Eight winds are like the sky", eight water gates, and "Eight gossip is like the ground". There is a moat outside the city and a moat inside the city; The city walls are tamped with earth and are extremely strong. Wu Zixu also ordered people to dig a big river outside the west gate to lead directly to Taihu Lake; Also dug a "hundred feet blasphemy" to transport grain to the Yangtze River. Since then, the treasure house of the Dragon Cave has been strangled, and there is no more flood in Suzhou. How big is this city? It is said that Fiona Fang is 47 Li, 2 10 step 2 feet, and 68 Li, 60 steps outside the city, which was one of the best in the Yangtze River valley at that time. He Lv was so happy that he named it "He Lv City". Since then, Wu has gradually become stronger. After he and Lu died, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Fu Cha is a bad king, he appointed * minister, addicted to debauchery, Wu Zixu remonstrated several times, but he didn't listen. On one occasion, Fu Cha and white-haired Wu Zixu, who were having fun, came to remonstrate. Fu Cha became angry from embarrassment and threw him a "sword", forcing him to commit suicide. Wu Zixu trembled with anger and said with indignation, "When I die, I will hang my head at the city gate. I want to see with my own eyes how the Vietnamese army entered the city. Otherwise, I will die unsatisfied! " It is said that after Wu Zixu committed suicide, his head hung on the west gate. Soon, Gou Jian, the King of Yue, led an army in Enemy at the Gates. Wu Zixu's head suddenly bulged like a wheel, and his eyes were shining with stinging light. He had to be angry and commanding, and the Vietnamese army was too scared to move forward. The Vietnamese army had to divert from the east gate (now fengmen) to the city. In memory of Wu Zixu, later generations called the gate hanging over his head Xumen. A big river leading to Taihu Lake outside Xumen is called Xujiang, and its entrance to the lake is called Xukou. He also built a Xuwang Temple near Taihu Lake and named it the Lake God who suppressed the lake.