"Since the eighteen bends of the Yellow River in ancient times, there has been a cloud ladder pass in history. Yunti Pass, really ancient, according to legend, the Zhou Dynasty was built, and Jiaqing rebuilt the ......This Yuntiguan mentioned in the nursery rhyme circulated in the old road of the Yellow River is located in the territory of Huangwei Town, Xiangshui County today. According to historical records, from the Tang Dynasty (legend has it that the Zhou Dynasty existed) to the Qing Dynasty for more than 1,000 years, Yuntiguan was regarded as the pearl of the palm by the emperors of all dynasties, it was backed by the Yellow River and looked at the Yellow Sea. Historians call it "the first pass of the Jianghuai Plain".
Yunti Pass, the first customs in Chinese history, is located in the territory of Yunti Village, Huangwei Town, Xiangshui County, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, there is a huge monument, engraved with four large characters in Lishu:"Ancient Cloud Ladder Pass"。This is what is written in the annals"Cloud ladder pass"Site. The original high platform hall, very magnificent, the history records, from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty for more than 1,000 years, is the coastal defense town of the past dynasties, the traffic artery, the dangerous river defense, the religious holy place and the commercial distribution center, has the reputation of "the first pass on the southeast coast", "the first pass of the Jianghuai Plain".
This was originally the estuary of the Huai River, Song Guangzong Shaoxi five years (1194), after the Yellow River seized the Huai, it became the mouth of the Yellow River. In the Ming Dynasty, it was an important place for coastal defense in northern Jiangsu, with five earthen cities, large river guards and garrison defenses. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu set up guards in Beijing and all over the country, and set up thousands of households and hundreds of households under the guard, and the total strength of a guard was 5,600 people. In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1393), there were 329 internal and external guards in the country, including a large river guard.
When the Ming Dynasty became the ancestor, the internal and external guards were increased to four hundred and ninety-three, among which there were still big river guards, and the guards were located in Yunti Pass. In the 34th year (1555) and 16th year (1557) of the reign of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese invaded Yunti Pass twice, but were defeated by the local military and civilians.
According to the "Funing County Chronicle" record: "Before the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Beisha is the mouth of the sea, from the Yellow River to seize the Huaihe into the sea, the silt gradually rises, there are more than ten soil sets (river bays), the shape is like a cloud ladder, so it is named the cloud ladder pass. Jin Fu, the governor of Qinghe, mentioned in the book "Opening up the River Estuary": "The cloud ladder pass, I don't know when it started, is the one who entered the sea from the Huanghuai Erdu, and the sea outside the pass in the past." From this, it can be seen that the name of the "cloud ladder" is in the geographical situation of the pass. It is estimated that Yunti Pass was built in the Song and Yuan dynasties at the latest. According to the "Historical Records of Dongyue Liebiography", "Warring States Policy", "Bamboo Book Chronicle", "Jin Shu Sun En Biography" and other ancient books, Yunti Pass was the north bank of the ancient Huai River estuary (two years before Gaozong Jianyan of the Southern Song Dynasty), the Huai River water potential is mighty, the boat is convenient, the checkpoint is established here, the customs duties are collected, and the national defense is consolidated in order to facilitate trade and shipping.
According to folk legend, Xue Rengui, the founder of the Tang Dynasty, returned from the Eastern Expedition, and Cheng Yanjin once picked up the wind and washed the dust for him at Yunti Pass to welcome the victory. Early and present, there are still rumors of the unloading platform used by Xue Rengui, the tethered horse stake and the drinking trough of the war horse used by Cheng Yanjin.
The book "Pilgrimage to the Tang Dynasty" by the Japanese monk Yuanren and many poems of the Tang Dynasty have mentioned this pass, which shows that the construction date of the pass was in the Tang Dynasty at the latest.
The Yuan Dynasty built the capital of Beijing, and the grain was mainly transported by sea, and the huge fleet of ships transported by the Huai River generally passed through this, or went south to Fujian and Zhejiang, or north to Qilu, or went west against Huai. Yunti Pass has become an important pass for Cao Yun. At that time, there were two main routes for Cao Yun to Beijing: one was to take Liujiagang in Taicang to enter the sea through the grain in Taicang, arrive at Huai'an through the Haimen waterway, and then reach Yuntiguan through the Huai River to enter the sea and go north;Second, some other areas in the south of the Yangtze River first concentrated grain in Yangzhou, and then loaded onto ships and headed north to Sheyang Lake to cross the Yunti Pass into the sea and arrive in Beijing. There are still place names such as Daguan, Qian Wharf, Yang Wharf and Wang Wharf near Yunti Pass, which shows the scale and function of the pass in those years.
Because the sediment carried by the Yellow River all went to sea from Yunti Pass, the coast expanded rapidly, and the Haikou had moved down more than 50 miles to the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, and when the Yellow River was diverted from Shandong to enter the sea in the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1855), Yunti Pass was 145 miles away from the sea. Therefore, after the middle of the Qing Dynasty, there is no longer a military garrison here, and only remains"Cloud ladder pass"named. In order to preserve its relics, in the fifteenth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1801), a stone tablet was erected here, 245 centimeters high, 11o centimeters wide, and the heart of the tablet was engraved with a book"Ancient Cloud Ladder Pass"Four characters, the length of the word is 47 centimeters, and the width is 45 centimeters. The upper paragraph is engraved in block letters"October of the fifteenth year of Jiaqing", the inscription is also engraved in regular script"Three Han Ma Hui Yu book", another line engraved in small letters"Jiangsu Huai'an Prefecture Shan'an River Affairs Zhou Zhishi Zhaolong Le Shi"。
Yuntiguan was destroyed in the war in the 40s of the 20th century. In 1943, the Japanese invaded China, the buildings and surrounding trees of Yuntiguan were all destroyed, and now only a piece of Qing Jiaqing 24 years (1819) erected a four-character stone tablet of "Ancient Yuntiguan".
In 1987, the local ** built a stele pavilion to re-erect the stele of "Guyun Ladder Pass". In 1990, the site of "Guyun Ladder Pass" was listed as a municipal cultural relics protection unit, and in 2005, it was declared a provincial cultural relics protection unit.
With the passage of time and the changes of history, although Yuntiguan gradually disappeared due to the return of the Yellow River to its original course, its contribution to history is indelible. As a key point of transportation, it has played an important role in promoting the economic development of coastal areas, and as a pass of coastal defense, it has made a significant contribution to resisting the Japanese invadersAs a dangerous river defense, it has provided a useful reference for the prevention and control of floods, and as an ancient pass resort, it has written a chapter for the development of tourism.