In July of the second year of Changqing (822), Bai Juyi was appointed as the assassin of Hangzhou by the Zhongshu Sheren, and went to Hangzhou in October. The following year, he prayed for rain in Hangzhou several times, a phenomenon that is worth noting.
According to the "Prayer Gao Pavilion Divine Text" written by him, in July of the third year of Changqing,He first "prayed to the gods of Wu Xiang and prayed to the city god temple", "although the spirit was due, the rain was not enough", and then on July 16, he "announced to the god of Gaoting Temple". On August 2, he prayed for rain again "to the black dragon of the north".
SoThe specific location of Bai Juyi's sacrifice to the Northern Black Dragon God is in **?
The place where the officials and people of Hangzhou worship the dragon god should be at the Shihan Gate and the nearby lake embankment, which is Qian Biao's "unification of Wu over the mountains and rivers, and the world's military handles."Repeated prayers before and after, all of which lead to understanding", and this is the place where Bai Juyi prayed for rain on August 2, the third year of Changqing, "to pay homage to the black dragon in the north".
From the perspective of the orientation of the sacrificial space, the Shihan Bridge and Shihan Gate of the West Lake in the Tang Dynasty are not only located at the north end of the West Lake, but also located in the north of Hangzhou Prefecture and Qiantang CountyTherefore, the sacrificial space located near Shihan on the lakeside is completely in line with the so-called "Dragon Sacrifice Text" by Bai JuyiDescription of "Psychic with Water".
At the same time, judging from the architecture of the sacrificial space,Bai Juyi did not mention the ancestral temple building in the "Dragon Sacrifice Text", but only wrote "leading the officials to recommend incense to the black dragon in the north".This is also the same as the inscription of Qian Biao, which says, "Although Chen Dian Yu's rules, there is no place of respect".
That is, in the era of Bai Juyi,The phenomenon that there is no official ancestral temple dedicated to the dragon king of Qiantang Lake is compatible.
It can be determined that the northern black dragon sacrificed by Bai Juyi is the dragon king of Qiantang Lake called in the inscription of Qian Biao, and the sacrificial site is located in the Shihan Gate of West Lake and the nearby lake embankment. On August 2, the third year of Changqing, when Bai Juyi led his subordinates to Shihanzha to pray for rain, there was no official ancestral temple to worship the dragon king of Qiantang LakeThe sacrificial space should be a simple structure built for the local people.
Liu Daozhen of the Southern Dynasty Liu Song and Liu Daozhen "Qian Tang Ji" cloud: "The former county border is close to the river, and the county is under the Lingshan Mountain, and the foundation still exists. ”The so-called "Qiantang County" here refers to the Qiantang County of the Western Han Dynasty, which was once located at the foot of Lingyin Mountain (now Feilai Peak) west of the West Lake.
After the Eastern Han Dynasty, Qiantang County moved to the east of West Lake. According to scholars, "Qiantang County of the Eastern Han Dynasty is governed in Huoshan and Qiantangmen, and then goes north along Wulin Road, and turns west to Mida Mountain near Changhua Road, until it is within the range of Songmuchang and Baobao Mountain
Qian Biao's inscription is the era of "Liang Datongzhong".Qiantang County still governs this, and at this time, the area in the south of the county is located in the area of Qiantang Gate.
Therefore, it became possible to build a lake embankment in the area of the ancient Qiantang Gate during the Xiao Liang period. Along with the construction of the lake embankment, it is a simple structure built by local people.
The spontaneously built Qiantang Lake Dragon Monarch Sacrifice Space was built on the lakeside near the ancient Qiantang Gate. This move is for the purpose of praying for a balance between water and drought from the level of faith, and at the same time has a practical purpose at the social level, that is, the maintenance of the embankment through the power of faith.
In the Tang Dynasty, the construction of the Shihan Bridge and Shihan Gate in West Lake was also closely related to the belief in the dragon monarch of Qiantang Lake. Before Bai Juyi left Hangzhou, he summarized a series of West Lake governance measures such as Qiantang Lake irrigation managementThis is his "Stone Record of Qiantang Lake", which was written on March 10 in the fourth year of Changqing.
According to Bai Juyi,Located at the north end of the West Lake, Shihan and the bamboo bamboo at the south end are important control gates for water storage and discharge in the West LakeIt plays an important role in irrigating "more than 1,000 hectares of fields near the lake".
At the same time, the construction of lake embankments in the Shihan and Zhujin areas is also an important measure to keep the water level of the West Lake constant. Due to the phenomenon of "stealing the lake water to benefit private land" in the lake, there is also the danger that "if the rain has risen for three days, the embankment will often burst".As a result, the local government often sent "public service officials" to maintain and supervise the stone letters, bamboo bamboo pipes, and nearby lake embankments.
The sacrificial place of the dragon king of Qiantang Lake is located in the Tang Dynasty Shihan Gate and the nearby lake embankment, and the location of the stone letter bridge and stone gate in the Tang Dynasty is based on the location of the sacrifice place of the dragon king of Qiantang LakeThe purpose was also to protect the stone letter through the power of faith.
Since then, with the continuous construction of the lake embankment by local governors such as Bai Juyi and Cui YanzengThe dragon god belief space here plays an increasingly prominent role at both the belief and social levels.
Bai Juyi's most important achievement in Hangzhou is to build the West Lake governance systemThe northern black dragon god praying for rain on August 2 in the third year of Changqing is an important part of its West Lake treatment project.
Bai Juyi further strengthened the local belief in the dragon king of Qiantang Lake through the ritual act of praying for rain in personThe practical goal of regional governance is achieved through official-led faith reinforcement means.
The reason why Bai Juyi emphasized in "Sacrificing the Dragon" is that "yesterday, the prayers of the Quartet, there is no response." Now he is pious and pure, and he changed his life to the black dragon", which is also to highlight the miracle of the dragon king of Qiantang Lake by comparing it with other gods.
And after praying for rain and black dragon on August 2 of the third year of Changqing, Bai Juyi wrote and completed the "Cold Spring Pavilion Record" on August 13 and engraved the text on the stoneThis act is actually part of a series of conservation projects to protect Lengquan Creek, the entrance to West Lake.
In the fourth year of Changqing, Bai Juyi built a lake embankment, and before leaving Hangzhou in May, he finally wrote the "Stone Records of Qiantang Lake" and engraved standing stones. If the establishment of the stone carvings of the "Legend of the Cold Spring Pavilion" solves the problem of the entrance to the West Lake, the establishment of the dragon god praying for rain and the "Stone Records of Qiantang Lake" maintains the exit of the West Lake.
From praying for rain and dragon gods, to the establishment of stone carvings in "Cold Spring Pavilion" and "Qiantang Lake Stone Records".These three links constitute Bai Juyi's West Lake water conservancy management system, which is an important part of its Hangzhou regional governance project.
In May of the fourth year of Changqing, Bai Juyi received a letter from the prince Zuo Shuzi branch of the Eastern Capital, and his experience as an official in Hangzhou for more than a year came to an end.
The achievements of Hangzhou's urban construction in the Tang Dynasty are mainly reflected in three aspectsIt mainly includes the construction of Haitang and Shahe, the improvement of West Lake and canal, and the construction of Liujing drinking water system.
Among these regional governance projects presided over by the successive Hangzhou Thorn History, Bai Juyi's achievements in the governance of the West Lake are particularly eye-catching. On the one hand, Bai Juyi's behavior of sacrificing the dragon and praying for rain reflects the linkage between natural disasters and the performance of local officialsAnd behind this relationship is actually a kind of governance anxiety of the magistrates.
Bai Juyi will definitely be aware of the dry water in West Lake caused by droughtIt will inevitably have a certain impact on irrigation and domestic water, which in turn will lead to instability and social imbalance, and ultimately affect political performance.
In this case, the prayer for rain carried out by the local governor himself will be transformed into a ritual way of coping with disasters, and Bai Juyi has achieved the goal of stabilizing society in the drought through spiritual powerOn the other hand, Bai Juyi further strengthened the power of the dragon god's belief through the official rain prayer ceremony, and took advantage of the people's reverence for the gods to implement the protection of the West Lake Shihan and the lake embankment.
Therefore, after praying for rain in the third year of Changqing in order to stabilize the people's hearts and strengthen their faith, Bai Juyi finally issued it in the following yearThe relevant water management measures of the West Lake recorded in the "Records of the Stone of Qiantang Lake" put the concept of regional governance into practice.
It can be seen that although Bai Juyi's behavior of praying for rain only stays at the level of rituals and concepts, it has won a sustainable and stable social environment and protection mechanism for the study and formulation of water resources management regulations. Therefore, from the perspective of regional governance, the prayer of the local governor for rain should not be regarded simply as a spiritual or political showBai Juyi's prayer for rain should also be seen as an important part of his West Lake remediation project.
Bai Juyi's prayer for rain in Hangzhou took place in the third year of Changqing (823), if we ignore the scattered information about the rain prayer of the local governor of Hangzhou in the Tang Dynasty before the ninth century. After the Anshi Rebellion, as the role of the canal as the economic lifeline of the Tang Dynasty became increasingly prominent, Hangzhou's economic status was significantly improved.
Hangzhou is located at the southernmost end of the Jiangnan Canal, which is the southern starting point for the transportation of Jiangnan materials to Chang'an through the canal. In view of the increasingly important economic position of Hangzhou, the history of Hangzhou in the late Tang Dynasty gradually began to pay attention to the construction and maintenance of Hangzhou. Starting from the six wells built by Li Mi in the early years of Dezong, the regional governance projects implemented by the successive Hangzhou Thorn History are endless.
Among them, some of the deeds of Hangzhou Thorn History are particularly eye-catching, because they have achieved the goal of efficiently completing the regional governance project in a short period of time through various means. For example, Li Bo in the Huichang period, the "Prime Minister of the Three Notes" asked the imperial court for 20 million yuan to complete the construction of the sea pond.
For example, Bai Juyi took advantage of the close connection between the local ancestral god belief and the local society, and successfully implemented projects such as the protection of the West Lake Shihan and the lake embankment.
It can be said that the belief in ancestral gods was an important means for the local government in Jiangnan to implement regional governance in the late Tang DynastyThe case of Bai Juyi's prayer for rain in Hangzhou is an important witness to this historical phenomenon.