Riding the wind of rebirth

“You’ve mixed up all the history,” Zhou Zhi laughed. “The war that took place here in the tenth year of the Xianfeng reign could only have been the Li Lan Rebellion.”

"It's called an uprising, but I think history books overstate it." Seeing everyone's blank expressions, Zhou Zhi knew they probably hadn't even heard of the Li Lan Uprising, so he explained it to them.

"After the First Opium War, the ban on opium was lifted, and central Yunnan became a place where opium was grown in large quantities. At that time, the opium was transported to places like Sichuan and other places, and the traders made a profit of several hundred percent."

"As a result, bankrupt farmers, artisans, disarmed soldiers, and vagrants in the border area of ​​Yunnan and Sichuan, having no means of making a living, formed 'opium gangs' to protect and transport smuggled opium for a living."

"They were exploited by opium dealers and cheated by officials. However, they had the rudiments of a military organization. When the opium gangs went out, they were usually led by leaders such as 'commanders' and 'captains' and carried weapons such as knives and guns for self-defense."

"In order to cope with the widespread war and raise funds for the army, the Qing government adopted a policy of 'slightly relaxing the ban on opium and allowing merchants to trade,' and then levying taxes on it. A likin bureau was set up in Sichuan, and checkpoints were set up along the Sichuan-Yunnan border to collect likin from passing goods."

“If this tiger is unleashed, it will be disastrous. Corrupt officials will seize the opportunity to create pretexts to extort money and enrich themselves. If they fail to extort money, they will falsely accuse innocent people of theft, arrest them, imprison them, torture them, or even kill them.”

"At that time, the Taiping Army led by Shi Dakai was advancing into the southwest, and the Hui Muslim Uprising in western Yunnan led by Du Wenxiu was flourishing. The people in the border areas of Yunnan and Sichuan were already restless."

"In the summer of 1859, Hu Denggao and Yang Guagou, two members of the opium gang in Zhaotong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, were arrested and imprisoned by Wang Jingguang, the magistrate of Yibin County, Sichuan Province, and Zhao Sanyuan, a military officer. Despite the efforts of the opium gang to rescue them, they were eventually executed."

"Because the opium gang had been subjected to extortion and persecution by officials, their conflict with the government had long been irreconcilable. The long-suppressed resentment erupted on this occasion. Not long ago, Li Yonghe and Lan Chaoding, the leaders of the Zhaotong opium gang, gathered a crowd in Niupizhai, Daguan, and took the opportunity to expand their forces from dozens to hundreds. From there, they attacked into Sichuan, seized the Jianle and Zigong salt fields in Xuzhou and Jiaxian prefectures, and raised the banner of 'Shuntian King' with the slogan of 'fighting the rich and helping the poor, eliminating violence and maintaining peace'. They also recruited a large number of farmers and salt workers into the army."

"Because they were all farmers and salt workers, they wore 'short clothes,' so the rebels were called 'Li Duan' in Sichuan at the time. The popular slogan was 'Dress well, eat well, and follow Li Duan's braid.' In the end, it formed a massive uprising with a force of over 300,000 people, sweeping across six provinces: Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Gansu. It lasted for six years and was not suppressed by the Hunan Army until the Tongzhi era."

“At that time, Sichuan was ravaged. Li Changyuan, a native of Danling, wrote in his poem ‘Record of the Rebellion’: ‘I live on the top of Zonggang, where bandits harass the foot of Zonggang. Beacon fires are red on all sides, and evil spirits come suddenly. They enter Danling City and the people suffer. They burn and loot villages and search and arrest people in the valleys. The old and young fill ditches, and the young and strong are forced to submit to the bandits. The ravages lasted for more than a month, and the scene was too tragic to bear.’”

"Is it because the rebels were driven out by the government troops and turned into bandits that led to such a devastating consequence?" Huang Ruishan asked.

“The officers and soldiers who came to suppress the uprising were no good either,” Zhou Zhi said, as he prepared to go up on stage to view the poem: “The second half of this poem is: ‘Suddenly the officers and soldiers came again, their brutality continued one after another. At first they made arbitrary demands, then they beat and lashed. They dug up the money in the cellars and searched out all the remaining grain in the granaries. They demolished houses to provide firewood, and slaughtered cattle and sheep at will. They took everything that the rebels abandoned, and the soldiers were even more cruel than the rebels.’”

“Even things that the rebels didn’t want were looted by the government troops. The damage caused by the soldiers was even more severe than that caused by the ‘bandits.’” Upon reaching the high platform, there was a stone railing on all sides and a very beautiful three-story wooden building in the middle. According to the inscription on the stone tablet at the city gate, it was rebuilt in the third year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign by Ma Zonglong of Huili and took four years to complete.

It is said that before designing the tower, he meticulously observed and studied the "Five Stars Embracing the Moon" shape and design of the Forbidden City's corner tower in Beijing, creating a model based on it. He then hired renowned designers for further design before construction began. The completed bell and drum tower has three stories, a vaulted platform, twenty pillars, a "Five Stars Embracing the Moon" pavilion roof, and an eight-part water feature. The base is seven zhang high, the tower itself is five zhang high, and there is an additional one-zhang finial. The total height is nearly forty meters, with carved beams and painted rafters, towering red pillars, intricate openwork carvings, exquisite workmanship, and a beautiful and magnificent design. This time, the name "Lingxiao Tower" is truly well-deserved.

Unfortunately, in the year Zhou Zhi was born, Lingxiao Tower became a "dangerous building" again due to years of disrepair. The solution at the time was simple: to protect the safety of the general public, the building was demolished, and Lingxiao Tower was reduced to only the base and doorway remaining.

In 1988, the foundation of the Bell and Drum Tower was finally designated as a county-level cultural relic protection unit. In 1992, the county decided to rebuild the Bell and Drum Tower.

The rebuilt Lingxiao Tower has transformed its original brick and wood structure into a reinforced concrete structure in the style of an antique building. It largely follows the original design, but the roof has been redesigned into a mandarin duck shape and expanded. An additional outer wall has been added between the columns, and the single staircase leading upstairs has been replaced with a four-staircase system.

The current Lingxiao Tower is even more magnificent and taller than before, but apart from the large bell on the top floor, which is still an original ancient artifact, everything else is new.

The advantage is that everyone can go up to the top floor to play without worrying about stepping on a collapsed floor and falling halfway down.

Standing atop the third floor of Lingxiao Tower, the highest point in the city, one can gaze out in all directions. To the north lies the majestic North Gate, while the East and West Gates are slightly smaller, though their barbicans and fortifications remain well-preserved. The watchtowers appear even more formidable, highlighting the ancient city's crucial role in defending the southern frontier.

It was already evening. Golden sunlight slanted in from the western watchtower, illuminating half of the ancient city along the mottled city wall, then climbed the steps at the foot of the watchtower before finally stopping at the foot of the watchtower, never to pass through the quiet alleys in the east of the city.

The wind began to become cool and gentle, slowly passing through the building and gently disturbing the triangular flags used to decorate the four corners of the platform.

Standing upstairs, everyone seemed to feel the deep and powerful pulse of history emanating from all sides of the ancient city, along the ancient and rough city bricks, the mottled street walls, and the smooth stone slabs of the alleyways that had become incredibly smooth after more than six hundred years of walking, like the tides.

Each person who climbs the tower may have a different feeling. It may be the blind loyalty of a minor official guarding the North Star, the majesty represented by the city gate, the leisurely atmosphere of ordinary people in the city, or the war and smoke that the mighty city once could not withstand.

However, regardless of the circumstances, after more than six hundred cycles of seasons, the ancient city, with its profound resilience, has preserved the concept of "hometown" amidst the vicissitudes of time, becoming a habit and a belief for the people who have lived here for generations. (End of Chapter)