What is the history of Zigong?

Well salt industry in Zigong area started from a salt well-pumice salt well.

Ziliujing originally belonged to Fushun County and Jiangyang County in Han Dynasty. In the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (135), Qianwei County was established in the south of Shu County and parts of Ba County, leading Jiangyang County. Gongjing once belonged to Rong County, and was once Gongjing County in Rongzhou in Tang Dynasty and Jiangyang County in Han Dynasty.

This is a controversial legend, but it is really accepted by the public. In the first year of Jin Taikang (280), a man named Metz went out hunting in Fushun and saw a white deer flowing out of a crack in the drinking stone. He drew a bow and shot an arrow, but the white deer still refused to leave. Maze was very surprised. He tasted it and found that the spring water was salty, so he dug a 300-foot well and a salt well here. After Maze's death, people built a temple to worship him and called him "the God of Well". He was named King Jinchuan and Hou Tongli successively, and was enshrined in Jingxing Temple.

In fact, in the earlier Eastern Han Dynasty (76-88), Cui Jian wrote On Bo and Tu, which means that there is salt in Jiangyang. Except Fushun, there was no record of salt production in other areas before the Tang Dynasty. The Records of Huayang Country written by Jin people clearly records that Jiangyang County has a rich salt well. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, this well was named "Pumice Salt Well", which was named because it produced the most salt, concentrated business travel and rich people. According to the records of the Tang Dynasty, the salt well is fifty paces south of Fushi County, which is now Fushi Town of Fushun County. Visible, Cui Jian said Jiang Yang has salt, refers to Fuyi and other salt wells. Therefore, it is inferred that the salt industry in Zigong area should begin in the Eastern Han Dynasty at the latest.

By the time of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (56 1-578), Dagong Well, another salt well in Zigong area, had become famous all over the world, becoming a salt well in the middle of Sichuan as well as a rich salt well.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Zigong's salt industry further developed and became famous in Bashu. During this period, the salt production was centered on Pumice Salt Wells in the east and Dagong Well in the west.

From the Five Dynasties to the early Song Dynasty, Sichuan set up 10 salt monopoly prisons in salt-producing areas, and Zigong set up Fuyi Prison and Gongjing Prison respectively. Its official position is "well supervisor", supervising wells, setting up field management, and collecting salt tax according to the daily output and annual output of each well. In the fourth year of Gande in the Northern Song Dynasty (966), Fuyi County was promoted to Fuyi Prison. In the first year of Taiping Xingguo (976), it was renamed Fushun Prison to avoid Song Taizong. Fushun's name has continued to this day.

The emergence of a number of new salt wells represented by artesian wells

In the early Ming Dynasty, the salt industry in Fushun and Rongzhou gradually recovered from the decline of the Yuan Dynasty and the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

From the end of Zhengde to the beginning of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty, a number of main production wells, represented by pumice salt wells, were abandoned due to the exhaustion of brine sources and gradually collapsed. People are looking for new wells. New brine sources have been discovered along the banks of Rongxi River, 90 miles west of Fushun County, and a number of new salt wells represented by artesian wells have been dug. According to the investigation, the artesian well was dug in the 18th to 33rd year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1539- 1554), located in Huojingtuo shallow stone beach on the west bank of Fuxi River. This well was not dug manually at the beginning, and the brine naturally flowed out, so it was named artesian well. A number of new salt wells, represented by artesian wells, were successfully dug, which gradually realized the transfer of Zigong salt-making center from Fushun and Dengjingguan to the west, forming a new salt-producing area in Zigong.

Since Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, with the emergence of a number of new salt wells, such as artesian wells, artesian wells have evolved into the names of salt wells in this area, as well as the names of producing areas and place names. At the same time, Dagong Well's Rongxian production area was also changed to the name of Gongjing. Ziliujing and Gongjing, which are separated by ten miles and a river, belong to artesian well structure in geology, with a closed area of about 125 square kilometers, and are rich in yellow halogen, black halogen and natural gas resources. The emergence of artesian wells and tribute wells has formed new artesian wells and tribute wells producing areas.

In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Sichuan suffered frequent wars, a sharp drop in population, and all walks of life were in ruins, and the production of salt wells was also destroyed, resulting in a shortage of wells and an extremely abandoned salt policy. On the one hand, the Qing government encouraged ordinary people to reclaim land in Sichuan and organized a large number of immigrants from other provinces to enter Sichuan. On the other hand, it announced to the world that Sichuan merchants were exempted from salt tax, and the people were free to dig salt wells and were allowed to sell them for three years. In this way, the salt production in Sichuan and Zigong gradually recovered from the decline of war and developed.

At any time, this land brings vitality. At this time, artesian well and Gongjing actually belong to the same factory and Fushun. Since Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, although the east and west banks bounded by Rongxi River belonged to Fushun and Rongxian, the prosperity of well salt production and the potential power of economy closely linked the artesian well located in Hedong with the tribute well located in Hexi, which made the well salt production in the two places develop simultaneously.

In the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), Fushun county once set up Ziliujing Xiancheng, which was in charge of salt affairs and also in charge of salt affairs in Gongjing. In the eighth year of Yongzheng, the artesian well and Gongjing belonging to Fuyi Factory were divided and ruled. Arterial well belongs to Fushun county, and Gongjing belongs to Rong county.

After Ziliujing and Gongjing were divided, Rongxian also set up Xiancheng in Gongjing to take charge of salt affairs and inspect Zuoli County affairs nearby. The artesian well belongs to Fushun county and the tribute well belongs to Rong county, which is the change of administrative division. As far as salt production is concerned, the past two places were collectively called "Fuyi Factory". After 1730 sub-well, "Fuyichang" ceased to exist, the artesian well was renamed as "Fuchang" and the Gongjing was renamed as "Rongchang". Although it is divided into two factories, it is considered as a factory because of its geographical connection, regardless of sales and shore. Among them, Gongjing is the upper factory and Ziliujing is the lower factory.