Where is the Banqiao Music Fountain?

There is no music fountain in Jiubanqiao at present.

Next to the 323 National Road, about one kilometer south of Tongan Town, Pingle County, there is a village close to mountains and rivers. The two green hills behind the village are like two flying pegasus, facing a seven-story turret at the east end of the village, which looks like riding piles.

The villagers named the village Taocun with the homonym of the word "set", which means the village that trapped flying horses. A Jiangsha River in the village runs through the village. On the Shajiang River, an ancient bridge spans both banks and is called "Jiubanqiao".

Jiubanqiao is located on the Shajiang River in front of the village. There are five groups of bridge slabs on the bridge deck, one for every two stone slabs. Five groups of one * * * should be 10 slate. Interestingly, the four groups of the whole bridge are complete, only the middle board has only one stone.

As a result, the Ten Banqiao became the Nine Banqiao. This kind of incomplete slab bridge is not convenient for pedestrians to walk, and it also affects the beauty of the whole bridge. But for hundreds of years, the villagers have let it go, and no one has completely supplemented it. I don't know if the descendants are lazy and laissez-faire, or what is the mystery.

In order to visit the heritage of Jiubanqiao, we came to Taocun on a late autumn evening. I saw a quaint stone bridge flying over Shajiang River in the west of the village, and an inscription on Guangfu Bridge was erected at the bridge head. The monument records that this bridge is called Guangfu Bridge, also known as Jiubanqiao. Founded in the Ming Dynasty, it was rebuilt in the third year of Qing Qianlong.

Jiubanqiao spans the winding Shajiang River from east to west. The bridge is about 50m long, 5m high and1.2m wide. It is an I-shaped flat stone bridge. The bridge deck consists of nine granite stone strips, about10m long, 0.5m wide and 0.4m thick, weighing several tons, forming a five-span slab bridge.

There are no railings or handrails on the bridge. The five piers under the bridge are cleverly stacked with blue stones of the same size to support the bridge. All the stones are not bonded by cement mortar, but squeezed and supported by each other, neat and firm.

After hundreds of years of baptism, it has been well preserved so far. It is the longest single stone slab bridge in Pingle County, and it is also the earliest bridge built.

The completion of Jiubanqiao benefited from the arrival of an immigrant family from South Guangdong and witnessed the rise and fall of an immigrant family. According to the 72-year-old man in the village, Taocun has four surnames, Su, He, Liao and Tao.

Among them, Su and He are both Su, and according to legend, they are descendants of Su Dongpo, a great poet in the Song Dynasty. Deqigong was born as a military attache, once served as an official in North Korea, and his martial arts were superior. He often led troops to fight and made many achievements. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to being framed, the court implicated nine families.

After his wife got the tip-off that her husband risked his life to send his cronies back to let her flee for life, she took all the salary saved by her husband as an official in North Korea, took her three sons and some Su and He people along the waterway and went through hardships to Pingle.

The eldest son can live in Pingle Mi Shan Ferry, the third son can stay in Babu Hezhou, and the second son can live with his mother in Pingle Luohan Street. Fishing for a living all the year round.

One day, they went fishing along Pingle Gui Jiang and Chajiang, and passed through Jin Rong to Tongjian Shajiang. Seeing the beautiful scenery of sandbars on both sides and the fat fish in the river, I settled here.

Su Laobo said that when their ancestors first settled in Taocun, there were already people surnamed Li and Zhang on the riverside who made a living here. Fortunately, Li and Zhang are simple, and they live in harmony with the later Su and He families and are neighbors to each other.

Since then, the Su and Ho families have thrived here, and the population is increasing day by day. Later, Li and Zhang, who lived here, accepted the invitation of their families and moved to the source of Gu Jian.

Before the relocation, the Li and Zhang families transferred the land they cultivated here to the Su and He families at a low price. With fields and mountains, Su and He's family are like a duck to water, working hard day after day, and finally living a stable life.

Descendants of Su and He, who settled in Taocun Village, inherited the legacy of their ancestors, and often educated their descendants to take care of each other. So far, the descendants of Su and He have lived here for fifteen generations. There are four surnames in the village, Su, He, Liao and Tao, with a population of 2000.

On the bank of Shajiang River near the ancient bridge, there is an ancient road with a width of about 1 m, which runs through Tongan and the source, up to Guilin and down to Wuzhou. Su Laobo said that villagers who used to travel or businessmen who came to Jiang Sha from the north or south through ancient roads. Because there is no bridge on the river, they have to wade across the river by stepping on stones.

During the flood season, the river surged, the water flowed rapidly, and the stones were submerged, so that pedestrians could not cross the river. At this time, the descendants of Su and He, who settled here, worked hard and slowly established a family business, and their family wealth became increasingly rich.

In order to facilitate villagers and merchants to travel safely in time, Mr. He, who is kind-hearted, invested to build a bridge on the Shajiang River, which is now Jiubanqiao.

A bridge, a story. According to the old man in the village, in order to build the bridge, Mr. He spent a lot of money to buy Dachong Mountain, which is 10 kilometers away from the village and is rich in granite.

Then, hundreds of young and strong men from the village were hired to go to Dachongshan to stone, polish and carry. However, it is necessary to transport 10, a large stone strip with a length of 10 m and a weight of several tons, completely from the mountains ten kilometers away to Shajiang. In ancient times, when the means of transportation were backward, could it be done by manpower alone?

So, the craftsmen first cut a hole in each big stone, then tied a rope or put the stones on a wooden trolley and pulled them together.

There is a legend that the bridge is finally built, and five groups of bridge slabs are placed neatly and regularly on the river. A strange young man who participated in pulling carts asked everyone: Do you want this bridge to be long or perfect? Everyone said in unison, "It's been a long time!"

While speaking, there was a loud bang, stones fell into the river, and the ten flagstones just erected on the bridge deck became nine, hence the name "Jiubanqiao".

About 6 meters east of Jiubanqiao, there is a road pavilion named "Guangfu Pavilion" which was built in the eighth year of Qing Qianlong. The road pavilion covers an area of about 10 square meter, which is made of blue bricks and looks like the arched gate of the ancient gatehouse. The book reads "Guangfu Pavilion".

There is a drum-shaped long stone bench for passers-by to rest. There is a stone tablet outside the pavilion to rebuild Guangfu Pavilion. The inscription probably reads like this: Guangfu Pavilion was built by Taocun ancestors to facilitate the rest and shelter of passengers passing through here. In order to make the ancient pavilion immortal, the villagers donated money to rebuild it.