【Haichuan Chemical Industry Site】Laoxiao Cave Site on Laojun Mountain in Jiangyou
Thread Content
There is a place in Jiangyou that is beautiful and mysterious – it is Laojun Mountain in Chonghua Town. There, not only are there tall mountains, flowing waters, lush trees and dense forests, but there are also ancient nitrate mining caves with a long history and a mysterious aura
Laojun Mountain, located in the ancient town of Chonghua in Jiangyou City, is part of Zangwangzhai Mountain. The most attractive thing on Laojun Mountain are the mysterious caves perched atop those cliffs and precipices. These caves come in various shapes; their entrances are narrow, requiring ladders to descend into them, and their depths range from dozens of meters to over ten kilometers.
Legend has it that these mysterious caves were where the ancients produced gunpowder. The Qing dynasty records in the \"Annals of Long’an Prefecture\" and the \"Annals of Zitong County\" contain brief mentions of Chonghua **, which mainly supplied the troops in Long’an Prefecture and the Songpan Xiahe camp. Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, there were many merchants in Chonghua Market who produced and sold firecrackers, giving rise to a \"Firecracker Street\".
In the 1990s, archaeologists finally uncovered the secrets of these cave complexes: they represent the largest ancient nitrate production sites discovered in the country to date, with the best-preserved production facilities. It provides strong evidence to unravel the **mystery of the invention** of the \"Nitro Route through Long\" as mentioned in ancient documents. The cave still preserves well the original layout of the ancient nitrate production process as well as the channels used for transporting the nitrate outward. Judging from the surviving production facilities, the scale of production in this area was quite large; it can be considered the largest and most important **raw material base in ancient China. There were two large-scale mining operations in the early Ming dynasty and during the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty.
The reasons for the large-scale mining in the early Ming dynasty are unknown. Legend has it that it is related to a historical mystery from the early Ming dynasty. After Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen, ascended to the throne, he pushed forward with new policies and drastically reduced the power of the princes, which caused dissatisfaction among them. After Prince Zhu Di of Yan raised an army and captured Nanjing, the fate of Emperor Jianwen remained unknown, turning it into a mystery in history. According to local legends near Laojun Mountain, Emperor Jianwen escaped secretly from an underground palace with 9 of his trusted followers. After many twists and turns, they traveled along the ancient Yinping Road to Dàyè Mountain in Longzhou (now Zangwangzhai Mountain in Jiangyou City) to take refuge there. Because Laojun Mountain there is rich in nitrate mines, which can be used as a resource for restoration. Emperor Jianwen ultimately failed to restore his rule, but the local people named this place Zangwangzhai Mountain as a result.
The large-scale mining that took place during the Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty was related to two significant **operations** carried out by the Qing government against the local chieftains in the areas of Greater and Lesser Jinchuan. After that, the exit and entrance of the Da Xiudong were blocked with boulders, and no further mining took place.
The site is located in the Laojunshan area of Cangwangzhai, Chonghua Town, Jiangyou City, Sichuan Province, and consists of peaks such as Yanjiayan, Daping Mountain, Moyu Mountain, Cangwangzhai Mountain, Zhaizi Mountain, Hejiashan, and Lishuping Peak. The mountain range stretches 21 kilometers from north to south and 14 kilometers from east to west, covering an area of over 300 square kilometers. It spans six towns and townships, including Beicheng, Xinchun, Yongsheng, Tongxing, Chonghua, and Wensheng. Including Chaoyang Cave, Tianyu Cave, Gaoguan Cave, Rhinoceros Cave, Fairy Cave, Dry-Man Cave, Ox-Horn Cave, Nine Immortals Cave, Bright-Moon Cave, Laojun Cave, and Zhonggou Cave. The depths of these caves range from several hundred meters to several kilometers, giving rise to a vast network of ancient nitrate cave sites. The nitrate caves still contain a large amount of remnants from nitrate production; the slag and waste materials left over from ancient nitrate manufacturing are piled up in huge quantities, and traces of human excavation are clearly visible. The Niutong Site on Laojun Mountain preserves well the original layout of the ancient nitrate production process, making it of great value for studying mining and metallurgical activities during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The Niutong Site on Laojun Mountain preserves well the original layout of the ancient nitrate production process, making it of great value for studying mining and metallurgical activities during the Ming and Qing dynasties. On May 25, 2006, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China designated them as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.