According to Qing Hui Dian, these jars were made in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most of them were iron tanks in the Ming Dynasty, and most of them were gold-plated bronze tanks in the Qing Dynasty. During the period of Xuan Tong, there were 308 vats in the Forbidden City. However, due to historical reasons, only 23 1 vat is left. There are 10 gold-plated vats in front of Gan Qing Palace, each with a diameter of 1.6 m, a height of 1.2 m and a weight of more than 3 tons. The cylinder is engraved with the words "Qing gan long nian system", which is said to be supervised by Xiao Shenyang.
Similarly, there are eight gold-plated bronze jars with similar shapes in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. However, these vats were cast during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. These water tanks are expensive, and the minimum is more than 500 taels of silver. If it is a gold-plated vat, at least 1500 silver is needed.
(Gold-plated bronze cylinder)
So, what are these huge water tanks for?
These water tanks are called "Taiping tanks", which are special fire prevention facilities in the Forbidden City, also known as "door sea", which means the sea in front of the door. With these "doors and seas", the brick and wood buildings in the Forbidden City are not afraid of fire.
As we all know, the Forbidden City was the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Founded in Yongle four years, it covers an area of more than 720,000 square meters and has more than 9,000 halls. It is the largest and most complete ancient architectural complex in China. Can such a huge building complex, close to hundreds of "Taiping cylinders", solve the fire hazard of the Forbidden City?
Don't underestimate these water tanks, their water storage capacity is amazing. The capacity of each water tank ranges from several hundred liters to several thousand liters, and some large water tanks even have more capacity than a modern fire truck. If each tank only stores 1 ton of water, the whole Forbidden City can hold more than 300 tons of water in the tank alone, which is very important to put out the initial fire.
In order to ensure that these water tanks can be prepared for fire all the year round, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, more than a dozen eunuchs in the palace drew water from the well every day and filled them one by one. The minister on duty should check the filling state of the water tank every day to ensure that the water tank is full all the year round.
In winter, the temperature in the Forbidden City is low, and the water tank will freeze. But once it freezes, it will be in trouble in case of fire. Ruyi, you must ensure that the water tank cannot freeze. So, how did ancient times ensure that the water in the water tank did not freeze?
First of all, eunuchs will add warm equipment to the water tank. According to the temperature and weather, they will put a cotton coat on the cylinder and put a cover on it.
Secondly, in extremely cold weather, we should put the vat on a special stone circle, and light a charcoal fire in the stone circle, which will not go out day and night, so that the vat will not be frozen until spring.
Third, all the copper and iron vats in front of the palace, in addition to the cylinder heads, will also put iron drawers in the covers and melt the ice with hot charcoal fire until the surprise season next year. According to the Qing Hui Dian, "there are 222 wooden covers and 222 iron drawers for copper and iron cans inside and outside Gan Qing Gate."
At the same time, the palace will also send special eunuchs on duty to "sit in the tent", starting from 10 every year until February of the following year, when the weather gets warmer.
There is also a fire extinguishing tool used in conjunction with Taiping cylinder, called "fire pump", commonly known as "hose". Its principle is essentially a water-absorbing sleeve. When in use, the pump stands vertically in the water tank. Using the sleeve principle, water is sucked into the cylinder, and then the sleeve is pressed down to spray water from the nozzle, and its range can exceed 20 meters.
This kind of "fire-fighting artifact" is light, simple and easy to operate, which is enough to deal with small fires or prevent the spread in the early stage of fires and plays a key role.
(Judy's portrait)
There have been many fires in the history of the Forbidden City. According to historical records, from the completion of the Forbidden City in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty to the abdication of Xuan Tong in the Qing Dynasty, there were nearly 100 large and small fires in the Forbidden City, which were clearly recorded in the History of the Ming Dynasty and the Hall of Qinghui.
In Yongle 18, the Forbidden City was completed, but just a few months later, in April of Yongle 19, Fengtian, Gai Hua and Jinsheng were caught in a fire and almost burned out. Judy was furious about this, and people in the government and the public were in a panic. They beat Judy one after another and moved the capital back to Nanjing. Later, under the strong pressure of Judy, the discussion about capital was put on hold. However, it took 20 years for the three burned halls to be rebuilt.
In the summer of Jiajing's thirty-sixth year, the three halls of Fengtian, Shen Jing and Gai Hua caught fire again, and the fire spread to buildings such as Fengtianmen, Shunmen and Noon Porch, forcing Jiajing to listen to politics in Wenhua Hall. The fire caused great losses. It took more than 30 thousand people to clean up the ruins after the accident, and thousands of private vehicles were requisitioned to participate in the cleaning.
Later, in the 24th and 25th years of Wanli, Gan Qing Palace, Kunning Palace and the first three halls were all burned down.
Because of several fires in the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty, it caused national disasters and caused "the prosperity of the three halls, and it took countless money to collect trees from lakes, rivers and Guizhou."
At the beginning of December in the eighteenth year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, several young eunuchs caught fire because of cooking, which led to the burning of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Emperor Kangxi was furious and ordered several eunuchs to be executed for "the crime of arson is unforgivable", and made a decree: "Lights everywhere in the palace are the most important. Where there is a fire, there must be guards, and several people and the general manager are not allowed to patrol from time to time. "
At the end of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, the Hall of Praying for the New Year was burned by lightning. Because the Hall of Prayer for the New Year is made of fragrant nanmu, it is fragrant for miles in Fiona Fang when it is on fire.
Taiping cylinder has played an important role in the fire prevention history of the Forbidden City for hundreds of years. In order to prevent the fire in the palace from spreading and play its due role, people gave it a festive name-"auspicious jar".