Yongjia Fort

Yongjia Fort

Yongjia Fort is located in the southwest of Chishui Town, at the southern foot of Shuangji Mountain, at an elevation of 1,106 meters. In the 16th year of the Chongzhen reign during the Ming Dynasty (1643), Xu Dai’er and Xu Dai’ba from Yongjia Village, together with the Yi family, initiated the construction of the fort to resist Japanese pirate invasions and avoid bandit raids. The fort is built of stone, and is grand in scale. The inner height of the fort walls averages over 2 meters, while the outer height averages about 2.5 meters, the base is over 3 meters wide, with the east side measuring 72 meters, the south side 45 meters, the west side 50.5 meters, and the north side 55 meters in length. It forms an irregular quadrilateral structure, covering a built-up area of 3,390 square meters, and is one of the larger and better-preserved fortresses in western Dehua County. There is one gate each on the eastern and northern sides of the fort. The east gate serves as the main entrance, and outside the north gate there is an ancient well over 100 meters deep, which served as the water source for the residents inside the fort. Originally, the interior of the fort had houses facing east, and four earthen cannons were placed at the four corners of the fort, all of which were destroyed during the “Campaign to Destroy the Four Olds.” The southern wall of the fort has stone steps that allow access to the top, enabling local militia to observe enemy movements and patrol the perimeter. In the 13th year of the Republic of China (1924), Xu ZhenGuang, commander of the Eastern Route Rebel-Suppressing Regiment, once stationed troops at the fort and added earthen walls over 2 meters high on top of the existing stone walls, along with gun ports and sentry windows around the perimeter. Later, due to neglect, most of the earthen walls have collapsed.