Chapter One No one digs into the past to infer the legend about Hongze Lake. The legend is absurd and magical. Like many ancient Chinese myths, it has the characteristics of blending with the concept of a long-standing nation, making the absurd legend in the world. It has been spread among the people, and has undergone countless generations of evolution, and has been transformed into a reassuring and awe-inspiring power that continues to flow through the long river of history. The legend itself is such that people in the ancient Sizhou and Zehua counties did not believe in gods and did not respect the sky. One year, the Dragon King came to Size two counties to spread rain on the order of the Jade Emperor. After the rain was finished, he wanted to find a temple to rest. Rest your feet, who knows that you have traveled all over the two counties, and there is not even a Dragon King Temple!Not only is there no Dragon King Temple, but even the Jade Emperor himself has no place to stay; it’s just that there is no nunnery temple, but there is a place where everyone believes in evil spirits. Hu Xian (Note: Fox), worshiping Changxian (Note: Snake), holding the power of two evil gods, cursing the gods and cursing the sky, there are so many rapes, thefts and adultery that the Dragon King can't bear to look at.Go back to the upper realm, watch and remember, and play a book like this. The Jade Emperor saw that Size and two counties had committed such crimes, and ordered: "Dry it first."The Dragon King asked: How long is the drought?The Jade Emperor brushed up his robe sleeves and stretched out three fingers.

Stretching out three fingers is not a good thing. The two counties of Size have not seen a drop of rain for three years. The sun is so poisonous that the dust is as deep as a foot.Witch associations all over the world have set up altars to pray for rain, offering live offerings and worshiping Immortal Hu Chang. Under the smoky sun. There is a man named Li Shan in Sizhou, who has always believed in heaven and not in evil. Amidst the sound of drought, his family made a seven-foot mud dragon with snail shell scales embedded in it. The old couple carried it to pray for rain. Little Diarrhea followed with the censer on his head, shouting from door to door, asking everyone to burn incense to meet the Dragon King.

Size and two counties have committed crimes for many years and dare not ask for heavy rain.The good man prayed and said: I just ask the Lord Dragon to sneeze a little, and let the plow rain on the ground. At present, there is no water when the well is dug ten feet away. If the drought continues, thousands of households will be extinct. The Dragon King carried it to the street, and the residents scolded: What the hell Dragon King? !If he had opened his eyes, he would have seen Sha Yan long ago!After three years of drought for us, it's time to peel its dragon skin and pump its dragon tendons!As they spoke, a large crowd came up and beat the scales of the snail shells to pieces. A woman splashed it, dug out the longan, and hung the moon letter belt on the dragon's horn.

In this kind of place, good people beat their hearts and said: If the sky does not bring catastrophe, if people do not exterminate, the sky above this head will have no justice!Let's carry the dragon to Zehua County! The little dysentery looked at the sky and said, "My lord, this time I go to Zehua for eighty miles, and the sun will burn people to death." An Ren said: Diarrhea, what do you know at a young age?It is better for us to suffer for this group of people than to see the imminent catastrophe. Heaven resents gods and gods, Buddha sighs ghosts and worries, can people survive for a thousand years?

The family went to Zehua under the smoky sun. When the people of Zehua County heard that a dragon was coming to pray for rain, they closed all the gates of the Sifang City to prevent them from entering the city.The good man and the old couple could not open the city gate crying, so they had to carry the mud dragon around the city wall to pray for heaven. After praying for a long time, the weak Anren vomited blood and died. Death held on to the corner of his robe, crying and persuading: "If a person dies, it is useless to cry. If you are dead, you will leave the story in Xinxie's hands. Why don't you dig a pit and bury Anren first, and go to defection tomorrow morning?" Go outside and see the fate of the wicked

That night, the master and the servant rested back to back under the city gate. The night was clear and the wind and sand could not rise. The thin and timid crescent moon hung obliquely on the corner of the cornice of the tower. Jie, it's all in your hands. Xinmin finally did his best. Before dawn tomorrow morning, when the cock crowed, Xinmin took the little mandiarrhea on the road to visit relatives in other places.The believers don't ask for catastrophe, but only for the extension of heaven's justice!Only when the laws of heaven are clear can we wake up and become stubborn! After the good man fell asleep, it was only about two drums, when the little mangy dysentery suddenly heard someone talking in the middle of the sky; one said: "It's getting late, and it is written in the edict that the flood will overflow the towers of the two counties of Size."The other said: It's still early, you can't start until the rooster crows for the first time. It's written in the book. At this time, the master and the servant didn't go, and the monk didn't come together. It's not a joke.

Little Mandiarrhea rubbed his eyes, sweating from shock, quietly woke up the good man, and said: Just now I heard the person in Half-Void talking, saying that the lake will be filled with water tonight, let's go on the road. The good man raised his head, and saw the bright stars in the sky, he couldn't help shaking his head and said: You are dreaming, there is not even a cloud in the sky, where is the water?The two of them took a nap for a while, and the good man also heard the people in the middle of the sky talking: the rooster is about to crow, the master and the servant haven't left, and the monk and the monk haven't come yet, so how can we do anything?Those who are in robbery don't come, maybe they will be robbed by five thunders

The good man turned around and woke up the little mandiarrhea again, saying: "Run south quickly, or you won't be able to escape if you are late!" The two masters and servants headed south and couldn't walk for five or six miles. A purple-faced monk and a long-haired Taoist priest came to meet them.The good man thought about it, someone was talking in the middle of the sky just now, and this monk is clearly in danger; although the secret is not revealed, if people open their eyes and see them die, it is really unbearable, so it is better to use coded words to tell them to turn around; just about to speak, it is called dysentery After tugging behind him, looking at the monk again, he had already walked over excitedly.

There is absolutely no way to save these two people, they have a demonic aura.Little Diarrhea said: "The witches make offerings to the two Immortals Hu Chang. If they weren't goblins, how could they accept offerings?" ! The good man suddenly understood and said: Even if the monk and the other monks are monsters, and there are no clouds in the sky, where is the rain coming from? Little Mandiarrhea stretched out his hand and pointed to the northwest corner, saying: Look, master, isn't that a cloud? The good man rubbed his eyes and saw two rootless clouds the size of millstones turned up on the northwest corner, as black as lacquer, rolling faster than the wheels, getting bigger and bigger, covering the two counties of Size in a blink of an eye, master and servant crawled On the edge of the soil, I felt a flash of lightning behind me, and the whole field was pale, followed by a loud thunder, and I turned my head to look again, and the white heavy rain could not tell the raindrops, and it poured down like a ladle. After a while, it became In a surging ocean, a huge black fox, a ten-thousand-year-old boa constrictor, and countless drifting and spinning human corpses floated on the waves.

That is the story of the formation of Hongze Lake. Countless Jiazi (Note: Sixty years is a Jiazi.) have disappeared, but absurd stories have been told; in the desolate land, the old people often use a kind of The deep and desolate voice narrates it, teaching the younger generation to respect heaven and believe in ghosts and gods; mothers will even make up simple nursery rhymes with such absurd stories, and teach their children to sing in the dim light of small oil lamps . Hongze Lake itself is a miraculous manifestation and a demonstration of the way of heaven. For many years, it has been lying quietly on the chest of the vast Huaihe Plain, swallowing dozens of streams of different sizes. The gray-green lake is like a sky-gazing One-eyed, the rippling lake light has become an unshakable force in the hearts of people who worship the sky, making them rely on the teachings of their ancestors to firmly believe that the laws of heaven must be manifested and evil ways must perish.

In normal times, people near the lakeshore live in their low thatched huts. According to the passage of time and seasons, they are engaged in farming, weaving, fishing and netting respectively.The change of dynasties and dynasties in Chinese history is like a breeze at the end of the day to them; like all the peasants of this ancient nation, they have the traditional consciousness of directly worshiping the sky and relying on the land, and they are used to putting peace, harvest, and All joys are attributed to Heaven, and wars, droughts, and all misfortunes are attributed to Heaven.But the grace of heaven is eternal, and the calamity of heaven is only a temporary obstacle, which can disappear as easily as the wind.After the catastrophe, people will survive by virtue of God's grace and tell more new stories for the next generation.A person does not need to read sage books, but he must learn to live reasonably from many legends. On the Red Grass Wasteland, the lives of those residents have the above-mentioned characteristics: natural, simple, and simple, just like the unchanging soil on the plain.The red grass wasteland is nestled on the east bank of Hongze Lake, sleeping peacefully, nothing can awaken its sweet dream; the war drums of the golden soldiers, the wild horseshoes of the Mongolians, the rogues of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Chuang, and the long-haired demon soldiers of Hong Yang , have stepped on that piece of wilderness, but disappeared between its breaths; the rising lake water will wash away the fishy smell, horseshoes and blood, leaving behind the sigh of history.It is just facing the sky with its bare yellow sand chaotic chest, bathing in the sun and wind and rain, and protecting the people in its arms.Time flows silently, watching people being born generation after generation, entering the tomb safely, returning life to the wild, and completing the natural cycle. The Red Grass Wasteland is not vast, it lies between Hongze Lake and the ancient silted yellow river; probably because of the influence of the old proverb of Hongze Lake East Bailihuang, even if the nearby people spend their whole lives staring at the wilderness on the wasteland. In the sky, few people enter that wilderness. Only a few people living in the wilderness on the west bank of the Tulong River can truly appreciate the taste of the wilderness. Generally speaking, such unusual desolation is caused by the topography; on the north side of the wilderness, three rivers flow parallel to the southeast, namely the Salt River, the Grand Canal, and the Old Yellow River; In the south of the wasteland, the Zhangfu River draws the lake water to the northeast and joins the Beisan River to form crossed arms, turning the low-lying wasteland into a broken basin on the shore of the lake. From the shore of the lake to the east, across numerous sandy forts and shallow swamps, there are wild reeds everywhere. On the other side of the reeds, red grass grows densely along the waterline that flooded Hongze Lake in ancient times, spreading to the northeast for more than ten miles. , forming the main body of the wasteland. Red Grass is a simple and strange plant, most capable of expressing vigorous life. The back of the leaf is blue-brown, and the surface of the leaf is as red as blood. If a mature grass blade is pulled straight, the head and tail will be more than six feet long. .The red grass of the previous year was withered and rotted into mud by the severe frost, and then, the dead snow buried them. At first glance, the winter grass has been flattened by the heavy snow, forming a transparent white ice, but wait When winter comes to an end and spring comes, with a sound of spring thunder, countless new greens will sprout from the thawed earth.Once the red grass grows faster than any wild plant, it is green when it is young, and the leaves gradually turn red when the sun pours in. When it matures in April, it is as red as a fire pouring on the sky and emits a strong grass fragrance; when the south wind blows, On the tip of the grass, there are strands of flickering waves, swaying straight to the far horizon. Wolves sometimes appear in the red grass. When the red grass is mature, grass wolves (note: a common name for female wolf) give birth to pups and go out to look for food after sunset.Looking north from the Hongcao District, there is a cluster of forest tops in the east and a cluster of forest tops in the west. The ground atmosphere floating in the forest waist looks like smoke but not smoke, like fog but not fog. This is one of the unique natural phenomena near the water near the lake. The atmosphere of the earth is gray and hazy and slightly transparent, constantly flickering upwards, making people look at all objects from a distance of several feet, as if separated by a thin and swaying giant net, presenting a zigzag and indefinite image. Reflection in the waves; in the late spring and early summer when the atmosphere is dense, even the propagation of sound is greatly affected, with echoes that fluctuate like waves. The wild forest area is a gathering place for small prey; there are rabbits, leopards, thorns, yellow wolves, wild badgers and sharp-billed red foxes; on the high zenith, there is also a red-necked and bald-tailed big tortoise, Chang stretched out his powerful wings, cruising leisurely in the vast clear blue, and the huge black projection moved swiftly on the forest tops like the wind. In the middle of the wild forest, a piece of farmland is spread out, and many gullies washed by water cut it one by one, presenting an uneven appearance; Xia Jiahong, Leigou, the four surnames Hong, and Tietou Hong all flowed across the plains to the Great Lake.Due to the scouring of the torrent, they often change their original shape. Some have narrow heads and wide tails, curved and coiled; The fissure suddenly expanded and turned into a spiral pool of water. The water flowed through the ground and then emerged from the ground elsewhere.This desolate plain is the swampland that people often refer to south of Beisanhe. It is the outer ring of the Red Grass Wasteland, and there are only a few villages with six or seven surnames; almost every ethnic group tells the story of how their ancestors moved here and how they settled down.During the Xianfeng period, the Hongyang Rebellion caused their distant ancestors to take refuge in the wilderness. After the long-haired soldiers and the terrible plague, ten of the refugees died and nine were injured. Those who survived were the lucky ones, and they multiplied from generation to generation. today.No matter who narrates those stories, it does not dilute their horror of unseen wars and plagues because of the distance, as if it is the living self who bears those sufferings, not the long-buried ancestors. Nearly a hundred years after the Changmao Rebellion, although there have been countless major turmoils, those turbulences outside the sky did not seriously affect the marshes, but the annual autumn floods often troubled them. The marshland is so low and sunken. According to legend, the surface of the Zhangfu River in the south is three feet higher than the ground of the marshland, and the three rivers surrounded by six high dikes in the north are higher than the treetops in the marshland. In most of the red grass areas, wolves are driven into the swamp to harass people and animals continuously, and the furious Sanhe will overturn the dikes and rush towards the swamp.The people in Danze are not overly worried about such disasters, because they believe in another ancient legend about the Tulong River, that magical legend blesses them, allows them to survive from generation to generation, and promotes the truth that the sky is endless. . It is said that Tulonghe was originally a bald-tailed dragon in the upper realm. Because he missed the rain, he was punished to go to the swamp to suffer for the people of this side.It has Sanhe Fork in its mouth, its body is facing south, and its bald tail has nowhere to put it, so it inserts it into the belly of Laozi Mountain. When the water of Sanhe River rises, it opens its mouth to suck in the water of Sanhe River, making it flow into Hongze Lake again. , to avoid flooding in the swamp.Perhaps the legend is absurd, but people in the marsh will point out that when the flood comes, the bald-tailed dragon opens its mouth to absorb water and pours it out from the dragon's tail. As high as the river surface of Sanhe is, the water column will be as high.If you put aside all the legends and look at the Tulong River at the boundary of the wilderness, it is just a strange-shaped giant river with an average width of about ten feet. Near the river, there is no grass, the cliff face is steep, and there are horizontal tooth-shaped traces of water rushing everywhere. , and the five parallel westward streams diverging from it, just like dragon claws, may be the origin of ancient legends. Because the riverbed of the Tulong River is often changed by floods, there has never been a formal bridge between the wasteland and the outside world. Only under the big elm tree near the Huoshen Temple, there is a temporary bridge built with miscellaneous wood. Tie it with a thick iron cable and tie it to a large standing stone to prevent it from being lost when water is generated.The deserted road flows from the east and leads to the swamp through a temporary bridge, but because there are few pedestrians all year round, the shadow of the road is getting weaker and weaker, and finally it is covered by wild plants. The Fire God Temple is the only reasonable temple on the marsh, even the Dragon King of the Four Seas lives there; three small temples made of granite blocks are located at Xiajiahongtou, close to the wild forest and endless red grass, and the front of the temple is a green brick square. There is a small Dingtou house next to the temple, which is the house of the old man who watched the temple; the tiger-headed tiles on the eaves of the temple have long since fallen off, and the tile holes have become nests for sparrows. The twittering was so loud that we couldn't hear the whispers; whenever Lao Manzi and his son were drying grain on Fang Yang, the birds from the wild forest would also come to join in the fun, and the ridge of the temple was covered with darkness, only the birds were seen but not the tiles. Regarding the Temple of Fire, there are not only the same absurd legends, but also a commandment that cannot be changed without authorization, and that commandment is about fire. It is said that the vast and endless red grass area was originally the place chosen by Huodexing Lord to test the sky fire; Huodexing Lord is an upright and selfless god who wants to burn all ghosts, evil spirits and evil spirits in the world with sky fire.Every Jiazi, he would use the red grass area to try Tianhuo, and the older generation in the swamp would describe a terrifying scene for Tianhuo in their stories. The first time the sky fire started was during the Tongzhi period. Zeng Jiushuai’s army returned to Nanjing and trapped Hong Yao. The long hair guarded tightly and could not attack for a long time. Zeng Jiushuai set up an altar to worship the sky, and Lord Huodexing helped him out !Father Xia of Qingshiwu said: My great-grandfather saw with his own eyes three days before the fire test, wild badgers hid in the red grass, foxes moved, roe cats, deer and rabbits all ran towards the swamp, and did not avoid anyone.On the night of the fifteenth day, the moon was bright and majestic, but there was a clatter of thunder, and the Nantian Gate opened wide, and fire dragons, fire horses, muskets, rockets, and meteors fell into the red grass, and the ground boiled!The fire burned for three days and three nights. Fire locusts flew all over the swamp, the ashes were two or three inches deep. When they touched the ground, it was scalding hot. As far as Beisanhe, the flames reaching the sky could be seen for dozens of miles. No one doubted the authenticity of the legend, and the Fire Temple was built; the villagers automatically followed the commandment: wildfires were banned every October until after the first snow in mid-winter; The sky is a sacrifice to the god of fire, and people from all villages gather to worship the mighty god of fire in Welling.During the fire ban season, along the edge of the red grass area, there are wooden signs for no fire and no hunting. Brand a scorched black fire word. There is no need to talk about the influence of Vulcan on their hearts, just looking at the facts, if there is a full-scale fire in the red grass area, and if there is a strong wind, there will be no people in the middle of the swamp, and even the iron blocks will be burned. red.In addition to the precepts strictly observed by the people in the Zeland, even the hunters on the Zhangfudui who go hunting in the wilderness after the fire ban season every year, also bring incense candles to worship the god of fire before firing their guns. Even with such care, the Red Grass area still caught fire every once in a while, but the fire area was much smaller than the first time; the farther one was to burn the Wan army. When they returned to the army, the fire of heaven punished them; in winter, the north wind rose, and the fire burned faster than the horses, so that none of them could survive to the edge of the lake.The most recent time was to burn the Japanese devils. The Japanese devils came down to clear the countryside with bayonets and cannons. , Do not go where there are people, the brigade pulls into the red grass area, trying to find someone in the wolf den!Somehow, a sky fire started to burn around them. When the fire started, there was a whirlwind around them, and the light swirled inwards instead of outwards. After half a day of burning, the devils were burned into a large pile of black ashes, without even a trace of humanity; The whirlwind stopped, a cloud the size of a sesame seed exploded from the zenith, and a heavy rain fell, and the rain fell strangely. The crows in other places did not get half of their feathers wet, but the rain feet on the red grass area hung down like a basin, extinguishing the rain. the fire. And that is no longer a story. All the young and old people living in the swamp have witnessed how Vulcan punishes ghosts, evil spirits and evil spirits. Going northwest from the Huoshen Temple, there are shallow swamps, wild reeds, and bitter bamboo groves all the way, until you reach the ghost pond covering an area of ​​tens of acres; not far to the north of the ghost pond is the bluestone house of Father Xia's family.The bluestone house itself is a lonely Zhuangzi, a four-door house with a brick corner and tile roof. The tall bluestone house is built on the opposite side of the house, with a wheat threshing field in the middle.There is an earthen polder wall around the village, and a slightly skewed giant wooden gatehouse is erected facing east. Due to the erosion of wind and rain all year round, the vermilion paint on the gatehouse has long since faded, and the plaques of loyal family heirlooms are also hidden in the dust cobwebs, looking very gloomy. But if one looks at the family tree of the Xia family, anyone will be amazed at its past glory.Father Xia's patriarch, Xia Kaiyang, nicknamed Xia Xiaozhuan, lived in Fengyang for generations. He learned martial arts from a young age and practiced kung fu very well. When he was middle-aged, he opened a martial arts gym and taught him boxing and kicking. Everyone respectfully called him Master Braid.The long-haired soldiers went down to Nanjing and crossed the river to the north. Many people heard that the wind was raining, and they all ran away.Master Braid didn't run away, and asked him, he said: After practicing martial arts all my life, I can't use it, and opening a gymnasium to teach boxing to burn the sun and the moon is miserable enough!People say that long hair is evil, but if I don't see it, it doesn't count. When I see it, I will talk about it, and I will not spend my whole life practicing martial arts in vain.After the long-haired soldiers came, they were in a mess. They won the battle and had nothing to do. Those soldiers shook their arms and went shopping all day long.There is a silk shop next door to the martial arts hall, run by a young couple. The male went out to sell silk and asked the soldiers to kill him. The female was holding the door alone. One day, seven long-haired soldiers entered the door, and the female screamed through the wall. Help!Master Braid jumped over the wall with a single knife, ping-pong, and killed three and a half pairs of seven long-haired soldiers. Xia Kaiyang fled to the swamp among the refugees, and the long-haired soldiers also occupied Sanhe. The human and natural disasters added, the refugees were either caught and killed by the rebels, or they were infected with the plague. Xia Kaiyang prepared herbal medicine according to the ancestral prescription. Lived hundreds of people.The long-haired soldiers became fierce when they went to the wilderness, killing everyone they saw, but Xia Kaiyang led more than 60 young men to resist him. Others said: Forget it, Lord Braid, the catastrophe came from heaven, and manpower can't turn it around. If you lead this little group of people to be beaten with long hair, it will fall apart as soon as an egg hits a rock. Instead of dying for everyone, it is better to escape separately!Master Braid said it well: Even if a catastrophe falls from the sky, it is better to welcome the catastrophe than to respond to the catastrophe. If the catastrophe happens, you will die if you escape to the sky.I will never fight for the Qing Dynasty. Whoever makes people die, I will do it! But this fearless refugee team was finally massacred in the depression south of Xiajiahong; more than 60 knives, forks and sticks killed more than 300 fierce long-haired soldiers.In this knowingly desperate mixed killing, the braided man with his bare arms was like a living tiger, killing more than 70 long-haired soldiers single-handedly from early morning to midday.Although Mr. Braid is good at martial arts, people are made of flesh and blood. He was stabbed three or four times on the back, and a large piece of scalp and an ear were cut off by a knife on the head, and he shouted to kill!Finally, a wounded long-haired soldier flew up a red tasseled gun from behind him, and the point of the gun pierced into his right flank; Mr. Braid didn't notice it at all, he just struggled with the one in front of him. blood, like red paint.It wasn't until all the invading long-haired soldiers lay down that Master Braid tilted his head, put the barrel of the gun against his corpse, and stood there after death, as if no one was taller than him. After the fight, some orphans and widows hiding in the bamboo grove buried the dead on the spot.The long-haired soldiers were soon defeated and withdrew from the Three Rivers, and the days of hardship and hardship followed.Father Xia's father ate hunger since he was a child, and when he grew up, he became a yellow and thin man. Although he did not inherit the amazing martial arts from Master Braid, he endured incomparable patience and spent a lifetime of blood and sweat. A big house and a bluestone mill house were handed over to his son. Father Xia was a member of the Ba family when he was young. He used the mill as an oil mill, and he took the oil workers out on mules all day long to buy soybeans and Peanut kernels and squeezed cooking oil are put into baskets and transported by trucks to towns near the wasteland for sale.The three characters of Qingshiwu are famous for hundreds of miles.In the last years of Guangxu, there was a drought in the two Huaihe Rivers, and they carried Father Xia away as the God of Wealth. With the money accumulated over ten years of hard work, it took six out of ten to redeem his life.From then on, Father Xia took the word "money" aside: "Originally, things outside of money can't be brought with you when you are born, and you can't be taken away with you when you die."The business is still going on, and Er Hei'er's father is entrusted to manage it, and the money earned is spent on the poor, and nothing is saved.He only wears old cloth all the year round, rides a donkey to various villages and households in his spare time, and tells many stories that young people have never heard. .Of the two sons of the old god, Xia Futang, the eldest, was the only one who had ever traveled far in Zedi. He had been to Nanjing and Shanghai, and read a lot of foreign books; Rebuked: What is superstition? You are superstitious about the old sky above your head, no better than those superstitious generals who are superstitious about guns, superstitious rich men who have money that can turn ghosts, and liars who are superstitious about evil ghosts and gods. Well!Don't use the Republic of China to scare the old man. I understand this truth. The Republic of China is the country of the common people. There is no emperor on his head who rides people like horses!In the early days, heaven, earth, emperor, relatives, and teachers were enshrined in the hall, so you only need to remove the character for monarch and replace it with the character for country.This is a way of being a citizen. For those of you who receive a salary from the people, the character for country should be changed to the character for people.The Min characters are heavier than the Guo characters. Only with the Min can there be a country, but how can there be a country without the Min? !Your father is superstitious about this!After the training, the son was asked to get up, but the son was not willing to get up, his clothes were dripping wet with tears, he hugged Father Xia's leg and said: Dad, I was wrong, I was wrong!I have been studying for many years, and my father's words are so clear. Xia Futang retreated with the government before the ghost cleared his hometown, and there was no news for several years; Father Xia only had his youngest son Xia Lutang in front of him.Before Grandma Xia died, she used to think about her eldest son, who was not heard from. Father Xia didn't mind much, and spread his hands and said: As long as he can follow my words, he can be a human being, and I can let go of this rule wherever he goes. Xin, unlike the silly second Lu Tang, who was in chaos in the war, and stayed at home all the time, which made people worry about it. When the devil first came to Qingxiang, others hid in the wild forest to hide from the rebellion. Xia Lutang's stupid second son, who would not leave the bluestone house without saying anything, was caught by the devil and shot through the Tianling Gai. Hanging upside down on a locust tree at the corner of Maichang.Grandma Xia was so sad that she went crazy without drinking or eating, and passed away soon after.Only the old fairy was left alone in the world, waiting for his eldest son Xia Futang to come back. Going westward from Qingshi House, the wild forest is densely populated, and where the trees are broken, you can see the battlements and uneven roof ridges of the Shijia Tubao; the Shijia Tubao is built on the slope in the middle of Jingjiahong, and dozens of families The whole surname is Shi, and I can't find a single surname outside.The owner of the castle is also the head of the clan. In terms of age, the head of the clan, Shi Lun, is not considered old. In terms of seniority, he is higher than several old men with white beards. , the tribe will put it on the head and say: You can't change it, this is what the ancestors ordered, even if you lose your head, you have to follow it! Everyone knows that Shi Dahan, the distant ancestor of the Shi family, was a land reclamation household. He moved into the swampland for only seventy years. Inserting the mark, there is a saying that seeing the mark is like seeing a person, and the mark is the owner.) Allotted, only the area under the Shijia Tubao, which was originally a ten-mile desolate forest; that year came a big black man with a big fist He has thick arms, wears old blue coarse cloth clothes, and wears a girdle on his shoulders. , Whenever people ask, they say: I am here to open up wasteland! When the big black man arrived at the bluestone house, Father Xia's old man said to him: If there is no chaos, how can there be no land without an owner?It's a pity that you were born a few decades later. The wasteland here has been subdivided. Now there are only ten miles of barren forest in the west and dozens of miles of red grass in the south. I'm afraid you won't be able to cultivate much in your lifetime.The black man said: Cultivate the wasteland, reclaim the wasteland, I will reclaim the wasteland whenever I see it, no matter what kind of forest or grass it is! The big black man headed west, and set up the straw shed on the high ridge of Jingjiahong, like a three-sleeping silkworm gnawing on mulberry leaves. With just a small ax and a shovel, he was as dense as the dense wild forest. He worked hard; every few days, he would send firewood to Qingshiwu in exchange for some miscellaneous grains to survive; in less than two years, he had cultivated more than 40 mu of land.The days passed with the sound of cutting axes. The black man married the daughter of Leizhuang by the lake and gave birth to three sons. After four or five generations of reproduction, he became a village with a thriving population; It was also enshrined in a small ancestral hall and became a spiritual symbol of this family. In fact, the Shijia Tubao is very savage and brave, just like their distant ancestor Shi Dahan reclaimed wasteland in the early years. In the late Qing Dynasty, there were several bandit rebellions, and the lake bandits (Note: Underworld language, which means the gathering of large groups of people.) came ashore. , the dry bandits stationed in Dacao (Note: Black Dao language, that is, the bandits are all over the Caohe River.) Sweeping the four townships, the young and fiery Shi Lun gathered a gun team to strangle the mouth of the Tulong River, so that the bandits would not dare to invade the swamp. , take a detour. The Shijia Tubao faces west, and the deserted road becomes more and more hollow. In winter, from among the sparse branches, you can see Leizhuang surrounded by pigeons; The story is full of magic and sense of fate. Going back to the previous generations of the Lei family, it has been calculated that Lei Tuozi, the honest ancestor of Lei, was born. When Lei Tuozi was born, Leizhuang was still a barren land. There was only a double eaves that reached the ground. His father did odd jobs for others. Since Lei Tuozi was ten years old, he has been herding cattle for the Xia family in Qingshiwu;In the summer of last year, the sun at noon made people lazy. Lei Tuozi dozed off against a rickety willow tree, pressing his torn cloak on his face.Suddenly, in the dream, he heard the yelling of a cow humming. When he opened his eyes, he was stunned. A calf with golden hair less than one foot high was sleeping on the soft grass beside the feet of the old cow he grazing.He has heard the story of the golden mother since he was a child, saying that it is a rare treasure, and that if he catches it, it will take off its golden shell and escape.He caught it according to the method described in the legend, and got the golden shell. No matter how absurd the rumors are, the Lei family clan really developed from Lei Tuozi. Lei Tuozi believed in gods and Buddhas all his life, and passed down gold, silver and treasures before his death. keep watch.Lei Laoshi, the head of the house, and Mr. Lei Er, his brother who is a Chinese medicine practitioner, take the ancestral precepts even more seriously. At the beginning of the Republic of China, there was a great famine in the north, and in the counties that were severely desolate, it was said that human flesh was also weighed by the catty; Lei honestly spent all his money and went to the county to give relief, and lived thousands of lives one after another. Whoever mentioned that to him, he smiled like a puff of smoke and said: Whose money is it?mine?Forget it!It's all God-given: I can't send me without it, and I can't starve to death without it!What to do with it!If the ancestors didn't get the golden mother shell, would the Lei family become rich? ! His brother, Mr. Lei Er, is the only Chinese medicine doctor in Zedi. He has never received a penny for treating patients and getting medicine.I love keeping pigeons the most in my life. When he goes out, the pigeons follow him around, and some of them land on his shoulders, like a hunter juggling hawks. Going south from Leizhuang, there is a small earth temple made of big tiles facing the wolf altar opposite Leijiagou. There are more legends about wolves in the marshes. It is said that there were no traces of wolves on the plain on the north bank of the Nansan River before the Hongyang Great Rebellion. Forced to flee to the north, the densely populated places could not survive, so they chose the Red Grass Wasteland. The old man who guards the Fire Temple often brings people into the story. How many years ago, our ancestor, an old carpenter, drove coffins for others during the epidemic, and came back from the lake overnight, and saw wolves move.Walking in the moon field, I suddenly heard the sound of grass, squatted down and took a look, wow!Wow!Wow!The back of the wolf was drifting like waves on the tip of the grass, and there was a big white wolf leading the way ahead, its whole body was as white as snow!Looking back, one follows the other, there are always dozens of wolves and grandchildren!The ancestor of our family was so frightened that his hands and feet softened, and he fainted under the big tree with his eyes closed. In the groggy darkness, he saw the big white wolf standing against the tree, and said to him in a human language: wolves and people are the same. When we are robbed by heaven, we are also fleeing. From now on, people live in swamps, wolves live in red grass, well water does not interfere with river water, and each lives in peace. At the big tree, a monument was erected and an altar was built. After many generations and countless ups and downs, the dilapidated wolf altar still stands on the high wall beside Leijiagou.It is an open-air square altar made of bluestone, only one foot wide and long, surrounding the ancient tree with towering tree ends and ferocious branches. three words. In essence, maybe it is full of superstition, but what is important is that the people of the Zeland believe in the most important spiritual justice and mutual peace in the law of the wilderness from their primitive concepts; they have experienced unprecedented man-made disasters, I can't thank God enough for surviving.Naturally, the people after the catastrophe were completely satisfied with the newly reclaimed plains, and did not want to further conquer the angry red grass and kill the wolves.Due to the conservative, gentle and humane characteristics of eastern farmers and the aforementioned reasons, humans and wolves have coexisted peacefully for many generations. Of course, during the long years of coexistence, the wolves have brought a lot of troubles to the residents of the swamp, but that is a hundred times better than man-made disasters.During the flood season, when the flood floods the low-lying red grass areas, wild wolves often appear near wild forests and villages, sneak into the corrals at night and devour livestock; Experience taught them how to guard against wolves; every day before dusk, they would go around the house with a lighted fire stick as usual, close the corrals, and use stone millstones and thick wooden poles to fasten the door.萬一有一隻狼闖進防範不密的人家鬧出事來，最好的方法是打起燈籠，帶上一把香燭到狼壇去，燒了香，依習慣唸說：某天某日某時辰，狼進某戶驚了民了！天不罰牠，地不罰牠，狼神自會罰牠有一種更為靈異的傳言說：單凡祝禱之後不久，就有被咬死的狼屍會被發現。不過野狼擾害人畜的情事是很少見的，傳言也只是傳言罷了。 狼壇的南面，順著四姓泓叉出的泓心走出去，就到了空闊的砂石平灘了。平灘地勢開闊，放眼西望，望得見蘆葦那邊洪澤湖接天的水光，一些寄居在蘆叢、沙渚上的水鳥，常飛落到稜稜的砂石間安閒的曬翅，藍天下一片翻飛的翅膀。這兒是荒原最偏僻的地方，卻有孤單單的一戶人家。扒頭屋裏的住戶李聾子是個古怪的單身漢子，一個人養了七笆斗（註：北方養蜂的蜂房係以笆斗製成的，一笆斗就是一窩）蜜蜂，一條硬了脊梁的瘦驢，一大窩雞。平灘附近不能落種，李聾子單靠販賣自編的籃子、蘆蓆過活。 砂石平灘朝東拐，順著曲折的夏家泓北泓崖一直通回火神廟去，一邊是茂密的野林，一邊是荒荒的紅草；野林空處，偶有一些低簷矮屋的散戶和無人放牧的牛羊牲畜，總掩不住四野的荒曠。 這就是紅草荒原的整個面貌，多少年來沒有什麼改變。澤地上的居民們用許多傳說去教化他們的兒女，並且固執的確認他們有權感覺自認為公平的感覺，遵遁單純的荒野的自然律法，以敦厚的心辨別一切事象的是非黑白；當複雜的事象超越他們解悟的能力，他們就信靠著冥冥中守護在他們頭頂上的神靈。 日子流淌過去，日子像與他們沒有多大的關連，澤地與外界是分開的，官府的告示貼在橋頭的大榆樹上，管它滿清也罷，北洋也罷，民國也罷，澤地是一塘止水，天外微風縱然拂過荒野，也不能在紅草上停留，歲月會使它消失在不可知的遠處舊告示被風吹落被雨打落了，新告示會跟著張貼在原處。告示上說完糧，他們就完糧，告示上說納稅，他們就納稅。他們順服祖宗們的傳言官府就是世上的天。而他們更崇奉一切有關荒野的傳說和不可擅更的戒律，因那些直接關乎他們的生存。 在平常的日子裏，也有少數人進入澤地；老買賣、熟面孔，連三歲娃子也叫出他們的名字來；除去張福堆頭的獵戶發財叔、金鎖兒、五福兒、丁大丁二弟兄倆十來個人之外，就祇有雙金閘上的喬鐵匠，城東關的老貨郎施大，矮獸醫，替人卜葬的風水先生。交易的方式很古老，壓根兒不用論價錢；價是上一代或上上一代就訂好了的一把鎌刀兩升小麥；要大麥呢，就是三升。賬目劃在懷裏的小摺兒上，下一年麥季照收。 許多年裏，也有過一些事情被人們談論過。清末大荒年，緝私隊在禿龍河東岸所設的稅卡和販賣私鹽的梟子們打過架，包鐵扁擔對長槍，使澤地人們收埋過幾十具無名的屍身。後來，一張告示貼去了宣統年號換成了民國，有許多人咧著嘴笑，夏老爹卻擔憂說：改頭換面，又是一代江山！我們做民不想逛逛金鑾殿，單求新主兒不擾民就夠了！朝朝代代，換湯不換藥，弄得人心寒 而日子那樣的流淌過去。一如風不能停留，日子也不能停留。莊稼點種入土，莊稼會長起來。紅草不須點種，紅草也會紅遍荒原。澤地上的人們安心的存活下去，透過那一片虛無飄緲的晴藍，他們看得見守護的神靈，祂正在古老的洪澤湖的波面上映照祂萬古長青的容顏。 當他們從安然中醒來，日子已經在民國的脊背上滾過卅個年頭了。