The Legend of Jiuhua Mountain —— The Legend of Baisheling

Dongshan River, which originated in the eastern mountainous area of Huayou, flows like a jade belt in front of Baisheling Central Village in tuanjie village, xinhe town. It not only adds aura to this small village, but also leaves a legend for it, making Baisheling a beautiful place name.

Before Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, Baisheling was sparsely populated, surrounded by lakes and reeds, and the winding Dongshan River freely flowed into the Qingtong River near Qiao Yuan. But in the vertical and horizontal water network of this lake, there are also hills of different sizes, which are covered with dense trees and vines. There is no doubt that this is a paradise for waterfowl and a habitat for wild animals, and it is only a dozen miles away from Qingyang County.

Qingyang County, located in Rongcheng, had a city without walls for a long time, and it was not built until the forty-fourth year of Jiajing (1565). According to county records, the circumference of Qingyang city wall is 83 1 ft, two feet high and one foot thick. The city walls are all made of bricks. It needs a lot of bricks, manpower and financial resources, which is a huge project today. However, in the era of low productivity, it is not easy to build such an ideal city, not to mention Qingyang was sparsely populated. According to county records, in the first year of Wanli (1573), the population of the county was only "2,263 households with 7,596 people". Even if the records are wrong, the population of Qingyang at that time could hardly exceed 20,000. At that time, the bricks needed to build the city wall were distributed according to the population and land of each metropolitan area in the county, and it was required to be completed within the specified time. It is not easy for people who live in the mountains far away from the county seat to finish it. Even if the bricks are burned, it is not easy to send them to the county seat with mules, horses and shoulders. 20 17 When the last section of the city wall was demolished at the foot of the city wall, it was found that a brick was engraved with the words "Jiu Du Ba Jia Xiong", indicating that this brick was made by the surname of Jiu Du Ba Jia Xiong. Where is nine degrees? It is the Jiuhua area in front of the temple today. How much manpower does it take to burn city bricks there and transport them to the county seat? Waterway transportation is the cheapest mode of transportation in the era of people walking mules and horses. In order to finish the task of firing city bricks on time, according to the quantity and quality, many ancestors had to choose the shortcut way of firing in different places and transporting by water, so many people chose to make bricks with clay on the mountains around Baishiling, use trees and firewood on the mountains as fuel, and then transport them to the city by water in Dongshan River. So until today, there are still kilns on the adobe of Unity and Xiangyang.

What's the story of Baishiling and burning city bricks? Zhang Laohan, who lives in Xixiang Mountain, Qingyang County, and his people have also received the task of burning city bricks, and the number is not small, and time is pressing. There is no problem in firing city bricks, because Zhang Laohan is a well-known kiln worker, but the transportation of fired city bricks is a big problem. His home is 40 miles from the county seat, which takes a lot of manpower and time to carry and climb mountains. Therefore, Zhang Laohan had to choose to find a suitable hill burning in the branches of rivers and lakes in the north township to reduce transportation troubles. In this way, through hard work, Zhang Laohan found that the soil of the hill later called Baishiling was very suitable for burning bricks, and because it was close to Dongshan River, it was very convenient to transport it by boat. In this way, Zhang Laohan led his two sons, his daughter Cuigu, and several ethnic groups to come here. They cut through thorns, cut down trees to build sheds, open kilns, set up camps and burn city bricks. After months of preparation, the brick can finally be burned. Put the bricks into a new kiln for firing. Kiln burning is a technical job, but Zhang Laohan is very familiar with it because his generation has been a kiln burner for four generations. This time, for Zhang Laohan, it backfired. The two kilns failed to meet the quality standards of city bricks continuously, and the government refused to accept them. What can we do? According to the analysis, Zhang Laohan doesn't feel that the temperature is not enough, nor does he feel that the kiln water is insufficient, because the firing of bricks and tiles is determined by kiln smoke by experience. Generally, black smoke comes out at first, then gray smoke, and finally light white smoke. Only in this way can the top of the kiln be filled with water, but these two times are the same. How can I burn it into waste? It is difficult to break through Zhang Laohan. What if it keeps burning and it doesn't work? What should I do if I don't burn official bricks and push them hard? For several days in a row, Lao Zhangman stayed in the kiln shed without eating or drinking. He was silent all day and ignored anyone. His temper was particularly bad. No one dares to provoke him. Cuigu was the only one who dared to go in and talk to him, because Cuigu was very smart since she was a child, and Cuigu lost her mother at an early age. It was an old man who brought her up with a handful of shit and urine and loved her very much, so only Cuigu dared to go in and accompany him. I don't know how Cuigu persuaded his father. Zhang Laohan came out of the kiln shed as if nothing had happened, and continued to lead everyone to expand bricks and cut kiln firewood. Everything is ready, and the brick is lit on an auspicious day. This time, everything seems to be going well. After three days of continuous firing, a wisp of white smoke finally floated to the blue sky at the top of the kiln. Zhang Laohan looked at the top of the kiln with a big smile and said that it would take another hour to turn off the fire and drain the water. At this time, for some reason, a dark cloud suddenly appeared on the lake in the west, and a whirlwind blew in the lake. A huge whirlwind mixed with lake water and reeds rushed to the brick kiln. Seeing that Zhang Laohan was about to be blown away by the whirlwind, Cuigu rushed to die and grabbed her father. Suddenly, the wind stopped and the water column disappeared. People came to help Zhang Laohan, but Cuigu disappeared. They shouted to urge the valley, but there was no answer. I saw a white smoke floating in the air at the top of the kiln, and the shape was just a white smoke. Since then, no matter how people look for it, Cuigu has disappeared and no one is alive or dead. However, the quality of this kiln brick is surprisingly good, completely reaching the standard of city brick. After losing his beloved daughter, Zhang Laohan was silent for several days and lost his mind, but he still led his son and his people to continue firing city bricks. Strangely, since this whirlwind, Zhang Laohan has been burning bricks very smoothly and has never made any mistakes. It's just that the faint white smoke has become thin and long before each kiln closure, and it has to rotate several times over the top of the kiln, like a white snake floating in the air, and finally it slowly leaves. Especially in distant hills or lakes, white smoke is more like a white snake floating in the air. Because the hill where Zhang Laohan burned bricks had no place name at that time, people called it White Snake Ridge, which is also people's memory of Cuigu. After the completion of the city wall, everyone left Baisheling, except Zhang Laohan, who wanted to be with his daughter forever. He cultivated the land here and earned his own living, but his descendants refused to take him home and remained silent until he died of old age. With the passage of time, not many people know the story of Cuigu, but the place name of Baishiling has been preserved and is still in use today.