In Datong County, south of Liang Chao, Pingnan General Lin Qin begged Guilin, and his famous soldier Ouyang Qiu defeated Changle and conquered all the cave masters there. Ouyang Zhou's wife was very beautiful, and the local natives advised him to protect his wife, because there was a "white god" here who specialized in poaching other people's beauties.
Ouyang Qiu disagreed at first. Later I heard that many young girls disappeared for no reason. That's when it caught his attention. So he locked his wife in a secret room, arranged for a dozen maids to wait inside, and arranged dozens of soldiers to guard outside the secret room. Unexpectedly, on the night when he locked his wife in the secret room, a strong wind blew, and soon his wife disappeared.
Ouyang Qiu was so angry that he led people everywhere to find the woman he loved. More than a month later, they found one of Ouyang Zhou's wife's shoes in a bamboo forest hundreds of miles away. So Ouyang Zhou selected 30 strong men, brought weapons and rations, and set up camp all the way to find his wife. After more than ten days, they came to the foot of a mountain and saw water around them, so they took a boat to cross the river.
When they arrived at another mountain, they suddenly heard a woman's laughter faintly not far away. They climbed up to the source of the sound and soon found a paradise-like residence. . The vegetation here is beautiful, open and quiet. The laughter I just heard was coming from a dozen women in bright clothes chasing each other and having fun. When these women saw Ouyang Qiu, they all came over to say hello, and Ouyang Qiu told them his intention to find a wife. One of the women sighed and said, your wife has been living here for more than a month. She is now bedridden. Please go check it out.
Ouyang Qiu and others followed them and soon found their wife. At this time, a woman said: We have been here for more than 10 years, and we have not been able to go back to see our families. We shed tears every day. There lived a ghost named Bai Ling. He was so powerful that hundreds of big men with weapons were no match for him. We discovered that he loves to eat dog meat, loves to drink, and likes to show off every time he gets drunk. When he was drunk, we trapped his hands and feet with colorful exercises, but he broke them when he jumped.
His body is as hard as steel, but he has a life gate, which is the weakest point three inches below his belly button. As long as you stab him with a sharp sword, there is nothing he can do. Next time you come, remember to bring hemp rope. Then you hide first, we tie him up so he can't break free, and then you come out and kill him with a knife. Now, while he's away, you should hurry up. Remember to come back in the afternoon ten days later. Be sure to bring a jug of wine, ten dogs, and a bundle of hemp rope.
Ouyang Zhou took his wife back first, and 10 days later, they brought wine, dogs, and ropes according to the agreed time. Ouyang Zhou and others first hid according to the woman's instructions, but soon saw a white shadow flying in. He was a tall man with a long beard, dressed in white and surrounded by a group of ladies. Seeing the dog's great joy, he started drinking and eating.
Soon he became drunk and the women tied him up with ropes. Sure enough, this time he couldn't break free. Ouyang Zhou and the warriors walked up to him with weapons and stabbed him three inches below the navel with their swords. Soon he was covered in blood. He complained and said, I lost today, but it is not you who can kill me. But God wants to kill me. However, your wife is pregnant with my biological flesh and blood. Don't kill her children. In the future he will meet Mingjun and become a high official. After saying that, the white ape will die.
Then Ouyang Zhou raided the White Ape's cave and found many rare treasures. He distributed some to the women, sent them home, and then returned to the camp with boxes of gold, silver and jewelry. A year later, his wife gave birth to a son who looked a bit like a white ape. Later Ouyang Zhou was killed, and his good friend Jiang had been raising his son for him. This child became Ouyang Xun, who became a famous official and calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty. What Bai Yuan said is true.
This is the end of the story. This story is the legendary novel of the early Tang Dynasty, Bu Jiang Zong Bai Yuan Zhuan. The author is unknown, but "General Manager Jiang" is a good friend of Ouyang Zhou, the father of the famous calligrapher of the early Tang Dynasty. He knows the affairs of the Ouyang family best, so he wrote a book about his family's legend.
The legend of the White Ape in Bujiang is said to have been added by Ouyang Xun’s political opponent, because he thought Ouyang Xun looked like a white ape. Therefore, a story about Ouyang Xun's mother being kidnapped by a white ape and then giving birth to him was arranged, but it proved to be a poor work. It was really unintentional that this practice of using novels and stories to satirize political opponents became a popular trend at the time. Although this approach is very wrong, it is helpful to the development of literature. What do you think of Ouyang Xun’s political opponents hurting others?