The legend of Luoyang Bridge
On the rippling Luoyang River, there is a Luoyang Bridge that is famous both at home and abroad. It has a long history and is magnificent. It was the first large stone bridge in the Song Dynasty. It has left behind many ancient and beautiful folk legends, adding splendor to the famous city of Quanzhou.
It is said that more than a thousand years ago, this was an ancient ferry in a deserted village called "Wan'an Ferry". The water here is deep and the waves are violent. Every time the passing ships encounter strong winds, their rafts will be knocked down. Many ships are buried in the seabed, and countless passengers are buried in the belly of fish... It turns out that this is the river demon and water monster making waves. When Emperor Zhenwu became an immortal, he took out the intestines from his belly and threw them into the Luoyang River. Unexpectedly, over time, these intestines turned into turtle spirits and snake monsters, often stirring up waves in the Luoyang River.
One day, as the ferry was approaching the middle of the river, two monsters, a turtle and a snake, suddenly appeared on the water. The wind roared suddenly and the turbid waves emptied. The small ferry was in danger of being swallowed. Suddenly, from the sky, There were repeated shouts: "Master Cai, please don't be rude when crossing the river!" Turtle and Snake heard the sound and fled in a hurry. Suddenly the sea was calm and the ferry arrived safely. The passengers were very surprised and did not know who "Master Cai" was. There was a pregnant woman in Putian whose husband's surname was Cai. She thought that the child she would give birth to would be an extraordinary person, so she secretly made a wish: If the child can become a useful person in the future, she will teach him to build a bridge on the Luoyang River. After the woman returned to her hometown, she gave birth to a boy, named Cai Xiang, whose courtesy name was Junmo and whose nickname was Duan. He was very intelligent and intelligent. When Cai Xiang grew up and became sensible, Cai's mother told him how she met him when he was in danger while crossing the river. She earnestly urged her son to fulfill her long-cherished wish to build a bridge. Cai Xiang silently kept her mother's instructions in mind. Soon, the imperial court started recruiting scholars. Cai Xiang was promoted to an official position in the imperial court because of his broad talents and knowledge, and was highly regarded by the emperor. He was thinking about his mother's long-cherished wish, but he was troubled: If he always stayed in Kyoto, when would he have the opportunity to go to Quanzhou to build the Luoyang Bridge?
One day, he was called to accompany the emperor to visit the imperial garden. Cai Xiang had an idea and secretly asked the eunuch to write two lines of large characters on the banana leaf with honey. After a while, ants climbed onto the banana leaf to suck the honey. The emperor was surprised to find that the densely packed ants had arranged a pattern of characters on the banana leaf. He couldn't help but move closer, looked at the handwriting on the banana leaf and blurted out: "Cai Duan Cai Duan, I am an official in this government!" Cai Xiangyi Hearing this, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed to give thanks. The emperor changed his words and said: "I was just reading the words on the leaves, I didn't mean it!" Cai Xiangzhang couldn't kneel down and said: "You have no joke, how can you break your promise to your ministers?" Then he frankly stated his mother's wish to build a bridge. The emperor had no choice but to let him serve as the governor of Quanzhou.
Cai Xiang rushed to Quanzhou day and night to take up his post. He immediately summoned the sages from his hometown to discuss and advocate the completion of the Luoyang Bridge. He personally went to the riverside to survey, ordered the recruitment of bridge builders, and raised funds for the construction of the bridge. After hearing the news, the people rushed to tell each other and cheered, and craftsmen arrived from all over. On the day when construction started, the riverside was crowded with people. However, because the Luoyang River was "five miles wide" and "inaccessible", a boatload of rocks was thrown into the river and was instantly swept away by the turbulent waves; the turtle spirit, basilisk, and monster desperately tried to overturn the river and sink it. Several wooden boats.
The prefect Cai Xiang frowned. One night, he suddenly dreamed of a white-haired immortal who instructed him to "deliver the list to the Dragon Palace". He hurriedly put on his clothes and wrote down the records. Cai Xiang drafted a yellow ultimatum, asking the Sea Dragon King to help him and let the tide recede for three days so that he could get off the bridge foundation. After writing the yellow card, he sat in the hall and asked the officials on the left and right: "Who went to the sea?" There happened to be a government official named "Xia Dehai". When he heard the summons, he quickly answered: "The villain Xia Dehai!" When he Knowing that the eunuch was going to send him to deliver the Yellow Paper to the Dragon Palace under the sea, he couldn't help complaining secretly, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and obey the order.
Xia Dehai took the document and secretly complained: If he goes to the sea, he will definitely not survive; if he does not comply with the order, he will not be able to save his life and property. He simply bought a pot of wine and became very drunk. Xia Dehai stumbled to the beach and fell drunk on the beach. At this time, the tide was rising, and he seemed to be taken into the water palace by Bo Chen. The beautiful and kind Princess Dragon Palace held out jade liquid and fine wine...
Unexpectedly, when he woke up, the yellow stipend in his hand was missing, but his palm was shocked. Write the word "vinegar". Xia Dehai hurriedly staggered back to the government office and reported to the prefect. Cai Xiang was worried about the difficulty of laying the foundation of the bridge. When he saw the word "jealousy", he suddenly realized: doesn't the word "jealousy" when broken down, mean "the twenty-first day of the unitary hour"? It’s obviously the time when Poseidon signals the ebb tide! Cai Xiang turned his worries into joy and immediately sent notices to be posted on the gates of the four cities, ordering the people and craftsmen on both sides of the Luoyang River to prepare for the foundation laying as soon as possible. On the twenty-first day of the month, the raging sea tide receded and the entire river bottom was exposed.
Cai Xiang personally directed thousands of craftsmen to lay stone foundations and build bridge piers, and the Luoyang River was bustling with traffic. Solid bridge piers stand majestically in the river. However, by the time the forty-sixth bridge pier was built, the stones on the riverside had been exhausted. If the last bridge pier could not be built within three days of low tide, the bridge foundation would be destroyed once the tide roared in. , All previous efforts were wasted! At the critical moment, Lu Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals, happened to be wandering by in the clouds. He was deeply moved by Cai Xiang's extraordinary courage in building the bridge. He calmly floated down to Wan'an Mountain, waved his fly whisk gently, and suddenly the whole mountain was full of stubborn people. Shi Jie nodded. With another wave, all the rocks on the mountain jumped up; with another wave, the big rocks turned into "pig mothers", running down the mountain in groups, running to the beach, and jumping into the river bottom where the bridge piers were built. In the blink of an eye, these "pig mothers" turned into big rocks and piled up layer by layer. There was a "pig mother" who accidentally fell and injured a leg. She walked slowly and fell behind. When she arrived at the river, the last bridge pier had been built. It had no choice but to lie next to it, becoming a fat "pig mother stone".
When the rushing tide swept in again, Cai Xiang had already directed the craftsmen to lay the foundation of the bridge. After the victory in the first battle, the crowd was full of excitement and thunderous cheers. The forty-six bridge piers were like the mainstays to control the violent waves, which scared the turtles, snakes and monsters.
There was a monk named Yibo in the nearby Baisha Temple. He tried his best to raise funds to build the bridge, but was ridiculed by many wealthy people. He worked hard and spent every copper coin he collected on bridge building. Regardless of the severe winter or scorching heat, this monk always worked tirelessly to make tea and deliver meals to migrant workers. He also often went to Mangxie Mountain to collect herbs and treat sick craftsmen. Once, due to the continuous wind and rain, all the firewood in the kitchen was burned out. The firewood temporarily cut from the mountain will not burn even if it is wet. In order to carry out the construction as usual and complete the long bridge as soon as possible, Monk Yibo quietly closed the door of the kitchen and resolutely put his feet into the stove to cook rice instead of firewood. Strangely enough, Monk Yibo's feet suddenly resembled two blazing firewood, rising into blazing flames. When his feet were burned to ashes, a large pot of rice in the kitchen was cooked. The bridge builders were all moved to tears. Later generations wrote poems to praise Monk Yibo's noble deeds: "I willingly sacrificed my life to build Hongqiao, and cried on my knees for the salary. The bottom of the cauldron is as red as blood, leaving a good name for the ages."
For To build a large stone bridge that is 360 feet long and 15 feet wide, there is an urgent need to put tens of thousands of huge stone slabs on the bridge piers. At this time of year, there was a shortage of large quantities of fir wood for shipbuilding and stone materials, so the construction progress was slow. Cai Xiang was very anxious about this. Late one night, Cai Xiang was thinking about how to solve this problem. As he was thinking about it, he fell asleep on the desk. Suddenly he saw a white-haired immortal in his dream, who instructed him to send people to the foothills of Qingyuan Mountain to ask for help from the "three immortals with one eye". When Cai Xiang woke up, he was doubtful and summoned the government official Xia Dehai to go down to Qingyuan Mountain to find out what happened. Xia Dehai hurried to Qingyuan Mountain and waited for most of the day, but he didn't see any "three people and one eye immortal". Near dusk, I suddenly saw three beggars in ragged clothes filing in with their hands on their shoulders. The first one has only one eye open and the other is blind; the other two are blind in both eyes. Xia Dehai couldn't help being surprised and happy: Isn't this "three people with one eye"? He hurriedly ran over, stopped him, and begged. The three beggars saw that he was very sincere and sincere, so they agreed. One of them muttered something: "At the head of the Luoyang River, there is an ancient well. The wood can be used to build boats, and the water can be used for drinking..." After saying this, the three beggars suddenly opened their eyes. It turned out to be Lu Dongbin, Li Tieguai and Zhang Guolao. The three immortals laughed loudly and drifted away like a gust of wind. Xia Dehai was stunned with fright and hurried back to report to Governor Cai Xiang. A few days later, sure enough, in an ancient well by the Luoyang River, many fir trees spewed out like a fountain. Cai Xiang and the bridge builder were overjoyed and held their hands in admiration. The migrant workers who were building the bridge went to the well to draw water. The aroma of wine was astonishing to their nostrils. After drinking the water, they quenched their hunger and thirst. You and I drank it happily. This well never dries up and the aroma of wine overflows, so it is called "Sake Well".
Cai Xiang concentrated the wisdom of craftsmen and created a "raft-shaped foundation" to make the ship-shaped piers separate the water potential and reduce the impact of the waves. He also used the buoyancy of seawater to invent the "suspended floating transport". With the help of the rising tide, the ship lifted up large stone slabs weighing several thousand kilograms and spread them between the bridge piers, making the Luoyang Bridge gradually appear more prominent. A majestic appearance.
One day, Cai Xiang discovered that dense clumps of oysters were growing on every reef in the Luoyang River. He thought that he could use the method of "planting oysters to consolidate the foundation" to make the oysters multiply and replace the bridge foundations and piers. How wonderful it would be if the stones were cemented together to form a solid whole! Suddenly, a huge wind blew on the river, blowing all the oyster bushes all over the river to the Luoyang Bridge piers like rain, as if countless steel nails were driven into it, making the stone bridge on the Xiongzhi River more indestructible. Cai Xiang was so surprised that he looked up and saw Nanhai Guanyin standing in the clouds with a smile and said: "The bachelor's hard work and sincerity can be appreciated, and I just applied a little skill." Nanhai Guanyin then said: "Money has been spent to build this long bridge. Ten million taels, the treasury is already lacking. When I help you raise enough funds, I will ask the Eight Immortals to help you eliminate the demons and avoid future troubles forever!"
After saying that, Nanhai Guanyin suddenly transformed into a stunning beauty! A beautiful woman was boating on the Luoyang River, claiming that she would marry anyone who could invest money in her. For a time, there were crowds of people along both sides of the river. People gathered around to watch the beautiful women on the Yanbo River and threw money. Those wealthy children who are usually greedy for money, do not hesitate to throw away thousands of gold and silver. Money rained down on the boat, but no one could hit it. Buzhou returns home loaded with money every day, while the dandy boys return dejected and disillusioned. In this way, a large amount of funds were raised to build the handrails with three wings on both sides of the long bridge, as well as "seven pavilions, nine towers, and twenty-eight stone lions."
Seeing that the Lingbo Bridge was about to be completed, the turtle spirits and snake monsters lurking at the bottom of the river refused to give up. They gathered ninety-nine dragons in the upper reaches of the Luoyang River, set off strong winds and waves, bared their teeth and claws, and rushed towards the stone bridge. Come. Zhang Guolao rode a donkey and trampled the evil-doing turtle spirit into a ball of mud. Li Tieguai opened the fire gourd, and a stream of thick smoke and fire immediately spewed out from the gourd, burning the ninety-nine dragons alive. At this time, a rainbow appeared in the sky, the waves on the river were as flat as a mirror, and there was the sound of singing on the shore. People on both sides of the Luoyang River were beaming with joy, beating gongs and drums, and cheering for the long cross-sea bridge that was finally completed after seven years. In order to commemorate Cai Xiang's contribution in advocating the construction of Luoyang Bridge, the people on both sides of the river specially built a "Cai Xiang Temple" in the south of the bridge and erected a statue and monument.
The "Three Wonders" on Luoyang Bridge
After the completion of Luoyang Bridge, people summarized three wonderful features of it. It is called the "three wonders". First, the project is arduous and vast; second, the "Wan'an Bridge" is concise; third, the stele and the inscriptions are artistically carved.
Luoyang Bridge is entirely built of hard granite and is a famous beam-type stone bridge in ancient my country. Not only was it the first to build bridge piers with "raft-type foundations", but it was also scientific and economical to plant sea oysters to solidify the bridge piers according to local conditions. It was an important invention in ancient my country's bridge lifting engineering. During the construction, the "floating method" of using the tide to move the girder bridge was used. It is still used today. Luoyang Bridge has 46 piers, with a length of 360 feet and a width of 1.5 feet. There are 500 columns on both sides of the bridge. Both have stone carvings to protect pedestrians. There are 9 stone towers built on both sides of the bridge to suppress the wind, and 7 stone pavilions built on the bridge for the riders to rest. There are many artistic stone blockhouses on the bridge body and its ancillary buildings, with beautiful shapes, including stone lions with their heads held high and stone lions holding stone balls in their mouths. The entire bridge is large in scale and beautiful in style. It cost more than 14,000 taels of silver, all of which were donated voluntarily by the people. Cai Xiang also sold more than 160 acres of land at home and donated it to Luoyang Bridge.
The full text of "Wan'an Bridge" written by Cai Xiang is only 153 words, and the inscription is extremely concise. It describes the time when the bridge was built, its significance, the source of funds, its main personnel and the time of completion, as well as the happiness of the county people. The inscription is concise and beautiful. It is a wonderful poem. Inscription date:
Quanzhou Wan'an Ferry Stone Bridge was built in April of the fifth year of Huanghu and completed in December of the fourth year of Jiahu. The tired toes are in the abyss, the water is forty-seven, and the beams are empty. It is three thousand six hundred feet long and five feet wide. Its wings are supported by railings, as many as two as long as it is long. It has spent fourteen millions of money, asking for alms. Crossing the Shizhi Sea, we went to the boat and left. It is easy to be in danger but safe, and the people are not disadvantaged. They are responsible for their duties: Lu Xi, Wang Shi, Xu Zhong, Futu Yibei, Shanzong and other fifteen people. After it was completed, Cai Xiang, the prefect of Puyang, left it for a banquet. Next autumn, he was summoned to return to the capital. The road was made from this, and it was built according to the rules and tied to the left side of the bank.
There is no redundant word in the whole text, the main idea is kept, concise and concise, restrained and sonorous, which fully reflects the characteristics of Cai Xiang's writing style of saying things without being complicated. The inscriptions are engraved on two stone tablets. Each tablet is 2.98 meters high, 1.64 meters wide and 0.30 meters thick. The tablets have six lines of characters. Except for one line of 10 characters, the others are all 13 characters, each character is 1.5×1.8 inches.
When Cai Xiang wrote the inscription, he showed a very humble character, and the inscription did not boast of his own merits at all. The inscription is a masterpiece of calligraphy.
Cai Xiang is one of the four great calligraphers of the Song Dynasty. This inscription is his outstanding work. His calligraphy is vigorous and vigorous, and his carving is exquisite and vivid. The craftsmanship is superb, but the crown is weak for a while. Historically, it has been highly praised. "Books of the Imperial Song Dynasty" said: "The record of Cai Gong's Wan'an Bridge is best engraved on stone with large characters." Zhou Bida of the Southern Song Dynasty said: "Cai Zhonghui Gong's large characters are heavy and calm, so he should be ranked first in this dynasty." There are calligraphy crowns on Luoyang Bridge. "Wang Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty said: "Wan'an Bridge is the best bridge in the world, and Jun Mo's book is majestic and beautiful. When competing with the bridge. ”
3. The story and legend of Luoyang Bridge
Luoyang Bridge is the greatest stone bridge in Chinese history. Such a huge construction project has affected the emotions of thousands of passers-by. , all have admiration for the county governor Cai Xiang who advocated the construction of the bridge, and people in the past generations actually sang and praised. Some good stories and deeds during the construction of the bridge were gradually processed into beautiful and magical myths and legends, which were widely circulated among the people. /p>
It is said that there were frequent storms and water monsters at Wan'an Ferry. Many boats were sunk every year and countless people drowned. This year, Cai Xiang's mother, Lu, who was originally from Hui'an, came back from her natal family and passed by Wan'an. At this time, it was already evening, and the last ferry had left the shore and rowed towards the center of the river. Mrs. Lu hurriedly shouted: The boatman heard the woman calling on the shore and turned the boat to the shore to let the woman on board. After that, the boat sailed to the middle of the river again. Suddenly, the wind and waves were severe. The ferry was bumping violently in the middle of the river. All the passengers turned pale with fright. Seeing that the boat was about to capsize, suddenly a cry came from the air. : "Scholar Cai is here. "Water monsters must not be rude." Suddenly, the sea was calm, and the ferry broke through the waves and rowed towards the other side. Everyone on the boat felt lucky, knowing that this was thanks to Bachelor Cai, but when the boat owner asked everyone on the boat, no one named Cai There was only one pregnant woman whose husband's surname was Cai. Everyone thought that the son in the wife's belly might be a bachelor in the future. Lu smiled and made a wish: "If a boy is born in the future, he will be an official bachelor when he grows up." Build a bridge at this place to ensure peace for all generations. "Not long after she returned to Fengting's mother-in-law's house, she gave birth to a boy named Cai Xiang.
Cai Xiang has been smart and agile since he was a child. He can read the Five Classics by heart at the age of seven or eight. Late one night, Cai Xiang. Cai Xiang was reading in the study when suddenly bursts of thunder came from the sky, which was frightening. When he opened the window and looked outside, he saw a giant with the body of a chicken and the head of a male in the clouds. He held an ax in one hand and a plate in the other. From time to time, he would hit the chisel with the axe, making a thunderous sound. He was fascinated when he suddenly saw a grain of rice flying from nowhere to the desk. He picked up the grain of rice, and suddenly the grain of rice spoke to him: "Xueshi Cai, help me quickly. "It turned out that he was Lu Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals. Because he violated the rules of heaven, the Jade Emperor was furious and sent Duke Lei to kill him. So he turned into a grain of rice and fled to Cai Xiang's study. Duke Lei knew that Cai Xiang would be The bachelor was worried that hitting Lu Dongbin would hurt Cai Xiang, so he turned around and went back to heaven to recover. When Lu Dongbin saw that Lei Gong had gone, he showed his true colors and thanked Cai Xiang for saving his life. He also gave Cai Xiang a pen and ink and warned him if he met. If you have any difficulty, you can use this pen and ink to write, and you will be able to turn it into a skill.
About ten years later, Cai Xiang went to Beijing to take the examination and was admitted to the imperial examination. Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty saw that he was talented and had good skills. Cai Xiang brought his parents from his hometown. One time he saw his mother, Lu, crying, so he knelt down in front of her and asked why. Cai Xiang explained the unfulfilled wish she made at Wan'an Ancient Ferry more than 20 years ago. Cai Xiang promised that she would request in front of the emperor to become an official in Quanzhou and then plan to build the bridge. However, the emperor valued him very much and would not let him easily. After leaving Beijing, the prince saw that he was depressed and haggard, so he gave him a jar of honey to nurse him back to health, and held a banquet in the imperial garden to relieve his sorrow. Cai Xiang saw the ants crawling, and had an idea to distract the prince with a brush. , on a banana leaf on the roadside of the Royal Garden where the emperor often visited, there were eight characters written on it: "Cai Xiang, Cai Xiang, I am an official". Soon the place where the banana leaf was dipped in honey was covered with ants, forming the eight characters. Later, when the emperor came over and Cai Xiang hurriedly entered the banana tree, Emperor Renzong was surprised when he saw the characters formed by ants on the banana leaves. He couldn't help but blurt out: "Cai Xiang, Cai Xiang, I am an official." After Cai Xiang came out, he knelt in front of the emperor and said, "Thank you for your kindness." Emperor Renzong couldn't figure out what was going on, so Cai Xiang reported the wish that his mother had made more than 20 years ago to the emperor. Renzong was very moved. Since Chrysostom had been opened, it was difficult to retain him, so he had to order Cai Xiang to become the prefect of Quanzhou.
After Cai Xiang took office in Quanzhou, he personally inspected Wan'an Ancient Ferry and posted a notice for the construction of Luoyang Bridge. Soon, thousands of people came to build the bridge. The bridge workers worked hard for several In the past month, Cai Xiang was restless because the bridge foundation could not be built because of the strong wind and strong waves. One day, he was lying in court worrying, and suddenly thought of Lu Dongbin, so he used the pen and ink given to him by Lu Dongbin to write an official document to Poseidon, asking Poseidon to help him choose a day to build the foundation of the bridge. He planned to send a person to Poseidon to deliver the official document and ask for a reply. So he summoned the servants in the yamen and asked who could go into the sea. One of them was a servant named Xia Dehai. He was drunk and couldn't hear the main point of the matter in his confusion. Thinking that he was calling his name, he replied rashly: "Xia Dehai, the villain." Cai Xiang immediately handed over the matter to him. When Xia Dehai woke up, he realized that he had caused a big trouble, and the vast sea , where can we find Poseidon on the way to God? We have no children, and our superiors have given orders, so we dare not disobey, so we have no choice but to bite the bullet, say goodbye to our wife and children, buy wine and drink heavily, and lie down drunk on the beach with official documents, preparing to Drowned when the tide comes. Unexpectedly, when he woke up and the tide receded, he touched the official document next to him and found it turned into another envelope. He took this letter with him to report to Cai Xiang. Cai Xiang opened it and saw that there was only the word "vinegar" inside, and there was no other word. Cai Xiang understood the inspiration of the word "vinegar": he chose to lay the foundation stone on the 21st day of the month. Sure enough, the sea water did not rise day and night, and the bridge foundation was completed. However, the seventy cents of grain transferred had long been spent, so Cai Xiang summoned the squires from all over and asked them to collect donations. But who of these misers would be willing to donate?
Cai Xiang was sincere in building bridges for the people. His heart moved the Guanyin Bodhisattva of the South China Sea, and she came to Wan'andu to help him. Guanyin Bodhisattva turned into a gorgeous girl, sitting on the bow of a boat on the shore, and declared that she would marry anyone who could throw money at her. The rich men all salivated when they saw this stunningly beautiful woman. They all asked their servants to carry gold and silver to the riverside. Pieces of gold and silver were seen flying towards the ship like snowflakes. For three days in a row, no one could throw gold or silver at the girl. Guanyin Bodhisattva saw that the gold and silver in the boat was enough to build a bridge, so he asked people to send the gold and silver to Cai Xiang, the prefect. Not long after, the huge Luoyang Bridge project was successfully completed.