I heard its name for the first time when I went to Pucheng. It is known that it is a well-preserved Ming Dynasty anti-Japanese castle in China and a national key cultural relic protection unit.
In the early summer of 2006, accompanied by old friends Zhuang Chuanxuan and Zhuang Qingying, I was fortunate to visit here.
Mr. Chuan Xuan is a descendant of Wenzhou anti-corruption scholar village in Qing Dynasty and one of the "100 primary school principals" in China. The long historical novel Strange Injustice in Pingyang is based on real historical events with Zhuang Yili as the main character. So I formed an indissoluble bond with Zhuang Chuanxuan and Zhuang Qingying.
We set off after breakfast, talking and laughing all the way, and drove to Pucheng for about two hours in the beautiful scenery of southern Zhejiang. Zheng Cunshun, a comrade-in-arms of Qingying, is from Pucheng. He enthusiastically acted as a guide for us and introduced us to Pucheng's history and present situation.
From his mouth and some materials, as early as the Tang Dynasty, the poet Chen Tao left the poem "Pumen Guarding the Sea" through Pumen. "The outline is falling, the dawn is rising, and Pumen is gloomy." At that time, Pumen was just a small post station on the ancient road leading to Fujian. Facing the sea in the third place and Longshan in the north, it has always been an important place for coastal defense. There is a kind of cattail grass here, so it has been called Pumenshou since the Tang Dynasty. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, coastal areas were invaded by Japanese pirates. In the seventeenth year of Hongwu (1384), Zhu Yuanzhang decided to build 59 defensive cities from Shandong in the north and Zhejiang in the south, with Pumen as the southernmost one. Pumen, Zhuangshi Courtyard and Shayuan Courtyard all belong to Jinxiang Wei. Later, due to the Japanese invasion, the strong men's office was merged into Pumen many times, so it was renamed as "Puzhuang Office". "Suo" is the place where soldiers were stationed after the establishment of the Wei Suo system in the Ming Dynasty.
Times have changed, and now Pucheng can't see the sea. What you can see is a fertile field and Cangshan Mountain.
Pucheng is too small for you to imagine. Covering an area of less than half a square kilometer, it is indeed a well-preserved ancient castle with nearly 2,000 people living leisurely.
Pucheng is small, but its walls are tall, strong and majestic. The periphery of the city wall is piled up with strips, and the middle is filled with rammed earth. The circumference of the city wall is 2400 meters, with three gates and more than 6 10 battlements. Can resist typhoons, tides, reach the enemy and protect the army and the people. In the southeast and west, there are Weiyuan Gate, Zhengyang Gate and Yixian Gate, each with towers and a well-behaved urn. The north wall is built on the mountain, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The gatehouse is a wooden building, and the gate is an arch structure made of regular stones. On the wall of the east gate, there is a huge banyan tree with iron branches, beautiful and rough bare roots, and a huge mushroom-shaped crown like a cloud, which reminds people of the past. There is a racetrack running through the southeast and west gate on the city wall, and the streets in the city are winding and circuitous, which is conducive to street fighting. The whole city walls, castles and even houses are well preserved.
The local folk songs are: "One Pavilion, Two Pavilions, Three Gates, Four Alleys and Seven Halls". Cross street in the southeast and northwest, twenty-four ancient wells and eight stages. "This shows the richness of cultural relics and historical sites, and also shows the profound traditional cultural heritage here.
In the face of this ancient castle built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, you can't help but marvel at the wisdom of the ancients.
Not far from the East Gate, it is the former residence of Ye, a modern Kunqu artist.
Speaking of Ye Jinliang, not many people know it, and only those who study Kunqu opera know it, so I won't say much. But when it comes to the well in the courtyard of Ye's former residence, it is famous. It is a well-known "not bad well" by scholars. Legend has it that Lv Dongbin went to a hotel to drink. He drank three jars in one breath, so happy that the shopkeeper said there was no wine. Lv Dongbin said, "Poverty is full of wine. How can you say there is no wine? " The shopkeeper said, "I am a small business, and I have no capital to store more." Excuse me, I'll get the wine for the host. " Lv Dongbin's wine is not full yet, and his heart itches badly. How can he wait? He was a little angry, but when he saw the sincerity of the shopkeeper, he was not easy to get angry. He pulled the shopkeeper to a small well, murmured something, and then said to the shopkeeper, "The water in your well has turned into wine. Let me know and have a drink with me." After Lv Dongbin left, the water in this well turned into wine, and the shopkeeper made a fortune. A year later, Lv Dongbin passed this store again, and the owner was naturally hospitable. After drinking, Lv Dongbin asked the shopkeeper what difficulties he had now. The shopkeeper said, "Master, it's good to give me that well wine, but unfortunately there is no distiller's grains and my pig has no feed!" " "Lv Dongbin laughed and pulled the shopkeeper to the well, saying," People's hearts are rising, so it's okay to have wine, so it turns into water. "From then on, the wine in the well turned into water again.
There are many versions of this story, which are similar, but the theme of persuading people not to be greedy is the same, and the ancient ruins are integrated with the ancient appearance of Pucheng.
In such a big place, people who live here actually have their own language family and can speak their own local dialects! There are unique customs and festivals! I think this is the result of anti-Japanese soldiers coming from all directions. They were stationed here at that time, serving the army in wartime and serving the people in peacetime. It is their blood, sweat and experience that have created this castle and its customs, and their descendants have thrived here and passed it down from generation to generation.
There are also people who are proud of it: the flower prospector in Song Dynasty, assistant minister of Sun Family, assistant minister of great-great Sun War Department Chen Yun, famous writer and poet Hua, poetess Xie Xiangtang and Kunqu artist Ye, all from Pucheng.
The old streets in the castle are clean and tidy, and the old doors and counters on the sidewalks have long been unknown. Shiny stone roads and ancient decorative bricks on the eaves reveal the vicissitudes of time. Dark green creepers and weeds grow on the rubble walls of each house, which is in harmony with the flowers and trees in the yard. All this immediately reminded me of my hometown Lu 'an. When I was a child, I liked to catch bugs in the cracks of other people's houses. Now, those old alleys and old streets no longer exist, and there are no traces of the ancient city, but the homesickness left in my mind is clearly visible.
Stone walls and gray tiles, shady courtyards, shady moss and fallen leaves, natural detachment, tranquility and peace. Pucheng people like farming and breeding. Everything is so peaceful, so quiet, it is far away from the hubbub, lead an honest and clean life and live in peace with the world.
After nostalgia, I have a memory of it and fantasize that I should live here, too: the courtyard of books, poems and wine-of course, this is unrealistic, and I have to return to the reality without myself.
In the afternoon, we bid farewell to Zheng Xiao and reluctantly left this paradise.
After leaving Pucheng, facing the busyness and great changes of modern cities, my heart often flies back to Pucheng, which has nothing to do with me.
I think this is the unknown charm of Pucheng.