One night in October, Du Fu took advantage of the twilight of the stars and the moon, drove his carriage and rode on the frozen road in married with children, and headed for Tonggu County. He had stayed in Qin Zhou in the hope that after the country put down the war, the emperor would recall his old minister, so he still had a chance to return to Chang 'an. But now, forced by his livelihood, he has to go south and go to Tonggu, which is getting farther and farther away from Chang 'an.
When I first got out of Qin Zhou, the road was fairly smooth, but when I got to Chigu, the journey showed its sinister features. Looking up, I saw rocks blocking the road, deep mountains and dense forests, biting cold wind, people hungry at the same time, and the surrounding areas are deserted. Where can I find food? The children were so hungry that they began to cry, which upset Du Fu and made him sigh with sadness. He is nearly half a year old, and he has achieved nothing. He can't even get rid of his leaves, and he is also suffering from poverty and illness.
if you go further, you will reach Tietang Gorge (now Tianshui, Gansu, which is the main road from Gansu to Sichuan). At first, the road was narrow, and after a short walk, it was as spacious as a room, and the stone walls were livid.
"Tietangxia is really worthy of the name."
Du Fu expressed emotion, hoping to add a little pleasure to his journey. However, the mountain wind passes through the gorge, which makes people stand unsteadily and their lips and teeth are cold. Where is the mind to enjoy the scenery? The mountain road is ups and downs, sometimes when you go to a high place, it seems that you can touch the sky and touch the perennial snow on the top of the mountain; Sometimes they go down to the bottom of the valley, and they have to go through the dense bamboo bushes and walk on the solid ice in the mountain stream, almost freezing the horse bones, so they travel very slowly.
But even in this situation, Du Fu is still obsessed with state affairs and people's livelihood. When I passed the salt well in the mountain, I saw that the vegetation was smoked pale, and only a blue smoke rose from the salt well. This is the salt people cooking salt. He felt novel, and when he rested, he chatted with the salt people for some idle days.
yanmin said, "the salt here is white and fragrant, which is considered as the only one."
Du Fu was also happy: "What about your harvest?"
when yanmin heard this, his expression faded. "We are making salt for the regime, and these salts are at the official price, which is a bucket of three hundred articles. But the businessman changed hands and sold it, and a bucket of 6 articles earned double the profit. We only earn a few hard money, and we can't even afford salt, so we can't talk about any harvest. "
Du Fu also knows that prices have soared in recent years, but I didn't expect it to rise to such a level. He clearly remembers that during the Tianbao period, the price of salt was ten pence per bucket, but now it has risen sixty times. How can ordinary people live?
But what can Du Fu do? He can only sigh and continue on his way. After walking for ten days, it was early November, when they passed through the cold gorge, the temperature was even lower, and they felt the thinness of their clothes, so the children could not help complaining.
Du Fu said, "Think of those soldiers, carrying swords and halberds, braving the wind and snowing, and I don't know when they will die. We are exempt from military service for life. Although this road is difficult, it is better than going to the battlefield. "
Having said that, the journey is hard, which inevitably makes people feel sad. So when they arrived at Fajing Temple (located in the north of Xihe County, Gansu Province) and saw the beautiful scenery there, they were in a rare mood for a while.
Bamboo is planted outside the temple, and it will be green and fresh as soon as the new rain passes. It's so quiet around, bamboo leaves fall gently, accompanied by the sound of silk and bamboo. The stream is surrounded by twists and turns. The pine forest contains rain and turns into a light white fog, which covers the red sunrise and is hazy all around, all of which have different tastes. Even in the war, Fajing Temple is still bright and bright, with endless Sanskrit sounds, which makes people quiet.
Du Fu settled his family, walked into the mountains in the morning with crutches alone, and didn't come out until noon. His ears were filled with cuckoo cries, and he felt a little relaxed.
they stopped for a while, and then they had to start again. The farther south this mountain road goes, the more difficult it is. In Qingyang Gorge, he felt that the boulder on the other side of the stream almost rolled over their heads. The peaks there seem to be higher and more dangerous than Huashan and Kongtong Mountain. When they passed through the rock wall full of stone niches, there were still wild animals, which frightened them.
the bear roars me to the east, and the tiger and leopard sail me to the west.
I'm screaming at the back, and I'm crying at the front.
-
In a place like this, they are eager to meet people, so as to be brave. Sure enough, they met some villagers in a place with dense bamboo forests. They were scattered on the high mountains, chopping bamboo and crying loudly.
Du Fu asked a roadside person, "Why are you crying?"
The man replied, "All the bamboo we cut is used to make arrow shafts. Now that the war is tight, we are urged by the superiors. Look at this mountain full of bamboo, but everything with straight poles has been cut down. Now we can't make a difference, so we cry when we are sad. "
Du Fu was inevitably worried about the war in the east again, so he crossed Jicaoling in sorrow and walked along the muddy road under Nigong Mountain. They rolled into clay figurines one by one before coming to Phoenix Terrace. After this, it is Tonggu County.
Du Fu and his party are resting under the phoenix stage. Du Fu watched the scenery around him, and he started to associate it with the word "Phoenix".
on this high mountain, there may be a chick that has lost its mother and is chirping with hunger. Then he is willing to sacrifice himself, taking his heart as a "bamboo solid" and his blood as a "sweet spring" to feed this bird. Once it grows up, spreads its wings high, flies into Chang 'an, and completes the great cause of ZTE, it can wash away the worries of the whole world.
With the ideal of inspiring people, Du Fu and his party finally arrived in Tonggu. What they never expected was that the county butcher not only didn't come to receive it, but even didn't provide any funding. What the letter said about yam, honey and winter bamboo shoots all came to nothing.
Du Fu had hoped to go there, but now he failed, and his frustration can be imagined. The county magistrate is probably a villain, admiring Du Fu's reputation, so he wrote a warm letter, which is actually just a polite and beautiful word, similar to saying to people all over the street, "Come to our house for dinner when you are free."
I didn't expect Du Fu's simple temperament to actually take his wife and belt across the mountains and come to Tonggu. County slaughter, of course, very surprised, but no relief, had to play the missing.
This time, Du Fu was really overwhelmed and miserable. He has no relatives and friends in the same valley. What can he do? He inquired about the east and west, and finally rented a cheap broken house, at least temporarily settled down. Where is this stupid house? Ten kilometers away from Tonggu County, there is a Feilong Gorge, a Feilong Waterfall under the Feilong Gorge, a Phoenix Terrace next to the Feilong Waterfall, and a Phoenix Village under the Phoenix Terrace. His broken house is in Fenghuang Village. Just listening to these place names is either an abyss or a cliff, which is suitable for sightseeing and curiosity, but where is it suitable for planting crops? Without food, how can it be suitable for the poor Du Fu family to live in?
But when Du Fu looked around, he felt that the scenery was quiet, far away from the hubbub, and seemed suitable for seclusion. Then, when it comes, it will be safe, and maybe the days will improve. Deep down, he may still be looking forward to the fact that the county magistrate just went out temporarily and will be back in a couple of days.
however, he didn't wait for the slaughter in the county, but he waited for the storm and blizzard. Their whole family ran out of food in the severe winter. Du Fu had no choice but to walk into the valley against the wind and snow, pick up acorns and chestnuts, and dig Polygonatum in the snow. His hair was long and he didn't want to tidy it up. His clothes were torn and small, but he couldn't cover his calves, so his skin was cracked and his hands and feet were numb with cold. But even so, he often comes back empty-handed, and he hears his family hungry at a distance, not to mention how sad he is.
The neighbors are all deeply disappointed when they see their pain, but everyone is in trouble. What can they do except send pickles and yam occasionally? Du Fu's old acquaintance, a poor Confucian scholar, still lived in the valley, and occasionally talked with him about the past when he was in Chang 'an, especially the glory when he presented the "three great gifts". Du Fu was so sad that he lamented: "A man is a gentleman, and he is old before he has made achievements and achieved immortal fame. Alas, I'm getting old, and I'm still hungry and hungry, and I've been walking on barren hills for three years. In my life, alas-"
In fact, in this year, although his life was in a desperate situation, his creation reached its peak." Three Officials and Three Farewells ",sentimental poems and landscape poems written in Qin Zhou are all excellent works in the history of poetry.
But poetry can't serve as food, so they stayed for less than a month. On December 1st, they packed their bags and set off for Chengdu. Along the way, their hardships exceeded the last time. After all, it is difficult to get through the Shu Road, and it is difficult to get into the sky. Even the birds and apes are worried when they look at the mountain high into the sky, let alone people.
But Du Fu had no way out. It took them another half month to cross Mupiling, cross Shuiduhui, cross the plank road floating in the clouds in Feixian Pavilion and Longmenge, cross the towering sword gate, and finally climb up Lutou Mountain with trembling feet. Looking around, they finally saw a flat fertile field.
Chengdu, rich and peaceful, has finally arrived.
So, what will be the fate of Du Fu?
The Picture of the Sword Gate painted by Huang Xiangjian in the Ming Dynasty
Du Fu went from Tonggu to Chengdu, passing through the sword gate, and wrote a poem "Sword Gate", which depicts the layers of the Xiongguan, including the poem "Even the mountains embrace the southwest, and the stone corners all face north" and "One man is angry at the gate, but millions can't be near it", which can be referenced with this painting.