As a "foreigner" who has settled in Yichang for decades, I always have respect for the historical and cultural celebrities who were demoted to the Three Gorges due to a trick of fate. Ouyang Xiu is an ancestor I admire very much.
Ouyang Xiu was a leading figure in the literary revolution of the Northern Song Dynasty. He supported a large number of political and literary elites such as Wang Anshi and Su Shi. Not long after the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, social contradictions became increasingly apparent. Ouyang Xiu, who was born in a lower class and had a strong sense of social responsibility, wanted to maintain the dynasty out of patriotism, and on the other hand wanted to correct its shortcomings for the sake of social harmony and development, so he was bound to be involved in the political whirlpool. Politically, he advocated the "Qingli Reform" of "widening simplicity"; in literature, he took Han Yu as his sect, wanting to eradicate the sad style of literature from the late Tang and Five Dynasties to the early Song Dynasty, and advocate ancient prose with content.
Ouyang Xiu was born in a low-level official family. His father died early and his family was poor. He was awarded Jinshi in 1030. In the third year of Jingyou's reign (1036), Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan, a minister of the imperial court, was demoted because of his outspoken advice. Ouyang Xiuwei, who was Xuandelang, complained about the injustice and was demoted to Yiling County Magistrate. At that time, Yiling was under the jurisdiction of Xiazhou. After Ouyang Xiu was demoted, he wrote a poem to Ding Yuanzhen, the judge of Xiazhou, which showed his tenacious spirit of never giving in in the face of difficulties and setbacks.
The spring breeze does not reach the end of the world, and there are no flowers in the mountain city in February.
There are still oranges on the branches under the heavy snow, and the bamboo shoots are about to sprout due to the freezing thunder.
Ouyang Xiu arrived at Yiling, Xiazhou from Kaifeng, the capital, on October 26, the third year of Jingyou. Zhu Qingji, then the magistrate of the state, was an old friend of Ouyang Xiu, so he built a new house for Ouyang in the east of the state capital. . Ouyang Xiu named the room where he lived in Yiling's demoted residence "Zhixi Hall", which means to be happy after arriving, and wrote "Yiling County Zhixi Hall Notes", which truly recorded the historical appearance of Yiling.
Ouyang Xiu wrote that the Yangtze River becomes flat from Yiling, and people who pass through the dangerous path of the Three Gorges feel like they have been reborn. Zhu Gong built the pavilion, "I am determined that the great danger in the world will be leveled at this point, which is a joy for travelers. This is a joy." "Yiling is a lower state, with few houses and services, and it is remote and far away. Although it has good governance, it is not enough for reputation to support progress. Zhu Gong can not be content with being shabby, and his heart is happy. Madam is happy to be free from worries, "Poetry" calls him a "Kai Ti gentleman". "Being happy and forgetting about worries in adversity is not Ouyang Xiu's way of being a master."
When the poet first arrived, he visited the Xialao River, an important pass near Nanjinguan, and wrote a poem:
The ancient garrison at the mouth of Xialao is so dense and craggy.
Entering the Xiajiang River, it gradually curves and turns to more Tantan Mountains.
White birds fly over the white sand, and green peaks and green radish bloom.
The first time I moved my appearance, I compared it, and I composed Chu songs with sorrowful words.
It can be seen that what flows in the poet's heart is Qu Yuan's long song.
In Zhaojun's hometown, the poet composed "Zaihe Mingfei Song". He praised Concubine Ming for being "unparalleled in the world, once lost it is hard to find again", criticized Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty for "although he can kill painters, what is the use of competition", lamented that "it is as far as the eyes and ears can see, Wanli can control the barbarians". The ignorant king always does not distinguish between loyalty and treachery, beauty and ugliness, so how can he stabilize the country? "A beauty is better than a man, but his life is miserable. Don't complain about the spring breeze and sigh yourself." The reality makes people sad, but the poet will not Sinking.
Ouyang Xiu went up the Yangtze River from Xiazhou and visited Songmen Island, which is now known as Gezhouba:
The Songmen Island of Niaoyu Island is a mile long, with hanging rocks facing two green peaks.
It is a pity that this beautiful place is so impoverished that it makes people fall in love with this country.
The rocky beach is noisy and the pillow is drunk, and the shallow sand and bright moon enter the cabin.
Because of the journey, I realized that I was far away from the south. When I went to Jingjiang, I saw the Shujiang River.
The poet fell in love with this oasis in the river. Although the rocks were chattering and the bright moon entered the window, his eyes were so drunk that he could not sleep, but this beautiful paradise soothed the melancholy in his heart.
After visiting the famous Sanyou Cave, the poet felt even more happy and relaxed. In order to explore the mysteries of the world, he "traveled to the Qingchuan River and left his boat to travel to the green mountains. He took risks to explore the wonders and poverty because of his poor circumstances."
Facing the wonders of Sanyou Cave, the poet's thoughts are misty and misty.
Nongzhou loves Yunshan all day long, only seeing the green sky and mist.
Who would have thought that in a room full of haze, the milky sinuses are full of plump stone marrow.
A path of cangyan rocks crosses the small ferry, and a thousand-year-old green wall rises from every door.
Who retains the appreciation of the past? When people go to the mountains, the traces become more secluded.
The green dream and green hangings are so quiet, and the trembling mountain birds do not scare the guests.
The pines are singing and the wind is blowing at the bottom of Zhangzhou. When the moon comes out, the feast will be taken care of.
Fairyland is hard to find and easy to lose, but few people know the way around the mountain.
The poet's Three Gorges poem has a simple and natural language, a delicate observation and experience of the scenery, a complete spirit, a kind and natural nature, but is very rich in connotation, which indeed shows the vigorous writing power of Wen Zong of the generation. The relegated career in Xilingxia nourishes the poet's aspirations. The spring flowers will eventually bloom, and the road ahead of the streams will be long. The poet has absorbed the aura of heaven and earth from the Three Gorges, and will surely achieve greater things.
But what did Yiling look like in the eyes of Magistrate Ouyang Xiu?
But the stone steps of the post wharf are steep and winding, surrounding the city's river bank. Except for the post wharf, there is no fixed place to park the boat. Some merchant ships from Ba, Xiang, and Chu were moored everywhere. The ships are loaded with local products from mountainous areas, mostly raw lacquer, Xiazhou paper, rice, tea, citrus and the like. This small, deserted county where "Tiger can be seen in the morning in the county building, and mutterings can be heard in the official residence at night" has no city walls around it, no well-shaped streets, and the roads are narrow and dirty, making it impossible for cars and horses to pass.
The market is mostly populated by small stalls and hawkers, with no department stores and no large merchants. People live a hard life and are fond of pickled fish. The house is small, with people living upstairs and pigs raised downstairs. The living quarters are single, and the kitchen, patio, and barn are all crowded together. The houses are all made of bamboo, wooden boards and thatch.
Therefore, Ouyang Xiu actively respected the initiative of Zhu Qingji, the governor of the state, and planted trees in the city and afforestation on the mountains. Thatched huts were demolished, tiled houses were built, people and animals lived separately, kitchens were separated from barns, and simple customs were changed. He worked diligently for the people and often went into people's homes to conduct investigations and research.
During his stay in Yiling, Ouyang Xiu also wrote many famous political articles, such as "Yuan Wei", "Ben Lun", "Spring and Autumn Annals", "Yi Huo Wen", "Ming Yong", "Yi Tongzi Wen" and so on, and completed the writing of "New History of the Five Dynasties".
Looking back on the past, although it has been nearly a thousand years since Ouyang Xiu came to serve as the magistrate of Yiling County, the people of Yiling are still talking about him and are proud of him. Throughout the ages, there have been many officials in Yiling, but Ouyang Xiu's deeds are the most widely circulated. He served in three dynasties and held two positions. He was as famous as Du Yan, Fu Bi, Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan at that time.
Ouyang Xiu was a politician, writer, historian, epigrapher, bibliographer, and classics scholar. He especially had the highest literary achievements. He was an innovative member of the Northern Song Dynasty literary world who inherited the ancient prose movement of the Tang Dynasty. Leader. He had an official career of more than 40 years and served successively as magistrate, magistrate, collation of pavilions, imperial bachelor, deputy privy envoy, and deputy prime minister. He became an official in the fourth year of Xining (1071) and died in Yingzhou (Anhui) the following year. Fuyang), aged 66.
After his death, he was posthumously named "Wenzhong" by the crown prince's master. He had outstanding political achievements, many disciples, and he wrote prolifically. He has written 153 volumes, including 24 volumes of poems and poems, as well as monographs such as "New Book of Tang Dynasty", "New History of the Five Dynasties" and "Six One Poetry Talk" handed down to the world. "Sixty-one Poetry Talks" is the first of its kind in the history of "Poetry Talks".
Among the 766 poems and essays in "The Complete Works of Ouyang Wenzhonggong", 140 are directly related to Yiling, accounting for more than 20% of the total works. The sheer number of them and the beauty of their writing are incomparable to all the cultural celebrities who grew up in or visited Yiling. Among them, he wrote nearly 50 poems and nearly 30 articles in Yiling. Ouyang Xiu was attracted by the magical and beautiful mountains and rivers of Yiling. He often traveled with friends such as Ding Yuanzhen, the judge of Xiazhou, or went alone. He visited the ancient temples, strange caves, clear streams and famous gorges in Yiling. He wrote about the scenery lyrically, blending the scenes, and left a lasting impression. An immortal chapter. Works such as "Nine Odes of Yiling", "Ode to the Boxwood Tree", "The Story of the Journey to Xitang from Yiling County", and "The Story of the Journey to Xiting from Xiazhou" are true records of the history of Yiling. A precious legacy in the treasure house of Chinese national literature.
In the second half of his life, despite his outstanding political achievements and world-class poetry, Ouyang Xiu never forgot Yiling. His evaluation of the article before he was demoted to Yiling was: "Thirty (years) ago, I still loved culture, drank and sang. I knew it was fun, but I didn't know what it was wrong." ("The Complete Works of Ouyang Wenzhonggong? Reply to Sun The special environment and special pressure had a profound impact on his life, whether in politics, career or literature. He believed that the reason why he was able to achieve the beauty of Jinwenhuazhang was precisely because he was tempered through adversity in Yiling. It’s no wonder that when Yuan Mei, a famous poet in the Qing Dynasty, changed his official position from Hanlin to Jiangnan, his friends once quoted Ouyang Xiu’s deeds to comfort him: “The career in Luling started in Yiling, and the horizons originally increased with experience” (Yuan Mei: "Suiyuan Poetry Talk? Volume 1") .
The people of Yiling remember Ouyang Xiu’s one year and three months in Yiling. They once built the "Six-Year Academy" in the city. There were lecture halls and temples in the courtyard, where Jingxian people gathered here. After reading Ouyang Gong's works and the historical materials compiled by him, many county magistrates even went to the lecture hall to give lectures in person to commemorate this great "June 1st Gong". It is a pity that the relics of Ouyang Xiu's time in Yiling, whether it is Zhixi Hall, Ganquan Temple, or Zhixi Pavilion and other inscriptions, have long been lost. Only in Sanyou Cave, "On July 10, the fourth year of Jingyou's reign, Uncle Ouyang Yong and Judge Ding of Yiling carved stones together." has been preserved as a permanent memorial.
According to legend, when Ouyang Xiu was working as a collation of pavilions and pavilions in Bianjing, Kyoto, his good friend Ding Yuanzhen, a judge in Xiazhou (now Yichang), went to Bianjing to see him. Ding Yuanzhen said that he had a dream in which he and Ouyang Xiu went to Huangling Temple in Xiling Gorge and offered incense under the statue of King Yu. As soon as Ouyang Xiu bowed down, the statue of King Yu nodded in return, invited Ouyang Xiu to sit on the altar, and whispered in Ouyang Xiu's ear for a long time. After leaving the main hall, a stone-eared horse suddenly woke up at the door and talked a lot with Ouyang Xiu. Yuan Zhen thought to herself that the statue of King Yu treated Ouyang Xiu in the pavilion like a secular person. What a magical courtesy!
Soon after, Ouyang Xiu was demoted to Yiling County Magistrate. After arriving, his friend Ding Yuanzhen was also demoted to a civil servant for some reason. In his spare time from government affairs, Ouyang Xiu was guided by Ding Yuanzhen to the Huangling Temple in Xiaguan. As soon as he entered King Yu's Palace, Ouyang Xiu was shocked! Everything was just like the dream Ding Yuanzhen said. The statue of King Yu really nodded in return, as if inviting Ouyang Xiu to go up to the altar and whisper the secrets of heaven. The stone horse at the door of the main hall saw that Ouyang Xiuru had met his confidant, and he was so affectionate that it was difficult to leave him. Ouyang Xiu and Ding Yuanzhen walked out of the temple gate and saw more and more people coming to offer incense and worship the gods. He thought that although the appearance of King Yu's statue had ended, the fact that the Ox God helped Yu open rivers and control floods was just a legend and had no real basis. People actually believe it so much, beat gongs and drums, sing and dance, and worship devoutly. It is really a kind of "obscene sacrifice".
He was filled with emotion and recited the poem "Huangniu Gorge Temple" and inscribed the stele: "Although there are gods in Dachuan, obscene worship is the custom. Stone horses are placed in front of the temple, and crows are noisy in the trees. Tantan Village drums can be heard across the stream, and Chu shamans are singing and dancing. The God of Welcome and Farewell..." Soon after Ouyang Xiu returned to Kyoto to take up his post, he told the above story to Su Shi, his protégé.
In the fifth year of Yuanfeng (1082), Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou. At the invitation of Zhu Junsi, the magistrate of Yidu in Xiazhou, he went to Xiazhou to visit the Huangling Temple. After entering the Palace of King Yu, I saw the statue of King Yu that nodded in return. As expected, there was a stone-eared horse at the door of the palace. He read the poem "Huangniu Gorge Temple" written by Ouyang Xiu on the wall, and recalled the story Ouyang Xiu told him about the appearance of the statue of King Yu and the stone horse with one ear. From the stone horse with one ear, he associated it with his mentor Ouyang Xiu and his demotion. , can’t help but sigh with emotion. At the suggestion of Zhu Junsi, the commander of Yidu, Su Shi composed the above-mentioned hearings and emotions into a short article "Ouyang Wenzhong Gong Enters the Yellow Ox Temple", which was carved into stone in the temple. It was the first to record the rumors about the appearance of the statue of King Yu and the stone horse with one ear.
Ouyang Xiu loved the people of Yiling, loved the mountains and rivers of Yiling, and cherished the products of Yiling. Before the Northern Song Dynasty, Xiazhou began to produce paper and inkstones, and Ouyang Xiu had heard about it when he was in the capital. At that time, he had close contacts with officials from the three departments (Yantie, Duzhi, and Hubu). The Third Department is the department in charge of salt and iron, taxes and rents, and household registration and land tax. The printing and issuing of official documents and forms, as well as household registration, are just like the government offices, and they are inseparable from paper. But all the paper used at that time was supplied by Hezhong Prefecture (Puzhou, that is, Yongji County, Shanxi). Sun Wende, an official of the Third Division, often visited the provincial examination examination hall and saw many papers, account books and books made of paper from hundreds of companies. Only Xiazhou paper was imperishable and very durable.
When Ouyang Xiu left the capital, Sun Wende once advised him to collect more Xiazhou paper. Xiazhou has lush bamboo trees and abundant water resources. In the early Song Dynasty, there were several private papermaking workshops in Yiling City. Although the papermaking process is primitive, it is complex. Fibers are taken out of bamboo wood, boiled and mashed, mixed into mucilage, placed evenly in a roller basket, and plated into a thin film. After drying slightly, it is pressed with a stone roller. After Ouyang Xiu used Xiazhou paper, he praised it: "Yiling paper is not very refined, but it is the most durable." After more than four years of relegation, when he returned to the capital, the emperor issued an edict to promote him to Jixian School Manager, where he would supervise the appointment and dismissal of general officials in the capital, write and collect various documents, etc. Therefore, Ouyang Xiu took advantage of this opportunity and ordered "Xiazhou paper to be used as official documents for officials and government officials."
According to research by Ouyang Yunsen, a descendant of Ouyang Xiu's family, Ouyang Xiu lost his wife twice, and the third was Mrs. Xue. In March of the fourth year of Jingyou's reign (1037), Ouyang Xiu took leave and went to Xuchang to remarry Xue, the fourth daughter of Xue Kui (an official who participated in political affairs). In September, Mrs. Xue followed Ouyang Xiu to Yiling. Ouyang Xiu had four sons, Fa, Yi, Hu and Bian, all born to Mrs. Xue. The Zhijiang Ouyang clan is the descendant of Ouyang Fa, the eldest son of Ouyang Xiu. In the second year of Jingyou (1035), Ouyang Xiu's brother-in-law Zhang Guizheng died in Xiangcheng, Hubei. Because her sister was young and had no one to rely on, she brought the orphaned daughter of Zhang Guizheng's ex-wife to her brother Ouyang Xiu's home to raise. In the third year of Jingyou's reign, Ouyang Xiu was demoted, and his sister had to follow Ouyang Xiu to Yiling. The younger sister is taciturn and stays at home, focusing on taking care of her mother and the son born to the late Mrs. Xu of Ouyang Xiu. When Ouyang Xiu was in Yiling, he married the daughter of Xue Kui, the Minister of Household Affairs (who died in the post of Minister), and his younger sisters participated in the arrangements.
Ouyang Yunsen deduced from the "Ouyang Genealogy" that there are still descendants of Ouyang Xiu in Yiling to this day. According to the genealogy, the Ouyang family served as the governor of Yiling three times. The first time was Ouyang Xiutang's uncle Ouyang Ying (also known as Kao Shu). He passed the imperial examination in the third year of Xianping (1000), and reached the rank of Fang Langzhong. He served as a military judge in Xiazhou (Yichang), and was promoted to magistrate during the reign of Zhenzong. Seventy-three years old, he lived in Jingnan (Jingzhou) and was buried there. It can be seen that most of the Ouyang families in Jingzhou are descendants of Ouyang Ying. The second time was Ouyang Xiu. In the third year of Song Jingyou's reign (1036), he was demoted because of Fan Zhongyan's injustice. He also served as county magistrate in Yiling and wrote an article in memory of his uncle. The third time was in the eighth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty (1472). Ouyang Yingchun, the 20th generation descendant of Ouyang Xiu, was appointed magistrate of Yiling again. Five years later, Ouyang Yingchun died in office, and his body was escorted back to Jiangxi by his son Ouyang Pucheng for burial. Then Pucheng and his wife Liu brought the third son Xinggong and the fourth son Xingmian back to Yiling. During the travels, I saw that the terrain was bordering Yiling, and "the remains of our ancestor Liuyi Gong were there", so in the 15th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty (1479), he officially settled in Zhiyi and has flourished to this day.