Ang Lee heard that the Qingcheng Mountain had the Four Wonders of Qingcheng. He felt that he should go and have a taste. It was not easy to come here. If he did not experience it, then it would be a waste.
When they returned to the ship, their subordinates had already fetched a dozen buckets of water from the well on the island. When the inn saw that they were all from the capital and were soldiers of the Dragon Martial Army, how could they dare to charge them? They very politely helped the Dragon Martial Army carry the water. Their attitude was very good and they even invited the Dragon Martial Army soldiers to eat in the inn. However, the Dragon Martial Army soldiers were disciplined and didn't go over.
After leaving the island, the three ships went straight to Qingcheng Mountain. The scenery of Qingcheng Mountain was much better than in the future. In the era of the Tang dynasty, the environmental pollution was relatively small. The sky was very blue and the air was very fresh. To be honest, living in such a place was very comfortable.
"Qingcheng Mountain."
As soon as they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Ang Lee saw the three big words on the gate in front of him. It was a gate that was three feet high. The decoration was simple and not particularly luxurious, but it looked very pleasing to the eye. The three big words were also very beautiful. At first glance, one could tell that it was written by a famous master.
Don't think that after entering the gate, you will be in the core area of Qingcheng Mountain. Absolutely not. This was just a gate. Behind the gate, there was nothing but a dirt road. It was just a lonely gate.
"Assistant Minister Li, the nearest Taoist temple is still a few miles away. This is just the gate at the foot of the mountain. "
The boatman had obviously been here before. He seemed to know the situation of Qingcheng Mountain better.
Ang Lee also understood that the purpose of this gate was to lead the way. It was to let people who had not been to Qingcheng Mountain know that they had arrived at the moment when they saw the gate. Then, they would be able to enter the core area of Qingcheng Mountain by following the path behind the gate.
In order not to waste too much time, Ang Lee's group did not have many people. They only had a dozen people. They set off along the mountain road. Along the way, there was a fragrance everywhere. It was the smell of young leaves and fresh grass. It was spring now. Nature had begun to flourish. The young leaves of various trees began to sprout.
After the leaves of the plants began to sprout, the animals were no longer willing to be left out. Along the way, they could hear the chirping of birds around them. From time to time, they could even see wild animals running away right under their noses.
However, these wild land animals were the most common small animals such as hares. There were no pandas, tigers, or leopards. For these low-level prey, Ang Lee did not have much interest.
"It smells so good! Why is it so fragrant here? "
As Ang Lee walked, he smelled a very fragrant smell.
"It should be the fragrance of Mao Li flowers. It was also present on the island before, but there were too few flowers there, so I couldn't smell much. There is a large patch of Mao Li trees ahead, and the direction of the wind is correct. The fragrance is coming from ahead."
The boatman said.
Ang Lee walked with the group for a while and saw a large patch of kiwi trees. It was now the spring blooming season. A large patch of kiwi trees had all bloomed. Because the fragrance of kiwi flowers was relatively light, only when a large number of flowers gathered together could the fragrance be slightly stronger and easier to be smelled.
"Such a large patch. There must be at least 100,000 of them!"
Ang Lee looked at the large patch of kiwi trees in front of him and sighed.
"This is just a small patch. There are more elsewhere."
The boatman said.
He did not know how many there were here. He just felt that there were a lot of them. There were more elsewhere, which meant that the number of kiwi trees on Mount Qingcheng was particularly large.
"There are so many of them here. There are more elsewhere. With so many of them, they should be planted artificially!"
Ang Lee guessed.
Because according to the law of the natural growth of fruit trees, there should not be such a large patch. Moreover, the spacing was quite equal. At first glance, it was obvious that it had been artificially managed. Without artificial scientific management, the fruit trees here could not grow so well. Moreover, the competitiveness of kiwi trees was very average. Without artificial intervention, they could not compete with the many surrounding tree species, especially the many tall trees. As long as they took root near the kiwi trees, they could quickly block all the sunlight. In this way, the kiwi trees could not receive the sunlight, and their growth would inevitably be greatly restrained. There would not be a large patch at all. In addition, if the trees were too dense, the kiwi trees that grew from each tree would be very small, which would lack the commercial value.
The boatman said, "They were originally wild. Since there was the Heavenly Paradise Milk Wine, they have been artificially grown. Otherwise, with the original number, there would be too little Heavenly Paradise Milk Wine brewed every year. Even now, the Heavenly Paradise Milk Wine is not something that ordinary people like me can afford."
Obviously, as one of the Four Unique Wines of Qingcheng, the Heavenly Paradise Milk Wine was very expensive. Not only was it expensive because it tasted good, but also because there was a limited supply. The corresponding price would naturally be high. The high price of the Heavenly Paradise Milk Wine would inevitably lead to an increase in the price of the kiwi trees. As a result, those who wanted to make a fortune would certainly not miss the opportunity. Therefore, those who previously relied on collecting and selling kiwi trees changed to planting kiwi trees. Moreover, they planted them on a large scale. Only in this way could there be a scale effect, and their income could be increased tenfold or even hundredfold.
"Oh, so they are all planted. These shouldn't be planted by ordinary people, right?"
Ang Lee asked.
Since ancient times, wherever there was profit, capital would crazily pour in. The rich and powerful would go and occupy the place. Ordinary people would not have the chance. If ordinary people dared to compete with the aristocrats for profit, they would be courting death.
The boatman curled his lips and said, "Isn't that so? How could ordinary people dare to plant such a large fruit tree? I heard that there are many people buried under the trees. However, that was hundreds of years ago. It's better not to talk about it. "
It seemed that the boatman knew something, but he was unwilling to say it. Ang Lee wanted the boatman to say it to satisfy his curiosity.
"It's fine. Tell me. This official wants to know. "
Ang Lee asked.
It turned out that hundreds of years ago, the Heavenly Paradise Milk Wine here was already very popular, and the nearby people had also made a small fortune from collecting kiwis. Later on, under the leadership of a leader, everyone began to divide and plant kiwis. As a result, their income naturally increased. Unfortunately, some people couldn't bear to see the ordinary people's income increase, so they directly found a reason to take all the kiwis planted by the ordinary people as their own. Of course, the ordinary people wouldn't accept it, and thus, a fight broke out.
One could imagine the consequences of the conflict between the commoners and the nobles. Many commoners were beaten to death and their corpses were buried in the kiwi forest.
Of course, because the nobles had gone too far and killed people, the ordinary people who were still alive couldn't take it and naturally came back to take revenge. As a result, the smell of blood here was a little thicker. No one could say for sure how many people were buried under the kiwi forest, but no matter what, the kiwi trees here had always been growing well, and the Heavenly Paradise Milk Wine made from kiwis had always been a favorite wine. As for how many wronged souls were buried under the kiwi trees, no one cared about that.
Ang Lee couldn't be sure whether the boatman's story was true or not, because it had been a long time, and there was no way to verify it. A story from hundreds of years ago could only be a story, and no one would care if the story was true or not. They would just treat it as if they were bored and wanted to listen to a story to relieve their boredom.
In addition, the kiwi trees in the mountain belonged to the Taoist temple of Qingcheng Mountain. They were the property of the Taoist temple. Neither ordinary people nor nobles had the right to touch the kiwi trees here. After all, the current Emperor, Li Longji, was a Taoist. The status of the Taoist temple was higher than that of the nobles. No nobles dared to go against the Emperor, so naturally, they didn't dare to offend the Taoist temple.
Continuing to walk forward, Ang Lee saw the Taoist temple in the distance. It was a good-sized building complex. That was the destination of this trip, and also the place to taste the four unique dishes of Qingcheng.
The scenery of Qingcheng Mountain was very beautiful. As for why it was called this name, it was said that Qingcheng Mountain was called Tiancang Mountain in ancient times. In the 18th year of the Tang dynasty, that is, in 730 AD, it was called Qingcheng Mountain. The name was changed a few years ago, and it was changed by the current Emperor, Li Longji.
In addition, it was said that the Yellow Emperor, Xuanyuan, traveled all over the five mountains and gave Qingcheng Mountain the title of "Father-In-Law of the Five Mountains", so it was also called Father-In-Law Mountain, which was one of the names of Qingcheng Mountain.
There were two sayings about the name of Qingcheng Mountain. One was that the forest of Qingcheng Mountain was green all year round, surrounded by peaks, like a city. So it was called Qingcheng Mountain.
The other was that Qingcheng Mountain was originally called Qingcheng Mountain because ancient myths said that "the capital of Qingcheng, Ziwei, and the residence of the Celestial Emperor", so it was called Qingcheng. In the era of the Tang dynasty, Buddhism developed rapidly, and there were often territorial disputes between Buddhism and Taoism on the mountain. The lawsuit went to the Emperor, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang personally issued an edict to judge that "the temple is still Taoism, and the temple is near the mountain". However, the edict wrote "Qingcheng" as "Qingcheng", so it was renamed Qingcheng Mountain. This was not a legend, and the mountain still retained the full text of the edict of the Tang dynasty.
Qingcheng Mountain was a famous Taoist mountain in the Tang dynasty, and it was also one of the birthplaces of Taoism, which had existed for more than two thousand years since the Eastern Han dynasty. In the second year of Emperor Shun of the Eastern Han dynasty, the founder of Taoism, "Taoist Master" Zhang Ling, came to Qingcheng Mountain and chose the deep and secluded area of Qingcheng Mountain to preach Taoism. Qingcheng Mountain became the birthplace of Taoism and was listed as the "Fifth Cave" by Taoism. The Taoist temples of the whole mountain were centered around the Taoist Cave, including Jianfu Palace, Shangqing Palace, Ancestral Hall, Yuanming Palace, Old Lord Pavilion, Yuqing Palace, Chaoyang Cave, and so on. Until later generations, dozens of Taoist temples were still intact.
The founder of Taoism, Zhang Daoling, was originally named Zhang Ling. He lived in Sichuan and learned Taoism in Heming Mountain. According to the "Taiping Jing", he wrote Taoist books and claimed that they were taught by Taishang Laojun. According to the primitive religious beliefs of the ethnic minorities in Sichuan, he worshiped Laozi as the leader and used the "Tao Te Ching" as a classic to create the "Way of Five Pecks of Rice", also known as "Taoist Taoism". He was respected by later generations as the Taoist Master, and his Taoist name was Zhang Daoling.
Legend has it that Taoist Master Zhang Daoling appeared in Qingcheng Mountain in his later years and immortalized there. After that, Qingcheng Mountain became the ancestral mountain of Taoist Taoism. Taoist masters from all parts of the Tang dynasty came to Qingcheng Mountain to worship the ancestral court. After the establishment and development of Zhang Ling and his descendants, Taoist Taoism gradually expanded to the whole world.
At the end of the Tang dynasty, the famous Taoist Du Guangting came to Qingcheng Mountain. The tradition of Taoist Taoism was combined with that of Shangqing Taoism. Shangqing Taoism claimed that if one cultivated, they could ascend to "Shangqing Heaven", which was higher than the "Tai Qing Realm" of the old Taoist Taoism. Du Guangting later became an official under the former Shu emperor, Wang Jian. His position was Guanglu Dafu Shangshu, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and he was given the title of Duke of Cai. In his later years, he lived in Qingcheng Mountain for nearly 30 years. He wrote books and established theories, which had a great impact on the development of Taoism in later generations.
In the Ming Dynasty, Qingcheng Mountain's Taoism was passed down to the Quanzhen Taoism Dragon Gate Sect. The difference between Quanzhen Taoism and the original Taoist Taoism was that Quanzhen Taoism advocated that cultivators should leave home and seek help from a Taoist master. They should live in a nunnery as a Taoist priest, not marry a wife, and not eat meat. They created a set of cultivation methods to cultivate one's body. When Taoist priests lived in the mountains, they naturally paid more attention to the maintenance of the temples and the cultivation of the mountains and forests.
At the end of the Ming dynasty, there were constant wars and Taoist priests fled. It was not until the eighth year of Kangxi's reign in the Qing dynasty that Wudang Quanzhen Taoism's Dragon Gate Taoist Chen Qingjue came to Qingcheng Mountain to preside over religious affairs, which changed the situation again. Later generations of Qingcheng Mountain Taoism belonged to Quanzhen Taoism's Dragon Gate Sect, Dantai Blue Cave Sect.
Ang Lee was not very interested in Taoism, nor would he put Taoism in a very high position like the emperor. After all, Ang Lee was a very practical person and would not limit himself because of religion. The emperor's purpose of believing in religion was to live forever and enjoy life, but this was obviously impossible. How could a person's life be increased because of religion? The Taoist immortality method was just a charlatan used to deceive people.
The core building of the Taoist temple in Qingcheng Mountain was the Taoist master cave in the middle, which was also the place Ang Lee was about to go. This Taoist master cave was not a small cave, but a house. This house was surrounded by mountains on three sides and a stream on one side. It was very quiet and peaceful. It was a good place to burn incense and worship Buddha. It was also a holy place in the hearts of many Taoist believers.
As for why a house was named the Taoist master cave, it was because the Taoist masters appeared early. At that time, the construction industry was not developed. Many humans lived in caves, and the cultivators naturally lived in caves. Therefore, many holy places of Taoism were also in caves. But with the development of the construction industry, it became common to build houses, so many temples began to appear in Taoism. The Taoist master cave was built during the Daye period of the Sui Dynasty. Naturally, it could not be a cave, but a palace. But when it was named, it was still named the Taoist master cave in memory of Zhang Tianshi, who used to cultivate in the cave.
Although the Taoist master cave was the core of the Qingcheng Mountain Taoist temple, the head of the Taoist temple was not in the cave, but in the back of the mountain. After all, there were too many people who went to the Taoist master cave every day to burn incense and pray. In such a noisy place, it was impossible to calm down and cultivate. The Taoist master cave became a place to receive guests.
Perhaps in the beginning, the Qingcheng Mountain Taoist temple was a place to burn incense and cultivate. But as the number of pilgrims increased, the income of the Taoist temple increased, and it began to show signs of commercialization.
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