Anecdote of the Yellow River

Chapter 17 Sending off ghost relatives (1)
With Grandpa, a capable old helmsman, joining our team, I am full of confidence in this trip to the Yellow River.In the next few days, we began to prepare busyly.

In order to better protect our safety, grandpa used his savings to buy a second-hand iron boat from a neighboring village. This kind of boat is much better than traditional awning boats in terms of horsepower and sturdiness.Moreover, the volume of the cabin is enough to accommodate the four of us, and it is more comfortable to ride.

We took the time to overhaul the tin boat, replacing some old parts and replacing it with a more powerful diesel engine.In addition, we cleaned out the cabin, not only piled up sufficient water and dry food, but also spread two quilts, so that we can take turns to rest during the boat trip.

After everything was ready, we boarded the iron boat. Grandpa brought the shotgun at home, a big red rooster, a bowl of glutinous rice, and incense candles and sake.According to the usual practice, we must pay homage to the King of the Yellow River and ask the King of the Yellow River to bless us safe and sound before the official departure of the ship.

In ancient times, people were full of reverence for the natural world and believed that the whole world was ruled by gods.And gods are everywhere, there are gods in the sky, mountain gods in the mountains, sea gods in the sea, and river gods in the river.

The so-called King of the Yellow River actually refers to the river god who controls the Yellow River. People must respect the river god, and the river god will bless people.If we don't respect the river god, once the river god gets angry, we will be doomed.

Although we are all atheists, we are still very devout in the ceremony of worshiping the river god.We are just looking for auspiciousness and a good omen, and hope that this journey will be safe and sound, and nothing will go wrong.

Grandpa put a bowl of snow-white glutinous rice on the deck, and then put a lit joss stick in the bowl.He asked me to hold the big red rooster, and with a knife in his hand, he chopped off the rooster's head, and the bright red blood spurted out.Grandpa took the headless rooster and walked around the deck, spilling the blood of the chicken on the ground, and whispered a strange sacrifice: "Dear King... you must bless your children and grandchildren... You are an immortal god... let all the wandering souls go back...give us a safe ancient road along the Yellow River... yay... yay..."

After singing the song, Grandpa threw the rooster in his hand into the river, and then placed the severed chicken head upright on the front of the deck.Immediately afterwards, Grandpa poured a pot of sake on the ground, knelt down devoutly in front of the chicken head, and bowed respectfully three times.

Seeing this, we also knelt down with grandpa and bowed three times to the bloody chicken head.

After all this was done, the joss sticks in the bowl were almost burned, and grandpa said happily: "The king of the Yellow River has appeared, and the joss sticks burned smoothly without breaking. It seems that our luck this trip is not bad!"

When the joss stick was completely burned out, grandpa put the chicken head in the bowl and sank into the water together with the bowl of glutinous rice.

Grandpa clasped his hands together and bowed to the water, "Thank you, King of the Yellow River! Thank you, King of the Yellow River!"

After the worship ceremony was over, Grandpa patted the dust off his trousers, got up and walked to the cockpit.When passing by Gu Meidi, grandpa smiled sheepishly, "Future granddaughter-in-law, don't laugh at me, don't think that grandpa is out of his mind, this is the rule of boating that our Yellow River corpse hunters have passed down from generation to generation."

Gu Meidi smiled and said, "Don't worry, Grandpa, I know this!"

"That's good! That's good!" Grandpa walked into the cockpit.

After a while, the rumbling sound of the engine was heard, a thick black smoke sprayed out from the exhaust pipe at the stern, and the iron boat pushed away the waves and chugs away from the shore.

We went upstream along the ancient road of the Yellow River. Today's weather is fine, sunny and calm.We all sat on the deck to enjoy the natural sunbathing, the humid river breeze warmed our faces, and the feeling of coolness was wonderful.

Professor Ye spread out a map in front of us, "Since the ancient corpses of Xixia warriors are contained in the tortoise coffin, there is no doubt that the tortoise coffin is a product of the Xixia Dynasty. To find the source of the tortoise coffin, we have to enter the Territory. I don’t think you will be unfamiliar with the famous Xixia Dynasty.”

Gu Meidi nodded, and then explained in detail: "Xixia, also known as Daxia or Baishang Kingdom, is a dynasty established by the Dangxiang clan in Chinese history. The Dangxiang clan is the main body, including the Han, Uyghur, and Including the Tubo and other ethnic groups. Because it is located in the northwest of China, it is called Xixia in history.”

"The Dangxiang clan originally lived on the Songpan Plateau in Sichuan, and moved to northern Shaanxi during the Tang Dynasty. Because of their meritorious service in suppressing the chaos, their leader was named Xiazhou Jiedushi by the Tang Emperor, and he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty successively. The Xiazhou regime was annexed by the Northern Song Dynasty Later, because Li Jiqian was unwilling to surrender, he established the country again and obtained the canonization of Emperor Liao. Li Jiqian adopted the method of joining the Liao Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, and successively occupied Lanzhou and the Hexi Corridor area. In 1038, Li Yuanhao proclaimed himself emperor and founded the country, that is, Xia Jingzong, and Xixia officially established the country. "

"After that, Xixia rose up in the initial Song Xia War and Liao Xia War, forming a situation of three kingdoms. After the death of Xia Jingzong, the power was in the hands of the queen mother and the mother party, which is called the dictatorship period of the mother party in history. The confrontation with the mother party caused civil strife, and the Northern Song Dynasty took the opportunity to attack Xia many times. Xixia successfully resisted and defeated the Song army, but the loss of Hengshan made the defense line leak. A lot of land. The two countries established the Golden Xia Alliance and generally live in peace.”

"Natural disasters and Ren Dejing's division of the country occurred during Xia Renzong's period, but after reforms, a prosperous age emerged during the Tiansheng period. However, the Great Mongol Kingdom in Mobei rose and invaded Xixia six times. Cannibalism. There were also many incidents of regicide and civil strife within Xixia, and the economy also tended to collapse due to wars, and finally died in Mongolia in 1227."

Speaking of this, Gu Meidi took out a pen and outlined a large territory on the map, "The capital of Xixia is Xingqing Prefecture, which is today's Yinchuan City in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Its ruling area is roughly in Ningxia today. And the northwestern part of Gansu, as well as parts of Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and Shaanxi, its territory covers thousands of miles, ending at the Yellow River in the east, Yumen in the west, Xiaoguan in the south, and the desert in the north, with a vast territory.”

I sighed, "It seems that it is not easy to find the source of the turtle coffin!"

Professor Ye said: "It's actually not difficult. Think about it, where do coffins usually appear? Of course they are in ancient tombs. The tortoise coffins we found are all extremely precious yin wood coffins, but inside they only contain The warriors who were buried with him can see that these tortoise coffins must have come from a royal tomb in Xixia. Think again, why are the coffins wrapped in tortoise shells? Why can the tortoise coffins float downstream along the Yellow River? Based on these two clues, it is very Obviously, this royal tomb of the Xixia Dynasty was built on the bank of the Yellow River, so the coffin inside was washed away by the river. Moreover, I speculate that this ancient tomb is likely to be a rare underwater tomb, so the outside of the coffin was washed away. Wrapped in a turtle shell! Judging from our current analysis, as long as we go upstream along the ancient road of the Yellow River, we will definitely find this underwater tomb of the Xixia Dynasty!"

Gu Meidi and I gave Professor Ye a thumbs up in admiration. The professor is indeed a professor. A matter that seemed complicated at first became much easier after the professor's analysis.

We have been driving for several days on the ancient road of the Yellow River, and the road has been safe and sound. Although some boats and vehicles are exhausting, we have also enjoyed a lot of beautiful scenery along the river, and seen a lot of customs and customs, which greatly enriched our life. .If it wasn't for the task, I think this trip must be a wonderful trip that I will never forget.

Of course, in addition to the beautiful scenery of the Yellow River, there is also Gu Meidi, a beautiful woman who is always by her side. Watching the scenery, tasting food, talking about ideals, and chatting about life with her, the feelings hidden in the bottom of the two people's hearts are also unknowingly. become intense.

On this day, our iron boat has sailed into the territory of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, with Helan Mountain in the north and Liupan Mountain in the south. The Yellow River runs through the entire northern part.Ningxia is one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. The Xixia Dynasty once established its capital in Yinchuan, Ningxia, so we speculate that the royal tomb of Xixia is likely to be in Ningxia.

Next to the alpine desert in the northwest, although it is located in a semi-arid area, there is a fertile land like the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River. This is the famous Fortress of the South of the Yangtze River.Entering the territory of Ningxia, such scenery becomes more and more obvious, with sandy deserts, loess hills, green rice in water towns, green forests and red flowers.Not only can you enjoy completely different scenery here, but you will also be surprised to find that these two different scenery are blended so ingeniously, interweaving a magnificent and beautiful picture.

Even Grandpa couldn't help but sighed: "I always thought that there were only high mountains and deserts in the Northwest. I didn't expect to see such a beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River here. The natural world is so wonderful, this place is simply a fairyland on earth!"

Professor Ye is also a person who enjoys life very much. When the iron boat was sailing south of the Yangtze River, he took out a fishing rod from the cabin and sat on the deck to fish leisurely.It can be said that there are swarms of fat fish in the south of the Yangtze River. Professor Ye caught several fat fish in a short time.

Gu Meidi and I cleaned up the fatty fish, set up a stove at the stern, and grilled the fatty fish on the stove.The fat fish sizzled on the fire, and the rich meaty aroma wafted out, making people salivate.

Gu Meidi brushed the hair on his forehead, patted my shoulder and said, "Tuoba Gu, look at the opposite mountain wall!"

(End of this chapter)