"It's just... you should keep an eye on these corpses. Don't fake them midway. It's so good." The boat woman poured hot medicinal tea for everyone, her eyes were full of fear of the corpses, but she didn't accept the money. Without any regrets, he simply covered the bodies behind the boat and covered them tightly with linoleum cloth.
"Don't worry, Sister Yanghua." When boarding the boat, the boat people's couple announced their family name. According to the custom, the man's name was Zhu Fushun and the woman's name was Ma Yanghua.
Lan Ruling drank the ginger tea to remove moisture and avoid the cold, and explained: "These corpses are the remains of salt collectors. They benefited the villagers when they were alive. Could it be that they can also harm the village after they die? We just want to Send their corpses back to Xiu'an County, and you can rest assured that they will be carefully packed and the situation you mentioned will never happen." Regarding the salt collectors, news circulated quickly in the world. Yueyang is a southwest trading port. The news spread rapidly, and any government that harms good people for no reason will attract a lot of scolding from the people of the world. When Ma Yanghua heard that it was the body of a salt collector, the vigilance on her face gradually faded: "Oh, little sister Son, sister-in-law, you can rest assured. You guys have tea, and we will sail soon." Ma Yanghua put the teapot on the stove, went out of the hall and helped Zhu Fushun shake up the white sail, and black mist rumbled out in front of the ship. , the drifting boat was already shaking, gradually leaving the lake shore and drifting forward towards Dongting Lake.
After the boat left the dock, several people walked out of the main room and leaned on the railing to look towards Dongting Lake. When the distance was too far, the Yueyang Ancient City behind them had turned into a black line, gradually disappearing into the dark clouds, and the fleets were sailing in an orderly manner. , like thousands of flying insects floating on the lake.
"A ship like this should be an inland river transport ship. My second uncle and I also saw this kind of ship transporting wood at the Hunhe River Wharf in Fengtian. However, in the past, most of them used human power to paddle. This ship was converted into a steam ship by Brother Fushun. !" Listening to Yue Guanchao's words, Song Siyuan stood on the railing and patted the passing barges. From a distance, she could see near Junshan Mountain in the distance. There was a white brick tower with a spire that was taller than the White Fish Tower. There was a green dragon relief on it, and underneath it was In the Dragon King Temple, in the dark environment, the colorful paint seems to have been added with tung oil, which makes it look particularly clear, as if the green dragon is swallowing clouds and spitting mist, moving clouds and making rain.
The ordinary Dragon King Temple rarely has such a high spire. Song Siyuan asked Ma Yanghua who was busy at the side: "Sister-in-law Yanghua, what is the white brick tower on Junshan Mountain in the north." Ma Yanghua wiped the sweat on his head. , glanced at Junshan, and said in a mysterious tone: "That is the Dongting Longjun Temple. It is very sacred. It is the protector of the Dongting Lake area."
"Dongting Longjun, can you tell me how this temple was built? I see that the temple and the pagoda are both new. It must be recent." Ma Yanghua dusted off her apron a few times and left. He went to her side and explained: "Hey, sister, we have to go back three years ago." Three years ago, the Dongting Lake in Yueyang, Hunan Province overflowed with rain, directly submerging nearby villages, and the surrounding area was covered with lakes and ten-meter-high lakes. There were nine disasters in the house. I heard that even Yueyang City was flooded more than half.
This rain disaster came out of nowhere! The night before yesterday was a sunny day with stars all over the sky. On the second day, dark clouds rolled over the city and strong winds were blowing, with the momentum of breaking poles. The pouring rain lasted for three days and three nights before it stopped. Some Taoist priests said that this rain was the dragon king. He was angry. The mountains and waters of Dongting Lake used to be peaceful. Since the opening of the port, the lake has been filled with huge foreign ships, which frightened the Dongting Aquatic Tribe in the lake. The Dragon King couldn't bear it anymore and came here to punish the mortals!
People are not afraid of ghosts, but they are afraid of ghosts whispering. These magic sticks and goddesses are so miraculous that no one dares to believe it. They invited Taoists to perform rituals to pray for peace. After the rituals were completed, waves suddenly appeared in the lake, and there were chains. A huge coffin floated out of the lake.
It was a bad omen to see a coffin in the river, and the surrounding people were in danger. In order to stabilize the people's hearts, the gentry and politicians stepped up patrols in Yueyang City, and at the same time paid heavily to the salvagemen crossing the river to fish out the jade coffin of the Corpse King's camel.
After the coffin landed, it was seen that there was a long-haired corpse with rigor mortis and dry flesh wrapped around the bottom of the coffin. The corpse was carrying the coffin on its back, as if it was sneaking in the water with the coffin on its back. After that, the coffin was named by Jianghu Taoists. It is the camel jade coffin of the Corpse King.
After the salvation was completed, the water ghosts opened the jade coffin, and a man and a woman dressed in ancient costumes suddenly appeared inside. Soon after they were exposed to the air, they suddenly turned into two green-scaled dragons wearing human clothes, and the dragon heads even floated out of the corpse. Fishy smell.
The Taoist took out a pair of gold tablets from the jade coffin, and engraved the words of Dongting Dragon Lord and Dragon Lord Empress on them. Seeing this scene, the people no longer doubted the identity of the corpses, and regarded them as the Dongting Dragon King protecting Dongting Lake.
Under the leadership of the squire, the people donated money and received incense, filled the lake and built land near Junshan on the northwest shore of Dongting Lake, and built the Dragon Lord Temple, which was accompanied by a jade coffin for worship. However, the Taoist warned the surrounding people that the Dragon Lord Temple needed to be honored by officials. It will take three years to accept public consumption. At the same time, during these three years, a no-fishing zone in Dongting Lake needs to be designated to allow the aquatic animals near Longjun Temple to recuperate and not fish or hunt.
Although they don't know whether it is true or not, the Yueyang government does not dare to treat this kind of matter lightly, and simply protects the fifty miles around Longjun Temple. No fishermen are allowed to go hunting without permission, and can only return to normal after leaving the lake area where fishing and hunting are prohibited. Fishing and hunting.
"I think this year will be the third year, and there will probably be a Bainuo Dragon King Festival taking advantage of the Qingming Jingzhe. You can go and see it when you come back. It will be lively." After Ma Yanghua finished speaking, he dusted off his apron and went to say goodbye. Regarding the matter, Song Siyuan looked at Yue Guanchao: "How do I feel that it is the same as the Lilangjun Temple in Yuping Ancient Town?" The Lilangjun Temple in Yuping Ancient Town was originally a manifestation of gods that gave Jin Xiansheng, but in the end it was just a way of creating beasts and monsters. Pretending to be a ghost, in the past, Yue Guanchao would have really believed in the manifestation of gods, but now looking at the dragon statue of Lord Long, he didn't believe it at all. He probably took advantage of the chaos in the Republic of China to deceive the world and steal his reputation.
Thinking of this, he chewed his teeth and shook his head: "I guess it's some kind of crooked way. You must not get involved in it again. If your brother hadn't come to protect him last time, we would have been killed. "
"What are you thinking about? I just want to ask you what you think." As she spoke, cold drops of water fell on her head. Song Siyuan raised her head and opened her palms, and the raindrops could be seen falling.
"Sister, go to the house quickly. The rain on Dongting Lake is very cold. Don't catch a cold."
"Let's go. When can we take pictures? Let's come back when the weather clears up." Lan Ruling pulled Song Siyuan and they walked into the main room together. As soon as they stepped into the room with their front feet, they saw the rain falling with fierce force on their back feet. The eaves were like mice and birds crawling around, and the thunder was rolling like an iron barrel without stopping. A basin was placed in the leakage area around the corridor of the house, and it was quickly filled with water. The eaves were even filled with water splashing beads, and the water flowed.
Yue Guanchao took advantage of this moment to look at the guest rooms near the main room. Except for the four connected main rooms, their private rooms were on the right. The guest rooms were mostly concentrated on the left, with their doors facing each other, and connected to the leftmost one through the corridor in the middle. Walls with square glass windows.
The room was quite tidy, but due to the swaying of the boat, there were not many supplies in the room. There were only beds, mats, quilts, tables and chairs. All the sundries that could be fixed were fixed to prevent them from shaking and hurting people.
"Look, what am I talking about? It rains very hard in Dongting Lake. We are wearing raincoats and our clothes are almost soaked through." The boatman and his wife finished their business and went into the back room to change. He put on his clothes and walked to the stove to lean on the fire: "It is said that this year is the year when the Dragon King Temple accepts people's sacrifices. I am afraid that the Dragon King is about to wake up. A yawn can make the spring cold. It shouldn't be cold at this time. You see Look at the stove that has just been put away and is being moved out soon. If you get cold at night, we will light the stove for you. Just don’t close the door so tightly, otherwise you will be poisoned." It can be seen that Zhu Fushun was not good at words and kept silent like an old scalper. He changed his clothes and did not say a word. He opened the inner hatch and walked into the helm, leaving Ma Yanghua alone to chat with them.
After closing the window and door, there was only a hazy patter outside the house, like hearing the sound on a rainy night under a quilt.
"Sister-in-law Yanghua, you often carry passengers!" The two of them have no children, and so many rooms are built on the deck, mostly for the purpose of housing people.
Ma Yanghua rubbed her hands, her eyes a little dodgy: "Oh, the official has designated a fifty-mile no-fishing zone, and the area includes Yueyang City. Anyone who wants to fish near Junshan is going against the government, and his arms will be twisted. However, how can boat people like us dare to disobey it? It is impossible to fish near Yueyang and Junshan, so we can only go to the far lakes in the southwest."
"There are many fishing boats from domestic companies. The government has long designated fishing areas. The boats are big and the nets are big. Small fishing boats like us can't compete with them. We can't catch anything with one net, and we have to make things difficult for them. We simply modified the boat to have a few more rooms to attract tourists. If there are those who want to take advantage of the opportunity to visit the lake, we will also take them around. Our ancestors, surnamed Zhu and Ma, have been on the lake for three hundred years, floating in the water. Even a leaf knows where it comes from, and I can take them on a tour for a few days.”
"How can this group of people suffocate to death? The government has government regulations, and we also have our own ways of living." Ma Yanghua didn't mean to finish what he said, and Yue Guanchao probably understood that the government was trying to make money. Most of the time, fishing and hunting areas are designated on the lake, and major businesses are asked to contribute. Whoever contributes more can choose a larger fishing and hunting area first. If they can't contribute, they can only choose a small one, like them. Such boat people have a small business and can't even go to the card table. In the past, they could eat what others left, but after the fishing ban period was designated, they didn't even have what was left on their lips.
It is estimated that these boat people either changed their profession and became fishermen, or they went ashore to find another job. The two of them can buy a boat to navigate the lake, which is already considered wealthy!
