Road God Zhou Cang
With the improvement of traffic conditions, most farmers have cars. Due to the frequent occurrence of traffic accidents and people's begging for safety, most of the car owners have provided road gods.
Who is the God of The Road? I'm afraid very few people know. In the early 1960s, the "Folk Tales of Hebei" said: In the area of Longyao and Baixiang in southern Hebei, many people worship road gods, and there is a road temple on the west street of Baixiang City, and the gods in the temple are ZhouCang. It turned out that the road god was zhou cang in the Three Kingdoms period.
Statue of the road god Zhou Cang
According to legend in the area of Longyao Maoshan Mountain, Zhou Cang is a native of Maoshan Village, and the Zhou Cang Tomb still exists in the 1970s.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms says that Zhou Cang was the Yellow Turban Army. The Yellow Turban Rebellion took place in Julu County, which was ruled by present-day Pingxiang County in history, and some people believe that the Julu County of the Eastern Han Dynasty was ruled in The Southern Part of present-day Ningjin County. In short, it is our area.
According to the "Chronicle of Shunde Province", Yi Yongbo (the official name of Zhou Cang) lived in The North Woniu Mountain of Bairen City, xiao yong was extraordinary, and was first subordinate to the yellow turban Zhang Bao. In the fifth year of Jian'an, Guan Yu zi Xu (Chang) Ru Ji and returned to Yan. After defending Maicheng, Wen Yu was difficult, and Wang Fu, who joined the army, died, and it is said that the tomb is in the northeast of Huozhuang, and the tomb has an inscription stone.
Bairen City is near the village of Yicheng in present-day Longyao County, and the ruins still exist. During the Tang Tianbao period, due to flooding, he moved to the town of Yao. 5 kilometers east of Bairen City is Yaoshan Mountain, and 5 kilometers north is Xiaoligang in Baixiang County.
Historical records record: During the Qin Dynasty, from Luoyang to Shan County, Neiqiu, through Xiaoli to Guyancheng (Guchengdian), Zhending, there was a Qin Avenue. Guan Yu and his party crossed the Yellow River to Jizhou to find Liu Bei. At that time, the capital of Jizhou was moved from Yan to Yi (邺, in present-day Linzhang, Handan), and Guan Yu and his party arrived in Yi first, because Liu Bei was sent by Yuan Shao to the north for business, so Guan Yu and his party continued north along the Linzhang-Xingtai-Neiqiu-Zhending Ancient Road. It was the Zhou Cang that was collected when passing by Xiaoligang. Most of today's Xiaoligang has become farmland, and sixty years ago it was still a thorny and desolate hilly hill. In ancient times, it was a place where forests were dense, sparsely populated, and thieves were infested. The Woniu Mountain where Zhou Cang lived was either Yao Mountain or Xiaoligang. This is the only way to pass through the north-south avenue, so it is reasonable to say that Guan Yu is in the Zhoucang of Xiaoligang in Baixiang.
Baixiang Xiaoligang Guan Yu closed the Zhou Cang
Why was Zhou Cang crowned as a road god? According to folklore, although ZhouCang once occupied the mountains as a Kou, he was also forced by life, only robbing the official palace, not robbing merchants, and protecting pedestrians, which was loved by the local people. Moreover, he accompanied Guan Yu in the southern expedition to the north, died without surrendering, and was loyal and courageous. As Guan Yu was deified step by step, in addition to following Guan Yu to accept the worship, the local people also worshipped him as a road god and made offerings to a separate temple to ensure the safety of the road.
(Originally published in "Anecdotes of Baixiang")