Since the reform and opening up, Wenzhou, a city located on the southeast coast and surrounded by mountains, has become famous, and Wenzhou people are also famous at home and abroad for their good business, hard work and ability. However, if you stretch the timeline to the entire history of China, Wenzhou's sense of existence is not strong, and there are very few celebrities who have come out of Wenzhou. It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty moved the political center to Hangzhou that Wenzhou, the main city in southern Zhejiang, gradually became important. However, the first cattle man who appeared in Wenzhou in the Song Dynasty was not in the Southern Song Dynasty, but in the Northern Song Dynasty, and his name was Lin Lingsu.
The most commendable achievement of the Northern Song Dynasty is that it has reached a historical peak in culture, so most of the celebrities of the Northern Song Dynasty have made achievements in poetry and song. However, Lin Lingsu had nothing to do with the poetry and song of the Eight Rods, because his profession was a Taoist.
Lin Lingsu's life is quite legendary, his original name was Lin Lingxiao, the character Tongsu, a native of Wenzhou, Liangzhe Road (the provincial administrative unit of the Northern Song Dynasty). Lin Lingsu was born in a poor family, and in his early years he devoted himself to religious careers in order to make a living, but the future Number One Daoist priest of the Great Song Dynasty started as a monk.
Lin Lingsu's career as a monk was not too long. He had originally planned that he and a master would immerse himself in studying Buddhism, but the old monk was grumpy and beat and scolded Lin Lingsu at every turn. Lin Lingsu couldn't bear it, so he gave up studying Buddhism and ran to Sichuan to join a Daoist monk who was quite famous at that time.
Since his conversion, Lin Lingsu's life seemed to have suddenly been opened by a skylight, and a smooth road had shone through the skylight to his body. After years of cultivation, Lin Lingsu's name gradually became known to the world, and it was said that Lin Lingsu received the true transmission in the Five Thunder Jade Book and was proficient in Lei Fa. Although everyone could not confirm whether Lin Lingsu's mana was true or false, everyone believed it when they passed it on ten or ten times a hundred.
At that time, the Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty was almost obsessed with the cultivation of the Dao, and all day long the gods nagged that their true identity should be the son of the Jade Emperor. When he heard about Lin Lingsu's deeds, he immediately ordered the legendary Daoist priest to be summoned to the palace. According to the etiquette, the subjects saw that the emperor always had to complete the kneeling ceremony first, but as soon as Lin Lingsu stepped into the palace hall, Song Huizong froze, how did this Lin Daoist priest look so familiar in front of him? So he couldn't help but take the initiative to talk and said, "Has Ai Qing ever seen Yuan?" Ordinary people may not know how to answer when asked by the emperor, but Lin Lingsu replied with a smile: "When the minister served the Jade Emperor, he once saw the official family." This answer was definitely a full score answer, and at once the relationship between the two of them was pulled from the monarch of the human world to the side of the Heavenly Jade Emperor.
I don't know what medicine Song Huizong took wrongly, he followed Lin Lingsu's words in a trance: "I remember that you were riding a green cow at that time, where is the cow now?" Lin Lingsu replied, "It will be sent in a little while." "Who in Taoism rides a green bull?" The answer is Taishang Laojun. This question from Emperor Huizong of Song was equivalent to elevating Lin Lingsu to the incarnation of Taishang Laojun in the human world. Of course, Lin Lingsu's answer was also confident, and with his prestige in the Taoist circles at that time, it was easy to arrange for someone to make him a green cow. Coincidentally, shortly after this conversation between Emperor Huizong of Song and Lin Lingsu, the Northeastern Goryeo State offered a batch of tributes to the Northern Song Dynasty, including a green cow. There was no need to say anything more, Qingniu naturally handed it over to Lin Lingsu immediately, and Song Huizong personally gave him the name Offideling Daling. From then on, Lin Lingsu rode a green bull every day to the forbidden land of Miyagi Without Hindrance, and the prince and minister had to hurry to give way when they saw him.
One day, the future Song Qinzong and His Royal Highness Zhao Huan, the crown prince at the time, met Lin Lingsu, who was riding a green bull. In the imperial palace, except for the emperor himself, anyone who saw the prince had to give way, and coincidentally, Lin Lingsu also happened to have such a treatment, so the question of who gave way to whom was naturally muttered in the hearts of the two of them. As the two got closer, the issue of giving way became more urgent. At the critical moment, His Highness the Crown Prince could not hold back first, there was no way, although he was the crown prince of the Great Song Dynasty, but the people were the incarnation of the Taishang Laojun that the emperor had appointed, and people could not fight with the immortals. So Crown Prince Zhao Heng stood aside full of grievances and watched Lin Lingsu ride the green bull past.
In the first year of Xuanhe (1119), Lin Lingsu returned to his hometown of Wenzhou. There are two theories about his departure from Beijing, one is that he did the rule of law but had no effect, so he lost the trust of Emperor Huizong of Song and was repatriated; the other is that he provoked the anger of the people of Jingshi, so Emperor Huizong of Song had to let him return to his hometown. It is worth mentioning that Lin Lingsu returned all the large number of items given by Emperor Huizong of Song before leaving, and only took a boy with clothes to leave Beijing, which shows that Lin Lingsu is also a person with integrity, not a greedy person for money and profit.