Folktales, cockfighters

During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, in Xuanyang, not far from the capital, there was an old man surnamed Han who made a living by farming.

On this day, it was already dusk, And Han Laohan rushed home from the field, and suddenly, from under the ditch on the side of the road, there was an intermittent groaning sound, and Han Laohan hurriedly followed the sound to find it. Groaning was a man dressed as a Taoist priest, with blood on his forehead, already dying. Old Han Han exerted all his strength and carried the Daoist back home. After arriving home, he asked for medical treatment and boiled water to cook rice, and it was not easy to save the life of the Taoist priest. A month later, the Daoist priest's wounds healed, and he was grateful for Han Laohan's life-saving grace, and at the same time, he also knew that Han Laohan must have poured everything in his family to save himself. He had the heart to repay Han Laohan, but he was suffering from the fact that he was penniless. At this time, he suddenly remembered that during this time, he could always see a little boy around Han Laohan, and when he asked, it turned out to be Han Laohan's son, named Han Yun, who was only ten years old, and was han Laohan's old son, as if he were a heart and liver baby. The Daoist priest pondered for a while, called Old Han to his side, and said seriously, "Brother! I can't repay your life-saving grace, I want to teach your children a little skill, what do you think? "Old Han han is very happy to hear it, this child is his treasure!" If you can learn some skills, you will not have to work as hard as yourself in the future, of course, it is a good thing, so I agreed with my mouth. However, when the Daoist priest said the skill he wanted to teach, Han Laohan was dumbfounded, and it turned out that what the Daoist priest wanted to teach his son was actually cockfighting. This farmer raises chickens for nothing more than a living, what does it do? The Daoist priest saw that Han Laohan was dazed and explained, "Brother, although this cockfighting thing is ordinary, it also has a knack, if your son has spirituality, if he can learn this law for three years and five years, it will definitely be useful, and then the glory and wealth will be inexhaustible." Looking at the sincere Daoist monk, although Old Han was full of doubts, he couldn't bear to go against his wishes, and nodded helplessly.

The Taoist priest then called Han Yun to his side and immediately began to guide his interest in cockfighting, and at the same time, taught him the tricks of chicken training and cockfighting. Han Yun seemed to be born, not only flexible hands and feet, but also able to understand chicken language, and soon fully engaged, and became obsessed with cockfighting, the Taoist taught him the tricks he learned, but also touched the bypass. The Taoist priest saw it in his eyes and was happy in his heart. Before parting, he solemnly told Han Laohan's father and son: "As much as five years, as little as three years, the wind of cockfighting will inevitably prevail in the world, at that time, Han Yun will be able to show his skills, but remember, the glory and wealth must not be greedy, but also as soon as possible to end, just stop." ”

Sending away the Daoist priests, Han Laohan did not take it seriously. Fast forward five years, it is strange to say, just in this year, really responded to what the Taoist priest said, from the capital to the localities, from the court to the people, from weak to prosperous, it really became popular cockfighting, and every year the big and small events continued. Whether it is the relatives of the emperor, the princess and the princess, or the ordinary people, they are all keen on cockfighting, and they regard cockfighting as a serious thing in life. As for the reason, it is because Emperor Xuanzong was fond of cockfighting, and he added officials to the winners of cockfighting and gave them great rewards. Speaking of Han Yun, since he got the taoist point, he has long been addicted to cockfighting, for five years, eating and sleeping with chickens, understanding the habits of chickens, training the fighting spirit of chickens, from the beginning of cockfighting, he has repeatedly won, when the wind of cockfighting prevailed, he was already a well-known cockfighting king.

On the fifth day of the first month of August, it is the Thousand Autumn Festival, the birthday of Emperor Xuanzong, and the news has been sent out from the capital that the most grand cockfighting competition has been held, and the winner's reward is needless to say. Han Yun also came to the competition with his cockfighting. The competition was extremely fierce and cruel, and after several days of dueling, Han Yun's cockfighting under his command, although scarred, defeated all opponents and became the champion in one fell swoop. Emperor Xuanzong was very happy and summoned Han Yun to the palace to prepare for the reward, but he saw that Han Yun was unhappy. After asking, I understood that after several days of fighting, Han Yun's cockfighting had won the victory, but it had died due to serious damage. When Emperor Xuanzong saw that the Fighting King was dead, he could not help but be sad, and he pitied Han Yun, so he ordered someone to lead him to his carefully built chicken coop and let Han Yun choose one he liked. Who knows, Han Yun entered the chicken coop and saw those good fighting cocks with golden feathers, iron claws, towering crowns, and high tails, all of whom loved them and liked them very much. When Emperor Xuanzong saw this, he simply left Han Yun in the palace and made a chicken boy who specially raised and trained cockfighting.

From then on, Han Yun managed the emperor's chicken coop, he went in and out of the chickens, as if playing with his friends, which chicken was strong, which chicken was weak, which chicken was brave, which chicken was timid; when to feed water, what was the state of illness, he could know clearly. All the chickens were trained by him, not only brave and good at fighting, but also obedient and obedient, obeying the command like a man. Emperor Xuanzong was very satisfied when he found out, promoted Han Yun's official position, and rewarded him with gold and silver silk every day.

Three years had passed in the blink of an eye, and on this day, Emperor Xuanzong was going to Mount Taishan in Dongyue to worship the heavens, and he specially instructed Han Yun to select a thousand good cockfighters and perform along the way with the song and dance band. Han Yun, wearing an emerald hat and an embroidered satin robe, walked in front of the flock with a bell in his hand, while the flock lined up behind them. Han Yun calmly commanded, and the chickens erected their feathers and flapped their wings, advancing and retreating in accordance with the rules, and the dances and jumps were also moved according to Han Yun's intentions. The people along the way all watched and praised it, and Emperor Xuanzong also felt that his face was shining. After walking like this for a few days, Xuanzong suddenly found that Han Yun's spirit had weakened. It turned out that at this time, it was Han Yun's hometown Xuanyang, han Yun had been domesticating cockfighting in the palace for three years, and there was no news of his parents for a long time, and now it was touching the scene. After Emperor Xuanzong understood, he hurriedly ordered That Han Yun's parents be found, but Han Yun's parents were already dead and buried in the field. Emperor Xuanzong loved Han Yun so much that he took the bones of his parents with him and buried them until he reached the foot of Mount Tai. Han Yun couldn't help but be very grateful to Emperor Xuanzong.

The Taishan Sacrifice was over, Han Yun and his cockfighting had all recovered their spirits, and on the way back to the palace, Emperor Xuanzong liked it more and more the more he looked at these cockfights, so he let the guards retreat far away, and let Han Yun command the cockfighting to line up around him, like another kind of guard. Xuanzong was in the middle of it and was very excited. When we reached a narrow spot, suddenly, there was a strange whistle. Xuanzong was stunned, and immediately found that the situation was not good, it turned out that the majestic and angry cockfighting guards were all staring at him, and the feathers were upside down, wiping their mouths and grinding their claws, as if they were going to duel. The few guards saw the difference, but before they could react, they were pecked off their weapons by a few cockfighters, pecking at their bodies. Xuanzong was very panicked and shouted loudly to Han Yun, but there was still his shadow.

Under the command of the whistle, the cockfighters surrounded Emperor Xuanzong little by little, and the attack was about to start. However, this offensive lasted for a long time and was not launched. After a moment of silence, suddenly there was a loud whistle, and Xuanzong shouted, but what he did not expect was that the cockfighters did not attack, but fell feathers one by one and retreated into a docile state. At this time, Han Yun stepped out from behind the car, and xuanzong, who was still in a state of shock, gasped and asked, "This... What's going on here? Han Yun took a deep look at Emperor Xuanzong and said silently, "Thank you Emperor, thank you Emperor for burying the bones of my parents, I was going to kill you in a cockfight, but now, I can't do it." "Kill me? Why? Xuanzong looked shocked. Han Yun sighed, "The heavenly opportunity is indissoluble, I can only tell you that this is just the beginning, and you must be careful in the future." After saying that, Han Yun turned and left, quickly disappearing into the flock.

After returning to the palace, Emperor Xuanzong always cared about the siege of cockfighting, and there was no more cockfighting, and the whole world's cockfighting boom faded. However, Xuanzong never knew what Han Yun's last words meant. Two years later, the AnShi Rebellion broke out, and Xuanzong was forced to flee to Chengdu, Sichuan, and a year later, When Emperor Suzong ascended the throne, An Lushan was killed, and Emperor Xuanzong returned to the capital to become Emperor Taishang before he learned about it from others. It turned out that An Lushan believed in the Mandate of Heaven and had set up a plan as early as ten years before the rebellion, he knew that Emperor Xuanzong belonged to the chicken, and cockfighting would inevitably damage his Mandate of Heaven, so he sent a Taoist priest to the capital to lobby the emperor, make the cockfighting activities flourish, and then look for an opportunity to start. The Taoist priest was robbed by several thieves on the way to Beijing and almost lost his life, thanks to being saved by Han Laohan. The Daoist priest was grateful, knowing that when he went to the capital, he would definitely be able to persuade the emperor to raise his hobby of cockfighting, and the skills taught to Han Yun would definitely be achieved in the future. It turned out that he had succeeded, but he also knew in his heart that once the rebellion broke out, it might affect Han Yun, so he repeatedly warned that the glory and wealth should not be greedy and should be ended as soon as possible. But what the Daoist priest did not expect was that Han Yun's cockfighting ability had also been known to An Lushan earlier, and he had already made an early move to bribe Han Yun and agreed on a plan to assassinate Xuanzong with a cockfighting line when Mount Tai was sacrificing to heaven. It was also a coincidence that there was an episode in which Xuanzong buried Han Yun's parents, and Han Yun, out of gratitude, gave his hand halfway and gave Xuanzong a sign. In the end, the rebellion was not completely successful, and it was put down within a year, which was also in line with The Destiny of Emperor Xuanzong to stop fighting cocks after Han Yun persuaded.

Xuanzong lamented his fate, but at the same time he was grateful to Han Yun, so he erected a tablet at the foot of Mount Tai, which read: "Divine Chicken Boy" to commemorate Han Yun.