Impressions of the ancient city
Text/Zhang Guomin
The first time I heard about "Wei County" was at the first class meeting when I first entered the teacher's training school. Teacher Yang, the class teacher, asked those of us who had just gathered here from various counties and urban areas to introduce ourselves, and the unique introduction of a female classmate in Wei County left a deep impression on me-
"I'm from a county in Zhangjiakou City." He wrote two words on the blackboard, "Wei County."
"What do you read in those two words?" She was like an experienced teacher, asking us questions.
"'yǔ' county." Everyone spoke in unison.
"Wrong! Actually reading 'yù'..." Everyone was confused. And I don't know that there is Wei County, no matter whether the pronunciation is right or wrong, I don't know that Wei County is an ancient city with great historical and cultural heritage.
Later, when I participated in the work, I learned intermittently that the ancient city of Ulzhou was built in the second year of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, rebuilt in the tenth year of Ming Hongwu, the ancient city of Zhou Seven Mile thirteen steps, the city wall was three feet high and five feet high, the city gate tower was three, the corner tower was four, the enemy tower was twenty-four, and the battlements were more than 1,100. The east gate is the Anding Gate, the building is the Jingyang Building, the south gate is the Jingxian Gate, the building is the Wanshan Building, the west gate is the Qingyuan Gate, the building is the Guangyun Building, and the three gates are built with tall and majestic Urn City and Moon City, and the moat outside the city is three zhangyu deep and seven zhangyu wide. The city built the Jade Emperor Pavilion, the Nan'an Temple Pagoda, the Shakya Temple, and the Shuya Temple. It is precisely because of these ancient architectural complexes with the architectural styles of the Liao, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, which embody the different cultural characteristics of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, weixian has become a national historical and cultural city. Many monuments have been listed as national and provincial intangible cultural heritage. The seductive charm of the ancient city and the visual impact of the ancient city that I feel from many pictures have always made me feel the urge to find out. Unfortunately, although so many years are close at hand, they have not had the opportunity to meet each other.
On National Day this year, the school holiday was seven days, my daughter could not go home due to the epidemic, and the corn in my hometown was not yet ripe, so I became a veritable idler. So I went to the ancient city of Weixian to find out and was finally put on the agenda.
On October 1, the National Day was celebrated, and on October 2, relatives and sons got married, but they could not make the trip. The weather on October 3 was gloomy and seemed to be a harbinger of rain, and I thought that this trip would be in vain again. But the wife said, maybe God is kind enough to give us a handleless umbrella for our travels! At my wife's insistence, we finally set off.
Turn on the navigation, get on the highway, more than an hour's drive, we arrived at the destination - the ancient city of Weixian County. The end of the navigation prompt is a tall and majestic castle tower, and the brick ticket door opening is inlaid with the four large characters of "Chu Zai Shou Ji". Don't know what? Baidu yi check to learn - "Chu Zhao Shou Ji" comes from the first sentence of the first article of "Erya", "Interpretation of the First Interpretation": "Chu, Zhao, Shou, Ji, Zhao, Zu, Yuan, Fetus, Li, Fall, Quan You: Shi Ye". That is to say, the words or words of chu, zhao, shou, ji, zhao, zu, yuan, fetus, qi, fall, and quan public opinion all mean the beginning. And "ChuZha Shouji" is the beginning of this sentence, which is more beginning, the meaning of pioneering, which means "the first state in western Beijing". Looking back through the door opening, the words "Drum Tower" are also inlaid above the door hole, which is known to be the Drum Tower. It should be located in the very center of the ancient city, which is the landmark of the ancient city. The mottled walls show the vicissitudes of the vicissitudes, as if traveling back to the distant antiquity. The drum tower is surrounded by people, some casually pulling homely, some leisurely walking dogs, and some vendors even piled up brooms at the root of the city wall, as if no one paid attention to the existence of the drum tower, and the life of the people in the ancient city has long been integrated with this ancient city.
Following the signs, heading north through a field of houses, a handsome, majestic ancient building appeared in front of you, and the ancient building stretched a section of the city wall to the east. Buy a ticket to enter the door, in front of you is a large hall, known as the Dragon and Tiger Hall, flanked by corner doors. Passing through the main hall, high above is the Jade Emperor Pavilion. Up the stone steps, the main hall towering on the front is the Jade Emperor Pavilion, the entire attic seat faces north and south, the temple is magnificent, cracked wooden components and faded handwriting all reveal its long history. There are bell towers and drum towers separated from the southeast and southwest, and all the monasteries I have visited have such buildings, which is the so-called morning bell and twilight drum! Ancients Yun: "The morning bell and the twilight drum wake up how many celebrities and celebrities." "The sparse tourists, the vicissitudes of quaint architecture, the solemn atmosphere, even if there is no long morning bell and twilight drum sound, it is also calming." I was preparing to enter the temple to visit, and I climbed the pavilion to overlook, but unfortunately the door of the temple was locked, which was a pity! From the small door on the left side of the Jade Emperor Pavilion, the city wall should be built later, and the real city wall should be like the abandoned earthen wall in the distance, and the former Jinge iron horse was buried in the wasteland. Standing on the city wall, looking west, the Jade Emperor Pavilion is hidden among the tall trees under the city wall, which is magnificent. Lying at the battlements of the city wall, looking north, surrounded by a river, it should be a moat, but it is not as spectacular as stated in the introduction - "the moat outside the city is three meters deep and seven meters wide." In the distance, there are many high-rise buildings, a bridge is built on the moat, and the traffic on the bridge is as if the distant ancient and modern cities are only separated by a wall.
"The pavilion is built in the city and the jade pavilion, and the mountains and rivers reflect the remnants of the sun." Qi Yi's waves were slow, and Qi Mo was busy with farming. This is a poem called "Evening View of the Jade Emperor's Pavilion" carved on a stone stele standing on the city wall, and the picture depicted in the poem is only the Jade Emperor's Pavilion standing on the city wall silently telling its own vicissitudes, the tall buildings have replaced the crisscrossing field paths and vast farmland, and the moat can no longer reflect the remnants of the sun.
It was nearly noon when I walked out of the Jade Emperor Pavilion, and the product was a small snack in Wei County, which was his wife's favorite. Walking around the streets of the ancient city, lined with shops, people coming and going, and the cries of vendors are endless. Soba noodles should be unique to Wei County. We walked into an old shop selling soy sauce and asked for a soba noodle dumpling, a bitter buckwheat dumpling, there were too many people in the store, so we had to pack it up and take it away. We went into an iron pot wood chicken shop again...
It's been a little over a minute since lunch, and the weather is getting more and more gloomy. We planned to go to Nuanquan Ancient Town in the afternoon, but my wife said that she was a little tired, plus the weather, so we had to give up. Even so, our trip can be regarded as a happy ride, satisfied. We set off for home, and just after getting on the highway, it was pouring down a light rain, and I couldn't help but slow down the car. The view from the car window suddenly jumped into view, and the frost-stained leaves on both sides of the road were red, green and yellow, colorful and swaying gently in the breeze. Such a wonderful sight has never been discovered.
Life is like this, sometimes slow down, stop and stay, you will appreciate a different beauty, such as this ancient city, but also like this colorful leaves.
About the Author:
Zhang Guomin, a native of Yangyuan, Hebei Province, is an ordinary teacher who reads and reads in his spare time and codes when his mind is quiet. His works have appeared on various online platforms and newspapers.