Forgive me for using "stinky puddles" to describe the Xiaoyi waterlogged pond of The Cultural Protection Unit of Shaanxi Province, which is called "a must in Weinan Province".
Because it has really become a "stinky puddle".
During the "May Day" period, Huang Xiaohuang once again went to Pucheng in Weinan and remembered that Xiaoyi Town, a famous qin merchant town in Shaanxi history, was only an hour's drive from Pucheng County, so he went to look for it against the sun.
Xiaoyi Town is located on the banks of the Wei River, in the west of Shayuan, and now belongs to the Linwei District of Weinan City. In ancient times, it belonged to Chaoyi County (present-day Dali, Weinan), a shang town famous for its wealthy merchants and giants, "Gai Province Caidong".
In the Qing Dynasty novel "Records of the Present Form of the Officialdom", it was written: "There is a Chaoyi County in Shaanxi, there is a Xiaoyi Town in Chaoyi County, and the Zhao family is a rich household in the town..." This Zhao family is based on the Xiaoyi Zhao family.
Originally from Shanxi, the Zhao family moved from Hongdong County under the big locust tree in the early Ming Dynasty to Chaoyi Wangxiangguan in Shaanxi Province, and later moved to Xiaoyi Town in Weinan. In the Ming Dynasty, it began as a "salt merchant", and by the Qing Dynasty, commercial trade expanded to cloth shops, tea houses, grain stores and pawns, and became a prominent commercial family like the Dangjia er surname in Dangjia Village in Hancheng. Legend has it that the dart team that transported silver to the Zhao family had already entered the Zhao family gate in the front, and the back was still on the Weihe River beach, lined up seven or eight miles long, just like a "milky way", surging into the Zhao family gate.
In Xiaoyi, along with the Zhao family, there are also yan, Liu, and Zhan families, and call the four "Gai Province Caidong", leaving a proverb in Weibei such as "the silver of filial piety, the mosquito of Chishui", which means that the silver of Xiaoyi is as much as the mosquitoes of Chishui (another town in Linwei).
Among these four major families, the Yan family is worth mentioning. In Chengdu, there is a "Benyuan Library", known as "Chengdu Tianyi Pavilion" and "Chengdu Culture's Century-old Business Card", famous at home and abroad for its strange books, exquisitely carved rare books, and orphan books, which were built by Yan Yanfeng, a descendant of the Xiaoyi Yan family, and Yan Gusun's father and son.
On the Internet, Huang Xiaohuang also saw such an introduction:
"The wooden carvings and stone carvings of the houses and mansions in the ancient town are exquisite, and many places are still preserved to this day. Famous ancient buildings in the jurisdiction include the carved stone pillar stone waterlogging pond built during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, which can be called "a must in Weinan". ”
Just rush this long history, full of stories, just rush this sentence "still retain many ancient buildings", there is a "carved stone pillar stone waterlogging pond", "Xiaoyi Town" These three words have already taken root in the heart, and they must go.
However, when I navigated the "Xiaoyi Waterlogged Pond", from Pucheng County to the expressway, took the national highway, and then transferred to Xiaoyi Road and Guanyou Road to Xiaoyi Town, standing next to the famous "Xiaoyi Waterlogged Pond", I was shocked.
I thought it might be as dilapidated as it used to be, but I didn't think it had fallen to this point.
In front of you is a square pond, located in the middle of the town.
There was also shallow water inside, and the surface was covered with a gray-green turbid substance. At the bottom of the exposed, dense grass grew on the silt. In the grass, there was some garbage scattered.
Under the hot and spicy sun, there were actually a few frogs from the bottom of the pool.
If it were not for the carved stone railings around the pond, if it were not for the small wall in front of the pond with a warning sign of "Protecting Cultural Heritage" on the wall, if I had not known in advance that There was a waterlogged pond in Xiaoyi, I might have only frowned at this "stinky pond" and would not have stayed long.
Waterlogged ponds are reservoirs dug in the arid areas of the north on the side of the road and in villages, which can be used for water for people and livestock. In the past, most villages in the north had waterlogged ponds in the middle, usually mud pits, and it was very rare to use stone to repair the pond walls like Xiaoyi Town, surrounded by carved railings, and build illuminated walls.
This waterlogged pond was probably built between the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods of the Qing Dynasty. During the period of xiaoyi's commercial prosperity, the waterlogged pond was called "Heavenly Spring", and the legend said that there was a spring in the middle, which led directly to the sea, and there was a golden toad living inside, absorbing endless wealth for the ancient town. At that time, the waterlogged pond was clear and the fish were swimming leisurely. At that time, the ancient town had a three-mile long street and a north-south alley, with many shops and rich merchants.
In the book "Li Gang Talks about Shaanxi Shang", the author Li Gang said that Xiaoyi is located at the junction of Wei, Hua, and Tong (Zhou), and there is a Wei River waterway in the north, and the post road from Weinan to Tongzhou in the early Qing Dynasty also passes through here, and the convenience of geographical transportation has brought commercial prosperity to Xiaoyi Town.
"At that time, the Three Jins coal salt from the east, the Bashu tobacco tea from the west, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang seafood from the south, and the grain, cotton, peach, apricot and special mountain goods from Weibei were all distributed here."
"There are dozens of warehouses, flower (cotton) shops, and grain stores in the town, and there are dozens of hotels, restaurants, and restaurants, and there are well-known large shops such as "Demaoyuan", "Wanyuanchang", "Jiyi Association", "ZhaoJia Sugar Factory", etc. they are all front and back shops, and they produce and sell pickles, assorted sugar, hemp slices, sandwich white sugar bars, walnut candy, onion and hemp rolling, dense plate sugar, watercress candy, sugar blowing, oil tankers, etc. are sold inside and outside the province. ”
There are also the mansions of rich merchants such as the Zhao, Yan, Liu, and Zhan families. It is said that the Zhao family once built nine mansions in Xiaoyi Town, which was extraordinary. The Zhao family loves to watch dramas, and the stage in the courtyard alone has seven rooms wide.
The Zhao family also built a large ancestral tomb, stone lions, stone beasts are distributed left and right, when repairing the tomb foundation, the powder of stone pieces carved by stonemasons pays for labor, one or two powders and one or two silver...
Today, however, none of this seems to be anywhere in sight.
Today, Xiaoyi Town has become an authentic agricultural town, surrounded by vast orchards, and the center of the town is like other towns, with modern buildings densely distributed on several streets and alleys.
Just around the waterlogged pond, there are some old-fashioned brick and wood paved houses, faded vermilion doors, black tiles, gables, etc., still have some ancient charm.
There is a "repair department", the house is tall and the most conspicuous, and the signboard has the word "East Street".
On the edge of the waterlogged pond, there is also a mash shop of "five generations of ancestors of the Zhang family", the sign is "Xiaoyi waterlogging pond shore yellow wine mash", a two-story new-style small building, a large red character on a white background, vaguely revealing the appearance of "there is a story".
Because the sun was so big that there was no place for people to hide, Huang Xiaohuang did not stay in the town for too long, just turned around the waterlogged pond a few times, took a few photos and left. Maybe there are other monuments in Xiaoyi Ancient Town that I have not seen, and people in the know are welcome to come and supplement it.
Huang Xiaohuang walks shaanxi: discover the scenery around you, and travel through those mountains and rivers and years together!