Chapter 20 The twentieth round

The purpose of the Empress Dowager's visit to the East this time was to focus on visiting the historically related attractions inside and outside Tiancheng, and it really had no political effect at all; therefore, after visiting the Fox Immortal Pagoda, Yi decided to go to the court of the Qing Dynasty. The rulers of the past dynasties in the Guan Dynasty often practiced bow and horse shooting and walked around there.The location of Shewei is about the northwest of Fengtian City. It is a long way from the official courtyard in Shengjing, and it takes a lot of time to go there in a sedan chair.Its area is very vast, about a radius of one or twenty miles.Half of it is forest, and most of the trees in the forest are tall evergreen and broad-leaved trees, so the shade is extremely dense.In the mountains around Fengtian, such large forests are not uncommon, and can be seen almost everywhere; unlike in the provinces of the Central Plains, all the larger trees are cut down for fuel, and no forest can be gathered again.

The history of this school is indeed very long!Before the power of the Chinese nation in this part of Manchuria became strong—that is, it existed very important when China was not unified, and it was just a tribe in a remote border.Therefore, there are many commemorative deeds that happened in this area; or are quite related to it, and they all belong to the category of glory.When we were in Beijing, we often heard people talking about it; therefore, as soon as everyone heard the Queen Mother mentioning Shewei, they immediately became excited. Encouraged, I wish I could go right away.I'm extra energetic, because I still want to try the Queen Mother to see how much Yi knows about the history of our own tribe?

But there is one thing that is very surprising: Lafayette really knows very little about Manchu, so little that it can be said to be completely ignorant. ——I have never learned it, but my father's Manchu is very good. ——Although four or five people in the palace are assigned to learn Manchu as a rule, so that this kind of script will not be lost for a long time, the Queen Mother herself never pays attention to it; it is the official documents of the court. , although part of it is used in both Chinese and Manchu, but when the Empress Dowager reviews it, she always reads only Chinese and not Manchu.Wei Yi's knowledge of Manchu is so superficial, but Yi pays great attention to the history of the birth of the Manchurians and knows a lot. I think this is very surprising!To understand the whole story, the only way to know is to ask Yi himself.

But for our visit today, in addition to random sightseeing, we have to hold a specific ceremony: fortunately, this ceremony is very simple, and there is no need to practice beforehand. When we are about to arrive, the Queen Mother will give us Liao Liao reported a few words. "Today is the most suitable and interesting day for us to go to Shepu!" Yi said solemnly as usual: "We will use this to hold a ceremony to commemorate our ancestors. Because it's just on this day In the past, we had an ancestor who was only the leader of a tribe at that time, not an emperor, but the struggle between tribes was common as usual; this time, the struggle happened again. The situation was very unfavorable, and even the food was cut off. On this day, they had to distribute some of the remaining cold food to everyone as much as possible, but it was too little, so that they could not cure their hunger, so they had no choice but to take food. A lot of wild lettuce, sandwiched with cold rice, barely swallowed, and stuffed the stomach. This is a general situation. If you want to know the details, you’d better stay in the shepherd and talk about it! Because the place where this story happened , is also a forest, a forest as thick and deep as the woods in the shooting garden!"

At this time, standing in front of Yi and listening was still a group of close officials who followed Yi all day long, including Guangxu, Longyu, Concubine Jin, and our eight female officials.Yi's eyes obviously flashed with a kind of smug brilliance: part of the reason may be that Yi thought that Yi himself was also a leader of the Manchurians, so when Yi mentioned the bravery and hard work of the previous group of leaders, he immediately I became very excited; the other half of the reason may be that Yi thought that there would be a new ceremony today, and that Yi herself would lead us to hold it together, so she felt very happy.Or if this conjecture is correct, I can't help feeling surprised by the Empress Dowager. Could it be that there are many disgusting etiquettes or ceremonies surrounding her at every turn during her life under imperial confinement for decades, even when she was sleeping, He couldn't get out of this encirclement, yet hadn't Yi felt bored until now?Yi Ke said that he was playing tricks on himself, restraining himself, and not letting himself have the freedom to act freely. From early morning to night, there was hardly a minute that he was not under the control of those red tapes. It is full of commemoration, and it cannot be regarded as a pure tour. The difference is that all the etiquette of today will no longer be performed in the palace, but will be performed in another venue!Although this site has a very close relationship with our ancestors, it is completely unfamiliar to us.

After a lot of time on the road, our large group of people arrived in front of the vast shooting garden. After entering the gate, following the Queen Mother's idea, we walked directly to a palace.The construction of this palace is obviously a long time ago, at least to a certain extent, it must be decades or hundreds of years earlier than those palaces in Shengjing.Fortunately, people were sent to take care of it on weekdays, so it hasn't collapsed yet; and before the Empress Dowager came to Fengtian, the government building here must have sent people to repair it again, otherwise it would never be so neat and clean!This palace is really just a lounge. Whenever a Manchurian emperor comes here to shoot and hunt, he must come in and sit in this palace for a while, so that the people who serve him outside can detain those who are imprisoned. Let out the wild beast, and then come to inform him to go out and chase.When you are tired from playing, you will retreat to rest.But each time the delay is always very short, and no leader has ever lived here overnight, so the area of ​​this palace is relatively small compared to ordinary palaces, with only three rooms in it, and the building is also very simple.

But don't underestimate this simple palace!It really occupies an important position in the history of the birth of the Manchurians!The Empress Dowager also regards it as an ancient relic with great commemorative value.After we walked in, Yi immediately pointed out all the arrangements and decorations to us one by one, and spoke very fluently and thoughtfully, as if before this time, Yi had been here several times In fact, Yizheng and us are generally visiting for the first time!It's a pity that at this time there is no one who is really familiar with the history of our family. If there were, it would not be difficult to immediately distinguish the truth of the Queen Mother's words.However, although I can't vouch for Yi whether the story about Shepu is true or not, Yi's knowledge is sometimes frighteningly wide, and many of them are true facts, which cannot be erased!Yi himself often prides himself on his extensive knowledge, and whenever Yi tells us some extraordinary stories, Yi often tells us extravagantly, lest he can't stir us up.This kind of attitude is actually a manifestation of women's vanity, but Yi herself has never felt it!

Inside this palace, each wall is painted with a large story painting with various colors of paint.Although their colors have become very dim due to the passage of time, and the painter's brushwork is also very crude; but the outlines are not blurred, and the posture and expression of the people in the painting can still be expressed to seven or eight out of ten. .This mural is found in all three rooms.As the Empress Dowager led us along, she explained these paintings to us. It turned out that they were all portraits of various leaders of Manchuria in the past. "In the past, martial arts was very important! As a leader, besides handling all the government affairs of the court, shooting and hunting is also an important job that cannot be lazy. It is necessary to hold it from time to time."The Queen Mother is praising Zuwu again.As usual, a group of us listened attentively. "When he was hunting, he brought a lot of people with him, because we Manchus never hunted without hunting dogs, so we had to bring a few more people to help him search for wild animals. These wild animals—mostly tigers and leopards— They were pre-caught, raised in large cages, and released temporarily.

"Because this shooting garden is far away from the city, the emperors have ridden very hard all the way out of the city, so they must first rest on this palace when they come in; His attendants were busy grooming his horses, tightening his bowstrings, and polishing all the arrowheads one by one. In addition, the sword that the emperor carried with him also had to be sharpened and honed to keep it in its best condition. Sharp constant, in case it is needed, it will not fail. "You have to know that the situation at that time was absolutely different from what it is now. Manchurians were all brave and sturdy, strong and resistant to war, and the most important thing was the spirit of martial arts; so a leader who wants to rule his people must also He cannot rely entirely on empty words or ingenious means, but must have a pair of strong muscles and bones, be able to master martial arts, and win the battlefield. At least, he must not be more cowardly than any of his people; in other words, he must at least He is as strong and brave as his people. In order to prove his own qualifications, he cannot use shooting as a proof. Therefore, no matter how fierce tiger or leopard he sees, he cannot half Otherwise, those who accompanied him on the hunt would have to laugh at each other. This is only a test of his courage, not enough to show the proficiency of his bow and horse. To test his bow and horse A weasel is the most suitable test subject, for although a weasel is weak, its feet are extremely strong, it can run faster than anything else, and its body is very agile, unless a person who is good at archery Don't even think about shooting it. If there is an emperor who can often hunt weasels, his reputation for being good at shooting will not be difficult to be praised by the whole country! As for the use of the sword, it is different. It is always prepared and not used. Only those leaders with extremely high courage and excellent martial arts, in order to make his people sincerely fear him, deliberately gave up their bows and arrows, and galloped over to fight a tiger or a leopard within five steps. Let's try to show off his swordsmanship, but this kind of situation is rare after all!"

The Empress Dowager's above few verses only give us an overview of the hunting activities of the emperors, and the reasons why they often hunt; as for the detailed program of how to complete a regular hunting, Yi has not mentioned it yet.We couldn't help but look very anxious, so Yi went to the main text. "After the emperors rested in this palace for a while, their spirits were completely full, and his servants also prepared all the bows and horses for use at the same time, so he stood up and stood up. Fufu quickly got on his horse and galloped straight into the open field. At this moment, those who were in charge of tigers and leopards had gotten a hint, so they opened the wooden cage to let the beast rush out; at the same time, many people , screaming loudly next to it, or provoking it with a long birch halberd, it must be frightened or aroused. These beasts must first flee into the woods desperately. , those people—all wearing very bright hunting clothes and carrying complete weapons.—then drove in separately and drove it out of the forest. But they did not directly fight the beast, but used burning fire to fight it. The firecrackers were thrown in, and the ping-pong-pong disturbed the wild beasts not daring to take shelter in the woods, so they bravely jumped out of the woods, and happened to be on the side of the emperor waiting; in this way, three arrows hit the emperor's bow in succession. After shooting, if the three arrows can hit back and forth several times, the beast is doomed, and the emperor's arrow technique will win the reputation of proficiency from now on! If only one of the three arrows hits An arrow or two is also very good; for the arrows from the stiffer bows can often kill a tiger or leopard with only one arrow; When three arrows still fail to kill it, then the emperor has to ignore all dangers, draw his sword, rush forward, make sure to kill it, and then rest his hands."

Speaking of which, in order to convince us that what Yi said was not false, the Queen Mother casually pointed out a few hard evidences.There were many weapons hanging in a large cupboard.This cupboard has no door, and it is located in a very sunny position. We can see it very clearly from the outside: most of the swords and arrows are rusted, and the bow strings are also rotten, but on everything, There are very eye-catching handwriting, for example: "So-and-so (the leader's name) used this sword to kill a tiger on a certain day of the year"; or "So-and-so used this bow on a certain day Arrow catches a leopard"; but it's all in Manchu, and we can't understand it logically. Fortunately, a female official who is familiar with this language can translate it for us, so we can fully understand it.The Empress Dowager also paid great attention to the words and sentences translated by this man, and she had an air of complacency; it turns out that Yi just guessed at random at first, thinking that the reason why these weapons were carefully packed away was nothing more than a commendation of the ancestors' martial arts. It meant a little bit, so he was busy pointing it out to us, but he didn't know that Yi's guess was completely correct. Of course, Yi is very proud of it! In a room on the left, I found another strange thing: they were two iron rings that had rusted ugly, and the diameter of the rings was probably larger than the wrists of the fattest people; This ring, by two disconnected cords, was hung from the beam of the roof at the shoulder height of a man of average height.The two ropes must have been very strong and solid in the past, but now they are moldy, as if they can be broken immediately with a slight pull of the hand.The distance between them is about one foot, but it’s okay to make them wider or narrower; because they don’t need anything to tie them down, they just hang in the air.I looked at them for a long time, but I really couldn't figure out whether they were decorations or utensils; if they were utensils, what are they for?Later, I couldn't bear it anymore, so I asked the Queen Mother respectfully. Yi smiled proudly at me first, and during this smile, it was obvious that Yi had a real understanding of this strange thing because of reading more books or listening to people talking about it; Standing attentively, he was ready to accept Yi's great teaching. "Of course this thing has its uses!" Yi's first sentence finally showed me that it was a tool, not an ornament. "But to explain its usefulness, you have to go to the back and take a look!" As she spoke, Yi waved to the person who was in charge of the shooting garden—an official—and the man quickly took a few steps, approached the back door, and removed the bolt on the door with his hand. , pushing the two doors open at the same time, and he stepped back sideways by himself.Before our eyes, a rectangular open space emerged, and the end of it was thirty or forty feet away from where we were standing.On the opposite side is a very tall and huge stone wall, with a few forests planted on both sides, and there are a few small houses, which must be the houses of the people who take care of the garden.In the middle is a five or six zhang wide corridor that is not paved with stones; it must have been very flat before, but now there are a lot of weeds growing.From a distance of more than ten feet away, there are many bamboo poles standing upright: the tallest is taller than a person's belt, and the lowest is only half a foot from the ground.And the thickness of these bamboo poles is also different...the thickest one is thicker than a human arm, while the thinnest one is only as big as a thumb.Their styles are even more peculiar to the extreme: some are straight, some are curved, some are sharpened at the top, and some have a circle.Their distances are also not uniform, starting from a distance of about ten feet, to the end of the white wall, there are both far and near.We looked at it, and it was simply inexplicable. Everyone just stared blankly, and they didn't know where to start if they wanted to ask! "This is the way of archery! Those erected bamboo poles are the targets of those who practice archery." So the Queen Mother explained to us automatically. "Emperors of all dynasties and their courtiers who accompanied them on hunting had to come here to practice frequently. Each of them took turns shooting three arrows each time; All three arrows can be shot. Probably among these bamboo poles, the ones that are far away, those that are too high, too short, or that are bent are more difficult to shoot; you must first start with the ones that are near, straight, and neither high nor low. Practice from easy to difficult, and gradually improve. When you practice until you can shoot three arrows in a row regardless of which bamboo pole, this person's archery skills have reached the peak; Excellent! And his reputation will surely spread throughout the country and be admired by people." We didn't go up the arrow path, but just stood by the door and watched endlessly, and the two iron rings hanging with ropes behind us were probably only three or four steps away from the two doors. position, facing the center of the door frame; the Empress Dowager turned around, pointed to the two iron rings and said: "This is specially prepared for those who are beginners in archery! Because it is required to have an accurate direction for the arrow to be shot, the first thing is to pay attention to the posture of archery; and to pay attention to the posture of archery, you must first pay attention to the posture of the two arms. The position should neither be too high nor too low, that is, the bow must be lifted just right. Although the words are very simple, it is really difficult to learn, and it is not something the teachers can teach verbally. Work hard on your own; if you want to work hard, these two hanging hoops are an excellent paving aid! Everyone who learns bow and arrow can't hope to make progress without relying on them! The reason is that people's shoulders are very easy. When moving, when raising the bow, it is often too high, too low, or sideways, and cannot always maintain the proper position, so I used these two iron rings to model him at the beginning of the study, and first put the two hands out of the iron rings. Passing through, it happened that his shoulders were lifted by the iron ring. At the same time, the person who was guiding at the side considered the length of his body, and either pulled up or lowered the two ropes tied with the rings. It is to get it just right, and then give him the bow and arrow, and let him learn it time and time again under the restraint of these two iron rings. The arrow will pass through the back door and fall on the arrow path; At first, it was just random shooting aimlessly, but I just wanted his posture to be accurate. After a long time, his posture has become natural from habit due to being bound by the iron ring for a long time. Tie Huan, take up the archery path and concentrate on learning how to shoot with a target. You probably never thought that learning archery would take such hard work!" This is another new lesson that we have never heard before!I really can't help secretly admiring the Queen Mother for being so well-informed!Later, Yi herself told me that the reason why Yi was able to acquire the scattered and mixed knowledge was because of reading more books, which shows that reading books is the best habit. Then we went back to a small toilet in the middle, and the queen mother was about to return to her seat to rest; suddenly, she saw a very vivid wooden horse standing upright in a dimly lit corner.Its size and height are the same as that of a real live horse. Its four legs are deeply planted under the bricks and soil, and on its back, there is also a neat saddle with numerous nails nailed to it. Shiny Metal Hatpin. ——Maybe it was also a nailed gem in the past, and it was replaced later. ——Yi seemed very surprised at first, so she hurried over to examine it carefully, and nodded her head slowly, indicating that Yi had comprehended it; not pay attention to.So the Empress Dowager started talking again. "The most indispensable skills for a hunter are archery and riding. We have just seen the learning of archery; now, this wooden horse is specially used for practicing riding! Because riding The most important and difficult thing to learn is the quickness and agility of getting on a horse. For example, when we meet a wild animal and shoot it with one or two arrows, it falls to the ground as if it is already dead. We had to gallop over to have a look, but it was still lying still, so we always thought that we could dismount to skin it or tie it up and take it away; unexpectedly, after dismounting, it jumped up again. At this time, we must not use the most proficient agility to jump on the horse, otherwise we will fall into its tricks and die. Therefore, many of our past leaders often come here to use this wooden horse to practice the agility of the horse ;Often the continuous practice lasts for about an hour, and the body is sweating profusely before being willing to take a rest.” This is another extremely rare piece of specialized knowledge. After listening to it, we all found it very interesting. Countless eyes focused on the wooden horse that had accumulated dust for a long time and was cleaned carelessly today, and the Queen Mother was especially special. I am proud of myself. Comparing the hard and brave life of the ancients with the life in the palace today, I really don't know how much difference there is.It is almost impossible for us to believe that the former rulers of Manchuria could really fight so hard!In fact, some are not fake!Not only the leaders, but all the royal relatives, ministers and servants in the palace, it can be said that none of them have not been tempered in this kind of life every day; up to now, the luxurious middle-earth life for hundreds of years , has completely softened us. At that time, we had visited all the three small palaces, and we were still led by the Queen Mother, and walked to the square outside.In this square, there used to be people almost every day who used his courage and courage to fight with those sharp-clawed beasts; now, it has become a useless wasteland.However, the forest on the west side of the courtyard became more lush and lush; tall tree shadows were shaking on the ground, and we almost suspected that some wild beast would rush out of it.The queen mother raised her head, looked around casually for a while, and seemed to sigh with emotion. Before we decided to come here, the Empress Dowager gave a rough account of the commemorative history of this day in the palace courtyard of Shengjing, and she also allowed us to tell the detailed situation after seeing a forest here. We; now we have reached the front of this forest, so Yi's appointment has also been fulfilled!Yi said: "Hundreds of years ago, we Manchurians were still a small tribe! But at that time, a leader had great courage and brave spirit. He couldn't be satisfied with the life of a chief, so he He carefully planned to annex many nearby tribes to form a strong and prosperous country. He worked hard on his own and made active preparations; then he saw that the time had come, and he suddenly launched it. But those nearby tribes were willing to bow their heads for a while; thus, a fierce war began. The blood and heads of the warriors were constantly shed and sacrificed on the battlefield; and every victory always belonged to us, seeing us The land has been gradually expanded, and the power has gradually expanded. Unexpectedly, during a certain expedition, this leader who was accustomed to fighting was caught by the enemy's tricks, causing him and a small number of soldiers to be besieged in the In such a forest, the situation is indeed extremely dangerous. Rescue soldiers do not know when they will arrive, and the enemy's encirclement is increasing layer by layer, but he is not afraid at all, and he is never ready to give in; he is determined to continue He struggled so hard that the last soldier left still had to fight. But by this day, his food was almost gone, and everyone could only eat the leftover cold rice with some wild vegetables. The next day, he was finally saved. In order to commemorate the bravery, hard work and indomitable spirit of our ancestors, each generation of rulers must hold a special ceremony on this day; this ceremony is very simple. Just eat some cold rice rolled with uncooked Shandong jelly vegetables!" As she said that, Yi made a gesture to Li Lianying, and Li Lianying sent a group of young eunuchs to fetch several large food boxes before she was too busy.Originally, it was time for lunch at this time, so I knew that there would be a strange smell in today's lunch.But we don't really eat cold food. The Queen Mother explained to us: "However, this is a ritual after all. What we mean is to remember Zude; so a long time ago, we decided to make a workaround. Instead of using cold rice, we used cold food as a kind of ritual." substitute." So we were all busy to see what was in the food box.After opening it, it turns out that there are several dishes of Shandong lettuce that have been washed but never cooked. Their leaves are very large, and the color is very white and tender. The taste is unmistakable!There were also several plates of pate.The queen mother was the first to pick up a leaf of lettuce, and then ordered Zhang De to bring up the meat sauce, and let Yi pick some up, put it on the dish, rolled it into a cylindrical roll with her fingers, and slowly chewing.We were all envious, and when Yi said, "Eat it too", we hurriedly started to chew it with our mouths open before it was too late.what!It tastes really good!The lettuce is fat and tender, and the meat sauce is more fresh than any kind of meat sauce because of the mixture of chicken and pigeon meat. In addition, we have been busy playing for so long since early in the morning. Wandering in the fresh air, my appetite is unbelievably wide open, so I feel that the taste of this cold meal is really indescribably delicious! On this day, I finally returned home with the same satisfaction as playing at the Fox Immortal Tower yesterday. For the Queen Mother herself, there are very few such interesting holidays; for us, it is even more rare, especially because Elder Yi is so happy. With a smile on our face, we feel that life is much easier!