Chapter 18 The animal department stays for the sixth week and does not stay for a week

October 29, 2008 at 22:42 Yang Fu, a famous traveler in the Han Dynasty Xiaohe Emperor era, once saw a kind of cattle called Zhouliu when he was traveling in South China.In his travel notes, he described this animal like this: This animal that looks like a cow is very water-loving and likes to soak in water for a long time.Unlike ordinary buffaloes, its fur is blue and blue, and its belly is very large.Compared with it, Zhou Liu's head is very small.Its tail is emerald green and can be used as an ornament on hats or flags.When running, the dust kicked up from the bottom of its feet is purple.

In the grand scene of Chinese history, Zhou Liu appeared three times in total. The Taoist classic "Guan Ling Zhuan" records Zhou Liu's first appearance in detail.It was during the reign of King Wuji of Zhou. Yin Xi, the general guarding the western border of the kingdom, was discussing matters with his staff in the yamen when a strong wind suddenly broke the flagpole at the gate.Yin Xi thought that this must be some kind of omen, so he took out the yarrow and sincerely divination.It turns out that tomorrow there will be a sage who is between gods and men, riding a green bull across the border of the kingdom.

The next day, Yin Xi and his staff gathered on the tower, waiting for the arrival of the sages.Soon, a man riding a blue bull arrived, and the staff members were happy, but they saw that Yin Xi did not change his face.Then a second man on a green bull crossed the border, and then a third.By the time the sun returned to the west, sixteen people had already crossed the border on green bulls.Yin Xi has been sitting quietly. Soon, purple dust appeared in the east.Yin Xi finally got up and went down the tower.The staff were very puzzled.Yin Xi told them that this was a unique sight when Zhou Liu was running.Zhou Liu is a sacred green bull, and the person who rides him must be the prophesied master.Sure enough, when the purple smoke stopped, everyone saw a green bull with a big belly and a radiant look.Niu Shang is an old man.A hundred years later, this person has achieved a positive result, ascended in the daytime, and is called Taishang Laojun.

"Guan Ling Zhuan" stated that Yin Xi worshiped this sage as his teacher at that time, and went to the West with him.But Zhou Liu was left in China.It is said that it has been living somewhere in Wudu County. In the twenty-seventh year of Duke Wen of Qin, a strange tree suddenly grew out of an ancestral hall in Wudu. No one knew what it was.King Wengong felt that this was an ominous omen, so he sent fifty warriors to cut down the tree.Unexpectedly, when the ax fell on the tree, there was a gap in the tree, and when the ax was pulled out of the gap, the tree grew again.The wrestlers cut down for ten days in a row, but they couldn't hurt the strange tree.The leading warrior was afraid that the king would blame him, so he asked the local wizard for advice.Under the guidance of the wizard, the wrestlers all put on maroon clothes, and while cutting down trees, they sprinkled incense ash into the cut.Sure enough, the fracture did not recombine.After cutting like this for a few days, a blue light suddenly shot out from the tree, and a huge cow ran out along the light, dived into the nearby river and disappeared.Only then did everyone know that this strange tree was the incarnation of Zhou Liu.

The third time Zhou Liu appeared was in the Jin Dynasty.A cow raised by a farmer in Fuyang County, Hexi Province suddenly glowed blue.The next day, the child in charge of herding cattle fell ill and died.The family believed that the cow that suddenly appeared abnormal killed their son, so they killed the cow cruelly, and invited relatives and friends to enjoy the beef together.Horribly, all the people who participated in the beef dinner vomited blood and died the next day.No one knew what the reason was, only that the chests of each of them were glowing with blue light.Zaifu, a Taoist scholar who recorded this incident, pointed out that the green bull was actually the sacred Zhouliu.These people were killed because they offended the bull.

After that, Zhou Liu never appeared again.The only record related to it comes from an academic work "Five Classics Gou Shen" by Yang Fang, a Confucian scholar.When discussing the various variables in the Book of Changes, Yang Fang recorded the various divination methods he had seen or heard.He mentioned that in the southeast coastal area, some ethnic minorities judged the crime by knocking on the bones of cattle and listening to the sound.The local people said that after their priests prayed sincerely, they could hear the blue-colored ox bone tell them the truth of the matter.