Riding the wind of rebirth

"What?!" Li Yijia said smugly, "What do you care what method I use? As long as my answer is correct, that's all that matters!"

“Jiajia, sometimes I really like your confident look.” Zhou Zhi smiled and said, “But Zhao Gou only posthumously granted Huang Tingjian the title of Grand Academician of the Dragon Pavilion, and official positions for his son and grandson, but he did not give him a posthumous title.”

"The posthumous title of Wenjie was conferred by Emperor Duzong of Song."

"Huh? Who is Emperor Duzong of Song?" Li Yijia asked, then glared at Huang Ruishan: "Why didn't you say so earlier!"

"I don't know these details either!" Huang Ruishan said aggrievedly. "I know that Emperor Duzong of Song was the sixth emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, but I didn't know that Huang Tingjian was posthumously honored by him."

"They posthumously honored Huang Tingjian. This emperor seems pretty good, huh?" Mai Xiaomiao said.

"Emperor Duzong of Song?" Zhou Zhi shook his head: "He was a notoriously incompetent emperor who favored the treacherous minister Jia Sidao, causing the loss of the two major defenses of Xiangyang and Fancheng, which officially put the country on the countdown. Then he spent his days indulging in pleasure. Back then, if the emperor had sex with a girl in the palace, the girl would have to go to the palace gate to express her gratitude the next day. As a result, one morning, more than thirty people went to the palace gate to express their gratitude."

"What do you mean?" Mai Xiaomiao stared wide-eyed with her innocent and adorable eyes, completely oblivious.

"Uh, this..."

"Hahahaha..." Li Yijia laughed so hard she was almost going crazy, then hugged Mai Xiaomiao and whispered a few words in her ear.

Mai Xiaomiao's face flushed red instantly: "Pah! What a tyrant!"

The two cars stopped at an orchard with many baskets of pomegranates in front of it. Huili pomegranates are characterized by their rapid growth, early fruiting, and high yield. They generally flower and bear fruit in the third year after planting, and once in their peak fruiting period, a single tree can yield 100 to 200 jin (50-100 kg), with a maximum yield of 600 jin (300-300 kg). They mature 25 days earlier than pomegranates from other regions. The fruit is also large, thin-skinned, brightly colored, with large, soft seeds, a sweet and juicy taste, and is rich in various vitamins and amino acids. During the Tang Dynasty, it was favored by Emperor Xuanzong and designated as a tribute to the imperial court, delivered to the palace by the King of Nanzhao every Mid-Autumn Festival.

This practice continued until the Qing Dynasty, and in 1990, the Asian Games even designated 6,000 carefully selected pomegranates from Huili as a gift for guests from various countries.

However, in terms of production volume, Huili pomegranates cannot compare with Moroccan pomegranates. Moreover, Huili pomegranates have another characteristic: the more unattractive the skin, the better the taste. Therefore, good Huili pomegranates cannot compare with Moroccan pomegranates in terms of appearance.

Academician Liu is currently working hard to hybridize the two types of pomegranates in order to see if he can produce a pomegranate with better genetic traits. This project has already been approved.

Zhou Zhi bought all the baskets from other people, filled a truck with them, and then drove into the city to find the county guesthouse and arrange a room.

The current Huili city is divided into a new district and an old district. The new district is still very small, limited to the county government, a few banks and dormitories, and some shops and restaurants, forming a rudimentary urban area. Its current area is less than a quarter of the old city area.

The guesthouse is right next to the county government building. The prefecture has already made arrangements to provide the best accommodations, but we should not disturb the guests and let them do as they please.

Compared to Li Lao Er, Li Lao San appears less frequently in the news, so most people don't know him well. On the other hand, Xu Anxin, as one of the two strong women in Sichuan, along with Xiao Juan'er, is often reported in the news and has to wear a sun hat and sunglasses for added security.

Although we had been traveling all day, we were exploring as we went, so we weren't tired. We decided to head out since we had two hours before dinner and could also take the opportunity to visit the old town.

Leaving the guesthouse and walking a short distance along the newly built road, a city wall with an archway came into view, displaying authentic Ming Dynasty bricks. Standing at the foot of the wall, touching the dark blue bricks, and looking up at the seven-meter-high wall, a heavy sense of history and its imposing presence washed over us.

This is actually a fortified city, which was expanded and encased on the foundation of the Yuan Dynasty's loess city wall, starting from the 30th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty.

According to the records in the History of Ming Dynasty: Tusi Records and the Records of Huili Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty, the city was completed in the 31st year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty. After being reinforced, the Huili city wall was "23 feet high, 7.3 li in circumference, 11,314 feet long, and 12 feet thick".

The earliest Huili City was a small garrison town, mainly used to protect this important post station on the Southern Silk Road.

By the fifth year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty, Huili City had gradually grown larger, so three more city gates—east, west, and south—were added.

In the fifty-first year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, the four gate towers were rebuilt.

In the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, four barbicans and four east and west artillery forts were added.

In the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, the outer city was expanded and three gates (east, west, and north) and three gate towers were built.

The group, especially Li Laosan, had never seen such authentic ancient city architecture before, and they couldn't help but marvel as they walked along.

Even Zhouzhi, which is used to seeing various imitation ancient buildings in later generations forming "ancient towns", couldn't help but be impressed by Huili Ancient City and was glad that it came in time.

The present-day Huili Ancient City is about two kilometers long from north to south and one kilometer wide from east to west, covering a total area of ​​nearly 250,000 square meters. The inner and outer cities are divided into neighborhoods with a rigorous layout. The main streets of the inner city extend in a cross shape from the Bell and Drum Tower to the four city gates, forming the four main streets: East Street, South Street, West Street, and North Street. This creates a chessboard-like pattern of "three li and three cun through the city, nine li and nine cun around the city," with the north-south central axis as the center.

The ancient city is now basically well preserved. Except for the demolition of the southern city wall and city gate due to the construction of the new district, which resulted in only three of the four gates remaining, the remaining three-quarters of the city wall, along with the East Gate, West Gate, North Gate, and even the old city area and old streets and alleys enclosed by these three-quarters of the city wall, have basically maintained their original appearance.

Zhou Zhi and his party are currently located on the north side of the city. The two characters "Wang Di" on the city gate are written in a vigorous and beautiful style.

Above the city wall is a two-story gate tower. Under the eaves of the second floor hangs a plaque with the three large characters "Gongji Tower" written on it.

Passing through the city gate that allows ten people to walk side by side, you arrive at the inner city gate of the North Gate Tower. In front of you is a square, a common layout in ancient times, usually a place for troop assemblies, called the "North Parade Ground". On the city gate here are the four large characters "Eternal North Star".

"This place has been a vital passage from Sichuan to Yunnan since ancient times, and an important town on the ancient Southern Silk Road, known as the 'key to Sichuan and Yunnan'." Zhou Zhi introduced to everyone: "Before the discovery of iron ore in Dukou City, this was the southernmost important town of the traditional Bashu forces, which deterred the ethnic minority forces on the three sides to the south."

"Beichen means the North Star. The Ziwei Palace, where the North Star is located, represents imperial power. 'Yonggu Beichen' means that although Huili City is located in a remote area, it will always protect the central imperial power."

"The characters '拱级' (Gongji) on the Gongji Tower above also convey this meaning. As for the characters '望帝' (Wangdi) on the other side of the city gate, firstly, it signifies that passing through this gate means entering the territory of the ancient Shu Kingdom. Wangdi refers to Du Yu, one of the kings of the ancient Shu Kingdom. Secondly, climbing the city tower and walking to that side means looking north; the characters '望帝' also imply 'looking north and longing for the emperor.'" (End of Chapter)