Riding the wind of rebirth

Unfortunately, Zhuge Zhan was too incompetent. After reaching Fu County, he hesitated to advance. Huang Chong advised him to seize the key roads and not let Deng's army advance into the plains, but he simply did not listen. This caused Huang Chong to weep bitterly and also caused the vanguard to be easily lost. Deng Ai then drove straight in and arrived here.

However, this man was extremely principled. When Deng Ai sent someone to persuade him to surrender, he claimed that as long as he surrendered, he would be granted the title of King of Langya. Zhuge Zhan was furious and rebuked the envoy, killing him. Then he led his army to fight a decisive battle with Deng Ai.

Deng Ai first sent his son Deng Zhong as the left army and Shi Zuan as the right army to attack the Shu army, but both were defeated and returned, claiming that the Shu army was difficult to defeat. Deng Ai was furious and wanted to behead the two, saying: "Life and death depend on this battle. You can only fight if you can, you cannot be difficult to defeat!" He ordered the two to fight to the death to atone for their crimes.

At that time, the ancient road of Jinniu was filled with the sounds of battle, rivers of blood, and corpses strewn across the land. Most of the Shu soldiers died for their country, and this blood-stained ancient road has retained the name "Daowan" for thousands of years because of the continuous fall of Shu soldiers.

In that battle, Zhuge Zhan, Zhang Zun, and others all died. Zhuge Zhan's eldest son, Zhuge Shang, was in the rear army. Upon hearing of the defeat, he sighed and said, "My son and I have received so much favor from the country, yet we have failed to eliminate Huang Hao from within and defend against powerful enemies from without. How can we face living on?" He turned back and charged into battle, where he died.

"The Chinese people are quite tolerant of historical figures who lacked talent but possessed great integrity," Zhou Zhi said. "That's why Luo Guanzhong, in *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, described this battle as follows: 'Heaven intends to destroy the Liu family, the Han dynasty's empire ends here. Zhuge Liang's descendants all died for him, the ministers of Chengdu were all filled with sorrow. Though his wisdom could not save the endangered ruler, his loyalty and righteousness truly made him worthy of following in the footsteps of Zhuge Liang. How many tears have been shed throughout history, travelers mourning and weeping at his grave.'"

"Later on, this place gained the reputation of being a land of loyal ministers, filial sons, and moral principles."

Having arrived here, the tour has come to an end. The smoke and fire of war on the ancient battlefield have long since dissipated, leaving only evergreen pines and cypresses, moss-covered ancient roads, and the sounds of birds and insects along the way. With Zhou Zhi's explanations, the four-kilometer round trip was completed without us even realizing it.

On the way back, everyone stopped again in Luojiang to buy local specialties.

The local specialty is bean chicken, which originally came from sesame oil bean curd sheets. During the Guangxu era, there was a man named Yuan Tongru who had become a monk at Luohan Temple in his early years. He traveled around the world with his master and learned how to cook various vegetarian dishes in the temple. After returning to secular life, Yuan Tongru used beans given to him by his landlord to make very thin bean curd sheets according to the recipe for sesame oil bean curd sheets. After cooking them with spices such as sesame oil and chili, he rolled them up, achieving a bean curd sheet with a texture and aroma similar to chicken skin. It was very well received, so he named it "vegetarian chicken" and made it his brand.

"Where are you taking us, Zhouzi?" After buying the fighting cocks, Zhou Zhi drove around the small town of Luojiang, which made his cousin Anxin feel strange.

“Find someone, and find his father as well.” Zhou Zhi said mysteriously, “That person is a genius from Sichuan. I grew up reading his stories.”

"Who is it? Luo Jiang's?"

"Yes, Li Diaoyuan, have you heard of him?"

"No. Is this person famous?"

"We've arrived!" The county town is very small. We hadn't driven far from Zhouzhi when we came to a red building. At the entrance was a stone sculpture of four human heads, more than 30 meters high and 70 meters long. Below the sculpture were the six characters "Li Diaoyuan Memorial Hall".

"Elbow, you seem to be a fan of celebrities," Li Laosan chuckled. "Is this Li Diaoyuan one of the Four Heavenly Kings?"

“He’s not one of the Four Heavenly Kings, but he’s one of the ‘Three Talented Scholars of Sichuan’ that were praised over three hundred years in the Qing Dynasty.” Zhou Zhi said, “I’m familiar with him mainly because my introduction to classical Chinese studies started with matching couplets. My godfather gave me a book called ‘The Story of Li Diaoyuan’s Couplets,’ which tells the story of this young talent, and that’s how I first developed an interest in classical Chinese studies.” “A young talent? Like you?” Mai Xiaomiao turned her head and asked.

Zhou Zhi's face turned genuinely red: "Xiao Miao, you're insulting me like that. Compared to this person, my talent isn't even worthy of carrying his shoes."

"Li Diaoyuan was born into a scholarly family. At the age of five, he began to study classics such as the Four Books and Erya under the strict guidance of his father. Because of his extraordinary memory, he could remember most of the books he read. By the age of seven, he could compose poems in antithetical couplets."

"His first poem was 'Raindrops on the Paulownia Tree,' written when he was seven years old: 'Floating clouds come from ten thousand miles away, rain falls outside the window. It drips on the paulownia tree, each high and low singing its own song.' It was copied and circulated in the village for a time, and he was hailed as a 'child prodigy.'"

“His father once pointed to a spider weaving a web on the eaves and asked him to compose a couplet: ‘A spider with a web cannot catch a sparrow.’ At that time, Xiao Li Diaoyuan casually replied: ‘An earthworm without scales wants to transform into a dragon.’ The couplet was perfectly matched, which shows his quick wit.”

"His father was overjoyed and then presented him with another couplet: 'Cao Zijian composes a poem in seven steps.' Li Diaoyuan looked troubled and said, 'Li Diaoyuan has no matching line for the moment.' His father said, 'If you can't match it, you'll have to use the ruler.' Li Diaoyuan said, 'I've already given you the matching line!' His father said, 'Then say it!' Li Diaoyuan said, 'I've already said it! The matching line is 'Li Diaoyuan has no matching line for the moment!'"

"Hahahaha..." Li Laosan laughed, "This is the story you read when you were a kid? It's really interesting! Do you still have the book? If you do, keep it for our Tiedan."

“They must have them in the memorial hall, let’s go in and buy them,” Zhou Zhi said.

The Li Diaoyuan Memorial Hall is a newly built building, only a few years old. At the entrance is a statue carved by Luo Ping, a stone carving artist from Jingyang, who is also the creator of the stone carving park that everyone saw yesterday, for the father of Li Diaoyuan and his brothers.

“This family is quite accomplished in their studies; four members of the father and sons became Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), and three brothers became Hanlin scholars.” Zhou Zhi said to the huge stone statue, “This is Li Huanan, the father of Li Diaoyuan, and his three brothers, Li Diaoyuan, Li Dingyuan, and Li Jiyuan.”

Although it is a newly built memorial hall, the memorial hall is actually just the outer area. The core is a small mountain called "Yujing Mountain", which can be seen from afar across Lutou Mountain, where Baima Pass is located.

There is a Taoist temple on the mountain. It was first built during the Shenlong era of Empress Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty and was called Baoming Temple. In the Song Dynasty, it was converted into a Taoist temple and renamed Jingle Palace.

After its renovation in 1990, the site was converted into the Li Diaoyuan Memorial Hall and became a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit in Jingyang City.

In addition to the ancient palaces and temples and the Taiping Ancient Bridge, which are open to tourists, the museum also displays calligraphy and paintings about Li Diaoyuan by literati and artists from various dynasties.

As everyone ascended the stone steps, Zhouzi laughed and said, "Jingle Palace was rebuilt during the Qianlong era by two Taoist priests. The old Taoist priest was named Tan Zhizheng, and his disciple Liu Xujing. Liu Xujing was also a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) with a high level of education. He was a close friend of Li Diaoyuan. Whenever Li Diaoyuan had nothing to do, he would come to Yujing Mountain to discuss poetry, essays, and music with Liu Xujing. The two were like the relationship between Su Dongpo and the monk Foyin in the legendary story."

"Now that Yujing Palace has become the Li Diaoyuan Memorial Hall, the Jingyang Municipal Government has truly brought a happy ending for these two close friends." (End of Chapter)