Maoshan River originates from Daohe River in Taizhou City. Taizhou is very special. In particular, the city spans the Jianghuai Valley, and the Jianghuai watershed is on the bustling Jin Dong Road in the city. Hecheng River and Nanguan River in the south of the road are two or three meters higher than Daohe River in the north of the road, so they can only rely on the sluice to block water. The water of this rice river flows northward.
At first it was called Maoshan River, which was more than ten miles away from Taizhou city, near a port town called Maoshan River. There is a large area of Shui Bo in the northwest of the port, which should be called XXX Lake by rights, but there are so many such water surfaces here that there is no name, even though the water surface is huge. When I was a child, my grandfather and I sailed to Taizhou. Every time I go here, I always look at the reeds swaying in the wind like grass on the distant shore, and a boat is swayed by a ruler.
After that, Maoshan River finally got its own name, flowing all the way to the northeast, passing through Mazhuang, Yedian and other villages and towns, until the border town, about four miles, with a wide river surface. The liner from the border town to Taizhou used to run on this section of the river, and it was this liner that took me out of my hometown of eighteen or nineteen.
There is a small village called Cangchang on this section of water road in Sanli, southwest of the border town. According to legend, Zhang Shicheng, the king of Wu, crusaded against Yuan and accumulated rations here, hence the name. Although it is a legend, a large number of rotten chaff have been unearthed here. Rice chaff is a by-product after rice is pulled out of rice, which also proves the credibility of the legend.
Border Town is a place where you can make a fortune by the Maoshan River. It has a long history and has always been a famous local ancient town. According to folklore, it can be traced back to the Sixteen Kingdoms at the end of the Jin Dynasty. It used to be the seat of George County, and it was the temporary settlement of the county during the war years. Just like the concept of Chongqing as a temporary capital during the Anti-Japanese War, it lasted for decades, but this is only a legend.
The name of the border town is related to Zhang Shicheng. When Zhang Shicheng began to attack Taizhou, he built a city here and called it the border town. This is the beginning of a well-documented border town. Around the border town, there are legends about Zhang Shicheng, as vivid as what happened yesterday, such as the legends of Zhang Shicheng and Shisanguanzhai. Thirteen official villages are all on the west side of Maoshan River, far or near. The nearest one is on Maoshan River, which flows through the river in Zhuangzili and finally flows into Maoshan River.
When the Maoshan River passes through the border town, the water system becomes a little messy, and the river winds into two tributaries. There are many rivers connected between the two waterways, and the water surface has become much narrower. I wonder if the old Maoshan River was so messy here. When Zhang Shicheng was stationed in the border town as a city, he led the Maoshan River to protect the city around the city. Now the Maoshan River flows north from the east and west sides of the border town.
The east tributary flows through Xiajiabo, from the east of Wuzhangzhuang, into a water surface called Phoenix Bay at the southern foot of Maoshan Mountain. The west branch flows from Sanzhou Bay and Beijiangzhuang Village east to north, and also flows into Phoenix Bay. Because this waterway is too tortuous, in the early 1970s, next to a tributary on the west side of the Maoshan River, a straight new river named chaoyang river was dug, and its names all bear the characteristics of the times. The silt dug out of the river channel has not filled the old river channel, and many rivers have silted up and become barren beaches, so the east branch is now the main vein of the Maoshan River.
There is a distance of 400-500 meters between the east and west waterways. There are no villages or people between these two waterways, but there are many broken rivers. Such a broken river is called "Goutou" in my hometown. It is said that there are 72 gullies in the large and small gullies here. Whether there are seventy-two ditches, no one has counted them carefully, maybe not, maybe more. Seventy-two is an imaginary number, but it actually has many meanings.
The ditches are together, and there is a ditch in the ditch. The reeds on the shore are dense, and outsiders enter, completely at a loss. There's a good chance that they won't be able to get away immediately. At that time, I raised ducks there. Every time I drive a duck into a ditch, I always find a reference on the shore, otherwise I will really get lost. Today, even villagers are afraid to sail at night.
According to historical records, Zhang Shicheng fought against the Yuan Dynasty before attacking Taizhou, and stayed in this area for quite a long time. Legend has it that Zhang Shicheng hoarded soldiers at this time and used lakes and wetlands to dig. Water maze.
What's even more surprising is that there are three earth graves tens of feet high by the Maoshan River to the east of Seventy-two Gully, which are abrupt and tall in Ma Pingchuan. The locals are in awe of this, but they can't tell who is buried.
In Phoenix Bay, where Maoshan River flows, there is an island the size of a field. In the era when all kinds of ghosts and gods were overthrown, when water conservancy was built, there was never a shovel here because everyone was afraid. According to legend, Maoshan is a treasure trove of dragons and phoenixes. It was Liu Bowen, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty, who discovered that Maoshan was a treasure trove of dragons and phoenixes. Although Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of Hongwu won Zhang Shicheng in the battle for Jiangshan, he was still worried about the bitter struggle with Zhang Shicheng, so he sent his first adviser, Liu Liu Bowen, a man with great ingenuity, to explore here and saw Maoshan on the ground covered with lush vegetation, like a dragon lying on the ground. Zhang Shicheng's hometown is in the northeast of Maoshan, the original Xinghua White Pony Farm.
There are outstanding people here, so it is no wonder that Zhang Shicheng, the old enemy, is out. Never let another Xiao Xiong, like Zhang Shicheng, compete with Emperor Zhu Hongwu for the world between Jianghuai, so Liu Bowen, who came to break the geomancy, built Zhenglong II in the heart of "Qinglong". Now the temple has been destroyed, and the temple site is in the pasture village on the west side of Maoshan Town.
Liu Bowen found that Maoshan was inhabited by a golden phoenix besides a dragon. Fengtou is located in the south of Jingde Temple. The round island in Phoenix Bay is said to be her eyes, and some people say it is her throat. Legend has it that there used to be a narrow path on the island, which was connected with the land in the west. In order to break the Feng Shui of Maoshan Mountain, Liu Bowen cut off the path with a shovel with a spell, and finally formed an island. Jingde Temple is the abdomen of Jinfeng. In the twenty-third year of Ming Hongwu, he was ordered to rebuild the Hall of the Great Hero and put it in the heart of Jinfeng. Phoenix Bay is also named after this legend. Legend belongs to legend. According to the county annals, the main hall of Jingde Temple was rebuilt in Hongwu period.
Maoshan Mountain on the north bank of Phoenix Bay is the only natural peak in He Lixia. According to legend, during the reign of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, three Mao brothers, Mao Zhong and Mao Jiayun in Xianyang once swam here. At that time, Maoshan was still at the seaside, and he was surprised to see a Zeguo and a hill standing alone. The mountain is covered with citronella, which coincides with his surname, so he chose to farm here, hence the name "Sanmaoshan" or "Maoshan" for short. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the war broke out and Taoism began to decline. When I arrived in northern Song Zhenzong, a Buddhist temple was built on the basis of the original Taoist temple, and the name of the temple was called Jingde Temple. It is also the only temple named after the year of the emperor, and now there is a Tang Jing in the temple.
Although Maoshan Mountain has been artificially leveled, it is really natural. Its mountains extend from Jiuhua Mountain in the south of the Yangtze River and connect with Langya Mountain in Chuzhou and Shugang in Yangzhou. Digging mountains and destroying temples should be the biggest regret in Maoshan history. But now Jingdezhen Temple, a famous temple in Jianghuai, has been rebuilt. Once an ancient town, because of its rich historical background, a small town actually has two national intangible cultural heritages: "Maoshan Haozi" and "Maoshan Shechuan". Based on this, it is also worthy of the legend of "land of dragons and phoenixes".
Maoshan River has reached Phoenix Bay, flowing for 50 or 60 miles, and it's almost over. It joins the artificially excavated Xingjiang River at the foot of Maoshan Mountain, which is a national six-level waterway.
Later, due to the rise of highways, the decline of water transport and the continuous siltation of rivers, many people in their hometown did not know that there was a Maoshan River. Fortunately, there are inscriptions on the bridges across Maoshan River on Provincial Highway 23 1 and Provincial Highway 352, which can remind people from time to time.
Many people and things I wrote happened by the Maoshan River. Maybe I can compile a collection of essays in the future, called Chronicle of Maoshan River.