What I want to talk about now is the last thing, which is hidden in the story below.
When Xu Hongzu was born, it was the fifteenth year of Wanli.
It was fate to be born in this specific year. But the outside world did not have much to do with Xu Hongzu. His hometown was in Jiangyin, with beautiful mountains and clear waters. He did not have to engage in politics and was not afraid of being hacked. It was relatively clean.
Of course, purity comes to purity. In those days, if you wanted to stand out and leave a name in history, there was only one way - taking exams (it seems to be the same today).
Xu Hongzu didn't want to take exams, stand out, or leave a name in history. He just wanted to play.
According to historical records, I have been playing since I was a child, and I play very hard and uniquely. I don’t throw sandbags or roll hoops, I just wander around, climb up mountains when I encounter them, and climb down when I encounter rivers. I am very small and very courageous.
big.
In addition, he hated examinations so much that when he grew up, he was asked to take the imperial examinations even if he died. This plot, currently, is roughly equivalent to resisting the college entrance examination.
This person's fate back then was probably similar to today's. He was taken home and beaten half to death, and there was no way he could survive.
However, Xu Hongzu's parents did not beat him. Not only did they not beat him, they also told him that if you want to play, just play and do what you like.
This seemingly shocking thought seems very unreasonable, but to the Xu family, it is very reasonable.
By the way, I should introduce the family background of Comrade Xu Hongzu. Although his parents are not big shots or famous, he has an ancestor who is quite famous, but of course, not a good one.
Ninety years before Xu Hongzu was born, an ancestor of the Xu family went to Beijing to take the exam. On the way, he met a companion named Tang Yin, also known as Tang Bohu.
Yes, he is Xu Jing.
What happened later, as mentioned before, is said to be Xu Jing cheating, and ended up dragging Tang Bohu along, and everyone was finished together. He failed to pass the Jinshi exam, and even failed to pass the imperial examination, so Comrade Xu Jing learned from the painful experience and harmed countless people (mainly him)
)'s imperial examination system is deeply abhorrent. To educate our children and grandchildren, we must break with this evil system. If you love taking exams or not, go to hell with it.
It is not clear whether Xu Hongzu knew about this century-old grudge, but he could use it, that was for sure. More importantly, although the Xu family had no rank, they still had some money, so he decided to simply give up the exam and go on a trip.
.
At first, he mainly traveled to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, such as Purple Mountain, Taihu Lake, Putuo Mountain, etc. Later, he became more and more courageous and visited Yandang Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, Huangshan Mountain, Wuyi Mountain, Lushan Mountain, etc.
But here, there is a problem - money.
The difference between a traveler and a hero is that a traveler has to spend money. Let’s list it out, and it roughly includes the following expenses: transportation, accommodation, tour guide fees, catering fees, entrance fees. If the place is not authentic, you will be ripped off.
fee.
I have said that the Xu family is rich, but only a little, not a lot. They are probably middle class. According to today's standards, traveling once a year is enough, but Xu Hongzu's travel schedule is
:Take a break once a year.
Except for going home to take care of his parents at the end of the year, he is out all year round, but with this approach, his family is actually doing well.
The reason is very simple, such as transportation costs. He does not take trains or cars (even if he wants to). He rarely rides horses and mostly walks (try mountain climbing on horseback).
Accommodation fees are basically unnecessary. Most of the places Xu Hongzu went to back then were not visited by anyone. Let alone three-star hotels, there were not even Sun Erniang’s black shops. They just made bunks on the ground in the woods or on cliffs and slept there.
There are no catering expenses. I have inspected and found that there are no restaurants where Comrade Xu Hongzu goes. Every time he sets out, he always brings dry food with him, and he is very hungry. It is said that he can carry it for seven or eight days. As for drinking water,
There is mineral water in the mountains.
There is no need for admission fees. If anyone could set up a point to collect admission tickets at the places where Comrade Xu Hongzu went, it would only mean that he was better than Xu Hongzu and should be charged.
There is no fee for being slaughtered, but it is possible to be slaughtered, and it is relatively open. There is never a secret increase in price to steal money. They are always snatched in the open with a knife. You must know that in places without tickets, although there are no profiteers, there are very few profiteers.
There may be robbers.
According to my own research, Xu Hongzu's biggest expense is the tour guide fee. As a traveler, Xu Hongzu knows very well that he can save anything, but this money cannot be saved. Otherwise, he will dig a hole for you halfway up the mountain and let you
Drill a hole and rest.
In this way, Xu Hongzu, whose family was not very wealthy, wore simple clothes, no entourage, no guards, and took dry food with him to go to famous mountains and rivers. He ate and slept in the open air without fear of hardship or starvation. He only returned home once a year, just to climb.
.
From a secular perspective, Xu Hongzu is
He is a strange person. He does not seek fame, does not seek to be an official, and does not start a family. According to many people, he is ruined.
I know that many people will still say that this kind of life is absurd, unconventional, abnormal, lacking in integrity, and mentally problematic.
I think those who say these things have eaten enough to support themselves. People only live one life, and how they live is their own business. If I have not lived well in this life, how far can I go to accuse others shamelessly?
, just roll as far as you can.
The only obstacle to Xu Hongzu's journey was his parents. His father died early, leaving his mother without anyone to take care of her. The sage once taught us: "If your parents are alive, you should not travel far away."
So before setting off, Xu Hongzu always hesitated. However, his mother found him and said this to him:
"A man has his ambitions in all directions. He should show his ambition to the world!"
In this way, Xu Hongzu began his great journey.
He left home at the age of twenty, wore commoners, had no government support, and no friends to help him. He traveled all over the world alone for more than twenty years. The places he visited include Huguang, Sichuan, Liaodong, and northwest. In short, during the Thirteenth Period of the Ming Dynasty
Province, visit them all.
The mountains he has climbed include Taishan, Huashan, Hengshan, Songshan, Zhongnanshan, and Emeishan. To put it simply, he has been to everything you have heard of, and he has also been to everything you have never heard of.
In addition, we visited the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake, Jinsha River, Han River, and almost all rivers and lakes.
During his travels, he encountered bandits three times, had his property robbed, and suffered stab wounds. He also ran out of food several times and almost starved to death because he walked into the mountains and was unable to find a way out. The most dangerous one was in the southwest.
At that time, he was heading to the Yunnan-Guizhou area. But halfway there, he suddenly found that traffic was interrupted and his residence was besieged by local indigenous people. After a few days, the Ming army came outside again and began to besiege again. After a few days of siege, they began to fight.
Within a few days, chaos began. Xu Hongzu had seen the world, so he ran fast and finally escaped smoothly.
During the trip, he also began to take notes, recording his daily experiences in detail. Since in addition to his name, he also had a nickname, Xiake, so later, his notebook was called
It is "Xu Xiake's Travels".
In the ninth year of Chongzhen (1636), the fifty-year-old Xu Hongzu decided to travel again. This would also be his last trip, although he did not expect it.
Just as he was considering the direction of his trip, a monk found him.
This monk's dharma name is Jingwen and he lives in Nanjing. He is very pious and respects the Bodhisattva of Kasyapa Temple in Jizu Mountain. He once pricked his finger and wrote a copy of the Lotus Sutra with his blood.
Jizu Mountain is in Yunnan.
At that time, Jizu Mountain in Yunnan was considered a wild land with no access to anything. If you wanted to go there, you could only walk.
Obviously, Jingwen is a sensible person. He knows that he has to go alone. He will probably stop halfway and must find a companion.
Xu Hongzu's reputation was already very great at that time, so he came to see him and wanted to go with him.
For Xu Hongzu, it didn't matter where he went, so he agreed and the two of them set off together.
Their route is as follows: they first start from South Zhili, pass through Huguang, go to Guangxi, enter Sichuan, and finally reach Yunnan and Guizhou.
There is no need to go to Yunnan and Guizhou, because things will happen when you go to Huguang.
When they reached the Xiangjiang River in Huguang (now Hunan), they couldn't leave, so they took a boat to cross the river.
Halfway through the crossing, I met a robber.
For Xu Hongzu, he has met people in this profession several times, but Master Jingwen should be the first time. The specific details after that are not clear. Anyway, Xu Hongzu drove away the robbers, but Jingwen was there.
He was injured in this turmoil, and due to his weak constitution, he passed away just as he made it to Guangxi.
Xu Hongzu stopped and took care of Jingwen's funeral affairs.
Due to the encounter with bandits on the road, Xu Hongzu's travel expenses were insufficient at this time. If he continued to go forward, the consequences would be unpredictable.
So the locals advised him to give up the idea of moving forward and go home.
Xu Hongzu and Jingwen were strangers to each other. In the final analysis, they were just companions, each with their own ideas. Jingwen had no intention of writing a travelogue, and Xu Hongzu had no intention of going to worship Buddha. There was really no friendship. And I also checked,
He had been to Jizu Mountain before, and this trip didn't mean much to him.
However, he said, I want to move on and go to Jizu Mountain.
The locals asked: Why should we go?
Xu Hongzu replied: I promised him that I would take him to Jizu Mountain.
However, he has passed away.
I will take his ashes with me. I will help him do what I promised him.
Xu Hongzu set out for the wish of a deceased person and to fulfill his promise, although he was not familiar with this deceased person.
The journey was very arduous. Xu Hongzu, who had no travel expenses, carried Jingwen's ashes on his back, and without any support, he could only live in the wilderness and rely on wild vegetables and dry food to satisfy his hunger. In order to continue moving forward, he also pawned everything he could.
Just for a promise.
In this way, he followed the original route and took Jingwen over the Shiwanda Mountains in Guangxi, then entered Sichuan, crossed Mount Emei, and along the Minjiang River, arrived at Songpan in Garze.
Cross the Jinsha River, cross the Lancang River, pass through Lijiang, pass through Xishuangbanna, and reach Jizu Mountain.
In Kasyapa Temple, he untied the package on his back and took out Jingwen's ashes.
arrive.
Here we are.
He solemnly buried his ashes in Kasyapa Temple, where he fulfilled his promise.
Then, he should go home.
But he didn't.
From a certain perspective, this is a gift from God to him, because this will be his last trip, so he can go as far as he can.
He left Jizu Mountain and continued to move forward. He traveled for half a year and crossed the Kunlun Mountains. He traveled for another half a year and entered the Tibetan area. After traveling for several months, he embarked on his return journey.
Not long after returning home, I fell ill.
People who like to exercise should be in better health, but people who exercise every day (such as athletes) are not necessarily in good health. The same is true for traveling.
Probably due to years of hard work, Xu Hongzu finally fell ill and was unable to travel again. In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), he died of a serious illness at the age of fifty-four.
The notes he left behind are said to total more than two million words, but unfortunately they have not been preserved. The remaining part, about hundreds of thousands of words, was compiled by later generations into "Xu Xiake's Travel Notes".
In this book, detailed information about the mountains and rivers of the motherland is recorded, involving geography, water conservancy, landforms, etc. It is known as the greatest geography work of the seventeenth century and has been translated into dozens of languages and spread around the world.
Okay, the summary should come out. This is the story of a great geographer. He traveled around in order to study geography and made outstanding contributions to the development of geography. He is the pride of the Chinese nation.
is that so?
no.
In fact, in telling this man's story, I just want to explore one question: why did he do this?
No funding, no recognition (at least not during your lifetime), no benefits, no future, give up everything, and spend your whole life just to travel?
For what exactly?
I was confused and puzzled, so I remembered another story.
New Zealand mountaineer Hillary was often asked a question by reporters after climbing Mount Everest: Why did you climb it?
He never answered, so reporters kept asking. Finally, one time, he gave an answer that no one could ask anymore:
Because it (referring to Mount Everest) is right there!
Because it's there.
In fact, there are many things in this world that do not need a reason. The reason why they need a reason is because many people like to find excuses. After doing so for a long time, they need a reason.
As Xu Xiake said before his death:
"Zhang Qian in the Han Dynasty, Xuanzang in the Tang Dynasty, and Yelu Chucai in the Yuan Dynasty all traveled the world. However, they all accepted the emperor's orders and were ordered to travel to all directions.
"I am just a commoner. I have no orders. I just wear common clothes, hold a cane, and wear straw sandals. I travel around the world on my own, so I will have no regrets even if I die."
That's it.
What I want to talk about is in this story.
I believe many people will ask, what did you talk about?
You use so much space to tell the rise and fall of a dynasty, but at the end, you tell such a story. What exactly do you want to say?
I repeat, what I want to talk about has already been told in this story.
So what follows is for those who don’t understand. Those who understand don’t need to continue reading.
I have talked about many things before, many ups and downs, many princes and generals, many helpless replacements, many changes, but this thing, I personally think, is the most important.
Because I want to tell you that the so-called eternal hegemony, eternal glory, and everything else are just dung. They first become dung, and then become soil.
If you don’t understand it now, you will understand it in the future. If you don’t understand it in the future, just wait until the future. If you don’t understand it for the rest of your life, that’s okay.
And the last thing I talked about surpasses all the above, at least in my opinion.
But I have been thinking about this thing for a long time, but I can't express it in precise language or words. In the worst words, I can only understand it but cannot express it in words.
However, I don't deserve to be beaten after all. After reading a lot of books but finding no way to speak, I finally found this suitable sentence from an inconspicuous and worthless book.
This is a desk calendar. It was placed in front of me. I don’t know how long it has been, but I have never turned it over. It is already expired.
I know that it was God who placed this desk calendar on my desk. It looked at my daily efforts and persistence over the past few years, and it quietly and patiently waited for the end.
It is waiting that on the day that is about to end, I will open this desk calendar that has been with me all the time but has never been opened. On it, there is the final answer.
I opened it, and on this desk calendar, there was written a famous quote that I couldn't even explain who the celebrity was.
Yes, this is what I want to say, this is what I want to express through Xu Xiake, the most perfect conclusion that is enough to despise all princes and generals:
There is only one success - to live life in your own way.