The traditional autumn festival day for the Han people is also the day when the Taoist local official Zhongyuan forgives sins, and it is also the day when the Buddhist Bon Festival is held to redeem the souls of the dead.
When Yanjing Town was prosperous, it was an eclectic place. There were both Salt God Gonggong Temple, Taoist temples and temples. Every half of July, some people went to Taoist temples to worship, fast and pray, and some went to temples to worship Buddha, Obon Festival, and
Worship your ancestors at home and be careful to look after them.
Some send lanterns by the river and burn paper on the roadside to save the souls of the dead.
On this day, the three religions unite into one.
After the establishment of Li Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan issued an edict in the eighth year of Wude, "The old religion and the Confucian religion are so special in this country. Buddhism came up later, so it is appropriate to respect guest etiquette. Now we can take the old one first, the Confucian one next, and the Buddhist sect last."
Regarding Lao Tzu as the ancestor naturally puts Taoism at the top of the list, so on the half day of July, the Hungry Ghost Festival became the official name of the festival.
The Turks and Qiang people plundered and Yanjing Village was destroyed in the war. Whether it was Taoist temples, temples, Confucius Temple, Salt Temple, even the City God Temple, and the Hebo Temple in Zhanghe River, they were all destroyed.
Today is the day when the Salt Temple is rebuilt and the Salt God returns to his throne.
"Erlang, it's so lively today. There are already tens of thousands of people at the foot of the Yanshan Mountain behind Baojing." Xu Erlang came over and said, the scene was no smaller than the annual social fire in Miyuan.
Today is a special day. Everyone is very nervous and there is not much joy.
This Salt Temple is no stranger to Huaiyu. He was originally involved in the design. Different from the original small Salt Temple, this time the Salt Temple is planned to be quite large, and the Taoist, Buddhist and other gods originally supplied by Yanjing Village are included.
Please come in.
Huaiyu came all the way, and there were people everywhere. Everyone bowed and bowed to Huaiyu, who had taken off his armor and put on a Taoist robe, carrying a whisk on his back and a sword, and shouted Qingyangzi.
It took a long time to open my eyes, as if I was very tired.
Everyone was pumping water vigorously and taking turns to relay the water.
Everyone was waiting. People from Zhang County on the other side came to the Yanshan Mountain early. Although the county was on the other side of the river, the prosperity of the salt industry in Yanjing Town was of mutual benefit to all Zhang County people.
Splashing spoonfuls of well water into the sand, finally, something changed.
After a while, Huaiyu stood up, picked up a piece of talisman and placed it on the altar table.
"Let's go."
"Oh, that's what it smells like!"
"So handsome." Fan Xuanfu couldn't help but admire.
"Yanjing Village is alive."
A group of old burners crowded in and drank directly from the freshly drawn well water.
He began to draw talismans on it, drawing the talismans on the spot, and chanting words and making incantations while drawing them.
When everyone was quietly waiting for the smoke to dissipate and still looking forward to something, Huaiyu shouted, "If three wells are flooded with salt water within three days, it will be the spirit of the Salt God, and it will be a blessing to everyone."
No courtesy should be repaid, and God will listen to it!
The South Hall is dedicated to the three great Bodhisattvas of Buddhism: Avalokitesvara, Samantabhadra, and Manjusri.
"Crystallized salt is usually sold far away. What we sell locally is water salt that is boiled and scooped up directly. It is also called loose salt and soft salt."
Amidst the last few rumbling explosions, Huaiyu ended the ceremony.
"Everyone, before the return of the Salt God, he gave us a task, which is to dredge the wells, re-drench the salt wells, strengthen the wells, draw up all the well water contaminated by the Turkic and Qiang people, clean the wells again, and then
Salt brine will be restored."
The people below were already surrounded by people on three levels inside and three outside. There were still many people crowded around the outside who could only listen to the people in front of them describing the situation.
After drawing the special secret cinnabar talisman, Huaiyu recited a mantra, and then it actually burned on the tip of his sword. This scene aroused the admiration of onlookers from all sides.
Sixty-five salt-making giants rushed to Mitsui excitedly with hundreds of small households.
"We are all looking forward to the return of the God of Salt and the comeback of Salt Lake." Hou San said with a smile, "Er Leng has lost weight recently. Even though you are young, you still have to be careful."
Taoist mantras often end with words like "urgency" and "laws", which are familiar to common people. They know whether this means that the gods have been notified or that they are extremely urgent.
"The Salt God is back, and the salt brine is flowing out again."
"Erlang, the auspicious time has come."
But when they go to the well to make salt, fifty kilograms of water can directly boil fifteen kilograms of salt, so there is no need to waste so much effort.
Huaiyu also watched. He first removed impurities and fished out the Glauber's salt, and then continued to heat it. After six hours, it would crystallize and get a pot of salt.
Everyone cheered.
Huaiyu closed his eyes and meditated.
After a while, the Zhu Chi runes slowly appeared on the originally empty talisman paper.
The main hall is dedicated to the God of Salt, Dayu, who has been worshiped since the pre-Qin Dynasty. He is both the God of Salt, the God of Mountains, and even the God of Wealth. He has the highest status in Yanjing Village.
Everyone was quietly waiting for Wu Huaiyu's next statement.
Huaiyu is the absolute protagonist. Although he does not have the spotlight, his performance is impeccable, he has no stage fright, his movements are professional, and his expressions are natural.
"Salty brine is salty brine."
An altar has been set up in front of the main hall, and three animal offerings have been placed, waiting for Huaiyu to draw talismans and cast spells.
The excited salt official introduced to Huaiyu the traditional method of making salt here. Because the brine from the upper well has a high concentration, it is boiled directly. However, where the salt god's mother-in-law is located in Yanguan Village in Chengzhou, the concentration of brine there is low.
Their salt production requires many more processes.
Experienced cooks can even taste the saltiness of the brine directly with their mouths. “One pot can definitely produce fifteen kilograms of salt, it’s a good brine!”
If the salt wells no longer produce brine, then Zhangxian County will really be abandoned.
It's more lively than a concert.
The statues of gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are all made of clay, and were painted by Huaiyu himself. He had the final say and made sure that although each of these statues of gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is made of clay, they are all majestic in appearance.
It is necessary for Wu Huaiyu to guard Yanjing Village from now on and even get a share of the salt and saltpeter.
Now I am sitting alone in the main hall enjoying the worship service.
"typical."
The saltworkers cheered excitedly and roared at the top of their lungs.
An old Shaoshou took a sip directly. The well water was already very salty and bitter, but he shed tears of joy and knelt down to cheer for everyone.
Fifty pounds of water can be boiled out in six hours to produce fifteen pounds of salt.
“Our Zhang County salt is sold to Bashu, Longyou, Xiguan and other places through nine salt roads. The salt is good and the price is good.”
On a mesa, a new Salt Temple has been erected. It is still a bit crude, but the area that has been cleared and planned is much larger than the original Salt Temple.
There were even kitchen households, Shaoshou, firewood customers, and salt merchants who knelt directly to Huaiyu.
"Turn on the fire, cook the brine, and make salt!"
Buckets of well water were brought up, but it was still very light.
The idiot picked up a daughter-in-law on the way back. Now the woman and her family have followed her to Yanjing Town. They settled on the beach of Zhanghe River and built a simple straw shed. They can clean Yanjing Village, cut firewood, and transport saltpeter every day, and they can still make money.
One ration.
Even though there is a famine, everyone still prepares three animals, big and small. Pigs, sheep and deer are the big three animals, and chickens, ducks and fish are the small three animals. Originally, the big three animals were cattle, sheep and pigs, but cattle were too valuable and they were replaced by deer. In fact, in Taoism, among the three animals
, are deer, deer and muntjac.
The newly built Salt Temple encloses a large area, but even the surrounding wall has not been built yet, only the mountain gate has been erected.
After the salt well, at the foot of the salt mountain.
In the newly built kitchen near the Shangjing House, the Guanyanfang kitchen with only a roof and no walls, the fire was immediately started, and the water and salt workers poured the brine into a large bucket, a bucket of 300 kilograms of brine.
, the two waiters shouted and lifted it up, happily going to the kitchen.
This hand caused countless onlookers to immediately kneel down and shout for the God of Salt.
Er Leng's daughter-in-law's surname is Ke. It is said that her ancestors were Qiang people who lived in the Han Dynasty, but now there is basically no difference between them and the Han people. Their family is very grateful to Er Leng. It is said that the Ke family is very good to Er Leng.
He straightened his pure yang scarf, straightened his Taoist robe, waved his fly whisk at Huaiyu, and walked up to the altar.
The prepared brine should be poured on the sand first, then put the sand into a basket, and continue to pour the brine. Use this method to increase the concentration of the brine before cooking it. This can save firewood, time, and increase the salt production rate.
"Erlang, the three animals for the ceremony are ready."
When the first pot of salt was finally boiled out after more than six hours, all the salt cooks, stove households and cooks cheered excitedly. The veteran cooks even commented on how good the salt was.
As soon as Huai Yu finished speaking, the talisman floated in the wind, then spontaneously ignited in the air and turned into ashes.
Sixty-five local salt-making tycoons led a group of small farmers to invite Huaiyu to start the ceremony.
Huaiyu didn't have any stage fright at this kind of dance-like ceremony. Although he knew he was pretending to be a ghost, it was still necessary for Yanjing Village to get back on track through such a ceremony.
Having witnessed those miracles with their own eyes, they now fully believed in Huaiyu's words. At this time, Huaiyu was neither a general nor a court official. He was the envoy of the Salt God.
"The Salt God has responded and will return soon."
The North Hall is dedicated to Emperor Xuanwu of Taoism. He is both the God of the North and the God of Water. The Yanjing people used to worship him, probably because salt brine is related to water.
Take a tour.
"If salt merchants are from distant places such as Bashu, they will usually ask us to dry the salt a little, so that it has less moisture, is harder, and is easier to transport over long distances. This kind of salt is called crispy salt."
All the gods, Buddhas and bodhisattvas of Yanjing Village were invited together to accompany the Salt God Grandpa, so that he would not miss the Salt God Mother-in-law of Yanguan Village in Chengzhou and often go to the salt well of Chengzhou Envoy to cut off the brine.
Hurry like a law!"
Huaiyu looked at this scene with great satisfaction. It was actually not easy to pretend to be a god or a ghost. These seemingly miraculous things were actually just small tricks, but it was extremely difficult to do them.
The smoke made Huaiyu looming, and he was dancing with swords and flying talismans in the fog, which made him look even more mysterious.
Pour the brine into the large pot in the baking room and start boiling the salt.
A group of people surrounded them, following their steps, as excited as if they were drunk.
Fan Xuanfu put on a Taoist robe for Huaiyu, put on a pure Yang scarf, held a fly whisk in his hand, carried a three-foot green-edge dragon-slaying sword on his back, and hung a gourd at his waist.
After saying that, he continued to meditate with his eyes closed.
According to the salt official, there are generally two types of salt produced here. One is boiled salt that contains more water and is shaped like a silver ingot, usually weighing ten kilograms per lump. People in Yanjingzhai call it salt salt.
Huaiyu even showed off his skills. With a flick of his hand, the props prepared in his sleeves flew out, and then with a bang, smoke flew everywhere.
Huaiyu stroked his beard. This look was really a bit otherworldly. If he were older and had white hair and a white beard, he would be even more immortal.
He glanced at everyone and faced everyone's expectant eyes, "I have flown the talisman to invite the Salt God to return to his seat. Please wait a moment."
But Huaiyu looked at the salt blocks that were really scooped up like crispy rice. It was completely different from the snow-white salt in his impression. A large hard block could be used as a weapon. The salt grains were uneven in size, dark yellow in color, and even
It also contains a lot of black impurities.
Put some in your mouth and taste it. It's salty but bitter.
"Is this the best salt?"
"This salt was filtered and salvaged, carefully boiled for three hours, and the water was specially dried. This is the best salt, and it is the skill of an experienced salt cook. Ordinary workers can't boil it." The salt official was proud.
