1946, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province established Wencheng County , named after the posthumous title of " Wencheng " of the famous historical figure Liu Ji (that is, the famous " Liu Bowen " in history).
Wencheng County has rich human resources, such as the tomb of Liu Ji's temple, the eldest son Liu Lian Secting the Political Temple, the former residence of Liu Ji, Bowen Academy, etc. These are all valuable heritages left by Liu Ji to his hometown.
In 2021, on the occasion of the 710th anniversary of Liu Ji's birth, Wencheng launched the first "Liu Bowen Hometown Cultural Tourism Festival" to commemorate this capable minister and strategist who has outstanding achievements and is famous both at home and abroad.
The first generation of national teacher, legendary life
Liu Bowen, born in 1311 AD, was originally named "Liu Ji" , from Qingtian, Zhejiang (now Wencheng County, Wenzhou).
According to historical records, Liu Ji was smart since childhood and was eager to learn all his life. "All books on astronomy and military tactics can be seen through the eyes." Not only does he have amazing comprehension, but his memory is also extraordinary. He can be regarded as an unforgettable memory. He passed the Jinshi at the age of 23 and is a veritable "genius boy".
In addition, he loves reading, "all astronomy, geography, yin and yang, travel, and various schools of thought."
However, the reason why Liu Ji was famous and famous in Chinese history for a hundred years is not only because of his erudition and talent, but also because of his superb wisdom and personal charm.
Although Liu Ji was proficient in classics, history, military strategy, resourceful, and had a talent that was not a good person, he had a long life and had a miserable future. He was depressed and unsuccessful in his early years. When he was an official in the Yuan Dynasty, he had a difficult ambition and was unable to reach his talent.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Zhejiang East . Hearing that Liu Ji was famous, he recruited money, but Liu Ji did not agree.
It was not until Sun Yan, a great scholar in Dongzhou, wrote letters to invite him many times that he agreed to come out to assist Zhu Yuanzhang in founding a country and starting a business. Since then, his talent for planning has been fully utilized, he has begun to make achievements and show his ambitions.
At that time, there were three peasant army forces in the world that fought against the Yuan Dynasty, namely Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youliang , and Zhang Shicheng .
Liu Ji analyzed the general trend of the world for Zhu Yuanzhang and said: "Zhang Shicheng is a person without vision. He only cares about protecting himself, not afraid. Although Chen Youliang hosted the young master, his reputation was not right and he was in the upper reaches, which poses a great threat to us. He should seek Chen Youliang first. Once Chen Youliang dies, Zhang Shicheng is lonely and weak, and can be pacified in one fell swoop. Then we will lead the army north to fight the Central Plains, and the great achievements are just around the corner."
Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the strategic policy of "Cheng first and then Zhang", avoiding the danger of being attacked from both sides and laying the foundation for unifying the country.
In the world's largest water battle in the medieval world, the Battle of Poyang Lake, Liu Ji offered Zhu Yuanzhang a plan: Taking advantage of the time when Chen Youliang's army could not capture for a long time, the troops were divided into several routes and stationed at the mouth of Poyang Lake, cutting off the retreat of Chen Youliang's army; then concentrate the troops and use fire attacks to annihilate the opponent's main force in one fell swoop; then intercept the water and land sides to kill the remaining troops.
This battle is a famous example of defeating the more with fewer water wars in China. The Ming army defeated and killed the powerful enemy Chen Youliang, laying the foundation for Zhu Yuanzhang to pacify Jiangnan.
After that, Zhu Yuanzhang later defeated Zhang Shicheng according to Liu Bowen's plan, and attacked the Central Plains in the northern expedition, and finally eliminated all separatist forces and established a unified dynasty-Ming.
Liu Ji is not only a founding hero, but also made great achievements in governing the country. After the establishment of the Ming , his main contributions were four: Bu Bu Jian Nanjing City, Creating the "Ming Dynasty Law", formulating the " Datong Li ", and reopening the imperial examination system.
In history, he was known as the Four Emperors together with Jiang Ziya , Zhang Liang , and Zhuge Liang . He is one of the 47 famous historical and cultural officials who worshipped the imperial temples of all dynasties in China.
In addition to outstanding achievements in the political and military fields, Liu Ji also had a huge influence in our folk culture.
Incarnation of wisdom is comparable to Zhuge
In folk legend, Liu Ji is famous for his word "Bowen", and is the incarnation of wisdom and morality.
He is both a model of a clean official and a kind gentleman; he is both a diligent student and a literary master, and he combines almost all virtues.
Therefore, the saying goes, "Three parts of the world Zhuge Liang, and unify the country Liu Bowen."
Many people compare him with Zhuge Liang, which shows how high his image is in the minds of the Chinese people.
In 2017, the Wencheng County Intangible Cultural Heritage Center published " Legend of Liu Bowen ", which included 376 legendary stories. The number of articles is spectacular and can be regarded as the most legendary figures in history, which is shocking.
Among all Liu Bowen's legends, wisdom stories account for nearly one.
Long before he came out to assist Zhu Yuanzhang, he was very famous in his hometown Qingtian . Because he is good at speaking and planning, many villagers like to ask him for difficult questions.
One day, a villager ran to Liu Bowen's house in panic and said, "Sir, my surname is Meng. I make a living by selling vegetables on weekdays. But there are a few bullies in the village who threatened me to pay protection fees every day, otherwise I would ask someone to hit me. What should I do?"
Liu Bowen pondered for a moment and told him: "Next time they come, you will pick up the knife and fight them to ensure that they will never dare to harass them again."
After a while, another villager came to him for help: "Sir, my surname is Wang. I have been selling meat in the village for more than ten years. Today, a bully asked me to collect protection fees. I wanted to give them some color, but my wife stopped me. What should I do?"
Liu Bowen thought about it and said, "Next time they come, you can invite them to have a good meal. Remember, call them more people when eating." The book boy next to
asked in confusion: "Sir, why do you give two different methods for the same question?"
Liu Bowen said with a smile with a smile. : "The surname Meng is a small surname in the village. He is weak. Even if he pays the protection fee, he will inevitably be bullied. Only by mustering up the courage to fight back can he eliminate future troubles. And Wang surname is a big surname in the village. Inviting a bully to have a meal can let them see the strength of the family, so the bullies dare not act rashly."
The consequences were as expected. The two villagers solved the problems and rushed to thank them.
This story perfectly demonstrates the essence of "flexible" thought in traditional Chinese culture.
In addition, in the "Gao'an County Judgment", Liu Bowen used the "money-in-water tank" to detect the thief, and let the old man Zhao, who sold sesame cakes and fried dough sticks, get back dozens of silos of copper coins; in the "Inscription of the poem", he wrote a poem on the stone wall to trick the landlords into digging the soil and seeking gold, and a large number of wastelands were cultivated; in "The Cow Recognizing Calf", he analogized the relationship between human mother and son, and identified which calf was born to cow , thereby determining who was the owner of the calf.
Liu Bowen is not only the embodiment of wisdom, but also a rare honest official in the hearts of the people.
Before the Yuan Dynasty was destroyed, Liu Ji was the county chief of Gao'an County, Ruizhou Road, Jiangxi Province. He was an official "famous for his integrity and integrity, and was criticized by evil spirits and did not avoid the powerful", which was well-known among the people.
After the establishment of Ming Dynasty , he was straightforward and sincere, just like that time.
Zhu Yuanzhang once wanted to build the capital in Haozhou. Liu Ji bluntly advised: "Although Fengyang is the hometown of the emperor, it is not the place where the emperor should live." Zhu Yuanzhang changed his mind, which shows that Liu Ji was a resolute and upright man.
Later generations of literati created on this image, resulting in many stories about Liu Bowen being an honest and well-loved official.
For example, "The Grave Shattered Picture" shows his personal qualities of integrity, clean sleeves, frugal life, and indifferent fame and fortune; "Severe Punishment of the Yazhai" depicts his characteristics of asking for the people and jealous of evil; "The Magistrate of the Sandwich County", he appears as a kind and lovely parent-official appearance; in "The "God of the Temple Top" of the Chain", he not only severely punishes corrupt officials, but also acts as a resentful and evil, but also treats his relatives with selflessness and will never betray the law.
The magic trick is to predict the future
In addition to wit and honesty, there are also many stories about the Liu Bowen predicting the future circulating among the people, and some even praise him for his ability to "know five hundred years before and five hundred years later."
Qing Dynasty During the Kangxi period, a man named Chu Ren received collected a large number of strange people and strange things and compiled them into a book called " Jianhu Collection ".
This book records a story about Liu Bowen.
During the Ming Dynasty, there was an old birthday star in Baling area (now Yueyang City, Hunan Province).
On his 180th birthday, his family held a birthday party for him and invited guests. A censor named Mao passed by here and stopped to watch the fun.
He arrived at the door of the old birthday star and saw several old men with gray beards standing in front of the steps. They were welcoming and seeing each other. They couldn't tell which one was the old birthday star.
Chief Mao came forward to ask, and then he found out that these centenarians are the sons of the old birthday star, and the real old birthday star is resting in the inner hall. After hearing about the identity and purpose of the imperial censor Mao, the family quickly invited him into the inner room to meet him.
The old birthday star came to meet the guests and asked, "Do you have your surname?"
The imperial censor Mao replied, "My surname is Mao, my name is Bowen. I came to pay special attention to your old man."
html After hearing this, the old man's face changed drastically, and he was stunned for a long time, and his voice trembled, "I met Liu Bowen when I was a child. He predicted that I could live to be 180 years old. If I meet someone with the same name as him, I will be alive soon." After the birthday party, the old birthday star changed clothes and took a bath, and indeed passed away that day.
There are countless legends like this. Many stories evolve to the end and are often given a fantasy theological color, such as the "Liu Bowen Gifts Pearls" circulating in Henan.
Legend has it that many years after Liu Bowen died, a magistrate named Yang went out to observe the people's conditions one day and found a tomb near the river that was almost washed away by the river. After inquiring, he found out that it was Liu Wenbo's tomb.
County Magistrate Yang thought that Liu Bowen could know the future misfortune and good fortune, but why didn’t he know that the river water would destroy the grave? It can be seen that all the rumors were false.
So he sent someone to choose another cemetery for Liu Bowen to bury him and personally presided over the grave relocation ceremony.
When raising the tomb, the worker dug out a small porcelain jar and a small stone tablet from the ground. The porcelain jar contained pearls. Magistrate Yang asked a follower to pack up the pearls. There are a few words engraved on the small stone tablet, which means: Thank you for buying a separate birthday ground for me, and I will give you eighteen pearls. If you find that there are fewer pearls, then go to the entourage's sleeve to look for it.
County Magistrate Yang poured out a pearl, and there was really one missing. When asked about the people around him, no one said he didn't know.
County Magistrate Yang found the follower who packed the porcelain jar, touched it from his sleeve, and found the lost pearl.
Everyone was shocked and couldn't help but sigh: "Liu Bowen is really a magical plan."
These mysterious stories have made Liu Bowen a synonym for people's minds of the uncertainty and budget for good and good fortune.
Feng Shui Master Mysterious and Unpredictable
In many related film and television dramas, Liu Bowen appears as the Feng Shui master who is popular with the audience.
In fact, in the records of official history, Liu Bowen did not dabble in Feng Shui too much. There are only a few words related to Feng Shui in "History of Ming Dynasty: Biography of Liu Ji".
However, due to the backwardness of ancient science and technology and the prevalence of feudal superstition, Liu Bowen was respected as his ancestor by the folk Feng Shui industry. The most widely circulated story is " Heroes ".
AD 1366, Liu Bowen was ordered by Zhu Yuanzhang to choose a site for the new imperial palace. It is said that he decided to build Qianhu Lake as the foundation of the main hall at that time, and the pile was in the water. Zhu Yuanzhang despised that this design was too narrow and ordered the wooden pile to be moved to the back of the hall.
Liu Bowen asserted: "In this way, there will be a move to move the capital in the future."
Later, he really hit it. Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421.
In addition, the story of Liu Bowen's "looking at Feng Shui and breaking the dragon veins" has also been widely circulated. It is said that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were a total of 100 dragon veins in the world, of which 99 were cut off by him. According to legend, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Bowen was observing the astrological signs one day, and saw a dragon vein flashing in the direction of the Jiezhou (now Wudu District, Longnan City). He hurried to the local area to check. Finally, a mountain range was found in the north of Bailongjiang, more than 10 kilometers west of Jiezhou. It looked like a dragon, magnificent and rushing.
So he organized the military and civilians to work day and night, dig out the veins of the dragon head, and destroy the crypts to get rid of the worries of the Ming Dynasty.
Similar legends are found all over the country.
For example, there is a story about "Liu Bowen listening to the spring to explore the golden veins" in Suichang, Zhejiang; there is a saying that Liu Ji designed the Tai Chi astrology for Yu Yuan; there is a legend about Nancaixia Street in Nanjing. There is a Baimao Arch designed by Liu Ji to protect Yuzhai .
In this kind of rumors, Liu Bowen either broke Feng Shui, changed Feng Shui, or collected Feng Shui, giving the local customs and customs a mysterious color.
Most of these stories have no historical basis and do not conform to scientific theories. They are just written by some people who like to fabricate the name of Liu Bowen to cater to the people's Feng Shui needs, which has strong historical limitations.
The reason why there are so many stories about "broken dragon vein" is because the ancients believed in Feng Shui to determine the rise and fall of a family. Especially the royal family, they believe that as long as they protect their dragon veins and cut off other dragon veins, they can keep the country forever.
Conclusion
Liu Bowen was gradually deified from the Ming Taizu's tent and military advisor, and eventually became a great prophet and Feng Shui master in modern folk legends, a rare phenomenon in Chinese cultural history.
In folk legend, Liu Bowen is broad-minded, resourceful, honest in his official position, and law enforcement, which reflects the civil society's admiration for heroes who are knowledgeable, strategic, and have a sense of justice, and can save the world from danger, and reflects the ancient working people's pursuit of kindness, justice and wisdom.
Reference
[1] Wang Qiaoling. Another discussion on the entanglement between Liu Ji and Feng Shui. Journal of Zhejiang Vocational and Technical College of Industry and Trade. 2015.15(04
[2] Zhou Yuanxiong. Liu Ji to "Liu Bowen" - the legend of historical figures. Journal of Zhejiang Vocational and Technical College of Industry and Trade. 2008(03)
[3] Chu Renhu. Jianhu Collection. Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. 2012.12
