The search for Shizi’s grave (prose)
1.
Heading for the prince’s grave.
Shizi Tomb is also called Sizi Tomb, and the place name is the current Liuligang Village, Linhuaiguan Town, Fengyang County. The typical hilly terrain, with villages and well-built village roads and rural roads, twists and turns in the ups and downs. The navigator took me around the village for more than an hour, but I didn’t see Shizi’s grave. On the contrary, I came across many private tombs, like small hills, meandering shyly at the end of Tiantou Village. I found Shizifen Primary School and a certain house in Shizifen.
Shizi’s grave, where are you hiding?
2.
In Fengyang, everything big and small cannot be separated from the Zhu family. Yes, Zhu Yuanzhang! This is the land of Longxing in the Ming Dynasty.
I got out of the car and walked on this land that has been stepped on by countless feet. The footsteps were heavy and hollow, as if I happened to step on a thrilling history of swords, lights and swords, and that sound must also be history. The most real and tragic echo. What a crowded place this place used to be: Zhuangzi and Huizi once swam on Haoliang to discuss the joy of minnows, which eventually led to Zhuangzi's sophistry: "You are not me, but you know that I don't know the joy of fish." When the Chu and Han Dynasties were fighting, Xiang Yu was in trouble in the Haocheng area of Lingbi, and Liu Bang surrounded him without attacking. Zhang Liang tied a kite with thousands of pieces of cowhide and ten thousand pounds of hemp rope, and six stone rollers were tied to the tail rope. There is a basket tied to the bottom of the drum, and a musician sits in it and plays Meng Jiangnu Weeping over the Great Wall. Besieged on all sides, the soldiers were homesick and disheartened. They had no intention of fighting and fled at night. Seeing that the situation was over, Xiang Yu was helpless and fearful that the beautiful girl next to him would fall into the hands of his enemies, so he was filled with sorrow. Yu Ji understood Xiang Yu so well that she replied with two words in her eyes: I understand you. Then he drew his sword and killed himself. With no worries, Xiang Yu led his remaining troops to break out of the encirclement, fought their way out, fled to Fengyang, and built a city on the edge of the Haoshui River to defend the enemy. This city is Haocheng, Overlord City. The battle of Gaixia took place in Haocheng, which is thirty miles east of Guzhen. This is due to a historical misreading. It should not have been called this name.
3.
The road here is winding and stretching into the distance, as if we are trying to find something in thousands of turns. On this road, a down-and-out young farmer named Zhu Chongba passed by. He was in ragged clothes, with a rough appearance and a dull expression. He was barefoot and looked confusedly at the distant temple: Huangjue Temple. How evil and cruel a person is depends on how difficult and painful he has been. Character is always forged day by day on the way here. Zhu Chongba wanted to go to Huangjue Temple to be ordained as a monk, begging for food and living a miserable life. To borrow a popular saying: He is too difficult! My brother suddenly died of illness, leaving my sister-in-law and two young children to him. Then his father died and his mother died. Poor Zhu Chongba worked hard in the wind and rain for many years, getting up early and working late at night. In the end, there was no cemetery for his mother. He begged his employer to give him as much space as a palm, so that he could bury his mother in peace and fulfill his filial piety. But the employer was determined and shook his head: No. Fortunately, the employer's brother suddenly showed mercy and agreed to him. Zhu Chongba looked at his naked mother, who was wrapped in a reed mat and carried to the wilderness by several people. He watched, and remembered, without a single tear. Walking to a depression, a phoenix flew overhead, making a sound. Zhu Chongba ignored her and carried his mother forward with a group of fellow villagers. Indeed, the bars broke and the ropes broke, thunder and lightning flashed, and rain poured down. Everyone was so shocked that they had no choice but to dig a shallow hole in the rainwater in the depression and bury it hastily. Just when I was about to return, the rain stopped and the sky cleared up.
It is said that this depression is a geomantic treasure. It was this geomantic treasure land that transformed Zhu Chongba, a farmer from the Yuan Dynasty, into the emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, establishing the century-old foundation of the Ming Dynasty! Everything is God’s best arrangement, yes.
4.
Zhu Yuanzhang’s teammates passed by on this road: Duke Xu Da of Wei, Chang Yuchun, Duke of E, Tang He, Duke of Xin, Li Wenzhong, Duke of Cao, and Feng Sheng, Duke of Song. He also passed his opponents: Emperor Yuan Shun, Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen, and He Zhen. The chaotic and chaotic footsteps of the team, along with the clanging of guns, swords, and halberds, created a symphony of chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Whether they were helpers or opponents, they worked together to achieve the hegemony of a generation of emperor Zhu Yuanzhang in the troubled times when heroes were competing for hegemony.
After Zhu Yuanzhang became famous, Queen Ma became pregnant with her third child.
Everything is like a peaceful and prosperous age. With everyone's expectation, Queen Ma gave birth. Boys, or twins. However, Queen Ma soon discovered that the third son was smart and active, with bright eyes. The fourth son, however, had dull eyes and dull eyes. He turned out to be a fool. The queen had no choice but to secretly send it to the wet nurse to feed her, without letting Zhu Yuanzhang know about it. The third prince could walk at four months, talk at six months, and play with his elder brother at eight months. After climbing up the ladder every day, Zhu Yuanzhang named his third son Zhu Gang. Later, it was believed that if there were trees on the hillock, it would be called Qingfan, so that the forest would be dense and prosperous for generations, so it was later renamed Zhu Fan. Zhu Yuanzhang liked his son so much that he left the court early to play with Zhu Fan. Zhu Fan grew up day by day.
5.
In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Fan was named King of Jin. In October, I went to Fengyang for inspection and found an ancient tomb in Liuligang. I excavated it privately and kept the treasure for myself. He also selected a large number of skilled craftsmen to build the palace, and selected a large number of beautiful women to live in the palace for fun. After Zhu Yuanzhang learned about it, he couldn't help being furious and thundered: At a young age, he has no ambition to make progress and does bad things. The public is too angry and it is really an insult to his ancestors! Then he summoned Queen Ma, gave him a severe lesson, and ordered Queen Ma to execute Ling Chi, the third son. Tiger poison does not eat its seeds. You Zhu Yuanzhang can do it, but Queen Ma can't. First of all, she is the biological mother who gave birth to a child in ten months, and secondly, she is a kind-hearted woman. Which woman can do it to execute her biologically raised child? Empress Ma pleaded hard for Zhu Fan, but Zhu Yuanzhang refused. The queen had no choice but to bear the pain and cut off her love, and took Zhu Fan to Liulicang to be executed and buried here.
Five years later, in Yingtianfu, now Nanjing, Zhu Fan appeared on the streets. Someone secretly informed Zhu Yuanzhang. The emperor was horrified: How could such a thing happen! Order people to find out the truth immediately.
When Queen Ma saw that the matter had been exposed, she could only plead guilty. The emperor ordered people to escort Zhu Fan to Jinluan Hall. Seeing that Zhu Fan was so majestic and regal, he was secretly happy in his heart, but on the outside he looked furious. The queen asked Zhu Fan to kneel down and admit his mistake, and told the whole story: the palms and backs of his hands were full of flesh. In desperation, she transferred the stupid sons of the twins to die in Zhu Fan's place. After hearing this, the emperor was filled with emotion, burst into tears, and forgave the queen. In order to hide it from the eyes and ears of the world, Zhu Fanyuan sent Taiyuan as the vassal king. The queen felt that she was a fool to her four sons, so she planted pine trees and willows, erected a monument and repaired the tomb, and named it the prince's tomb.
6.
Although the prince’s grave was not found, he had many regrets about the four sons’ lives. I passed through the next life in a hurry and remained silent; just to take the blame, I remained silent. There are as many ghosts in this world as there are people who died unjustly. No matter he was born into a prince, a general or a commoner.
At the end of Liuligang Village, I met a hunchbacked old man with gold teeth and inquired about the prince's grave. He replied that there is no Shizi Tomb, but this place is called Shizi Tomb, and I have only heard about it for several lifetimes but never seen the real tomb.
That’s it, I give up searching. In fact, what if we can find it? Trying to interpret reality and interpret today through historical exploration always seems unreliable. There is no need to look for it. In fact, history is just a huge tomb, which has buried so much suffering, so many tragedies, so many heroes, and so many joys and sorrows. It buried the century-old foundation of the Ming Dynasty under familiar yet unfamiliar land, and buried it in the memories of the descendants of Fengyang people. The evolution from Zhu Chongba to Zhu Yuanzhang allows us to understand the difference between heroes and weak people. A hero only does things with his heart, so that what he does becomes a legend told by others. The weak people can only tell other people's stories. For example, I can stay up all night, work hard to code, and make random comments about emperors and generals.