Only half of the old house of Yan Song, a powerful official of a generation, remains.

The Spring Festival is around the corner and the epidemic is currently going on. Let’s play in place. As a travel expert, I only look at the scenery and don’t talk about politics. It is said that on February 3, 2021, I was driving along the G220 National Highway in Fenyi County, Jiangxi Province. Suddenly, a very eye-catching scenic spot billboard on the roadside flashed in my eyes, writing: Jieqiao Ancient Village. I knew that this was the hometown of Yan Song, the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, so I quickly turned around and drove into the village.

Jieqiao Village is a thousand-year-old village that enjoys the reputation of "Eight Generations and One Grade". It is the birthplace of Yan Song. He lived here for decades after he was dismissed from office when he was young and old. Now it is a historical and cultural landmark of Jiangxi Province. Famous villages, traditional Chinese villages.

Yan Song was born in the 16th year of the Chenghua reign of Emperor Xianzong (1480). He experienced five emperors of the Ming Dynasty in his life. He was in charge of the government for 20 years during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. He can be called a "roly-poly" in the political arena. Yan Song died in the forty-fifth year of Emperor Shizong's Jiajing reign (1566) at the age of 86. In ancient times, it was simply a miracle that someone could live to this long.

Yan Song entered a private school at the age of 5, was known as a child prodigy at the age of 8, passed the imperial examination at the age of 19, became a Jinshi at the age of 26 and served as an attendant in the Hanlin Academy, became a prime minister at the age of 63 and entered the cabinet, and returned to his hometown at the age of 83 to "sell sweet potatoes" "(Write down the knowledge points quickly). He spent the last 40 years of his life, death, and studying in hiding in Qianshan in Jieqiao Village, Fenyi County.

Walking into the ancient village, I was eager to see Yan Song’s home first. Follow the guide signs along the way and walk through several ancient lanes in the village. In the middle of the village, there is a glass house. Could it be that Yan Song lived in the Ming Dynasty? Just jumping on the bandwagon?

No, no, no, the outer glass is a protective layer added by the cultural relics department. The focus is on the inside, but there is nothing inside, it is just a broken wall two meters high.

I can’t imagine that this is the birthplace of Yan Song and the Ruizhu Hall where he first became a disciple.

This house was not built by Yan Song, but by his ancestors. It has a history of more than 600 years. At that time, there was a beautiful bamboo forest in front of the house. Yan Song once wrote an article specifically about it - "Rui" "Bamboo Garden", but unfortunately, only half of the broken wall of Ruizhutang is left now, and the bamboo forest has been occupied by the tribe to build houses.

On this broken wall more than two meters high, there is a century-old mystery that has not yet been solved. There is a half-length elephant sculpture on the wall. Because it is separated by glass and was taken with a mobile phone, it is not clear, but if you look closely with your eyes, you can see that it is lifelike. An elephant rushes in from the door. Just half of its body is in, and two The movements of the legs and trunk are vivid and vivid, which is beyond the capabilities of ordinary folk artists.

As we all know, there are no elephants in Jiangxi. Most villagers have never seen an elephant in their lives. There are no pictures or sculptures of elephants in local houses. So why is there an elephant sculpture in Yan Song’s former residence? Woolen cloth? Is this related to the fact that Yan Song, a cabinet minister, was attacked by an elephant in the middle of the night?

The words indicate that Emperor Jiajing introduced new regulations after moving to Xiyuan. The ministers of the cabinet must stay in the house in shifts and be prepared to be summoned at all times. Late at night on the 15th day of the second lunar month in the 19th year of Jiajing's reign (1540), Yan Song was on duty. Suddenly, an elephant broke into the door and roared around the bed. (A poem by Cheng Yichuan). After a long time, the elephant keeper came and took the elephant away, and the false alarm finally passed. The question is how the elephant entered the palace, how did it enter the duty room, where did the Ouchi guards go, and what if an assassin comes? That night, Yan Song wrote a poem "Recording the Incident of an Elephant Entering the House": When I stayed alone in a straight house, I encountered a fight with an elephant, who suddenly came into the house and circled the bed making noises. He had experienced many dangers in his life, and he was not surprised when the incident happened. When the mammoth roars, you all have to hide, and you just have to hold your breath and sit in the curtain; Jiang Zhou has no fear again, remembering the master of the Cheng family. From this poem he wrote, it can be seen that this matter stimulated him a lot. Was this elephant picture specially sculpted on the wall of his former residence when Yan Song renovated Ruizhu Hall a few years later? Hundreds of years have passed, and the elephant picture on the wall of Yan Song's former residence is still puzzling.

What you can visit in Jieqiao Ancient Village is not only Yan Song’s ancestral house, but also Yan’s Ancestral Hall, Shide Hall, Xibaotang, Dafu Hall, Yushi Hall, Jinshi Hall, Kejia Hall, and Liushu Hall, etc. Ancient buildings, these ancient buildings include three-entry style and magpie-nest style. They are decorated with carved dragons and phoenixes, which are antique.

The Yan family ancestral hall is the largest ancestral hall in the village. The ancient ancestral hall was burned down during the "Cultural Revolution". The rebuilt ancestral hall is painted with gold and color. It is tall, majestic and very impressive. The main hall is dedicated to the ancestors of the Yan family. tablet.

The Yan Clan Ancestral Hall is built on a spring, which is a rare geomantic treasure. Every plaque hanging in the Yan's Ancestral Hall tells the story of the Yan Song family's prominence back then.

As an ancient village with profound historical and cultural heritage, Jieqiao Village has many ancestral halls. There were more than 20 original ancestral halls. The structures of the halls are very different and each has its own unique style. There are still 10 ancestral halls, which are adjacent to the west side of Yan's Ancestral Hall. There is an ancestral hall called Zhupo Gong Temple, also called Yuqing Hall, which means "to accumulate good deeds in Yuqing, and to have children who can serve the country".

There are two plaques hanging above the gate of Zhupo Gongci, the upper one is "Zhupo Gongci" and the lower one is "Fang Bo Family". On both sides of the outer wall are the Qing Emperor Qianlong Dynasty Prime Minister Zhu Shi's inspection of Jie Bridge. A couplet left behind when he was in the village: The water flows through the river for a long time, and the Jia Di Jin Ou is solid; the Wat peaks are handsome, and the humanities are dazzling and the trees are fragrant.

The Zhupo Ancestral Hall (Yuqing Hall) was not built by Yan Song, but by Yan Zhonggong, the ninth generation ancestor. It has a history of more than 600 years and has been renovated three times. The third entrance and the upper entrance have basically restored their appearance before 1949 after antique renovations in recent years. The middle entrance and upper entrance halls have basically retained their original appearance.

Before 1944, there were 124 plaques in Yuqing Hall. A large number of cultural relics and monuments left over from the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty were hung here, including Jiajing Yubi, Shi Kefa, Liu Tongxun, Yuan Shikai, Dai Jitao and other historical figures. Authentic works of famous people, such as the "official residence of the feudal lord", the "shrine of the prime minister", the "Lianshi", as well as the imperial titles and couplets of famous people. When I walked into the Zhupo Temple today, I was lucky enough to see many plaques hanging on them. There was a story behind one of the plaques saying "Victory against the Japanese". At that time, after Yan Song fell, his son Yan Shifan was killed, and his grandson Yan Shaoting was sent to Dingyuan, Anhui to join the army. Ding is not far from the Yangtze River, and Japanese pirates often come to plunder the people. Yan Shaoting assisted the general in fighting against the Japanese and made great contributions. He was awarded the plaque "Victory against the Japanese" by Yang Lian, the censor of Zuodu. It can be seen that the court at that time was consistent and did not completely deny the descendants of the father or ancestor because of their guilt.

Yan Song donated and built three bridges for his hometown. One of them was built on the Yuan River, called Wannian Bridge. He bled 20,000 taels of silver on this bridge. After it was completed in 1588, at the request of the villagers, he wrote The inscription was inscribed on the stele by the county magistrate the following year and erected at the head of the bridge. In 1985, the dam was built to create Fairy Lake, which flooded the bridge. In 1986, the water level of Fairy Lake dropped and the Wannian Bridge emerged from the water. The Yan family's descendants salvaged the 2.5-ton stone tablet and moved it to the side in front of the ancestral hall.

Although Yi'an Ancestral Hall is not prominent, it is still an indispensable existence. It is also called Xibaotang. I feel that all the ancestral halls in the village have an elegant nickname.

Qiyuantang is also a public temple in the village. The gilt-gold plaque directly above it is very eye-catching.

There are four uncles sitting on the threshold of the Shaoquan Temple. One is smoking, two are playing with their mobile phones with their heads down, and the other is looking up in a daze.

Jieqiao Village has always placed great emphasis on farming and education. In Fulong, I saw a Qiyang Academy with a small courtyard in front of it. It must have been filled with the mirth of book children after classes were over.

This small village has been ranked first in the imperial examinations and has produced numerous talents. It has produced 7 Jinshis. According to the "Jieqiao Yan Family Genealogy", in the 13th year of Yongle, when the imperial examinations were vigorously expanded in the Ming Dynasty, In the 200 years from (1415) to the first year of Tianqi (1621), 154 out of a total of 511 men of eight generations in the village were awarded the title of scholar or above, making it a rich mining area for talents. Because Yan Song and his great-grandson Yan Yun were honored as Yipinlong and their relatives in the capital, as many as 8 people had obtained first-grade official positions or imperial titles, so the village was also known as "Eighth Yipin". Yan Shaoting, the anti-Japanese hero with outstanding military exploits, and Yan Congyun, the first martial arts scholar in Jiangxi, were also produced here.

The lanes in the village are crisscrossed in a network shape, connecting many ancestral halls and private houses built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are ten ancestral halls, nine mansions, and 29 private halls, which are very dazzling in the west of Jiangxi. .

There are also many modern farmhouses, and some of the doors still have the most popular political slogan of the last century, "Carry forward the revolutionary tradition and strive for greater glory", on both sides of the door.

What is surprising is that among the Gan style houses there is a Western-style building with a two-story structure. Due to its age, it does not feel inconsistent with the surrounding buildings.

There is an ancient street in front of the village, which was formed in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. It is the main traffic artery between Anfu County and Fenyi County. The ancient herringbone road paved with blue bricks on the ground still exists.

The Spring Festival will be here in a few days, and the descendant of Yan Song, who is making a living outside, drags her heavy suitcase back to her roots.

The vigorous group of ancient camphor trees from the Song and Yuan Dynasties is another attraction of Jieqiao Village, located 2 kilometers outskirts of Fenyi County. In the 1970s, there were more than 40 ancient camphor trees in the village. To build railways and build new houses, half of them were cut down, and now only about 20 trees remain.

The largest and oldest one is the "Camphor Tree King" in the south of the village. It has a history of nearly a thousand years. The diameter of the tree is 9.2 meters. It takes several adults to hug it. The tree crown covers an area of ??nearly 1 mu.

There is a wall next to the ancient camphor tree, and the iron gate is locked. Through the iron gate, you can see that inside the wall is the Yan family's ancestral tomb, where Yan Song's great-grandfather, grandfather and his father are buried. However, after his death, there was no trace of his ancestors. Buried in the village.

In front of the tomb are four white marble figures, figures of men and horses, which can still give a glimpse of the majesty of the time.