【Chapter 307】Oriental Priest (2)

Zhang Dabiao said this, which completely aroused our interest.

Because we have heard too much about things like river gods and monsters that generally cause trouble and scare people, and they are just some water gods, river gods, water control celebrities, or some fish, turtles, shrimps, crabs, and giants that have become refined due to age.

Just a python.

But the river behind the village, although it is also wide and fast, is far from being comparable to the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. As the saying goes, the deeper the water, the bigger the fish, and the more fat the pigs. For such a little-known river, it is obvious that there are not many things in it.

There are some astonishingly huge aquatic monsters.

So when Zhang Dabiao said that the old vortex and Lingyu ferry in Diziwan were not these things, we were even more curious. In addition to the things we are familiar with and have many legends, the spirits he mentioned were not.

, what kind of bizarre stuff could it be?

Under the urging of several of us, Zhang Dabiao spoke cheerfully:

Legend has it that a long time ago, in our place of Dizi Wan'er, most of the fertile farmland and fertile soil were flooded two out of three years and droughted one year, resulting in poor harvests. Therefore, the villagers' ancestors were guarding this river to harvest crops.

Fish and shrimp are exchanged for money to make a living.

But the fishermen here have a very strange tradition, that is, they can only fish at night and rest during the day. This is not because the evil officials do not allow people to fish, but because people go to the river during the day.

After fishing, some people will always get strange diseases for no apparent reason, causing unbearable pain all over their body. In severe cases, they will slowly suffer from torture and die.

Moreover, many experts in the Xinglin forest were helpless to treat the strange diseases acquired on the river, and the treatments were ineffective.

Later, more and more people became sick or died, and some people began to wonder if there was some kind of deity or water monster in the river. People accidentally offended it while fishing, and thus incurred its revenge.

So according to the old customs and traditions, the common people began to set up altars by the river, offer offerings, pray to the gods in the river, and understand the hardships of the common people. After all, fish and shrimps are the natural source of fishermen's rice bowls, so the common people can fish.

When the time comes, you can be safe and sound, and don’t take the blame for disaster...

However, the conventional way of worshiping the river god and water demon has no effect here. After spending money and materials to worship, people still often get strange diseases due to fishing.

Killing someone's job is like killing one's father. Since it is too soft, the people are forced to have no choice but to give it a hard blow.

In such a big river, there are many fish and shrimps, and the aquatic products are abundant. Of course, you can't stop eating this bowl of rice just because of a water monster that you can't even see the shadow of!

The common people discussed and invited some goddesses and people like horse immortals to come and show them what kind of monsters and water monsters were in the river and why they were so overbearing - the water gods and dragon kings in the rivers and seas also allowed the common people to fight with them.

It makes a living by fishing, but it doesn't care about anything. As long as it fishes in the river, it will cause harm to people!

Those witches and immortals talked nonsense after eating and drinking. Some said it was some kind of fish and turtle that turned into a spirit, some said it was a giant python causing trouble, some said it was a water ghost appearing, etc., but they were all

Not convincing.

If fish and turtles become spirits, they should make waves and knock over small fish boats; if giant pythons cause trouble, they should appear so that people can see them; if water ghosts harm people, then

It is even more inconsistent with the facts - the water ghost is just looking for a substitute. If the victim did not drown in the water, he would not become his substitute!

The common people who are fishing have never encountered that kind of situation at all. It’s just that some people got strange diseases because they went to the river to fish. They have never seen any water monsters or fish spirits, let alone any huge waves***

!

This shows that the thing hiding in the river that harms people is probably not something like a giant python.

Of course, people later built a Dragon King Temple by the river to suppress evil spirits, and also erected a statue of an iron bull to drive away monsters, but none of them had any effect.

When ordinary people are really desperate for things like this, they will think of ways to invite some eminent monks to come and perform the ritual. But before they can invite those cultivators, a white-haired old man from the village comes out to speak.

.

The old man, who was over seventy years old, was once a teacher in a private school. Although he was highly respected in the village and many people were his students, he only spent his whole life immersed in books and teaching students in the classroom. He did not even do divination.

I don’t know how to tell fortunes, let alone catch ghosts and drive away monsters for others.

Of course, the villagers refused to believe that how could an old gentleman, an old man with a poor knowledge of scriptures, no magic skills, and no clairvoyance, be able to figure out what kind of miraculous things were in the river?

The old gentleman who taught told everyone that he had a method that might help people avoid strange diseases while fishing...

Fortunately, the method he said does not require people to kill animals for worship, and does not require people to spend money to worship gods, so some people are willing to believe his words and give it a try!

The method taught by the old man is not to fish on sunny days and to set the net on cloudy days. That is to say, as long as it is cloudy and rainy, there will be no danger in fishing in the river; when the sky is red and the sun is shining brightly,

You are more likely to get strange diseases if you go fishing.

What does this mean? A general saying is that those ghosts and ghosts that harm people are more afraid of sunshine and righteousness. Is the old teacher already confused? Why does it make people avoid sunshine and avoid sunshine?

Anyway, since there is no sacrifice and no money, some people just listen to it and go down to the river to fish on rainy days. They should try to see if the old gentleman's words are effective.

What is incredible is that almost all those who go fishing in the river on a cloudy and rainy day are fine; while those who go fishing in the river on a sunny day will always get strange diseases!

At this time, although the people were puzzled, they had to accept it - facts are better than nonsense!

There were hundreds of people, all kinds of people. Although most of them admired the old gentleman with all their admiration, there were always some people who had the stubborn temper of accepting death.

So there are a few young people who firmly believe that negative things are afraid of the sun, so they go fishing in the river on sunny days and drink at home on rainy days. They just don't listen to the old gentleman.

The result is as you can imagine, those young people all got strange diseases one after another, and they were in agony and regretful...

However, sometimes it is cloudy for several weeks, and sometimes it is severe drought for several months. It is impossible for ordinary people to have to wait for rainy weather before going to the river to fish? If it is sunny for the first half of a month, they cannot hang out their nets every day and do nothing, right?

?

So some people began to ask the old gentleman for advice, asking him to cast spells to drive away monsters so that people could go fishing as they pleased every day.

The old gentleman shook his head repeatedly, saying that he only knew a few more words, and he had no magic skills, let alone exorcism and monsters. How could he know how to get rid of them?

Someone asked him, if that's the case, why do you, the old man, let everyone go fishing on rainy days? And if you do as you say, people who go into the water on rainy days do not get any strange diseases? You, old man, don't show your true face.

La!

The old teacher told everyone with a smile that he carefully understood the process and symptoms of people's strange diseases, and found that they were very similar to those recorded in ancient books, so he asked people to try it. The results were the same as what the ancients said, so

That's why people go fishing on rainy days - what the ancients said is true, don't deceive me!

The common people don't care about ancient books and hens, as long as they can go fishing in the river at any time without incident, everything else has nothing to do with them.

Later, the old man told everyone that there is another way to avoid getting strange diseases while fishing, but you need to be more careful. That is to go fishing in the river after sunset, and be sure to go ashore to rest after sunrise.

Fishing is important, safety is priceless, and although the people are reluctant, they have nothing to do.

For a long time since then, the people here have rested at home during the day when the weather was fine, and went to the river to fish at night. They could only go into the water during the day on cloudy and rainy days.

…………

As soon as Zhang Dabiao said this, Brother Dasha couldn't help but laugh: "Brother, brother, I have liked fishing in the water since I was a child. In addition, after entering the Communist Party, I traveled with the army for several years.

, I have never heard of such a strange thing. Do you think the water monsters here are like the farmers, they work at sunrise and rest at sunset? They sleep honestly at night and do not come out to harm others? "

"Hahahaha, it's so weird! You guys in the river not only finish work and go back to the cave to rest on time after the sun goes down, but also refuse to go out to work when it's cloudy and rainy. You really know how to enjoy it!" Brother Xiao Li!

Also laughing happily.

Platoon leader Huo also shook his head and expressed his confusion: "The most incomprehensible thing is that so many goddesses, who can't see through and solve things that can't be solved, let a teacher guess it. It's really incredible.

La!"

"Don't interrupt, don't interrupt, brothers! The world is full of wonders, you have to listen to Brother Zhang before talking about it," said Boss Liu, "Besides, many of the messy ghosts and ghosts are just mysteries on the surface.

Once the answer to the mystery is revealed, people will exclaim, 'That's it! So don't worry, let Brother Zhang explain it!"

"Haha, Battalion Commander Liu is right. After listening to me, the brothers will naturally understand what is going on!" Zhang Dabiao continued:

After all, fishing is inconvenient to do at night. Moreover, many fish lie at the bottom of the water to rest at night and do not come out to eat. So after a while, the people found the old teacher again.

This time, the old gentleman still resisted and said that he had no solution. The people thought that he must have a clear mind, but everyone did not give him any benefits of filial piety, so he refused to take action.

So someone expressed to him that as long as the old man solved the strange thing for everyone and allowed everyone to fish normally during the day, they were willing to take turns paying tribute and offering some fish and shrimp to the old man every day!

After hearing what he said, the old gentleman was so angry that his beard stood up. He said that he had been innocent all his life. How could he ignore the suffering of his neighbors for the sake of personal gain?

Then the old man simply threw out the answer to the riddle and talked about it. He said that it was recorded in the "Sou Shen Ji" written by Qian Bao of the Jin Dynasty that there was a monster in the water that could cause people to get strange diseases. It was called Shegong, also called Short Fox, and it specialized in lurking in the water. In the water, with fine sand in his mouth, he shoots at figures.

If someone is by the river or in the water, and their figure is thrown into the water, anyone whose figure is hit by it will suffer from a strange disease. Wherever the fine sand is shot, there will be unbearable pain in any part of the person's body. If it hits a vital part, it can even kill someone...

Moreover, it is clearly stated in "Shuowen Jiezi" that "a short fox is like a turtle, with three legs, and shoots with its energy to harm people." According to ancient records, I observed people's illness, so I thought that in this river The person who causes trouble and harms people is probably the kind of archer, that is, the short fox.

That's why I asked everyone to go fishing in the river on a cloudy and rainy day. There was no sun at that time, so the fishermen's figures would not be reflected in the water, and the archers would not be able to cause harm to others.

And everyone thinks that there are fewer cloudy days and more sunny days, so I boldly imagined that at night, there is still no sun, and the shadow of the moon is weak, so it should be okay. Fortunately, I guessed right, that's all... ...

No matter how the old gentleman who teaches explains it, at least the path he points to is correct.

But he was only inspired by ancient records and luckily guessed correctly, but there was no good way to completely solve the problem of shooting skills.

There is no other way. For the sake of safety, the common people have no choice but to fish at night and rest during the day, or they can only fish during the day on cloudy and rainy days.

After a period of time like this, things finally took a turn for the better.

At that time, a traveling monk was passing by. When we were praying in Dizi Wan'er, he saw that most of the people were sleeping. He was very curious - this place is not rich. Why don't the villagers do this on a sunny day? Fishing, not farming, but resting behind closed doors?

After understanding it, the monk sympathized with the people very much and told everyone that the archers in the river had committed many evil deeds and would surely prosper and then decline. There would be a calamity. All things in nature are interdependent, and they are no exception. It's just time. Just haven't arrived yet...

The common people have been suffering for so long, so they naturally hate those archers. Fortunately, they met an eminent monk today, and each of them begged the wandering monk for help in getting rid of the things causing trouble and harming people in the river.

The wandering monk was hesitant, saying that the ups and downs were determined, and everything in the world had natural enemies, but the doomsday disaster for those archers had not yet come, and if they were forcibly induced, it might bring hidden dangers.

The common people suffered deeply from the shooters, especially the fishermen whose family members were killed by the shooters. They hated the shooters so much that they couldn't care less about the hidden dangers. If you have a headache, treat your head, and if your feet hurt, treat your feet! As long as They are able to destroy those hateful shooters, but they are willing to do so even if they have some side effects - medicine is three parts poison, after all, even those good medicines for treating diseases have side effects!

The whole village basically agrees to eradicate the shooters so that the common people can take revenge and grudges, and they can fish normally during the day. As for whether there are hidden dangers or not, they can't care so much!

So the monk hesitated for a long time, and finally couldn't bear people's requests and agreed to do something to get rid of the harm.
To be continued...