Today in the capital, we have the warmest sunny day since the beginning of spring, and the streets are extremely lively.
Turning south from Erlang Temple Square on the east side of Dengshikou Street is Miaoyou Hutong, and facing west is Miaoqian Hutong. This is the most famous cricket fighting place in the capital.
Cricket is also known as promoting weaving. The game of cricket fighting originated in the Tang Dynasty and became popular in the Southern Song Dynasty. Jia Sidao, the traitor of Lizong in the Song Dynasty, was an expert in this field. He once wrote a special book "Promoting Weaving" on weaving.
The aspects of classification, color identification, catching, conditioning and fighting skills are explained in detail.
After the fall of the Song Dynasty and the rise of the Yuan Dynasty, the game spread from Hangzhou to Yanjing. After the death of the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, especially after Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Yanjing, the game of cricket fighting became popular in the capital, which was filled with nobles, nobles, gentlemen Qi Wan and even dandy men.
It has lasted for two hundred years without deterioration.
Especially in the reign of Xuanzong, this play reached its peak. When Xuanzong heard that the ground in Suzhou produced high-quality crickets, he secretly ordered Kuang Zhong, the prefect of Suzhou, to capture a thousand of them and send them to the capital. As the saying goes, if something is good for the superior, it will be better for the inferior.
Suddenly, crickets were a rare commodity in Suzhou. Wu Bian of the Suzhou Guards, the reward for catching a cricket was as much as beheading a prisoner.
There was once a Weizhong primary school who was good at catching crickets. Because he caught a lot of crickets, he was awarded the position of one hundred households in the guard house. It was an unprecedented miracle. The cricket basin in the Xuande kiln also became a treasure among porcelain. Legend
Nowadays, pots of only five feet each are worth hundreds of taels of silver. At that time, a ballad was written about this. The song goes: To promote the weaving of Qu Qu, Emperor Xuande wants it. All department stores are cheap, and the cricket pots are pretty.
Due to Xuanzong's promotion, after the autumn in the capital, every household was catching and weaving, and fighting and weaving farms were everywhere. An Jingxian, a native of She County who was an official in the capital, wrote a song called "Song of Watching Crickets"
, specializes in the grand occasion of the capital's struggle and organization.
After the Longqing Dynasty, although the fighting activities in the capital were not as grand as those in the previous dynasties, when the weather got warmer, gambling was still open and half the city went crazy. The alley in front of the temple was where the fighting activities in the capital were most concentrated. It was a small street.
, house to house, door to door, are all Kuzhi fighting grounds. Therefore, over time, people forgot the original name of Miaoqian Hutong, and called it Rikuzhi Hutong directly.
On this night, at the turn of the lunar calendar, the lights in the Chuzhi Alley were bright and there was a huge crowd. There were more than 30 Douchu weaving shops on the street, and each one was full of people. The largest Douchi weaving shop among them was called "Feiteng"
building".
There is a screen wall at the entrance. Go around the screen wall and then enter a door, which is a five-couplet hall, which is the main fighting arena. There is a short redwood table and three chairs in the middle, and the masters of the two main fighting parties sit opposite each other.
Sitting in the middle is the shop's tooth man, who plays the role of referee. There are many long benches around, one level above the other from the inside to the outside, all prepared for the audience.
There are many separate rooms in the two verandas and upstairs, which are reserved for those with status. They can drink and have fun here, and they can also fight with each other. If the fighting in the main hall starts
, they will even participate in betting.
It should be noted that all the people who enter the Cuizhi Market are gamblers who have brought money to attend the market. If most of the gamblers in the other stores on Cuozhi Street are ordinary people, then this Feiteng Building is a place where huge sums of money are spent on gambling. Zeng
Many people have become rich overnight here, but many more people have ended up losing everything.
The person setting up the ring in the Feiteng Building tonight is a man named Wang Dengbang. Judging from the name, his father must have hoped that he could study hard and become a member of the gold list in the future. However, at this moment, his nickname is "King of Promoting Weaving".
It seems that there is no hope of being on the list. But just by hearing this nickname, you can tell that he is promoting the fame of the school.
Wang Dengbang has lived in the capital for generations. He has been naughty and wild since he was a child. After three years of private school, he can't even recite "Hundred Family Surnames". However, when it comes to digging out bird's nests, catching dragonflies, training dogs, catching mice, etc., he can do it all.
They are all experts. Ever since he started playing with weaving when he was nine years old, he couldn't stop it. He simply skipped school and devoted himself to tinkering with this bug. His parents had no choice but to let him go.
When Wang Dengbang was fifteen years old, he brought straw cages, bamboo tubes and cricket pots to the streets to fight. Although it was a small fight, he won more and lost less. After more than ten years of experience, he finally became a "
With the title of "King of Chuzhi", there is no other person in the capital who can compare with him. With this skill, he actually accumulated tens of thousands of wealth and became the revered Uncle Wang in Chuzhi Hutong.
The hour of Unity is over, the lights in the Feiteng Building are bright, and there are crowds of people. But the three chairs next to the mahogany table in the hall are still empty. For no other reason, just because Wang Dengbang competes here and has won twelve games in a row. The capital
Many masters who did not believe in evil, both inside and outside, were defeated, and a lot of money flowed into Wang Dengbang's pocket. Now no one dares to challenge him.
The tooth man in the store was afraid that he would be cold. He stood in front of the mahogany table and twitched his nose and shouted loudly: "Masters in front of us, Uncle Wang said that everyone who challenges the battle tonight will give up his head. You say
What kind of concession is this? Ha, as long as the insect king you tamed can bite his 'Golden Winged Eagle', even if it only loses its legs, wings, or teeth, any of these will happen.
, even if your precious insect dies in battle, it will count as the loser for Uncle Wang, and you will be able to get one hundred taels of silver from Uncle Wang. Tell me, is this a big deal?"
"big!"
"Is Uncle Wang very generous?"
"big!"
All the gamblers roared together, the sound was like thunder.
Yalang shouted again: "Okay! Then, who will come out to challenge?"
There was silence in the hall again.
Everyone sitting on the bench knows Wang Dengbang's unparalleled skills. Who is willing to be fooled by this?
Seeing no one said anything, Yalang ran into the first elegant room on the right side of the hall, where the "King of Promoting Weavers" Wang Dengbang sat leisurely.
Not long after, Ya Lang came out again and shouted again: "I have asked Uncle Wang for instructions to increase the lottery prize to one hundred and twenty taels. Who will take the challenge?"
Some people began to whisper in the crowd, but still no one answered.
Yalang became anxious and his nose became sniffled even more. He shouted louder: "One hundred and fifty taels."
Still no one answered.
"One hundred and eighty taels."
"One hundred and ninety taels!"
"Two-hundred-two!"
Yalang kept raising the stakes, and the crowd began to commotion. These gamblers were all here for money. After hearing about this huge fortune, who could not be tempted? For a moment, there were only some people with green eyes.
Yes, some had red cheeks, some were whispering to each other, and some were gearing up. But despite being excited, no one had the courage to stand up.
But this tooth man was so sharp that he teased people's hearts: "Gentlemen, you have already seen those war bugs of Uncle Wang. Are you really invincible? You all embroidered your own bamboo tubes and straw cages.
Hold the basket and take a closer look, maybe there is a Sun Dasheng in it who can win these two hundred taels of silver. The two hundred taels of silver are just white, my man!"
