Yangzhou has been a famous historical and cultural city since ancient times. On the north bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, at the southern end of the Jianghuai Plain, it is known as "the best place in Zhuxi, the famous capital of Huaizuo". In this way, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty dug a grand canal in order to view the Qionghua, which went directly to Yangzhou, so that the prosperity of Yangzhou was charming, and the fragrance of the Qionghua spread all over the world. Du Mu once spent the first ten years of his career here, and wrote "the dream of Yangzhou in ten years, winning the name of Qinglou Bo Xing".

If you compare the cities with strict curfews in the Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou may be the only place in the empire where the lights are still on at night. The lights are bright and gorgeous, the music can be heard everywhere, the canals run through the whole city, the sound of oars and lights, the singing and dancing of the green buildings, a hedonic consumer city, far away from politics, there is only life here. Du Mu's poetic soul makes this ancient city full of romantic cultural atmosphere.

At this time, Meng Ming's family went out of the post station, and Yelu Yanni, Kou Shan'er and Lu Yunxi also followed, which made Meng Ming a little unhappy. When everyone arrived at the ten-mile long street, they saw the shops on both sides of the market, and the shops on both sides of the street were lined up one after another, with colorful flags and waves; Seeing these scenes, I felt that the deep atmosphere of prosperity was rushing towards me, giving Meng Ming the feeling of being in Tokyo.

Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Hu Shiyun: "Ten miles of long streets and markets, and the gods are seen on the Yueming Bridge." Life is only in Yangzhou to die, and Zen Zhishan is a good cemetery. The sound of the women behind Meng Ming, all of them looked like fairies, which attracted the people on the street to stop and watch, and a few scholars were so fascinated that they looked like a pig brother, and the onlookers gathered more and more. Meng Ming had no choice but to let them get into the car, so as not to cause chaos.

When you arrive in Yangzhou, you can't help but go to Slender West Lake, which is in the northwest corner of Yangzhou, and the railway passes through its south. Meng Ming and the others came to Slender West Lake. The water area of the West Lake, north to the foot of Shugang Mountain of Daming Temple, to the south to Xichun Tai is divided into two branches, one southwest through the four bridges to pass the Artemisia Grass River, one to the east to the Xiaojin Mountain complex divided into two branches, one from the north of the Xiaojin Mountain through the Changchun Bridge to the Friendship Bridge through the Chao River, one from the small Jin Mountain along the long causeway Chunliu south to the big Hongqiao through the West Gate Erdao River, about 3.3 kilometers long. Among them, Daming Temple, Shugangxia - Chuntai - Lotus Bridge - Xiaojin Mountain - Dahongqiao is the main water area where the scenery is concentrated. The water is crystal clear.

The embankment of the Slender West Lake is meandering, the lake surface is long and narrow and thin, so it is called "Slender West Lake", first see a long lake embankment, the tourists on it are like weaving, the embankment is about 200 zhang (more than 600 meters) long, three steps and one peach, five steps and one willow, and the peach and willow are intertwined. At this time, in early summer, the flowers are colorful, and the willows are graceful and dancing, flying like smoke. Legend has it that Emperor Yang Guangwei of the Sui Dynasty went to Yangzhou and ordered the excavation of the North-South Grand Canal. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty also planted a willow tree with his own hands and gave the surname "Yang", and later people called the willow tree "Yang Willow". This is the famous scenic spot of Slender West Lake: "Long Causeway Spring Willow".

There is a dock on the shore of the lake not far away, and there are large peach trees planted around it, and the peach blossoms have already withered at a glance, and now it seems that it is normal, but here is the famous peach blossom dock, if it comes in spring in March, it is the time when the peach blossoms are in full bloom, and now it is just a missed flowering period.

Meng Ming walked through Taohuawu and saw a large island in the center of the lake, which is the "Little Golden Mountain" Island, which is the largest island in the Slender West Lake, and the largest island in the Slender West Lake, and also the most densely built place on the lake. The wind pavilion, the blowing platform, the piano room, the Muxi Book House, the chess room, and the moon view are all concentrated here. The wind pavilion on Xiaojin Mountain can be climbed high and look far away; The moon view under the small gold mountain is the most suitable to enjoy the moon by the railing. Looking eastward, you can see an antique building standing among the lush flowers and trees; Ascend the building here and overlook, you can vaguely see four of the 24 bridges in the mist and rain: Dahong Bridge, Changchun Bridge, Chunbo Bridge, and Lotus Bridge; Looking west from Xiaojin Mountain, I saw a long causeway stretching into the lake, and there was an ancient pavilion at the end of the causeway - Futai, also known as "Diaoyutai".

The Twenty-Four Bridges are also quite famous, the "Twenty-Four Bridges" comes from the poem of the famous poet Du Mu in the Tang Dynasty, "The green mountains are hidden in the water, and the grass in the south of the Yangtze River has not withered in autumn; On the moonlit night of the twenty-four bridges, where does the jade teach". The 24 bridges are composed of the sail plank road, the single-hole arch bridge, the nine-curved bridge and the blowing Xiao Pavilion, the jade ribbon arch bridge in the middle is 24 meters long and 2.4 meters wide, there are 24 steps on the upper and lower sides of the bridge, and 24 white jade railings and 24 railings are enclosed.

There is a very beautiful legend about the Twenty-four Bridges: because when Emperor Yang of Sui was in Yangzhou, he led twenty-three beauties to blow the flute and admire the moon on this bridge one night, and he himself happened to be twenty-four people, so he ordered this bridge to be the Twenty-four Bridge. There is also a theory that there were once 24 bridges in this area, so it is called the Twenty-Four Bridges.

Meng Ming was squatting by the lake with Xiao Xiangqi in his arms at this time, playing with him in the water, Xiao Xiangqi was so happy that he "giggled" and laughed, Meng Ming's mood was also very good, and his smile was bright. Meng Ming didn't know at this time that many tourists, especially some women, looked at him curiously, because at this time, people felt that children should be taken care of by women, and men, especially men from wealthy families, would be criticized for taking care of children outside. Seeing the abnormal eyes of the tourists around her, Jade Cicada suddenly felt that something was wrong, and at this time Kou Shan'er went to her and whispered to her: "Sister, you bring Xiangqi back, Brother Ming coaxes the child, it will cause criticism." Hearing this, the jade cicada hurriedly went over and hugged Xiangqi back. Meng Ming felt a little inexplicable.

After Meng Ming and the others toured, they felt a little tired, so they found the director's pavilion and sat on the bench to rest. The sky began to change from sunny to overcast, and I saw that the dark clouds on the east side of the sky began to gather, and the cool breeze gradually rose. Meng Ming saw a few bushes outside the pavilion, the branches were wide, the crown was spherical, and it was full of flowers, the flowers were as big as plates, white as jade, and crystal clear. Meng Ming didn't know this flower, so he asked all the women present, most of whom didn't know each other.

Among them, Kou Shan'er said: "I have been wandering around with my father since I was a child, and I have been to Yangzhou for a period of time, and I only heard that the favorite flower of Yangzhou people is Qionghua, saying that this flower is white and elegant, and I think it is Qionghua." ”

Meng Ming also remembered at this time that in Yangzhou in later generations, Qionghua was used as the city flower. When everyone was discussing this flower, they didn't notice that the rain had begun to fall outside the pavilion, and finally it gradually became heavier. Tourists began to panic to find a place to shelter from the rain, two of them women ran towards the pavilion, just ran in, saw the rain hit, the two of them only looked down to arrange their clothes, did not find anyone inside.

One of the women in yellow said: "Sister, I came to Yangzhou for the first time, and I heard that Yangzhou's Slender West Lake and Twenty-four Bridges are the most famous. ”

Another woman in white persuaded: "Sister don't mind, there is a lot of rain in Yangzhou this season, and there is a cloud drifting, and it may rain for a while, isn't this the case in Hangzhou?" ”

The woman in yellow listened and said, "My sister is right, I will be in love then." ”

Meng Ming and the others were awakened by the sound of rapid rain at this time, and they had noticed two women, who were facing away from them at this time, and they couldn't see their faces for a while.

At this time, Kou Shan'er said: "Meng Dacaizi, today's beautiful scenery is picturesque, accompanied by beautiful women, why don't you chant a song." ”

Lu Yunxi also echoed on the side: "Hurry up and chant, hurry up and chant." Meng Ming felt funny when he heard the word "chanting" at this time.

So Meng Ming laughed and said: "Little Lady Kou and Little Lady Lu, it's not good to listen to obscene words, this is a flowery word", the two didn't hear Meng Ming's teasing. shouted "Chant, chant...", Meng Ming reminded him twice, and finally Zhao Mingyue couldn't listen to it anymore, so she stepped forward and twisted Meng Ming.

It only hurt so much that Meng Ming shouted: "Lady let go, it's wrong for her husband." ”

The two didn't know what they meant, and after thinking about it for a while, they suddenly understood the meaning of Meng Ming's ridicule, and their little faces suddenly turned red, like a big apple.

Meng Ming didn't tease the two of them anymore, so he copied a song from Su Shi's "Water Dragon Yin": "

It seems to be a flower or a non-flower, and no one regrets to follow the teaching. Leaving home on the road, thinking about it is, ruthless and thoughtful. Haunting and soft intestines, sleepy and delicate eyes, wanting to open and close. The dream follows the wind for thousands of miles, looking for a place to go, and is still called by the warbler.

I don't hate this flower flying away, I hate the West Garden, and it's hard to embellish the red. After the rain, where is the trace? A pool of crushed pinch. Spring is three parts, two parts of dust, and one part of water. Looking at it carefully, it is not Yang Hua, it is a little bit of tears. ”