In our caravan caravan gang, there have always been fewer horses than those in Yunnan, so most of them are used as foot power, Ding Sanye knew that we were from the Wuling Mountains, and there were fewer horses on weekdays, so he chose a few more docile horses for a few of us.

Zheduo Mountain is known as the first pass of Kham, the altitude is quite high, the mountains and ravines are dense, the mountains are vertical and horizontal, fortunately we listened to the words of the Tibetan elder sister of the pot village and bought a lot of warm clothes, otherwise we would not have to freeze to death in this barren mountain range.

This Ding Sanye is a very talkative person, and today is the first day of going out, so he chatted with us about some customs of their horse gang.

In fact, the main task of this horse gang is also a profession that relies on various natural celestial phenomena to eat, and we have some similarities with Kanyu, except that the things they see have the visions of wind, air, clouds, rainbows, fog, frost, snow, dew, and thunder, while our main observation is air, water, mountains, and stars.

Ding Sanye walked all the way and told us all the way, such as "red clouds wrap Beidou, people and horses dry oil, white clouds cover Beidou, ice and snow freeze stone mortar." There is also black gas at night, a morning swimming air dragon, red gas blocking the road, yellow gas hidden bridge, purple gas covering the mountain, ink covering the sky, belonging to the rainstorm anomaly. ”

I found that at that time, all walks of life could use looking, smelling, asking and cutting to summarize a set of industry routines, such as the hope of the ghosts and immortals is to look at feng shui, smell is to find the smell in the soil, ask is to step on the plate more, and cut is to dig wells.

Ding Sanye also has a set of theories about their industry, listening to the wind, pinching the fog, tasting the rain, and smelling the snow. Listening to the wind is to tree a horse flag in an open wilderness, and listen to the movement of the flag in the dead of night, such as when the flag swings loudly, it is the air humidity is light, which is a sign of sunny weather, and the horse flag is speechless, which proves that the humidity in the air is high, which is a harbinger of rainfall.

Pinching the fog is to wave a few times in the fog, and then clench and release your fist to check the fog beads to judge the weather.

If the rain is sweet and cold, it is a rainy day, but the taste is slightly salty and wet, which is a sign that the medicine will turn clear.

Ding Sanye said again: "This snow water is fishy, spicy, sour, and it will be sunny in three days. ”

I heard it again and again. After all, these are ordinary natural phenomena, but in the eyes of experienced people, they can become a set of natural laws, which are subtle and subtle.

I just combined what I had learned and asked, "Third Master Ding, what do you think of the sun, moon and stars?" ”

Ding Sanye smiled proudly: "This point is hot, for example, the day before yesterday, the day before yesterday, the moon halo wore a hat, that is, there was a flood on the second day, and the road was closed by heavy snow, I called the horse gang to walk all the way that night, and the next day, the road in Daxiangling collapsed." ”

I asked for some things such as moonlight, moon halo, and solar astigmatism, and Ding Sanye didn't have any reservations, and explained everything in detail.

We were amazed to hear it.

Ding Sanye was also a little surprised to see that I was also extremely familiar with the stars, and asked, "Brother, I see that you are young, why are you so familiar with these things?" ”

I smiled and said, "Don't hide it from the third master, I am a Tujia family in Wuling Mountain, and I rely on this thing to eat." ”

Ding Sanye said curiously: "Rely on this to eat?" I don't get it. ”

I said, "I'm the Tujia Tima, which is similar to the Onmyoji you said. Our Tujia people look at feng shui, which is mainly based on the evolution of astrological astrology in ancient times, so it is not very different from some methods in the mainland. ”

Ding Sanye nodded and said, "So that's the case." So what are you doing in a bitter cold place like Xikang? ”

I can't say it explicitly, so I can only lie: "My uncle is engaged in geological exploration, recently in this area of exploration, wrote to me about some of the customs here, I am very interested, we have not been far away, this time mainly to come here to play." ”

Ding Sanye whispered: "Now is the troubled times, you have to be careful." More than ten years ago, Zhao Erfeng (the governor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty) made relations very tense here. Although it is now the Republic of China, the relationship is still a bit stiff. ”

I wondered, "Isn't this more than ten years ago?" ”

Ding Sanye said: "Zhao Erfeng has to say two, after the old man took office, he forbade the Tusi, the head, and the temple to lend usury, and abolished the privileges of these people, and also abolished the Ula labor (serfs for the government or the head of the labor service) to abolish it, some people read him well, but he also killed people without blinking, in the first year of Xuantong, Batang rebelled, Zhao Erfeng led people to Tibet, and burned a lot of lama temples along the way. As you know, the Tibetans believe in Buddhism, and then the relationship became more and more stiff. In recent years, the Republic of China has been republicized, and the big places in Tibet are still much better, but there are still some small places that often have a little friction. ”

I said, "I see. ”

Ding Sanye said: "Then where are you going this time?" ”

I took out the map and showed it to Ding Sanye, who frowned after reading the map and said, "Didn't Father Sheringham tell you where it was?" ”

I said, "The priest told us that it was no man's land. ”

Ding Sanye was silent for a long time and said: "It's not just a no-man's land, I passed by there in my early years, there is a demon city there!" ”

"Demon City?!" We were all shocked.

Ding Sanye said: "I advise you not to go. ”

I asked, "Is the third master joking?" ”

Ding Sanye glared and said, "What am I kidding, I'm dozens of years old, what are you kidding with your little babies?" ”

Ding Sanye pulled the reins and said, "Anyway, the road is idle, I'll put it for you, my personal experience at this time." ”

Ding Sanye took out his cigarette pouch, took the tobacco and put it in the smoke pot, struck a match and lit it, and then took a few puffs.

Then said: "When this happened, it was still a matter of the Qing Dynasty, my family has been running on this road for generations, I was 13 years old with my old man (father) to learn to drive horses, at the beginning I can only drive one, adults have to drive four or five horses at that time, when the horse rests, I also have to play the whole saddle frame, chaff bag these."

I'm a good person, diligent, and quick learner, and within a few years I've learned almost all the things on the road. That time was still the sixteenth or seventeenth year of Guangxu, that is, the year when Shengtai entered Tibet to negotiate with the British, and that time we were like this time, hundreds of yaks, mules and horses, seventy or eighty people and guns went to Qamdo.

That time after Daofu, Daofu is seven stations away from Kangding, is the largest county in Kangbei, in the northeast is the Dangling Snow Mountain, those days the weather is abnormal, only in September there is continuous snowfall, mules and horses can not cross the snow mountain, we only in Daofu and wait for the snow to go away.

One night that day, a guy named Wang Sheng came to ask me where the old man had gone, I said that I was drunk tonight, and had fallen asleep, Wang Sheng said that there were more than a dozen yaks who didn't know what was going on, and they were frightened, broke free from the reins and ran away, and saw that the footprints were towards the Dangling Snow Mountain.

I was shocked, you know, yaks are a lot of wealth, and a dozen yaks have run away, this is not a trivial matter, I immediately called seven or eight men, and rode horses to chase along the footprints into the snowy mountains. ”

Ding Sanye spat out thick phlegm, knocked the cigarette pouch on his leather boots, and continued: "It is snowing heavily in the sky, and the wind on the plateau makes us all unstable, but we can't help it, we can only find it all the way in the snow, the snow is a little heavy, and the footprints are quickly covered by the heavy snow."

We got lost in that snowy mountain. At that time, it was already the second half of the night, we were cold and tired, you know, on this plateau, people are angry with old fire (difficult), and this snow-capped mountain is very high, seeing that the torches are about to be used, and then a guy said, let's find a place to burn the fire and hide for a night, don't find the yaks when they arrive, we are all frozen to death in this old forest.

I think so, the wind blew that night and it hurt on my face like a horsewhip. So a few of us found a col and built a bonfire to get through the night.

Later, the wood was almost burned, and I said that I would go out and collect some firewood, and it would be good to burn when it was dry.

I went out of the col alone to the forest to collect firewood, at this moment, I faintly heard the sound of a cow barking from behind the forest, I was happy, the firewood was not hugged, I picked up the torch and followed the sound to find it, but no matter how far I walked, I heard the sound of the cow barking in front of me, and I walked in the forest all the way along.

At that time, I was still too young to think too much, and by the time I reacted, I couldn't find my way back, and there was a white expanse all around, and I couldn't see the footprints clearly.

At this time, suddenly I saw a man standing on the top of the cliff in front of me, wearing a white robe and a feather hat on his head, that person was standing on the top of the cliff, not moving, the snow was so heavy, I was shivering with cold in a leather robe, this person didn't seem to feel cold at all.

I shouted loudly at the bottom of the mountain: "Brother, do you see my yak? ? ”

I shouted five or six times in a row, but the man didn't react at all, I thought maybe it was too windy up there for him to hear, and I shook the torch at him again, but he still didn't respond.

I thought it was strange, and I climbed up the slope down the cliff, only to see that the man was still standing there and not moving.

The wind blew me so much that I couldn't stand on my feet, and he didn't shake it like a fast stone on the tuyere, and he wore very little.

I wondered if this person had died of cold in there.

I was about to go over and take a look, when the man suddenly turned his head and startled me.