The utensils used to raise fighting crickets are called cricket pots, also known as cricket jars. Cricket jars are made of porcelain, pottery, 'jade', stone and lacquerware. And the most valuable are porcelain and pottery. The earliest cricket jars were fired by the imperial kilns and official kilns designated by the emperor, and were used exclusively for the royal family as tribute, and were rarely passed on to the people. The cricket jars fired by the imperial kiln and the official kiln are extremely fine and varied. After Zhu Zhanji of Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, the varieties of 'flowers' and 'colors' of cricket jars became more varied, and the names of the producers were also engraved on the bottom of the jars in the form of seals. The production process of cricket cans is divided into two schools in the north and south, the northern cans are rougher, the walls are thicker, the shape is single, and the "flower" pattern is less; while the southern cans are complex in shape, the "flower" pattern is more, and the workmanship is extremely "fine".

There was a saying among the old antique dealers in Beijing Liulichang: "Six 'jade' cricket jars can be exchanged for a pair of Daoguang official kiln pastel dragon and phoenix bowls." "Don't underestimate this small cricket jar, it can best reflect the value of the cricket owner, since ancient times the famous cricket jar made by the cricket jar is worth a lot of money, which is made by Zhao Zi 'jade' in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China is worth one hundred and eighty oceans.

In the field of cricket jar collection, there is such a ranking: Yongle Guanyao, Zhaozi 'Jade', Danyuan Master, Jingxuan Master, Red Cheng Pulp, White Cheng Pulp. Because the Yongle official kiln and the Zhaozi 'jade' cricket jar are difficult to see in the current market, the cricket jar of the Ming Dynasty has become a treasure. At present, the earliest surviving cricket jar should be the "Ming Xuande Year Imitation Song Jia's Treasure Drunk Tea Idiot Secret Make" cricket jar now in the Chinese History Museum.

The earliest surviving cricket jar should be the "Ming Xuande Year Imitation Song Jia's Treasure Drunk Tea Idiot Secret Make" cricket jar now in the Chinese History Museum. This cricket jar is made of clay pottery, with a height of 14. 7 cm, diameter 16 cm, the square Yang seal book stamp in the cover "imitation Song Jia's treasure to play drunk tea idiot secret system" 12 characters, divided into four lines, neat and ancient. The rectangular figure inside the bottom has the six characters of the official book "Xuande Year System of the Ming Dynasty", decorated with a double-line long main frame, and there are double dragons playing with beads up and down, and the dragon pattern is very similar to the dragon pattern painted by the Xuande imperial national treasure ink, Xuande blue 'flower' porcelain and Xuande copper furnace. The texture of this utensil is delicate, light yellow and elegant, and the production is 'fine'. The pottery cricket jar of the Ming Dynasty can be handed down is extremely rare, so this vessel is really a rare treasure.

In ancient times, porcelain jars were used to raise crickets, and in modern times, mud jars are usually used. Deng Zhicheng's "Bone Dong Trivia" said: "Make Cheng mud inkstone, sew the silk bag in Fen water, and then take it out after more than a year, the fine sand and mud has been solid, the pottery is the inkstone, and the water does not dry up." "The slurry mud jar is also like the mud inkstone, delicate, moisturizing, the air permeability 'sex' can be good, the water permeability 'sex' can be moderate, the inner and outer walls of the tank are smooth, and the crickets' claws are not hurt, compared with the porcelain jar, the 'jade' jar, the stone jar, the cage, the gourd and other utensils, which are more suitable for the survival of crickets. The cricket jar can be roughly divided into the northern Beijing-style jar and the southern Soviet-style jar, and the vessel type has a round can, a square can, a hexagonal can, an octagonal can, a bamboo can, and a pumpkin-shaped can; the lid has a flat lid, a sitting lid, and a flying lid, which are divided into two kinds of eyes and no eyes; the bottom has a flat bottom and a concave bottom; the foot shape has round feet, animal feet, three-legged to six-legged and so on. The best products in the cricket jar, the 'fine' of refining mud, and the absolute production, are not inferior to famous porcelain, purple sand and other works of art, which have survived to this day and are precious.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Wanli Zhang and the Qing Dynasty Zhaozi 'jade' made cricket jars are the most rare and the most valuable. For example, a piece of Zhao Zi's 'jade' made cricket jar in the Kangxi year of the Qing Dynasty, made of clay pottery, the 'color' is as light as mung bean, the production is 'fine' and regular, the texture is smooth and delicate, and the tank is made of very solid and flat rammed earth as the bottom. There is a rectangular Yangwen double-line printing frame in the cover, and the Yangwen regular script in the frame is "Guyan Zhaozi 'Jade' made" six characters, and the font is round and neat. There is a rectangular Yangwen double-line printing frame outside the bottom, there are six characters in the Yangwen regular script "Kangxi Year System of the Qing Dynasty" in the frame, the outside of the jar is packed with a blue cloth box, the set is pasted with a red "color" paper sticker, the ink book on it is "A word, green clay thirteen cans" words, this inscription shows that it is one of the precious famous products made by Zhao Zi's "jade" and "fine" heart, "green clay" is its variety, "A word thirteen cans" is its grade and number, so that people feel precious. The famous TV host Zhao Zhongxiang once collected the cricket jars made by Zhao Zi's 'jade'.

I have to say that Xu Yang's knowledge is really profound, or this is also because of his super memory, everyone listened to Xu Yang's eloquent talk about the history of the gourd and the cricket jar, Wang Xiaozi also had to admire, how old Xu Yang is, what a talent this is, some people say that genius is one percent of the talent, plus ninety-nine percent of the effort, but without that one percent, some people will not have any high achievements even if they work hard for a lifetime.

Just like Xu Yang, he is a talented, lucky and hard-working person. If such a person does not succeed, then he is a ghost. So Wang Xiaozi also has the heart of 'friendship', to be honest, at the beginning, he also regarded Xu Yang and Wang Fatzi as the juniors of Yang Lao and Dongfang Rui, and he was more or less contemptuous, and now he completely put it away and said:

"Brother Xu Yang, admire, I really saw it today, with Brother Xu Yang's age having such an achievement, he will be a generation of famous people in the future. Although this is a bit exaggerated, Yang Lao and the others know that Wang Xiaozi's words will definitely be experimented, and it may not take much to see it.

"Brother Wang, don't hold me, or I'll float. If I really had those two moments, what else would I say. It also happened that I saw it, and I really got two of them with you. "He doesn't get angry at Xu picking up a not too small leak in his store, Ben's is a thing that happens often, and he flickers out more things than he picks up and loses.

"It's your job to pick up the leak, and it has nothing to do with me. Okay! You see if there is anything you like, and you will be given a purchase price in a while, and then we will go out to eat!" Yang Lao and Dongfang Rui glanced at each other, with an inexplicable smile in their eyes. Both of them have lived a lot of young people's 'fine', and there are some things that they can't be sure of. I just don't say it.

"If you want to say that there is no that, it's really fake, Brother Wang, I still have a few things in the truth, I'm afraid that you are reluctant to part with love!" Xu Yang said with a smile, just now when he said those things about the gourd, he had already seen what he wanted with his ability. No matter how shocked he was in his heart, he behaved very naturally, and now Xu Yang has not learned to pretend to be 'forced' to learn ten out of ten!

"Okay, man, what do you want to say? "Everything here is put there, in fact, the reason why this Boss Wang dares to say this is that the first is that he himself has eyesight, and the second is that he also makes people see it when he is holding the goods, so of course he has a bottom in his heart. The price has already been set, even if he doesn't make money, he can't make himself lose money.

"That's okay! I'll be a villain, I fancy these swords and swords, to be honest, I liked to play with these swords when I was a child, and now I will have an inexplicable liking for these things, so I want to buy a few back, I originally had two good ones at home, but I lost them for some reason!" Xu Yang's words didn't say it, it's okay, Yang Lao wanted to eliminate him when he said it, and he was embarrassed to say that his things didn't have it if it weren't for his impulse.

"Wang boy doesn't have to be polite to this guy, give me a black death, he has money!" Dongfang Rui said with a smile.

"Okay! I'm going to sharpen my sword!" A few people joked, Xu Yang stood up and walked to the pile of swords to buy, Xu Yang just took it in his hand and looked at it twice, and then pretended to be 'forced' to brush two, and soon picked out three swords and one knife. That's enough! The three swords and one sword are all 'spirit' gods, and they are indeed collectible, but there is an ancient sword supreme treasure in it.

Wang Xiaozi asked for dinner, on the one hand, because it was late, and secondly, he wanted to make friends with these people. , but on the contrary, it is even hotter 'door', and everyone knows what's going on. However, Xu Yang is now more anxious about what he just received. Hurry back to the appraisal!

"I don't want this today. Brother Wang, you see that I still have my wife at home. So not today, the most important thing is that I am the head of this 'exchange' meeting, so I have to go to see how many people have been going to see every night these days, and there are still some things that need to be counted, so let's wait for the end of this 'exchange' meeting, how about I have a treat?"

Wang Xiaozi heard Xu Yang's words, and heard Xu Yang's explanation in such detail, and knew that Xu Yang was not perfunctory, but after hearing that Xu Yang was the head of this 'exchange' meeting, he was stunned for a moment, and immediately remembered some of the inside stories of this 'exchange' meeting that circulated in the circle. I was also a little indignant in my heart.

"That's okay! Brother said so, I can't say anything, I heard that this 'exchange' will be very grand, if there is a place that can be used for me, just say it, if nothing else, I still have a few national treasure-level things in my hand. ”

It's interesting enough to say this, Xu Yang and he met for the first time, and he actually said that he had a national treasure-level object, and he also wanted to help Xu Yang top. Whether to borrow or not, Xu Yang has to be the other party's love. People have this in mind.

"Hehe! Brother Wang's kindness is in my heart. But at present, it is quite enough, I know what Brother Wang means, and I will not be polite to you. Don't worry, if you really need to say anything, I'm not a polite person!"

Anyway, Xu Yang is still very rewarding when he comes out to play today, not only in terms of antiques, but also in terms of contacts, Xu Yang also wants to come to the field more in the future, there are really a lot of good things here, and they are not obtained from sweat, all from the water.

Everyone sat for a while and helped to identify the things, Wang Xiaozi also had a heart, and did not give money, but according to each person, he gave a gadget, saying that it was a gadget, and it would cost hundreds of thousands to go to the market.

When I went back, everyone sat in the car and was very sure of this person. Xu Yang did not go back to the hotel with Yang Lao and the others, but he returned to the place where he lived. What he and Yang Lao are talking about is that they have relatives here and live in their relatives' homes.

Back at home, several 'women' were sitting on the sofa watching TV, eating snacks in their mouths. Seeing Xu Yang coming back with a wooden box, of course David brought it in. Yang Yahui looked at Xu Yang and said, "Husband, what did you buy again?"

"Hehe, I bought a few sword antiques. Are you interested in watching it together?" Xu Yang's words made Yang Yahui immediately lose interest, and pouted and said. "Not interested!"

Xu Yang also ignored a few 'female' people, and returned to the room by himself, the reason why Xu Yang was anxious this time was very simple, he really picked up a leak, and it was still a shocking leak, because among these swords that Xu Yang has now received in his hand, there is a really good sword. A peerless sword. One of the legendary ten famous swords, a noble sword - Seven-Star Longyuan, also known as Seven-Star Longquan Sword.

One of the top ten famous swords in ancient China, it is a sword of integrity and nobility. Legend has it that it was forged by Ou Yezi's great swordsman. In order to cast this sword, Ou Yezi chiseled Kaici Mountain, released the stream water in the mountain, and led it to the seven pools next to the sword-casting furnace into the Big Dipper Seven Stars Ring Row, which is named "Seven Stars". After the sword is completed, looking down at the sword body, it is like climbing a high mountain and looking down at the abyss, ethereal and deep as if there is a giant dragon lying down, it is called "Dragon Abyss". Therefore, the name of this sword is called "Seven Star Longyuan", referred to as Longyuan Sword. In the Tang Dynasty, due to the avoidance of the ancestor Li Yuan, the word "Yuan" was changed to the word "Quan", which was called "Seven Star Dragon Spring", referred to as Longquan Sword [1]. The sword was created at the end of the Yin Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, more than 3,000 years ago. Early swords were short.

。 In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the two armies 'engaged' battles, mainly in car battles, bow and arrow 'shooting' at afar, and spears were connected with each other when they were near, and such a short sword was not used, which was mainly used for self-defense at that time. In the late spring and autumn, Wu and Yue rose one after another, vying for hegemony in the south. Both countries are located in water towns where water networks are intertwined and jungles are everywhere, and it is difficult to fight by vehicles, so infantry and naval armies have become the main arms of the Wu and Yue armies, and the sword has become the regular weapon of the army. Therefore, both Wu and Yue attach great importance to the production of swords, and their sword casting technology far exceeds that of the Central Plains countries, becoming the "hometown of swords" in ancient China. Now it also refers to the sword in the Longquan area, which is cast according to traditional craftsmanship.

Longquan Sword has a long history and is well-known at home and abroad. During the 'spring' autumn and Warring States period, Ou Yezi smelted swords at the foot of Qinxi Mountain in Longquan. "Baiyue Ancestors" contains: Ou Yezi "chiseled Ci Mountain, drained its stream, took the iron in the mountain, and made three swords: 'Longyuan', 'Tai'a', 'Gongbu'". Longquan was originally known as Longyuan, named after the sword, and was renamed Longquan in the Tang Dynasty. The Longquan sword became famous all over the world, and Longquan also became synonymous with the sword.

There are many legends about this sword, and two are the most famous. Legend one is the Yuzhang man:

In the 'spring' and autumn, the famous general Wu Zixu was killed by the 'traitor' ministers, and was chased by the soldiers and horses of the Chu State all the way. When he was anxious, Wu Zixu found that there was a small boat coming upstream, and the fisherman on the boat called him on the boat to get on the boat.

The fisherman carried Wu Zixu to the shore, and fetched a full meal for Wu Zixu, Wu Zixu thanked him for his kindness, asked the fisherman's name, and the fisherman smiled and said that he was "wave" and "wave", what is the use of the name, only called: "fisherman", Wu Zixu thanked him, walked a few steps, had concerns and turned back, and untied the sword of the ancestral third generation from his waist: Seven Star Longyuan, "want" to give this sword worth thousands of gold to the fisherman to thank him, and asked the fisherman not to leak Lu's whereabouts, the fisherman took the seven-star Longyuan sword, looked up to the sky and sighed, and said to Wu Zixu: I rescued you only because you are loyal to the country, and you don't want to report it, and now, you still suspect me of being greedy for profit and less trust, so I have to use this sword to show my nobility. After speaking, the horizontal sword killed himself. Wu Zixu was inexplicably remorseful. ——The story is found in "Wu Yue's 'Spring' Autumn".

Legend 2 is somewhat mythical. But because of this, everyone prefers:

There is Xiyue Huashan in the west, and Donghua Mountain (in Feng County) in the east. Although Donghua Mountain is not big, it is also mysterious and magical. There is a gold mill in the front mountain, and the back mountain (also called Turtle Mountain) will have ingots. The scenery in the mountains is beautiful, the changes are endless, what "immortal 'hole'", "flying stone", "pine cliff dripping cui"... It is a place for tourists to watch the scenery and have fun. There is also a glance of the old dragon spring, the gurgling blue water flows out from the stone 'hole' day and night, the ancient trees and wild 'flowers' in the mountains, and the scenery 'color' is picturesque.

Although the old dragon spring is not big, it is very deep, and some people drove a group of ducks with red silk tied around their necks and made marks into the old dragon spring 'hole'. A few months later, these ducks appeared in the East China Sea. Therefore, people say that the old dragon spring of Huashan leads directly to the old dragon palace in the East China Sea, and the shrimp soldiers and crab generals and Zhenhai small dragons have also haunted the old dragon spring in Huashan. Old Longquan is not an ordinary place.

The teenager Liu Bang often came here to play. Several times he saw a white-haired old man clanging iron by the old dragon spring, and every time he always burned the half-cut brick-like iron. Liu Bang felt strange and asked the old man: "Old man, why do you always burn this piece of iron?" The old man glanced at him and said: "The knife is sharpened on the stone, and the steel is refined in the fire, how can it become a good piece of steel without being tempered thousands of times?" Liu Bang asked again: "How long do you want to temper?" "Seven seven forty-nine days." Liu Bang was surprised when he heard this, and asked again: "Old man, what are you doing with refining this piece of steel?" The old man told him: "I want to make a sword and give it to the emperor." ”

When Liu Bang heard this, he pursed his mouth and said: "Hmph, do you dare to give the murderous thing to the tyrant? Liu Bang has loved martial arts since he was a child, and he longed to get a good sword, so he said without thinking: "I am the future true dragon emperor, give it to me if you fight it." The old man laughed: "You kid, you are not small.." Liu Bang said: "Today's emperor Lao'er is nothing to fear. The old man nodded slightly and said, "Well, I'll give you this sword well." Liu Bang said happily: "Grandpa, I thank you! When will you be able to fight well?" The old man made an appointment with him and told him to go to the fourth watch and return to the fifth watch alone, so as to try his courage. Liu Bang thanked the old man and went back.

According to the appointed time, Liu Bang alone 'touched' the black mountain and came to the old dragon spring, and saw the old man waiting under the lamp. Liu Bang asked, "Is the sword ready?" The old man smiled: "Look!" As he spoke, he took it out of the red silk and 'drawn' off the scabbard, only to see that the blade and the end of the sword were like lightning in the air, and the light was 'shooting' in all directions, and the cold air was swishing, which was really a rare sword in the world.

The old man 'inserted' the sword into the sheath, handed it to Liu Bang and said, "Did you hit the picture?" Liu Bang was overjoyed, took it with both hands and said, "Great!" kowtowed and thanked the old man. He looked at the handle again, and saw a dragon carved on it, and the word "Longyuan" was on it. The old man said: "How about you try it?" Liu Bang 'draws' the Longquan sword and danced, the old man nodded again and again in praise, and 'handed over' on behalf of him: "You have to take it with you, it will be of great use in the future." After that, he handed Liu Bang a letter. Liu Bang took it, only to see that it was written:

"Kill demons, avoid evil spirits, kill corrupt officials, eliminate violence, and make all the people happy. One day to ascend the dragon throne, you have to rely on the three-foot dragon sword. ”

Liu Bang turned his face to look at the old man, and the old man was gone. Later, Liu Bang revolted by cutting snakes in Mangdang Mountain, and it was this Longyuan sword that he used.