After breakfast the next morning, the master said that he would take me to Ruyang to experience the intangible cultural heritage, and said that only by experiencing it in person would I really engrave the memory into my mind. It's much more than just hearing with your ears. Listening to the master, I should be out for a while.

So we simply packed our luggage, and it was true that we couldn't take ten cases of wine, so I asked the master for an address and ordered it directly for someone else to send over.

After a few hours of driving, I finally arrived at the place, the master asked me to put my luggage in the place he arranged first, and then took me to the market, the master meant, the market above the town is now very lively, there will be things I want to know, so just take me around first, let me feel the local atmosphere of Ruyang, which will be of great help to me in my future studies.

I happened to be curious about the difference between the foreign culture and my culture, and besides, I hadn't really been to the market for many years, so I didn't refuse and went with the strangeness behind the master's ass.

Before we arrived at the market, we heard the bustling noise, accompanied by the shouts of the vendors and the counter-bargains of the marketers, and the master and I almost got lost in the busy streets. The scene in front of me only exists in my childhood memory, but I didn't expect that I can still see this scene in my childhood memory, and immediately "swooped" into the pile of people to the wild horse that had taken off the reins.

I was squeezed by a group of people from selling clothes to selling shoes, from selling sugar cakes to selling snacks, and finally I was squeezed around and returned to the master. The master looked at the sugar cake I was holding in my hand and the shoes that had been stepped on several times, and asked me with a smile if it was fun.

I smirked and replied funny, and the master took my hand and pulled me to a field that was surrounded by three floors inside and three floors outside, and said to me

"What's in there is more fun"

As soon as I heard that there was something more interesting, I stuffed the sugar cake into my mouth, and said vaguely to let go, borrowed words and the like, and barely squeezed into the front row, but the crowd was too crowded and swayed, so I could only stand on tiptoe and stretch my neck to look, only to see that there was a rectangular table about 1 meter long in the middle of the crowd, and the table was full of all kinds of brushes, and an old man in white was writing calligraphy on the rice paper on the table, the penmanship, the momentum, even I, a layman, could see the handwriting resolute and atmospheric, The pen is powerful. After the old man finished writing, he motioned to a "scholar" next to him to hold up the work for everyone to see. After seeing it, people applauded, and some people said, "It is worthy of Ruyang Liu, this brush is really a wonderful pen!" ”

I was just about to open my mouth to ask what "Ruyang Liu" was, but I was squeezed out of the crowd by a group of people who bought brushes.

Embarrassed, I saw the master outside the crowd, and before I could open my mouth, I was asked what I saw

"I saw an old man writing calligraphy, and there were a lot of brushes, by the way, master, what does Ruyang Liu mean?"

"This said that the yin didn't let you look in vain, so I went to eat at noon"

I saw that the master didn't answer the question, thinking that the surrounding environment was too noisy and was just about to ask, but the master seemed to see my thoughts, and didn't give me a chance to continue asking.

"Master Wait for Me"

I didn't have time to continue to ask, and I was even more afraid of being swept away by the sea of people, so I quickly chased in the direction of the master.

The master walked for a while before he found a relatively satisfactory and free place to stop, ordered two bowls of noodles, and motioned for me to sit down.

"What does Ruyang Liu mean exactly?"

"Eat first, then talk after eating"

Since the master was reluctant to say and deliberately left suspense, I couldn't continue to ask, so I could only wait for the noodles to come up and eat the noodles silently.

The master wiped his mouth after eating the noodles, and looked at me and said, "Have you finished eating, go find Ruyang Liu after eating."

As soon as I heard that I was going to find Ruyang Liu, I immediately took a few bites of noodles and said that I had eaten it.

The master gave me a disgusted look and got up to settle the bill. I also hurriedly wiped my mouth and followed.

After leaving the bazaar, the master found a car, and on the way the master told me that "Ruyang Liu" is a name code, because it has been famous for making brushes for generations. That's why everyone calls him Ruyang Liu.

"Can a calligrapher be so famous?"

"You can just take a look, I can only tell you that it is as famous as the Huaiyang mud dog."

When the master felt my suspicious gaze, he didn't want to pay any more attention to me. I had to shut up. It's not a long way, and it doesn't take more than half an hour to get to the place. According to the master, this "Ruyang Liu brush" was named in the second phase of the Henan Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage and Inheritance Class in 2018, and this small brush is also an intangible cultural heritage, so it cannot be underestimated.

When I arrived at the place, the master took me to meet an old man, and I wondered why this old man was so familiar, as if I had seen him somewhere. I remembered that this old man was the one who had just written calligraphy in the bazaar. No wonder so many people shouted "Ruyang Liu" at that time, and it turned out to be him after a long time.

The old man warmly entertained us into the house, let us serve us tea, took a brush and put it on the table and told me with a smile, it turned out that my master had already contacted him, saying that he would bring a descendant to visit the door, and by the way, he would learn about the production process of Ruyang Liu brush. Learn about intangible cultural heritage.

The old man said, "The Liu family brush was created by the general Meng Tian of the Qin Dynasty, and later passed down and developed by Liu Yin, the ancestor of the Liu family, the subordinate of General Meng Tian, and was regarded as a fine study by the literati and ink writers of the past dynasties." ”

The old man is already the sixty-sixth generation of Ruyang Liu brush, and when it comes to brushes, this craftsman who has been dealing with pen-making all his life has endless topics.

Ruyang Liu brush has a history of more than 2,200 years, has always had the reputation of "Qinyang Liu in the north, lake pen in the south", the famous calligrapher and painter Ouyang Zhongshi in the use of Ruyang Liu brush, once waved and wrote: "Caiying Zhongshan show, Lanting ancient rhyme, flowers pass Hancai, by Ruyang Liu." Ruyang Liu Village has always had the nickname of "the hometown of brushes" and "the hometown of wonderful brushes".

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the name of the pen was different, there were many names such as "pen", "Yu", "whisk", etc., until the Qin Dynasty implemented "the book is the same text, the car is the same track", and it was uniformly called "pen". It was recorded in the "Xiangcheng County Chronicles" that during the Qin period, the general Meng Tian was fighting abroad, and he needed to write war reports regularly and submit them to the king of Qin. At that time, it was very inconvenient for people to write with bamboo sticks, until one time Meng Tian had a whim during the inspection and tried to make a pen out of the hair on the rabbit's tail, which was easy and fast to write. Later, after repeated observation and experiments, the pen was constantly improved, the animal hair and plant hemp were soaked in lime water together, and then tied tightly with silk rope, one end of the bamboo tube was hollowed out, and the pen head was inserted into the bamboo tube for use, and the words written were natural and smooth. It is much more convenient than writing with a knife or bamboo stick, so it slowly developed.

Meng Tian led his army to garrison Shangjun (now Suide County, Shaanxi Province) and threatened the Xiongnu. Meng Tian's younger brother Meng Yi served as the secretary of state and served Qin Shi Huang around. The Montessori family was thriving. Meng Tian led the army outside, Meng Yi strategized inside, and no one dared to compete with the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs at that time.

At that time, Fusu, the eldest son of Qin Shi Huang, was virtuous and gentle, and sympathetic to the people. When Qin Shi Huang went on a killing spree and "burned books and pit Confucianism", Fusu stepped forward and advised his father: "The world has just been pacified, and the people in the distance are still in chaos. The Confucian scholars are all imitating the Confucian saints, and they must be sentenced to death, I am afraid that the people will not be convinced, and the world will become more and more uneasy, please think about it carefully! ”

When Qin Shi Huang heard this, he was angry and reprimanded: "The reactionary Confucian scholars have always flaunted private learning, retro chaos and chaos, and encroached on the world, why don't you just ask, but you want to intercede for them?" So, Qin Shi Huang punished Su to leave Xianyang and go to Shangjun to serve as Meng Tian's supervisor. Fusu went to the army of Meng Tian in Shangjun, conspired with Meng Tian to fight military aircraft, and had friendly contacts, close relations, and great friendship.

In July of the 37th year of Qin Shi Huang (210 B.C.), Qin Shi Huang died of illness in the sand dunes (now northeast of Pingxiang County, Hebei Province) due to the fatigue of the journey. Before he died, he instructed Prime Minister Li Si and Zhao Gao, who was in charge of the emperor's chariots and horses, and Zhao Gao, who was also the official who kept the emperor's jade seal and distributed the edict, saying: "Write a letter to Fusu quickly, telling him to leave for Xianyang immediately." In case I don't get better, ask him to host the funeral. "After the edict was written, it was not sent out, and Qin Shi Huang drove it.

The news of Qin Shi Huang's death was known only to Li Si, Gongzi Hu Hai (Qin Shi Huang's youngest son), and Zhao Gao Gao. Li Si and the others did not mourn, and even the ministers outside did not know. Originally, Meng Tian's younger brother Meng Yi also accompanied Qin Shi Huang on a tour, accompanying Qin Shi Huang, and it happened that when Qin Shi Huang was seriously ill, Meng Yi was ordered to pray for the mountains and rivers and temporarily left Qin Shi Huang. At this juncture, a "time bomb" buried deep inside the Qin Dynasty had a vicious attack, that is, Zhao Gao, who was mixed with Qin Shi Huang and lurked in the heart of the Qin Dynasty.

Zhao Gao, a ruthless man, turned out to be a descendant of the nobles of Zhao State, in order to repay the hatred of Zhao State being destroyed by Qin State, he castrated himself, mixed into the Qin Palace, and became a eunuch. Because he is good at disguise, he often appears as a false image, speculatively drills camps, and votes for the favor of the King of Qin, and gradually deceives the trust of Qin Shi Huang, so he rises to the top, in addition to the order of the CRRC government and the execution of the Fu Xi order, he also serves as the teacher of the son Hu Hai, and obtains Hu Hai's favor. Because Zhao Gao's younger brother Zhao Cheng executed two house slaves privately, the matter involved Zhao Gao. In order to save the life of his younger brother Zhao Cheng, Zhao Gao let Zhao Cheng go without permission. The matter was denounced, and Qin Shi Huang ordered the arrest of Zhao Gao and asked Meng Yi to try Zhao Gao's case. Meng Yi tried according to the law, and Zhao Gao was beheaded. Because Hu Hai cried to Qin Shi Huang to intercede, Qin Shi Huang raised carbuncles, and finally did not execute Zhao Gao, but was quickly reinstated, laying the foundation for the demise of the Qin Empire, and also made Zhao Gao and Meng Tian brothers form a deep hatred.

As soon as Qin Shi Huang died, the "Mount Tai" above Zhao Gao's head was removed. He felt that the time was ripe to change the dynasty, "rise and destroy the country, succeed the peerless", and avenge the Zhao country, and he could do whatever he wanted and show his skills. So with hatred, he launched a crazy counterattack.

First of all, he took advantage of Qin Shi Huang's jade seal and edict in his hand to instigate the young son Hu Hai to say: "The emperor did not issue an edict to the princes before his funeral, but only gave a letter to the eldest son Fusu." If Fusu attacks the throne and you don't even have a size fief, what should you do? ”

Hu Hai said: "When my father was alive, the "sub-sealing" system was abolished, what does Mr. mean by mentioning it? ”

"No!" Zhao Gao said: "I mean to tell you that it is the opportunity to seize power. With the authority in your hands, you can command the world, and if you lose the opportunity, you will be subordinate and subject to others. Recall that in the past, Shang Tang killed him, not for injustice; King Wu is not unkind; Wei Jun killed his father and implemented the rule of virtue, and even Confucius applauded. If you can precede Fusu, ascend the throne on behalf of your father, implement "benevolent government", and restore "etiquette and governance", then who doesn't say hello! ”

Hu Hai was really moved by Zhao Gao's words, and asked him about the way to seize power.

Zhao Gao said: "If you don't pull Li Si over for this matter, it won't be done, I'll persuade him for you." ”

So, Zhao Gao found Li Si and said: "The seal book that His Majesty gave to his eldest son Fusu before his death has not yet been issued, and now it is in the hands of Hu Hai, no one knows about this, the prince is all in the prime minister and I have a word, what do you say?" ”

Li Si asked strangely: "Since His Majesty has given the eldest son, we as courtiers can only obey the last order, why do we have to discuss this matter again?" ”

Zhao Gao touched the nail, the thief's heart did not die, his eyes rolled "bones", and he came up with a "poisonous plan". He pretended to be concerned about Li Si's safety, and said, "Jun Hou, think about it calmly, is your ability comparable to Meng Tian?" Is the credit worthy of Meng Tian? Is foresight comparable to Meng Tian? Is it better not to hold grudges against the world than to be Mengtian? Is gaining the trust of his eldest son Fusu comparable to Meng Tian? ”

Li Si said: "I can't compare to Meng Tian in these five aspects. But what do you mean by that? ”

Zhao Gao said desperately: "The intention is very yin, if Fusu succeeds to the throne, you must use Meng Tian as the phase, may I ask you, where will you be at that time?" Since I was edicted to learn Hu Hai, I know that he has both "morality" and "talent", and no one in the princes of Qin can compare with him. Therefore, in order to ensure that the monarch does not lose his heavy responsibility, I want to take this opportunity to make Hu Hai the crown prince, let Hu Hai succeed to the throne, and hope that the monarch will think twice! ”

Li Si said resolutely: "I was originally a commoner in Shangcai, but thanks to the emperor's trust, I rose to the top, until I was promoted to prime minister and entered the knighthood, and my descendants were all high-ranking officials." When Your Majesty was dying, he told me with words of safety and survival, how could I betray? Please say no more, lest I sin against you. ”

When Zhao Gao heard this, he couldn't help but shudder, so he had to resort to the last move, threatening and intimidating Li Si

"If you can follow my wishes, you will not only keep your title, but also lose your title from generation to generation; If you are obsessed, disaster will come immediately, not only will it be difficult to protect yourself, but also affect your children and grandchildren. ”

Zhao Gao's intimidation really worked. Li Si, although he was once Qin Shi Huang's right-hand man, he had a strong selfish psychology, and betrayed Qin Shi Huang at a critical moment, which eventually led to his own destruction and killing, and also led to the demise of the Great Qin Empire.

Under the coercion and coercion of Zhao Gao, a conspirator, careerist, and the chief representative of the reactionary restoration forces, Li Si finally succumbed. Originally, he held real power and was able to control the situation, but he gave up the struggle and succumbed to evil in consideration of his own interests, and as a result, he colluded with Zhao Gao and Hu Hai, aided and abused the people, and acted in embarrassment, staging the most tragic, despicable, dirty, and regrettable tragedy in history. It's really "one misstep into a thousand hatreds".

Because of Li Si's appeasement and adultery, Zhao Gao's conspiracy succeeded. He then forged the edict of Qin Shi Huang, made Hu Hai the crown prince, announced it to the world, and then established himself as the second emperor, and privately wrote a false edict, on the charges of "disloyalty", "unfilial piety", and "failure to fulfill his duties", sent envoys to Shangjun, and forced Fusu and Meng Tian to commit suicide. Subsequently, Meng Yi was also framed to death by Zhao Gao. This is the infamous "dune scheme". This was a gruesome coup d'état directed by Zhao Gao to overthrow the regime of Qin Shi Huang.

After Meng Tian's death, his subordinates closely followed Liu Yin and witnessed this tragedy with their own eyes. He has followed Meng Tian to fight for many years, and knows that Meng Tian is a close and friendly official relatives and friends with outstanding military achievements, time and time, and Liu Yin is extremely sad and sad about Meng Tian's unjust death.

So, Liu Yin connected with Chen Wu and Zhang Xian, who were also close entourages of Meng Tian's tent, and buried the bodies of Meng Tian and Fusu.

In the second year, that is, in 209 BC, the bones of Meng Tian and Fusu were moved to Yangcheng for burial, which is the hometown of Liu Yin, Chen Wu, and Zhang Xian.

This is the tomb of Meng Tian and the tomb of Fusu that still exist in Shuzhuang Township, Shangshui County, Henan. After Liu Yin returned to the field, he guarded the tomb for Meng Tian, and also passed on Meng Tian's pen-making skills, and continued to complete Meng Tian's unfinished pen-making business, so that the brush culture has been carried forward and passed down through the ages.

Xie An, a politician and military strategist in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was a native of Yangxia (now Taikang County, Henan), and Wang Xizhi had similar interests, were like brothers and sisters, and were sons and daughters.

In the autumn of one year, Xie An returned to Taikang's hometown and passed by Liu Village, Ruyang, Xiangcheng. Because he had heard the name of "Royal Pen Workshop", he purchased several high-quality Ruyang Liu brushes. After returning to Nanjing, he gave Wang Xizhi a few sticks. Wang Xizhi wrote down the "Huang Ting Jing" with a stroke of the pen, and suddenly felt free and smooth, tactful and free, and praised it in a hurry: "Wonderful pen!" Brilliant pen! Wonderful pen is also! Since then, Wang Xizhi has formed an indissoluble bond with Ruyang Liu.

The Wang and Liu families often exchanged letters. In order to express his gratitude, Wang Xizhi copied a copy of "Huang Tingjing" for Liu Tianyun, the ancestor of the Liu family, and sent it to him. This "Huang Ting Jing" written by Wang Xizhi for Liu Tianyun was originally a heirloom of the Liu family, but unfortunately it was destroyed in the fire at the end of the Sui Dynasty. The Liu clan has been passed down from generation to generation, the memory is still fresh, the story of "Xi's wonderful pen" has been passed down to this day, and Ruyang Liu Village is also known as the "hometown of the wonderful pen" by the world.

Once Su Dongpo lived in Chenzhou, and it happened that his sister Su Xiaomei and brother-in-law Qin Guan were also in Chenzhou. Brothers and sisters get together and rejoice. During the banquet, he talked about poetry and Taoism, and the poems came and went, and he was extremely chic.

When Su Dongpo heard that Ruyang Liu's "Royal Pen Workshop" was only 100 miles away, the brothers and sisters rode horses to Ruyang Liu.

When Su Shi, a well-known scholar from the Liu clan, and his family came, they were overjoyed and warmly received. Su Shi is well versed in the mystery of the pen, so he proposed to make a few brushes with "chicken feathers as quilts and wolf hairs as pillars". The Liu clan was refined according to the requirements and dedicated to Su Shi. Su Shi immediately unfolded the paper, moved the pen freely, was very satisfied, and praised it even loudly: This pen is really the best holy thing! Since then, Ruyang Liu brush series has added a new upstart. Later, the Liu clan named this kind of brush "Dongpo Chicken Wolf Hair", which has been passed down to this day.

Of course, there are more stories related to Ruyang Liu brush. Ruyang Liu's success is naturally related to its complex process.

"I Liujia brush process rigorous, to go through 128 processes such as hair separation, degreasing, delinting, hair, hair, hair, etc., with sharp, round, Qi, Jian' four virtues, Qi, pad, cut, comb is the most critical link."

The old man is very particular about making a pen, holding the treated wool in one hand and combing the cow bone comb in the other hand over and over again, carefully clipping off the miscellaneous wool until the wool is straightened out, revealing a shiny edge. Whenever he makes a pen, he holds it with both hands and can't put it down.

As the old man said, Ruyang Liu brush has fine workmanship, not only 128 processes, but also has the important characteristics of "three meanings" and "four virtues".

"Three meanings" refers to refinement, purity, and beauty.

"Fine" refers to the meticulous operation of more than 100 processes.

"Pure" refers to the strict and delicate selection of materials,

"Beauty" refers to the perfect unity of the shape, color and matching barrel of the pen nib.

The "four virtues" are sharp, qi, round and healthy.

The exterior decoration is beautiful and generous.

In addition, the selection of materials is also very exquisite, need to select a specific area of wool, wolf hair, stone badger, Han pine tail and other high-quality raw materials, wolf hair to be rigid and soft, sheep hair to be soft and rigid, rabbit hair should not only be elastic, but also to choose the autumn millimeter to take the health, take the sharp, spring and summer milli do not. The choice of wolf hair must be made by going to the northeast to collect the tail hair of the weasel that has spent the winter. Then it is classified according to length, thickness and thickness, and cannot be misplaced.

But things are not as expected, since the 90s of the last century, with the increase of writing tools such as pens and ballpoint pens, the brush began to gradually withdraw from people's field of vision, and the Ruyang Liu brush is gradually coming to an end, but the stubborn old man is trying to disagree, thinking that the brush carries the traditional Chinese calligraphy culture, will be useful, the old man once said: "The classic thing has been passed down for thousands of years must have its great value, we will gradually realize the value of tradition, as long as we recognize the situation, innovate in the development, small brush can be made into a big industry." ”

So in the past ten years, the old man led other inheritors to continue to explore and innovate, he developed the Zihao pen "head knife sticker" production technology on the basis of the traditional pen-making process, the pen tip is sharp and clear, the top mouth is Qi, no miscellaneous hair and waste hair, the pen body is light, white, garden, straight, beautiful and novel, the order is endless, won the Henan Provincial Science and Technology Achievement Award; The series of poems, calligraphy and painting articles won the gold medal of the 25th China Scholars Four Treasures Art Fair in Beijing.

Immediately afterwards, the old man made a mistake with the "dry knock and dry pressure" production technique of the wolf's pen, creating a new field of making pens with wolf's pen.

And the most deeply influenced sentence of the apprentices by the old man is: "Every pen is the inheritance of culture, and bad materials should be discarded rather than shoddy." ”

The old man said that the imperial pen of the former palace has gone to the public today and has been popularized. I am very proud. Making a brush is a delicate job, and it depends on the persistence of every millimeter. Inheriting the skills of Ruyang Liu brush is to inherit the history and culture.

"It is the blessing of our family that the brush making skills inherited by my Liu family for dozens of generations can be carried forward in my generation, and I will do my best to pass on this skill and retain the memory of this excellent culture of the Chinese nation!"

Just like "Wenzhi is safe in the world, and the Great Wall is peaceful in martial arts", more and more people are now knowing and understanding different traditional cultures, and I also believe that one day there will be more people like the old people in the face of the development of the new era, and still adhere to the innovation and inheritance of traditional culture.

The inheritance spirit of the elderly is more worthy of our learning!

If one day you buy a brush engraved with "Ruyang Liu", I hope you can take a little time to understand and tell its story.