810, "Ashima under Hongta Mountain"

Speaking of which, let's get back to business.

Of course, at this time, Murong Tianshui and the other five people who were visiting the Thousand Buddha Cave, they were far from seeing the details mentioned above, and what they saw was only some paintings on the walls of the cave. What's more, the Thousand Buddha Caves they see now are only the shape of the late Tang Dynasty, and they are far from the grand scale of the Thousand Buddha Caves in later generations mentioned above. But at that time, the Thousand Buddha Caves had already begun to take shape and became famous. Otherwise, why are the five generals so fascinated by this?

At this moment, Murong Tianshui and the other five people moved in the grotto, raising their heads to carefully watch the various dance movements on the murals, as if they had entered a distant historical era. However, although the five of them have a wonderful feeling of being in the scene at the same time, their inner reverie varies from person to person. Especially this Murong Tianshui, he has the ability to never forget and "Vientiane Divine Skill", and he naturally has an otherworldly ability to imitate and imagine. He saw the various flying dance movements on the cave murals, he not only imagined the cultural life and customs of the people at that time, but also what is even more unimaginable is that he had already used the Vientiane Divine Skill to memorize every move of these dances, and fully melted into his various swordsmanship, fist techniques, palm techniques, footwork and body techniques, and unconsciously increased his skills! The so-called "insignificant, as far as invisible; Divine and magical, as for silence", so there is a lot of magic in the subtlety, but ordinary people are invisible. There is a saying that "insight into world affairs is knowledge, and human feelings are connected to articles", I believe that this Murong Tianshui has long known its way!

Why do you want to say that the dance movements of the murals of the Mingsha Mountain Grottoes leave people with so many rich imaginations? As a storyteller, I would like to give you a little introduction. Dance notation has been used in China for a long time, and it is a written record of dance. In the Dunhuang grottoes, later generations found the fragments of dance scores of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, and recorded the dance movements at that time with words such as "according to", "shake", "send" and "dance". It is said that this is the earliest dance score in China. Of course, although these dance scores are incomplete, the various characters and movements in the murals are vivid and vivid, and everything is vividly and thought-provoking!

Just as Murong Tianshui and the other five people were enjoying the colorful sculptures and murals in the grotto, the five of them heard a melodious and graceful qin song almost at the same time.

"This sound is so familiar! Looks like I've heard it somewhere! Murong Tianshui thought secretly in his heart: "Oh! I remembered that the day before sending General Wang Zhaoyuan away, on the 'Shazhou Restaurant' in the city, a woman who stroked the qin sang this true and touching song! She is simply the beautiful Ashima above the Red Mansion. ”

"Generals! Come with me to the outside of the cave and have a look! After speaking, Murong Tianshui took the lead and walked towards the outside of the cave. Seeing this, Song Kejin and the other four people in the back understood in their hearts, so they followed.

"Wei - City - Morning Rain - Hun - Light Dust -

Guest House - Green - Willow - New -

Persuade the gentleman - more - exhaust - a glass of wine -

Out of the West—Yangguan—None—The Old Man—"

Listening to this deep, subtle, cool, and charming ballad, and looking for the affectionate, truly touching sound of the piano, Murong Tianshui and the other five people seemed to have flown to the direction of Yangguan with this elegant qin song coming from the side of Mingsha Mountain......

Yangguan, the southern checkpoint of the Silk Road, is a mysterious place full of poetry and legend. When the word "Yangguan" is mentioned, how can it not make people think about it?

Especially in the Tang Dynasty, the word "Yangguan" has become a word with profound meaning, because it is particularly poetic and picturesque, and is favored by poets. Since the famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, known as the "Poetry Buddha" Wang Wei's poem "Sending Yuan Er Envoy Anxi" came out, the qin song composed according to the rhythm of this famous poem has also been produced. But what is the name of this qin song and poem? In the singing at that time, some of the poems were repeated three times, and the poem had the word "Yangguan", so it was called "Yangguan Three Stacks". Later, the piece was divided into three sections, each of which began with Wang Wei's poems, and on this basis, a long and short sentence was added after each time the qin song was repeated, which further deepened the feelings of sadness, regret and waiting for one paragraph after another, stacks and stacks, and became a veritable "Yangguan Three Stacks" that has been passed down through the ages. Of course, there are also many people who call this qin song "Weicheng Song" and "Yangguan Song".

In the Tang Dynasty, this song was once widely circulated and very famous. There are many famous poets who have talked about this song in their poems, such as Li Shangyin once said: "Red cherries contain white snow, and Yangguan is sung in the sound of broken intestines"; Bai Juyi also said: "The most reminiscent of Yangguan singing, a string of pearls." Therefore, "Yangguan Three Stacks" is a very touching qin song work, and it is a piece of high artistic value among ancient Chinese music works. It truly and intensively expresses the theme of parting with hatred and sorrow that had universal social significance at that time, and at the same time, this theme is a universal human feeling that is not limited by time and place, so it is sincerely loved by people everywhere and all generations. In addition, the meaning of the verses in this work is extremely deep and wonderful, and the melody is affectionate and truly touching; Moreover, the poems and music complement each other, and the beads (walls) are combined, which makes this work sound endless, sung endlessly, and enduring!

This is the infinite charm of Yangguan in poetry and songs. What about its history and geography? Well! Here we need to give you a detailed introduction, I hope you can have a more accurate and detailed understanding of this Yangguan, and better understand the surrounding situation of Dunhuang.

Speaking of this Yangguan, it is now on the antique beach 70 kilometers west of Dunhuang County, Gansu Province. However, you should also understand that it has been introduced before, that is, the current Dunhuang county and the ancient city of Dunhuang are separated, one in the east of the Dang River and the other in the west of the Dang River. The Dunhuang City where Murong Tianshui was stationed is now the ruins of the ancient city of Dunhuang on the west bank of the Dang River, that is, the ruins of the ancient city of Shazhou. It is now on the west bank of the Dang River in the west of Dunhuang County, Gansu Province, and is an important town on the Silk Road. From the mainland to the Western Regions through this, divided into north and south two roads, the south road out of Yangguan, the north road out of Yumen Pass. The plane of the ancient city is rectangular, 718 meters wide from east to west, 1132 meters long from north to south, there are still intermittent ruins on the south, north and west sides, there are still city piers in the northwest corner, which is twice as high as the city wall. There is a white horse pagoda in the south of the city, which was built by the Later Qin. Legend has it that the high monk Kumarosh came to the east to preach the scriptures, once the white horse was here, and the tower was built to commemorate it. The tower has nine floors and is about 12 meters high. The carved stone has the words "Daoguang Yisi, Tongyue, Baiwencai, etc. In the sixth year of the Han Yuan Dynasty (111 B.C.), Dunhuang County was set up here.

Li Wei in the first year of Xiliang Gengzi (400 AD) built the capital here, Yongjian two years (421) Beiliang Fuqu Meng Xun led 20,000 people, embankment on three sides, irrigated the city with party water, and the Xiliang country perished. In the second year of Tang Wude (619), he placed a state here, and called Dunhuang "Shazhou" because there was Mingsha Mountain in the south. Song Jingyou entered the Western Xia in the early years, and set up a state and a guard here during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Qing Changjun's "Dunhuang Miscellaneous Notes" Volume 2 Shazhou Weitiaoyun: "In the west of Shazhou, there is an ancient city, that is, the county of Dunhuang of the Han Dynasty, which is rushed north by the party water and encircled in the east. Qing Yongzheng three years old city east to build another acropolis. That is, the current county seat of Dunhuang.

According to this, although this Yangguan is on the antique beach 70 kilometers west of Dunhuang County, it is not so far away from the ancient city of Dunhuang. But for the five people including Murong Tianshui, who were still hovering on the side of Mingsha Mountain, they could only listen to the beautiful qin song and yearn for the little Yangguan on the antique beach. However, what does Xiaoyangguan on the South Silk Road look like? Why is the beach where it is located called Antique Beach?

Next, I will introduce you a little bit, and you will have a sense of immersion and know this Yang Pass well. This Yangguan is named because it lives in the south of Yumen Pass. In ancient times, it was the throat of land transportation between China and foreign countries, and it was also the pass that the southern Silk Road had to pass. The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei has an eternal sentence of "persuading the monarch to drink more wine, and there is no one in Yangguan in the west", which is enough to show that Yangguan is an ancient and well-known "famous gate". The beach where it is located is called Antique Beach because the ground has exposed a large number of Han Dynasty cultural relics, such as copper arrowheads, royal baht coins, stone mills, pottery shards, etc.

In this ancient city of Kanto for farmland, there are the ruins of Shouchang City in the distance, sand dunes on three sides, surrounded by sand beams, quicksand boundless, endless. There is a Han Dynasty beacon fire on the north Dundun Mountain, which is well preserved. To the east is the Red Mountain Pass. There is a deep ditch in the north-south direction in the west, more than 20 meters long, and the spring water in the ditch trickles, and it is very sweet. On both sides of the ditch, there are many Han tombs.

According to the "Historical Records of Dawan Biography", "Yangguan is in the west of the county". Near-person Xiang Da "Tang Dynasty Chang'an and Western Regions Civilization" book cloud: "Guyang Pass has the West Shouchang City, in the antique beach. ”

However, according to the Qing Dynasty's "Gansu Xintongzhi", it is believed that Yangguan is a red mountain pass. Qing Daoguang's "Dunhuang County Chronicles" volume 1 map examination "Liangguan Ruins Map" marked the red mountain pass, that is, Yangguan. The first book of the Proceedings of the Institute of Linguistics of the Academia Sinica "Examination of the Ruins of the Two Passes" said that the antique beach is the Yangguan since the Han Dynasty, which is suitable for the place where the mountains and rivers pass by, and no one manages it. Out of the red mountain pass to the southwest, you can reach Loulan, Ruoqiang, and the end of the place.

Yangguan, Yangguan, the distant "sunset pass" in the West, is exactly what it looks like. The distant thoughts of Murong Tianshui and the other five people finally returned to the true, touching, beautiful, and affectionate "Yangguan Song" that gently floated from the distant Yangguan and ancient poems on the side of the sand of Mingshan.