Lingbao, in ancient times, it was called Taolin, because in the first year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty, it was excavated in the ruins of the former residence of Yin Xi, the Taoist Wenshi Zhenren near Hangu Pass, and thought that it was a good omen, so this place was renamed Lingbao.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it belonged to Henan Prefecture, and then it was reassigned to the jurisdiction of Shaanzhou.

Swallow Mountain is located in the southeast of Lingbao City, the mountain is high and dense, the ancient trees are towering to the sky, there is a Lei Zhenzi hole on the mountain, it is said that when the King of Zhou fell, the Lei Zhenzi who repeatedly built military exploits in the army was born in this hole, so it was named.

There is also a legend about the origin of the name of Swallow Mountain.

According to legend, at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped the throne, and Guangwu Liu Xiu led the Green Forest Army to raise troops in Nanyang and recover the Han Dynasty. The two armies fought fiercely at Baihe Beach, Liu Xiu's army was defeated, chased by Wang Mang's army, and fled all the way here.

There were chasing soldiers in the back, but the road was blocked by the stone mountain in front, Liu Xiu had no way to escape, looked up to the sky and sighed, and I was also dead.

Suddenly, I heard the chirping in the sky, a flock of swallows swept by, and the stone mountain cracked, revealing a plank road. Liu Xiu took the remnants and followed the swallow who led the way up the plank road to the top of the mountain and entered the Lei Zhenzi Cave.

At this time, Wang Mang's pursuers had arrived, but a boulder fell at the entrance of the cave, blocking the pursuers, and Liu Xiu was able to escape from other roads in the cave.

Later, Liu Xiu led 30,000 troops to defeat Wang Mang's new army of 420,000 in Kunyang, winning more with less and achieving a great victory. Since then, it has been like a bamboo, and finally overthrew Wang Mang's regime, Zhongxing Han Dynasty, and the history books call it "Guangwu Zhongxing".

After Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu ascended the throne, he was grateful for the Shenyan who led the way when he was in trouble, so he enshrined this mountain as Swallow Mountain, Lei Zhenzi Cave as Swallow Cave, and even the boulder at the entrance of the cave was also named the Retreat Stone.

However, this beautiful story has never been recorded in the history books, it is just a magical legend among the people.

Because of this legend, and the fact that Lingbao is located between the two ancient capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang, Yanzi Mountain was really lively for a while after the Han Dynasty and was sought after by the literati and writers at that time.

However, with the change of dynasty, Chang'an was no longer the national capital, and later it was renamed Xi'an, and Swallow Mountain was gradually forgotten by the world and deserted.

There is a small town at the foot of the mountain, where there are more than 100 families, called Yanziji, the town is very small, but it is only for the farmers and hunters in the nearby mountains to do some business with each other and exchange the necessities of life. Because of the inconvenient transportation here, few outsiders come here, and the town is full of familiar faces who meet all year round, and there is not even a restaurant inn in the town.

Aunt Tian set up a needlework stall at the entrance of the town to do some sewing and mending work for people, because she was ingenious and quite popular.

On this day, her business was not very good.

After the beginning of winter, the weather in the mountains is getting colder day by day, and the pedestrians on the street are gradually scarce, Aunt Tian sat in front of the stall, wrapped a little thin cotton clothes on her body, and secretly thought that it seems that she will change into a thicker jacket tomorrow and go out.

Raising her head, she looked at the sun, which was sinking in the west, and was thinking about whether to close the stall earlier, and in the cold wind, she saw five strangers walking in from the entrance of the town.

The five men looked like they were in the dust, and they rode slowly on tall horses, but they all looked a little tired and dirty, and they must have traveled a long way to get here.

There are very few strangers here, and I don't see them twice a year, Aunt Tian squinted her eyes and looked at the five people on the horse curiously.

The fabrics of their clothes are very expensive, and the needlework is also very fine, which looks like the style of the Jiangnan area, which is very different from the simple clothes worn by the people here, and these people must be very rich.

Aunt Qian couldn't help but think.

A young man in white who rode a horse at the front of the five saw Aunt Tian standing tremblingly in front of the stall staring at them, so he grabbed the reins of the horse and smiled at Aunt Tian.

His smile was very gentle, and Aunt Tian couldn't help but smile in return.

The young man stretched out his hand and tightened the collar on his neck, as if he wanted to resist the cold wind in the mountains, and asked Aunt Tian, "Auntie, is this Swallow Mountain?"

Aunt Tian nodded a little blankly and replied: "This is the swallow set, and there is the swallow mountain behind it, are a few distant guests here to collect mountain goods?"

Aunt Tian saw that they were dressed richly, and they were far away

came, maybe it was a merchant who came to collect mountain goods, so he guessed casually.

At this time, a slender man with a beard and a scribe behind the young man suddenly turned pale, and asked in a cold voice, "How do you know that we are distant guests?"

His cold face startled Aunt Tian, and she didn't know which sentence she said wrong, so she replied with some trembling: "This town is very small, few outsiders come, most of the people here know each other, and a few people like this don't look like people in this area, so I guessed." ”

The eight-character bearded scribe raised his eyes and looked at a few simple old clothes hanging on Aunt Tian's needlework stall, his face gradually slowed, and he sighed.

The young man's face was very kind, and he smiled and asked Aunt Tian, "Auntie, where is the restaurant inn in this town?"

Aunt Tian shook her head a little indifferently: "There are very few outsiders in this town, and there are no restaurants and inns, only a small restaurant opened by Zhang Laoer, and a noodle stall of Wang Mazi's daughter-in-law." ”

At this time, a man behind the young man with a meaty face and a scar on his left cheek snorted coldly when he heard this: "Poor country, what the hell is the place! There is not even a restaurant inn to rest." ”

The young man turned around and glanced at him, and the man with the scar immediately closed his mouth and stopped talking.

The young man turned around and asked Aunt Tian in a very gentle voice, "What is your surname?"

Aunt Tian stretched out her hand and brushed her gray hair that was blown by the cold wind, and replied: "The old husband's family name is Tian, and seven or eight of the ten households in this town are all surnamed Tian, and almost all of them are relatives. ”

When the young man heard her words, his eyebrows suddenly raised, and he jumped off his horse.

He stretched out his hand to dust off the white clothes on his body, and asked Aunt Tian with interest: "Since you know all the aunts in this town, I want to ask your old man about someone." ”

His voice is very gentle, and his speech is also very polite, which makes people feel very comfortable listening to it.

Aunt Tian blinked and asked, "Aren't you here to collect mountain goods?"

The young man smiled: "No, we are here to find someone." ”

At this time, a man with a long horse face riding on the horse muttered impatiently: "That's a lot of nonsense! Who said we were here to collect mountain goods?"

Aunt Tian was shocked by his words, and her whole body was shocked.

The young man smiled and said to Aunt Tian: "Don't be afraid, auntie, my friend is a bit outspoken, we just want to ask you about a person, and there is absolutely no malice." ”

After speaking, as soon as he stretched out his hand, there was suddenly a small ingot of broken silver in his palm.

For a poor family like Aunt Tian who lives in this poor countryside, the income of a day is only a few copper coins, how can I ever see such a silver tael?

She couldn't help but wrap herself in the thin cotton clothes on her body again, staring directly at the broken silver in the young man's hand, and her eyes seemed to be shining.

The young man smiled slightly, and asked softly, "May I ask the eldest lady, is there a family surnamed Lei in this town?"

Since Aunt Tian's eyes were staring at the ingot of broken silver, her face showed a look of pity, and she shook her head and said: "The surname is Lei? No, there is not even a surname Lei in the whole town, and there is not even a single surname Lei among the hunters in the nearby mountains." ”

The young man's face was disappointed, and after thinking about it, he asked: "Then is there a woman here, about forty or fifty years old, a little crazy, by the way, she should also have a son, about twenty years old, who has not returned from a recent outing?"

Aunt Tian blinked, thinking hard: "Woman, forty or fifty years old, crazy, and a son?"

After a moment, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she said, "Speaking of which, the daughter-in-law of Tian Laowu's family is forty or fifty years old, and there seems to be some problems in her head, which is not normal. ”

The young man's face changed: "The daughter-in-law of Tian Laowu's family?"

Aunt Tian nodded and said: "He is a hunter in the swallow mountain behind here, and he often hunts some game to sell in the town in exchange for some firewood and rice, I heard that his daughter-in-law is sick and her brain is not normal, so she rarely goes out to show up, and few people have seen her for 20 years." ”

The young man muttered, "Twenty years? You mean that woman is two."

You came here 10 years ago?"

Aunt Tian said: "That's right, there are very few outsiders here, and even fewer people here can marry women outside, and the old body will not be mistaken." ”

She hesitated for a moment, and then said: "It's just that when it comes to having a son, Tian Lao Wu has been coming to the town to sell game alone for so many years, and he has never seen anyone else go with him. ”

Behind the young man, a purple-skinned man suddenly asked, "Then how do you know that his daughter-in-law's brain is abnormal?"

Aunt Tian said: "That Tian Lao Wu's family lives at the foot of the mountain not far behind the town, and it is said that there have been a few times when someone passed by in front of his house to fetch firewood, and saw his daughter-in-law sitting at the door with a cloak, and her mouth kept talking to herself, chanting words, isn't this called abnormal?"

The young man's eyes lit up and he smiled: "Yes, of course this is called abnormal." ”

He handed the broken silver in his hand to Aunt Tian and said, "This daughter-in-law of Tian Lao Wu's family is likely to be a distant relative of mine who has been separated for 20 years, and we are looking for her this time, I wonder if Aunt Tian can work hard and lead me to her house?"

Aunt Tian suddenly stretched out her hand very quickly, grabbed the broken silver in the young man's hand, and then smiled with a smile: "Okay, of course, I am the most helpful, but there is one thing, Auntie, I will take you there, I still need someone to help take care of this stall, I will go to the side to find Zhang Laoer, who opened a restaurant, to help, anyway, he has no business all day." ”

The eight-bearded scribe behind the young man turned his head and glanced at Aunt Tian's sewing stall, as well as a few old sewn clothes hanging on it, and couldn't help but snort coldly, and the disdainful look clearly said, this broken thing is worth a few dollars?

Aunt Tian didn't seem to hear his cold snort at all, turned around and walked tremblingly to the door of a simple shop next to the stall, and shouted loudly: "Zhang Er, Zhang Er!"

A middle-aged man with a haggard face raised his head sleepily from behind the counter and answered.

Aunt Tian whispered something in her mouth, walked into the shop, and whispered something to Zhang Laoer.

The young man stood at the door of the shop, looking at this shop with some surprise, if it weren't for Aunt Tian saying that this Zhang Lao Er opened a restaurant, he couldn't imagine that this would be a restaurant.

The light in the shop is dim, and the oil lamps need to be lit in the daytime, and there are two small square tables in the shop, which already feels very crowded, almost making people feel that they can't turn around, which shows the small size of the store.

And the only two square tables are under the light, and the table top is shining with a layer of oil, I really don't know how long it has been since I wiped it, and it makes people feel a little disgusting when they look at it.

The young man unconsciously touched his stomach and rushed for a day's journey, in fact, he was also a little hungry, and he naturally knew that the ten people behind him were also hungry.

But in the face of such a restaurant in front of him, he really couldn't raise half of his appetite, and he was willing to go back and eat dry food instead of sitting down to eat here.

Shaking his head, he looked back at the four people on the horse behind him, they were also looking at the disdain on their faces at the second child's meal shop at the moment, and it seemed that they all had the same idea.

At this time, Aunt Tian walked out of Zhang Laoer's restaurant, and it seemed that she had already said hello to Zhang Laoer.

She came to the young man's face, and said with a smile: "Then this son, the old man will lead you over now?"

The young man looked at Aunt Tian's trembling appearance, hesitated, and pointed to the horse behind him: "Auntie, why don't you ride my horse on your old man?"

Aunt Tian smiled and waved her hand: "Childe said that he laughed, a bad old woman like Lao Shen in a poor and remote country, where can she ride any horse? Childe's kindness is understood, don't look at the old body, this leg and foot are still tough! It is not a problem to take this mountain road, let's set off quickly!"

After speaking, she turned around, walked slowly in front with her little feet, twisted and twisted, and the young man smiled a little helplessly, turned over the horse, and walked slowly behind.