Book of Shu classical Chinese translation

Translation of "Entering Shu": (July) 14th, in the evening, the sky was fine. Open the south-facing window in the cabin to enjoy the scenery of the river and mountains. There are many fish in the Gushu River. Occasionally they break out of the water and jump out. The setting sun shines on the stream like a silver knife. There are many people fishing with poles and nets. Because of this, the price of fish is very low, and the children and servants have enough to eat every day. Local people say that the stream is very fertile and suitable for the growth of fish. When I drank the water from the stream, I felt that the water tasted really sweet. Is it really because the water was fertile and there were many fish? Many peaks in the southeast of the stream looked like they had been dyed with blue-black paint. They turned out to be green mountains.

On the 14th (August), (the boat departed from Fuchi and headed west), it rained at dawn. Passing by a small rocky mountain, (this mountain) is so straight that it looks like half of the top of the mountain has been cut off with a knife. It is very similar to Shushan Mountain by the Yuyao River. While sailing on the river, I encountered a wooden raft, more than ten feet wide and fifty feet long. There are thirty or forty families on it, with wives, children, chickens, dogs, and mortars and mills for pounding rice. There are passages to and from each other in the middle, and there are shrines, which I have never seen before. The boatman said that this was still a small one. The big ones could be spread with soil on the bamboo rafts to make vegetable fields or open hotels. However, they were so big that they could no longer drive into small inlets and could only travel in the big river. There was a headwind that day, so the tracker pulled the boat hard and only traveled fifteen or six miles from dawn to sunset. The ship anchored in Liuguanji, which was the ancient border of Qizhou. The nephew and others went ashore and came back and said: "I found a small road (from the small road) to the back of the mountain. There is a small lake with a large area. There are many lotus seeds and water chestnuts. There are many wood flowers along the lake. Several families are standing in the sunset, and the reeds are there." The fences and huts seemed to be an elegant place, and it was so quiet that there was no sound of people. There were big pears that I wanted to buy, but they couldn't. There were brisk boats picking water chestnuts in the lake, but there was no one there. Agree. I wanted to see what was going on. I happened to see a tool for catching wild animals on the roadside. I suspected that there were tigers and wolves, so I didn't dare to go any further. "It is said that Liu Bei, Emperor Zhaolie of the Shu Han Dynasty, went to the Kingdom of Wu. , once took the boat ashore here. At night, I saw big turtles floating in the water.

On the 21st (August), (the ship departed from Qiji Port in the upper reaches of Huangzhou), it passed Shuangliujia and looked back at the river. There were many mountains in the distance, deep and beautiful. After leaving Huangzhou, even though we were traveling between two willows, it was still vast and vast, and the terrain gradually became higher. Most of them planted beans, millet, buckwheat and other food crops. In the evening, we anchored in Yangluosu, where the embankments are wide, willow trees are dense, and there are many residents. Fish is as cheap as soil, and one hundred copper coins (the fish you buy) can feed twenty people; they are all big fish, so if you want to find some small fish to raise a cat, you can't find them.

In the morning of the 9th (September) (the boat sailed to Shishou County in Jingzhou), we went to the temple to worship the Earth God. The thatch covering the roofs of the private houses on the roadside is more than a foot thick, and they are so neat that there is not a stray weed. He set up the sail and sailed thirty miles in the river, stopping at Taziji, a large mountain beside the river. I haven’t seen mountains since I left Ezhou. I bought sheep and wine, and parked a boat at the waterside next to the village. Because it was the Double Ninth Festival, I killed a sheep, bought several boats, and finished it in a short time. I bought some chrysanthemums from a house by the river. They were fragrant and lovely, so I got drunk. It started raining at night and was very cold, so I started to put on the quilt.

On the 21st (October), (the boat passed Guizhou), I had to look at Shimen Pass in the middle of the boat to pass a person. It is really the most dangerous place in the world. In the evening, the boat anchored in Badong County. The rivers and mountains were very majestic, far exceeding Zigui. The market is very depressed and desolate. There are only more than a hundred households in the county. Below the county magistrate's office are all thatched houses without a single tile. The acting county captain was Wang Kangnian, the county captain Youdigonglang from Zigui, and the captain and chief Bo was Youdigonglang Dude who came first, both from Sichuan. Visit the Kulaigong Ancestral Hall and climb up to the Autumn Wind Pavilion, with the Yangtze River below. It was a very overcast day with light snow falling, and the weather was cold and miserable. Looking at the name of the pavilion, it made people feel lost, and they felt like they were wandering to the end of the world. So he went to Shuangbai Hall and Baiyunting. There used to be a cypress tree planted by Kou Laigong under the hall, but it is now dead. However, there are many mountains in the south, which are beautiful and lovely. Baiyun Pavilion is the most secluded and wonderful place in the world. It is surrounded by mountains, appearing layer by layer. The ancient trees are dense and lush, and they often grow over two or three hundred years ago. Outside the pavilion, there are two waterfalls flowing straight into the mountain stream, like pearls jumping, jade chips splashing, and cold air invading the bones. Below it is Cixi, flowing to meet the Yangtze River. I entered Hubei from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, traveling more than 5,000 miles and passing through fifteen states. The most beautiful pavilion did not exceed Baiyunting, and it was only behind the office of the county captain. The Badong magistrate has nothing to do. The county magistrate can sleep and eat in the pavilion. The fun is endless. However, the county magistrate is vacant every two or three years, and no one is willing to fill the vacancy. Why is this?

On the 23rd, I passed the Ningzhen Temple in Wushan and paid a visit to the ancestral hall of Miao Yongzhenren. The real person is what everyone calls the Wushan Goddess. The ancestral hall faces Wushan Mountain. The peaks are so high that they reach into the sky, while the foot of the mountain plunges directly into the river. People who discussed it all said that Mount Tai, Mount Huashan, Mount Heng, and Mount Lu were not as unique as Wushan. However, not all of the twelve peaks can be seen. Among the eight or nine peaks that can be seen, only the Goddess Peak is slim, slender, steep and ever-changing, and is indeed suitable as the incarnation of the Goddess. The person who presided over the sacrifice in the temple said: "Every year on the night of August 15th, when the moon is bright, you can hear beautiful orchestral music. Walking back and forth on the top of the mountain, you can hear the cries of the apes on the mountain, which gradually stop at dawn. "Behind the temple, there is a stone altar halfway up the mountain, which is relatively flat.

Legend has it that "Xia Yu met the goddess, and it was here that the goddess gave the talisman to Yu." Looking at the twelve peaks from the stone altar, they look like barriers. On this day, the sky was clear, and there was no cloud or smoke around. There were only a few white clouds on the Goddess Peak, like phoenixes and white cranes dancing and walking there, and they did not disperse for a long time. It was also a very strange phenomenon. It turned out that there were hundreds of crows in the ancestral hall, seeing off guests and welcoming new boats.