The legend of Tieshan Temple is a folk literature project in the second batch of representative projects of municipal intangible cultural heritage in Huai'an. The main content of the legend of Tieshan Temple is mainly spread in the surrounding areas of Tieshan Temple in Xuyi County. Eighty miles southwest of Xuyi, there is a mountain called Tieshan. Although this mountain is not big, it is beautiful and has beautiful scenery. There are towering ancient trees on the mountain, hundreds of birds singing in harmony, and there are rare and exotic plants. It is really: hundreds of beasts walk around the mountain, hundreds of flowers are fragrant all year round, the world is a blessed place, and the gods are in paradise. There is an ancient temple on the mountain, called Tieshan Temple. It is said that during the Chunhua period of the Northern Song Dynasty (990 AD and 994 AD), Xie Jinwu won the first place in the imperial examination and built a family temple on the mountain. Later, due to the strong incense, the temple was gradually expanded and became a public temple. There are two large villages at the foot of the mountain, one is called Xiejiagang and the other is called Jiaojiagang. It was because Xie Jinwu took refuge with Wang Qiang, the then Grand Tutor of the dynasty, and won the first place in the imperial examination. He was so proud that he passed by Tianbo Yang Mansion when he rode a horse and paraded through the streets. In front of the mansion, there was an imperial dismounting sign that said "Civil officials should get off their sedan chairs here, and military officials should get off their horses here." Xie Jinwu relied on his godfather Wang Qiang being the Grand Tutor of the dynasty, and did not take the dismounting sign seriously. As a result, he was dragged off his horse by Jiao Zan, the sworn brother of Yang Liulang, and split in half with a knife. Since then, the Jiao and Xie families have had a deep hatred and have been fighting for generations. By the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1131 AD to 1163 AD), the Jiao and Xie families had been passed down to the sixth generation. Jiao Yunpeng, the sixth-generation grandson of the Jiao family, left home at the age of twelve to join the army. He was away for ten years and served as a lieutenant general under Marshal Han Shizhong. Xie Yanchun, the sixth-generation grandson of the Xie family, also practiced martial arts. He was rude and reckless, hated evil, and wanted to fight against the Jin soldiers on the battlefield. However, he was dragged down by his widowed mother and sister, so he had to train servants at home to protect his home and mountains and prevent any bad guys from breaking into Tieshan. At this time, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou (1107 AD-1187 AD) listened to the slander of treacherous ministers such as Zhang Bangchang and Qin Hui, adopted capitulationism, and ceded half of the country north of the Huai River to the Jin Kingdom. Fortunately, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and other anti-Jin generals fought bloody battles to protect half of the country south of the Huai River, so the Jin soldiers did not dare to cross the Huai River. When Marshal Han led his troops to confront the Jin camp, it was June, and the plague was prevalent in the barracks, and there was no medicine to cure it. At this time, no matter which side, the enemy or us, whoever can find a good medicine to cure the plague first will be the victorious army. Marshal Han heard that Tieshan was rich in hundreds of medicinal herbs and that the tenth generation abbot of Tieshan Temple, Elder Zhineng, had a collection of herbal atlases developed by successive monks. He ordered Jiao Yunpeng to go home, one to visit his relatives, and the other to ask Elder Zhineng for a good prescription for treating the plague. At this time, the Jin camp also sent General Wanyan Gan to sneak into Tieshan Temple in an attempt to steal the herbal atlas. Unexpectedly, Zhineng hid the atlas tightly, and Wanyan Gan failed many times. So he disguised himself as Gao Yuan, a general who fought against the Jin Dynasty, and recognized Xie Yanchun as a distant cousin. He also spread rumors in front of Xie Yanchun that Jiao Yunpeng had been captured by the Jin Kingdom, surrendered to the Jin Kingdom, and might return in the near future. Xie Yanchun was so angry that he gritted his teeth and vowed to capture Jiao Yunpeng and avenge his shame once he showed up in Tieshan Temple. Jiao Yunpeng fought bloody battles with many bandits in Jinying and Huaihe River alone, and was seriously injured many times. Finally, he broke out of the siege. He did not dare to fight, and finally returned to Tieshan, which he had been away from for a long time. After entering the forest, Jiao Yunpeng wanted to dismount and rest for a while, but with his years of experience in fighting, he instinctively felt the danger. After his careful investigation, he found two black shadows that were as agile as cats and mice, following him all the time. Jiao Yunpeng knew that he had revealed his whereabouts and had to prepare for battle, but he was shot in the shoulder by a hidden arrow. He had to flee on horseback, but he finally fainted in the forest due to a seizure. Fortunately, he was not caught. The two people who followed Jiao Yunpeng were Wanyan Gan and Xie Yanchun. Wanyan Gan had fought against Jiao Yunpeng before, but he was not Jiao Yunpeng's opponent. When he found Jiao Yunpeng's trace, he immediately notified Xie Yanchun in order to get rid of Jiao Yunpeng. At the instigation of Wanyan Gan, Xie Yanchun shot Jiao Yunpeng in the shoulder with an arrow, but Jiao Yunpeng escaped. Xie Yanchun knew that Jiao Yunpeng, who was shot by an arrow, would definitely not escape from Tieshan, so he hurriedly led his servants and militiamen to search the mountain. When Xie Yanchun was searching, he met his sister Xie Suwen and a group of village girls who were also picking herbs and playing on the mountain, so he told his sister to tell him if she found the injured Jiao Yunpeng. When Xie Suwen heard that her childhood sweetheart suddenly came back and was injured, she had no intention of picking herbs and playing anymore. She hurriedly searched everywhere with the village girls, and finally found the unconscious Jiao Yunpeng beside a mountain stream. After Xie Suwen confirmed his identity from the waist badge worn by Jiao Yunpeng, she couldn't help but feel mixed emotions and burst into tears. Fortunately, Xie Suwen learned the medical skills of treating diseases according to the herbal recipe from the intelligent elder, and ordered the village girls to pick herbs for detoxification. She hugged Jiao Yunpeng tightly in her arms, washed the wound with mountain spring water, and applied herbs. Soon, Jiao Yunpeng's face turned red. The village girls knew that Miss Su Wen and Yun Peng were childhood sweethearts, and they all persuaded Yun Peng to be sent to Tieshan Temple to be protected by Elder Zhineng for treatment. Su Wen was afraid that her brother would know, so she simply took Yun Peng back to her own home. After many days of careful care by Xie Su Wen, Jiao Yunpeng's arrow wound gradually healed. When Xie Su Wen learned that Jiao Yunpeng had fought against the Jin soldiers, repeatedly made military exploits, and intended to return to the mountain this time, she, on the one hand, increased her admiration for Jiao Yunpeng, and on the other hand, she hated her brother for being confused and reckless, only caring about family hatred, but not national hatred. She said that she would definitely persuade her mother and brother to put aside their past grudges. Jiao Yunpeng hid in Su Wen's home and was inconvenient to show up. Xie Su Wen lied that she was sick, and her maid Lan Xiang brought her food every day, but the amount of food was too much, which aroused Xie's mother's suspicion. Xie's mother wanted to test the truth on the pretext of visiting the patient, but Lan Xiang's clever words were useless to stop her. After Xie's mother learned the secret of her daughter's aunt, the enemies met and were extremely jealous. Xie's mother immediately wanted to call her son to catch the enemy, but Su Wen knelt down and cried. After a righteous plea, Xie's mother softened her heart and put aside her past grudges. The careless Xie Yanchun never thought that Jiao Yunpeng would hide in his sister's aunt, but the cunning Wan Yan Gan found clues and told Xie Yanchun about this. Xie Yanchun led the crowd to surround his sister's aunt and prepared to catch Jiao Yunpeng. At this time, Jiao Yunpeng's sister Jiao Yunzhu learned from the village girl that her brother was injured and hid in Miss Su Wen's aunt. Fearing that her brother had met with an accident, she hurriedly brought the servants to rescue her brother. The two sides started fighting without saying a word. In terms of martial arts, Xie Yanchun, Wan Yan Gan and others were not Jiao Yunpeng's opponents, but Xie Yanchun really chopped and killed, but Jiao Yunpeng had some concerns and had to fight and retreat. During the retreat, Jiao Yunpeng lost the incense scarf and his waist badge given to him by Miss Su Wen, but these things were picked up by the thief Wanyan Gan and quietly put away. Jiao Yunzhu danced with two swords, and no one dared to stop him. Finally, he rescued his brother and persuaded him to go home to recuperate. Yunpeng missed his family very much, but in the fight, he recognized the disguised Wanyan Gan and determined that Wanyan Gan had deceived Xie Yanchun and also came to Tieshan Temple - Baicao Tupu. He was afraid that Elder Zhineng would make mistakes, so he decided to go to the temple to meet the elder first and let his sister bring the servants to protect the temple. Jiao Yunpeng met Elder Zhineng, explained his purpose, and warned the elder that the Jinying had sent spies to come, so the elder should be more careful. Elder Zhineng was very grateful to Yunpeng and his sister for reporting the news in time, and promised to copy the Baicao Tupu as soon as possible for Yunpeng to take back to the barracks. The elder begged Jiao Yunpeng to stay in the temple for two days, and Yunpeng readily agreed. That night, Wanyan Gan took Jiao Yunpeng's waist badge and pretended to be Jiao Yunpeng to sneak into Tieshan Temple. It happened that the young monk Zhiyuan was patrolling. Zhiyuan had heard that General Jiao was a distinguished guest of the elders and respected Wanyan Gan very much. After Wanyan Gan learned about the room of the elder Zhineng from the young monk Zhiyuan, he numbed Zhiyuan with anesthetics and quickly rushed into the elder's room. In the dim light, he saw someone lying on the bed. He hurried forward and stabbed several times with a sharp blade, and searched for the herbal atlas under the pillow. He also threw away Jiao Yunpeng's battle robe and waist badge, and Miss Su Wen's scented handkerchief, forged the false appearance that Jiao Yunpeng and Su Wen killed the elder Zhineng, and fled the temple triumphantly. Xie Yanchun estimated that Jiao Yunpeng had entered the temple in all likelihood. He was afraid that the elder Zhineng would be killed by Jiao Yunpeng, so he sent the local braves and servants to protect the temple and arrest Jiao Yunpeng. As soon as he arrived at the gate of the temple, he heard the voice of the young monk shouting that the herbal atlas had been stolen and the elder had been killed. At this time, Jiao Yunpeng and his sister were about to chase the thief Wanyan Gan, but Zhiyuan insisted that Jiao Yunpeng was the real murderer who killed the elders, and held out Jiao Yunpeng's battle robe, waist badge, handkerchief and other items as evidence, and said that he saw Jiao Yunpeng go to the elders' room with his own eyes when he was on patrol. With both witnesses and physical evidence, Jiao Yunpeng could not explain clearly for a while. Yanchun wanted to capture Jiao Yunpeng, Jiao Yunzhu was ready to resist, Yunpeng stopped his sister, and the brother and sister surrendered. Xie Yanchun was about to execute Yunpeng and his sister. Fortunately, Miss Xie Suwen and Elder Zhineng appeared in time, shouting "spare the life under the knife", saving the lives of Yunpeng and his sister. It turned out that Elder Zhineng was not in the room. The room was a false illusion designed by him, and he hid in the underground secret room to copy the herbal atlas for Yunpeng. What was stabbed by Wanyan Gan was just a broken cotton wool, and what was stolen was also a fake herbal atlas. Miss Su Wen heard that Yun Peng was the real murderer, but she didn't believe it. She went to the elder's room to investigate. As a result, she found that Wan Yan Gan's name was engraved on the sharp blade left behind. She understood the traitor's trick of grafting flowers and trees. Elder Zhineng and Su Wen told Xie Yanchun that the real murderer was Wan Yan Gan, a spy in the Jin camp who pretended to be Jiao Yunpeng, and Jiao Yunpeng, who was wronged in front of him, was the real anti-Jin hero. Xie Yanchun felt guilty and released Jiao Yunpeng. He confessed his mistakes to Jiao Yunpeng and his sister in person, and the two families shook hands and made peace. Wan Yan Gan was very happy to steal the herb. The Jin camp was only separated from Tieshan Temple by a river. He returned to the outpost of the Jin camp in a meal and hurried back to the camp. The Jin soldiers boiled the medicine according to the recipe, but many soldiers who were infected with the plague did not get better after drinking the medicine, but fell to the ground and died. Wan Yan Gan realized that he had been deceived. The wolf leader of the Jin camp (the ancient name for the monarch or leader of the ethnic minority) was furious and ordered Wanyan Gan to be chopped off as a punishment. Fortunately, the soldiers pleaded for mercy and saved Wanyan Gan's life. In order to seize the Herb Atlas as soon as possible, the wolf leader ordered Wanyan Gan to lead a scout to cross the river and surround Tieshan Temple, and make sure to get the real herb atlas. Wanyan Gan led his troops to surround Tieshan Temple. Xie Yanchun and Jiao Yunpeng led the local warriors to fight with the Jin soldiers, but they were outnumbered and separated. Jiao Yunpeng, Jiao Yunzhu and Xie Yanchun fought their way out of the siege, but Elder Zhineng and Xie Suwen were captured by the Jin soldiers. That night, Jiao Yunpeng sneaked into the Jin camp to rescue Elder Zhineng and Miss Suwen. Because the Jin soldiers were on high alert, the elder and Su Wen felt that they would hinder Yunpeng and it would be difficult to escape from the clutches of the devil, so they told Yunpeng that the real herb map was hidden under the glazed well behind the secret room of the temple, and asked Yunpeng to quickly get the herb map and return to the camp to rescue people. Seeing that his relatives were difficult to rescue, Jiao Yunpeng felt like a thousand arrows piercing his heart, but he could only grit his teeth and withdraw from the Jin camp. Jiao Yunpeng returned to the temple to take out the herb map, and asked Jiao Yunzhu to rush to Zhenjiang at night to send the herb map to Marshal Han. He and Xie Yanchun recruited local braves together, ready to fight to the death with Wanyan Gan, and rescue Elder Zhineng and Miss Su Wen as soon as possible. Wanyan Gan led 5,000 soldiers to camp at the foot of Tieshan. On the mountain, Jiao Yunpeng and Xie Yanchun recruited more than 3,000 local braves, most of whom were strong hunters, who could participate in the battle after a short training. At dawn on the third day after Elder Zhineng was captured, Jiao Yunpeng and Xie Yanchun led the crowd to kill down Tieshan, and they were in a high position, fighting ten with one. The Jin camp was caught off guard, some died, some escaped, and the Jin general Wanyan Gan was captured alive, and Elder Zhineng and Miss Su Wen were rescued. Just as Jiao Yunpeng was about to take Wanyan Gan back to the Song camp, he ran into Jiao Yunzhu who was delivering the Herb Atlas. When Jiao Yunzhu saw Yunpeng and others, she burst into tears: "Marshal Yue has been killed by the court on trumped-up charges at Fengbo Pavilion, and Marshal Han has been dismissed and returned home. The court has also ceded half of the territory north of the Huai River to the Jin Kingdom and surrendered to the Jin Kingdom. The Baicao Atlas was also handed over to the Wolf Lord of the Jin Kingdom by the court." Not long after, the court sent another person to deliver an imperial edict: All captured Jin people will be released with courtesy, and Xie Suwen will be handed over to Wanyan Gan to take to the Wolf Lord of the Jin Kingdom as the tenth wife. This news was like a bolt from the blue. Jiao Yunpeng felt like a thousand arrows pierced his heart and fainted on the ground. Elder Zhineng hit a stone and died. Xie Suwen jumped off the cliff. After Jiao Yunpeng woke up, Xie Yanchun and Jiao Yunzhu persuaded Yunpeng to go to Henan to join the Eight Character Army. Jiao Yunpeng had lost all hope and angrily shaved his head to become the eleventh generation elder in Tieshan Temple. The legend of Tieshan Temple evolved from the history of the anti-Jin war in the Southern Song Dynasty, adding a strong humanistic color to Tieshan Temple. It has certain value in enriching the folk literature treasure house of Xuyi and promoting the development of tourism in Tieshan Temple. History of Tieshan Temple Tieshan Temple is named after the mountain. It was built in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. It was built by Yan Fotiao, the first monk of the Han nationality to become a monk, and it was the place for him to open the mountain. Yan Fotiao was a disciple of An Shigao, a Parthian monk who translated Buddhist scriptures in Luoyang during the reigns of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty (132-167 AD) and Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty (156-189 AD). He studied Buddhism for decades, and the first Buddhist work of a Han monk, "Shami Shihui Zhangju", was written by him. According to the "Collection of Records of the Tripitaka", Yan Fotiao translated and wrote "Fajing Sutra" and so on. Tieshan Temple was expanded over the generations. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the temple reached its peak, forming a cluster of fourteen temples with Tieshan Temple as the center, including Wanggu Temple, Qingliang Temple, Longshan Temple, etc. It was called the "Little Jiuhua" in northern Jiangsu and eastern Anhui, with thousands of monks and nuns. In the late Qing Dynasty, Tieshan Temple was occupied by mountain bandits and eventually destroyed by war. In order to meet the needs of local Buddhist culture, Tieshan Zen Temple was rebuilt on October 3, 2001, forming a large temple complex in Jiangsu and Anhui. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)