The Legend of Liu Yi
During the Yifeng period of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century, there was a scholar named Liu Yi in the Gunxiufang of Suzhou City. He went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, but failed. Before packing his luggage and returning to Wu, he went to Jingyang, more than a hundred miles north of the capital Chang'an, to visit his fellow countrymen and friends. On the way, he saw a young woman herding sheep on the grassland pasture. She looked haggard and frowned, but she still had the temperament of a lady from a noble family. After several inquiries, he learned that the woman was the third princess of the Dragon King of Dongting Lake in Taihu Lake. Because she was bullied by her husband, the second son of the Dragon King of Jinghe River, she was finally demoted to the grassland to herd sheep; but being in a foreign land, she could not let her parents thousands of miles away understand her suffering. Knowing that Liu Yi came from Suzhou, his hometown on the shore of Taihu Lake, he asked him to deliver a letter by wild geese; Liu Yi said that he would do his best to deliver the letter. The dragon girl also secretly passed on the method of how to enter Taihu Lake and the fairyland to deliver letters in Dongshan, Dongting. After the dragon girl handed over the letter, she disappeared without a trace with the sheep. On that day, Liu Yi rushed to visit his friend in Jingyang and learned that Jingyang City was next to the Jing River, which flows from Liupan Mountain into the Wei River, with a total length of 902 miles. The Dragon Girl married here. After a long journey, Liu Yi returned to Suzhou City. The next day, he hired a white horse to travel west to Dongting Dongshan, 80 miles away, to write a letter (Dongting Dongshan was still a large island in Taihu Lake more than a thousand years ago, facing Dongting Xishan Island on the west side across the water; it was gradually connected to the land in the Qing Dynasty, forming today's Dongshan Peninsula). Liu Yi arrived at the Taihu Lake and hired a boat to carry people and horses to Dongting Dongshan Island. After several inquiries, he found the stone tablet archway of the "Ancient Orange Society" mentioned by the Dragon Girl and a large orange tree with dense branches and leaves. He took out the silk ribbon given by the Dragon Girl and wiped it on the tree three times. The large orange tree actually swayed. After a while, the Dragon Palace waiter at the bottom of the lake brought shrimp soldiers and crab generals to greet him. After asking the reason, the waiter guided Liu Yi into the water from the well and into the Dragon Palace. Later generations called this well Liu Yi Well. In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Ao, a university scholar and the prince's tutor, wrote the stele of "Liu Yi Well". On November 1, 1956, when the commander-in-chief visited Dongshan, he saw this well and heard the story of Liu Yi entering the Dragon Palace through this well, and said: "It is really an ancient well, a precious monument." He personally lifted water to measure the depth of the well. Now this well is a cultural relic protection unit in Suzhou. After meeting the Dragon King Dongting, Liu Yi introduced himself to the three princesses of the Dragon King of Dongting who were studying in Chang'an and met by the Jing River. The princess was tortured by the little dragon of Jing River, and her parents-in-law protected their son, and the princess was forced to herd sheep and suffered torture, and presented a letter. After reading it, the Dragon King was extremely sad and regretted that he had matched his daughter with the wrong husband. When the brother of the Lord of Dongting, the Lord of Qiantang, learned about this, he was furious and led the Taihu Dongting sailors and the Qiantang River sailors to the west to attack the Dragon King of Jinghe River, captured the little dragon of Jinghe River alive, swallowed it in one gulp, and rescued his niece. The Lord of Dongting held a banquet to entertain Liu Yi, and the Dragon Mother received Liu Yi and expressed her deep gratitude. The Lord of Qiantang personally acted as a matchmaker, wanting to marry his niece, the third princess, to Liu Yi, but Liu Yi refused. The next day, Liu Yi left. The Dragon King presented Liu Yi with many rare treasures. The escorting waiter divided the water and led the way, and Liu Yi landed out of the well. Liu Yi took the ferry and returned to his home in the city. In the following years, Liu Yi went through many twists and turns. First, he was framed and imprisoned, then his wife died of a serious illness, and later his second wife died in childbirth. Just when Liu Yi was lonely and lacked a soulmate in life, the Dragon Girl dressed up as a good lady and asked a matchmaker to propose marriage, and finally the two got married. The dragon girl was pregnant for ten months and gave birth to a son. At this time, the dragon girl told Liu Yi the truth: the Dragon King's family had always been grateful to Liu Yi for saving them, and they also heard about the ups and downs in Liu Yi's life, so they came up with this method to repay their gratitude. The dragon girl said: I am willing to serve my husband forever and grow old together. Liu Yi and the dragon girl later moved to Suzhou Changmen for forty years. One year, there was a severe drought in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Taihu Lake was almost dry. Liu Yi couldn't bear it, so he went to his father-in-law Dongting Jun and his uncle Qiantang Jun to pray for rain, and he borrowed rain water to make the water level of Taihu Lake rise by three feet. The people of Wu were grateful to Liu Yi, and built water temples in Suzhou City and the four townships to worship him, such as Narcissus Temple, Liuxian Temple, and White Horse Temple. After Liu Yi died, his tomb was on the east side of Taibo Temple in Suzhou Changmen, and was included in Wufeng Garden in the Ming Dynasty; the people also built Liu Yi Bridge in the south of the tomb, one for commemoration, and the other for the convenience of paying homage to his tomb. The "Liu Yi Bridge" is also engraved on the Southern Song Dynasty stone carving "Pingjiang Tu" in Suzhou, a national key cultural relic protection site! (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)