Seeking the "Little Stone Pool" described by Liu Zongyuan with my own steps, measuring the ancient city of Lingling!

Yongzhou is a cultural city that has been favored by history, and it is also a city that needs to be deeply savored on my wish list. This sudden impulse, half for the Nüshu script and half for "Xiaoxiang", is destined to carry a distant emotional filter. From Lengshuitan to the ancient city of Lingling, the raw new charm of the ancient city, just off the eyebrows, but on the heart. Just like the signature dish "Blood Duck" that is refreshing and heartwarming, how can one criticize it? Even if the internet is full of bad reviews, after much hesitation, I still resolutely came. Even if I can no longer recite those famous essays and poems by Liu Zongyuan, even if the Xiaoxiang in the literature is no longer what I expected, there is a kind of solace as if years have passed and the bright moon is still in the sky. Yongzhou is known as the crossroads of three provinces, an important transportation hub in southern China, and a strategic location that military strategists must vie for. The ancient path of Xianggui began with Emperor Shun's southern tour, and to protect the "Five Ridges", Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of the Wuling paths for military logistics and command transmission. The most explosive discovery is at the Yu Chan Yan Neolithic site, where the earliest known specimens of artificially cultivated rice in the world were unearthed, along with China's earliest pottery. However, today's Yongzhou, like an old lady abandoned by the times, only has a history of generous and tragic songs. On Liuzi Street at 25°C, many girls with flowers in their hair take photos in front of fishing boats, while Cobalt Manganese Pool and the Western Hills site, not far away, are deserted, suddenly realizing the extreme loneliness of "Fishing alone in the cold river snow". Without deliberately exploring Liu Zongyuan's secluded scenic route, I feel the spirit of Zihou accompanying me all the way. In Liu Zongyuan's writings, Yongzhou is a place suitable for living and traveling, as described in "Eight Records of Yongzhou". The ordinary Little Stone Pool, renamed Yuxi after Liu Zongyuan, has now become the first stop for Yongzhou's study of history and culture, and a must-visit cultural preservation unit for internet celebrities. Although the Western Hills ultimately did not survive, the IP of the Little Stone Pool has made a name for itself. Liu Zongyuan, who was once unrecognized for his talents and sought solace in nature, has now become the renowned leader of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. I did not hear the "jingling of jade pendants" in the water, nor see the fish that "seem to swim freely without reliance", only the "interlocking" strange rocks still standing on the shore, which inexplicably made me shiver. In the afternoon at the Little Stone Pool, only a local man sat on a stone by the shore, as if in a daze, as if listening to the wind blowing through the bamboo forest. I jokingly greeted him, and he smiled simply, saying, look how beautiful those boulders are. Yes, perhaps Liu Zongyuan once lay drunk and played the zither on these stones. The cultural high ground of the ancient city of Lingling belongs to Dongshan, with winding mountains and numerous temples, blending Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism into one mountain. The Gao Shan Temple at the summit is the Fa Hua Temple where Liu Zongyuan first stayed when he entered Yongzhou, and it is also the location of one of the "Eight Views of Yongzhou", the "Evening Bell at the Mountain Temple". Huai Su, known for his wild cursive script, practiced calligraphy here as a youth, using banana leaves as paper and ink washing into pools. Later generations planted bananas around here, naming it Green Heaven Hermitage. With a sigh, the mountains and waters are green, the sky light and cloud shadows linger together, and I alone enjoy this tranquility and remoteness.