Yuanling, Hunan, a small county in western Hunan, is rich in history and culture. But if I set foot on the land of Yuanling today, places of interest like longxing temple and Youer Academy are not my choice. I'm going to visit the holy land in my heart-Luochuanxi River Ping in the northeast of Yuanling County. According to the introduction on the Internet, Wuqiangxi Power Station has already been submerged at the bottom of Yuanjiang River. But I still want to visit here, and I think it is best to visit it on rainy days, so that it can be closer to the age when saints breathe.

Although this saint is not a world-class historical celebrity like Joan of Arc, he can still be seen in history books. There is a brief introduction to the authoritative Sanxiang's Charge by a Light Brigade, and the bonfire in Chenzhou compiled by Yuanling seems to have her short-lived deeds, so that future generations can perceive her vague impression from the dusty historical accumulation. After liberation, she was chased as a revolutionary martyr, because she was born in party member and was killed by the Kuomintang Xiangxi indigenous troops on May 27th. 1927.

Her name is Yao, and she is the daughter of an official who abandoned his post and returned to his hometown in the late Qing Dynasty. She was born on April 5, 2008 in Guangxu period. Maybe it was a happy spring day, and the baby's crying came from Yao's house. This may not make her father happy, perhaps because he wants to have a baby boy, and the baby boy can be his hope to support the lintel. The long river of history has lost her face. Here, I imagine that this baby girl is gradually becoming a sensible girl. She should be beautiful, and her manners reveal a rare upbringing. Although her father didn't give her any life design, after all, she is a scholarly family and enlightenment education is allowed. However, the girl's obsession with justice soon made her break through the limitation of her daughter's Tao Te Ching, and the students were surprised to find that her ambition showed her husband's rare heroism. It's just that all this has not been taken seriously by students. At that time, women could not be associated with life and career.

Any saint must have a rare feat, or an earth-shattering career, or a tragic tragedy. Yao did all these things in the future. The question is, how much does her girlhood experience have to do with her sage character? The magistrate of a county in Qing Dynasty was not a noble family. Here I imagine that it is more reasonable for her father to abandon his post and go back to his hometown to do some small business in the town. Yao's enlightenment education has reached the level of a talented woman, and probably needs some economic foundation. In this way, according to the classic theory of class struggle, Yao can't spontaneously become a revolutionary in the future. The path of the magistrate's daughter is not necessarily related to the revolutionary sage. She must experience some kind of life experience in order to cultivate genes for her future revolutionary experience. I imagine that on a winter day when I was out of school because of the war, a girl named Yao was staring blankly at the rain line flying in the air at the window of Yao's yard. At this time, she should be wearing a blue gown on her upper body and a long black dress on her lower body. The shadow of embroidered shoes is always looming at the foot of the skirt. Here I imagine this future heroine as a pair of big feet. This is somewhat due to the openness of Yao's father. Why is Xue Jian depressed because he can't study? But I still let this post-modern thought disappear quickly and return to the possible truth of that era.

Her experience as a young student endowed her with an independent personality and made her a new woman. I can't imagine that 20-year-old Yao is still wearing her original clothes, leaning against the school gate and looking sadly at the women, children, old people and young people displaced by war and bandits. She sincerely hopes to change the dark society. 1927, another change in her life. This spring, she joined the China * * * Production Party. So I imagined that Yao would cut his hair short at this moment, and he might wear white clothes, black skirts, white socks and black shoes, which are all popular in big cities. Of course, he will get used to wearing a blue cheongsam and a pair of round shoes more easily. She was active in the torrent of the peasant movement and fought in the forefront of women's liberation. So it is natural for her to be hostile to the old forces. According to historical records, she used to be a member of the women's movement of Yuanling County Party Department (Preparatory Committee) and vice chairman of the county women's Federation. Although I can't accurately infer why she became a revolutionary leader at such a young age, I still want to imagine her teaching during the day and walking home at night to educate women. I also imagine that she is heroic and spirited, mobilizing farmers, workers, shop assistants and students to fight against Liang Yunquan, Zhou Baoding, the county magistrate of Yuanling County, Xiang Shouzhi, the director of the tax bureau, and to assess the situation against the big evil gentry who are extremely angry with the people, such as Guangfu father and son and Chen Kejian. Although I can't explain why a young woman will practice the most determined revolution, because not all young women will take part in the revolution. So I imagined it was a rainy Spring Festival Evening in 1927. Under the dim oil lamp, 25-year-old Yao smiled and said to his comrades that "the revolution is not afraid of death". Before the execution, maybe she will take one last affectionate look at her relatives and comrades. The rain is continuous and rapid, suffocating, and the chill attacks people, which aggravates the sadness at this moment. Revolutionaries also have sentimentality, but this sentimentality just reflects the sadness of her unyielding revolutionary will.

The river ping of rotten boat creek seems to be not an accurate place name, because some historical books also call this place Dongguan River Ping. I wonder what it was like 89 years ago. It may have been covered with sludge, or it may not be sludge but white pebbles washed away by water. But I prefer to believe the latter, because Yao was killed here by the indigenous troops of the Kuomintang. That was May 27th, 1927. I think it is still a rainy spring. A group of Kuomintang indigenous armed soldiers escorted 25-year-old Yao to this place called rotten boat creek, and an executioner named Zhang beheaded her. The day before, he was unfortunately arrested while presiding over the meeting to eliminate counter-revolutionaries. I imagine Yao being interrogated and tortured in the Daotai yamen of Fupo, where Kuomintang soldiers are stationed. There are only a few words in the historical data that she was hit on the sole by a bamboo brush, although the real scene has been impossible to verify. But according to the historical data at that time, I believe that her indomitable integrity will definitely make the enemy frightened! So the next day, in order to cover up her mental weakness, the enemy brutally beheaded her, stripped off her clothes, cut off her breasts, cut open her belly, and finally even desperately inserted a wooden stick into her nakedness to vent her animal desires. So, a saint was born! Suffering such hardships for the cause deserves to be listed as a saint!

At this moment, I suddenly realized that it doesn't matter why she became a saint. The saint herself is sacred. She impressed me deeply and moved me. This is the greatness of the sage itself. For me, the significance of visiting the Holy Land should only lie in such a search, which can allow me to travel through just visiting to return to that era and get in touch with the incomprehensible spirit of modern times directly. Therefore, it goes without saying that this is the only meaning of visiting the holy land of saints.

What I want to visit is the historical site of Yao. I hope to find a big house, an old and heavy house, where she grew up, where she taught and educated people, where she held meetings, or where she was tortured by interrogation. In short, it is a place that can be called a site, where you can feel her breath. One spring a few years ago, I came to the martyrdom of Xue Jian, which is called rotten boat creek, and now it has become a cargo terminal. I think the beach where Xue Jian died should be underwater not far from the pier. I stood quietly by the dock, watching the green river flow slowly from the beach, and my ear seemed to hear Xue Jianxing's loud cry through time and space before his execution, echoing between the clear water and blue sky in Yuanling.