As the New Year is approaching, my husband and I went to visit a retired leader a few days ago. Although the old man has retired for many years, he is still in high spirits. I accidentally saw a sacred table set up in the living room of the old leader's house. There were flowers and fragrance on it, but a large black copper coin was enshrined. I was quite surprised, but I didn't dare to ask any more questions.
After three rounds of drinking, the old leader had a very pleasant conversation with my husband. He went to the hall and fetched the ancient coin, saying that it would open our eyes and see things for my husband. The two of us took a closer look at the money. There was nothing special about it. There was a square hole in the middle, and the four characters "Xining Tongbao" were cast around the square hole.
Seeing that my husband and I were confused, the old leader lit a cigarette and told us about the origin of this ancient coin while smoking.
When he was young, this old leader was an automobile soldier on the Qinghai-Tibet Line. He drove a large military truck to and from the bumpy roads in the snowy mountains all year round to deliver support supplies to various units. One day when he was stopping to rest in the Huangshui area, he picked up this ancient coin. I held it in my hand and looked left and right, but I couldn't see anything clearly. The old leader thought that he would wait until he went to the next market to find a knowledgeable person and ask, maybe he could use it as an antique and exchange it for some money.
Unexpectedly, when they arrived in the county town, the old leader asked several second-hand shops, and they all said that this big coin was from the Song Dynasty and was not worth much. The old leader felt quite disappointed when he came back. He stuffed a lot of money under his pillow and went to bed. That night, the old leader dreamed of a general wearing ancient armor and holding a halberd, standing majestically in front of him. The general spoke a dialect from the Qilu area and said to him: "I am the last general of the Song Dynasty. I died in the Hehuang area. My soul has been hidden in ancient coins for more than a thousand years. Today I have a fate with you, and I want to be worshiped by you. I will ensure your prosperity for generations to come.”
The old leader seemed to understand what he heard in his dream, but he was also doubtful and undecided in his heart. He asked the general: "May I ask who you are as the general?" The general replied: "It's okay not to mention the general who defeated the army." The old leader asked him how he needed to worship. The general told him: "All you need is a stick of incense, a cup of sake, and some flowers every day."
After waking up from the dream, the old leader thought about it and thought that he might rather believe that it existed and try to enshrine it according to the general's entrustment in the dream. If it didn't work, just stop offering it. Therefore, the old leader offered incense and wine every day and worshiped the ancient coin with great care. Not long after, the provincial military academy's quota for promotion came down. Originally, there was no such old leader, but by some strange combination of circumstances, a comrade was killed in a car accident while transporting support supplies. The old leader naturally took his place. Ti Gan went to school.
From then on, the old leader's life was like a cheat, with ghost stories in the military camp and high mountains and rivers, and he rose to great heights in a blink of an eye over the past few decades. The old leader regarded the ancient coin as a treasure and worshiped it with great piety and respect. Just when the old leader was conferred the title of general and became the prime minister, and was about to be transferred to the capital in splendor, he dreamed of the great general of the Song Dynasty again.
The old leader thanked the general profusely in his dream, but the general declined and said: "You and I each take what we need, and there is no need to say thank you. After you enter the capital, you can place the ancient coins in the merit box of Tanzhe Temple, a famous temple in the capital. From now on, you will be spared the pain of making offerings every day." The old leader was quite reluctant to give up, and asked the general if he could continue to make offerings, so that he could be taken care of by the general again. The general replied: "It's all right. You still have forty years of life left, which is enough for me to practice!" The old leader asked the general if he could protect his descendants. The general was furious and said: "I have no fate with them. How greedy you are!"
After returning from the old leader's house, my husband and I looked up "Xining Tongbao" and found that it was a copper coin minted and issued by Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. According to historical records, the only achievement of Shenzong's reign was to recover Hehuang. In ancient times, Hehuang was the area of Qinghai and Tibet today.
The loyal bones are buried in the green mountains, and the corpses are returned wrapped in horse leather. It seems that the General of the Song Dynasty in the old leader's dream should have buried his bones in a foreign land during the battle to regain Hehuang, and hid his soul in ancient coins. It was fate that he met and worshiped the old leader, and it was good fortune that the old leader got his help. When the time comes and the fate ends, the ghost stories in the military camp will be separated and go back to the wilderness…