Almost everyone in the Qianshan area of Anhui Province knew how to fight kites. Since ancient times, there has been a local custom of "fighting kites in the spring of October on the mountain of Amitabha".
That year, there were Zhang and Xu families in Qianshan. The Zhang family was a famous hunter in the local area, employing more than a hundred hunters all year round. The rare game and mink fox fur were sold in the three towns of Wuhan and sold in Huining. The Xu family opened a large bamboo workshop, employing no less than a hundred craftsmen, and the business was all over the country.
Zhang Yao, third son of the Zhang family, was originally studying in Wuhan, but due to the fall of Wuhan that year, he had to return to his hometown of Qianshan Mountain. The master of the Zhang family decided to take this opportunity to get married to him, and the daughter-in-law he liked was Xu Yuan, the youngest girl of the Xu family. Xu Yuan had also studied in a new school and had a strong temper. Seeing that the wedding was approaching, she suddenly proposed to fight a kite with Zhang Yao: within three days, no matter what method Zhang Yao won, she would bring her own dowry and go through the door as scheduled. If she lost, she would rather go to Michito Temple and become a sister-in-law than marry the Zhang family.
When the master of the Zhang family heard it, his beard was crooked: For so many years, it was the Xu family who fought kites every year, and it was the Xu family who won every year. Didn't this girl put forward this condition clearly because she wanted to regret her marriage? But when Zhang Yao heard it, he couldn't help but be happy; "Fight! I don't believe I can't fight her. Hmph, this girl has always been one-sided, and if she doesn't take this opportunity to suppress her arrogance, she may not be able to ride on my head in the future!"
Seeing that his son's attitude was so firm, the master had no choice but to agree, so he quickly invited the kite fighting masters to the county seat, chose arrow bamboo as the keel, pasted the wings with paper, and asked the blacksmith to use stainless steel to beat the beak. It took three days and three nights to make a solid "kite".
On the day of the kite fight, Zhang Yao went to Mount Amitabha early in the morning to seize a favorable position. Xu Yuan did not care and chose a mountain mouth opposite Zhang Yao to stand still. Zhang Yao fluttered the kite up into the clouds, and Xu Yuan looked at it and raised his hand confidently. A kite shaped like a beautiful phoenix also swayed up to the sky with the wind. When everyone saw it, they cheered and rushed to send their kites to the sky. For a time, in the blue sea sky, colorful butterflies were flying, and hundreds of birds were facing the phoenix, and the scene was quite spectacular.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Yao snorted in his nose, and suddenly put away the kite string in his hand. He saw that the kite in the air immediately whizzed towards Xu Yuan's colorful kite, flying all the way, hitting all kinds of kites that were swaying in the sky and breaking the wings. It turned out that the kite string of Zhang Yao's kite was cooked in a paste full of broken glass dust, and the ordinary kite string naturally broke when touched. However, it was difficult for Xu Yuan to see that she loosened her hand in a hurry, and the kite string in her hand immediately flew like a windmill. In the blink of an eye, the colorful kite rushed to the sky and threw the kite far below.
Zhang Yao was annoyed when he saw it, and shouted loudly, slammed the kite line, and suddenly quickly released the line, causing the kite to fall sharply and keep circling in the air. Xu Yuan couldn't avoid it for a while, and the kite line of the colorful kite and the kite were entangled together. Seeing that the plan was successful, Zhang Yao couldn't help but laugh out loud. Xu Yuan was still unhurried, and she spun the kite line in her hand in reverse with her arms, and the color kite quickly reversed the circle, leaving one beautiful arc after another in the air, and finally rushed up to the sky again.
It turned out that Xu Yuan had been on guard against Zhang Yao's hand for a long time. Cai Yuanzheng's kite thread was soaked in tung oil, which was as hard as steel wire and as tough as a bowstring. And Zhang Yao couldn't take it for a while, but the kite flapped a few times and then fell straight down. Zhang Yao said angrily to Xu Yuan, "You are so cruel! I don't believe that I can't cure you tomorrow!"
That night, the story of this pair of beautiful enemies fighting kites was rumored by the hidden mountain people. So the next day, even the street vendors couldn't help but put down their business and came to see the strangeness.
This time, Xu Yuan came early. After the competition yesterday, she knew that Zhang Yao should not be underestimated, so she specially asked the craftsmen in the workshop to help carry the Hundred-knot Dragon Zheng in the workshop. The kite string used to fly the dragon kite was bigger than a spinning wheel. Xu Yuan still chose the position at the mouth of the mountain yesterday, and after placing the kite string firmly, she began to shake it vigorously. After a while, the Hundred-knot Dragon wagged its head and tail and slowly rose into the air, attracting the admiration of all the people watching.
Zhang Yao also came, but it was strange that he didn't bring a kite, but brought those hunters in his family, all of whom were carrying fire guns and hanging pellet gourds around their waists. Everyone couldn't help but wonder what medicine he sold in the gourd. Zhang Yao played a horn with both hands and shouted at Xu Yuan with a cheeky smile: "Daughter-in-law, didn't you say that no matter what method I use, as long as I fight your kite, I will win? Hee hee, then see how I deal with you today!" After saying that, he took a shotgun from the hunter and aimed it at the head of Baijie Longzheng with a "bang" shot. Everyone didn't expect Zhang Yao to use such a dirty trick, so they all shook their heads.
Xu Yuan was so angry that his eyebrows stood at the end. If she hadn't shot like electricity, she would have avoided the dragon head with a wave of wires in her hand, and almost hit Zhang Yao's path. Seeing that the shot failed, Zhang Yao was anxious, so he waved his hand and asked the hunters to raise their guns in unison. For a while, the mountain of Amitabha was like a firecracker shop on fire, and the sound of "crackling" shook the birds all over the mountain. Xu Yuan did not dare to take it lightly when she saw the situation. She flew the kite line with one hand, pushed and pulled the dragon head with the other hand, and the hundred-section dragon flickered and moved in the air. Although the dragon scales were flying due to gun ammunition, it was still rising tenaciously.
By noon, Xu Yuan had exhausted the kite string in his hand. At this time, the Hundred-Knuckle Dragon had already flown far beyond the range of the fire gun, piercing through the clouds and fog above the nine heavens. Zhang Yao had no choice but to look at the dragon and sigh, and returned angrily.
On the third day, the entire buried mountain was filled with people. Even some elderly people who had been sick and bedridden for a long time heard the strange news of the "battle between harriers and kites", and couldn't help but let their descendants carry them to Amitabha Mountain to see the excitement.
This time, Zhang Yao took a desperate stance, and he had already rushed to Amitabha Mountain with a large group of people early in the morning to line up troops. Zhang Yao's eldest brother, a major artillery general, was currently hiding in area of the buried mountain with his troops to fight the autumn wind. He didn't expect Zhang Yao to use his eldest brother's horses in order to marry a beautiful woman. When everyone saw that this was the case, they couldn't help but worry about Xu Yuan: As soon as the cannon was fired, even the iron and copper guy would be blown to pieces, not to mention this bamboo paper kite?
When everyone was worried, Xu Yuan and a little girl came in a rubber cart. The cart was covered with a green cloth, and they didn't know what magic weapon was hidden inside. After the car stopped at the mouth of the mountain, Xu Yuan got out of the car, and then took out a magpie kite with black wings and a white belly from under the green cloth. With just a slight toss, the magpie kite blew up and looked from a distance, and soon it became the size of a grain of rice. Everyone was a little puzzled: Just because of this, she wants to win Zhang Harrier today?
Zhang Yao couldn't guess which play Xu Yuan was singing, but today was the last day of kite fighting. If he wanted to marry Xu Yuan home, he could only win and not lose! So he did not dare to be careless and commanded it decently, only to listen to the order: "Fire!" The shells really jumped out of the chamber, and the tongues of fire roared over everyone's heads, shaking Mt Amitabha.
Xu Yuan was not in a hurry. Seeing that the magpie Zheng, who had been beaten into a sieve, was shaky, she quickly asked the little girl to take out another magpie Zheng with a windmill from under the green cloth and buckle it in the line. The windmill turned "hula la" in the wind, and the magpie zheng flew into the sky like lightning in the blink of an eye, just in time to hold the "sieve zheng" firmly. Everyone was surprised and delighted: Isn't Xu Yuan's trick the legendary kite fighting stunt "sending the kite"? To be able to see it, it is really a blessing for three lifetimes!
You lose one, I'll take one, you lose two, I'll take a pair, and I'll fight till dusk, no one will be convinced. Xu Yuan proposed fighting kites, in fact, she also wanted to take this opportunity to show her skills, so that the Zhang family would not underestimate herself in the future. Now, seeing that her goal had been achieved, she simply pulled the green cloth from the rubber cart, hung the remaining dozen magpie kites on the Kongming lantern, and sent them together to the sky.
But at that moment, a big gray bird kite suddenly emerged from the clouds, and two lanterns flickered on its wings. Xu Yuan was startled: What kind of game is Zhang Yao playing? At that time, Zhang Yao also saw the big bird kite. Originally, when he saw Xu Yuan empty all the kites in the car, he wanted to take the people back down the hill with the donkey. He didn't think Xu Yuan was playing any new tricks? Zhang Yao did not say a word, and shouted angrily at his men: "What are you still doing? As long as it is flying in the sky, give me a hit! There will be a reward for hitting it and going back!" Following his order, heavy artillery fire was fired on Mount Amitabha, and the "Firebird" was caught off guard. In an instant, it turned into a big fireball, fell straight from the air, and fell headfirst into the clear water lake under Mount Amitabha, triggering huge waves.
Zhang Yao, Xu Yuan, and the spectators suddenly felt that the situation was not right, and they did not care about fighting or not. They rushed to the clear water lake and found out: what a big bird kite, it is clearly a devil plane! On the wreckage of the wings exposed to the lake, you can vaguely see the sun flag with a red heart on a white background. Now everyone panicked.
Late that night, Chongqing Radio broadcast shocking news: a Japanese plane was shot down by unknown armed forces on Amitabha Mountain, a buried mountain in Anhui Province. None of the passengers on board survived, and one of the dead was the highest-ranking army officer killed on the Chinese battlefield.
Unexpectedly, this pair of little enemies actually caused a great disaster in the kite fight, how could the Japanese easily let them go? The two families decided to send Zhang Ya and Xu Yuan out of the buried mountain overnight and let them fly away. As for the two of them who later traveled thousands of miles through the Dabie Mountains and went to Yan'an to participate in the revolution for several months, and also coaxed Zhang Ya's major general brother to surrender, this is a postmortem, not to mention.
Many years later, the people of Qianshan still talked about it with great interest. It was even rumored that Zhang Yao and Xu Yuan had joined the Communist Party when they were studying at school. They knew in advance that the Japanese plane would pass over Qianshan that day, so they deliberately directed such a big play of kite fighting.
Some curious people have interviewed Zhang and Xu couples who are still alive on this matter many times, but they are always noncommittal and laugh without answering.