But the prosperity of the single tree head is worse than Cui's. Cui family is rich in financial resources, and makes great efforts to build houses, including string houses, small gossip houses, three houses and six courtyards, three houses and nine courtyards, apartment houses and string courtyards. According to research, in order to guard against thieves, a village wall was initially built, including a gatehouse and a fort, covering an area of 0.25 square kilometers, forming a complete miniature castle. Perhaps it is the enhancement of defense ability that effectively protects the bandits' invasion of clan property and people, deterrs those bandits who used to rob their homes for a living, and ensures the safety of businessmen who come here. At that time, businessmen from all over the world had many contacts in Northeast China, Xi and Shaanxi. Sometimes I can't find a place to live at night, and everyone wants to live in a single tree head. There are many houses in the village, which is convenient for residents. After a long time, it gradually became the center of regional trade and economic development in Linyi, and was called "Eryi Prefecture" by the old Linyi people.
So, what kind of situation is Cui's management mode? According to research, Cui Shi's family operated in a cross-industry interlocking way, and successively set foot in many industries, such as papermaking, printing and dyeing, silverware, sauce garden, hardware and construction. , of which hardware production is the most famous. Their copper pots, pedicure knife, copper drums and scissors are exported to all parts of the country. In addition, they also sell silk, tea, smuggled salt and jewelry, all of which have left commercial footprints in the north to the northeast, Xinjiang in the west and Yunnan and Guizhou in the south. They even visited the Liusha River described in The Journey to the West.
It should be said that the Cui Shi family has a rare wisdom of ordinary people. Cui Sen, who is engaged in greening projects in the village, said: One year, the weather was favorable and the crops in the first tree were bumper. The beans in the store piled up like mountains, and it was difficult to sell them for a while. What shall we do? Soon, a "Cuiji Oil Mill" opened. "At that time, there were few local oil mills, and business soon flourished." The business of the oil mill is booming, and the by-product bean cake also comes in handy. They found that Hangzhou, which is rich in silk, needs this thing. Mulberry trees are planted locally to raise silkworms. They just "feed" mulberry trees with bean cakes. Bean cakes were shipped to Hangzhou and brought back silk by the way, so the silk shops in the village opened one after another and had their own trade names and hall numbers. Of course, sorghum harvest will take sorghum to make wine and open restaurants; When the wheat harvest is good, we will engage in dim sum processing ... Through agriculture to promote commercial development, Cui's "fixed assets" will soon become even bigger.
At the same time, the oil mills, banks, hotels, teahouses and other businesses in the village have also attracted vendors from all over the country. Even if it is not a party, the village is bustling and lively; The Apocalypse Temple, Kannonji and Cui Shi ancestral halls are tall and majestic, and the Cui Shi School is loud and clear. The old people said that at that time, the old woman's voice could not be heard in Linyi city, but in Dushutou village, the old woman's crying could be clearly heard every morning. The noise was very loud in the morning of the party, and the shouts of selling snacks came one after another. Speaking of Cui family, there is one person who is very important. He is monk Yong Kun and is deeply respected by the villagers. Before becoming a monk, his name was Cui Yongkun.
There are several tombstones in the middle of the grass in Cui Shi cemetery in the northwest of the village. The first stone tablet describes the origin of the Cui Shi family. The inscription says that Cui Shi moved from Shanxi to Dushutou Village in the late Ming Dynasty. Pointing to the inscription, Cui Zhenqiang said that Cui Yongkun was the great-grandson of Cui Shi's ancestor Chigo, and he was sickly since childhood. When he was about four or five years old, a wandering monk came to the village and said that he had a relationship with Buddha, so he took Xiao Yongkun away. During the reign of Kangxi, Cui Yongkun, who was predestined friends with Buddha, became the abbot of Thanksgiving Temple in Wutai Mountain. He became attached to the emperor who visited his father many times and received many priceless gifts. Monk Yong Kun was homesick because of his age, and later returned to China to return to secularism and built the Cui Family Courtyard. After adoption, his descendant Cui Tingxun took over his mantle and attended the "Thousand Wedding Banquet" of Emperor Qianlong, and was given a yellow robe and mandarin jacket. This is another story.
There is no doubt that Cui moved here in the late Ming Dynasty. But how did you get rich and prosper? According to legend, Cui Yongkun, the abbot of Thanksgiving Temple in Wutai Mountain, returned to the secular world at the repeated request of his hometown friends. After returning to his hometown, Cui Yongkun sold a lot of gifts from the emperor, bought fertile land, set up an industry, and made Cui Shi brothers, who were not rich originally, rich overnight. Cui Shi's descendants told the author that after monk Yong Kun returned to the secular world, he sold his gifts and bought 100 hectares of fertile land for his six nephews. 6. Brothers together cooperate with others to engage in commercial trade, selling hardware in Beijing, Tianjin and Northeast China in the north, silk in Hangzhou in the south, tea in Yunnan, jewelry in Nanyang, mules and horses in Xinjiang and Tibet in the west and salt in the east. Open banks in Linyi, Jinan and Xi 'an; Open hotels and oil mills in my hometown, and gradually establish a huge industry in the country. It seems that no one has ever realized the "protection" of Cui's compound. No one regards it as a precious historical relic, but thinks it is a landlord's house and a "witness" of the bourgeoisie, which should be torn down and smashed. As a result, the Cuijia Courtyard was devastated, the old city wall disappeared, and the ancient temple monuments were completely destroyed. In the famous "Breaking Four Old Houses", all the ancient buildings such as Huaiyin Hall and Bagua Building in the West Courtyard were demolished, leaving only a few in the East Courtyard. Many buildings with front eaves and back houses have only front eaves and no back houses, leaving only seven or eight courtyards. What is even more regrettable is the direct destruction of cultural relics: the crutches given by the emperor are said to be made of "dragon wood" (camphor wood) that can ward off evil spirits. The texture is hard and the shape is exquisite, but it was actually thrown into the sweet potato cellar. More ironically, it was used by villagers at that time to make fire sticks and was destroyed in vain.
As mentioned earlier, Cui Tingxun, a descendant of the monk Yong Kun, attended a grand banquet in his 80 s and got a jade brand, a treasure knife, a walking stick, a yellow robe, a flowered feather hat and a beard comb, and so on. Maybe no one survived. The imperial edict was engraved on the tortoise back tablet in front of the temple, and the inscription was written by Academician Hanlin. Unfortunately, the original monument was also destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years of catastrophe, the crutches, jade cards and the plaque of "two generations of glory" in the village were all destroyed or lost. I feel particularly sorry when I explore it now.