Shentang Bay
Shentang Bay: After King Xiang Tianzi broke out from Luoma Valley, he originally planned to go through Sangzhi to Yongshun and join forces with the Tusi of Yong, Bao, and Rongmei (present-day Hefeng, Hubei) to resist. Unexpectedly, the prefectures of Lizhou, Chenzhou, and Changde gathered thirty thousand troops and sealed off all surrounding passes. King Xiang Tianzi could not escape even with wings and had to retreat to Yuanjiajie (today's Tianzi Mountain). To reduce their target, King Xiang...
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Shentang Bay
Now, after King Xiang Tianzi broke out of Luoma Valley, he originally intended to go to Sangzhi, then to Yongshun, to join forces with the Yong, Bao, and Rongmei (present-day Hefeng, Hubei) tusi in joint resistance. Unexpectedly, the prefectures of Lizhou, Chenzhou, and Changde gathered thirty thousand troops and sealed off all surrounding passes. King Xiang Tianzi could not escape even with wings, and had to retreat to Yuanjiajie (present-day Tianzi Mountain). To reduce their target, King Xiang personally led one detachment from Shuireo Simen up the cliffs against the current of the Kuangdong Stream (present-day Yuanyang Stream). Halfway up the mountain, the pursuing soldiers' battle cries suddenly rose. Just at the critical moment, the cliff waterfall suddenly turned into countless snowflakes scattering across the sky. The government troops were terrified — it was the sixth lunar month, how could snow possibly fall? It must be the gods aiding the Tujia barbarians; what use was pursuit? Later people named this wonder "June Snowfall." Another detachment of the Tujia army went from Qianli Xianghui up to Yuanjiajie. The government troops pursued relentlessly, and the Tujia army struck them with rolling logs and boulders, sending the pursuers fleeing in all directions (now called "Luanchuan Slope" or "Fleeing-in-All-Directions Slope").
King Xiang Tianzi disappeared into the vast primeval forest. The tens of thousands of government troops adopted a strategy of advancing step by step and encircling to annihilate, trapping the Xiang army in the Chapanta area. Legend says one day King Xiang was resting at Chapanta when he suddenly encountered government troops. In a bloody battle, King Xiang was overwhelmed by superior numbers. Just at the critical moment, a fairy pulled the golden hairpin from her head and threw it onto the cliff, where it turned into a stone bridge, and King Xiang was saved (this bridge was later called "Fairy Bridge").
Having escaped danger at Chapanta, King Xiang Tianzi did not pause but traveled east along the cliffs and dense forests, setting up camp on the northern mountain terrace of Shentang Bay. They killed their warhorses, hunted and caught snakes, gnawed tree bark, and ate wild grass. The encirclement grew tighter and tighter, and more than half of the eight hundred rebel soldiers died in battle, from starvation, or from illness. General Huanglong Zhenren and General Chen Xiang, stationed in the Fengqi Mountain area, in order to pin down the enemy and relieve pressure on King Xiang, persisted in resistance and constantly raided and harassed the enemy. The enemy had to concentrate forces against Huanglong Zhenren, and in the end both generals died in battle in a nameless gorge at the foot of the mountain. Later, that gorge was called "Death Gorge," also known as "Gorge of Remembered Hardship."
Thanks to the containment on the western front, King Xiang was able to hold out for three months. On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month that year, thirty thousand government troops launched the final encirclement and suppression of the remnants of the Xiang army. King Xiang and the remaining three hundred rebel soldiers fought while retreating, all the way to the northern cliff of Shentang Bay. King Xiang Tianzi knelt on the ground, burning incense and paper, to sacrifice to the souls of the Tujia soldiers who had given their lives for the Kingdom of Tianzi. At this moment, he suddenly recalled the four-line prophecy that Immortal Master Zhang Liang had spoken in his dream: "Head at Ershen Pool (King Xiang's ancestral home was Ershen Pool in Shimen County. Before the uprising, he cast the 'Eight-Eared Great Cauldron' at Ershen Pool and discussed the great uprising with the elders of his hometown), tail at Fengqi Mountain (the northwestern base camp guarded by Huanglong Zhenren), rise at Zhimata (he founded the state and proclaimed himself emperor at Zhimata), and retire to Shentang Bay (could this be my final resting place today?)." Thinking of this, King Xiang finally understood the meaning of the prophecy. Knowing his time had come, he let out three long howls at the heavens, then leaped into Shentang Bay, meeting a heroic martyrdom. The three hundred Tujia soldiers, embracing one another, also jumped into the deep bay after King Xiang...
After King Xiang Tianzi's death, for forty-five li around Yuanjiajie, grievance filled the sky. For three years and three months, day and night were indistinguishable, vegetation would not grow, and no crops would sprout. When the emperor heard of this, he was greatly shocked and had no choice but to issue an edict to build King Xiang Tianzi temples. One temple built, and fifteen li were illuminated; two temples built, and thirty li were illuminated; finally three temples were built, and only then did the clouds disperse and the fog clear, the sun and moon shine again, vegetation grow, and crops return. Someone inscribed a couplet at the Middle Tianzi Temple with the four characters "King Xiang Tianzi" as the acrostic, reading:
Xiang took the title of king, majestic and awe-inspiring across three thousand realms;
Heaven indeed has its son, sacrificial offerings fragrant for billions of years.
Afterward, people renamed Yuanjiajie "Tianzi Mountain."
Legend says that after King Xiang Tianzi's death, he transformed into a stone peak standing in the western part of Tianzi Mountain, guarding the Tujia people on the mountain year after year. That stone peak is the famous scenic spot of Tianzi Mountain, "General Rock." A poet wrote:
Lonely in deep mountains, eternally serene,
Heaven's craftsmanship shames the artisan's skill.
In dreams the Tianzi follows the clouds away,
On the rock the general stays with the passing years.