Yue Fei and Wuhan (Part 3)
 
3. The Yue Pine
 
Walk a few hundred of steps east of the Hongshan Pagoda in Wuchang there are several ancient pines. According to the records of the Pagoda, “The Lord of Loyalty of Song, Yue Fei, ascended the mountain to hand plant giant pine trees during the reign of Emperor Gaozong (1131 – 1162 AD).” The descendents called the pines “Yue pines” in memory of Yue Fei's deeds of "Serving the country with the outmost loyalty". The pine trees originally planted by Yue Fei are long gone. Today’s pine trees were replanted by people in memory of Yue Fei. The pine trees are evergreen, which signifies the spirit of “loyalty to the country” being passed generation to generation.
 
4. Baoguo (“Serve the Country”) Temple
 
Baoguo Lane is under the jurisdiction of Cuiwei Street, Hanyang City and was named "Serving the country with the utmost loyalty" to commemorate Yue Fei's heroic deeds. Back in the day, when the news that Yue Fei was killed spread to Hanyang, the local people were filled with grief and indignation. They decided to donate money to build a Baoguo (meaning to serve the country) Temple on a mound about half a mile southeast of Cuiweifeng (present day South Gate of Hongwei Tool Factory). In name, it was built to worship Buddha, but actually, it was used to offer sacrifices to Yue Fei. The temple, about 200 square meters in size, was built with red sandstone. There were three rooms in the temple. When the temple was completed the fatuous and self-indulgent Emperor Gaozong was still on the throne and the treacherous court official Qin Hui still in power, therefore, there were no statues of Yue Fei in the temple and no inscribed board, but only the name “Baoguo Temple.”
 
After ascending the throne in 1162, Emperor Xiaozong restored Yue Fei's name. The Baoguo Temple in Hanyang was renamed Yue Fei Temple. The four Chinese characteristics written by Yue Fei himself "Serving the country with the utmost loyalty" were inscribed on to a horizontal board and hung inside the main hall of the temple.
 
It was said that Yue Fei presented the four characters to the people of Hanyang. When the Yue Army were chasing after the Jin Army that had fled across the northern bank of the Han River, the people of Hanyang offered ideas and helped the Yue Army create rafts made of bamboo and wood to cross the river. This saved valuable time in the chase.
 
From the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368 AD) until 1949, people still called it the Baoguo Temple. In 1950, there were still three old nuns living in the temple. It was destroyed during the “Great Leap Forward” in 1958.
 
From the Republic of China to the time prior to the “Cultural Revolution” under the communist rule, the people in Hanyang still called a lane and the surrounding residence to the northeast of the Yue Fei Temple as Baoguo Temple. In 1967, the lane was renamed as Weiwu No. 8 Village. The name of the lane was changed to Baoguo Lane in 1972 in memory of Yue Fei.
 
5. Bingcangge (“Soldiers’ Station”)
 
According to historical records, in the spring of 1134, the Jin Dynasty army moved southward to invade the Central Plains. Yue Fei proposed to Emperor Gaozong to send troops to reclaim the six cities occupied by the enemies. That May, the imperial court appointed Yue Fei as the Military Commissioner of the Hanyang Army. He was ordered to advance his troops toward Jing Lake. Yue Fei’s army reclaimed Yingzhou (present day Zhong Xiang), then divided the army into two to attack Suizhou, Xiangyang, Tangzhou and Dengzhou (now Tanghe County and Deng County in Henan). After Yue Fei's army defeated the enemy it returned to Ezhou (now Wuchang), and stationed the troops in Hanyang.
 
Since Yue Fei's army treated the locals the same way as they treated their parents and were strictly disciplined, it did not commit any crimes against the civilians. As a result, it won the hearts of the local people. A motto goes like this, “It's easy to shake a mountain, but difficult to shake Yue Fei's army.” When the army reached Hanyang, it was midnight. In order not to disturb the civilians, the General's Headquarters and the army remained in the wilderness, about one mile southwest of Hanyang City. They were stationed there for nearly ten months.
 
The present day intersection of Lanjiang Road West and Guiyuansi Road is the very spot the Yue Army was stationed. Later, the area was called Bingcangge (“Soldiers’ Station”). In the past, this deserted area was full of trees, bamboo and tombs. There was a pond in the area that completely froze over during winter. Therefore people also called this area Bingtangjiao (“Ice Pond Corner”).

岳飞与武汉 (三)
 
岳松：从武昌洪山宝塔东行数百步，有古松数株，昂然屹立，人称“岳松”。《洪山宝通禅寺志》记载：“宋忠武王岳公飞，高宗绍兴年间登山手植巨松，形貌如龙。”后人感念岳飞的精忠报国，名之岳松。清舒峻极吊松思岳，曾写下“松忆岳飞前代树”的感人诗篇。岳飞原植巨松早已无存，史载“明季斧于贼”，如今的数株古松乃后人为纪念岳飞而补植。岳松四季常青，象征著爱国精神世代相传。
 
报国庵：汉阳翠微街辖区东南隅的报国巷缘于纪念岳飞精忠报国的壮举而得名。当年岳飞父子遇害的噩耗传到汉阳，百姓悲愤不已，议决在翠微峰东南约一里处的土台上（今红伟工具厂南大门处）捐资兴建报国庵，名为供佛，实为祭祀岳飞。此庵墙体以红砂石砌成，一正两偏共3间房，约200平方米。庵堂竣工时，昏君赵构尚在位，奸臣秦桧仍专权，故庵中暂不塑岳飞像，暂不挂匾，仅题有“报国庵”之名。
 
隆兴元年（西元1163），孝宗皇帝赵眘继位后，为岳飞平冤昭雪。此时，汉阳的报国庵扩建为岳飞堂，堂内立有岳飞像，并将岳飞生前所书“精忠报国”四字刻匾悬于堂内正殿，岁岁祭祀。谈及此“精忠报国”四字，另有一段佳话：当年岳家军攻打逃往汉水北岸的金兵时，汉阳百姓纷纷献策，并协助岳家军扎制竹排、木排强渡汉水，从而为追击并歼灭金兵赢得了宝贵的时间。为此，岳飞题此“精忠报国”四字相赠并示谢意。
 
元代以后至49年后，人们依旧称岳飞堂为报国庵。20世纪50年代初，庵中还有3名老尼住持。古报国庵最终毁于1958年的中共“大跃进”时期。
 
民国时至“文化大革命”前，汉阳民众为纪念岳飞，还将此庵东北侧的片状民宅巷道亦称作报国庵。1967年，该巷改名唯物八村；1972年，又因纪念岳飞而定名报国巷至今。
 
“兵藏阁”：史载：绍兴四年（西元1134年）春，金军大举南下，进犯中原。岳飞上书高宗皇帝赵构，建议出兵收复被金军及其傀儡所占的襄阳、信阳等六郡。是年五月，岳飞被南宋朝廷命为汉阳军制置使，率军进发荆湖，一举攻下郢州（今钟祥）；随后兵分两路，攻随州，取襄阳，夺唐、邓二州（州治分别在今河南唐河县、邓县）及信阳军。收复中原后的岳家军班师鄂州（今武昌），并屯兵汉阳。
 
岳家军爱民如父母，纪律严明，秋毫无犯，因而深得民心，战斗力极强，故有“撼山易，撼岳家军难”之说。他们深夜抵达汉阳时，生怕惊动了城中的百姓，帅府和兵寨均安扎于汉阳城西南约两里之外的一片荒野之地。随后，岳家军在此地屯守并休整近10个月。
 
今汉阳拦江路西段与归元寺路（翠微横路）南端交会处，即是当年岳飞屯兵地，后人谓之兵藏阁。旧时，此地有茂林、修竹、坟茔、小岗，四周荒无人烟；“阁”中有池塘，严冬时塘面结满冰凌，故后人还将兵藏阁谐称冰塘角。