The Origin of the Names of Villages and Towns in Cao Zhen

Cao Zhen Township is located in the south of Baiguishan Reservoir in Pingdingshan City, Henan Province. It is rich in rice and lotus, and is called "Little Jiangnan". In Cao Town, the story of Cao Niangniang has been circulating, and many village names here are also related to the legend of Cao Niangniang.

According to legend, during the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a girl named Cao in Cao Town. She has big feet, a runny nose and a sore on her head. Because her parents died early, she lived with her brother and sister-in-law. But my brother and sister-in-law don't like her very much, because that girl is a burden to her. She is called to a place seven or eight miles away all day, and she has to turn around at night when she comes back. Because pigs often bathe in a small river after being released, which makes the river turbid, people call this river a mud river. Bathed pigs often roll on the ground, arching up the soil and arching out many big pits on the ground. Later, people named the nearby village Caokeng.

Although the girl is ugly, she has a kind heart. Once she went out to feed pigs and found an abandoned kitten. She thought of her bad karma, so she took the cat home. When she had food, she didn't want to eat it herself, and she wanted to feed the kitten.

In a blink of an eye, the girl has grown to eighteen. No one has ever proposed to me because of her ugliness. My sister-in-law gossips all day and scolds her for not getting married. The girl said to her sister-in-law, "Don't look at my ugliness. When I get married, you will let me step on your back. " This can make my sister-in-law angry. It is wishful thinking to say that she is a toad and wants to eat swan meat.

After Song Renzong ascended the throne, he found a famous Tianshi to tell his marriage fortune. Tianshi watched the celestial phenomena at night and said that the real queen was three hundred miles south of Bianjing. So, the emperor immediately sent an imperial envoy to visit the queen everywhere. An imperial envoy asked, "What is the queen like?" Shi Tian said: "I can't reveal the queen's appearance, but remember, whenever you see whose animal's head is still alive, girls are welcome to come back."

An imperial envoy traveled thousands of miles to Cao Town, but he didn't see whose house and animal head were still alive. However, when passing by the girl's house, the girl's cat "Cheng Cheng" jumped on the roof and lay on the animal's head. An imperial envoy looked at it. Isn't this the family he is looking for? This is the only daughter in this family. Although ugly, sacred life is inviolable. Welcome back.

Sister-in-law was blindsided when she saw this. I didn't expect such an ugly sister-in-law to be an empress. The girl got into the sedan chair, lowered her head and ran on the ground, turning into a golden bean. Seeing a lot of golden beans on the ground, my sister-in-law's eyes lit up. When she bent down to pick them up, her foot slipped and she fell to the ground. The girl stepped on her back and got into the sedan chair.

When the bride's sedan chair came to a small village in Erli, Caodong Town, the girl's boils fell off and turned into a silver bowl with a full head of hair. Therefore, this small village was renamed "Yinwan Village". Later, the pronunciation changed and it became "Wang Yin Village".

Soon after Wang Yin Village, the girl's big feet turned into three-inch golden lotus. Later, people built a temple here to commemorate it, called Tuojiao Temple. Unfortunately, this temple no longer exists.

When we crossed the Shahe River eastward and came to Bian Cheng Village, the girl's appearance became beautiful, and she had changed from an ugly girl to a beautiful country. Therefore, the village was renamed Bian Cheng, which is homophonic.

The girl was welcomed into the palace and later named as the queen, which is the legendary Cao queen. Her brother and sister-in-law used her to become relatives of the country, and they committed many evils and were taken to court by Bao Zheng. Bao Zheng decided to go to Cao Town himself. After Cao Guojiu learned the news, he sent someone to catch Bao Zheng and imprisoned him in the dungeon of Cao Town. Until now, there is still the site of this water dungeon on the streets of Cao Zhen.

After Bao Zheng went to prison, he was unable to communicate with the outside world. However, one day, a duck suddenly swam into the dungeon. Bao Zheng was overjoyed. It turns out that this dungeon is connected with the bottom of Lake Bai Gui. So he bit his finger, wrote a bloody book, put the duck in his mouth and took out the letter.

After receiving Bao Zheng's letter, he immediately sent someone to rescue Bao Zheng, won Cao Guojiu, and decided to chop up all the villagers' Cao surnames. Later people killed too many, and the executioner couldn't stand it, so he said to Cao, you won't change your surname, will you? So, I caught Cao's surname and asked them what their surname was. Some said "teacher" and some said Ruan. This is why there are many surnames such as Shi and Ruan in Cao Town today, and there are almost no surnames such as Cao.