A tasty place to visit

Near the county seat is the so-called Arrow Collection Place which is a hill on the Yangtze River embankment. The hill is believed to be where arrows shot into scarecrows were collected and piled.

The Wu army commander Zhou Yu was said to be jealous of the abilities of Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei's top aide. Zhou challenged him with a seemingly impossible task before the battle of Red Cliff of making 100,000 arrows in 10 days.

Zhuge, who was said to excel in astronomy and forecasting weather, replied: "Give me three days." He signed a pledge placing him liable for punishment should he fail to complete the mission.

Zhuge borrowed 20 boats, each lined with more than 1,000 scarecrows and manned by 30 soldiers.

In the small hours of the third day, a thick mist spread over the surface of the river and people could hardly see each other.

The 20 boats sailed toward Cao's camp. When the fleet got close to it, Zhuge ordered his soldiers to shout and beat drums to fake an attack.

Cao's camp mistook it for a surprise attack by the enemy. Since they could not see anyone on the river, they gathered more than 10,000 bowmen to shoot arrows at the source of the shouting and drum beats.

The scarecrows were quickly shot full of arrows. Zhuge had his fleet turned around to expose the back of the scarecrows.

When the mist dispersed, Zhuge ordered the boats to return, each with 5,000 to 6,000 arrows protruding from the scarecrows.

Upon learning the story, Zhou was said to have let out a deep sigh, resignedly commenting: "His clever calculations are beyond my reach."