Ding Da Xie and the others entered the tent to see the ceremony. Zhao Tong waved away and said, "Have you found anything in the stone city?"
The three of them said in unison: "Your Majesty, we have indeed made a discovery!"
Zhao Tong nodded: "Speak slowly."
The three of them looked at each other and heard Big Crab say: "My subordinates followed the prince's instructions and started searching carefully after entering the stone city. After a few days, they found traces in a fortress."
Er Xie continued: "Although the ground of the fortress is made to be flawless, nothing can escape the eyes of my subordinates. Not only can they see the strange things underground, but they can even feel the mechanisms clearly."
Shi Qian continued: "The subordinates opened the mechanism and saw that there was a secret passage below. It was very neatly built and it took a huge amount of work."
There was a hint of relief on Zhao Tong's face, it was indeed so!
This stone city was built by Qian Liu, the governor of Hangzhou in the late Tang Dynasty, and Qian Liu, the military envoy of Zhendong Army. But who was Qian Liu?
He was the hero of the troubled times in the late Tang Dynasty, the founding monarch of the Wuyue Kingdom who was called the "Sea Dragon King" by the people of Zhejiang and Zhejiang!
Zhao Tong's Moye Sword has been hidden in the Qian Family Palace of Wuyue State. When Wuyue surrendered to Song Dynasty, Qian Chu, the then King of Wuyue, took the Moye Sword to Tokyo and presented it to Emperor Taizong.
The ten-mile stone city in Gaoting Mountain was built by Qian Liu. This stone city is actually very strange. Whether Qian Liu was the governor of Hangzhou or later became the king, the strategic significance of this stone city is actually not great.
When people come to attack Hangzhou, they must survey the terrain. When they see a stone city here, how could they not clear out the defenders inside? This is the most basic common sense for those who lead the army. No one will leave Shicheng alone and make the lowest mistakes.
If there are bandits everywhere, this place will be easily occupied by bandits, which will be detrimental to Hangzhou.
Judging from the terrain here, it cannot be used to monitor the enemy's situation. It is just that the geography is relatively flat, making it easy to build stone cities and villages.
This is a little weird.
Qian Liu is a hero in troubled times and a master of military affairs. Why does he have such a thing? Have nothing to do?
Hangzhou is the capital of the Qian clan and Wuyue, and this stone city is not far from Hangzhou. Could there be some profound meaning in this?
Zhao Tong immediately thought of the later Emperor Hongwu. Emperor Hongwu was suspicious by nature. It is said that he once dug a secret passage in the palace and hid the monk's ultimatum. The secret passage led directly to the outside of the city in case of emergency.
Therefore, he suspected whether there was a secret passage under the stone city that would lead to Qian Wang's Palace in Hangzhou City, so he sent three people to investigate.
The Ding brothers had done the business of touching the golden mound before, and they were familiar with underground things, but Shi Qian was a habitual thief. Although he said that he had never robbed a tomb, how could such a thing be taken seriously, and how could he be a thief? Shi Qian's body shape was completely suitable for this kind of activity, so he was sent there.
Zhao Tong then pondered: "Have you ever gone down the passage to investigate?"
Ding Daxie said: "Your Majesty, Brother Shi and I fell down and walked for a while, but..."
Zhao Tong said: "But what?"
Ding Daxie said with confusion on his face: "But the underground passage is not long, and we don't have to go very far to reach the end!"
"Huh?" Zhao Tong was slightly startled when he heard this: "Please tell me in detail!"
Ding Daxie said: "At that time, I asked Erlang to guard outside, so I went down to investigate with brother Shi Qian. I saw that the passage was built with bluestone walls and wooden beams across the top. It looked like a wealthy man. Although I don't know if it was built. After many years, there was no collapse or blockage, so the two of us groped forward, but we didn't know there was a mechanism in this passage."
Zhao Tong frowned: "What mechanism is there?"
Ding Daxie said: "Your Majesty, there are traps with flying guns and bayonet nets, but we have broken them all. There are also a few forks. A false door is installed at the end and cannot be opened. Once opened, there will be thousands of arrows. A salvo suppressor."
Zhao Tong said: "It's so dangerous, can it be eliminated one by one?"
Ding Daxie said: "It was all broken. Then we took the main passage and reached the exit in a short time. We found that we were in a temple. The exit was behind the Buddha statue in the main hall of the temple."
Zhao Tong touched his chin when he heard this. This was a little different from what he thought. The underground passage in this stone city was not connected to Hangzhou City, but a temple. What do you mean?
He said: "What kind of temple is it and in which direction is it?"
Ding Daxie said: "We secretly went out to take a look. This temple is quite big, and there are many monks inside. Although there was still some incense during the war, when we went to the mountain gate, we saw that it was called Xianning Temple. Then again Everyone who inquired said it was built by King Wu Yue, and it is closer to Hangzhou than the stone city."
Zhao Tong squinted his eyes, Xianning Temple? He had heard of this temple. In later generations, the site of this temple still existed, and it was indeed built during the Five Dynasties.
He thought silently, then suddenly laughed after a moment. Qian Liu, the king of Wuyue, could it be that he was a cunning rabbit with three caves?
Although the distance between Shicheng and Hangzhou is not far, it is only on the ground. How difficult is it to dig tunnels underground? If you want to dig all the way into the Qianwang Palace in Hangzhou City, the project is huge, and you have to hide it from others. It may be difficult to grasp the direction.
So, this section of Shicheng only leads to Xianning Temple, and there must be a tunnel inside or near Xianning Temple that leads to Hangzhou City. It may not go directly to Qianwang Palace, but it is most likely to be somewhere else, and then there is a passage to the palace.
In this way, there are three sections of underground passages. Each section can go out to the ground at any time, and can escape underground again, and finally enter Gaoting Mountain. Gaoting Mountain is the remnant of Tianmu Mountain and is connected to Huanghe and other mountains in the north of Hangzhou. When you enter the mountains, you are like a fish entering the sea, and it is hard to find.
Zhao Tong couldn't help but secretly exclaimed when he thought of this. This method is much better than digging a straight tunnel. It doesn't matter whether a tunnel that far away can be dug. Even if it can be successful, once it is leaked, the pursuers from behind will march straight in. , unwilling to give up until someone is caught, but these three tunnels are flexible and changeable, adding a lot of life to the fleeing people!
Zhao Tong thought of this and said: "The three of you will go back and have a rest. Tomorrow, you will go with me to visit Xianning Temple!"
The three of them followed the instructions, and in the blink of an eye it was the next morning. Zhao Tong ordered three thousand soldiers and horses and went straight to the temple. However, this temple was several miles closer to Hangzhou than Shicheng and was surrounded by green trees.
Before arriving at the temple, Zhao Tong looked up and saw three big golden characters above the mountain gate, which were for Xianning Temple. It was unknown who wrote it. It was very majestic and wealthy. One look at it and he knew that this temple must be prosperous.
Nowadays, there is chaos in the south of the Yangtze River, Hangzhou has fallen, and there is war again. There are actually people from the suburbs coming to burn incense and pray for blessings in this temple, which shows how prosperous it is on weekdays.
Zhao Tong first ordered soldiers and horses to surround the temple, and then asked people to remove all the people who were offering incense before entering the courtyard.
This Xianning Temple has a main hall with five entrances and five exits, as well as several monks' dormitories and guest rooms. It can be regarded as a first-class temple in this suburban area.
He led the people into the temple, where the abbot and the monks all came out to greet him. The leader was a tall old monk with a gray beard. After greetings, they learned that his Buddhist name was Xuan En. He had been a monk in Lingyin Temple since he was a child, and later went to Xianning Temple. He worked hard as a deacon for many years and finally became an abbot.
Zhao Tong only said that he had to deal with military affairs and would occupy the temple for a few days. Xuan En did his best and did not mess around, so he took the monks to clean up and left half an hour later to stay temporarily at Jixiang Temple on the other side of the mountain.
After Zhao Tong waited for the monks to go away, he asked Ding and Ding Xie to search the secret passage in the temple.
This temple is not small. It was not until the afternoon that Ding Daxie discovered something was wrong in the Sutra Pavilion and hurriedly asked Zhao Tong to take a look.
This Sutra Pavilion is a two-story building, but it is magnificently built, which shows that Xianning Temple is rich and powerful.
The ground on the first floor is paved with neat bluestone slabs, the surrounding walls are painted with fresh paint, and various verses and verses are hung, and there is even a picture of a layman from Dongpo.
Ding Daxie said: "Your Majesty, the ground here is hollow!"
Zhao Tao raised his eyebrows, there is actually a basement? Because a place like the Sutra Pavilion is a place where scriptures are stored, no basement will be dug. The scripture papers are afraid of moisture. Once there is a basement below, moisture will inevitably rush up, which is detrimental to the preservation of the scriptures.
He was noncommittal, Ding Daxie led the way, and saw a huge moved sutra frame in the innermost corner of the first floor.
There was originally a slate wall behind the sutra frame, but at this moment, the slate was pried open, revealing a dark hole, and cool air was "whooshing" coming out from below.
Ding Daxie said: "Your Majesty, my subordinate just covered his mouth and nose and took a look. It is a secret room. Before I had time to explore it in detail, I invited Your Majesty to come over and take a look."
Zhao Tong nodded: "Call Er Xie and Shi Qian together. The more people we have, the faster we go!"
At this time, Ding Erxie and Shi Qian also came from outside. Originally, the three of them were looking for passages in the temple separately, but they found nothing. When they heard that they found the basement, they ran over.
The three of them all carry tools, and they are all different. Cancer and Crab are one kind, and Shi Qian is another kind.
There are whirlwind shovels, short-handled hoe, centipede hanging ladders, etc.
Shi Qian brought flying tiger claws, thin rod drills, lily key silver door chains, etc.
The three of them covered their mouths and noses with wet linen cloth, then two held torches and one held a six-yin candlestick with six white candles on it, and walked into the basement.
After about half an hour of searching, a voice came from below: "Your Majesty, we have found the passage!"
Zhao Tong said from above: "Is there a deactivator?"
It said below: "The entrance has been broken, and the inside has not yet been entered."
Zhao Tong thought for a while: "Let's come up first and discuss everything in the long run."
He thought that if the passage from Xianning Temple led directly to Hangzhou City, there would be many more traps than in the Shicheng section, and he was afraid that something might go wrong if the three of them ventured in.
After the three came up, they explained the situation below in detail. It turned out that it was not as simple as the basement. It was like an underground palace divided into eight gates of life and death. The three of them were all familiar with this, and it didn't take long to crack the code and open the real passage.
Returning to the camp in the evening, Zhao Tong led his people back the next morning. This time, he directly asked the three of them to lead a hundred strong soldiers down, and calculated the pace and time. Once it was over, they could not go out easily, and they would come back to discuss it.
It was not until evening that these people came back from the underground, but they lost several strong soldiers and injured more than a dozen people. The three Ding crabs were also disgraced, but their tone was very excited: "Your Majesty, we have reached the end, it should be In the city of Hangzhou, there were too many traps on the road to guard against, and several brothers died.
Zhao Tong said: "How to determine whether it is in Hangzhou City?"
Ding Daxie said: "The general direction is not wrong, and the time and pace are not much different. I heard the movement above, there were distant noises, and the sound of horse hooves, but it didn't seem to be in Prince Qian's palace. Qian The palace shouldn't be so noisy."
Zhao Tong frowned when he heard this. Since many sounds could be heard below, it proved that the exit was not a quiet place, which was not good.
If he sends someone to sneak into Hangzhou City through this passage, he will definitely have to hide some of his troops. If he can't hide and show up rashly, it will be unlucky to be discovered. Moreover, no matter how much water and soil are filled in the city, the thieves can By destroying this passage, his plan to attack Hangzhou would be in vain, and he would still have to face the situation where the city was high and fortified, and he had nothing to do.
Zhao Tong refused to give up and asked: "What does the end of the passage look like to you?"
Ding Daxie frowned and shook his head. The two crabs were also silent in thought. Shi Qian grabbed the rat's beard and said: "I think it is definitely not an open place. It is most likely the courtyard downstairs on the street. The sound of horse hooves should come from It came from the road.”
"In the courtyard downstairs on the street?" Zhao Tao squinted his eyes. Logically speaking, King Qian Liu of Wuyue could not randomly choose a place as the tunnel exit. It must have been carefully considered and it should be a quite hidden place. This is about digging a secret tunnel.
It's just that... more than two hundred years have passed since he dug this tunnel. Times have changed, things and people have changed. It's hard to say that the original hidden place has turned into a prosperous place, but it is necessary to explore it again anyway.
Zhao Tong asked everyone to go back to the camp to rest for another night, and then instead of sending ordinary soldiers, he asked Ding Daxie to lead the team, leading the three brothers of the Bai family and the four of them to walk through the passage again.
The Ding brothers and Shi Qian were not good at martial arts, but the three Bai brothers were second-rate in boxing and kicking. They could escape and come back at a critical moment, so Zhao Tong felt more at ease sending them there.
The four people set out early in the morning as before, with Ding Daxie leading the way. Behind him, Bai Ao said, "Ding Dalang, can this relieve the itching of your hands?"
Ding Daxie turned around and glanced at him. He had stopped touching gold in recent years and his hands were indeed itchy. Although exploring the tunnels was not as good as actually digging a tomb, there were traps and ambushes everywhere inside and the journey was far away, so it was really satisfying.
He smiled and said: "It's only half solved. It would be nice if we had to do it again."
The three brothers of the Bai family are all very talented, especially the eldest brother Bai Aosheng, who is handsome and unrestrained, but as his name suggests, he is a bit arrogant. At this moment, he couldn't help but smile and said: "I think it's better to ask the prince to build a building in the middle of the capital, and let you, Ding Dalang, preside over it, and decorate it with various decorations." If you have a kind of machine-killing device, you can dismantle it at home and think about it when you have nothing to do, that will be really enjoyable!"
Ding Daxie's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said repeatedly: "It's so good, it's so good. Once Fang La is pacified, I will tell the prince about it after I return to the capital."
Bai Ao laughed loudly: "I will destroy your building when the time comes. What does Dalang think of this?"
Ding Daxie shook his head and said: "I'm afraid that Brother Bai, you will never come back if you leave!"
Bai Ao said: "Da Lang is boasting, you will know when the time comes!"
Several people were talking as they walked, and unknowingly they had reached the end of the passage...
(End of chapter)
