"arrive!"
As Uncle Geng called out, another magnificent cemetery appeared in front of him.
Standing on the mountains on the west side, you can only see the mausoleum area in the northeast. You can see a five-hole stone arch bridge in the distance. Along the central axis to the north, there is a five-hole archway gate, and behind it is the Shinto stele pavilion. Bypassing the Shinto stele pavilion, there is a three-way three-hole stone arch bridge. After the stone arch bridge is the Longen Gate. On the left and right sides of the Longen Gate, there are a row of side rooms, which were also called court rooms and prison rooms in the past.
"My niece lives in the side room on the east side."
"Uncle Geng, why are you hesitating? Let's go down." Wang Ke shouted and immediately jumped and ran down the mountain.
Soldiers from the reconnaissance squad, as well as veteran platoon leaders Hu Zhijun and Uncle Geng, followed closely behind. After walking for so long, we finally arrived at the place, and everyone felt full of energy.
Take a shortcut and go directly to the three-hole stone bridge and the Shinto stele pavilion.
The stele pavilion has a double eaves and a yellow tile roof. It is eight or nine meters wide and deep. There is a stone stele inside the building. The body of the stele is engraved with the posthumous title of the deceased emperor in Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese characters.
"Bang bang bang", Uncle Geng ran to the east side room to call his niece.
After a while, a middle-aged woman with a dark red face came over. She pursed her lips and smiled. She didn't say much, but just looked at the eight or nine soldiers in front of her. Then he took the key and opened the easternmost palace door.
"Uncle Geng, is this also called Longen Gate?"
"Yes." The group stepped over the stringers blocking the door and entered the cemetery.
"Daughter, when will you start digging?" Uncle Geng asked his niece.
"I heard it's happening in the next few days. I'm waiting for the archaeological team from the province."
"Then let's see again in a week?"
"this……"
"It's okay, we are not outsiders. I will come and take a look when the time comes." Uncle Geng said carelessly and quickly led Wang Ke and his party in.
Stepping into the gate and looking to the north, except that the direction is wrong, the rest is similar to the cemetery that Uncle Geng saw.
The welcoming gate is the main building of the mausoleum area - Long'en Hall, with east and west auxiliary halls on both sides.
Long'en Hall is five rooms wide and three rooms deep, with double eaves and a mountain-style roof. This is the main place for holding sacrificial activities, and the tablets of the old emperor and queen are enshrined inside.
Along the two sides of the Danbi Stone in front of Long'en Hall, everyone went up to Long'en Hall. The Danbi stone in front of the palace is carved with exquisite patterns of dragons and phoenixes playing with beads. The bottom pattern is a relief of Shoushan and Fuhai. There are water slopes at the four corners of the palace.
The wooden structure of the Long'en Hall here is different from that of Muling. Although the emperor was not very good, his Long'en Hall was all made of nanmu, which was extremely precious.
"This kind of wood is also called copper algae and iron algae. It is extremely hard in texture. An ordinary Taishi chair made of this wood can weigh hundreds of kilograms. People call it 'copper beams and iron pillars'." Uncle Geng took up the responsibility. Guide, everyone looked carefully into the hall. The most eye-catching ones are the four bright pillars. The four golden pillars are decorated with coiled dragons laminated with powder and gold. The pillars have a golden dragon coiling upwards with painted patterns. There are additional columns under the eaves. Ventilation holes can circulate air in the temple to prevent wood from rotting. It is a unique feature in the emperor's mausoleum. After bypassing the Long En Hall, we came to the mausoleum gate, also known as the three gates or the glazed flower gate. It is the boundary between the front and back bedrooms. The red walls on both sides divide the entire mausoleum into two parts, the front and rear.
Wang Ke and old platoon leader Hu Zhijun followed Uncle Geng closely. I saw that the middle door was closed tightly, and the doors on both sides were wide open.
From south to north, there are five stone offerings, a square city, and a bright tower inside the mausoleum gate. The tall Fangcheng Minglou is the highest point of the mausoleum. There is a stone tablet inside the Minglou. The front of the tablet is still engraved with the emperor's temple name in Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese characters.
The mound behind the Ming Tower is called Baoding. Under the Baoding is the underground palace where Emperor Guangxu and Queen Longyu are buried.
Facilitate the drainage of rainwater. Yudai River was dug in front of the three gates of Minglou and the mausoleum. 18 spruce trees were planted inside the three gates, symbolizing the eighteen Arhats guarding the emperor's mausoleum.
"Let me introduce to you. There is a square city built on the platform of Minglou. From the central circle door of the square city, you can enter the underground palace by going down the steps." Uncle Geng seemed to be familiar with the place. Everyone forgot about their fatigue for a while, especially It was the soldiers from the reconnaissance squad who had been walking for several hours. Now they just wanted to see the robbery cave as soon as possible. Their minds were not at all on these similar cemetery buildings.
Wang Ke saw many whitebark pine and podocarpus planted around Baoding. These whitebark pine and spruce trees have become treasures among the ancient and valuable trees in the mausoleum.
After quickly circling Baoding, Uncle Geng took the old platoon leader and Hu Zhijun to the back of the glazed screen wall in Dumb City.
"Here we are, this is the robbery cave." Uncle Geng pointed at his feet and saw a small cellar that was not too big, a bit like a cellar for hiding things in the countryside. There was a pile of earth around it, covered by messy grass.
"Is this the robbery cave?" Gu Maolin stretched his head and looked down. It was dark. He picked up a piece of soil and threw it down. The sound was eight or nine meters deep.
"Yes, there's still a turn down there."
"The locals call this square city and the underground palace the 'Mute City'. Look at this screen wall." Uncle Geng pointed south, and sure enough, everyone was now standing a few meters away behind the screen wall.
Wang Ke walked over and held the top of the golden glazed tile screen wall again, and couldn't help but sigh.
Standing here, from a high position, you can have a panoramic view of the entire cemetery. Wang Ke turned back and looked at the robbery cave. The three versions of tomb robbery mentioned by Uncle Geng came to mind again.
The soldiers of the reconnaissance team were still whispering around the robbery hole, but Wang Ke closed his eyes in front of the back wall of the glazed screen wall. He wanted to hallucinate, what else is under this hole? But maybe the soil layer is too thick. Following the dark hole, there is still a curved hole below, a large room, and the ground is a mess.
While Wang Ke was deep in thought, the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun came over and patted him on the shoulder. "Commander platoon commander, what are you thinking about?"
"I was thinking, after all the ups and downs of the ages, who will ask the question? A generation of kings and mountains, and finally a handful of loess." Wang Ke opened his eyes and said something casually to cover up his interrupted expression.
"Yes, but these two sentences are good. I will write them down for you later. Who will ask Dongliu about the ups and downs of the ages?" The old platoon leader Hu Zhijun crossed his hips and stood on the glazed screen wall to look at the cemetery.
Wang Ke lowered his head, and carefully observed Long'en Hall, Shiwuzuo, Fangcheng, and Minglou through the gaps from far to near, front, back, left, and right, and finally his eyes fell on the glazed shadow wall again.
Just when Wang Ke retracted his gaze and looked back at the top of the underground palace, which was round like a turtle shell, the corners of his eyes inadvertently glanced at the back wall of the glazed screen wall, which was about a foot high from the ground. There were several scratches that were almost unnoticed. Get his attention again.
This is completely scratched on intentionally or unintentionally. Most people can't see anything unusual at all. Behind the glazed screen wall is that kind of blue brick. Perhaps these scratches may be the horizontal marks made by craftsmen when building the wall. After decades of wind and rain, the marks have been mottled and different from the ones on the stone carvings.
Wang Ke walked over, squatted down, and looked at these strange carvings. None of the directions of the crosswalks were related to the robbery cave.
"Commander platoon commander, what new continent has been discovered?"
"Platoon commander, look at this mark."
"Hey, I think you are confused. For such a large cemetery, although the civil engineering work is exquisite, it is normal to leave a few scratches. Maybe they were left during the firing. Besides, this is still behind the screen wall. Who will come up here to check and accept it?”
Wang Ke thought about it and felt that what the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun said was right, but not right, because the scratches were not on the bricks at all, but were clearly carved on them later. What does it mean to come here and engrave it too?
Wang Ke thought of the three scratches under the deck of the Muling Stone Bridge, the three scratches on the Five Pillars of Muling Stone, and then looked at the three scratches on the glazed screen wall. There are coincidences in the world, but they can't be such coincidences?
But the three points in front of me either point to the sky or the ground. Only one points straight, but there is nothing on the left and right, because the glazed screen wall breaks when it reaches both sides.
Wang Ke shook his head and gave up. Even if the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun was right, this was an "unintentional moment."
Wang Ke followed the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun back to the robbery cave and saw Gu Maolin taking off his equipment one by one.
"Gu Maolin, what do you want to do?"
"Platoon leader, I want to go down and take a look."
"Bastard, don't even think about it. What's down there? Is there a mechanism? And is there enough oxygen?" Upon hearing this, Wang Ke grabbed Gu Maolin.
"Platoon leader, I've observed it. You see, there are foot sockets on this bandit hole, just for people to step on."
As Gu Maolin said this, everyone looked down. With the faint light, they could see that there were indeed several foot holes staggered along the edge of the one or two meters of soil that could be seen from below.
"That's not possible. There is no lighting equipment and you can't see when you go down. Wouldn't you become a tomb robber if you go on like this?" The old platoon leader Hu Zhijun also stretched out his hand and shook his hand to prevent Gu Maolin from going down.
Gu Maolin looked at Wang Ke as if asking for help and said, "Platoon leader, I have good eyesight."
Wang Ke knew that this boy would never give up until he went down, so he threatened him: "I guess there is no guarantee that there is a poisonous snake down there in such a deep hole."
Who knew that when Gu Maolin heard this, he immediately laughed and said meaningfully to Wang Ke: "Platoon leader, you have forgotten. You and I have experience in dealing with snakes."
"Since everything has been stolen, what can you do if you go down there? There are too many uncertain things inside." Old platoon leader Hu Zhijun still firmly disagreed.
But the reconnaissance squad leader Song Ruimin and veteran Niu Suozhu next to him kept encouraging him. "Two platoon leaders, Gu Maolin is unwilling to give up until he reaches the Yellow River, and he is unwilling to see the emperor. Let him go down. Isn't there a queen inside? Let him take a look at the queen."
The soldiers laughed together. "Okay, then come up a few meters down and see if there is a U-shaped hole. You must not go down." Wang Ke said this casually, but suddenly there was a thunderous "Gedeng" in his heart.
"U-shaped hole", how did Uncle Geng know that there was a U-shaped hole down there? Apart from tomb robbers, how did future generations know about it? Has anyone ever gone down there?
Wang Ke glanced at Uncle Geng suspiciously. Uncle Geng and everyone seemed to want to find out. He stretched his neck and said to Gu Maolin: "Boy, don't fall. It's deep down there."
"Platoon leader, I promise you won't go down. Just walk down a few steps and see what the U-shaped hole looks like under this hole." After saying that, the boy took off his military uniform and wore only a shirt. He walked along the edge of the hole and stepped on the foot socket.
This time, no one was seen in a while, and everyone stretched their heads to look down. The hole is not big originally, and it is even more difficult to see clearly when the light is blocked.
"Is Gu Maolin in the end? Come up quickly." Wang Ke shouted towards the entrance of the cave.
"Hey, come up right away." Gu Maolin responded from underneath the cave. After a while, I saw him climbing up. There is still some grass and dirt on the top of the head, not to mention the shirt.
Pull him up and everyone gathers around him. "What did you see?"
Gu Maolin spat out something in his mouth and said seriously: "It's dark, I can't see anything, and the smell of the dead is not good either."
Wang Ke understood that there was no way to describe what he saw.
