Turn off the lights and extinguish the wax, and warm the kang like fire.
Everyone slept soundly all night and waited for the roosters to crow early the next morning. The red sun had already risen on the branches. Old Man Tang was standing in the yard, holding a food bowl and clucking to feed the chickens.
Yue Guanchao was a martial arts practitioner, and he was more alert than anyone else to the slightest sign of trouble. He was completely awake when the cock crowed and fluttered. He looked at the window paper, which was covered with hot dew from the heated kang. It was condensed by the cold air in the early morning and turned into ice. Seal the windows.
Beside the kang table, Yue Erpao, Tang Dayang, and Xu Xiake were still sleepwalking in Huangliang. Since they felt no sleepiness at all, they simply put on cotton-padded clothes and walked out of the house. The old man felt someone coming out yawning and said with a smile: "My dear, you guys I've already done the things."
After saying that, he released all the chickens, ducks, cats and dogs at home out of their cages. Yue Guanchao quickly stopped him: "Uncle Tang, why did you let these things out? What a pity."
Old Man Tang waved his hand, with a look that made Yue Guanchao puzzled: "My dear, chickens, ducks and poultry are just like cats and dogs. As long as you have raised them for enough years, you will recognize your own home. If I go out with you, you don't know when I will come back." , it will be troublesome if my chickens and ducks starve to death, let them go out to find food in the mountains."
"Aren't you afraid that these chickens and ducks will be eaten by wild animals?"
These poultry and livestock can indeed find food to survive in the mountains and wilds, but they also face dangerous situations. Once targeted by wild beasts, it is difficult for them to fight against these ferocious beasts due to their size.
"This is not the old man's business. Chickens, ducks, cats and dogs are all living beings. What happens in the future is their own experience. None of us living people can make everything go smoothly. Whatever they encounter is the fate of heaven and earth. You might as well hurry up. Let’s go get something to eat. When everyone wakes up, we have to figure out how to get to the Soul Palace.”
While they were talking, everyone was awake. After breakfast, Old Man Tang instructed Tang Dayang to move a stool and groped on the thickest beam in the kitchen. When he got off the stool, there was a lot of grease in his hands. Wooden box wrapped in cloth.
It has probably not been opened for decades. It is full of dirt formed by oil and dust, as if it was covered in several layers of mud.
Old Man Tang didn't mind being dirty, so he shakily tore open the oilcloth and opened the wooden box inside. In addition to a few insect-proof medicine bags, there was also a rolled-up cowhide picture scroll.
"Woman, you have the smartest mind. Help me spread it out for everyone to see."
It is true that Old Man Tang is not completely blind, and it is also true that what he can see is limited. Song Siyuan knew his difficulty, so she took the cowhide scroll in his hand and slowly unfolded it on the table. Inside was the map of Shaanxi Province drawn by the ancients.
If you look closely, you will see that this map is very old. The surface of the cowhide has turned yellow and oxidized over time. It must have been rubbed many times. Some areas have been patinated and reflective, as if it had been coated with a layer of soy sauce.
The loess tundra in northern Shaanxi is only a sketch, and the focus is entirely on the leaf-shaped Guanzhong Plain and the entire Qinling Mountains. At a glance, you can tell that this is an ancient map related to the Qinling Mountains.
Yue Guanchao and Song Siyuan approached the map unconsciously, and their eyes were attracted by the Qinling Mountains. Starting from Kunlun, the Qinling Mountains formed like a curved barrier, blocking the area between Sichuan, Sichuan and Shaanxi. At the same time, it also served as a boundary to completely separate the north and the south.
On the mountains that stretch for thousands of miles, there are six ancient Qinling roads marked with cinnabar lines. The signs are Chencang Road, Baoxie Road, Luogu Road, Ziwu Road, Yugu Road, and Wuguan Road. These ancient mountain roads are named after Starting from Chang'an City in the Guanzhong Plain, it splits the Qinling Mountains vertically.
The most conspicuous location is the Yungu Plank Road between Chencang Road and Baoxie Road!
"Speaking of which, this map has been preserved by the village chiefs for generations. After the whole village moved out, they gave it to me. Over the past few decades, the old man, deaf and blind, has no chance of going there, so he has been hanging on it. It hasn’t been touched much in the kitchen.”
Old Man Tang stroked the map and said with a lot of emotion: "This map has been edited and revised since it was completed in the Tang Dynasty. Just like the Yungu Plank Road between Chencang Road and Baoxie Road, this plank road was created in the Ming Dynasty. It was rebuilt, but the repairs before the Ming Dynasty were unknown, and it had been abandoned for many years. After renovations like this, every year after the villagers worship their ancestors, they will record the new name of the pass and modify it on the cowhide map."
"In this day and age, the names of the six passes have changed again and again. It was not until the Republic of China that they were completely fixed. I didn't have the ability to make changes, so I didn't change them again."
"Is there an approximate location of Cave Mountain here?"
Song Siyuan looked at the map. The place highlighted by the heavy lines was probably the place of Caoshan. However, she did not dare to conclude that it must be this place before Old Man Tang confirmed it.
Old Man Tang tremblingly touched the map and reminded her: "Woman, look at Chencang Road and Baoxie Road. Starting from Fenghuangyi and Wushengyi, the mountains on the left and right of this Yungu Plank Road are actually considered to be Kushan. scope."
Song Siyuan followed Old Man Tang's words and looked at the Yungu Plank Road. The Yungu Plank Road ran between Chencang Road and Baoxie Road. The overall shape was like the shape of the word "work" lying flat. Calculated according to the ratio of the map to the actual mountain, the route It is at least four hundred miles long. No matter how many miles it is widened to both sides, the area is definitely not small. Such a large area is covered with caves and mountains, and everyone can't help but be shocked.
