After the geese return to their nests, the scratching sounds around them become smaller and smaller. Finally, the sounds gradually disappear and the outside world becomes silent.
Yue Guanchao lifted up the cabin and looked at the reflection on the water. All the wild geese had left. It seemed that nothing tragic had happened around him. However, the scattered corpses on the river kept reminding him that everything just now was not an illusion, but really happened. things.
Several people carefully opened the boat and made sure that the wild geese did not continue to attack them. Then they returned the cabin to the right position and jumped on the cabin one after another and returned to the shore.
Sun Tianqi said: "What should we do now? I think these wild geese are determined not to let us enter the cave. If we want to continue going down, we must solve the problem of these wild geese. Otherwise, I think our lives will be difficult to save." "
He looked at Yue Guanchao: "Good believer, since Yanshan is guarded by these wild geese, has Mrs. Hu ever told you how to deal with the mud nest?"
This sentence stopped Yue Guanchao. When they left, Old Mrs. Hu didn't mention it. Now thinking about it, maybe it was because Old Mrs. Hu didn't know at all that these wild geese had become like this. If not, Hu There is really no need for the old lady to hide it from them.
"Taoist Priest, Mrs. Hu is old and may have forgotten this point. When we left, she didn't see the old lady mention this point. However, she said that when Yongming was involved in the Taiping banditry, her eldest sister served as Concubine Tian has been here before, and if they can bring King Hong Tian’s treasure in, they probably know how to enter the cave.”
What Yue Guanchao said was indeed correct. Mrs. Hu did mention the matter of her eldest sister. If these wild geese were so ferocious back then, then the Taiping Army would probably know how to deal with the wild geese entering the cave.
"Then, did the old lady tell me how to enter the cave?"
Yue Guanchao shook his head: "Oh, that's not clear. The old lady was not very young at that time, so she was a little confused about these things. In addition, people have experienced too many things and become confused. She only mentioned that she was The eldest sister said that there are secrets in the Yan Temple."
"Yan Temple?"
Sun Tianqi's eyes lit up: "Since there is nothing we can do, why not go to the Yan Temple to have a look, maybe there is really something inside."
Before Yue Guanchao left, he did indeed hear the old lady mention Yan Temple. However, he only heard the old lady mention this topic, and thought it was just the old lady making excuses again. Now thinking about it, maybe, it was really the same as decades ago. It is related to the Tianfei entering the tomb.
The few people no longer hesitated and drove the canoe to the Yan Temple. After landing, they observed carefully that the island where the temple was located was three or four times larger than the temple. It looked very regular. Yue Guanchao and the others were shaking slightly when they stood on the island. Only then did I realize that this isolated island was not a naturally formed island at all, but a floating soil made of mud, straw, and driftwood!
The so-called floating soil is actually land on the water. This kind of floating wood is often built in lakes or rivers and is specially used to build houses or serve as pontoons.
Speaking of which, they are all the wisdom of poor people!
In the old society, of course, fishermen did not pay land taxes if they did not farm. Some subordinate officials would use the reason that they lived on land to ask them to pay mansion taxes. In order to avoid these exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, ordinary people had no choice but to move to the water or sea and become villagers. Or boat owner.
The Dongting Lake they saw had such boat people in the past. There were many floating rafts made of wood, straw, and beef and sheep tripe naan on the shore of the lake. They were either used for fishing or directly built tile houses and thatched huts. , used for residence.
This kind of floating raft is relatively light, easy to move, and does not belong to land. It is mostly favored by poor people. In villages along rivers and lakes, you will often see countless floating rafts spread out on the shore, as if new land has grown by the lake. Shacks and thatched huts are gathered together, spreading into the distance.
However, with the advent of the Republic of China, these shacks have become rare. Only in poorer places can you see boat people building shacks.
Without further ado, let’s get down to business and open the temple door. The layout of the Yan Temple is the same as that of an ordinary temple, except that sitting on the treasure bed is an old lady with the head and wings of a wild goose. The incense table is full of tributes. Come to think of it, people often make offerings to the gods here.
"But what's the secret here?"
Song Siyuan asked. She carefully observed the tributes on the table and the details of the statues. The Yan Temple itself was not a main temple. It was very rough. It just built a small house and placed the crude statues in it. If there were any offerings, they were all cheap items from people living in the mountains, and everything seemed extremely crude.
"The God of the Wild Goose was built as a temple only because of his strange power. Most of the people who come here to worship are to seek help from the Wild Goose or for marriage. It is treated like an ordinary land temple and does not have a golden body like the temple of Princess Hu. There is also a formal canonization.”
Yue Guanchao looked at the surrounding furnishings and carefully observed the old lady of the Wild Goose God. The statue was extremely rough, but it looked very similar to a person. He narrowed his eyes: "Do you feel that this statue looks a bit like a certain person?"
"Do you mean?"
Song Siyuan carefully looked at the face of Mrs. Yanshen, and her eyes lit up: "You mean, Mrs. Hu?"
Yue Guanchao nodded towards her: "Yes, I see that this old lady Yanshen's face is different from that of old lady Hu, but it is also somewhat different from her appearance. It looks like she looks similar, but it is not hers." people."
Song Siyuan sounded slightly excited: "Perhaps, this is not Mrs. Hu at all, but her eldest sister, the imperial concubine who was drowned by the government."
"It's possible that this statue will not resemble Mrs. Hu for no reason. At that time, the government did not allow the people to treat these concubines kindly, let alone allow them to be buried with dignity. After all, Mrs. Hu's eldest sister is related by blood. Maybe, we can establish a wild goose god. It makes perfect sense for the temple to worship privately." Old Yuetou muttered.
"Could it be that the secret Mrs. Hu mentioned was referring to these statues?" Sun Tianqi thought for a moment and asked calmly.
"Let's take a look. If this statue really has a secret, it can probably be opened, or it may have some mechanism attached to it."
With this view, everyone looked at the statue of Yan Shen again. Although this statue was very rough, it was extremely strong. Even if it was hit with the back of a knife, it would be difficult to make a mark. It was probably for the sake of strength that the body had been damaged. Tamp it down.
Yue Guanchao picked up the back of the knife and struck it along the joints of Yan Shen until he hit the stone platform near the instep, and then he heard the crisp hollow sound of the drum.
"This is it. The place behind the statue is hollow. There is probably something inside."
He retracted the back of the knife and continued to determine the range along the hollow area with his hand. After pressing inward, there was a clicking sound, and the stone wall suddenly protruded outward. When he pulled it out, he could see that it was a wooden drawer.
"Is there something in here?"
Yue Guanchao pulled out the drawer. It was obviously wrapped in linen. When he took out the things, he could see that it was half the length of an arm and his hands were wide.
As soon as the linen was opened, everyone was shocked by what appeared inside.
"Is this blood goose marrow?"
After the linen was opened, there was a red candle inside, which looked as thick as the mouth of a bowl. It had an unpleasant smell of blood.
Sun Tianqi lowered his head and touched the red blood marrow, and explained: "After the blood goose marrow is dried, a layer of oil and water will be deposited. This layer of oil and water can be made into a candle. Probably, this candle is made of the grease of the blood goose marrow."
Yue Guanchao lowered his head to look at the strange candle and said slowly: "I think this thing has signs of being lit. It must have been lit. Could it be that the old lady wants us to light the candle."
"Try it!"
"Maybe it really works."
Yue Guanchao took out the candle, which was just enough to fit into the wings of the Yan Shen. After the fire was lit, the wax wick made a squeaking sound and turned into a swaying flame, burning the surrounding area golden.
Within a few moments, smoke was seen lingering around the candle flames. These candles seemed to have something added to them. In just a moment, snow-white smoke filled the Yan Temple, and continued to spurt outward along the passage on the roof.
A few people walked outside the temple gate. The eaves on both sides seemed to be hollow, and connected with the roof of the house. It could be seen that snow-white mist was spraying out on both sides, and was scattered by the breeze. This rich mist lingered on the roof. , it was so contaminated that the situation near the cave could no longer be seen clearly.
Wow!
Some geese had already shown signs of coming out. Yue Guanchao and the others were afraid of being attacked by geese again, so they had to hide in the Yan Temple and close the doors and windows tightly.
After about a cup of tea, there was a constant flapping and clicking sound around the Yan Temple. Yue Guanchao looked out from the gap in the window and saw that the wild geese seemed to have a backbone and were constantly circling around the eaves. Thousands of wild geese were flying around. It was like a huge black whirlwind, completely blocking the vicinity of the cave.
"These geese don't seem to be aggressive, they are busy absorbing the smoke!"
After Yue Guanchao saw the situation clearly, he explained to the people behind him.
"Go out and take a look first. If it really doesn't attack us, it means that the candle can indeed attract geese."
Sun Tianqi couldn't wait anymore, so he opened the door and walked out with the young Taoist. After waiting for a long time, the geese did not attack them. It was obvious that the candle could indeed attract the geese.
Yue Guanchao saw that the wild geese no longer attacked people, so he walked out and looked around. The wild geese kept chirping and kept circling along the vortex of smoke, blocking the sky and the sun, just like the endless whirlpool of ocean waves. The wild geese in the mud nest were probably all gone. Gather here.
"Daozhang Sun, since these wild geese won't attack us anymore, why don't we take the ashes blankets of the concubines and the tomb robbing objects to open the mud nest and take advantage of this opportunity to enter the cave."
After Yue Guanchao finished speaking, Sun Tianqi nodded to him and signaled the young Taoist to unload the urn from the carriage and get into the canoe. Yue Guanchao also took Jia Yong to move out the tomb robbers. Several people drove the canoe and took advantage of the geese sniffing. With the smoke swirling around, he once again passed through the pillar peak and reached the depths of the cave.
This time, they learned a lesson and used shovels and shovels to shovel out the gap in the mud nest that had not yet solidified. They made no sound during the process and managed to navigate the canoe through it.
m.
Some people died, but not completely...
