Sun Daqiao stroked his beard and shook his head: "The fish business is done, but it's all under the guise. It's all sold out early in the morning. Most of the real people doing the business are undercover people."
"If this is the case, there is also a secret door in the Dragon King Temple. Is this Taoist Cui probably the one who suppressed the divine craftsman?"
Song Siyuan listened to Sun Daqiao's words and guessed.
Yue Guanchao pursed his lips: "Needless to say, if it weren't for Taoist Cui to help us fall asleep, we wouldn't be able to see that fish god. Taoist Cui's role is very important, but I don't quite understand how he uses a few Xiang is the one who creates this kind of hypnotic dream for us."
Song Siyuan said: "The cloth we covered our heads must have been specially treated. It has a strong medicinal smell. There may be something wrong with the incense stick in his hand. I remember that after the incense stick was burned in front of us, we Just immersed in the hallucination, if coupled with the sound of experienced hypnotic bells, it would not be surprising to be able to do this."
"Of course!" She changed the topic: "The most special thing is that our dreams are actually connected. This kind of connection can be directly communicated in dreams. I am really curious about this."
"Song Qianjin, didn't you say this was some kind of collective subconscious?" Yue Guanchao recalled his words and asked curiously.
"I'm right. The dreams we create are indeed reflections of the collective subconscious brought to us by the Dragon King Temple. However, it is completely impossible for our dreams to communicate with each other using today's technology. This is also true for me. An unsolved mystery.”
"I guess the secret may be hidden on the rain praying platform. I didn't mean to lie to you."
When she talked about this, she explained matter-of-factly: "Judging from the introductions of Sun Daqiao and Tan Yanqiu, Taoist Cui has had a reputation as a god for many years. This means that these things of his are not specifically used to deal with us. Yes, but he does possess some secret skills."
"This also means that the hallucinations we saw have probably been seen by other people, and they are even convinced that these things are souls descended to the underworld. One person can communicate with everyone's dreams for many years, or this person has Some kind of special function, either he borrowed the power of something, or he used some mechanism."
"Then, these things are probably on the rain praying platform. I am curious about the rain praying platform for this reason."
Yue Guanchao listened to her words, raised his eyebrows and grinned: "Do you want to find out the details of the Dragon King Temple?"
Song Siyuan glanced at everyone meaningfully: "No, I want to go to the rain praying platform to have a look in person."
…
Hankou, Chinatown boundary, Longwang Temple
Hankou also has a curfew. At night, there is no light at all. If you want to do anything, you have to carry a lantern and walk at night. The opening up of the foreign port sector directly forced Hankou to have a nightlife.
The sun has just set, and modern neon lights are already lighting up in the foreign port area of Hankou. Colorful light boxes are embedded in the high-rise buildings. The traffic lights are on and off on Jianghan Road. You can see the colorful pictures, piles of neon lights, and jazz music. It spread widely, as if it had gone to a Western metropolis.
With the guidance of the foreign port community, the Chinese community not far away from the foreign port community is also full of cars and horses. The lights are bright all night long and the Chinese style lanterns stretch endlessly. It is very likely to compete with the foreign port community. If you stand there Looking down towards Hankou from a high place, we can see that the whole city is bustling day and night.
Only the Dragon King Temple, not far from Jiangtan Pier, was immersed in darkness, with only scattered lights outlining its outline, as if a square window had appeared in the bright stars, and it was pitch black and lifeless inside.
At this moment, Yue Guanchao took Song Siyuan and Xu Xiake, and the three of them got off the rickshaw and came to the theater not far from the Dragon King Temple.
Xu Xiake said: "The Dragon King Temple is a religious place. It should not be included in the busy city. Such a temple should be located in a quiet place on a hill, so that it can be isolated from the world and overlook the common people."
"How could it be put into a busy city?"
Yue Guanchao asked with his hands behind his back.
When Xu Xiake mentioned this, he had something to say: "Thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi, who knew that Hankou would develop like this!"
At that time, among the three towns in Jianghan, Wuchang Town was the main town, which was dotted with government offices, full cities and patrol camps of the previous dynasty. Hankou, which was far away across the river, was just an ordinary trading town, even though it was a prosperous trading town with a population of hundreds of thousands. Town, under the slogan of the previous dynasty that emphasized agriculture and suppressed business, no one from the emperor to the local government paid much attention to Hankou.
After the opening of the port, the prosperity of the foreign port community attracted many Chinese and foreign businessmen to set up factories and establish trading houses here. From then on, the former dynasty noticed that the commercial town of Hankou by the river had such great potential.
However, in just twenty years, under the management of Chinese and foreign businessmen, Hankou has become famous in international trade. It is no longer a middle-class commercial town, but an international trade city.
Under the original geographical pattern, the Yangbu boundary and the Chinatown boundary comprised almost all the land in Hankou. The river beach where the Dragon King Temple is located is not far from the Yangbu boundary. Business prospered and the surrounding commercial streets and buildings quickly transformed the Dragon King. The temple was surrounded.
At that time, most of the land in Wuchang Town was occupied by the governor's office. According to the rules, no building could cross the governor's office. This also resulted in that most residential buildings and shops could only be built on one floor and were not allowed to be added at will. These conditions directly restricted Wuchang Town. Due to restrictions, it is impossible to build high-rise buildings, and the value of land has never increased. And Hanyang, far away from Yijiang, is mostly an old county town and ordinary people. It is dirty and crowded, and there is no value in increasing land prices.
From the perspective of speculators, Hankou's foreign towns and Chinatowns had the most potential. They began to purchase land in Hankou for the construction of factories, houses and shops. After the influx of hot money, land prices began to rise. The land changed from one hundred oceans and one square meter to two thousand oceans and one square meter.
The value of land in Chinatown has also increased. It is at least between 500 and 1,500 oceans per square meter. Compared with the original low price, the price has increased by more than 20 times. Businessmen have actually taken a fancy to it. Some businessmen are willing to buy the land of the Dragon King Temple at a price of one thousand taels per square meter, and choose another site to build the temple.
This money was a big mouthful of meat, and the officials at the time were very moved. They were willing to give up this piece of meat simply because the Dragon King Temple was not simple.
When the port was opened, the Dragon King Temple should have been moved to a nearby mountain. However, the Dragon King Temple was here to suppress the dangerous tidal flats. The government also knew that after the Dragon King Temple was destroyed, there was a strange phenomenon of flooded tidal flats. They felt that they had to move it rashly. Going to the Dragon King Temple would probably be detrimental to the river beach, so construction has not started yet.
After the land price soared, many businessmen took a fancy to this land and wanted to buy it. Only then did they think of moving. Before the construction started, the news of moving had just come out, and the water at the riverside pier had already begun to rise. If the high-value land on the wharf and river beach is flooded because of the Dragon King Temple, it will be a loss-making business.
In this way, the government and compradors did not dare to pursue the idea of the Dragon King Temple. They also built Willow Heights outside the Dragon King Temple to prevent anyone from coveting the land in the Willow Heights. They allowed the Dragon King Temple to stay safely in the downtown area and no longer dared to do so. Mention the matter of relocation.
No one could have imagined that after demarcating the boundaries of foreign ports, Hankou would develop into the modern and fashionable scene it is today. Now the land price has soared to 5,000 taels of silver. No one dares to take possession of this land anymore. Just buy such a large piece of land. , it will break a lot of muscles and bones.
The situation between the North and the South is still unclear, and many people are waiting to see the situation and leaving some room for themselves.
When they were talking, the three of them were already standing on the willow tree heights of the Dragon King Temple. This place did not belong to the government. There were few Taoist priests in the temple, and few people patrolled and guarded it. It was covered by countless willow trees, and in the dark night, few people noticed their whereabouts.
Yue Guanchao and Xu Xiake used their legs and feet to jump onto the courtyard wall, and then pulled Song Siyuan up. They found the soft mud and landed in the courtyard. The three of them looked at the remaining light of the surrounding neon lights and quietly walked to the rain praying platform.
In the dark night, the dragon-shaped courtyard wall was like a dark beast, dormant in place. They couldn't help but be more careful when walking. Only when they stepped onto the rain praying platform did they feel a little relieved.
"This table is not a sophisticated structure. It is just an ordinary table. I don't think it is any different. What kind of mechanism can it have?"
In the dark, they couldn't see the rain praying platform very clearly, but they had seen the general structure during the day, and after a little exploration at night, they already understood that the structure was very simple.
"It's not necessarily that the mechanism is on the surface, maybe it's under the feet."
Song Siyuan picked up the flashlight and slightly covered the lamp head with a cloth, revealing only a little bit of light, and asked them to look at the falling water tiles that looked like honeycomb coals around the rain praying platform: "I also observed the pavilion during the day, and the falling water tiles outside the tent were all fine. Round hole.”
"Isn't this normal? When a tile falls into the water, it is to release water and avoid being flooded when it rains." Yue Guanchao didn't seem to realize what was wrong.
Song Siyuan said: "Is there any possibility of water accumulation here? This platform is originally on flat ground and is built on a high place. Whenever there is water, it gathers in the lower areas. It is impossible to drain the water on the platform. Originally, Don’t you think it’s strange that water tiles are installed in areas where water drainage is not needed?”
With this reminder, the two men immediately understood what Song Qianjin meant. They began to inspect the surrounding tiles that had fallen into the water. Most of these tiles were one meter long and wide, similar to the masonry tiles on the eaves. The surface had a frosted texture and most of the fine holes were It's about the size of a fingernail and can't be seen from the outside.
After checking around, it was only a half-meter deep ditch in Taiwan. After checking around, I discovered the special tiles.
This tile has the same shape as other tiles, except that the cold wind coming out proves that there is airflow under this tile, and there is probably something there.
Yue Guanchao opened the tiles, and there was no longer a culvert underneath, but a black tunnel that continued downward. He grabbed the gravel on the ground, dropped a stone, made sure it was not very deep, and jumped down the tunnel with them.
After landing, Song Siyuan took off the rag on the lamp head. Judging from the distance of landing, it was only two meters above the ground. At present, it was already below the ground.
The three of them looked back, their eyes widening. Under the rain praying platform, there were such exquisite things!
