In the almost completely collapsed ancient city, a pagoda can still stand for a thousand years. This at least proves that the material of the pagoda is very strong and can withstand the wind and sand invasion for nearly a thousand years. Looking at the decline of other buildings around the pagoda, everyone will understand. There must be something weird and strange in this pagoda.
"Here comes the work. Let's clean out the pagoda first and see what kind of material it is made of. It is so durable."
Yue Guanchao signaled to Xu Xiake, and everyone took out their engineering pickaxes and began to clean up the loess sealing layer. This type of pagoda mostly has a solid body, and its area is much smaller than that of later pagodas that can be entered and exited. The base of the pagoda is the smallest. The width is no more than the length and breadth of the roof.
After they dug out the loess sealing layer at the base of the pagoda, they quickly cleaned the pagoda's feet and body. Song Siyuan carefully observed the cleaned pagoda body and pagoda base. The pagoda base was made of a very common giant gray stone. The metallic luster can already be seen on the feet.
Observe carefully, you will see a regular array of rivets distributed on the surface of the oval tower feet. The material is similar to black iron. When it reaches the tower body, it turns into brass. After being eroded by wind and sand, the surface has patina and rust. Use an engineer pick to hit the tower body. , the sound is deep, clear, and trembling. It can be seen that it is not a hollow material, but is probably solidly poured.
On the brass tower body, from the traces of patina, it can be seen that there are many red Sanskrit characters drawn on it. It looks like the seals are evenly carved along the tower body, completely wrapping the tower body.
They were curious about what these things were, and Wang Yuanlu hurriedly walked behind them.
"Taoist Wang, if you don't watch the camel, why are you coming here?" Keli asked when he saw Taoist Wang coming.
Wang Yuanlu waved his hand: "These camels are being watched by that little brother. I'm of no use there. I just came over to have a look. Just now I heard a faint sound of chanting in these voices. Maybe there are old Taoist priests who can help. Busy place.”
He picked up a dagger, scraped off the remaining yellow sand on the pagoda, and explained: "In order to study Buddhist scriptures, I also learned Sanskrit from the monks near Thousand Buddha Cave. Many cities in the Western Regions are influenced by Buddhism. In the center of the city Or there are pagodas cast at the four corners.”
"In order to ensure the stability and solidity of this pagoda, the base of the pagoda is made of iron. This is high-quality steel from the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It can last for thousands of years without corroding or rusting. This kind of iron is also used to make Mo Dao. The Mo Dao that restrained the Hu people and destroyed both men and horses was forged from bin iron. It can be said that the same volume of bin iron is basically equivalent to the same volume of gold. As for the tower body and top, most of them are made of refined yellow copper!"
Taoist Wang then carefully analyzed the Sanskrit inscriptions on the pagoda: "The contents of the Sanskrit inscriptions are mostly the names of the great monks, donors, and builders who built the pagoda at that time, and then there are some blessing scriptures and so on. Judging from the contents of these Sanskrit inscriptions, , was probably built in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period. At that time, this place was no longer the territory of the Tang Dynasty and was occupied by the Tubo Kingdom. The Tubo Kingdom organized people to build a blessing pagoda in this city."
Song Siyuan nodded: "That's right. The style of this pagoda is very similar to the lamasery in Tibet. The presence of such a pagoda proves that this city was indeed influenced by the architectural culture of Tubo..."
The period of history mentioned by Wang Yuanlu has a close causal relationship with the decline of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Since the Zhenguan period, the Tang Dynasty opened up the Silk Road and annexed the Western Regions. From then on, the vast Western Regions, including the Congling Mountains of Central Asia in the west, the Tianshan Mountains in the north, the Turkic grasslands in the east, and the snowy Kunlun Mountains in the south, were all occupied by the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After swallowing up the territory, the Tang Dynasty established the Anxi Protectorate, the Jiannan Protectorate, and the Tingzhou Protectorate here to maintain its rule over the Western Regions with the restraint system.
At that time, the Hu people in the small countries in the Western Regions all regarded the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty in Chang'an as their Heavenly Khan. They worshiped the emperor from afar, respected Zhengshuo, and regarded it as an honor to be able to go to Chang'an to serve as officials, trade, and communicate. This situation continued until the Anshi Rebellion. , was completely changed.
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao's reign, Yuyang's flying horse stirred up the earth and shocked the people's colorful clothes and feathers.
An Lushan threatened the elite soldiers of the three towns of Heshuo and launched a rebellion in Hedong. The news reached Chang'an. Emperor Ming and his concubines fled with their royal family members, civil and military officials, and during the Maweipo Incident, Concubine Yang was stagnated. The rebels strangled him to death, and Emperor Ming of Tang Dynasty fled to Shu for refuge after being displaced several times.
This farce kicked off the decline of the Tang Dynasty and sounded the death knell for Zuo Zuo of the Tang Dynasty!
At that time, Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty was very happy with achievements and good news. In order to allow the military generals of the border towns to open up territories for him, he delegated the power of recruiting soldiers to the feudal towns. Later, he also opened up the power of taxation and appointment and dismissal of officials, making the border towns a state within a state. Responsibility is too concentrated.
Under this system, An Lushan also served as the governor of the three towns of Youzhou, Weibo, and Chengde, and had 200,000 troops under his command. These were all elite soldiers and generals who could go into battle to kill the enemy and defend the territory. An Lushan Within the three-town festival, he had overall military power, taxation power, administrative power, and the power to appoint and remove officials. He was already the local emperor in Hedong.
This person was most afraid of Li Linfu. After Prime Minister Li died and Yang Guozhong became prime minister, no one could suppress An Lushan. Of course, he would threaten Hedong and raise his troops to rebel.
In contrast, most of the government soldiers in the pass were old, weak, sick, or street gangsters who recruited cats and dogs. They usually bullied the people, but when they encountered the Hedong Han soldiers who had actually fought on the battlefield, they were chopped off to the point where their heads could not be found. Once we reached the north, the defense lines within the pass would of course collapse.
Within a few months and half a year, Anlu Mountain had already conquered Luoyang and directly ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang. The old Emperor Ming of Tang Dynasty was no longer in great power, so he hunkered down in Shu and never left the mountain. Prince Li Yu took advantage of the chaos to ascend the throne in Lingwu and urgently recalled him to Anxi. Only then did the Hexi soldiers who protected the generals bring the defeated Tang army back into the fray.
As the old saying goes, flies don't bite seamless eggs. When Hexi's elite were transferred to Guanzhong to suppress the rebellion, basically only the Hexi soldiers left behind in Anxi were left. With the defense empty, if someone took advantage of the loophole, it would inevitably lead to disaster. Come disaster.
This thoughtful person is a Tubo person.
Probably not long after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tubo people took advantage of the pass to quell the chaos in Hexi. They took the opportunity to come down from the snow-covered plateau and directly occupied the western end of the Hexi Corridor. This was equivalent to severing the neck of the Hexi Corridor that connected the Western Regions. From then on, the Anxi Governor Lost contact with Guanzhong.
Over the next forty years, the Tubo Kingdom used troops for successive years against the Tang Dynasty's former capital of Anxi, eventually eating up all the land of Anxi. Not to mention any dangerous wars during this period, the final result of Hexi was that the entire territory of Hexi was completely destroyed by the Tubo People occupied it and became the territory of the Tubo people.
This town is located at the western end of the Hexi Corridor. It is estimated to be one of the cities occupied by the Tubo people from the Anshi Rebellion to the end of the Tang Dynasty. These Tubo people naturally influenced Tibetan Buddhist culture here, forming a richly colored pagoda in Tibet. tower.
"Since we are pursuing sturdiness, why not also cast the tower body with iron? Wouldn't it be easier to preserve?"
Yue Guanchao looked at the tower body. There was basically no feeling of corrosion at the base of the black iron tower. Only the brass tower body was severely corroded. If it had not been made of solid copper, it would have collapsed long ago.
Taoist Wang explained: "The old Taoist guessed that it was for engraving Sanskrit characters. Iron is too strong to be able to engrave too many characters on it, but brass is different and can be used to engrave characters. Furthermore, although these towers are solidly cast , the location under the pagoda follows the standard of a pagoda, and is probably a niche under the pagoda, which can be used to store sutras, recite scriptures, and enshrine relics."
