Seeing this, everyone basically knows where the Shahai King City where Queen Shanshan is located is. The mural clearly depicts the desert orientation of the Red and White Mountain. If the situation described in this mural is true, So, the Sand Sea King City is probably on the west coast of the desert hinterland.
Keli took out the desert map, pointed to the Hengxing Mountains near the west coast of the desert, and said: "The red and white sacred mountains mentioned in the mural refer to Mazhatage Mountain. From the perspective of the direction, there is indeed nothing to explore. However, the red and white mountains are The sacred mountain is definitely not what is described in the murals. My father and I have also been to the hinterland of the desert, and there are no living creatures there."
Today, the west bank of the Red and White Sacred Mountain is still surrounded by a sea of dry sand. Even near the Hotan River in the east, there are only dry tidal flats. There are accumulations of sand dunes in the north and south. It is almost a mountain completely surrounded by desert. In the hinterland of the desert, Due to its location, even the moist water vapor from the high mountains cannot blow here, which also causes extreme drought in the hinterland of the desert.
If we also include the sandification caused by wind and sand invasion, the Red and White Sacred Mountain has degenerated into a dry earth mountain, just like an earth platform wasteland that has been steamed by high-temperature gas and is almost dry. The mountain has absorbed a large amount of desert heat, which is higher than the surface on the ground. The temperature is still high. When approaching the mountain, you can feel the heat evaporating from the mountain. There is no vegetation cover at all. Even the drought-resistant plants grow on the tidal flats at the foot of the mountain. Jedi dare not move closer to the mountain.
When he said this, he paused and his tone became cautious: "When I was fifteen years old, I followed my father across the desert hinterland and saw the Red and White Sacred Mountain. At that time, it was only five or six years ago. I think the mountain It won’t change much, it’s probably still dead and desolate, and as for the Sand Sea King City you’re looking for, there’s no trace of it, there are no traces of buildings at all.”
"I'm thinking."
There was suspicion in Keli's eyes: "If there is really a Sand Sea King City at the foot of the east mountain of the Red and White God Mountain, it is impossible that there are not even ruins. No matter how severe the weathering is over the past thousand years, there should still be many earthen platforms left. If there are no ruins at all, Do the traces of man-made construction mean that the Shahai King City has really disappeared?"
In the murals of the Thousand Buddha Cave, General Ashina did mention that when his soldiers marched outside the Shahai King City, they witnessed the ground shaking, strong winds, and the Shahai King City disappearing from the desert in an instant.
Song Siyuan carefully considered the meaning of Keli's words: "It is also mentioned in these murals that the Red and White Mountain was originally dry and barren. It was Queen Shanshan who used the fish pendant to pray for blessings, so that rivers appeared under the Red and White Mountain, and then nourished endless oasis. "
"Although these situations have a mythical color, they are also very likely to be a true description of the current situation. Then, the disappearance of the Shahai King City and the fading of the mythical color are probably also describing the situation they saw at that time. It is just that the ancients did not know the situation. Attribute these changes to the protection of gods and the sacrifice of fish pendants.”
Xu Xiake interjected: "The most bizarre thing is that the sand sea oasis appeared out of thin air, and then disappeared out of thin air when the Tang army invaded. Abandoning the mythical factors, the most likely thing is the Yu Pei. I remember the function of the Yin Yu Pei. It was mentioned in the book that the Yinyu Pendant can turn the desert into an oasis, and dry rivers can emerge, which should be related to the function of the Yinyu Pendant."
Yue Guanchao narrowed his eyes: "That's what you say? But can the Yin Yupei really change the climate of the desert? If it can change the climate of the desert, Queen Shanshan can use the fishpei to create oases directly around the five major cities. Why take such a long detour to the hinterland of the desert to build a city?"
What he said is exactly the paradox of the function of the fish pendant. If it is really useful, Queen Shanshan can use it in the original city, so why bother looking for a new city.
Song Siyuan shrugged and said helplessly: "We don't know this yet, so we can only go back and explain it slowly. Although this trip was hard, it was at least rewarding. We not only found Uncle Gunizi, but also found out the location of the Desert King City." , making progress is much better than standing still.”
"In my opinion, we should take Uncle Gunizi's remains back for a proper burial first, and we can also see how to get to the Red and White Mountain. At the same time, I also want to research what is this birch book he recorded? It can be recorded in unknown words, so it’s probably a secret that needs to be concealed.”
Everyone remained silent, collecting Gunizi's remains together with Keli, and taking photos of all the murals they saw. Then they returned to the Shahai River bank with their things, and crossed the Shahai River on a sheepskin raft and left Shaer City.
On the way back, Yue Guanchao felt strange all the time. It wasn't until he saw the fragments of scriptures packed in Wang Yuanlu's hand that he figured out what was strange and patted his head: "Don't you think it's strange? Stan He Since he was able to tear off all the murals in the temple, it shows that he was able to steal all the murals, and even the things in the underground palace were plundered by him. Why did he only leave the murals in the side hall where they are?"
This is really weird for Yue Guanchao. The murals in the underground palace have no traces of damage at all, and are well preserved in a very complete length. According to Steinhein's virtue of searching for the underground palace's cultural toys, he is a wild goose who plucks hair, How could such an unscrupulous master let such an important mural go?
Song Siyuan thought for a moment and her eyes lit up: "Judging from Steinhein's inspection report, he selectively modified and misinterpreted the facts, focusing on the discovery of Sha'er City and Milanze, and at the same time discussed the ancient Shanshan The history of the rise and fall of civilization, in which the truth about the discovery of the underground palace and cultural artifacts is concealed, and not even half a sentence of Queen Shanshan is mentioned..."
He discovered the mural of Queen Shanshan, but chose to conceal everything about Queen Shanshan. No matter what the purpose was, it at least showed that he did not want to share this discovery with the archaeological community, and preferred to keep it for himself.
In this case, it is impossible for him to sell the cultural relics about Queen Shanshan, because once others discover these on the cultural relics of the ancient Shanshan Kingdom, his concealment will be useless. Under this motive, Not only would he conceal the truth about the murals in the underground palace, but he would also carefully select all the artifacts about the queen in the underground palace for exclusive use.
If he had this kind of logical motive, then his behavior would be completely normal!
First of all, he had a big purpose of not letting the outside world know the history of Queen Shanshan.
Secondly, the calligraphy and paintings in the underground palace must have recorded many stories about Queen Shanshan. He can piece together the truth about the queen through other literary records. The information on the murals is likely to be revealed when he gets it. It has been recorded in the classics, even in more detail.
Again, the murals are indeed exquisite, but they have a fatal flaw, that is, they are too large and have limited information. These murals reach as high as the top of the underground palace, and the information they give is nothing more than the story of the queen’s search for the desert royal city. Such a small amount of information, If it were recorded in words and scrolls, it would only amount to one painting or a few pages of classics at most.
It is expected that the nobles of Secret Orchid City would paint such giant murals in order to commemorate their merits for the queen. Such a large painting only has some information that can be obtained from other places, so there is no need to spend manpower and material resources to tear it up and steal it.
At this point, Song Siyuan's face became serious: "Steinhein did not steal these artifacts for his personal collection, he must have sold them. Judging from the incomplete pattern of the murals in the temple, what he tore off were all of relatively high artistic value. The murals with high artistic value and those with low artistic value are all kept in place. He has to hide the mural about Queen Shanshan, but he cannot sell it, and he has to spend manpower and material resources to tear it down. Why bother asking for trouble? It is better to take pictures and keep them."
"Steinhein is essentially a businessman and cannot engage in thankless business without capital. It is normal for him to leave this mural behind."
Spend the night in the wilderness, riding camels and horses.
When they returned, it was already two days later. They decided to separate temporarily to deal with their own affairs before holding a funeral for Gunizi. Before leaving, Gunizi also felt that there seemed to be some secret in the birch book, and he stuffed it into Song Siyuan asked her to study it carefully.
Yue Guanchao and the four of them returned to Yichao Inn and began to study the birch bark booklet. After they spread the birch bark booklet on the table, Yue Qingshan and Sun Daqiao looked at the booklet one after another: "It's not Chinese, not Uyghur, a bit close to the Western Regions. The ancient writing is a bit like Sogdian!”
"Sogdian?"
Song Siyuan became curious when she saw Sun Daqiao mention Sogdian. She did not have much research on Sogdian, but she had heard of Sogdian records.
Sogdian is an ancient script that was popular in the sixth century. It originated from the Iranian language family in ancient times and is the eastern branch of the language family. Between the sixth and ninth centuries AD, as the Sogdians developed in the Silk Road, Along the way, Sogdian became a popular trade language in Central and North Asia, and its status was no less than that of Chinese in Chang'an.
Speaking of which, the prosperity of the Sogdian language is related to the national character of the Sogdian people.
In the sixth century, the Sogdians lived in Kangju in Central Asia, which is the area west of the Tianshan Mountains and Kunlun Mountains. They established many oasis city-states, but rarely formed a unified nation-state and political power. At best, they could only be regarded as one ethnic group. point.
Under the threat of the powerful Tianshan regime around them, they have always been in a state of semi-settlement and semi-migration. They may be driven away by other powerful ethnic groups at any time, and they will have to move their families or migrate long distances.
This kind of wandering life has advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage lies in long-term wandering, traveling, no fixed residence, and complete whereabouts. This state of homelessness and countrylessness makes it easy to be bullied and bullied by small city-states along the Silk Road. Exclusion and benefit are also generated in this displacement.
It is true that the Sogdians have no fixed settlement. Because of this, they have traveled all over Central and East Asia. They know how to buy silk, tea, porcelain, grain, textiles, handicrafts, salt and iron minerals from East Asia, and then use silk to They sold their spices, gems, furs, jade, agate, snake beads, musical instruments and other rare treasures to the East, and then made high profits from them.
In a word, their nation is spread all over Central Asia and East Asia. They know what is profitable and what is not. They also know how to trade and communicate with other countries. In addition, they are good at doing business and love making money. Wherever they go, they will make money wherever they can. They all want to build cities and live in settlements to do business and trade in order to profit from it.
