After Zhang Yichao's death, the territory captured by the Guiyi Army continued to be lost, and eventually only Shazhou remained. Over the next three hundred years, the Guiyi Army's regime changed several times, from the Zhang Yichao family to the Cao Yijin family, and then to the Shazhou Uighurs. After seizing it, it finally lost power completely during the Song Dynasty and disappeared completely from history.
At that time, the Xixia family was the dominant one in the northwest of the Song Dynasty. They occupied almost three-thirds of the territory of the Han Dynasty. In order to obtain more territory and realize his ambition to annex the world, the Xixia Emperor Li Yuanhao began to conquer many tribes and small countries in the Hexi Corridor. Eventually, the fragmented political power in the Hexi Corridor was completely engulfed.
Speaking of this, Song Siyuan pointed to the enemy troops on the mural and continued to explain: "The ones painted on the mural are probably Li Yuanhao's Xixia army. Although these Xixia people continued the customs of the Tang Dynasty, they also developed their own culture. , For example, Xixia soldiers like to braid their hair on the back of their heads, and at the same time, they also wear earrings in their ears. The more noble they are, the more gorgeous their earrings are."
She paused: "When I looked at the mural just now, I could see traces of braids on the back of the general's head, and a single earring on his ear. This shows that the general is a noble from Xixia. Comparing it with The defenders on Shazhou City can probably tell that the Xixia Army is attacking the Guiyi Army."
"In this battle, Xixia annexed Shazhou, and the Guiyi Army completely withdrew from the stage of history. I think Zhao Xingde lived in Shazhou, and it happened that Li Yuanhao captured Shazhou at this time. In order to protect the Buddhist scriptures of the Han people from damage, they had to Hide all the scriptures in the cave.”
Song Siyuan stepped forward and touched the murals, and her eyes lit up: "Behind these murals is probably the cover of the Buddhist scriptures."
Having said that, Yue Guanchao had already begun to knock on the hollow part of the mural. Sure enough, he saw that there was clearly a clear sound coming from the location of the city, which indicated that there was some hollow space behind the mural.
"Wait a minute, I'll take a photo of the mural first, and then open the mezzanine."
Song Siyuan took out the camera in her backpack and took pictures of the murals. After she finished her work, Yue Guanchao and Keli picked up the hammer handed over by the craftsman, and smashed it along the hollow position, quickly breaking the seal. It was opened, and even the stones that filled the hole were pulled away, revealing a hole as high as a person.
"Pfft!"
Dust was flying and gravel was rolling.
They waited for the dust to clear up a bit, and then used their flashlights to explore the hole. A cold beam of light shone slantly inside, and the dust lingered around the beam and scattered to the ground.
They walked into the mezzanine through the dug hole. This place was completely a dirt hole. Even the four walls were not evened out. It was no different from a dusty dirt hole. There were shelves on all sides, and there were several pieces of wood in the middle. box.
Song Siyuan walked into the grotto to take a look. The shelves were stacked on top of each other. They were filled with various scriptures, scripts, documents, classics, picture scrolls, and manuscripts. The bookshelf was packed to the brim. As for the box in the middle, it was all covered tightly with felt cloth.
Yue Guanchao walked into the dozen or so large boxes in the middle and observed carefully. After nearly a thousand years, the felt cloth was basically completely dry. There was a layer of loess dust stuck to the surface. He could easily tear off a half-corner piece by simply peeling it off with his hands. .
He cleaned off the felt cloth on one of the boxes and opened the rotten box. What appeared inside was a box full of Buddhist utensils, such as lamps, dishes, pillars, beads, gold and silver Buddha statues, etc.
These things are not only from the Tang Dynasty, but also from the Song Dynasty. They can be considered cultural relics. I think they are very beautifully made. They are probably temple treasures collected from Dayun Temple. They were afraid that the Xixia people would loot the treasures. We need to seal everything in.
After what happened these days, Wang Yuanlu knew so much about the value of these collections of books and scriptures that he could almost see flowers blooming in his eyes: "If these things are sold, we can accumulate a lot of money."
Song Siyuan nodded with playful eyes: "Indeed, if we want to bring it to the international market, let alone a Taiqing Palace, it would be enough to build the entire Dunhuang City into the Taiqing Palace. But, old Taoist priest, you promised us... "
Before she could finish speaking, Wang Yuanlu quickly waved his hand: "I know, I know, the old Taoist priest has promised you not to sell these scriptures, so you must promise me that you will take me with you to Hongbai Mountain this time. .”
Yue Guanchao was a little hesitant at these words. The old Taoist priest had been frightened by the Tubo Pagoda before he even approached the Secret Orchid City last time. As for the Tubo Corpse Monk, he kowtowed even more. Garlic, it can be seen that he has a timid temperament.
Such people are not a bad thing. They will indeed greatly affect the morale of the soldiers and people. If they say something wrong, their momentum will be completely eliminated. They will talk about it all day long, which will also affect their attitude towards things. judge.
That time, when they saw the monk's corpse ringing the bell after his death, they were almost frightened by the old Taoist priest. Later, after carefully studying the principle, they discovered that it was not ghosts and gods. Just the story of the monk's corpse in Hexi was enough to scare people. A shiver.
"The Red and White Sacred Mountain is different from the Secret Lanze. The Secret Lanze is at best in the Hexi Desert. The Red and White Sacred Mountain is really located in the heart of the Devil's Desert. Are you sure you are willing to take the risk and go with us?"
At this time, Yue Guanchao no longer needed to threaten him. Anyway, Taoist Wang had been hearing about how dangerous the Red and White Mountain and the Devil's Desert were for the past few days, so it was impossible for him to have no impression at all.
There seemed to be some hesitation in Wang Yuanlu's eyes, but then he quickly firmed up, as if he had made up his mind to die, and nodded towards them: "The old Taoist priest has no other skills. If you encounter situations related to Buddhism along the way, I will also help you." I have been busy a lot, and I am not a useless person by any means. This time I went to Hongbai Mountain to find the Shahai King City. How do you know that there will be no Buddhists involved in the King City? Maybe the old Taoist priest can still come in handy."
"Now, old Taoist priest, I don't ask for any money. I just want to help you. I also want to see where the disappeared Shahai King City has gone!"
Wang Yuanlu spoke sincerely, and it seemed that he really wanted to help, and was no longer trying to get rich by chance. Yue Guanchao nodded: "That's okay, if you are willing to help, we won't stop you."
"As for these scriptures and cultural relics!"
Song Siyuan nodded: "Either you all seal it up, or you keep it somewhere else. It's best not to hand these things over to the government, lest they use them in exchange for benefits."
Taoist Wang nodded: "I know this. When I went to the government to ask for help, in order to make the government take notice of me, I gave them a lot of good scriptures. As you know what happened after that, not only did I not take any For only one cent of silver, the government took away several carts of scriptures, and there is still no news."
"Who can trust them anymore?"
At this point, they had already discussed how to deal with the matter of the Sutra Cave. Song Siyuan took a lot of photos and walked out of the Sutra Cave with them.
"The weather is really weird today, isn't it?"
It was already dusk when they entered the grotto, and they were delayed for a moment. When they came out of the grotto again, the sky outside was already soaked in chaos and darkness. Even if they lit the oil lamp, they could only see the surroundings being illuminated, and they could see the sky full of people. The stars tower over the moon, and the dark night is like hanging pearls and gems, shining brightly.
However, the sky near the north is obviously hung with a light golden and reddish crystal light mist, just like a faint glowing dull red on the horizon before the rising sun, or like a touch of twilight on the horizon after the red sunset in the evening!
What's even weirder is that this is obviously not some suspended mist. It flows with the stars, and is extremely gorgeous against the background of the dark night sky. The ethereal flow looks like dragons and snakes dancing in the clouds.
"Yeah, why is there light in the sky?"
Ke Li seemed to have never seen such a strange weather.
Song Siyuan carefully observed the direction of the light mist, and her eyes suddenly brightened, and she said: "I remember Brother Xu said that in the private book of Mo Shisan, a soldier in Dunhuang City, there was a record of the bird death accident, and that there was a fire in the daytime. Lianyun, when birds collide and kill themselves at night, could it be caused by this thing?"
"I'm afraid it's not Sha Mei causing trouble."
The words of these craftsmen made everyone curious.
"Sha Mei, what is this?" Song Siyuan looked at these craftsmanships.
They looked at each other and saw that these people didn't know the origin of Sha Mei, so they explained the origin of Sha Mei.
Sand demons are a terrifying legend in the Western Regions. They have no entity, no smell, and no sound. They look like mist and stars, just like ghosts and devils. They can appear over the desert at will, as long as humans and animals are trapped by the sand. If it is targeted by the sand charm, it will be completely sucked away by the sand charm, leaving only a handful of dead bones.
Legend has it that the birds in Dunhuang City cried blood when they encountered the sand demon in mid-air. They panicked and hid back on the ground, forming a spectacle of birds colliding with each other. The most serious one was that of Tang Dynasty. During the Zhenguan period of the Chao Dynasty, the city of Dunhuang was like a bloodbathed city.
"What are these things?"
Song Siyuan did not expect that the Dunhuang sky hanging elephant during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty was somewhat related to Sha Mei. She immediately felt that she could study it in detail and maybe find the truth.
These craftsmen continued: "I don't know about Nirvana. There are no witnesses to this thing. It is just a legend. I dare not write it into the classics casually. However, some old people have mentioned that this thing was transformed by an evil spirit!"
Rumor has it that the deserts of the Western Regions are full of dangers, including quicksand swamps and strange beasts. In addition, it is difficult to find the way in the desert. It is easy for people to get lost and die in the desert, becoming ownerless souls under the cover of yellow sand.
The people nearby are very particular about returning fallen leaves to their roots. The desert is also a world of devils. It is extremely unlucky for them to die in the desert. They must sacrifice their souls and bodies to the devils.
What happened is that the people nearby believe that the souls of the deceased who died in the desert will not be able to escape, and will turn their evil spirits into sand demons under the guidance of the devil.
From then on, these sand monsters have become incorporeal monsters, sometimes in patches or in groups. They appear randomly in the desert to confuse people and animals. As long as they are selected by them, they are destined to be completely surrounded by the sand monsters and have their bodies completely sucked dry. The blood turned into mummies.
This blood will eventually become part of the Sha Mei, causing the group of Sha Mei to continue to grow until they resemble soaring snakes and dragons, active in the clouds, and are also commonly known as the King of Salon or the Sand Mei Demon Dragon by the common people.
It can be said that the King of Shalom seems to be flying in the sky, far away from the people, and will not show up easily, but he can often threaten the safety of people and livestock. In order to protect themselves and their livestock, the local people often hold social drama ceremonies to worship Shamei. Also called a rush salon.
Dunhuang is still hundreds of miles away from the Devil's Desert, so it's not that serious. Oasis counties close to the desert are more serious. They hold a social opera ceremony every year to catch up with the salon.
