As mentioned earlier, there are four temples with golden roofs and white pagodas at the four corners of the city wall of Shahai King City. In the outer city, where people live in the streets and alleys, there are also small white pagoda temples. The two-story golden-domed white pagodas at the front and back create a blooming Mandala shape.
The centers of the two-story golden pagodas converge into the center of the inner city. It can be seen that a tower with a higher height and a larger area stands completely at the center of the inner circle, becoming the center point of the entire mandala flower.
The inner city is entirely the area where these nobles and bureaucrats live. Compared with the temples in the outer city, this kind of central building often assumes the function of the main sacrificial place. It is of course the highest level in terms of area and height. They are not Without further hesitation, he walked through the streets into the inner city and came to the pagoda temple surrounded by noble mansions.
The entire temple covers an area of about five or six courtyards, which is at least a thousand square meters. The overall shape shows a zigzag layout, with a golden-roofed white pagoda twenty to thirty meters high in the center.
This white pagoda is composed of five parts: the base, the feet, the body, the top, and the golden top. It becomes gradually sharper from bottom to top, just like a tall bamboo shoot standing upward. At the joints of the pagoda body, It has a slightly contracted and rounded structure, as if gold hoops of different sizes are connected to the five parts of the tower.
The body of the tower is made of snow-white white marble. There are absolutely no openings from the foot of the tower to the body. Only at the top of the tower, nine layers of nested golden eaves begin to appear. There are lacquer-colored eaves under each layer. The decorated window lattice corridor looks very gorgeous.
The overall shape is very similar to the Tubo Pagoda, but it is obviously much more gorgeous than the Tubo Pagoda. If the Tubo White Pagoda is compared to the plain white sacred, these white towers are also equipped with jewels and rich splendor. If you look at the city from a high altitude , you can immediately distinguish the high and low of the temples in the city, the primary and secondary monarchs.
This golden-domed main pagoda is just the central white pagoda of the temple. Around the main pagoda, there are several small white pagodas seven or eight meters high. Their shapes gradually became ordinary, no different from the white pagodas in the residential areas they walked along. The difference is that it is built in the four directions of southeast, northwest, and shares the same tower base with the huge tower in the center, forming a more gorgeous white tower complex.
Outside these white tower complexes, a zigzag-shaped white treasure tower is formed.
The shape of these treasure towers is similar to the square treasure towers in the city. The main color is gold and white, ornate window lattice, dome with golden helmet, solemn and solemn. The height of the three floors is exactly the same as the tower base, and there are also bridges in the pavilions. It can lead to the base of the tower, and the bridges in four directions form railings on all sides, protecting the safety of the central white tower complex.
In terms of architectural style, this kind of pagoda belongs to the pagoda style of the Western Regions. It was mostly introduced to the Central Plains through Buddhism during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is the earliest form of pagoda. Later generations of wooden pagodas with free access did not appear until the mid-Tang Dynasty or even the Song Dynasty. Just started to appear.
Before that, whether in the south or the north, pagodas were mostly made of stone and inaccessible. Such pagodas are rare in today's era. They can only be seen in some temples on the snowy plateau. There are still Tubo-style pagodas or lama pagodas in the style of pagodas from the Western Regions.
If this kind of tower is too large, it is often made of accumulated stones, and then mud mortar is poured outside to form a stable structure, and then decorated with white marble stones or white gypsum to give the texture of a white tower. If it is only a small pagoda as tall as one person, , it’s not that troublesome. You only need to find a huge stone, carve it into a pagoda style, and then apply white plaster or decorate it with white marble.
Things made of stone are naturally more difficult to build than things made of wood. Compared with the wooden pagodas of later generations, they have extremely obvious shortcomings!
Since the main material of the tower is stone, it is naturally many times heavier than wood. In addition, carving stone is not as easy as carving wood. It is also much more difficult to make the parts of the tower. If not handled properly, it can easily affect the stability of the tower. properties and the load-bearing capacity of the tower base.
In order to take into account the bearing capacity of the foundation of the stone tower, the tower is often not built particularly high. At the same time, in order to make the tower body more stable and solid, the space inside the tower will also be sacrificed, and the tower body will be completely solidly poured in exchange for the stability of the entire tower body, so as not to Because the hollowness of the tower body affects its sturdiness.
If these two problems are not solved well, no matter how tall the tower is, it may collapse in an instant.
To avoid stone structure towers
Disadvantages: Later generations of craftsmen improved the stone structure towers to form wooden structure pagodas. This kind of wooden structure pagoda can strengthen the stability of the tower body through the combination of various beams, brackets, beams, pillars, tenons and other wooden components. At the same time, the stone foundation and wooden structure are used to transfer all the load-bearing pressure of the tower body to the tower base. As long as the foundation is stable, the number of tower floors can be added at will, and the tower can be built up to a hundred meters high.
During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, the craftsmen who served as supervisors built the lantern tower for Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. It is three to four hundred meters high. You can overlook the entire Chang'an city from a distance. If you light up the lanterns, it will seem like a golden palace falling from the sky to the earth. , spectacular and beautiful.
From this point, it can also be shown that wooden towers are superior to these stone towers in terms of stability and plasticity.
Perhaps because of the disadvantages of stone towers, from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the mid-Tang Dynasty, towers began to change from stone to wood. The two mixed for a long time, and it was not until the Song Dynasty that stone towers completely disappeared.
Since then, pagodas or pagodas have been freed from the constraints of stone, and the pagodas have become lighter, wider, and more stable. There are also many more decorative options. The pagodas of later generations have become more and more gorgeous and exquisite, and stone pagodas have gradually been eliminated. , disappearing into the historical buildings.
If it appears again, it will appear in the backyard of some temples. The size is only about the height of a person, and there is no difficulty in making it.
Without further ado, they got back to business. They walked near the temple and observed the tower, but found nothing wrong with it.
Yue Guanchao asked curiously: "What did you see just now?"
Na Yi's eyes became strange: "Just now I saw that the top of the tower was glowing slightly, as if some candle was lit on it. When we got closer, the light disappeared again. I also I’m wondering if I’m dazzled.”
Everyone looked towards the window sill at the top of the tower. There was no feeling that the nine-story golden roof was lit, and the current situation became strange.
Song Siyuan observed the top of the tower in the center and said: "The golden roof above has experienced nearly two thousand years, and it has not corroded or produced any rust. It is probably because the outside is pasted with gold, painted with gold paint, or it is simply pure gold. Made."
"When we held the torch just now, it was easy to light up the fire. It was like the eaves of the tower were slowly being lit up. I saw that there were windows and corridors under the eaves. The white tower in the center can be climbed. At the top, we can go up there and have a look to see if we are mistaken or if there is some kind of light on it."
Since they had this question, it was better to dispel the doubts in their hearts, so as not to think about it a few more times and get hairy on their backs. They bypassed the treasure tower and entered near the base of the tower. In the east direction, there was indeed a door on the base of the tower.
This doorway is oval and wide, and is built at the bottom of the tower foundation together with the eaves. Apart from this, there is no way to enter the tower above the foundation.
Yue Guanchao and the others approached the door on the base of the tower. The arch had been locked by a chain, and the iron rings of the chain were stretched and deformed. It is estimated that when the ancient city sank thousands of years ago, the force generated caused the chain to partially deform. Under the corrosion, the strength of the door panel was completely gone. They picked up the shotgun handles, easily exploded the chain, and pulled the door panel outwards.
They stood outside the door and observed for a moment, and after confirming that there were no living creatures or beasts inside, they led everyone inside.
Xu Xiake said: "Song Qianjin, didn't you say that people are not allowed to enter such a tower?"
Song Siyuan looked at the surrounding situation and explained: "Although the tower can be freely entered and exited, the space for people to move is not very large. The length and width of the space are only seven or eight meters. This space of nearly dozens of square meters is relatively small compared to the entire tower. In terms of the width of the tower body, it is almost negligible, which also corroborates what I said. In order to take into account the stability of this kind of tower body, it is impossible to completely hollow out the inside of the tower. Even if it is partially hollowed out, the width is limited and impossible. Like a wooden tower, it could fit an entire palace."
Song Siyuan walked around and said: "If it were smaller, it would be completely impossible for this kind of golden-roofed white tower to accommodate people in and out, but this tower is more than twenty meters tall. It is a giant stone tower and can completely rely on its own gravity. keep steady
It is precisely because of the large area of the main tower that it is possible to leave space for people to get up and down in this white marble space. "
"But it's just for people to go up and down. After putting the stairs, there won't be much space. In fact, it's still no space, compared to the floor area."
As they walked, they followed the narrow stairs to the top of the tower. After careful observation, they understood what the structure of the top of the tower looked like.
The top of the White Tower is about seven or eight meters high. There is a stone pillar in the center that supports the entire top of the tower. Along the stone pillars, you can see countless wooden components radiating outwards. Together with the central stone pillar, they firmly support the tower as strong as bamboo shoots. headspace.
The nine-story tower eaves they saw were all stacked on the entire top of the tower. The windows and door openings could lead to the outside world and reach the railings.
After climbing to the top of the tower, the stone pillar in the center of the tower has also reached the end. A huge platform appears on the top of the stone pillar. This platform is already the highest point of the tower. There are only four or five meters left from the top of the tower. The space of the platform is limited, and the area is certainly not large. It is large, only about fifty square meters in total. There are railings around it to fix the platform. Five gorgeous wooden pillars bind these railings and are fixed from the platform to the top of the tower.
Everyone stepped on the platform and shifted their perspective to the center of the platform. There was an instrument and object that they could not recognize at all.
This thing is a bit like an observer placed on top of the Bagua compass. It mainly consists of a base, a support pole, a tray, an observation circle, and a crystal ball.
The base is a giant disk three meters long, half a meter high. The disk is completely divided into nine concentric rings from the outside to the inside. There are certain gaps between each concentric ring, and it looks like a whole. The ring body is engraved with many Sogdian characters and symbols.
In the center of these concentric rings, that is, the center point of the disk, there is a pillar as thick as a bucket, about half a meter high, with dragon and phoenix shapes clinging to the surface. The surface of the pillar has many textures that look like waves and fish scales. This The thing is the pole.
This strut is completely attached to the top tray!
The so-called tray is actually similar to a large Ruyi lying on its back and fixed on the top of the support pole. The material is close to brass, and the shape is very similar to the support pole. It has dragons and phoenixes and carved scales, just like a water tank. The slightly larger Ruyi has a pole as the center and is divided into two ends to support the viewing circle.
The topmost viewing circle is the most important component of the viewing instrument. This component has a very complex structure, consisting of three giant metal rings as thick as a bowl.
These three metal rings are nested together at different angles. A wrist-thick support rod is used to string the metal rings together and fix them on the tray.
In the middle of these metal rings, there is another crystal ball slightly larger than the water tank, which is also fixed between the metal rings. The three metal rings are staggered from each other, as if they form a rice-shaped metal cage, fixing the middle one. crystal ball.
The highlight is the crystal ball in the metal ring cage. This crystal ball is a little smaller than the metal ring, and the size is a bit close to the lid of a large rice cooker. The surface is polished to be very round and smooth, and it looks even better than the Tamagawa rocks they have seen. It is clear and translucent, and the center is pierced by the pillars of the metal ring and fixed together with the metal ring. If you look into the deeper layers of the crystal ball, you can see that there are many star diagrams deliberately carved out in the deep layers of the crystal ball, just like The stars of the universe are drawn in the crystal ball, which is very delicate.
Everyone didn't know much about this structure, let alone what the crystal ball was used for. After observing it for a while, they still didn't know what it was! .
"What is this? It looks a bit like a big kerosene lamp."
Yue Erpao tapped the instrument, vibrating with a metallic vibrating sound.
"Don't move, we'll be in trouble if there's a trap."
After Song Siyuan observed carefully, she explained: "It's a bit like a celestial observatory. Through these instruments, you can observe the longitude, latitude, the relative position of the sun and the moon, and can also be used to observe the weather. They are ancient celestial instruments, but they have never been used. Seeing that there is a crystal ball in Sitian's instrument, we don't even know what the crystal ball is used for."
Gu Hengxi stepped forward and his eyes lit up: "I do know one thing, but I don't know if my guess is right or not."
Song Siyuan said: "Miss Gu, you can just say, brainstorming can always
It's much better than trying to break your head. "
"A prophecy device used by illusionists!"
