Chapter 100: I was just a little bit inspired to come up with a solution
June 13th, early afternoon
The two stood on the top of a small rocky mountain and looked down, only to see a small stone-paved path hidden in the mountains. The stone road was almost completely covered with yellow mud, but the stone men and horses standing on the side had not been buried. The stone statues were clearly of the specifications of an imperial mausoleum. The stone path was straight, but it was blocked by the mountain and it was impossible to see where it led.
"I guess that's where it is." Shen Kuo said.
“However, the young master also said that there are many tombs of past emperors in this mountain, so it may not be the abandoned tomb of the previous emperor.”
"If the quarry here is the one that gets the stone for the imperial mausoleum, it's probably there. Let's go and take a look."
The two of them went down the mountain together, and then led the horses towards that place. When they reached the mountain pass and looked inside, they saw torches twinkling under a small mountain in the distance. As expected, there was a group of people hiding there.
They hid the horses and donkeys in the nearby woods, put the eagle on the horses' backs, and sneaked in through the path until they were not far from the twinkling lights in front of them, and hid behind the bushes to look there .
Shen Kuo didn't see what was going on. He just thought it was a group of people standing there. But Xiao Ping had already seen what was going on.
"This is the ceremony to welcome the leader. Let's go to a higher place and take a look!"
Without saying anything, she went up to a nearby hillside, and Shen Kuo followed closely behind.
There was a sound of wind in the distance, and someone could be heard talking. It was a man's voice, and Shen Kuo thought it sounded familiar.
"That is Yu Jing's confidant, Armored Horse Chang Biao, who is an extremely difficult person to deal with," "Xiao Ping has few people in the sect now, so she must have become the incense master."
"I remember this sound." Shen Kuo said breathlessly, as he was climbing the mountain using his hands and feet.
"How have you met this person?"
"I just remember the voice. It seemed like that day when I was looking for the magic flag in the woods by the Yellow River, I ran into him who had got it first. At that time, he looked down on his two peers and scolded them. He used the same bullying tone."
"He usually relies on Yu Jing's power, and he is like this. This person must be among Yu Jing's confidants who killed the Saint. I only know that he was also born in a poor family in Tokyo, worked as a clerk in the Eight Works Department and was a bricklayer. He is familiar with Yu Jing and has some ancestral skills."
At this time, the sound coming from the front became clearer and clearer. Even without the bug, it could form a sentence.
When the two men reached the top of the mountain and emerged, they could already see a dozen people with torches scattered in front of an abandoned mausoleum. The man who was talking loudly was standing on a half-built stone statue of Bixi in front of the crowd. He was holding the stone tablet above with his hands and stepping on the turtle's back below.
The tomb at the foot of the mountain behind him had been opened, and light was coming out from inside. A bonfire was lit in front of the tomb.
People were coming in and out of the tomb from time to time. What they were holding in their hands were not heavy objects, but huge sheets of paper that seemed to be wet. They spread the paper on the rack in front of the fire, as if they were using the fire to dry it.
"The rubbing is complete, it is the destiny of heaven, only because of the new leader's talent, we admire him..." The man called Chang Biao shouted at the top of his lungs, as if he was playing the role of the master of ceremonies in some ceremony.
Everyone in front knelt down together: "Master, you are wise. We are convinced and willing to obey your orders."
It sounded like Chang Biao was just saying some flattery, but the message he was conveying was that they really had a new leader.
Shen Kuo looked carefully and saw a wooden frame on the tomb entrance, with a huge stone hanging on it. The shape of the huge stone looked the same as the tomb entrance, both were regular rectangles, about ten feet high and five or six feet wide, and two feet thick. It looked like it weighed at least several thousand pounds, if not ten thousand pounds. I think it was originally there, and it was one of the ten pieces that blocked the entrance to the tomb. This was strange. Generally, tomb robbers would just damage the stones at the tomb entrance, so why would they build a frame to put up the huge stone that originally blocked the entrance to the tomb? There was only one explanation for such a complicated operation, that is, the stone had to be returned to its original position after the robbery.
He also noticed that all the people who came out had their trouser legs rolled up, which showed that they had waded out through water. The rumor that there was underground water in this abandoned tomb was true.
"It's a rubbing. They used damp paper to look for words in the tomb. They are probably the words from the "Book of Heaven." Shen Kuo said in a low voice.
"Didn't you see Yong'er?" Xiaoping was only concerned about this matter.
"Welcome to the new leader."
Chang Biao shouted loudly, and everyone knelt down and repeated the words to welcome the new leader.
"Where is the leader?" He looked around, but he didn't see anyone who hadn't knelt yet. Normally, if there was a leader here, he should be standing and accepting everyone's worship.
"The leader is inside. Look, everyone is bowing towards the tomb door." Xiao Ping said.
At this time, a female believer came out from the door, climbed onto the back of the bixi nimbly, whispered a few words in Chang Biao's ear, then turned around and returned to the tomb passage.
Chang Biao laughed loudly in the mountain breeze.
"Everyone, Hu Yong'er has agreed to prove her innocence through a judicial review. This review was created by the previous leader, and it has twelve words to prove it: determine the truth by God's will, and convince the people with what you see. So right now, the leader needs us to witness the saint's innocence. So you and I will go in and witness it."
The people outside stood up and followed him into the tomb. In a short while, there was no one at the entrance of the tomb, only a pile of fire and hundreds of pieces of paper waiting to dry.
Shen Kuo and Xiao Ping also came down the mountain carefully and arrived at the entrance of the tomb. From the sound, there were indeed shouting sounds in the distance. It sounded like the shouting had some echoes, which showed that the place was quite large. Shen Kuo wanted to get in and take a look to see if there was any chance to rescue Yong'er.
"Sir, wait a minute!" Xiao Ping stopped him.
"Why?"
"It's a dangerous trip this time, I can go in alone." She said as she clenched the sword in her hand.
"How can you save your sister by yourself?"
"I have some martial arts skills, but you are just a scholar, so you don't need to go in."
"They are outnumbered and cannot be defeated. Although I don't have the ability to kill people, I am confident that I have some careful ideas."
Shen Kuo had to say something big in order to convince Xiao Ping.
"No matter how careful you are, I'm afraid you can't save anyone at this moment, right?"
"I just want to ask you, if you show up, the trick of you sisters pretending to be the same person will be broken. Then, no one can save Yong'er. Tell me, is my meticulousness useful?"
"Sir, are you really going to risk your life to save my sisters?"
"Don't worry, you are the one who will risk your life if you go. I won't risk my life as long as I am here." He said again a frivolous and arrogant sentence, but it gave the other party great confidence.
Xiao Ping suddenly hugged Shen Kuo and hid her head in his arms. After a few tender moments, she reached into Shen Kuo's clothes and took out the sleeping wild cat.
" Since you are going to take the risk, don't bring this little thing with you."
"Yes, so that it won't cry out." Shen Kuo realized that Xiao Ping was also meticulous.
Xiao Ping put the wild cat on the ground and watched it go into the darkness, where its green eyes flashed. It was probably wondering, what the hell is this couple doing?
The two of them went into the tomb together, and they could hear Chang Biao talking deep inside, mostly flattering words. There was indeed some water on the ground, and the deeper they went, the deeper the water became, and soon it was above their knees.
The two walked into another unfinished stone gate in front of them, and saw strange words engraved on the stone walls on both sides of the passage. They thought that they were copied from the heavenly book and engraved here.
These words were originally forged. The late emperor knew the truth, but he didn't care and never mentioned taking the book with him. It was only after the late emperor passed away that Empress Dowager Zhangxian remembered this when she was building the mausoleum. She thought that since Emperor Zhenzong liked it, it would be better to let him take it away. However, these words did not have any special magical powers. When most of the mausoleum was dug, groundwater suddenly appeared, so they had to abandon it and re-select the location. For this reason, the then powerful prime minister Ding Wei and the eunuch Lei Yungong were all implicated. One was demoted and the other was beaten to death. These two people all participated in the farce of concocting the "Book of Heaven", and the final outcome can be regarded as a kind of backlash of the failure of the "Book of Heaven".
The two walked a little further and finally saw the flickering light ahead. They saw a group of people kneeling in the water, bowing their heads. If they hadn't all been facing backwards, it would have been difficult for the two to sneak in.
Xiao Ping was in front and Shen Kuo was behind. They easily slipped into a spacious tomb from behind a group of people with their butts sticking out. They secretly crawled behind a giant statue, climbed up on the back of the statue, and then stuck their heads out from the shoulders of the statue to look.
At this point, the ceremony of worshipping the new leader was about to end, as the water level in the tomb continued to rise. The water reached the waist of the people kneeling, so they had to stand up.
Right in the middle of the tomb, there is an open stone coffin, which was probably waiting to hold the golden nanmu coffin of the previous emperor. Of course, it was eventually moved and was obviously useless.
Shen Kuo looked down from above and could see that the stone coffin was empty. The huge stone coffin lid was right next to it, and there were three thick wooden beams on it. This gave him a bad feeling, that is, this stone coffin lid weighing thousands of pounds would be closed again later. Since the third trial was called the corpse trial, it was easy to imagine who would be stuffed in to verify whether she could escape and prove her innocence.
He also vaguely sensed another danger, that is, the sound of gurgling water everywhere, groundwater was seeping out from the surrounding rocks. He followed the sound and found that on the stone walls around him, seven or eight wooden barrels wrapped in sheepskin bags were plugging seven or eight holes in the rocks. The water was coming out from the gaps between these wooden barrels and the rock walls. Maybe when they entered the tomb, it was still dry, but their action of chiseling open the tomb door triggered a new round of groundwater seepage.
Xiaoping looked everywhere for Yong'er but couldn't find her.
Chang Biao stood in front of the crowd and shouted, "Welcome to our ninth-generation leader and saint."
I only saw a few shirtless men carrying a sedan chair coming out from behind a mural. Although it was just a sedan chair, there was also a curtain covering the people and seats inside, so I couldn't see the faces of the people sitting there. It can be seen that in such a place where the water is more than a foot deep and it is difficult to walk, the mysterious feeling that the leader should have cannot be omitted. Without the mysterious and solemn feeling, all the tricks are out of the question.
After the leader appeared, another person followed closely behind. When she reached the light, Shen Kuo could see clearly that it was Yong'er, who looked exactly like Xiaoping. Even though she knew the truth, she was so shocked that she almost fell off the stone man's back. They looked so similar.
That "Hu Yong'er" walked in front of the crowd wading in the water, but he was not tied up or in shackles. It can be seen that the Maitreya sect's method of killing people by God's will only destroy the heart without using violence. However, in Shen Kuo's view, this method of relying on oracles to drive people to a desperate path is even more vulgar and cruel.
The big men put the sedan chair on a high place, and they could see the person in the curtain sitting on a chair. He was probably disabled. He seemed to be wearing a mask. Shen Kuo couldn't help but think of the demon woman who turned into a mantis-like monster in Baifan Tower. She was also wearing a similar mask at that time, but when she stood up, her body suddenly expanded to 17 or 18 feet. She should not be a person with a leg disease who could not stand up.
"Today's book has appeared, and the will of heaven is clear. Zhao has been falsely spreading the will of heaven and claiming the mandate of heaven for decades, resulting in frequent disasters in the world and the people are living in misery..." The voice was a weak female voice, but it suddenly turned into a rough male voice: "...This is the calamity of ignoring the will of heaven and deceiving the true destiny. Today, a guest star appears in the east, Xuanwu appears in the north sky, auspicious mist appears in Youyan, Zhenwu is above Ji and Liao, and the destiny of heaven is obvious..."
Shen Kuo guessed that it was probably some kind of ventriloquism, with one person playing two roles, pretending to be a man or a woman, to deceive people. However, these gimmicks were secondary. It was just that his (her) wolfish ambition was too obvious when he (she) said that he (she) knew the destiny of the Song Dynasty. In his words, he wanted to move the destiny of the Song Dynasty to the Liao State in the northeast. It can be seen that the purpose of the manipulator behind the scenes to find this "Heavenly Book" was for this. The former emperor forged a "Heavenly Book" that no one could understand. It seemed to be a pretext for the destiny and the public opinion, but in fact, what a big pit he dug for his descendants?
The leader finally stopped. Chang Biao on the side continued to speak: "We are now practicing the art of self-verification. Since the saint has proved her innocence many times, this time is not bad. We all believe that the saint is innocent. We only wait for the will of heaven to reveal it and then celebrate the saint's death. Then, please get into the coffin?"
Yong'er walked to the front, looking calm and composed under the light of the torch.
"But there are certain rules for judging cases, and they can only be applied at dawn and dusk, which is not the right time now."
The leader resumed her gentle female voice: "My sister is right. Even a little time difference will go against God's will. We just need to wait."
Chang Biao walked to the curtain and said, "But the water is leaking so badly that I'm afraid I can't wait."
The leader was not panicking and said calmly, "How much time is left?"
"There is still a quarter to the hour of Xu."
"Just a moment, then wait a moment longer."
Chang Biao stepped back, and everyone stood in the water waiting.
Shen Kuo looked at Xiao Ping again, and saw that she was about to draw the sword, and was about to jump out and fight. When she let the kitten go just now, Shen Kuo felt that she was ready to fight to the death. Of course, going down to kill was only the worst option, but he had not yet figured out the best option. He was very sure that there must be a feasible way, and that way was there, but there was still a little inspiration that had not flashed. But now there was no time to wait for that little inspiration, and he had to save Xiao Ping first.
He tugged at Xiaoping's clothes, and they both shrank behind the stone statue.
Shen Kuo whispered: "Don't risk your life, I have a way."
Xiao Ping stared at him with eyes wide open.
"What is the solution?"
“The old way.”
There were too many Maitreya followers here to fully communicate with words, but Xiao Ping understood what he meant after just three sentences. Shen Kuo raised his neck and signaled Xiao Ping to hurry up.
The two looked at each other for a while, and Xiaoping quietly got off the stone man.
The so-called old method naturally refers to the so-called clone technique, which is the best way for the sisters to escape from trouble every time they betray the Maitreya Sect.
Now that the lid of the coffin in front of him had been opened, it was clear how to conduct the new judgment. Yong'er must be put into the stone coffin and covered with a lid weighing several thousand kilograms. If he could escape as he did before, he could naturally regain the trust of the sect. Even if the leader himself pretended to be a ghost and did not believe in this ghost story, he could not do anything to Yong'er because the sect members believed in it.
However, this time, there was no escape key stuffed into the roast chicken, and Shen Kuo hadn't thought of a solution. He just felt that the solution was right in front of him, and he just needed a flash of inspiration. Of course, whether there was a flash of inspiration or not, it was more valuable than Xiao Ping holding a sword and fighting to the death.
Even if Shen Kuo could not rescue Yong'er and himself in the end, Xiao Ping could probably use her appearance to sneak into Maitreya again. It was not necessary for all three of them to die here, and for Maitreya to suddenly realize that Yong'er had always had two of them. This would be the worst outcome.
