Chapter 122: Complete Restoration
June 21, 12:00 PM
Xu Chong brought the account book to the morgue, where Bao Zheng was walking back and forth beside the dissecting table, completely ignoring the dead body being disemboweled nearby.
"Sir, I found what the monk wanted. Three years ago, Boss Pei did import several hundred small insects. I have already inquired about it. This kind of insect is called a shovel insect. Generally, it is born in spring and dies in winter, and only lives for one autumn. However, if it is cold in spring, it will hibernate for a whole year and break out of the ground the next year. It can miss three or four winters and summers at most, which means it can only live for three or four years."
"Oh? This monk is incredible. Is it really another trick of Maitreya Sect? Bring me the account book."
Bao Zheng took the account book and found the column of stag beetles on the page that Xu Chong had opened. However, there were not 36 of them, but 400. Each of them cost three cents, which was still a large expense. He also glanced at the other items, which were also strange. Among them, there was something called "Cai Nu" that caught his attention. He remembered that among the Maitreya books he had confiscated, there was a book called "Cai Nu Chu Chen Jing", and he wondered if there was any connection.
"Xu Chong, do you know what a cha girl is?"
"I don't know. I just asked the elders in the pharmacy and they said that because the stag beetle has a long life, some people buy it to make elixirs for immortality, but they don't buy it in large quantities. This girl is classified together, probably also an object for making elixirs, right?"
Bao Zheng took another closer look and saw that he had bought three bottles of the drug. The container seemed to be some liquid.
"Sir, I have made some new discoveries." The coroner, who had always kept a low profile, said. He held a silver needle in his hand, and one could see that the needle was black.
"Hurry up and tell me."
"This corpse was poisoned. It looks like arsenic. There's poison in the throat and stomach."
"Hahaha... it turns out he wasn't burned to death by the hellfire." Lao Bao laughed, laughing at himself for being doubtful just now and indeed not firm enough.
"Let's go back to Yuqing Zhaoying Palace. Let's see what they have found in the past half day. Maybe we can figure out the clues."
Inside the Yuqing Zhaoying Palace, the monk was questioning Li Cheng'an about the renovation of the main hall three years ago.
Yu Jing's name was not among the people in charge of the construction, but he found out that the supervisor sent by the East and West Eight Works Departments was called Chang Sanhu. Huailiang wanted to ask about some specific details about Chang Sanhu at that time. However, Li Cheng'an was also a smart man. He had vaguely felt that something was wrong from the conversation between the monk and Shen Kuo that he overheard. If he admitted that he had avoided the leisure time and completely handed over the construction supervision work to Chang Sanhu, he would probably be held responsible for dereliction of duty. So he chose to remain silent and just said that Master Zhang would be back in the next few days, and he would ask him then. He thought that Master Zhang would definitely protect him.
Shen Kuo was still studying the treasure box. Since the dead body could not be the Fang Xiangshi who was still alive and kicking yesterday, this square box could not be the one that had been placed under the altar of the Demon Subduing Patriarch for several months, although it looked exactly the same. A few months ago, Fang Xiangshi handed this treasure box to Master Zhang. According to her, it contained seventy-two evil spirits. It was these evil spirits who took the blame for the nursery rhymes and various supernatural events after the first month of the lunar year. Of course, the so-called prophetic poems, nursery rhymes and various strange things were nothing more than Maitreya's tricks. So the so-called seventy-two evil spirits in this box could not exist.
But although there couldn't be the Thirty-Six Celestial Beings in the big vat below, there were indeed things, at least dozens of flying insects flew out, and the fireball that burned the heavenly book was also ejected from the vat. But this square box was empty, which was indeed abnormal. But this box was not tightly closed, and there were small holes on the top and bottom. There were a dozen smaller holes on the top, and four larger holes on the bottom. A small wooden plug was stuffed into one of the holes.
He showed the square box to the monk. Huailiang couldn't guess what it was for. He just pulled out the wooden plug, rubbed it on his hand, and found wax.
He always felt that the box should not be empty. If there was something, it should have spilled from these holes. So he lay on the ground and searched for a long time, but only found some black ashes on a layer of slaked lime. Fang Xiangshi's body was naked, without clothes. It couldn't be the remains of burned clothes. What could it be? He couldn't help but think of the fire dog's footprints left in the snow when the Sheji Altar collapsed. That time, he also found ashes under the snow.
He took some ashes with his hand and sniffed them. It was just ordinary ashes, not some antiseptic medicine. He also knew some ways to prevent corpses from rotting, but most of them required pungent smells, such as musk and camphor.
At this time, Bao Zheng and Xu Chong returned to Yuqing Palace together. They exchanged opinions. It was known that Yu Jing had set up a plan to destroy the Heavenly Book, but it was not clear how to do it, so he could not report it to the government.
Bao Zheng also brought the coroner, who told him in detail the strangeness of the corpse: that the outside was not rotten, but the inside of the abdomen was rotten.
Shen Kuo thought of the small hole under the treasure box and guessed that it might be something to preserve. But if it was a preserved medicinal material, there should be some left in the box. Why not? Even if it was liquid, it should have left some on the rammed earth after flowing out of the hole below.
Xu Chong showed Huai Liang the account book again. Sure enough, the number of maggots Huai Liang had expected did exist, but there were not thirty-six of them but hundreds of them. Obviously, they took into account the fact that most maggots could not survive for more than three years.
At this time, the big jar had been dug out, and some water could be poured out, with some beetle remains in it. There were more than thirty-six of them, which did not correspond to the number of thirty-six Tiangang. This seemed to be one of the failures, and it gave rise to clues for investigation.
"I just don't know what the beautiful girl in this account book is. She was bought together with this insect. Master, do you know if there is any connection?" Xu Chong asked.
"It seems to be something used for making elixirs. I don't know how to make elixirs, so I have no idea." The monk shook his head blankly.
Li Cheng'an, who had been hiding in silence, changed his expression. He obviously understood what was said, but then he regained his composure. However, Xu Chong saw it with his sharp eyes.
"Master, you know? Oh, right, since it is something for alchemy, you must know."
"This... is indeed used for alchemy. In fact, this girl is just mercury."
"Mercury?" Shen Kuo, holding the box in his hand, suddenly realized.
He quickly asked the coroner: "Uncle, can mercury prevent corpses from decaying?"
"Can."
"I understand, the box contains mercury." He finally figured it out.
"But why is there no mercury on the ground?" Bao Zheng asked.
"Sir, mercury is too heavy. It can flow into any hole on the ground. It must have leaked into the ground. Why don't we dig it up and look for it under the hard ground?"
Lao Bao didn't ask any more questions and quickly asked someone to dig. After digging a foot and a half, he found some accumulated mercury in the hard soil layer below.
Shen Kuo's guess had just been confirmed here, and Huai Liang, who was the most proficient in various mechanisms, had already sorted out the general intention of the entire mechanism.
The small hole on the top of this treasure box is to release the mercury gas, indeed to preserve the body. The hole below is to prevent the handle from being left. It should be plugged with a wax-soaked wooden cork. Once it is exposed to heat, the wax in the cork will melt, the cork will fall off, and the remaining mercury inside will flow away, leaving an empty box.
He finished his guess quickly, and the people around him nodded, some understood, some didn't quite understand. Only Lao Bao nodded a few times, then raised his head again, still with a puzzled look on his face: "But Master, why did the flames come out from the cracks in the bricks? Why did the fireball burst out and burn the Heavenly Book? Why..." Solve one mystery, and countless more mysteries emerge.
"My husband, I have already figured it out. But I think Mr. Shen should have figured it out, too?"
Huailiang looked at Shen Kuo, and Shen Kuo nodded with a smile, the two of them seemed to have a telepathic connection.
"Why not let Master Shen tell the story?"
"Master, are you going to do it?"
"No, no, no, you are the first one to notice the secret under this treasure box, or you should tell me."
"But in the final analysis, it was you, Master, who first saw through that this corpse could not have just died. It must be a tactic to cover up the truth. Otherwise, I would have no way to find out the rest. You should do it."
The two men started pushing each other around, ignoring the fact that Bao Longtu and the others kept turning their heads anxiously, waiting for them to stop being polite.
"Well, in that case, I will show my skills. I will say a few words first. If I am wrong, please correct me."
"Of course, of course."
The whole process finally came to an end, and Lao Bao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had been holding his breath and listening quietly, almost suffocating to death.
"Okay, let me tell you. Ahem." The monk cleared his throat.
"This matter was carefully planned and was done three years ago, at the same time as the fake dragon made of snake skin in the palace. At that time, the Jade Purity Palace was under renovation... The Immortal was not there, and the Heavenly Book was also moved away, so Taoist Li and the deceased Fang Xiangshi guarded it together to prevent the Heavenly Gang from leaking out. However, Taoist Li had an argument with Fang Xiangshi, and in anger he gave up his duty and left for several days..."
The monk glanced at Li Cheng'an, and the old Taoist snorted and turned away, not daring to look at the monk.
"So Yu Jing and Liao Bang's spy in the capital, Boss Pei, planned to burn the Heavenly Book. At this time, he had already left the East and West Eight Works Department, so he hid behind the scenes, and Chang Sanhu was the one who was in charge."
"What should we do next?" Xu Chong asked anxiously.
"They lured Fang Xiangshi to death, probably with poisoned wine, and buried her under the floor after poisoning her."
"Why didn't the body decay after three years? Is it just because of the use of mercury?" Xu Chong asked again. He was still ignorant, so he had the most questions.
"There are three things in total. One is the mercury in the box. The other is the lime under the slab, which can also prevent corrosion."
"But there is clearly slaked lime under the stone slab?" Xu Chong was puzzled again.
"I will talk about this later. Let me talk about the third thing first, which is arsenic. I think Chang Biao tricked Fang Xiangshi into drinking arsenic, which can prevent the body from rotting from the inside."
Bao Zheng nodded as he listened. The tangled threads were connected.
"As for why it is slaked lime, it is thanks to this stick." The monk picked up the stick, gestured with it, and hit the ground hard.
"The jar below was cracked in advance, and water seeped out when it was hit with the heavy stick. When forged lime meets water, it generates heat, so we saw smoke seeping out of the bricks and stones at first."
"Why is there fire again?" Xu Chong asked again.
"Mr. Shen found the ashes, which should be a bamboo and wooden container filled with fierce fire oil... By the way, this fierce fire oil now has a new name, which is the petroleum that Mr. Shen gave it. I think when the forging lime meets water, it will release heat and ignite the petroleum. So the flames are coming out again."
"But why is the flame green?"
"If you add copper powder, you can get a green flame. It's not difficult. Fireworks craftsmen know it."
"But why is it so complicated?" This time it was Bao Zheng who asked.
"First, it's to create mystery. Second, I guess they want to burn the body, leaving only the face covered by the mask to look lifelike. The body is charred to cover up the decay of the body. The human body contains water, most of it in the abdomen, and it is most likely to rot from the intestines. On the contrary, the human face is thin-skinned, and the arsenic poison is in the mouth and nose, so it is not easy to rot and it is not easy to see the truth."
"Master, why do you know all this?" the coroner asked in horror.
"Uh... Xu Jieji, didn't you just ask why it's not slaked lime? Haha, this forged lime becomes slaked lime when it meets water and heats up."
"Burning the Heavenly Book is like making a firework in a jar?" Bao Zheng asked.
"That's right. The fuse is hidden under this treasure box, so when Xu Jieji pulls it, it will be ejected. Because they know that the Heavenly Book is under the stone slab that suppresses the Tiangang, so as long as they aim it right, if someone moves, it will definitely burn it. I think they had already thought of using a ceremony to uncover the stone slab, ignite the Heavenly Book in full view of the public, and destroy the foundation of our Great Song Dynasty."
"The flames spewed out and startled the dormant insects below?" Bao Zheng said.
"That's right. I think these bugs are the real culprit for their failure."
"But how did the troll appear yesterday?" Bao Zheng asked.
"How about letting Mr. Shen solve this problem?" the monk suggested.
"Okay, I'll answer you, sir." Shen Kuo was no longer modest. "There is no giant monster. It's just the fake Fang Xiangshi herself. As early as when I met the mantis-like female demon in Baifan Tower, I suspected that the mantis-like figure looked huge, but it could escape from the roof. If it were an ordinary man, he could step on the roof. It must be a light woman with a bamboo pole on her feet and a pair of long swords in her hands. We can't see it because she has been practicing with stilts tied to her feet since she was a child, so she walks on the high poles and looks like a monster. However, such practice will bend the bones and leave a disability, and ordinary walking will appear weird. So she usually either uses the Yu step to challenge the gods, and she always jumps with her feet outward, so it is not easy to see the disability on her feet. Or she takes a car. Has anyone seen this Fang Xiangshi walking on the road? When I saw her playing the piano in Baifan Tower, she was just sitting, and when she stood up, she was more than ten feet tall."
"If this troll is herself? Then who is the person she is dragging on the ground? There is no one beside her?"
"The person she was dragging was not a person, but a... doll. Anyway, it was covered, so we couldn't tell whether it was real or fake."
"You're clearly struggling with your hands and feet?"
"It's nothing more than a puppet. The robe of the dancing shaman is so wide that it must have hidden many things. Although the cloak was burned, Master Huailiang still found traces of small wheels on the inside and outside of the threshold. It can be seen that she was not dragging it backwards, but was pulling a very light dummy with wheels underneath to prevent it from being scratched by the rough ground."
"That makes sense, but...how did Fang Xiangshi suddenly fall into the bonfire and turn into a troll in just a moment?"
"The trick is that the hand is faster than the eye. She first used ventriloquism to deceive us, and then fell on the fire to divert our attention. She then threw away the flaming cloak, and a troll stood up. The dummy on the ground was still struggling and crying, which was nothing more than ventriloquism. At that moment, we were already deceived by her."
"How does she get away?"
"She must have had something else underneath her robe, maybe a Taoist robe or a messenger's uniform. When dozens of us rushed into the hall, there was only fire in the middle, and it was pitch black all around. She might have been hiding behind the statue, and when she saw the time was right, she slipped away. We were all so amazed at the sound of the copper bells in the stone slabs at the time that we naturally had no time to pay attention to anything else."
"Now that you two have put it that way, it makes sense."
"I think she has been on the run for half a day and hasn't been caught yet. If she's not in the city now, she's probably a hundred miles away."
Bao Zheng nodded in agreement, but although this question was solved, the Song Dynasty's problem was not solved. It was impossible to convince the world with such an argument. Everyone still believed that the double catastrophe of the arrival of the disaster star and the birth of 108 demon kings was about to shake the foundation of the Song Dynasty.
Suddenly, someone came to report to Bao Zheng that two women were found crossing the Yellow River at the ferry crossing. One of them walked strangely, which aroused the suspicion of passers-by. Someone also saw that she was missing a finger on her right hand. After further questioning, it was said that the two women bought two good horses after getting off the boat and went all the way north.
Just as Bao Zheng was about to send someone to pursue him, Wen Yanbo sent someone to deliver a copy of the imperial report, saying that Yelu Zongyuan, the governor of Fengling Army of Liao State, was found in You and Yan, gathering cavalry to march south, and it was said that he was accompanied by the Northern Courtyard Taiwu. Bao Zheng did not quite understand what Taiwu was for a while. He showed the imperial report to Shen Kuo and Huai Liang.
"When Di Gong was arguing with Yan Shu, Yan Shu said that it was June and the war horses were getting thin and the autumn crops had not been harvested yet, so it was expected that the Liao Kingdom would not use troops. As expected, Di Gong was knowledgeable about military affairs and said that the troops should be used quickly, not in season. The war finally came."
"Amitabha, if you want to overthrow the world, you must first overthrow the people's hearts. Now the people of the Song Dynasty are unstable. Even if the horses are thin and the food is scarce, we must not miss the excellent opportunity to fight. We must go south."
"Well, it seems that a war is inevitable, but what is the position of this Tai Wu?"
"The Liao State's Taiwu, also known as the Shanman National Master, is the Fangxiang clan in their place. I think that now that the foundation of our Great Song Dynasty is shaken, they are also going to use the Taiwu ritual to predict. The destiny is on their side." said the monk.
"I just hope that the news of the burning of the heavenly book can be spread to the border later, so as not to shake the morale of the army."
"Sir, why do you have to deceive yourself? They planned this, so they will not miss it. They must have sent people to Hebei to spread the news vividly. By then, the morale of the army will surely be weakened."
"What should I do?"
"Although we no longer have the Heavenly Book, we still have the pillars to stabilize the morale of the army and the people in the Song Dynasty."
"Is there any pillar that can stabilize the morale of the army and the people? Teach me quickly."
"The first one is Di Gong. With his prestige in the army, he will surely be able to stabilize the morale of the troops."
"And the second one?"
"The second one is Master Zhang. I just heard from Taoist Li that Master Zhang will be back in the next two days."
"Master?" Li Cheng'an became alert.
"That's right. This disaster all started from the alien star in the sky. As long as the real person goes to the front of the army and performs a Luotian Grand Ceremony to drive away the evil star, and defeat the Liao army's Northern Courtyard Taiwu, I don't think they will dare to use troops."
"However, our sect does not have any method to dispel the evil star..."
"In fact... I observed the sky at night and found that this guest star is getting dimmer. I'm afraid it will disappear in the next few days. If we seize the opportunity and grab this celestial phenomenon, wouldn't it be possible to turn the tables in a blink of an eye?"
"What if the evil star doesn't retreat after the Luotian Grand Ceremony?" Bao Zheng said.
"Then we can only rely on Di Gong's military tactics."
"But Di Gong is now suffering from a terminal illness..."
"Then it all depends on the true destiny of our Song Dynasty. Everything is destined in the dark." Huailiang said word by word.
