Chapter 21 Re-enacting the scene
The fifth day of the second month, at the time of Shen.
Shen Kuo continued to stay in the wilderness to study the so-called fire dog footprints. He tried to find clues, but he only found grass ash under the snow. But there was indeed a gap between the snow layer and the grass ash.
He finally walked a mile before reaching the last footprint. By this time, the sky was gradually darkening, so he returned to his mount. He was so tired that he could hardly get on the horse. Only then did he realize that the old donkey was not without advantages, at least it was shorter.
Finally I got on the horse and looked at the vast mountains in the distance. There must be a huge conspiracy hidden somewhere over there.
He returned to the city before the city gates were closed. The city was carrying out the final rehearsal for lighting lanterns the next day, and the colorful pavilions in various places had almost been built.
Although the court's expectation for the Lantern Festival was ostensibly to save the tax revenue from the night market, it did not give a name to this non-annual or non-festival lantern festival. This was indeed a tricky matter, as any name would easily make people think of a new festival to celebrate the end of the mourning period for Empress Wencheng, which would then produce a certain comic effect.
This was indeed an unprecedented event in the royal family, because the real reason for the rush to hold a folk celebration was not just the liquor tax, but the desire to use the noisy scene to dispel people's fear of the night.
After returning to Yang's house, Shen Kuo ate a few mouthfuls of food and began to think about how his opponent had done it. How could he have played such a trick under the eyes of hundreds of people in the Altar of State and Grain? He was already in an excited state, and his brain was thinking about all the possibilities at a rapid pace.
Yang Wei De also gained something today. He tried to use his "Jingyou Liuren Shending Jing" to calculate the relationship between the directions of each appearance of the hat monster. He hoped to predict the next possible location of the hat monster based on the mutual generation and mutual restraint and the changes in the moon phase at that time. However, the hat monster has only appeared in three places so far, and the statistical sample is still not enough. He is still hesitating whether to tell Lao Bao about the immature results. If he agrees, he will naturally slap Lao Bao in the face. If he doesn't agree, he will inevitably be mercilessly ridiculed.
February 6th, Chen time.
Shen Kuo and Yang Weide went to the secret headquarters at the back door of the Military Headquarters outside Xihua Gate. When they went out, the sky was gloomy. Shen Kuo and Yang Weide were both experts in observing the sky and saw that a heavy snow was brewing.
Shen Kuo rode in front and Yang Wei De sat in a sedan chair behind. When the two arrived at the Military Headquarters, Xu Chong was already there.
Xu Chong seemed to have been waiting at the door for a long time. When he saw Shen Kuo, he immediately became alert and hurried over.
"Sir, there really is something like this in the Zoroastrian temple. It's just that it's not called oil, it's called 'Jiaoshui'."
“Can I buy it?”
"Well, the price was high. I couldn't afford it, so I went to Mr. Bao and paid for it first."
As he spoke, he asked his soldiers to bring over three thick bamboo tubes.
"So this is what it's used for?" Shen Kuoru suddenly realized.
"What if I put it in a bamboo tube?"
"I was thinking last night, how to put this thing under the snow footprint? If it is a cloth bag, it will definitely evaporate. If it is a leather bag, it will definitely leave traces after burning. It must be something that can be mixed with grass ash after burning."
Xu Chong didn't quite understand and couldn't respond for a while.
"Master Xu, please ask Master Bao for leave and tell him that I will not be in the hall to pay my respects. I have to go to the backyard to prepare."
"Now that you are here, why don't you go see the adults?"
"It's going to snow soon. If you miss this snow, you may have to wait for many days."
Shen Kuo called the soldiers holding the bamboo tube to follow him to the backyard. Xu Chong didn't know what was so urgent, so he could only accompany Yang Weide to the inner hall to see Bao Zheng. He first asked Bao Zheng for leave on behalf of Shen Kuo, saying that he was going to the backyard to prepare something.
Bao Zheng's face was dark and he could not tell whether he was happy or angry, but common sense would deduce that he was furious. However, before he could lose his temper, Yang Weide piled a painting on the table, temporarily attracting Bao Zheng's attention.
At first glance, this painting is incomprehensible , and seems to be just a rough map of Bianjing with some messy lines. These lines are the result of Yang Wei De's comprehensive judgment based on the location, time, moon phase and star position of the hat monster, based on his lifelong learning.
Even though Bao Zheng disapproved of Yang Wei De's mysterious and mysterious ideas and often mocked them, he had to take it seriously today because Yang Wei De gave him an estimate of where the hat monster would appear, which was actually seven locations. However, the conclusion could not be narrowed down because the sample size was too small.
As the prophecies came true one after another, Bao Zheng no longer had the arrogance that he had when he first took on the case, nor did he have the room to be picky. Now, as long as he could be given a possible answer, no matter how bizarre, he would give it a try.
A few days ago, Lao Bao read Yang Wei-de's "Jingyou Liuren Shen Ding Jing" and "Jingyou Dunjia Fu Ying Jing", and I must admit that I don't quite understand them. These two booklets are the culmination of all the mysteries since the pre-Qin period. During the Jingyou period, the former emperor specially assigned them to the Yang family, who were "a mixture of the ancient and modern, and the lineage of Qimen", in order to complete a kind of intangible heritage that would be passed down for generations.
The Yang family spent three decades of hard work on this book. Apart from its philosophical value, it is hard to describe the specific role of this obscure book in predicting national destiny or military deployment.
Yesterday, Yang Wei De pulled himself together again and applied what he had learned throughout his life to this case, and thus this picture was created. It was not easy to explain the knowledge behind this picture, so when Yang Wei De talked endlessly about the profound part, the three people around the table did not notice that a heavy snowstorm was falling outside.
It was not until noon that Yang Wei De finished talking about his main point, which was the possible location of the hat monster. Bao Zheng nodded, which was a rare expression of agreement.
"Yang Shaoqing, if there are traces of the appearance of the hat monster, then when?" Lao Bao asked the second thing he wanted to know.
"It is known that the hat monster appears within two weeks, which is the time of the west moon in Emei Mountain. It is also the time when the innate qi is insufficient. Therefore, I think that three or four days from today, that is, before the spring thunder and the awakening of insects, when the yin qi begins to decline and the yang qi has not yet recovered, is the time when it is most likely to appear."
Yang Wei De's judgment on the timing of the appearance of the hat monster was consistent with Shen Kuo's, but he calculated it through the art of divination, while Shen Kuo's inference was much simpler - the hat monster needed a moment with poor moonlight to hide the thin string that pulled it.
"In this case, we can only try our best." Old Bao stood up from behind the desk and pounded his stiff back. He looked like he had aged ten years. "Master Yang, do you have any other advice for me?"
"I'll go back and look through the books to see if there's anything I've missed."
"Well, Xu Chong will see you off, sir."
"yes!"
Xu Chong held an umbrella and sent Yang Wei De to the courtyard in the snow. Yang Wei De got on the sedan chair and went back. Xu Chong returned and saw Bao Zheng leaning on the chair and sighing. It was obvious that he had violated the master's teachings of not talking about strange powers today, which was really pathetic.
"Sir, I will arrange for the staff right away. The ban will be lifted soon, and there may be a lot of people tonight, so you must prepare well."
"You go and make the arrangements. Hat monsters always move high up, so you can arrange some crossbowmen to lie in wait in high places."
"Yes! Do you want to...smear dog blood on the arrow head?"
Bao Zheng slapped the back of his chair and said, "This is just nonsense. What's the point of this?"
Xu Chong dared not say anything more and stood at the bottom of the hall with his hands folded. Bao Zheng was angry for a while, and thought he should find a topic to appease Xu Chong: "The hat monster often appears in the downtown area. We are too far to the northwest of the city, and it may be difficult to send spies. It would be best to have an ordinary small courtyard in the downtown area and station capable people there secretly."
"Mr. Shen talked to me about this, and he also said that it would be best to have a high place in the downtown area where you can see farther."
Lao Bao then thought of Shen Kuo, and wondered if he would freeze to death in the backyard in such a heavy snow.
Just as he was wondering, a soldier rushed to the hall.
"Report to the Lord..."
"What's the matter, in such a hurry?"
"Mr. Shen, please come to the backyard."
"In the backyard?"
"Yes, it is to repeat the scene of the Fire Dog's birth that day."
"What?"
Bao Zheng looked like he was thirty years younger. He quickly stood up and ran out. Xu Chong quickly opened his umbrella and followed him.
When Bao Zheng arrived at the backyard, he saw Shen Kuo standing at the end of the white snow, his face red from the cold.
"Sir, please stand there and don't move forward." Shen Kuo shouted.
Lao Bao had no choice but to stand still, not knowing what kind of medicine he had hidden in his gourd.
Shen Kuo ran behind the rockery and fiddled with something. After a while, the snow fell heavier and heavier. Lao Bao was getting a little impatient when he saw Shen Kuo coming out.
"Behold the Fire Dog has come again."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a crisp sound, and the snow in the distance suddenly sank into a plum blossom-shaped footprint. Then hot air gushed out of the footprint, as if an invisible iron had been inserted into the snow. Then there was a dent on the other side, also accompanied by a sound and a lot of hot air. Then there was the third sound, the fourth sound...
Bao Zheng stopped to watch, looking at two lines of footprints extending towards him. They were almost identical to what he had seen that day, except that the footprints were smaller and the way they crisscrossed did not look like a four-legged dog but more like a two-legged person.
The last two collapsed footprints stopped a few feet in front of Bao Zheng.
After waiting for a while, Bao Longtu clapped his hands and cheered. This was the most exciting scene he had seen in the past month.
"Cunzhong, tell me quickly, how did you do it?"
Shen Kuo walked up to Lao Bao with a bamboo tube in his hand and bowed.
"Sir, this is my guess after I saw the footprints in front of the Altar of Heaven and Earth yesterday. It should be oil."
"oil?"
"Yes, that's it." He handed over the last half bamboo tube of oil.
Lao Bao took it, shook it, uncorked it and sniffed it, but still couldn't figure out what it was.
"Sir, this thing can burn without leaving ash. It is the only thing I can think of that is a feasible option for this sleight of hand. I am not ruling out other methods."
"How?"
"First, select thin bamboos, break open the knots inside, and pour in oil. Then, piece them together into the shape of an animal's foot and light them on fire. When the bamboo tubes are lit, the surrounding weeds will also be set on fire. This way, the ashes of the bamboo tubes will blend into the weed ashes, making it difficult to distinguish."
"Fire under the snow? How does heat get generated?"
"The snow on top is heated by the fire below, and the snow water puts out the fire, so naturally there is water vapor rising."
Bao Zheng thought carefully about that day. He also witnessed the scene with his own eyes. At that time, he felt that it was indeed an invisible giant dog approaching the altar.
"Then how did the footprints make the sound when they sank?"
"Use a thick bamboo tube and pour only a little oil into it. Because the wall is thick, there is a cracking sound when it is burned. I read Xu Chong's records, and most of them said it was a cracking sound. One of them said: It is like the sound of ice cracking in the Yellow River in early spring. It is particularly vivid. I think this is how it was done. I wonder if it is consistent with what you heard at the time?"
"Now that you mention it, it does look like it." Bao Zheng twisted his beard, "However, the entire altar was also shaking at that time. How did they do that?"
"I have an urgent matter to ask of you, sir."
"But it's okay."
"I heard that the Altar of Land and Grain was improved by a great monk Huailiang many years ago. He is also an old friend of mine. Perhaps I can ask him how to create the illusion of an earthquake."
"You heard Yang Chunguan mention that you only came to Bianjing when you were a teenager. How did you know this Huailiang?"
"It was fate. At that time, I saw the master hoisting the iron ox from the bottom of the river by the Bian River, and I asked him for a lot of advice."
"Cunzhong, we still need to be cautious about this matter. The emperor has asked us to hide in the dark and not let too many people know the whole plan. However, we can't miss such a master. If you are familiar with him, you can ask him indirectly, but don't mention anything else."
"Yes, sir."
Shen Kuo secretly groaned inwardly: he could see through the token to enter the palace through the clothes, but Lord Bao refused to be honest with him. With the intelligence of that big monk, if he wanted to guess, what could he not guess?
"According to Lord Yang's calculations, the hat monster is very likely to reappear tonight. Xu Chong, you make arrangements. Put spies on every street. Double the manpower in the places Lord Yang has calculated. Cun Zhong, if you don't want to go, don't go. It may be more useful to study how the hat monster flies on the clouds in Yang's mansion. Also, you should concentrate on your research in Yang's mansion from now on. You don't have to report to me every day. Let Xu Chong find you if there is anything. I will also ask Shi Yaban for a place in the downtown area so that you can investigate nearby. It is better than you coming here every day to report in and waste time."
After saying this, Lao Bao turned and left.
"Mr. Bao now looks upon you with new eyes." Xu rushed over to congratulate him.
"Mr. Bao has made a mistake. I am also dull and still cannot understand the flying of the hat monster. It's a pity that I can only see the testimony. It would be better if I could see it with my own eyes."
"Want to see it with your own eyes? Do you dare to patrol with me at night?"
"Why not? Let's go together tonight."
"Okay, go back and rest first. We'll meet at Yinan Bridge on Cai River at 3:30 pm."
"Okay, it's a deal."
Xu Chong returned to Yang's house outside the city, wondering when Lao Bao would give him the 11 guan salary he promised him every month. He would have to go to Xiangguo Temple to get his seal the day after tomorrow, so he could ask Yang Shaoqing to borrow a few guan.
In the past few days, he has borrowed several sets of clean clothes from the Yang family. However, Yang Wei De was short and his clothes were quite tight. In addition, Old Yang always added auspicious cloud patterns and pine and cypress patterns on his outer clothes, which were too old-fashioned and only worn by people who were unemployed and retired and had to use crutches. Shen Kuo hurried to make a suitable Confucian scholar's robe so that he could be more decent in case he ran into Xiao Ping.
