Chapter 63: Bed Crossbow
February 16th
Shen Kuo carried an empty bamboo tube to the railing, stretched his head to look upward, and saw only tiles falling from above. He quickly lowered his head to avoid getting hit on the head, but still saw nothing.
Hearing the sound from above, something was running on the tiles above his head. Shen Kuo moved to the other side and saw something in front of him flashing from the front of the small hall of the report building and then disappeared. It seemed that the evildoer above was also looking for a place to escape.
When I rushed over to look, there was nothing outside.
"Uncle Master, the monster walked on the roof ridge and headed towards the west building."
It was clearly Huang Shang's voice. Shen Kuo lowered his head and saw that the child was pointing to the west.
"Okay, hide first, and be careful not to get hurt."
The child was very smart and quickly crawled under the truck that was blocking the door.
Shen Kuo ran westward and returned to the screen he had just been behind. The screen had been set on fire and was burning, and it looked like the flames were about to spread.
Xu Chong flashed to Shen Kuo's side and asked: "Where did it go?"
"I'll go after her. Xu Jieji, put out the fire there first. Don't burn down the building. We can't afford it."
"Leave it to me."
Shen Kuo continued to run to the railing where the monster disappeared just now. He could not see anything. He only saw a piece of white clothing thrown on the ridge of the roof connecting to the west building. There were still some sparks on it, but the fire went out in a blink of an eye. It seemed that the monster had lost the clothing when it escaped. It was a pity that he did not know what the real body looked like under the clothing. He knew very well that it must be a person, but a person could not be so tall, nor could he have hands like iron hooks and feet ten feet long.
When he turned around, Xu Chong had already put out the fire and was staring at something in front of the north window.
The thing was about a person's height, covered with cloth, but it looked ferocious. Shen Kuo had glanced at it when he was chasing the monster just now, and he also thought it was weird, but he didn't have time to look at it.
"What is this? Could it be some kind of monster?"
Xu Chong said carefully.
"I don't know, maybe it's the clutter piled up in the store?"
Shen Kuo couldn't imagine what kind of things like this would be in the store. Judging from the size, it was just a cabinet or a shelf, but it shouldn't look like this. When Xu Chong said it was a monster, he became nervous.
The old Taoist behind him finally found the Seven Star Sword and bravely walked forward.
"You two, please stand back carefully and leave it to me."
The old Taoist flashed in front of the object and removed the cloth with his sword. He saw a huge object inside, which looked like a crossbow mounted on a stand.
"What is this?"
"This..." Xu Chong walked up to him, "This is the three-bow crossbow, a weapon that the Song Dynasty has never shown to anyone. Why is it here?"
Shen Kuo looked out the north window where the giant crossbow was pointed and saw the imperial city. At this moment, the crossbow was aimed at the Yide Gate of the imperial city.
"It's so dangerous..." He exclaimed, and quickly estimated the distance, which was about 700 to 800 steps away from the palace gate. In fact, the fourth floor of the Baifan Building is already the highest in the capital. From here, across the palace wall, you can see the three main halls in front.
He turned around, and Taoist Xu Chong also looked at each other in bewilderment. Everyone knew that the only purpose of this giant crossbow here was to assassinate the current official.
"As far as I know, in recent days, the government has been going out from Yide Gate to the Taimiao to pray every day." The old Taoist said leisurely.
"But this place is still seven or eight hundred steps away from the palace gate. Even if the arrow shot from this crossbow can reach the palace gate, how can it hit it?"
Shen Kuo expressed his doubts. It was obvious that he had run into another big conspiracy set up by the Maitreya Sect today. If the hat monster reappeared and there was a female monster wielding a long hook, which was 13 or 14 feet tall, were all some kind of foreplay and preparation that was still unclear, then the last crossbow was the one with the most obvious intention, but it was also more difficult to think about. If he just shot an arrow at the official's ceremonial guard of hundreds of people, the possibility of hitting it was not much less than the chance that Zhang Liang, the assassin, threw an iron hammer at Qin Shihuang's carriage in Bolingsha. Why design such a complicated action to do something that was doomed to fail? Why did he have to go through the trouble of playing music upstairs after making such an arrangement to lure him up to see the crossbow? All these questions were beyond comprehension.
The old Taoist sneered, obviously disagreeing with Shen Kuo's rational inference that the range was too far to hit the target.
"Sir, do you know the old story that in the past, on the top of Chanzhou City, our Great Song used a crossbow to shoot and kill the Liao army commander Xiao Taling, who was 700 steps away, with one arrow?"
"I know something about this matter. I only heard that some... Taoist magic was used?"
"Haha, that's right. Back then, I used the 'Five Ghosts Tracking' spell from our sect. That's how I was able to shoot and kill the enemy chieftain from 700 steps away. It's a pity that this secret technique was not passed down."
"Does that mean it has been lost?"
"Yes, Senior Heavenly Master Zhenjing thought that this Taoist technique might be used by villains, so he did not keep it."
"This is the Eight-Ox Crossbow from the Military Equipment Bureau." Xu Chong behind him suddenly said in a lost voice.
Shen Kuo and the Taoist priest turned around and saw him reading the words on the crossbow bed.
However, there were indeed words written on the crossbow bed: "Sixteen-stone crossbow made by the Military Equipment Supervisor in the third year of Huangyou", which shows that this was not made by Maitreya Sect itself, but leaked from the Military Equipment Supervisor.
The old Taoist also squatted down to check the crossbow, and finally found a talisman under the crossbow bed. There were symbols on it that neither Xu Chong nor Shen Kuo could understand.
"Sure enough, it is indeed our sect's lost Five Ghosts Tracking Talisman."
Shen Kuo took the yellow paper talisman and unfolded it, only to find that the paper was wet. The cinnabar characters on it were blurred. However, the four-foot-long arrow that was already on the crossbow bed and as thick as a short spear was also tied with a paper talisman. This arrow was amazing, with the iron arrowhead alone being five inches long.
Shen Kuo carefully examined the huge crossbow, which had to be strung with winches on both sides, and found that its surface was wet.
A drop of water fell on the crossbow arm. He looked up and found a lantern hanging above it, dripping water.
"Why is the lantern dripping?" he wondered.
"Be careful, it's poisonous." Xu Chong warned.
Shen Kuo did not avoid the poison. He climbed onto the table, took down the lantern, and removed the outer lampshade. There was actually a funnel hidden inside. The hole under the funnel was very small. Water dripped onto the back of the crossbow. At this time, there was still more than half of the water in the funnel.
"Who would put something like that in a lantern?"
He thought about it, picked up the funnel and sniffed it to make sure it was just clean water.
"Is it the talismanic water that is used for witchcraft?" asked the old Taoist.
"No, just water."
"Clean water?" The old Taoist stopped talking.
Xu Chong also approached to check. He looked up at the hook above, where the lantern had been hanging. The position seemed to have some purpose. The water dripping from the small hole below just dripped on the bow arm. The arrow of this crossbow was raised upwards. It was obviously set up like this after confirming the distance and height with the mountain. When he was in the Western Army, he often used a bed crossbow slightly smaller than this crossbow. When shooting on the top of the city, he had to adjust the pitch of the crossbow to control the distance. When the target was far away, he had to raise it a few points.
"Brother Shen, this is not right."
"Have you figured out what's going on?"
"There are indeed some..."
Before he could say anything, a dark figure came up the stairs. The three of them were startled, and then they saw that it was the Taoist Huang Shang. Apparently, after hiding under the cart for a long time, this clever guy knew that there was no danger, so he climbed up along the iron chain.
Shen Kuo quickly waved and called him over.
"Little Taoist, did you see the monster clearly just now?"
"No. I only saw vaguely that it was a huge thing, but it was as light as flying when it ran across the roof. She dropped her burning coat on the tiles, and then I couldn't see it clearly."
"Where did you go?"
"It disappeared when it turned west to the west building."
It seems that Xiaodao has seen no more than Shen Kuo.
Shen Kuo turned to Li Cheng'an and said, "Master, I would like to trouble you to go to the Military Headquarters to report the news. Ask Mr. Bao to bring his men here quickly."
"Okay." Taoist Li turned to Xiao Dao and said, "Go to the Military Headquarters immediately and wake up Bao Hei... Mr. Bao and bring him here quickly."
"I will obey the master's orders."
Xiaodao ran downstairs as fast as he could.
Shen Kuo remembered what Xu Chong had not said just now, and hurriedly asked: "Brother Xu, did you see the water dripping just now? It seems to have something to say?"
"The bowstring of this powerful crossbow is made of cowhide. I know this best when I was in the army. This cowhide string cannot be soaked in water. If it is soaked in water, it will become loose and cannot be shot. It would be slightly better if it were made of thick hemp rope."
"No chance of shooting at all?"
"You can't shoot at all."
"Wouldn't it be fine if the wind dried it?"
"No, even if you blow dry the surface, the inside will still be loose. It will take at least three or four hours. But you can't bake it with fire either. You can only let it dry slowly."
"If you insist on shooting, so what?"
"That would only waste the arrows. At most, they can only shoot half the distance. For example, if you normally shoot a hundred steps, you can only shoot forty steps at most if it's wet." He walked to the window and looked at the palace gate in the distance. "I see that the palace gate is about... 750 to 60 steps away, which is already beyond the reach of this crossbow. If you take into account that this building has four floors, and add the distance it falls, it will be very difficult. If the bowstring is soaked, it will never reach the door. I think it will just fall on the horse path."
"They clearly placed a 10-foot crossbow, but soaked it with water. Why did they do that?"
The three of them looked at each other, unable to explain what was going on.
"Brother Xu, how about I go down and light another flare arrow to call all the brothers around?"
"I don't think it's necessary. You see, it's getting white in the east and it's almost dawn. Those monsters shouldn't come back. Don't bother the other brothers. Besides, there is a crossbow on the top of the Baifan Tower that is used to assassinate the current emperor. There are many mysteries hidden in it. It's better if fewer people know about it." Shen Kuo was already politically sensitive. He guessed that it was impossible to assassinate the emperor with this crossbow, but maybe it was placed there deliberately to trigger some political conspiracy.
"Okay, okay." Xu Chong agreed quickly.
February 16th, Mao time
Bao Zheng led Xiao Dao and the other man up to the fourth floor of Baifan Building. The street below was already guarded by the yamen runners of Kaifeng Prefecture and the imperial guards dispatched by the Imperial Guards. At this moment, the emperor should have received the news , because from the window, the ceremonial guards to the Imperial Ancestral Temple had been withdrawn, and Shi Yaban was probably summoned to the emperor and scolded for his poor performance.
Lao Bao walked back and forth around the crossbow seven or eight times.
Countless questions rose and fell in his mind, but fortunately he had recently gotten used to the days of being tossed in the sea of doubts and never having answers. The day before yesterday, when Shen Kuo had just sorted out the five corpses and concluded that the Saint Lady was dead, he had a premonition that something big would happen soon, so big that it would mess up his mind again and create countless problems. Sure enough, the problem came again.
"Thank you, Taoist priest." Old Bao made an exception and bowed to the old Taoist priest.
"I am honored to be here." The old Taoist returned the greeting neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"Master, I heard that your master, Master Zhang, is studying the Heavenly Book that can suppress demons in the Jade Purity Palace. Could you please go there and ask Master Zhang for advice?" Lao Bao said very politely.
"Why bother? We are all working together. I will go to Yuqing Palace to ask my master for advice." As he turned around, he felt a warm feeling in his heart. He thought, how harmonious it would be if Bao Longtu had been so polite earlier?
The old Taoist Li Cheng'an took the young Taoist Huang Shang downstairs.
He then turned to Shen Kuo and Xu Chong, and after a long silence, he suddenly sighed, "This matter has become even bigger."
"My lord, the Maitreya sect's assassination attempt has been eliminated without a trace..." said Xu Chong.
"What do you know? This matter is no small matter after being reported to the emperor by Shi Yaban. You know, the powerful crossbows from the Military Equipment Bureau, the car pretending to be from the Privy Council downstairs, and the imperial guards at the door yesterday will all arouse the emperor's suspicion."
"Suspicious of the Privy Councilor Di..." Shen Kuo blurted out.
"Oh..." Lao Bao sighed and did not answer: is it or not?
"But this is clearly a frame-up. If the Privy Councilor wanted to... why bother setting up such a situation? Even if the bowstring of this crossbow is not soaked in water, it is unlikely to hit the emperor's carriage if it is shot out of this window."
"So, they didn't want to assassinate him at all." Lao Bao smiled bitterly, "Since Taizu and Taizong, our dynasty has never stopped being suspicious of military men. Besides, there was the old story of an arrow shot from a crossbow blessed with a spell on the top of Chanzhou City, piercing the Liao army commander Xiao Taling 700 steps away. How can you expect the emperor not to be suspicious? But the intention of wetting the bowstring is indeed not to be speculated."
"Husband, I just feel that the Maitreya Sect has become more and more disorganized since the death of the Saint Lady." Shen Kuo said.
"They thought of using puppets to cause trouble and seal off the Baifan Tower. Then, when no one was in the Baifan Tower, they secretly deployed strong crossbows to the tallest building in the capital. Then, they used the five ghosts to track down the whereabouts of the emperor and his ministers to arouse suspicion. How can you say that they are becoming more and more disorganized?"
"I just heard what the Minister of Literature said the other day. The prophecies have come true one by one. Rebellions have broken out in all the prefectures and counties, and there are already thieves who have killed officials and started a rebellion. The prophecy was written down and ended in the Song Dynasty. Why are you obsessed with provoking the emperor and his ministers now? Isn't it a bit difficult to decide what to do?"
Old Bao walked a few more times with a worried look on his face, evaluating Shen Kuo's reasoning.
"I heard from Master Huailiang that the singer Xiaoping is very suspicious. She was acting like a ghost upstairs last night. Was she pretending to be her? And was she playing her piano?"
"Last night, that... witch was so fierce and aggressive, and she was wearing a mask so I couldn't tell who she was. The zither was indeed Xiao Ping's, but she was playing it here five days ago, and she didn't take the zither with her after being frightened by the puppet. The zither has been placed upstairs for the past few days. Everyone from the Imperial City Bureau who came to investigate the case knows about this."
Old Bao walked back and forth a few times with his hands behind his back: "Why don't I invite Huailiang to Laoya Lane today, and you can have a good discussion with him? We have moved a lot of account books and other materials from Yu Jing's manor, so please take a good look at them."
"Yes, sir."
Lao Bao turned to Xu Chong and said, "Xu Jieji, I have to trouble you with a few things today."
"As you command."
"You must immediately go to the Military Headquarters and select 20 cavalrymen to go to Daxiangguo Temple and ask Master Huailiang to go to Laoya Lane."
"Take the troops?" Xu Chong asked blankly.
"Listen to me first. Go and ask the master first. Then you don't need to come back. Lead the troops straight out of the east gate to the place called Guliugang in Zhongmou County where Cunzhong was trapped the day before. First, find Xiaoping and bring her back to see me. Second, investigate the owner of the villa. I asked you to lead the troops because Cunzhong mentioned that the owner of the villa is quite tyrannical and has private soldiers, so be careful."
"Yes, sir."
Xu Chong took the order and went downstairs.
"Cunzhong, I sent the old Taoist away just now because I was afraid that the discussion we had just had about the suspicion between the monarch and his subjects would be overheard by irrelevant people. This is also what I am most worried about. I know you think it is quite ridiculous. We can all see through the arrangement, so why is the emperor obsessed with it... However, you must know that there are some differences between the monarch and his subjects. Even if it is ridiculous, there will be suspicion. Just believe me on this point. When you become an official in the court in the future, you will naturally understand. What I am worried about now is that during this dangerous and difficult time, the danger of suspicion between the monarch and his subjects will arise again. So..."
Shen Kuo waited for a long time, but there was no further word from Lao Bao.
"Please tell me clearly, sir."
"So... so please ask Master Huailiang carefully first. There must be some reason why the master is suspicious of that woman. If Xu Chong can find her and she is still in the villa, then the suspicion that she played tricks last night will naturally disappear."
Lao Bao chose to believe Huai Liang's accusation. Although Huai Liang's accusation was not completely unreasonable, it was also very fabricated. Now there is no evidence at all, but he wants to arrest Xiao Ping to prove his innocence. It seems that the huge political pressure made Lao Bao choose a shortcut. Shen Kuo hoped that Xiao Ping was still in the villa.
"Mr. Bao, I will go back to Lao Ya Lane and wait for Master Huai Liang there."
"Okay, I'll go to the palace first and tell the emperor about this matter, so that the noble lady won't make things confusing if she doesn't explain clearly."
Lao Bao turned and left. Shen Kuo was about to leave, but then he realized that the water in the funnel was almost drained out.
