Chapter 91: Asking the Donkey
June 6th (Hai Hour)
Inside the Jingfu Palace, more and more guards and personal soldiers came, bringing more torches, illuminating the hall like day.
This mural of hell on the white wall really frightened everyone present, except Shen Kuo. It was not only lifelike, but it seemed to have grown out of the wall, and the pale figures were oozing with blood. Even those who had never seen hell would inevitably think that real hell was probably like this.
However, Shen Kuo knew that this could only be another illusion, but he did not know how it was done.
He glanced at Lao Bao beside him. Even though Lao Bao had a dark face and his expression did not show emotion in normal situations, his open-mouthed expression of fear was clearly revealed at this moment.
It's not that Lao Bao believes this is magic, but he really can't figure out how it is done. Of course, another fear is that he has recognized that the naked white-haired old man in the painting who is being carried by four evil spirits and about to be thrown into the oil pan is 90% similar to the current emperor. The political allusion of this painting is obvious.
He knew that the emperor had been somewhat frightened since the appearance of the guest star, and would often be distracted during court meetings. Even if Yang Wei De used his power to forcibly interpret the guest star as a good omen for the birth of a great sage, all kinds of books describing astrology since ancient times were full of contradictory explanations. Shi Quanbin had already quietly told Lao Bao that the reason why His Majesty lost his composure at the banquet today was because the emperor had consulted several astronomical records since the Han Dynasty in the past few days and found that the guest star was more often interpreted as a sign of unclear events and a reversal of heaven and earth. The so-called reversal usually means that the hen crows at dawn and the woman prospers, or that the ministers rebel and rebel. In short, this strange sight of the sun and the moon in the same sky is definitely not an auspicious sign for the imperial family. This was probably because the emperor was drunk and suddenly had a tragic outburst and wrote this inappropriate poem; and after throwing the pen, he completely forgot the etiquette and left the queen alone here. Shi Quanbin also mentioned that the emperor has been talking about how he never knew who his biological mother was and how he was controlled by Empress Dowager Zhangxian like a puppet. It can be seen that he has begun to be suspicious of the explanation of the reversal of heaven and earth. It is hard to say whether he is suspicious of the current queen and the Cao family relatives behind her.
Thinking of this, he quickly pulled Shen Kuo aside and said, "Cun Zhong, I remember clearly that when Your Majesty was writing the poem just now, there was clearly nothing on the wall."
"Sir, it's not just when your Majesty wrote the poem. When we came in just now, this wall was still white, with only your Majesty's poem on it. You told me at that time that this was Taizong's poem, but you changed the last sentence."
"Yes. However, it was not long ago that someone in the back garden saw the hat monster and led us out. When we came in again, we saw this strange picture of hell. How did it appear on the wall of this hall? From what I have seen, such a large mural in a temple would take seven or eight days to complete."
"This painting must have been painted on. As for why it's so fast, I don't know."
"How to draw it?" Back to the original question.
"Could it be that it was painted on in advance and just not revealed? As soon as we left, did they use some means to shovel the outside away?" Shen Kuo said casually, looking down at the ground, but did not see any scattered white powder.
"No, no, how could such a thing happen?"
"Or maybe..."
"What?"
"Isn't it a painting? When Master Huailiang was alive, he once used movable type to make a convenient printing, which was almost indistinguishable from the real thing and could be completed in a moment. I asked him at the time if this method could be used to copy paintings. He said it was possible, and paintings could also be engraved when carving books, but they were not this big."
"No, no." Lao Bao shook his head. "If it is a woodcut board, it is possible , but how can it be printed on the wall? Besides, the printing on the book is all done with ink, it's just the ink color. Look at this painting..." Lao Bao held Shen Kuo's hand and stood in front of this horrifying picture again. "This is clearly a color picture. I have never seen a color painting printed on it, not on a tree, let alone on a wall. Moreover, more..."
"Sir, please speak?"
"I have seen movable type ink printing, and there are often excess ink stains left in the gaps between the wooden movable type. When printing books, these ink stains will flow down, so there are often some unclear radicals or ink stains. Look at this painting, it is clearly vertical but there is no ink stain at all. Isn't it strange?"
Lao Bao proposed three impossibilities, which basically blocked all of Shen Kuo's ideas. He had been studying Bi Sheng's movable type printing and knew that Lao Bao's statements were carefully considered. First of all, the engraving plate could not be made that big. If it was made that big, how could it be brought in? Second, if you want to print on a vertical wall, the ink will inevitably flow down. These two points may still have room for technical explanation, and the third point almost cuts off the possibility of this hypothesis, that is, the painting is in color. This is not something that can be solved by printing in this era.
Shen Kuo couldn't figure out how it was possible, but he only knew one thing, that if he wanted to complete such a painting on the wall in about a cup of tea, the only possibility was to print it.
When all impossibilities are ruled out, the only possibility left, no matter how unlikely it seems, can only be the truth. This is the way of thinking that Huailiang taught him.
The two stood in front of the painting, looking up for a long time, but they had no answer. Until Bao Zheng was summoned by the emperor to the palace to explain the case. The emperor himself did not dare to come to see it, so he could only ask Bao Zheng to learn about it indirectly, which was inevitably another shock.
Shen Kuo left the palace with Xu Chong. It was almost midnight and it was getting late. He could only stay in Xu Chong's military camp for the night and then go to Yang Wei De's house after the city gates opened at dawn.
Before he left the city, he had heard people on the street saying that the hat monster was causing trouble in the palace again and that the hat monster had painted a picture of hell. The speed at which these rumors spread was simply unparalleled.
On the seventh day of the sixth lunar month, Shen Kuo spent the entire day at Yang Weide's house thinking hard about countermeasures. Old Yang was also urgently summoned to the palace to give advice to the emperor until the afternoon when he returned.
According to Yang Shaoqing, the emperor seemed to have run out of tricks. He grabbed his and Bao Zheng's hands and cried for their help in solving the crisis. However, this time, the situation was much more serious. Because this time the incident did not happen in Kaifeng City, but directly appeared in the palace. What's more, at noon today, the emperor plucked up the courage to go to Gyeongbokgung Palace to see the painting in person. He found that the naked man in the painting, who was held by several little ghosts and was about to be thrown into the oil pan, looked very much like himself, and he was frightened and collapsed to the ground. He felt that the conspiracy against him had surrounded him, not just the guest star in the sky. He began to suspect that the guest star actually foreshadowed that the people around him wanted to replace him.
Yang Weide finally asked Shen Kuo for advice, hoping that he could come up with a solution. Shen Kuo felt that the Hell Transformation Diagram in the main hall was just the opponent's first move. They had been planning for nearly ten days, so they must have a complete plan. At this moment, he couldn't figure out any clues about this vague plan, but he could avoid the problem and start from other clues that had clues.
He did not promise Yang Weide what he could do, but just rode his donkey to the military camp to find Xu Chong. He had a plan, but he could not complete it himself, so he had to borrow something from Xu Chong.
When he arrived at the military camp, he said he wanted to borrow the claw hook that to grab the eaves. Xu Chong thought that he might be taking a risk by borrowing this thing, and insisted on asking about his plan, but Shen Kuo just didn't say anything. In the end, Xu Chong couldn't persuade him, so he lent him the Western Qiang claw. Then he borrowed an empty quiver. Xu Chong knew that he wanted this thing to be filled with air to eavesdrop on people in the distance, and guessed that he would take a risk tonight, but Shen Kuo was unwilling to tell the truth.
When Shen Kuo came out of the military camp, it was already midnight. The guest star in the distance was still there, although it was flickering weakly, it was still frightening to watch.
Of course he had already decided where to go, but today, he still wanted to seek advice from fate.
He rode his donkey to the small bridge where he had followed Xiao Ping that day. It was dark at night and there was a thin mist on the river. There was no one on the street, just like the atmosphere of that day. He got off the donkey and stroked the donkey's long face and mane.
"Donkey, donkey, what do you think of me treating you?"
"The donkey looked at him in confusion and said nothing."
"Many times, someone wanted to skin you and boil you in a pot, but I saved you. If you want to repay me, I only ask one thing of you. You must know where Xiao Ping rode you to that day. I will let go of your reins, and you just go. I will then see if it is the same place I have in mind."
The donkey raised its head and cried out to the sky, as if the deal was done. Shen Kuo stood behind the donkey and watched it walk on its own.
The donkey went south on its own, and after a while it arrived at the "Yujing Garden" in the south city. This was the place where he saw Xiaoping for the last time, and it was also the sad place where Xiaoping told him heartlessly that she wanted to run away with her lover. However, the donkey did not go directly into the Yujing Garden, but walked around and walked to the back door. It stopped here for a while as if thinking, then turned east and finally stopped in front of a mansion. Shen Kuo looked up and saw "Yan Mansion" written on the tall and wide gate. He gently stroked the donkey's mane, and it seemed to be the same .
Since Xiaoping can play tricks in the capital and escape repeatedly, it is obvious that she has been hiding in the city and has someone behind her.
This is the residence of the former prime minister Yan Shu, who is also the father of Master Yan Qi who wrote the poem "Linjiangxian".
"I don't know if Xiaoping is still in there now. Xiaoping said that day in Yujing Garden that she wanted to live in seclusion. Could the shortcut be just at the back door of Yujing Garden?" he muttered to himself.
Of course he couldn't go in directly from the main gate, so he thought about going around in circles, looking for a quiet street on the side of the courtyard wall, and then trying to climb in to see if Xiao Ping was there, or eavesdrop on the conversation inside. This was his overall plan for going out today.
