Chapter Six 1
The man that Anzi went to Beicheng Old Street to find out about the matter was nicknamed "Ma Erye". In fact, he was not a tomb robber, but a person who ran errands between tomb robbers and antique dealers, commonly known as "peeling", and now called "economic man". As mentioned before, tomb robbers hide themselves very deeply. Usually these people don't show up easily. When they have something in their hands, they contact buyers for them through fixed "peeling".
This Ma Erye was a bannerman. His ancestor had been a general, so he had a good array of martial arts inherited from his family. Ma Erye's best weapon was the slingshot, and it was said that he could never miss a shot.
When talking about Ma Erye, we have to mention the Qicheng of Qingzhou City. The unique "twin cities" are unique in China.
Because Qingzhou is a fortress entering the sea, a buffer zone for garrisoning troops and storing armor, it controls the main road from the Central Plains to the Jiaodong Peninsula from the east to the west, and controls the corridor from the Yimeng Mountains to the northern plains of Shandong from the north to the south. It has always been a place of contention for military strategists. Therefore, during the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng personally ordered the establishment of a banner city in the north of Qingzhou City, stationing 2,000 Manchurian Eight Banners soldiers. This banner soldier was the most elite unit in the Qing army, ready to rush to the coastal defense of Denglai and Jiaodong at any time. It should be said that it was a special commando among the Qing soldiers. The banner soldiers mentioned above were the ones who fought against the British army.
The Banner City, located in the northern part of Qingzhou, is laid out like a chessboard. The government offices, barracks, schools, martial arts halls, temples, etc. are arranged in an orderly manner in this city within a city of more than 40,000 square meters. In the Banner City, soldiers all bring their families with them. Ordinary soldiers have their own doors and courtyards, and two official rooms, all of which are standard blue brick, gray tile and wooden structures. Soldiers stationed in the Banner City live entirely on military pay allocated by the court. They do not engage in production and are an independent combat team. This system also makes people in the Banner City lose the ability to be self-reliant.
After the fall of the Qing government, the Qingzhou Bannermen were forced to disband, and many of them were scattered all over the place. Some stayed in the northern city of Qingzhou, but many people had no means of survival and lived a very hard life. In order to survive, they did everything, and this Mr. Ma started a business dealing with tomb robbers.
Ma Erye was born into the Eight Banners family and had seen many antiques and treasures, so he had a good eye and could tell the quality of any item at a glance. Ma Erye was generous and had good martial arts, so he had a good reputation in this industry.
Anzi came to see Ma Erye. To be honest, Ma Erye looked down on Anzi from the bottom of his heart. However, he knew that Anzi was now the squadron leader of the security team. A gentleman does not fight with a villain, especially when this villain is an official. So Ma Erye tried his best to tell Anzi what he knew about what he inquired about.
Among the tomb robbers that Ma Erye knew, there were people from the Ma family in Jinling. The Ma family was a very powerful tomb-robbing family. They had been eyeing the Hengwang Mausoleum for a long time and had spent a lot of effort on Mu Dingwu, but they had never found anything.
Coincidentally, on the day that Anzi went to see Ma Erye, Ma Yunshan, the eldest son of the Ma family in Jinling, came to Qingzhou to discuss business with Ma Erye. Ma Erye inadvertently mentioned that Anzi was inquiring about the tomb of King Heng. Ma Yunshan immediately became alert and asked Ma Erye in detail about what had happened.
After listening to Ma Erye's story, Ma Yunshan said thoughtfully: "It seems that the Japanese are also planning to take over the Hengwang Mausoleum."
"Mr. Ma, what you said reminded me of something. A few days ago, I heard that the Japanese went to Wangfen Town and blew up the Hengwang Mausoleum under Sanyang Mountain. I don't know if they found anything."
"They definitely didn't find anything, otherwise they wouldn't have sent traitors to find out where the real Hengwang Mausoleum is."
Hearing Ma Yunshan say this, Ma Erye said with some regret: “Alas, I didn’t think about these things at the time, and told Anzi about Mu Dingwu in Mujiaying.”
Ma Yunshan pondered for a moment, and said to Master Ma, "Master, it should still be in time to remedy the situation. Arrange someone to go to Mujiaying immediately and tell Mu Dingwu that the Japanese are looking for the Hengwang Mausoleum, so that he will have an idea."
"No problem..." Ma Erye agreed readily, and then asked worriedly, "Master Ma, do you think Mu Dingwu would think that the Japanese would deal with him?"
"Don't worry. As long as Mu Dingwu hears that the Japanese are looking for the real Hengwang Mausoleum, the first thing he will think of is that Japan is looking for him, because in Qingzhou, apart from him, there is no one else who knows where the real Hengwang Mausoleum is."
"Well, that's a good point. I'll ask someone to ride into the mountains right away." After saying that, Master Ma got up and went out to arrange for someone to deliver the letter to Mu Dingwu.
Ma Yunshan and Mu Dingwu are sworn enemies, and it is precisely because of this that Ma Yunshan knows Mu Dingwu very well.
Mu Dingwu's deceased wife was Ma Yunshan's cousin. He originally planned to arrange his cousin to be with Mu Dingwu to steal the secret of "Emperor Burial Mountain Map", but he did not expect to achieve a legendary marriage. After the cousin died, Ma Yunshan designed to lure Mu Dingwu into smoking opium, but even so, Ma Yunshan did not get what he wanted.
Ma Yunshan was also salivating over the Hengwang Mausoleum, but he didn't take action because he didn't know the real location of the Hengwang Mausoleum. Of course, he didn't want others to get what he couldn't get, let alone the Japanese devils, so Ma Yunshan hurriedly urged Ma Erye to notify Mu Dingwu.
Mujiaying and Wangfen Town are both located in the mountains southwest of the city, only a few dozen miles apart. Mu Dingwu also heard about the Japanese devils blowing up the Hengwang Mausoleum at the foot of Sanyang Mountain a few days ago. He was stunned at the time, because he knew that there would be nothing in the Hengwang Mausoleum, and the devils would not give up until they found what they wanted.
As expected, a few days later Mu Dingwu received news from Qingzhou City that the Japanese were looking for him.
Mu Dingwu thought about it carefully and felt that it would be difficult to escape this time, so he found someone to send his young son away overnight. Mu Linfeng's grandfather, who was less than ten years old at the time, was sent to Boshan, a hundred miles away, and hid in a friend's house. As long as the roots of the Mu family are still there, there is nothing to fear.
The day after Mu Dingwu sent his son away, Anzi found him with two of his men. Because of Mu Dingwu's reputation in the local area, it was easy to find him. He could just ask someone and find out. Besides, although the old house of the Mu family was very dilapidated, it was still very prominent in the village and could be seen from outside the village.
At this time, Mu Dingwu was already emaciated due to smoking opium. Almost everything that could be sold in his home had been sold , leaving only the empty courtyard with four walls. The doors and windows of some houses had been removed and sold, and only the doors and windows of the main house were still intact.
When Anzi came in, Mu Dingwu was sitting on the armchair in the main room. The only furniture left in the house was a square table and the two armchairs on both sides.
When Anzi saw his great-grandfather for the first time, he was secretly delighted and thought that things would definitely be done. How could a heavy smoker who was so poor that he even sold his pot resist the temptation of cash!
Anzi and his two men were all wearing black top hats, open-chested double-breasted jackets, leather belts with copper buckles, and their trouser legs were tied up with cloth tape. The back of each of them had a bulge, and it was obvious that they were carrying weapons. Just by looking at their attire, one could tell that they were people from the city.
Because he had received the news in advance, Mu Dingwu had a pretty good guess about what was going on when he saw these three people. He didn't say anything, but just looked at the people coming in calmly.
An Zi clasped his hands together and asked with a smile, "Excuse me, are you Master Mu?"
Mu Dingwu shook his dry palms and said slowly, "I am half buried in the soil and I almost forgot my last name. May I ask what brings the three friends to my humble home?"
"Haha...we are here to give money to Master Mu..." As he said that, An Zi took out a few dollars from his pocket, put them in the palm of his hand, weighed them a few times in front of Mu Dingwu, and then placed them on the square table next to him.
Mu Dingwu didn't even look at Dayang, and said calmly: "No reward without merit, if you have anything to say, please speak directly."
An Zi didn't care about Mu Dingwu's attitude. He smiled and said, "Haha, Master Mu is smart. He knows that we are here for something. We don't speak in secret in front of others. We would like to ask Master Mu for some advice..."
Hehe, Mu Dingwu sneered twice, "I am a nobody who deals with the dead, what can I do to help you? My friend is praising me too much."
"Master Mu, don't rush to refuse. You can set any conditions you want. You can give me any money or the best opium. You can ask for anything. Just tell us where the real Hengwang Mausoleum is hidden."
Mu Dingwu thought that they had come for the Hengwang Mausoleum. He deliberately showed a surprised expression and said, "Did you find the wrong person? How can a nobody like me know where the Hengwang Mausoleum is!"
"Hey, Master Mu, stop pretending. If we didn't know the situation, we wouldn't have come to your door. To tell you the truth, we are here on the orders of Pu Jian Taijun..."
Before An Zi finished speaking, Mu Dingwu raised his hand to stop him: "Even if you are following the order of the emperor, I don't know. Please go back."
As he spoke, Mu Dingwu picked up a few silver dollars on the square table, and without even looking at them, he threw them to An Zi.
The two men who followed An Zi saw this and immediately pulled out their box guns from behind. They pointed the muzzles at Mu Dingwu and cursed: "Damn it, you are a dog sitting in a sedan chair and you don't know how to be polite. You are so shameless, aren't you?"
An Zi was also so angry that his face turned red, but he had heard of Mu Dingwu's stubborn temper and was worried that things would get awkward, so he suppressed his anger and waved at his two men, asking them to put away their guns. Then he said coldly: "Master Mu, you are a smart man, I advise you to think about it carefully, the world is now dominated by the Japanese, and you will not have a good result if you anger the Japanese."
Mu Dingwu didn't buy his nonsense at all, and puffed out his skinny chest: "Go back and tell your master that there is only one life to be lived, and he knows nothing else."
An Zi didn't expect that a heavy smoker could be so tough. He thought about it and decided to go back and discuss it with Zhu Guangwen first. This heavy smoker couldn't get away anyway, so he waved to his two men and walked out of the hall...
Seeing the three traitors leave angrily, Mu Dingwu knew that this matter would not let go like this. The first thing he thought of was to hide and go to a friend's house in another place to avoid the limelight.
Mu Dingwu simply packed up his things and prepared to leave Mujiaying, but then he thought, no, the Japanese were looking for him for the Hengwang Mausoleum. If he left, what if the Japanese found the real Hengwang Mausoleum through other means? Although the Hengwang Mausoleum was not the mausoleum marked on the "Imperial Burial Mountain Map", he also had the responsibility to protect the Hengwang Mausoleum.
Mu Dingwu had heard of Pu Jianyilang and knew that this guy was like a vicious wolf. Once he smelled blood, he would never give up without taking a bite. After thinking it over again and again, he decided to end it all with the Japanese devils.
Mu Dingwu took death lightly, not only because he had seen too many deaths. Ever since his beloved passed away, he felt that there was not much meaning in living alone. If it weren't for his young son, he might have followed his beloved long ago.
After making up his mind, Mu Dingwu began to make preparations. First of all, he had to take care of his own funeral. He wanted to hold a proper funeral for himself.
Mu Dingwu invited several elders from the village to his home. When they heard that Mu Dingwu was going to hold a funeral for himself, they were stunned. It was the first time they heard that someone was going to hold a funeral for himself. It was really a strange thing.
Mu Dingwu was not in a position to explain the true situation to everyone, so he just asked the young and old men for help and asked them to help him hold the funeral.
Everyone thought Mu Dingwu was crazy, but he looked normal and didn't seem to be joking. The Mu family has always been the most prestigious family in the village, so no matter what, as long as Mu Dingwu asked for help, everyone would agree.
The coffin and shroud had been prepared several years ago, so there was no need to prepare anything else. Mu Dingwu personally served as the funeral director and held a grand yet simple funeral for himself. He placed the coffin with only the clothes in a tomb that had been built long ago and buried it together with his wife who had passed away several years ago. In fact, the reason why Mu Dingwu held a funeral for himself was to allow his coffin to be buried together with his wife who had passed away long ago.
The day after his funeral, Mu Dingwu quietly left Mujiaying, and his fellow villagers never saw him again.
Soon after that, news came from the city that Mu Dingwu led a group of Japanese devils into the mountains to look for the tomb of King Heng, and never returned. Not a single one of them, including a colonel and more than a dozen Japanese devils, came back alive.
It is said that the Japanese kept the incident secret and did not disclose any information to the outside world. The captains of the security team, Zhu Guangwen and An Zi, were later arrested by the Japanese and taken to the military police. They both died in prison. These two guys deserved it.
Decades have passed, but Mu Dingwu's story is still circulating in the local area.
Mu Linfeng did not find any trace of the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map" in the tomb-viewing notes left by his great-grandfather. As for the location of the real Hengwang Mausoleum, his great-grandfather left two sentences: "From the top of the mountain, you can see thousands of clouds passing by. One Buddha is sleeping and all the Buddhas are watching."
Mu Linfeng pondered over the two sentences left by his great-grandfather but could not understand them. However, he had a hunch that these two sentences were a description of the Hengwang Mausoleum. If he could decipher the meaning of the words, he would be able to find the real Hengwang Mausoleum.
The main task now is not to find the tomb of King Heng, so Mu Linfeng does not want to spend too much time and energy on it. The most important thing for him at the moment is to master the skills of tomb searching.
After reading the notes left by his great-grandfather, Mu Linfeng took a quick look at several notes written by other ancestors. He found a common point: although each note was attached with the name of each ancestor, the handwriting on all the notes was exactly the same, and it was obvious that they were copied by the same person.
Mu Linfeng suddenly remembered that the handwriting was consistent with the first letter he saw. It seemed that these eighteen volumes of letters were rewritten by his great-grandfather. No wonder the paper of all the letters looked so neat.
At this moment, an idea flashed through Mu Linfeng's mind. He wanted to copy all these notebooks again like his great-grandfather did. After copying all 18 volumes of notebooks, he believed that the experience of his ancestors would become his own.
He did what he thought. In the following days, Mu Linfeng began to copy the tomb-viewing notes left by his ancestors day and night. While copying the notes, he studied the tomb-viewing skills written on three pieces of straw paper, and soon he mastered the ancestral tomb-viewing skills.
More than ten days passed, and Mu Linfeng had copied more than half of the tomb-viewing notes left by his ancestors. Before he could finish studying them all, Director Li Jianping of the National Security Bureau suddenly came to visit him...
After returning to Mujiaying, Mu Linfeng turned off his cell phone. He was staying in the old house of his uncles and cousins. Since everyone had moved out and there was no landline, he had no contact with the outside world.
Mu Linfeng did this in order to concentrate on studying the unique skills of tomb-watching and to avoid Professor Dongfang's research team. To be honest, ever since Mu Linfeng made a poisonous oath to be a coffin keeper, he has been consciously avoiding contact with Professor Dongfang. Mu Linfeng felt that the professor's research topic was too far away from him, but the ancestral precepts were right beside him, and he must not violate them.
Professor Dongfang, who was far away in Qingdao, had no idea about the changes in Mu Linfeng's side. Two days after Mu Linfeng returned, the professor got news from Wang Zhao that Mu Linfeng had found the ancestral art of tomb-reading and was studying it.
This news made Professor Dongfang very happy, because once Mu Linfeng mastered the ancestral skills of tomb-finding, the chances of finding and discovering ancient tombs would be greatly increased. Even if he could not find the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map", there would still be a possibility of finding the tomb of You Houxi after discovering the sea route that the Yin people used to cross the sea to the east.
Therefore, Professor Dongfang was also making preparations for both situations. While waiting for Mu Linfeng to find the "Emperor Burial Mountain Map", he led the entire research team to look up a large amount of information and strive to find the sea route that You Houxi led 100,000 Yin troops to cross the Pacific Ocean. As long as the sea route of the Yin people's crossing to the east is determined, the Tianzhi Floating Bridge Island where You Houxi was buried can be found.
Just half a month after Mu Linfeng went back, Li Jianping suddenly came to report to Professor Dongfang. He was going to Qingzhou and asked the professor if there was anything he needed to tell him.
