Xixia dead book

Chapter 85 The Lost 1964 (22)
"A legend?" Tang Feng and Liang Yuan thought of the legend of Yuchaping at the same time.

Of course, Kozlov would not have known about Yuchaping back then, because even many scholars had never heard of the Xixia dynasty at that time. The history of Xixia had long since ended, and the writing of Xixia had also been lost. The dynasty buried in history, even Kozlov himself didn't know what he dug up?Tymoshin explained unhurriedly: "A legend, at the end of the 19th century, the famous Russian traveler Potanin recorded in his biography a legend he heard somewhere in Northwest China, saying that it was in the desert In the story, there is a city that hides many treasures, so in order to verify this legend, Kozlov came to China after receiving funding from the Geographical Society."

"Back then, Kozlov traveled thousands of miles to China because of a misty legend, but now, he is also in danger because of the legend about the Mi city in the vast sea!" Tang Feng suddenly felt that he, Han Jiang, and the one hundred years ago Kozlov actually had the same goal, but he quickly vetoed this stupid idea, "Kozlov came to China to steal treasures, but we didn't! However, the legend Potanin heard, will It does not refer to the Hanhaimi City we are looking for so hard, but Kozlov just got lucky and let him bump into Heishui City, and Heishui City does not have any legendary treasures, only tens of thousands of Western Xia Literature, maybe this is the arrangement of fate."

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Just when Tang Feng was full of wild thoughts, Tymoshin began to introduce Kozlov's expedition again: "Kozlov reached the depths of the Badain Jaran Desert in about April 1908, but he couldn't find the In the legendary city, he invited locals to be guides again and again, but they were all rejected by the local Turghut Mongols. Finally, Kozlov paid a respectful visit to Darcy, the Mongolian prince who ruled here. The prince was moved by Kozlov's gift, so he sent two local guides who were familiar with the terrain to lead Kozlov's expedition team to the desert to find the lost city. Zlov came to the city of Blackwater in the desert. Kozlov later recalled: 'I will never forget the moment of ecstasy...'."

The scene of Kozlov's ecstatic arrival in Heishui City appeared in front of Tang Feng and Liang Yuan's eyes.

Tymoshin continued: "Next, Kozlov unearthed a dozen boxes of Buddhist scriptures and daily necessities of the people in the streets and house ruins in Heishui City. Kozlov obviously did not agree with this achievement. Dissatisfied, because there was no legendary treasure found here, so Kozlov sent people to transport the ten boxes of cultural relics that had been discovered back to Petersburg, and led the expedition to continue to Sichuan. He believed that from Inner Mongolia, Ningxia However, when he arrived in Qinghai, he suddenly received a letter from the Royal Geographical Society asking him to return to Heishui City immediately to do deeper excavations.”

"Why is that?" Liang Yuan asked curiously.

Before Timoshen could speak, Tang Feng explained to Liang Yuan: "Because the ten boxes of cultural relics were transported to Petersburg, none of the experts from the Geographical Society knew the strange Xixia characters on them. They felt that Kozlov The excavated things are extraordinary, and there will definitely be more important discoveries in Heishui City, so the Geographical Society asked Kozlov to give up his plan to go to Sichuan and return to Heishui City to dig with all his strength."

"Yes! Tang Feng, you are right, that's it. Kozlov was also very excited at the time. After receiving the letter, he rushed back to Heishui City from Qinghai in just nine days. This was June 1909 , this time Kozlov's excavation in the city did not yield much, so he shifted the focus of excavation to some pagodas outside the city. One of the big pagodas is located on the dry river bed 6 meters west of the city. Among the pagodas, it stands out from the crowd and is particularly eye-catching. This pagoda became the first target of Kozlov to dig. Buddha statues and various scriptures written in Xixia, Chinese and Sanskrit.”

"Is this the 'great tower'?" Liang Yuan asked.

"Yes, this is the great pagoda that Kozlov hailed as the 'great pagoda', look at the photo on it." Saying that, Tymoshin pointed to an unclear photo on the file Show it to Tang Feng and Liang Yuan.

Tang Feng and Liang Yuan saw that in that photo, it was the big pagoda opened by Kozlov in a brutal way. The pagoda was full of various scriptures and Buddha statues.Tymoshin pointed to the photo and said: "This discovery not only far exceeds the previous one in quantity, but also is not the same in quality. Most of the cultural relics discovered by Kozlov last time were objects used by the people, but this time Most of them are items used by nobles, especially this great pagoda, and even many royal objects appeared. Many documents that were later regarded as classics by Xixia scholars all came from here. For example, you saw the Xixia geography book " "Shengli Yihai", and the famous Xixia Chinese dictionary "Pearl in the Palm of Fanhan Heshi", etc., it is even no exaggeration to say that it is because of the discovery of this tower that later Xixia studies came into being."

"So, this is really a 'great tower'!" Liang Yuan exclaimed.

Tang Feng bowed his head and remained silent. He knew most of what Timoshen said before, so he was not very interested. He casually flipped through the thin pages of Russian documents. Suddenly, he pointed at the documents. A close-up photo of a Buddha statue on the website, and asked Tymoshin: "Where have I seen this Buddha statue?"

"Of course you have seen it. You saw it here a few days ago." Tim Moshen's words reminded Tang Feng of the Buddha statue he saw in the Chinese pavilion in the Winter Palace a few days ago.

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Tang Feng asked again: "But the Buddha statue I saw here is just a head, but in this photo, the Buddha statue still has a complete body, and it looks like sitting cross-legged in the photo. The body of the Buddha statue is gone?"

Ji Moshen didn't seem to be in a hurry to answer Tang Feng's question. He asked Tang Feng to take a closer look at the Buddha statue in the photo. Tang Feng took a closer look at the Buddha statue in the photo again. Avatar, but has a complete body.It was a feminine body, which is not surprising, in Buddhist statues, especially Tibetan Buddhism, many Buddhist statues are female figures, or androgynous, with both feminine and masculine features, but , The Buddha statue in this photo is completely female, but...just, Tang Feng suddenly noticed that the body of this Buddha statue seemed to be scarred and full of cracks. Seeing this, Tang Feng asked Jimo Shen: "The body of this Buddha statue looks like it's about to crack?"

Tymoshin smiled and said: "You observed very carefully, but it wasn't that it was about to crack, but it had already cracked when this photo was taken. I don't know what happened. It was Kozlov who opened it. The big stupa was damaged because of problems with the materials used to make the Buddha statue and the age. Anyway, when this photo was taken, the body part of the Buddha statue had already cracked. This Buddha statue is in the great stupa, which is abnormal Tall, it is the largest of all Buddha statues, and its position in the stupa is also in the middle, which shows that this Buddha statue is very important."

"Yes, I saw it. This Buddha statue is located at the back of the center of the Great Stupa. In ancient Chinese tradition, this is the position of the venerable, and other Buddha statues surround it, which shows that this Buddha statue has a high status. " Tang Feng affirmed Ji Moshen's opinion.

"Do you know why?"

"Why?..." Tang Feng hesitated for a moment.

"Because there is a corpse wrapped in this Buddha statue!" Ji Moshen gave the answer without waiting for Tang Feng to speak.

"The bones in the Buddha statue!" Liang Yuan was stunned.On the contrary, Tang Feng was still somewhat calm.

"When Kozlov found this Buddha statue, the body of the Buddha statue had been cracked, and there was also a crack on the head. Kozlov found the bones from the cracked Buddha statue. He was terrified at the time, so he had to separate and wrap the bones in a hurry. Okay, send it to Petersburg for expert inspection. After inspection, the expert concluded that this skeleton is a woman about 30 years old or older, and belongs to the Tibetan-Arian-Mongol race. In addition, near this Buddha statue The found Buddhist scriptures and some other documents all have the seal of the Empress Dowager Wuzang. Therefore, some scholars believe that this bone is the last empress of Yuan Hao and the mother of the second emperor Liangzuo of Xixia. "

"What? You mean that the corpse did not hide the queen?" Tang Feng was also stunned.

Ji Moshen nodded, "But... But the tomb of the No Zang family should be in the tomb of the Western Xia King at the foot of Helan Mountain. How could it be in the tower of Heishui City?" Tang Feng still couldn't believe it.

"Don't forget, there were many tomb towers in ancient China, and there were examples of the corpses of the dead being processed and sealed to make Buddha statues." Ji Moshen reminded Tang Feng.

"Yes, in ancient China, after the death of many eminent monks who attained the Tao, they were buried under or in the pagoda. After some eminent monks passed away, they were made into mummy-like corpses, and then made into Buddha statues and placed in the pagoda. , but those are all monks, and most Chinese people still believe in burial in the earth.” Tang Feng retorted.

But Timoshin smiled, "Tang Feng, don't forget that the Wuzang clan is from the Dangxiang family, not the Han people, so the concept of going to the soil for peace should not be very strong in the minds of the Dangxiang people. This can be seen from the unearthed tombs of the Dangxiang people. It can be seen that many members of the party are cremated instead of buried; moreover, and most importantly, Wu Zang believed in Buddhism all her life, and the tower of Chengtian Temple, which stands in Yinchuan, Ningxia, is her masterpiece. And no Zang family has ever become a monk, and it was in the monastery that she gave birth to the second emperor of Xixia, Wei Mingliang Zuo!"

Tang Feng had no choice but to bow down. He didn't expect that this young Russian scholar knew China so well. He knew China's history, culture, and nation like the palm of his hand!As Ji Moshen said, no Zang family had ever become a monk and gave birth to the future emperor Liangzuo in the monastery. For some reason, Tang Feng saw the appearance of the big lama on the seaside of Qisejin again.

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Tang Feng shook his head helplessly, and said: "I really convinced you, you know too much. But I still can't accept this inference for a while?"

Timoshen paused for a moment, and then said: "In addition, there is another point that cannot be ignored. Although we have very few historical materials of Xixia, one thing is certain. After more than ten years in power in Xixia, the little emperor finally grew up and was very dissatisfied with the fact that the Wuzang family was in charge of the government alone. Therefore, Liangzuo launched a coup and lifted the power of the Wuzang family. Think about it, the Wuzang family who was deprived of power What will happen to the family? If I remember correctly, when the Wuzang family lost power, the Empress Dowager Wuzang should still be alive, then think about how her own son, Emperor Liang Zuo of Xixia, would deal with his mother."

"Let her mother return to the temple, and be dispatched to the distant Heishui City?" Tang Feng said tremblingly what he thought was the most likely ending.

"Yes, Tang Feng, you are very smart. I think the same way. This will not only limit the rights of the Wuzang family, but also avoid being charged with 'unfilial piety'. Based on the above judgments, I think this statue The bones in the Buddha statue belong to the Empress Wuzang family of Yuan Hao, the founding emperor of Xixia." Ji Moshen said with certainty.

"So, where is such an important skeleton now?" Tang Feng asked.

Tymoshin spread his hands and said: "It's a pity that this skeleton was lost later, but we can't blame us for it. It can only be blamed on Hitler and German fascists. You should know that in the Great Patriotic War, this skeleton The city had been besieged by the Germans for nearly three years, and almost every street here had been fought, and shelled and bombed had left the city in ruins. It was during this horrific war that the skeleton mysteriously disappeared. It has also become a pity for us scholars. However, it is strange that after the end of World War II, someone found this head in the warehouse of the Winter Palace."

"Is this the only head left?" Liang Yuan asked.

"Well, I couldn't find any other parts of the skeleton. When Kozlov brought this head back, there was also a crack on it, but it wasn't completely cracked like the body part. Later, for the needs of research, the head was also opened It turned out that there was indeed a female skull inside. But the strange thing is that when people rediscovered the head, the head was intact."

"Maybe it was repaired by someone, but...is the skull still inside?" Tang Feng asked.

"I don't know, I still don't know what's going on, who repaired the head portrait? Is there still that skull inside?"

Tang Feng nodded thoughtfully, but Liang Yuan suddenly sighed: "If there is still the queen's skull hidden in this head portrait in the Winter Palace, then wouldn't it mean that her soul has been wandering in this foreign country all the time, alas! woman!"

"Soul? You mean ghost!" Tymoshin laughed.

When Ji Moshen said the word "ghost", Tang Feng and Liang Yuan trembled unknowingly. They immediately thought of the gloomy light flickering in the Winter Palace at night.Could that be the ghost of the hidden queen?Tang Feng wanted to ask Ji Moshen again, but he swallowed the words again.

Tang Feng looked at his watch, and before he knew it, it was already afternoon, and Ji Moshen hadn't eaten yet, so the three of them swept up the remaining fast food together.Ji Moshen went out to buy some food and left it for Tang Feng, and then chatted with Tang Feng for a while, and it was getting dark.

Ji Moshen got up to leave, but Tang Feng still looked preoccupied. Ji Moshen asked with concern: "Why, is there any problem?"

"No! No. But..." Tang Feng looked hesitant to speak, held back for a while, and then said: "But I'm still worried that someone else will come in here, especially if you told me today that there is no hidden queen. s story."

"Are you worried about ghosts coming in? Hehe!" Timoshin laughed.

"No! I can't tell!"

"Okay, Tang Feng, you don't have to worry, just stay here at night and don't go anywhere, no one else will come in." When Timoshin said this, he suddenly remembered something. Removed a key from the bunch of keys and handed it to Tang Feng, "This is the key that the old professor left for me after he retired. You give me a hand."

Tang Feng took the key, and Ji Moshen warned again: "Don't go out at night, especially don't go to the gate leading to the Winter Palace. There is an alarm device there, and if someone touches the door at night, the alarm will go off. Noisy, don't do it!"

After a while of instructions, Ji Moshen left the office. In the huge office, only Tang Feng and Liang Yuan were left. They looked at each other. They didn't know how to spend this long winter night.

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In the cold winter, the days in Petersburg became short and extravagant. After Timoshin left, it soon became dark. Tang Feng and Liang Yuan had nothing to do, and the two fell asleep quickly while leaning on the sofa.

Liang Yuan dreamed of her mother, and her mother's voice and appearance became clear again. In her sleep, she and her mother kept watching each other silently... until she was awakened by a sound.In the darkness, Liang Yuan listened intently, the surroundings were quiet and there was no sound, but she was timid and woke up Tang Feng beside her: "I seemed to hear a sound just now?"

"What sound?" Tang Feng asked, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"I don't know, it seems to be outside."

Tang Feng looked at his watch with the faint light coming in from the window. It was early in the morning. He listened to the outside. There was a dead silence outside the door, and there was no movement. "Didn't you hear anything?" Tang Feng asked Liang Yuan .

"I was sleeping soundly just now, but I was awakened by that voice, really!" Liang Yuan said seriously.

"Maybe it's the voice you heard in your dream!" Tang Feng laughed.

(End of this chapter)