Anecdote of the Yellow River

Chapter 46
After returning to Xi'an, Gu Meidi and I rushed to the major libraries and archaeological research institutes non-stop, looking for all the clues about the Desert Devil City.After working hard day and night, we finally discovered the ghost city in a historical document of the Tang Dynasty that recorded the countries of the Western Regions.

The Devil City rose up in the Western Han Dynasty, and it is a small and inconspicuous country among the countries in the Western Regions.Later, a queen came to power, and the national power grew rapidly in a short period of time.Legend has it that the queen is a devil who can turn people into half-human and half-beast monsters, so the name Devil City comes from this.After decades of prosperity, Devil City suddenly disappeared on the historical map without a trace, and all civilizations were also annihilated in the dust.

Gu Meidi rubbed his sore eyes: "It seems that this devil city is really mysterious!"

I nodded: "I'm quite interested in the legend of the Devil Queen!"

Gu Meidi said: "Do you think this legend is true?"

I smiled: "There are no devils in the world, maybe the queen will use some kind of witchcraft and poison, and it will be described as a devil by later generations!"

Gu Meidi frowned: "Actually, I have always had a question, is what Wan Juncheng said credible?"

"Didn't you see the red spots on your body?" I pointed to Gu Meidi's neck, feeling a little distressed.

Gu Meidi said: "I'm not talking about the poison of the underworld flower. I don't think he lied to us about this. We were indeed poisoned. I was thinking about the detoxification method he said. Is there really a holy water that can detoxify all poisons in the Desert Devil City? Could it be that Wan Juncheng fabricated it casually? No matter how you think about it, it seems a bit mysterious!"

I shrugged my shoulders: "There is no way, the matter has come to this, we can only choose to believe him, treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor! As long as there is still a little hope, we can't give up!"

"Okay!" Gu Meidi sighed, "Have you found the location of Devil City?"

I pointed to the five or six ancient books and notebooks full of handwriting in front of me, and said with a wry smile: "The specific location of Devil City is not recorded in the history books at all. I can only infer and analyze the approximate location of Devil City based on the records in the history books. It will take a day or two!"

"Come on! I'll make you a cup of coffee!" Gu Meidi clenched his fists and expressed encouragement to me.

"Thank you!" Looking at the waning night outside the window, I rubbed my temples and forced myself to cheer up. Tonight will be another sleepless night.

Three days later, Professor Ye returned to Xi'an as scheduled.

However, he didn't come back alone, there were seven people behind him - six men and one woman.

Professor Ye introduced to us: "These are all colleagues who have struggled with me before, and we all have lifelong friendships with each other. This time they heard that we were in trouble, and they all came here!"

Gu Meidi and I looked at each other with some doubts in our eyes.These seven people have different looks, and they don't seem to be doing archaeological work, and they all have an invisible murderous look on their bodies.As a martial arts practitioner, my senses are quite keen, but in front of everyone, I didn't ask Professor Ye immediately, but just said a few polite words of thanks to everyone.

"How is your progress?" Professor Ye asked.

I turned on the slide projector, and a map of China from the Western Han Dynasty appeared on the wall, and then said: "After repeated deliberation and analysis, I judge that the ruins of Devil City are probably at this location!" Then, I picked up the laser pointer and marked it on the map There is a little red dot.Then a map of modern China popped up, "According to the current territory, it is probably in the Lop Nur desert of Bayingoleng Mongolia Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, near the famous ancient Loulan ruins, in the direction of the north of the ancient Loulan country!"

"Very good!" Professor Ye showed joy and patted me on the shoulder excitedly, "Tuobagu, well done!"

I smiled: "Actually, these are not the credit of me alone. Most of the credit is due to Gu Meidi. This conclusion is reached by our joint efforts!"

Professor Ye nodded in satisfaction: "Sure enough, I did not pick the wrong person, you two are my right-hand men!"

Gu Meidi smiled and said: "Of course, a strong general has no weak soldiers!"

"Ghost girl, you're the only one who is clever!" Professor Ye waved at us, "Let's go, I booked a private room at Taihe Restaurant across the street, to welcome our friends who came from afar, and thank them for their help !"

After the dinner, Professor Ye arranged all the seven friends in the upper guest room of Taihe Restaurant.So far I only know the names of those seven people, but I don't know anything about the origin and background of those seven people.During the dinner, I asked around a few times, but they seemed to deliberately avoid talking about the topic of identity, and several times they quietly prevaricated my question, which made me feel even more suspicious.

After thinking it over and over again, I still knocked on the door of Professor Ye's dormitory.

"Huh? Tuobagu, is there anything else?" Professor Ye looked at me suspiciously.

"There's something I want to talk to you about!" I said.

"Oh, come in!" Professor Ye made a gesture of invitation and welcomed me into the room.

"I just have one question!" I bit my lip, "Who are those seven people?"

Professor Ye smiled: "Didn't I tell you? It's a friend who worked together before!"

"Intuition tells me that they are not ordinary people, let alone simple archaeologists!" I looked directly into Professor Ye's eyes.

Professor Ye was startled, squinted his eyes, and slowly lit a cigarette before speaking: "It's enough that they can help us. As for who are they? What's their origin? What does it matter?"

"It does matter!" I said seriously, "We are now a whole, a team, but we are not even familiar with our own team members, so how can we work together?"

"That makes sense!" Professor Ye spit out a smoke ring, "Since you want to know their origins, let me tell you, the seven of them come from the seven most famous families of tomb robbers in the country, known as the 'Seven Tomb Raiders'! "

"A family of tomb robbers?! Seven tomb robbers?!" I was stunned, and blurted out, "My God! They...they are tomb robbers?!"

"Tomb robbers?" Professor Ye stroked his hair, "Well, you can also say that! The seven tomb robbers refer to the seven families of Wang, Li, Liu, Hao, Gan, Song, and Han!"

"The Wang family, which rose in the Northeast, had its heyday in the late Qing Dynasty. It once patronized the tomb of the Empress Dowager of Liao Dynasty and the tomb of the princess of the Kingdom of Jin, etc. Wang Dongyu, who has broad arms and round arms and a cute face, is the No. 17 successor of the Wang family. Don't look at him. On the surface, he looks like an idiot, but he is actually better than a ghost, and his brute strength is unmatched."

"Let's talk about that middle-aged man with a mustache. His name is Li Yingxin, and he is a descendant of the Li family. The Li family spans the north, especially in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. His sense of smell is the best in the world. Only By smelling the upturned soil with your nose, you can tell whether there is an ancient tomb under the soil, or even the age of the ancient tomb."

"The Liu family has the longest history. It is said that it originated in the Han Dynasty and belonged to the royal family with the surname Liu. Back then, the Liu family was originally the guard of the imperial tomb, and they knew many secrets in the ancient tomb, including the structure of the organs or the structure of the tomb. The know-it-all in the ancient tomb. Later, with the changes of the years, in order to survive the turbulent times, the Liu family gradually changed from the role of guarding the tomb to the role of tomb robbers. They are active in the areas of Hubei and Hunan all the year round. The one wearing glasses The young man is called Liu Hanhao, and he is the leader of the younger generation of the Liu family. He has just returned from studying abroad and has a double master's degree. He is a rare talent."

"The tall, thin and tall man with parted hair and a bit of an honest look is named Hao Mengkang. He is taciturn and doesn't like to talk. He runs the largest underground antique trading market along the coast of Jiangsu and Fujian. He is a ruthless character. .”

"The Gan family is from the southwest region, and their headquarters is in Yunnan. That black and thin man is Gan Hongxin from the Gan family. He is proficient in toxicology and is an expert in poison making and detoxification. It is said that he can also know the oldest and mysterious Gu poison in Miaojiang. At present, he has opened a jade shop on the China-Myanmar border, and he has a lot of money."

"The Song family probably originated in the Tang Dynasty. It is the most famous tomb robber family in the Central Plains. Its activities include the present Henan, Jiangxi, Anhui and other provinces. Afterwards, in the mausoleum of Liang Emperor Zhu Wen, that Song Mingqiu is now the helm of the Song family, and he has a very deep knowledge of geomantic omen and gold points."

"Finally, let's talk about the Han family. The Han family reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty, and then declined again in the Qing Dynasty. It was not until the 70s and [-]s when Han Feilong took charge of the Han family that the Han family began to regroup. Jump up. The only woman in the team is Humphrey's daughter, Han Jing, and they own the most prestigious antique shop in Panjiayuan in Beijing!"

Speaking of this, the cigarette in Professor Ye's hand was almost exhausted.

I was secretly shocked when I heard that, I never imagined that these seven people would have a lot of background, any one of them is a big shot in the Jianghu.But...but Tangtang Professor Ye, how can he have friendship with these tomb robber families?And it seems that the friendship is not shallow, otherwise, how could others be willing to help us, everyone knows that going to the desert is life-threatening.

Professor Ye is a smart man. Seeing my surprised expression, he knew what I was thinking. He stubbed out the cigarette butt and smiled slightly: "Are you surprised? Why would a dignified professor of archeology like me Do you know such a group of tomb robbers?"

I nodded: "It's really surprising! I'm also very puzzled!"

(End of this chapter)