Little Detective of the Tang Dynasty: What to do if you are beheaded at the beginning?

Due to the theft at Longmen Grottoes, the Ministry of Works was ordered to suspend construction.

Song Zhen and Di Renjie came to the Ministry of Works, followed by Xue Zhengqing.

"Uh, wait a minute, I'll go find some information."

Cui Mengzhu winked at Song Zhen, and he looked at her. This female official's dress seemed to fit her well.

Hey, my wife looks good in anything.

"What are you doing here?"

"Investigating a case."

"Yes, that's fine." Cui Mengzhu pushed him away with disdain, "Go away, don't bother me."

Di Renjie flipped through the Ministry of Works manual and murmured, "There are 1,587 existing grottoes, of which 625 were excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty. More than 30,000 Buddha statues have been cast. Shouzheng, do you see any problems?"

Song Zhen put away his playful smile, he took it and looked down, and fell into deep thought.

In the future, Longmen Grottoes will have more than 2,300 grottoes and a total of more than 110,000 Buddha statues.

It seems that the peak period of development of Longmen Grottoes was during the reign of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian.

"How big is the stolen Buddha head?" Song Zhen asked.

"It's about the size of a real person."

Song Zhen still couldn't imagine it, and he thought he had to go to the scene to see it.

"Old Song, I'll take you to visit my works."

"Okay." Song Zhen pinched her little nose.

Di Renjie choked on a mouthful of dog food, thinking to himself, it's okay, Mu Zhi will be in Luoyang soon.

Seeing this, Yan Liben hurriedly called out his daughter: "Pingyang, you go with me."

"I won't go! I don't want to dig the soil!"

"......" Yan Liben couldn't help laughing, "This time I'm not asking you to dig a hole, I'm taking Shouzheng, Huaiying and others to go for a walk."

"Oh." Yan Zhaoping pouted aggrievedly.

These days, she feels that her life value has been wasted.

I'm a martial artist, and I'm actually asked to dig a hole?

Isn't it a bit of a waste of natural resources?

Are you looking down on me? I can not only dig holes, but also move soil!

"Can you ride a horse?"

"No, can you teach me?"

"Get on." Song Zhen stretched out his hand, pulled Cui Mengzhu onto the horse, and let her sit in front.

Di Renjie pursed his lips, climbed onto a black horse himself, and followed behind.

......

Longmen Grottoes is only ten kilometers away from Luoyang City in later generations, and the same distance was in the Tang Dynasty.

When Song Zhen first arrived, he was shocked by the magnificent scene in front of him.

During this period, one-third of the Vairocana Buddha had been cast.

The entire niche was excavated and cast from right to left, and the heavenly king and the strong man on the right have been completed.

The two Bodhisattvas next to the Vairocana Buddha, Kasyapa is dignified and Ananda is gentle, only the head is left unfinished.

Unlike what we see in later generations, in Song Zhen's eyes, these Buddha statues are all colorful.

Song Zhen whispered to Cui Mengzhu: "The experts said that the Vairocana Buddha was carved according to Wu Zetian's appearance. What do you think?"

Cui Mengzhu rolled his eyes at him: "I haven't seen Wu Zetian, how do I know?"

"I have seen her, but I don't think she looks like her."

Wu Zetian was born in 624 and is only 33 years old now. She has no signs of gaining weight and her figure is still quite good.

However, maybe she will gain weight in the future?

Cui Mengzhu took Song Zhen's hand and smiled: "Old Song, do you have any idea to build a Buddha statue here?"

Longmen Grottoes is a great project, and most of the funds are provided by the royal family.

However, because the amount of work is too large, the royal family alone can't afford it, so Gaozong allowed local tyrants or ministers to donate money to let the Ministry of Works carve Buddha statues for them.

Song Zhen was stunned. He really hadn't thought about this.

Cui Mengzhu smiled and pulled him to a place where there were many small holes on both sides and above, but there were no Buddha statues carved in the big holes. Only the Binyang Middle Cave had a statue of Sakyamuni.

Song Zhen looked around and tried to dig out the memory of his previous life.

"Hiss, where is this? It seems a bit familiar. Binyang Cave? Really?"

In his previous life, he and Li Mengting had visited Longmen Grottoes and checked in and took more than a thousand photos.

"Have you forgotten? This is the Binyang North Cave, the scissor hand Buddha statue."

"?"

Song Zhen said with a strange expression: "You don't want to..."

"Yes, I have already told the teacher that this cave will carve a Buddha statue in your image, and the hand gesture will be like this!"

Cui Mengzhu tilted her head, she blinked and made a scissor hand gesture.

"?" I was surprised, this is too much, right?

Song Zhen couldn't help laughing, and suddenly he felt that this was quite interesting, so he readily agreed.

Tomorrow I will go to the Ministry of Industry to pay the money and build a cave for myself and Cui Mengzhu respectively, and cast a Buddha statue to commemorate them..

Haha, experts, didn't expect it?

Scissor hand is not formed after birth, but carved like this from the beginning!

Cui Mengzhu lifted his face and looked at it carefully: "Emmm, your face is too thin, it doesn't meet the aesthetic standards of Buddha statues, I will help you carve it fatter."

"Okay, all up to you." Song Zhen thought, what about your Buddha statue?

"Me? I'll stand next to you, I plan to carve all four Bodhisattvas into my appearance."

[The scenic spot sign states: Binyang North Cave was built in 650, and the time in the book is already 657, please don't take it seriously. 】

"Don't plan to find another cave?"

"Forget it." Cui Mengzhu shook his head, "It's unlucky for us to separate. Besides, do you have a lot of money?"

"......" To be honest, your husband has a lot of money.

"Butterfly Lovers" is a hit, and now I earn more than 3,000 strings of cash a week.

"When you were painting the mural, did you secretly add any private goods?" Song Zhen leaned forward and said with a smile, "For example, did you paint a few chicks or something?"

"?" Cui Mengzhu looked at him with a strange expression, "What are you thinking about? This is a cultural relic. Although I am an ikun, it is not appropriate in this occasion, right?"

"But I did secretly add us into the painting."

Cui Mengzhu pulled him to the area he was responsible for and pointed to the mural on the wall: "Look, this is you, this is me, don't they look alike?"

Song Zhen's face turned black: "Why did you paint me as a woman and you as a man?"

"Who knows about the future?"

......

The stolen Buddha head was in a nearby shrine.

Song Zhen completed the tour under the guidance of Cui Mengzhu and soon arrived at the scene of the incident.

He jumped up and touched the broken mark on the neck of the Buddha statue.

"The broken part is flat, it seems that the crime was premeditated."

"Moreover, according to the dust on the neck and hand, it can be inferred that the Buddha head should have been stolen seven days ago."

Everyone was stunned. What is the principle behind this?

Song Zhen walked out of the shrine and pointed to the sky: "Has it been raining in Luoyang these days?"

Di Renjie nodded: "Yes, Luoyang has been raining for ten consecutive days until the sun came out five days ago."

Song Zhen stretched out his hand and showed it to everyone: "Look, the dust in my hand is wet because the cave is deep and wide, the sunlight can't shine in, and the Buddha statue is filled with water vapor."

"If the Buddha head was stolen recently, the dust should be dry, not wet."

"Moreover, the rainy weather is more conducive to the thieves' actions."

It makes sense.

......