Page 28
The abyss, which was originally pitch black and empty, turned into a tomb.
As soon as he landed, Wang Kaixuan said happily, "Great, Commander Hu, you are really smart. It's not in vain that you were trained by the country. How did you find this exit?"
Hu Bayi said in a reserved and boastful manner: "I'm just saying that you, the fat comrade, don't study hard."
Then, before Wang Kaixuan could argue, Hu Bayi spoke first and stopped Wang Kaixuan from speaking:
"After my research and combined with what Big Gold Fang said, we found this exit."
This Qimen Formation, the Hanging Soul Ladder, is considered to be the most primitive Qimen Formation. It is a Qimen Formation based on the I Ching Bagua and does not have any overly complicated principles.
The reason why this formation was so difficult to solve in the Zhou Dynasty was that
This is because before the Spring and Autumn Period, the complete sixteen-character hexagram was knowledge that was kept secret by the Zhou Dynasty royal family.
So at that time, no one except the royal family knew the trick to break the formation.
After the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou emperor became weak and the bamboo slips recording the mysteries of the sixty-four hexagrams were circulated from the royal storage room.
After the Warring States Period, hundreds of schools of thought emerged, and the Huang-Lao school of thought had become a prominent school of thought during the Han Dynasty, and was highly praised by the emperor and empress dowager of the early Han Dynasty.
The Eight Trigrams and the Book of Changes naturally also spread throughout the world.
Therefore, this Soul-hanging Ladder is useless.
After the Zhou Dynasty, no large tombs used this kind of simple Qimen formation anymore.
As mentioned before, the Eight Diagrams created by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang not only combines the sixty-four hexagrams and the nine gates and eight palaces, but also changes over time.
If it is really such a complicated Qimen formation,
With Hu Bayi and Hu Xiuwu's superficial knowledge of the Book of Changes, it may not be so easy to find out.
Big Gold Teeth praised: "Master Hu is really full of wisdom and strategies, he can be called the reincarnation of Lai Buyi. Plus Master Kai is invincible and has both courage and strategy. No wonder the two of them can always turn danger into safety and retrieve the funerary objects from the tomb."
Wang Kaixuan waved his hands: "No, no, you flatter me! Master Jin, you are also an expert in antique treasures. I still need to learn more from you."
Hu Xiuwu said disdainfully, "Okay, we haven't even left yet, why are you two already panting? Why don't you quickly check where this place is."
After shining the flashlight around, Hu Bayi said, "The sky is round and the earth is square. This is a typical Tang Dynasty tomb."
The style here is completely different from the Hades Palace just now.
The top of the tomb is like a yurt, with the stars in the sky painted on it, and the positions of the Three Constants, Four Symbols and Twenty-Eight Mansions are exactly the same.
The tomb chamber has walls but no doors. There are only eight walls surrounding it that seal it off tightly. The walls are covered with murals, just like those in the Zhou Dynasty tombs.
The railings in the tomb are carved with auspicious clouds and peaches, and there are divine birds standing on the pillars.
Surrounding the center of the hall, in eight directions, there are eight peculiarly shaped stone statues, including a galloping horse, a lying cow, a flying dragon, a golden rooster, a fat pig, a wild pheasant, a hunting dog, and a sheep.
The way the trapezoidal blue bricks on the ground are laid is also extremely strange. They start from the eight walls and converge towards the center.
Moreover, each piece is exactly the same size, as if the tomb owner had obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Like above, there is no coffin here.
What is different from the Zhou Tomb is that here, an exquisite and gorgeous armillary sphere is placed where the coffin should be placed.
The base is shaped like a Chinese character "田", with a dragon cast from a copper block as the frame, and the dragon holding up a ball ring made of a copper ring and a track.
There are two celestial meridian compasses (meridian double rings), a golden latitude compass (horizontal ring), and a golden equator compass (equatorial ring), on which are engraved the twenty-eight mansions, ten heavenly stems, and twelve zodiac signs. It is called the Liuhe Instrument.
There are three tracks inside, yellow, white and red, called the Xuan Ji Rule and the Yue You Rule. They are engraved with the tracks of the constellations and the movements of the seven stars, representing the orbits of the sun, moon and stars, and are called the San Chen Yi.
Finally, at the innermost part of the ring is the movable quadrilateral, which is composed of two movable quadrilateral rings.
(These are the two rings that Hu Bayi moved in the TV series. Later, Shirley Yang said that one ring was missing, which was the Moon Traveling Rule, also known as the White Path Ring.)
There are three layers inside and outside, with a base at the bottom, shaped like a cross, and a giant turtle's foot at the end.
Big Gold Tooth looked at the armillary sphere in the center and marveled:
"Could this be the legendary armillary sphere that was improved by Li Chunfeng? I've really opened my eyes today."
Wang Kaixuan asked curiously, "Master Jin, how do you know this is the armillary sphere improved by Li Chunfeng?"
Big Gold Tooth pointed at the white circle on the armillary sphere and said:
"Look, Master Jin, the historical records show that Li Chunfeng added a moon ruler to the original armillary sphere, which represents the orbit of the moon in a year."
"Before Li Chunfeng, the armillary sphere did not have this track."
After saying this, Da Jin Ya sighed again, "It is recorded in historical records that Emperor Taizong ordered it to be placed in Ninghui Pavilion for weather forecasting. After it was in the palace, it was lost wherever it was found."
“I didn’t expect that the armillary sphere that disappeared in the Tang Palace would be here.”
Wang Kaixuan's true intention became clear: "It must be very valuable."
Big Gold Teeth said with a smile: "Mr. Jin, as long as you can get it out, it will be a priceless treasure!"
Looking at the armillary sphere that was taller than him, Wang Kaixuan felt a little embarrassed, but he still did not give up:
"What if I break one off and take it away?"
Hu Bayi was so angry that he almost died: "What? We haven't even found the exit yet, and you're already discussing breaking things?"
Wang Kaixuan said, "Then what do you think, old man?"
"You are the one who is asked to improve, but you are not. Look at Xiuwu, he is studying murals there, not you here with Lao Jin, making people cough and performing crosstalk."
Hu Xiuwu ignored the noise over there and continued to study the murals around him.
This time, Da Jin Ya also looked at the contents of the painting carefully with him.
Like the mural above, the mural here also tells a story.
However, unlike the above, the murals here do not introduce the life of the tomb owner, but an event in the Tang Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty, officials from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau also discovered the hidden treasures here.
Emperor Taizong of Tang ordered that the princess be buried here, and royal craftsmen came here to build the mausoleum.
However, before the mausoleum was completed, the official in charge of the Feng Shui layout of the mausoleum disappeared.
After his disappearance, the craftsmen and laborers who were working there disappeared one after another. Emperor Taizong of Tang sent Li Chunfeng to investigate the reason.
According to Li Chunfeng's calculations,
It turns out that before this Neizangyu, there was already a Zhou Dynasty mausoleum.
However, as time went by, the mausoleum was destroyed.
But unexpectedly, the mausoleum had somehow turned into a ghost tomb, which not only restored its shape, but could also switch between reality and illusion like a ghost.
Officials from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau set up a strange array here, disrupting the surrounding Feng Shui layout, startling the ghost, causing it to reappear in the world and sucking the person who set up the array into the ghost tomb.
As a result, the craftsmen and coolies suffered an unexpected disaster and were trapped in the Zhou tomb.
Li Chunfeng found and rescued the craftsmen, and reported the matter to Emperor Taizong of Tang.
As the saying goes, one grave cannot hold two owners.
So Emperor Taizong of Tang gave up the idea of building a mausoleum here.
After the incident, Li Chunfeng did not destroy the ghost tomb. Instead, he transformed and built an empty tomb based on it.
Chapter 33: Guisi
Empty tomb?
Is this an empty tomb?
Why did Li Chunfeng build an empty tomb here?
Hu Xiuwu was puzzled.
However, the most important thing now is not to figure out Li Chunfeng's purpose,
The most important thing now is to find a way out.
Looking around, the most striking thing in the tomb is the strangest.
It must be the armillary sphere in the middle, which was modified by Li Chunfeng.
Hu Bayi also thought of this and was circling the celestial sphere. However, due to the lack of clues, he had no idea yet.
When Hu Xiuwu also came to the armillary sphere, the two brothers exchanged clues.
After listening to Hu Xiuwu's story, Hu Bayi guessed:
"Since this was set up by Li Chunfeng, could it be that the mechanism here is to ask us to adjust the armillary sphere to the celestial calendar that is very important to Li Chunfeng?"
Da Jin Ya was well-versed in ancient books, and after hearing what Hu Bayi said, he had an idea:
"If it's according to what Master Hu said, then it should be the seventh year of Zhenguan. In the seventh year of Zhenguan, Li Chunfeng modified the armillary sphere, which is very similar to our situation."
Hu Bayi said: "It may also be that in the 22nd year of Zhenguan, Li Chunfeng was conferred the title of Grand Historian. That was his most glorious year."
Big Gold Teeth flatly rejected this view: "No, it can't be the 22nd year of Zhenguan, Mr. Hu, look at that mural."
Big Gold Tooth pointed to a mural nearby. Hu Bayi did not have Hu Xiuwu's night vision, so he needed to use a flashlight to illuminate it.
In the painting, Li Chunfeng wears a fu hat, black leather Liuhe boots, a dark green round-necked robe, a silver belt and a fish bag.
"During the Zhenguan period, the fifth-rank officials of the Tang Dynasty should have worn light crimson official uniforms with gold belts, but Li Chunfeng in the mural is wearing dark green official uniforms with a silver belt, which is the attire of a sixth-rank official."
"So, when Li Chunfeng came here, he had not yet been appointed as the Grand Historian, so it couldn't have been the 22nd year of Zhenguan."
"Mr. Jin, that's a good idea!"
Hu Bayi bowed to Da Jin Ya and admired Da Jin Ya's accumulation of historical knowledge.
Don't think that Da Jin Ya is a little timid and in poor health at ordinary times.
But he is a real giant on the spiritual level. He is knowledgeable and well-versed in historical allusions, and his years of hard work in the antique business have paid off.
Wang Kaixuan was stunned when he heard this: "Then what year is the seventh year of Zhenguan according to the Chinese zodiac?"
"Gui Si!"
Before Da Jin Ya could finish counting with his fingers, Hu Xiuwu had already given the answer.
Hu Bayi was delighted: "Ha, I almost forgot, brother, you used to be a Taoist priest, who can calculate the zodiac calendar as accurately as you do?"
When they were in the mountains, the Shangqing sect often used the sexagenary cycle to calculate time, and Hu Xiuwu had become accustomed to converting to the sexagenary cycle.