Seeing that his immediate boss valued him so much, Xiao Ke was so excited that it took him less than seven days to return from Sichuan to Yinchuan. Judging from the speed of transportation at that time, this speed could be said to be very fast. It couldn't be faster.
Already.
Returning to Yinchuan again, this time Xiaoke spent money to expand his manpower. He found more than 20 local farmers who grew crops and promised to give each of them half a pound of money. (The silver dollar will be issued a few years later).
The honest farmers in Badajiao didn't know anything. After receiving the money, they just followed the instructions to dig soil and sand. This time they expanded the scope of their exploration, extending the two underground palaces they originally dug to the surrounding area by more than ten miles, and discovered something new.
There are three hidden underground palaces.
Xiaoke may have concluded at that time that there were too many treasures in Heishui City in Xixia. Because the Mongols were coming and time was urgent, they had no time to store and organize them, so they just scattered them and buried them around.
Here comes the problem.
Did he dig up the ruins of the main city of Blackwater City 800 years ago?
Regarding this point, there are two ways to say it.
One was that he dug out Blackwater City under the sand, and the other was that he didn't dig and he only found the treasure underground palace scattered near the ruins.
Xiaoke was born in 1863 and died in 1935. He lived for more than seventy years. Due to the special requirements of the Royal Geographical Society, he did not leave any autobiographical books. The few books that can be found today were not written by him.
of.
Baotou is more inclined to believe the latter theory. That is, the group he led did not find the main city of Blackwater City. Baotou's judgment is also well-founded, because this second illegal excavation lasted for less than three months.
If he dug into Blackwater City, it would be impossible to clean it up in two or three months. Two or three years would be about the same.
From 1900 to 2001, which is exactly one century and one year, it is possible that the stone carving panel that Uncle Aji dug up came from a building somewhere in Blackwater City.
After eating the mutton that night, the old patriarch went back to rest early because of his old age and poor health. > After getting rid of the guide Lao Zhang, we were all our own people. At this time, Dou Sprout said happily: "It's done, it's done, are we going to do it! When we dig into Heishui City, I will be the first one."
Get in there and get the treasure!”
He shook his head, not very happy, but a little worried. Qin Xingping was the same, smoking a sullen cigarette with a straight face.
Dou Sprout asked in confusion: "What's wrong with you? Why are you all drooping and unhappy? Did I say something wrong again?" Dou Sprout pointed at himself as he spoke.
"Hey." He sighed and then said, "Ya Zai, at first I was as happy as you, but then I realized that we had gone astray."
"What do you mean, head," Dou Sprout scratched his head and asked, "We haven't set off yet, how could we go astray?"
He rubbed his head and temples and said, Yunfeng, you can tell me.
I nodded, looked at Dou Yazai and said, "Why are you so stupid, Yazai? Have you forgotten why we came to Yinchuan from Handan in the first place?"
"I haven't forgotten, how could I forget," Dou Sprout pointed at Qin Xingping and said, "Brother Qin said there might be a Xixia tomb here in Yinchuan, wait. Tomb." Dou Sprout only reacted at this time.
"That's right." I glanced at him and said, "Our original plan was to find the tomb, the underground palace where the treasures are hidden, not the main city of Blackwater City. To use an analogy, just like we originally wanted to
I was looking for sesame seeds that fell on the road, but the sesame seeds were gone and others swept them away, and there was an extra watermelon on the road in front of me. Isn’t this wrong?”
Digging for tombs and digging for cities are two different concepts. If you decide to do it, if you are unlucky and just rely on our few people, it may take ten or eight years to dig.
"Forget it, don't think about it since it's very late today," he stood up and said, "Let me consider this matter carefully to see if there is any feasible solution in the end. Everyone, go to bed first. The old patriarch asked Aji
I prepared the room for you."
It is said that the rooms are actually cave dwellings. Dou Yazai and I share a room, and Baotou and Qin Xingping live in the same room. Xiaoxuan lives in a room by herself because she is a girl.
An interesting thing happened this night.
Because I had been wading in the sand for the past few days and my body was very dirty, the old men were fine, but Xiaoxuan was not feeling well. She clamored to wash herself and asked Aji to help find water.
Aji said in embarrassment, "No, we haven't had water for the past two days. We usually use sand to wash our faces and hands."
Xiaoxuan's eyes widened and she asked, "How can I take a bath with sand? Do I just have to rub it with sand?"
I thought it was a joke, but Aji nodded and said, "Yes, scrape it with dry sand and rub it back and forth. The mud on your body will fall off and it will be clean."
"Scrapping? Haha," Dou Sprout laughed and said, it turns out that this is "scraping".
Xiaoxuan was so angry that she said if there was no water, I would wash it myself.
Aji pointed to the distance and said: "There is a small pool in the Populus euphratica forest of Crescent Oasis."
After hearing this, Xiaoxuan's eyes rolled around and she suddenly said to me: "I'm afraid of going alone at night. Yunfeng, please go with me."
I said no problem, let's go, I'll see you off.
After grabbing some toiletries, we set off at 10pm and headed to the woods.
It takes about half an hour to walk from the Huteren cave dwellings to the Crescent Oasis grove. When we arrived at 10:30, the sky was full of stars and the moon was very good. The moonlight illuminated the grove very brightly.
The water in the small pool was all rainwater. After settling, the water was very clear. At this time, Xiaoxuan said: "Please watch it for me. I will wash it first, and you will wash it after I finish washing it." I said okay, you can wash it and I'll look after someone for you.
She took two steps forward with a towel, then suddenly turned back and said, "You are not allowed to peek."
I also said yes, you can wash it and never peek.
After about five minutes, there was the sound of people taking off their clothes behind them, and then there was the sound of someone entering the water.
I strictly warned myself not to think wrongly. If I think wrongly, I am not a human being, but a dog.
I did a good job at first. I just didn’t look at it if I didn’t want to. I was like a human-shaped poplar tree standing there without daring to move.
But later it didn't work anymore.
Mosquitoes in the desert have a long life span, and there are many mosquitoes in the woods, and they are quite big. In less than ten minutes, they bit me six or seven times on my neck and arms while standing still.
What should I do? I couldn't move and bite, so I was like a crab, walking sideways back and forth.
Unexpectedly, I suddenly heard a scream from behind me!
In desperation, I turned around and asked, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Xiaoxuan jumped out of the pool in fright. She pointed at the pool and shouted: "Snake! There are snakes in the water!"
"snake!"
I hurriedly ran over and lay there to look. It took me a long time to realize that it was a false alarm.
It turned out that what was under the water was not a snake, but a branch of a poplar tree. However, the surface of the water was sparkling, and it looked like a snake because of the refraction of the moonlight.
But I not only saw the branches under the water, but also other things.
Very white.
Now that I think about this little thing again, I have a different idea.
Is it possible that she deliberately described the branches as snakes?