Just when Yang Yiqing led the counter-rebellion army across Lingzhou Ferry and set foot on the north bank of the Yellow River. Among the ruins of the Anhua Palace in the south of Ningxia City, Zhang Yanling was anxiously starting his treasure hunting journey.
Ever since he found the key from Zhu Zhixiu's mouth last night, Zhang Yanling basically concluded that it must be the key to the so-called secret room of the Anhua Prince's Mansion. Zhu Zhixiu committed suicide by swallowing the key in his mouth before he died. It was obviously a very serious matter. I care about this key and don't want anyone to discover it. If this key is not the key to the secret room of the treasure, it would be really unreasonable.
However, in such a huge palace, where the three-story high wall covers such a large area, where is this secret room? It is a difficult problem.
It is unrealistic to dig three feet into the ground. Wouldn't it be equivalent to shouting with a loudspeaker, telling others that one wants to take the property left by Zhu Zhixiu as one's own. After all, Zhu Zhixiu conspired to rebel, and all the property will eventually be confiscated. fate. If I dare to openly claim it as my own, I am afraid that I will be exposed and impeached immediately. In the end, I will get nothing, and I will make a fuss.
Besides, I don't have that much time and manpower to do this. Yang Yiqing and others will soon lead their army to cross the river and arrive. The time left for me is only three to five days at most, and I can't dig three feet into the ground. search.
After some thought, Zhang Yanling determined two things.
First, the secret room is located within the scope of the main hall. Because Meng Bin, who surrendered before, clearly said that there is a secret room in the main hall. There are gold and silver treasures, antiques and so on. Zhu Zhixiu wanted to use these gold and silver treasures to bribe him to buy them. It's fate. Under that situation, Meng Bin's words should still be credible.
Secondly, the secret room must be buried deep underground. Because the entire hall was basically reduced to nothing. During the rubble removal process, no structures such as the secret room mezzanine were found. So it should be underground.
Based on this, Zhang Yanling began to conduct a careful search within the main hall, including the rockery, fish pond, flower bed in the apse garden, etc., but found nothing.
Zhang Yanling was exhausted, and the wounds on his body began to hurt again, and he could hardly lift his right arm. Sleepiness and disappointment made him slump on the stone steps of the back garden in a daze.
"Master Marquis, why don't we forget it. Let the brothers look for it later so that we don't have to worry ourselves. Maybe there is no secret room at all." Chen Shiyi advised from the side.
Zhang Yanling waved her hands and stared at the row of withered trees in front of her.
The apse of King Anhua is connected to this back garden. Various fish ponds, flower beds, rockery pavilions were built here, and it is a small garden courtyard. The row of trees is planted outside the apse wall, separated from the apse by a corridor and an alley. Location.
After the fire broke out in the main hall, the fire probably burned part of the flowers and trees in the courtyard, but the flowers and trees were very lush at this time and were not burned. Most of the branches and leaves of the flowers and trees in the garden were scorched. That row of trees The same is true.
Looking at it at this moment, it looked like a row of standing devils, with their black teeth and claws splayed, as if they were mocking Zhang Yanling.
"Have the trees there been burned out? Why is there a gap?" Zhang Yanling suddenly asked.
"What?" Chen Shiyi didn't react. He didn't know what Zhang Yanling was talking about.
"Why are all the trees in that row there, but one is missing on the west side? Was it burned down or cleared?" Zhang Yanling asked with a frown.
Chen Shiyi didn't know what he meant. He stared at the row of withered flowers and trees and said: "There was no fire in the back garden, and it is an empty place. All the collapsed rubble is on the base. It should be that no one has touched it. It needs to be cleaned up.
It’s not like we just clean up that area.”
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "You are right, it should have not been cleaned up. But why is there an empty area without flowers and trees?"
Chen Shi said, "Maybe it's just because I don't have any seeds. That's not surprising."
"No, look, the architecture of this main hall is symmetrical, and the walls and buildings on both sides are symmetrical. Even the flower bed, fish pond, rockery and pavilion in the back garden are symmetrical and regular. The row of trees should originally be distributed in the back.
The ones planted symmetrically on both sides of the entrance to the temple. Such tall trees would look ugly without that piece. There is something wrong with that."
Zhang Yanling stood up and walked towards the row of dead trees. Chen Shi smacked his lips and had no choice but to limp along with Zhang Yanling. When they reached the place, everything became clear. The reason why there were seven or eight dead trees missing was that the length was left
The gap that is about three feet wide is not because it was cleared, nor was it burned out or fell down. It is because it was not planted at all.
Because the ground, which is more than three feet wide, cannot be planted with trees, the ground is not soil, but the ground of a bluestone plate. In the middle of the bluestone ground is a well platform, but there is a huge blue stone pressed on the wellhead.
"Why is there a well in this location? It's strange." Chen Shi scratched his head and said.
"It's not strange that there is a well in the garden. But it is strange that there is such a large piece of bluestone on the well. The bluestone must weigh over a thousand kilograms. And there is not even a windlass, so what is the use of this well?" Zhang Yanling frowned and asked.
.
Chen Shiyi said: "Don't worry if there are any ghosts inside, they are suppressed by the bluestone. I heard that wealthy people will build Bagua wells in their homes to suppress the evil ghosts and monsters in the house."
Zhang Yanling rolled his eyes and said: "Stop talking nonsense. What's the Bagua Well? This is just an ordinary well platform. Besides, this is the back garden of the palace. If there are any ghosts, there is no need to build a Bagua Well in the back garden of the palace to suppress them. They have to be repaired.
Go to the corner of the house. The back garden is where the family members of the mansion rest and play."
Chen Shi scratched his head and said, "That's right. That's a bit strange. This well is not in use, so why keep it?"
Zhang Yanling said: "Ask a few brothers to lift up the bluestone and take a look."
Seven or eight guards worked together to lift the bluestone, and the thousand-jin bluestone was overturned with a roar. A dark hole in the wellhead was exposed.
Zhang Yanling looked inside, but couldn't see anything clearly in the black sky. So he ordered someone to get a torch and shine inside. The light from the torch was limited, and it only illuminated a small area below the well wall, which was covered with ivy and weeds.
.Obviously, this well is indeed an abandoned well. This makes it even more weird.
Zhang Yanling frowned and pondered for a moment, then ordered someone to take a lantern, peel off the paper outside the lantern, hang the lantern with a rope and go down the well. The candlelight slowly went down the well, and after entering a position of two or three feet
, it is obvious that the flame of the candle flame is shaking, as if there is air flowing underground. The candle flame has shifted sharply to one side.
Zhang Yanling took a long breath and said in a deep voice: "I found it. Damn, the secret room is right here."
Chen Shiyi said in astonishment: "Why did you see it?"
Zhang Yanling said: "The mouth of this well is a disguise. It is not a well at all, but a ventilation hole. The secret room is underground, and it must have a ventilation hole, otherwise people will suffocate to death in the secret room. The secret room of the palace is not only for storing gold and silver treasures, but also for storing gold and silver.
It is possible to hide people at critical moments. The secret room in Prince Qing's Mansion is like this. Zhu Qingyi and the others hid in the secret room to avoid disaster. Hehe, Zhu
The old thief Zhi Xiu really has some tricks up his sleeve. He disguised the ventilation opening to look like a well. In order to prevent others from discovering the secret, he used bluestone to cover the well mouth so that no one would use it, so that the secret would not be discovered. You have really taken great pains.
Look, there is a gap around the well platform. This was left intentionally so that the bluestone can still breathe after pressing down on the well head."
Only then did Chen Shiyi discover that there was indeed a circle of gaps around the wellhead. After the bluestone was pressed up, it seemed to seal the wellhead, but air could still be breathed through these gaps.
"The candlelight is deflected because the air is flowing below. There must be holes in the well wall. The holes lead to the location of the secret room. Yes, look at this location. The bluestone floor is directly opposite where we found Zhu The place where Xiu's body is placed. The connected base is where Zhu Zhixiu sleeps. I can guarantee that Zhu Zhixiu can see this well from the window. This way he can ensure that no one can sleep under his eyes. I discovered my secret underneath." Zhang Yanling continued excitedly.
Chen Shi nodded repeatedly in admiration. As expected of the Marquis, he was able to see through the secret. He really didn't expect it. If it were him, he would never be able to see through this mystery in his life.
"Then what are you waiting for? Let's ask someone to dig in the well." Chen Shiyi said excitedly.
Zhang Yanling smiled bitterly and said: "Why dig in the well? It's just a vent. When you dig, you only dig into the wall of the secret room. Do you think this kind of secret room is so easy to enter? Can you break through the wall?"
Chen Shi scratched his head and asked, "What should we do?"
Zhang Yanling walked a few steps with squinted eyes, took a few glances, and said in a deep voice: "There must be an entrance, maybe under the base of the main hall, in Zhu Zhixiu's bedroom. He ordered someone to lift the bluestone on the base to find an entrance. try to find. "
Dozens of guards began to use crowbars to pry open the bluestones on the ground in Zhu Zhixiu's bedroom. There were huge bluestones under the base, which were extremely heavy. Everyone was sweating profusely from exhaustion as they pried open dozens of pieces. The bluestone slab was in a mess. I finally found something fishy.
There are two bluestone slabs that cannot be pried open, as if they are growing on the ground. All the surrounding bluestones have been pried open, but the bluestone slabs with nowhere to take root cannot be pried open. Even more than a dozen people cannot move them.
Zhang Yanling ordered the smashing. After hundreds of hits with a big hammer, the two bluestone slabs were finally smashed into pieces. Only then did he realize that the thickness of the two bluestones exceeded the apparent width. They were just like two bluestone pillars. At the connection point between the bluestones, a cavity in the hard rammed soil layer next to it was found, as well as a machine spring and a machine shaft.
It turns out that these two pieces of bluestone slide into the cavities on both sides by mechanical springs, and they cannot be opened by prying, pushing or pulling. Under the two pieces of bluestone weighing several hundred kilograms, there is an entrance to the underground. That is the passage leading to the underground chamber.
The personal guards were strictly guarding the place above, while Zhang Yanling and Chen Shiyi carried lanterns and walked down the stairs. After walking down more than a dozen steps and walking around a bluestone corridor, they discovered that they were walking around a square stone chamber. It is buried deep underground. There is no door on the bluestone, and there is no place to enter. It is completely sealed and there is no trace.
But Zhang Yanling had the key in hand, and he also found the hole in the stone wall on the south side.
The key was inserted and after a few turns, a clicking sound was heard. The crankshaft rumbled, and a stone door slid open, revealing the entrance to the secret room.
When Zhang Yanling and Chen Shiyi carefully walked into the room carrying lanterns, their mouths were wide open and their expressions were dull.
On rows of wooden shelves, piles of silver ingots are placed on trays, emitting a dizzying silver light. Even Zhang Yanling has never seen so many silver ingots placed so calmly on the shelves, layer by layer. Layers upon layers, like a pile of dirt lumps that can be seen everywhere.
This is just the beginning. After entering the inner room, there are only tables, chairs, benches and beds. Several wooden boxes placed against the wall are open and unprepared, and some golden halo comes out from inside.
Come.
The two walked slowly over and took a clear look at the contents of the box. They were all gold ingots, piled haphazardly in the box, as casually as sweet potatoes piled up for sale in a street market.
"Master Hou! I'm rich." Chen Shiyi said with a trembling voice.