Chapter 59: The Cave of Thieves

The roof of the Fishbone Temple, swaying slightly in the mountain wind, emitted a crunching sound that made one’s heart panic, but after observing it for such a long time, we realized that this temple, although dilapidated, was very sturdy, probably related to the fact that its beams were whole fish bones.

The clay statue of the Dragon King in the temple, only less than one-fifth left, the upper part of the early I do not know where to go, the base of the altar of the gods is a coral plate shape, also made of clay, the color on it has already faded, it looks quite unsightly.

According to my estimation, if there is a cave in the temple, it is very likely to be in the mud altar underneath, the fat man asked me if I have any basis, I didn’t tell him, I was inspired by the then popular “martial arts novels”.

We put all the things on the ground, roll up the sleeves and fat man force to move the altar, the altar on the mud was broken down by the two of us quite a lot, but the whole altar and the small half of the clay statue does not move.

I thought to myself, “It doesn’t work if you’re so brutal, so is there some kind of mechanism?

Fatty does not care what organs, explosive temper up, swung up the spatula to smash the altar, although the altar is made of mud, but very hard, fat and cut and smashed, tired and sweaty, only smashed half, under the exposed white stubble of stone.

This means that there is no passage under the altar, we worked for half a day for nothing, and we were a little discouraged.

Dajinya has been in the side to help, the fat man smashed the altar of God when he stood far away, in order to prevent the splash of mud and stone hit, he suddenly said: “Master Hu, Master Fatty, you see behind the altar of God is not a dark tunnel, maybe it is repaired in the side, not what we imagine straight up and down the tunnels.”

After Dajinya reminded me, I crouched down to look at the back of the altar, the altar is more than half a person high, is rectangular, is located in the depths of the temple, the back of the gap is narrow, only one person to pass through.

I had previously looked at the back and thought that it was a mud tire that was connected to the altar of the god, in addition, I was preconceived and always thought that the entrance to the tunnel should be on the ground, so I never thought of this point.

At this time to observe carefully, knocked the back of the altar with his hand, I can not imagine a look, issued an empty echo, and with the feel of the hand to know, the outer layer of mud, is a thick layer of wood.

I raised my foot and kicked, click several times, the back of the altar, revealing a hole in the ground, the board was uncovered, it turned out that this hole is really under the altar, but the upper side is built of brick and mud, solid and thick, not fake, the back of the entrance is a wooden board, the outside of the altar of the same as the whole mud, and then coated with color, the wooden board is in fact movable, in the inside and outside of the can be opened and closed, the outside does not even look out.

I said to Dajinya: “OK, Master Jin, really a word to wake up the dreamer, how did you come up with it?”

The big gold teeth exposed the big gold teeth said: “I also said in passing, I did not expect to really masked, it seems that today we do not have bad luck, can make a big profit.”

The three of us can not help a burst of ecstasy in our hearts, hastily move things to the back of the hole, I opened the wolf-eye flashlight to the inside of the light, the diameter of the hole is not big, not small, the fat man climbed into the rich, but he can not turn around in this size, if you want to go back halfway, but also have to feet forward to crawl backward.

I praised offhandedly: “really excellent means, small fat, master gold, you see this hole dug, see flute see line, round place with the mother of the round gauge painted like, and hole avoid on the shovel marks, one next to one, do not need to mention how well-proportioned.”

Dajinya is a family origin, the end is to know some skills, also praised, only the fat man can not see a reason, the fat man holding two big white goose said: “the two pieces of material on it, so that they do probing soldiers.”

I said: “and not busy this time, the cave is always closed, first scattered inside the dirty gas, and then put a goose down to explore the road, we tossed half a day, first eat and drink and then say.”

Fatty put the two geese back into the basket, took out the beef jerky and white wine, anyway, this dragon king temple is fake, we do not need to worry about a lot, the three of us sat on the altar to eat and drink.

We eat while discussing the matter into the cave, Dajinya has always had a doubt, this mountain since it is empty, why there is a great deal of trouble, digging tunnels in the Temple of Fish Bones it? Wouldn’t it be better to find a cave and dig in.

I said otherwise, although there is a cluckster cave landscape, and the distribution is very wide, not small, but from our intelligence to analyze, we can make such a judgment:

Local people call this place “Dragon Ridge” or “Snake Plate Slope” or, the name is not important, but are described as complex terrain here.

The most important point, know the people here almost all say that the cave in the mountain is a labyrinth, the name of the Dragon Ridge Maze Cave, is from this, so I think this cave, is not a whole big hole, but fragmented, there are large and small, some parts of the mountain is solid, and some of the empty, these holes vary in depth and length, but also connected to each other, intricate and complex, so fall into the person is not easy to get out of it.

Cover the fishbone temple of the gold feeling lieutenant, since can be broken in a piece of the potential of the mountain range to accurately find the direction of the tomb, he must have common people and can not be, the shape of the situation of the skill is extremely good.

This cave is slanting down, tomb raiding is also concerned about a look and smell, “look” means through the lookout, with both eyes to look at the feng shui, looking for the specific location of the tomb, which is the most difficult, “smell” is to smell the soil to identify the quality of the tomb’s geologic structure of the soil information, “ask” is to grasp the tomb’s geologic structure of the soil information, “ask” is to find the tomb’s location, and “ask” is to find the tomb’s location, and “ask” is to find the tomb’s location. This is the most difficult, “ask” is to get close to the local old man, to gain his trust, through gossiping to the local old man, to learn about the information of the tomb, and finally this cut, in the method of hitting the burglary holes, there is a special technology called “cut”, that is, in advance to accurately calculate the azimuthal angle and topography and other factors, then from the distance to make a burglary hole, this hole, this hole is a hole, and this hole is a hole. The hole leads straight to the place where the coffin of the tomb owner is parked.

The hole in front of us, the angle is slightly tilted downward, I’m afraid it is a cut hole, as long as you look at the straight line distance, even if the hole is halfway through the hole, into the cave, but also in accordance with the direction of the pre-calculated, through the cave, and continue to run to the dungeon digging. Not to be trapped in the Dragon Ridge Cave lost direction.

I dig this hole of the expert very admiring, this hole should be this neighborhood to the best gold route to the ancient tomb in the palace, but unfortunately did not catch in the same era, can not and that predecessor to exchange the exchange of insights and experience.

Three people ate meat and wine, by smoking a few cigarettes, I guess the hole in the restoration of the gas has been let go of most of the cave, out of my expectation is the length of this cave, it is too long.

Earlier I let the fat man to buy two geese, is to use the rope to tie the goose legs, rushed into the robber hole to test the quality of the air, but did not expect this hole is so deep.

I said to Fatty and Dajinya, “It’s very likely that the robber’s cave will pass through the caves around the Dragon Ridge, the caves are all over the place, and there will be water inside, in that case, we don’t have to worry about breathing, if it’s a solid cave, then every time we breathe in after we go in, the concentration of carbon dioxide will increase by a portion… …”

Dajinya said, “This is very dangerous, without enough measures to prevent breathing poisoning, we can’t risk going in, since we’ve already found the hole, why don’t we seal it up first, and then come back to do it when we’re fully prepared, this tomb won’t run away on its own legs.”

I said: “This is no need to worry, I open the way in the front, wearing a simple anti-poisoning mask, walk a section of the hole in the insert a candle, the candle is extinguished, that does not support the air combustion of hazardous gases is too much, then immediately back is, in addition to the first two geese can be bolted with a rope to catch them to walk in the front, if you see that the two geese wilted, and also immediately back to them, and then again! I have a few pairs of simple gas masks, although not as good as professional gas masks, can also cope for a while.”

Dajinya see me say so secure, then also moved up, must with us into the palace to see, do this line of work is this problem, you do not let him know where the palace, it’s just, once you know, and in the left near, if you do not go in to see how to be willing to give up.

Do not say that the big gold teeth and other people, think that the great scholar Guo Moruo and some archaeologists, many times jointly petitioned the Prime Minister, asked to open the Li’s Qianling mausoleum, said the crown, that is worried about the Qianling mausoleum just built in the seismic zone, once the earthquake inside the cultural relics will be destroyed, in fact, this group of scholars would like to look at the things in the palace in his lifetime, have done a lifetime of this work, the more years of doing the curiosity of the more kinds of, the thought of the king’s burial objects, the more the king’s burial objects, the more the king’s burial objects, the more the king’s burial objects, the more the king’s burial objects. One thought of the burial goods in the real Wang Xi Zhi, will be anxious to no longer be able to hold down, and finally the Premier to give them the approval is: within ten years do not move. These people only then die.

So I understand the mood of the big gold teeth, do antique line if you can enter the tomb of the palace to see, then go back after there will be talk, identity can be upgraded by one or two grades.

I persuaded him a few more words, see him insist on going, then gave him a pair of anti-virus masks, and then by the fat man currently open the way, holding the two geese climbed into the cave.

I followed closely behind, the hands of a lighted candle, big gold teeth followed at the end, the three slowly crawling to the first, inside the cave every section of the wooden frame with fixed, although do not have to worry about collapsing, but which dark and depressing, crawling forward a period of time, I felt that the eyes were spicy a bit, I hastily lighted a candle, did not extinguish, which means that the quality of air is still allowed to continue to move forward.

The more I crawl forward the more depressing I feel, I am crawling, Dajinya tapped my foot at the back, I look back at him, see Dajinya face is sweaty, gasping for breath, I know he is tired, then greeted the fat man in front of me to stop, and in passing, put the candle on the ground, just want to ask Dajinya how the situation is, can still hold on and continue to climb forward, but I see that the candle plugged into the ground suddenly extinguished.