Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 360: A maze in the mountains?
When Zhang Shou hurried to Maliu Mountain from Zanghai Lower Courtyard at the foot of the mountain, he received an unexpected but reasonable news. Zhu Ying did what she said, and Zhu Yi did not stop her at all. She had already taken the stupid little monk Guantao, and Huifa, a monk from Wanghai Temple who was said to have experience in digging holes, and Zhu Yi, a group of four people went down together.
De'an, the abbot of Wanghai Temple who was guarding the entrance of a tunnel, was an old monk in his fifties. When he saw Zhang Shou coming, he meticulously relayed Zhu Yi's helpless message.
"The eldest lady said that when she was wandering around Cangzhou, she heard a rumor that there were relics of the great ancestor hidden in the secret passage in Maliu Mountain, so she had to go down and take a look for herself."
Zhang Shou was speechless. Zhu Ying had never told him about this! Moreover, even if there were such rumors, it was just like saying that there were treasures buried in the mountains and rivers. It was mostly a lie. Or did he underestimate Zhu Ying's enthusiasm for Taizu's relics? But he didn't see the young lady think about the few fragments of the stele he got from Lao Xianyu!
Looking at the dark entrance to the tunnel, he couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his forehead, but then, when he heard what old monk De'an said, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"The tunnels under the Maliu Mountain and the places that are prone to collapse were discovered by Wanghai Temple long ago, and people were ordered to block them one by one. After all, there were pilgrims and children who went down there in the past and almost got lost, but they were finally found safely. As for the map, although it is not very detailed, there are sketches. Huifa, who served as a guide, was the one who went down there to find the child."
Since De'an was fair and just in the rumors, when he said this at this time, his attitude was naturally extremely sincere, and no one could find any fault with him.
"Although there are plenty of monks in Wanghai Temple, it wouldn't matter if a dozen of them went down, but the young lady insisted on not going down. Moreover, the temple was also worried that too many people would go down. What if a monk behaved inappropriately and caused her to misunderstand, so I didn't send more people to follow. Dr. Zhang, please be at ease. The young lady should just be on impulse and will come up when she finds it boring."
"Originally, the young man next to the young lady suggested that she tie a rope around her arm before going in, so as to avoid getting lost. However, after learning that the total length of the tunnel in Maliu Mountain is several miles, he finally gave up the idea."
Hearing this, Zhang Shou thought that the word "boring" was indeed a very appropriate description.
Tunnels are fun to watch in videos, but boring to go in person. He had visited a famous site on the Jizhong Plain, where people could walk upright. But in real tunnels... you can tell from the videos that most people can't walk upright. Moreover, even if there are more ventilation holes, the air is still inevitably turbid...
I really don’t know where the interest comes from!
In comparison, the underground tunnels in Zhang Garden in the capital city were simply luxurious! Just like in movies and TV series, both the secret rooms and the underground tunnels were reinforced with blue bricks and huge wood. The underground height was high enough for people to walk upright, and even three people could reach the top by stacking up on top of each other...
However, although his mind told him that he didn't need to go down to dig a hole at this time, Zhu Ying should be safe and sound and would be unable to hold back and come out soon. However, after thinking it over, he finally said to the abbot of Wanghai Temple, De'an, "Can you please ask someone to show me the way? I have to go down and take a look. Whether she is fooling around or something else, since I brought her out, I must bring her back safely."
Zhu Hong, who had just rushed to the lower house of Zanghai to inform Zhang Shou, only breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.
He always felt that his eldest daughter had completely forgotten the modesty of a rich lady since she met Zhang Shou, and fell into him recklessly, not knowing how much sincerity she had given. So, when the eldest son came to him and implicitly expressed the same concern, he always pricked up his ears and opened his eyes.
Fortunately, Zhang Shou did not need him to keep an eye on him, because Zhang Shou was obviously more indifferent to fame, wealth and power than most people. He never showed any signs of being wholeheartedly planning for his future. As for the beauty throwing herself into his arms... it was probably because he seldom went out to hang out, and others could not get this opportunity. What's more, Zhang Shou's attitude towards such a rare and talented woman like Princess Yongping was ordinary.
The only thing he had to worry about was that Zhang Shou was only indulging Zhu Ying out of helplessness, but was not actually very sincere towards her.
But at this moment, seeing that Zhang Shou had asked a monk to be a guide, and after the others entered the tunnel to lead the way, he immediately followed in front of Ah Liu without hesitation. As he hurriedly caught up with them, he couldn't help but think in his heart that maybe both the eldest son and he were worrying in vain... Otherwise, with the tempers of the lady and the lady at home, how could they just let it go?
Although he was reluctant to be a groundhog, since he had come down, Zhang Shou put aside his messy mood and concentrated on finding someone. However, after bending down and walking along the tunnel for a while, he felt his waist and neck were a little sore, and suddenly found a problem.
In order to save precious oxygen, the four of them only lit one lamp. However, when they finally came down and their eyes gradually became familiar with the dimness, he felt that it was not as dark as he thought. Every few meters, there were air holes on the top or the side that emitted beams of light that were very conspicuous in the darkness. Although the air around was not fresh, it was at least not particularly stuffy.
As he moved forward holding onto the earth wall, he soon discovered another problem. This was that the tunnel did not look like an ancient project that had been dug for thousands of years and then abandoned due to the changing times.
Think about the manpower and productivity of Qi during the Warring States Period. Although it was indeed considered wealthy among the six countries, even if it was built on the only commanding height in this endless plain, isn't the tunnel in front of us a bit exaggerated?
In the past, tunnels were either used to hide and transport troops, or to store food, fodder and military equipment during war, or as a weapon to detonate city walls during sieges - the last possibility may have only emerged after the frequent use of gunpowder after the Song and Yuan dynasties.
This is not the Warring States version of tunnel warfare. There is no possibility of guerrilla warfare in this small Maliu Mountain. Why dig a large-scale maze? Once the enemy really reaches the mountain, even if you dig out the entire bottom of the mountain, you have already lost strategically!
Thinking of this, Zhang Shou frowned slightly. But at this moment, he vaguely heard a sound coming from not far away. He immediately clapped his hands to signal everyone to stop, then turned around and patted Ah Liu's shoulder. Seeing the boy behind him looking at him, he pointed to his ears with his finger.
Seeing Ah Liu nodded in understanding and then listened attentively, Zhang Shou did not give up and listened attentively to the movement in front of him. Soon he caught a faint sound again. However, the sound seemed to be far away. Even if he concentrated, he could not distinguish whether it was talking or something else.
But soon, the boy next to him with good hearing had already made a judgment: "The sound seems to be coming from the front and left. I heard the eldest lady's voice. It sounds like she is not in danger. On the contrary, she seems very happy?"
She was actually very happy ? Well, the young lady's interests were really different from those of ordinary people.
Zhang Shou had a question mark in his mind, and Ah Liu took the opportunity to whisper a few words to the guide monk in front. The next moment, the thin monk turned around and whispered: "If it is on the left side in front, you should go to the second intersection of the fork in the road ahead... But there are too many forks in the road. Although Wanghai Temple has drawn a map when exploring the road, the map is not very complete because it is impossible to confirm whether there are any secret passages."
As if he realized that the word "secret passage" could easily cause ambiguity, he quickly added: "If it is far away, we can only move forward slowly and not rush. Brother Huifa is a very cautious person. Maybe he left a mark for us on the road."
Zhang Shou did not intend to put pressure on others casually, so he said without hesitation: "Okay, I'll listen to you. Just lead the way with all your heart."
Zhu Hong, who was at the end, was also walking while feeling around to see if there were any marks. He even wondered if Zhu Ying had left something with her, such as a gold hairpin, silver coins, or golden melon seeds to show the way. However, when he heard Ah Liu say that he heard Zhu Ying's voice and was very happy, he was speechless.
In a place like this where even a grown man like him was terrified to walk, fearing that the soil above him would suddenly collapse, Zhu Ying was not afraid at all, but... very happy?
After turning three or four forks in the road, Zhu Hong, who had been memorizing the way, had lost his direction because of the many twists and turns in the dark underground, and could only stagger behind the person in front of him. He was already 20 years old this year and was very tall, which he was very proud of in the past, but now he felt it was extremely inconvenient.
He then looked at the three people in front of him. The monk Huiming who was leading the way was not tall, and Zhang Shou, who was only seventeen years old, had not yet grown up. As for Ah Liu... the young man with a strange temper was half a head shorter than Zhang Shou. Therefore, the three people in front only needed to slightly lower their heads and bend their bodies to move forward in this tunnel, but he almost had to hunch his entire waist.
Fortunately, just when his waist and knees were weak, the voice in front of him suddenly became much clearer, and it was Zhu Ying's voice. Although the voice seemed to be some distance away, he finally put his heart at ease.
"Of course I have to take this stele back, otherwise I haven't dug this long in vain. I just listened to the rumors at first, like a story, that Emperor Taizu rebuilt the tunnel in Maliu Mountain... But can you calculate how long it took? Even if Qi State controlled Maliu Mountain and dug a tunnel in the mountain to defend against Yan and Zhao, wouldn't it be too long?"
"Of course, it is possible that this stele is not an ancient artifact, but was placed here on purpose, and then someone deliberately spread the rumor to me. But so what? Even if I don't understand it, Ah Shou will always understand it!"
In a huge underground hall, Zhu Ying placed her hand on an ancient stone tablet in the middle, with an unquestionable tone. But at this moment, she suddenly heard Zhu Yi's voice: "Someone is coming!"
Although she didn't know who was coming, Zhu Ying still shut up immediately, with a vigilant expression on her face. But then she heard a familiar voice: "Yingying, even if you came down to look for something, you could have waited for me to come with you. You came down without asking for permission, aren't you afraid that Brother Zhu would punish me and hunt me down when I return?"
"Why did you come down?" Zhu Ying was so happy that she couldn't express it. But when she saw Huiming, Zhang Shou, and Ah Liu appear one by one, and the last one was Zhu Hong, she said angrily, "Zhu Hong, why did you make a fuss and force Ah Shou to come down to find me?"
Zhu Hong felt that he was more wronged than Dou E, and could only smile bitterly and said, "Mr. Shou was worried, so he came down to look for someone."
Of course, he didn't bother to stop him, because he wished Zhang Shou could care more about his young lady...
Zhu Ying's face turned slightly red, but under the dim light, her change of expression was well concealed. She brushed the strand of hair by her ear, and then said with a slight frown: "A Shou, you should stay outside, so that you can have someone to take care of you. You are like this, only thinking about others, not caring about yourself at all!"
Zhang Shou was speechless. Miss, are you qualified to say that? Although he thought so, he just coughed and got back to the point: "Okay, there are too many people in this tunnel. It will be troublesome if the air is not smooth. Don't stay here for too long. You go first and we go behind. Let's go."
Zhu Ying then muttered in a low voice, embarrassed, "It's easy to leave, but there's a stele here. I saw the handwriting on it is similar to the broken stele that Old Salty Fish gave you before, so I wanted to take it back. But Zhu Yi, the useless guy, said he couldn't carry it."
"I can't carry it... How can I get this thing, which weighs at least several hundred kilograms, out?" Zhu Yi was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
He simply threw the problem in front of Zhang Shou, and then glanced at Ah Liu. Let alone others, even if Ah Liu was as powerful as him, even if he brought in the hidden old salted fish and the fat monk Canghai, who could carry the stele out?
Sure enough, the next moment, he heard Ah Liu say, "I can't."
Zhang Shou estimated the length, width and height of the stele, and then randomly multiplied it by the density of ordinary rocks, and he calculated it on the smaller side. He knew that even if all of them were put together, it would be impossible. He simply took the lamp from Huiming's hand and shone it up and down in front of the stele. Seeing that it was indeed a bunch of letters that looked like a heavenly book, he concentrated on studying it for a while, and then laughed to himself.
When they came in, they did not find the heavy marks that should have been there when the stone tablet was transported in, which showed that the things had been here for some years. However, the age of antiques does not mean that they are authentic.
Those letters that don't form any words can't fool anyone, no one can fool him!
So Zhang Shou simply said, "If we can't move it out, we'll send someone back to make a copy of the words first, and then see if we can move the stone tablet. Anyway, such a big thing can't get away, so let's go up first!"
