Xixia dead book

Chapter 17: Legend of the Undead in the Book of the Dead (17)
The two walked down the road that Tang Feng and his party had just walked, one in front of the other. Almost at the same time Tang Feng and Han Jiang found them, Xu Renyu and Stephen also found them.When Xu Renyu saw Tang Feng and Han Jiang, he shouted: "I said you must have walked down this road, Stephen still doesn't believe it."

"Why don't you two wait for rescue where you are, and come here?" Han Jiang sternly reprimanded.

Xu Renyu was stunned by Han Jiang's scolding and couldn't speak for a while, but Stephen rolled his eyes at Han Jiang and replied nonchalantly: "Officer Han, we are not your prisoners, you can go down the mountain?" , why can't we come down."

Now it was Han Jiang's turn to be speechless, and Tang Feng hurriedly interjected: "We don't care about you, we are worried that it will be unsafe for you two to come down like this. The environment here is complicated and deserted, and accidents are prone to happen. You should stay on the mountain and wait for rescue. Safety some."

"Staying on the mountain? Waiting for rescue?" Stephen looked up at the sky, "The communication between the mountain and the outside world has been cut off. In this kind of horrible weather, do you expect someone to find us? Don't dream, stay on the mountain, or be frozen Die, or starve to death, or become the dinner of the beast! If you don’t want to die, you have to go out by yourself.”

"Not bad! The weather is very bad, and it is difficult for rescuers to find us, so we went down the mountain to look for outside rescue." Han Jiangchong explained Stephen.

Stephen froze for a moment, and said, "That's why we blamed you wrongly, I thought you all ran away?"

"All ran away? What do you mean?" Han Jiang was puzzled.

"The Russian father and daughter are gone too!" Xu Renyu interjected.

"What? Makarov and Yelena are gone too?" Tang Feng stared at Stephen and Xu Renyu in surprise.

Xu Renyu nodded and said, "When we woke up, there was no one around your campfire.

I thought the five of you went down the mountain together, and Stephen said that you definitely didn't go down the mountain together.Sure enough, it was hit by Stephen, you are not all the way. "

"I said earlier that it was not easy for the Russian father and daughter." Han Jiang whispered.

"That's right! The old man who piloted the plane is definitely not an ordinary person." Stephen said suddenly with a strange expression.

"Then what are you doing in China?" Han Jiang changed the subject and approached Stephen.

Stephen was taken aback again, and after a long while, he slowly said: "It seems that you are also very interested in me."

"Yes, I'm interested in all the people around me, especially after the plane crashed." Han Jiang stared at Stephen and said.

"Okay! If you are interested, I can tell you that I came to China this time for my father. My father is a devout Buddhist. He has always wanted to invite a Buddha statue back from China, but he is too old. , I can’t walk anymore, so I came here this time to fulfill my father’s wish.” Stephen said calmly.

Han Jiang didn't hear any flaws from Stephen and Xu Renyu's words, and the five of them sat around the campfire again. Stephen and Xu Renyu tasted Han Jiang's roast squirrel, and Xu Renyu distributed some of the food in his bag to Liang Yuan.

4
The five of them rested and were ready to continue their journey.Tang Feng looked at the waterfall under his feet and said in embarrassment: "There is a waterfall ahead, and there is no way to go on both sides of the stream. How can we go down? Unless there are climbing tools such as ropes."

"Don't think about rock climbing tools, let's see if there is a way to go on the mountains on both sides." Han Jiang frowned and looked at the mountains on both sides.

Everyone looked up the mountain together, "There are few people here, where can I get there?" Tang Feng murmured.

"Look, what is that?" Han Jiang suddenly pointed to a dense forest on the left mountain ridge and shouted.

Tang Feng looked in the direction of Han Jiang's finger, and was surprised to find that there was a flat land halfway up the mountain ridge on the left. Among the lush greenery, there were some strange grays faintly exposed, and there seemed to be a wisp of cooking smoke rising from there. "There seems to be a house there! Maybe it's a hunter's house." Tang Feng guessed.

"I hope there are people living there, and someone leads the way. We can get out of the mountain soon." Han Jiang said.

Everyone looked at each other suspiciously, and then started to head towards the halfway up the mountain. Tang Feng observed the surroundings vigilantly along the way, and everyone tried to keep their voices to a minimum.Half an hour later, when they climbed to the middle of the mountain, everyone was stunned—what was displayed in front of them was not a hunter's house, but a group of grand buildings all made of gray stones.The exterior wall of the entire building was covered by many vines, and it seemed that no one had lived in it for a long time. It looked particularly eerie in this inaccessible mountain.And the cooking smoke that was still faintly visible at the foot of the mountain just now is gone now.

"What is this?" Liang Yuan was shocked.

After observing for a few minutes, Tang Feng said with certainty, "Qiang Village! A group of Qiang Villages that are large in scale, but... but seem to have been abandoned for a long time."

"Qiang village?"

"Yes, Qiang Village! The ancient dwellings of the Qiang people. This is a very typical Qiang Village. It is built on the hillside and is magnificent. The main building has four floors. There are two watchtowers standing on both sides of the main building. A square tower with a big chimney." Tang Feng said and pointed to everyone.

Han Jiang nodded, "How can there be such a large Qiang village in the mountains where there are few people?"

"Maybe it was left by the ancients, but it was abandoned later! Judging from the shape of this Qiang village, this is not an ordinary Qiang village, but a well-designed and well-regulated official village." Tang Feng speculated.

"Guanzhai? Is it the former residence of the chieftain in the southwest region?" Stephen asked suddenly.

Tang Feng nodded and said: "Yes, since the Yuan Dynasty, the central government has set up chieftains in the ethnic areas in the southwest, and the local tribal leaders will lead the tribes they belong to, and they can be hereditary. The Ming and Qing dynasties continued to use the chieftain system. Beginning with the emperor, the Qing government implemented the policy of "reforming the land and returning the native land" and the officials sent by the court gradually replaced the hereditary chieftains. However, these chieftains were still very powerful in the southwest region, and the imperial court's "reforming the land and returning the native land" did not go smoothly until the Republic of China During the period, there were still many chieftains in the southwest region. The chieftain system lasted until the new China, and finally died out. The Qiang village in front of us is well-preserved and well-preserved after many years. , the amount of water is not large now, if in summer, the stream is rushing, and there are waterfalls and cliffs below, the Qiang people like to build the Qiang village on the edge of such a roadless cliff. Chieftain's official village."

"Then when was this Qiang village built? And when was it abandoned?" Xu Renyu asked curiously.

Tang Feng shook his head, "I don't know, maybe we can only see the clues when we go inside."

The crowd continued to walk towards the Qiang village. Suddenly, a stone in the grass caught Tang Feng's attention. Tang Feng pointed to the stone and said to the crowd, "Look, this stone seems to have been polished by humans."

"Oh?!" Everyone was shocked.Tang Feng wiped off the dust on the surface of the stone, but found nothing abnormal.He observed for a long time, and said: "I can be sure that this is a stone tablet. It was supposed to stand nearby, but it was pushed down and became a broken tablet."

"Then there should be text under the stele?" Xu Renyu asked Tang Feng.

Tang Feng nodded, and said: "There should be, but this side doesn't look like there are words, maybe the side with words is pressed down."

As he said that, Tang Feng leaned down with his arms and turned the broken stele over, and everyone gathered around to observe carefully, but what was disappointing was that the other side of the ruined stele was still blank, with no trace of artificial inscriptions at all.

"Tang Feng, did you make a mistake in your judgment?" Han Jiang asked Tang Feng suspiciously.

Tang Feng also began to waver. He stared at the remnant stele and murmured, "Is this a stele without words?"

Tang Feng squatted on the ground, still looking at the remnant stele.Han Jiang stood up, looked around, and found that they were standing on the flat ground in front of the Qiang village.The crowd dispersed, and searched for a long time in the nearby grass, but they couldn't find the rest of the monument. "It seems that we have to go in and find out." Han Jiang muttered to himself.Tang Feng kept silent. He stared at the maze-like Qiang village in front of him again, his heart was shrouded in suspicion, while Han Jiang subconsciously touched the Type 84 miniature pistol on his waist...

5
When a group of people came to the Qiang village, Tang Feng looked up at the Qiang village in front of him, and introduced to everyone: "Generally, the first floor of the Qiang village is not inhabited, and it is mainly used to raise livestock, and the second floor is the main living area. , is also a place to enshrine ancestor tablets. The third floor is also a living area, but it is generally used to store food and other items. The fourth floor is generally a platform and the main place for lighting. You can see that this Qiang village is very perfect. The windows on each floor The windows on the first floor are called "floor windows", the windows on the second and third floors are called "flower windows", the small windows next to the flower windows are called "dowl windows", and the windows with strange shapes on the fourth floor platform, Like a ram's horn, hence the name 'horn window', there is also a kind of 'rising window' on the platform, which is what we commonly call 'skylight', and the lighting in the center of the Qiang village depends entirely on this rising window."

"What are the watchtowers on the Qiang village for?"

"Qiangzhai is different from ordinary dwellings in that it has a strong military defense function. In ancient times, these frontier areas were not peaceful. In order to prevent enemy attacks, Qiangzhai built watchtowers. The watchtowers and the platform on the fourth floor, the most The important function is to keep an eye on the enemy's situation and defend against the enemy's attack."

Han Jiang looked up at the watchtowers on the east and west sides. The watchtowers built entirely of stones soared into the sky. What kind of ingenious workmanship did this allow the ancient Qiang people to use simple tools to build such tall watchtowers.Suddenly, Han Jiang's eyes were dazzled by a bright light, and Han Jiang said in surprise: "Tang Feng, look, there seems to be someone in the watchtower on the east side?"

Tang Feng was also shocked, and hurriedly looked towards the eastern watchtower, but he didn't see anything.Looking at the top of the watchtower covered by clouds, Tang Feng shook his head and said, "Impossible, in this inaccessible remote mountain, it is impossible for someone to still live in this Qiang village. Besides, the inside of the watchtower is full of wooden stairs and boards. The rain has already decayed, and it is impossible for anyone to climb to the top of the watchtower."

Han Jiang walked quickly to the gate of Qiang Village on the second floor, pushed sideways, and with a "squeak", the thick wooden door wrapped in iron sheet opened automatically.In the hall on the second floor, it was pitch black, only a ray of dazzling sunlight came down from the hole in the middle of the roof, and shone on the central pillar supporting the entire Qiang village.Tang Feng followed Han Jiang and came to the center of the hall on the second floor. He raised his head and stared at the hole on the roof for a long time. Then, his eyes slowly moved down along the thick central column.

"Is that hole the 'rising window' you just mentioned?" Han Jiang asked Tang Feng.

"Hmm! Very ingenious design." Tang Feng's gaze slowly moved to the bottom of the central pillar, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he pointed to the bottom of the pillar and said to the crowd, "Look, there seems to be words under this pillar."

With the light from the rising window, everyone found that there was indeed a row of characters engraved under the central pillar. Tang Feng bent down to examine it carefully. It was a row of Chinese characters. Tang Feng slowly read out the row of characters: "Da Ming Hong Wu 27 years, long live His Majesty the Emperor."

"What does this mean? Why are they Chinese characters?" Liang Yuan asked puzzled.

Tang Feng thought about it for a long time, and speculated: "I think this should be the exact age of this Qiang village building. It is said that after the fall of Xixia, there was a group of party members who fled back to the place where the party members originated in order to avoid being chased by the Mongolian Yuan regime. The place is in this large mountain in the northwest of Sichuan. Throughout the Yuan Dynasty, they did not dare to show their faces, so it was not until the 27th year of Hongwu, that is, decades after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, that this group of party members knew that the Yuan Dynasty had perished, and the outside world also knew The existence of this group of people. It was probably at this time that the Ming Dynasty canonized the leader of this group of Dangxiang remnants as 'Tusi', and they built this large-scale Qiang village."

"Is this history, or your speculation?" Xu Renyu asked Tang Feng.

"It is both history and speculation, because this secret history has long been lost in the long river of history." After Tang Feng finished speaking, he looked at the central pillar and murmured, "We have found such an ancient Qiang village!"

Han Jiang turned on the flashlight and looked around. There were seven closed doors around the hall.

"Where do these doors lead?" Han Jiang asked in a low voice.

"Only when we open it, we will know." Tang Feng said thoughtfully.

As soon as Tang Feng finished speaking, there was a crisp "pop" sound from the first door on their left, and everyone immediately became alert...

6
Tang Feng made a gesture to signal Liang Yuan, Xu Renyu and Stephen to stay by Guozhuang in the lobby on the second floor, while he drew his pistol and walked to the first door on the left with Han Jiang.Tang Feng found that the door was not locked, and it was very quiet inside the door, without any sound.At this time, Han Jiang rushed to Tang Feng to stretch out his arms and swing them sideways twice.Tang Feng understood that this was the sign language used by the special forces. Before coming here, Han Jiang had taught him various sign languages ​​used by the special forces. This gesture meant "enter".

Tang Feng made a "understand" sign language to Han Jiang.Han Jiang counted down to three gestures, and Tang Feng kicked the door open.Han Jiang Duangun rushed in first, followed by Tang Feng, but when they rushed through the door, there was no one inside, only a black cat, sitting on the spiral wooden stairs leading downstairs, it was this cat just now The sound the guy made.

"Why is there a cat here?" Tang Feng let out a long breath.

Han Jiang remained vigilant, and whispered, "I think the cat's eyes are very strange."

"The cat's eyes? What's so strange?"

"I don't know, where does this staircase lead to?"

"It should lead to the first floor, and it may also lead to the watchtower."

"Come down with me and have a look. If you don't want to be a target, you'd better turn off the flashlight." Han Jiang's reminder made Tang Feng break out in a cold sweat, and he hurriedly turned off the flashlight.

In the darkness, the two walked down the stairs in the dark, but they walked less than ten steps, and suddenly, there was another loud "bang" behind them. "No, the door is closed." Tang Feng reacted quickly this time. He quickly turned on the flashlight and shot at the door. The door was closed, and the black cat disappeared.

Tang Feng's heart was lifted into his throat, and he looked back at Han Jiang, Han Jiang's face was as sinking as water, without saying a word.After returning to the door, it is the same as when entering the door.One, two, three, the door opened, and everything in the living room was as usual, except—Liang Yuan, Xu Renyu and Stephen disappeared.

"Where are they?" Tang Feng asked in surprise.

Han Jiang opened the safety of the pistol and looked around vigilantly. The gate of the Qiang village was closed, and all the doors around him were closed.Holding the gun, Han Jiang walked to the edge of Guozhuang where Liang Yuan and the others were standing just now. Suddenly, a muffled voice came from the second door on the left: "Tang Feng, I'm here, come and save us—"

Tang Feng and Han Jiang immediately realized that this was Liang Yuan's cry for help.Han Jiang rushed to the door with a stride.He slammed into the door with all his strength, but the thick wooden door didn't move at all, but Han Jiang was bounced back by the wooden door because of too much force.

Han Jiang was surprised, with his own strength, he couldn't break through the wooden door in front of him?He tried again, trying to hit the door, but Tang Feng stopped him: "Wait a minute, look here, there is a wooden door latch."

Only then did Han Jiang notice a protruding wooden latch on the side of the wooden door. At this moment, Liang Yuan's cry for help came from inside the door: "Dr. this door."

Han Jiang stared at the wooden door buckle and said doubtfully: "It seems that this door buckle blocks the door, preventing Liang Yuan and the others from pushing the door open. But we should be able to open it from the outside!"

Tang Feng was also puzzled, but he quickly thought of something. He stretched out his hand to play with the wooden door button, and the door button was pushed down. Seeing this, Tang Feng shouted to Liang Yuan who was inside the door: "Would you like me again?" Try, push this door!"

"Squeak", there was another ear-piercing sound, the door opened, and Liang Yuan and Xu Renyu rushed out in panic.Liang Yuan bumped her head into Tang Feng's arms. Tang Feng stared at Liang Yuan's eyes full of fear and asked, "Why are you locked in there?"

"You... after you entered that door, Dr. Xu and... Stephen went to push the other doors. After I entered with the doctor, I... couldn't get out!" Liang Yuan said intermittently.

Han Jiang and Tang Feng looked at the space behind the door, and they couldn't help being secretly surprised.It turns out that the scene behind the second door is exactly the same as the scene behind the first door on the left. It is also a wooden spiral staircase. The wooden ladder has been winding downwards, and it does not know where it leads.Looking at the door again, as Tang Feng expected, there was indeed a door buckle inside the door frame, and it was this door buckle that made Han Jiang try his best to push the door open.

(End of this chapter)