Chapter 2 Chapter Two

In anxiety, Qin Yun waited until the bell rang to get off work, but he couldn't wait for the notice from the courtyard that he was appointed to dig Monk Hua's tomb. His worries were finally cleared away, but his heart was filled with disappointment.After dinner, he was about to go to the urban bar to watch the live broadcast of the football game, but he received another notice that an anonymous scholar would visit the Tibetan Scripture Cave at night. The Mogao Grottoes close on time at 6 pm in spring and summer, and have received no less than 3 million tourists in the past three years. There has never been an exception. What happened tonight is a bit unusual.Qin Yun graduated late and is only a junior researcher. This kind of overtime escorting and guiding errand will naturally fall on him.He was so depressed that he cursed, but thinking that the visitor might be an important person, he had no choice but to suppress his unhappiness and wait in front of the Mogao Grottoes archway on time.

In the evening, the wind blowing from Mingsha Mountain loses a lot of the smell of sand, but brings a little bit of desolation and gloom.Research life is bitter and lonely. When the world is immersed in the carnival of lust, they have to face the loess and crown it with the title of national treasure. In fact, it is a pile of murals graffitied by the ancients. Qin Yun is really tired. The Mogao Grottoes in the twilight are gloomy, and the tall nine-story Great Buddha Hall faintly gives people the feeling of the Hall of Yama.It's normal to feel this way. After all, it was built 1400 years ago, and the corpse energy absorbed by it probably filled the entire inner room.Just as Qin Yun was fascinated by the Great Buddha Cave, a withered hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder, and he was shocked.

"Is it Qin Yun?" An old man's voice came from behind.Qin Yun turned around, his face turned pale.The old man is about 60 years old. He has gray hair and a kind face, but his skin is dark and dry. He must also be a field researcher who has suffered from wind, rain and dew. "I am, what do you call me..." Before Qin Yun finished speaking, the old man waved his hand and took the lead into the Mogao Grottoes, obviously not wanting him to know his identity.The two of them walked around the Buddhist caves, like traveling through history in the twilight, and this feeling was frightening.Qin Yun remembered that when someone died in the village when he was a child, he would tie up some paper figurines and wreaths, which looked like mottled murals.Because of this, Qin Yun almost never entered Mogao Grottoes at night.

The old man went straight to Cave 16, and the further he walked, the more the street lights on the other side of the Daquan River couldn't shine through, and it soon became black.The old man turned on the LED flashlight in front of Cave 16. The scripture cave is located behind a wall in Cave 16, which was originally covered by mud and murals. On June 22, 1900, Wang Yuanlu, a Taoist priest who had occupied the Mogao Grottoes for many years to clean up Buddhist caves, accidentally discovered this secret room when he planted Achnatherum splendens in the gap in the wall. It was later named Cave 17 by the Dunhuang Academy.The scripture cave was originally filled with scrolls, printed copies, painted banners, bronze Buddhas, etc., with a total of more than 50,000 pieces, but now it has been transported empty.The old man came to the front of the Buddhist scriptures cave door and looked at it for a long time. The cave door was terribly dark, and the walls were painted with dark red and light green murals, which were almost unrecognizable.

Qin Yun said: "The murals have been weathered and analyzed for thousands of years, and it is difficult to keep them as they are. We have sealed up some Buddhist caves to prolong their life, and are also carrying out digital protection through international cooperation. This may be the only one that can be permanently preserved. A way to save them." "This is just a speck of Dunhuang Buddhist culture. Let them age as they age." The old man didn't seem to blame the institute for its lack of protection. This sentence touched Qin Yun, and he helped the old man into the Buddhist scripture cave. The inside is very cramped, 1.6 meters high and 2.7 meters wide. It is a slightly rectangular stone room, and you have to bow your body to enter.Qin Yun said: "This is the only scripture cave found in Dunhuang so far, but I think there must be other scripture caves."

The old man who was stroking the stone platform in the cave was taken aback. He turned his head and stared at Qin Yun with gray eyes: "You can't rely on imagination in learning. After liberation, the state organized many investigations and used the US RADAR geological radar. If there are still holes in the cave, it is impossible not to be discovered." Qin Yun let out a long sigh, this is exactly what he was confused about, but according to common sense and observations over the past three years, he still insisted on his point of view: "The largest survey activity was in 1996, but the participants were not cultural relics researchers. They were sent by the military, and the entire Mogao Grottoes were sealed off at that time, and the results of the investigation were not made public."

"You mean—" the old man lowered his voice, "the country hides the truth?" Qin Yun smiled noncommittally, and then said: "I have been working here for three years, and I often find fresh soil in some Buddhist caves in the morning. You must know that every 6 o'clock in the evening, this place will be blocked, and there will be strict armed guards. So who sent the fresh dirt in?" The old man's face changed slightly. Qin Yun went on to say: “At the beginning of the 20th century, after Wang Yuanlu discovered the scripture cave, British explorer Stein, French sinologist Pelliot, Tsarist Russian Obruchev and Odenburg, Japanese Yoshikawa Koichiro and Tachibana Ruichao came successively, cheated, stole or bought a large number of high-quality scriptures from Taoist Wang, and Taoist Wang transferred a batch of essence to other places for secret storage. When the Qing court shipped the scriptures to Beijing, the scriptures were collected The cultural relics in the cave are only the most useless broken scrolls. I think there must be a lot of secrets hidden in those essence scrolls that are not known to China."

The old man nodded and encouraged Qin Yun to continue. "The Japanese obtained scriptures later than Britain, France, and Russia, but their understanding and research on Dunhuang culture was much deeper. At that time, the world generally believed that Dunhuang was in China, but Dunhuang studies were in Japan. This also Why?" "Why?" asked the old man. "At your age, you must know that in 1965, 1978 and 2004, China arrested Japanese geological survey teams who illegally entered the vicinity of Dunhuang three times. Why do Japanese appear here frequently?" Qin Yun continued, "Still Yes, in 1953, the artillery unit of the Lanzhou Military Region used anti-aircraft guns to shoot down a Japanese transport plane in the northern part of Dunhuang. You must know that it is reasonable for the Japanese to send reconnaissance planes deep into the interior of China, but it is unreasonable to send such a large transport plane. "

The old man's face became more and more serious. Qin Yun's status in the research institute is low, and he rarely has the opportunity to express his views. Today, he can boast about a suspected "big man", and he is very excited. This side of the story is being artificially hidden and is being studied by a group of secret figures, including the Japanese." The old man asked, "What else do you know?" Qin Yun felt that he had become an expert, and said loudly: "From 1900 to the present, many natural wonders have occurred in Dunhuang, such as the miraculous 'Golden Light' and 'Thousand Buddha' wonders that appear every year on Sanwei Mountain; Drying up; Mingsha Mountain always sounded the sound of thunder and horns, there must be some connection between these things, of course I haven't found the answer yet."

The old man suddenly said sharply: "Your guesses are groundless, remember not to spread them to the outside world, or the consequences will be disastrous!" After speaking, he walked away, leaving Qin Yun standing in front of the scripture cave with a blank expression. "What's the matter? What a weirdo!" Qin Yun complained, and walked out of Mogao Grottoes sullenly. At the exit, he met the old yellow head holding a flashlight. He said with a smile: "Congratulations, you passed the examination. I come!" "Assessment? Are you saying that the scholar just now is assessing me?" Qin Yun hurriedly caught up with the old Huangtou.

The old Huangtou is estimated to be in his fifties. Like most archaeologists, he is dark-skinned and skinny. There is a hint of slyness in his eyes, which is a common expression for middle-aged people of his age, which contains sophistication. with savvy. "The archaeologist just now is very powerful. His name is Yuan Zhenhe. He is the leader of the Dunhuang Archaeological Research Team appointed by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. This time, the Secretary of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee will personally greet him at the airport. Our Dunhuang Academy The secret research team also accepts his transfer, and every new member must pass his personal assessment. It is said that he is currently hosting a top-secret archaeological activity in Dunhuang. I don't know." Qin Yun asked in surprise: "So, I am now a member of the secret research team?" The old Huangtou smiled without answering, and led the agitated Qin Yun into the Dunhuang Research Institute, to a utility room on the first floor where few people enter, opened a black button box embedded in the wall in the corner, and pressed one of the green button boxes. Press the button, only to hear a few clicks, and the floor of the utility room slowly cracked, revealing an entrance of about one square meter.This utility room is actually hidden in the basement, and Qin Yun didn't realize it after working here for three years. There is a steel ladder under the entrance, and the old Huangtou takes the lead to go down. The basement is very spacious and brightly lit. It is filled with various cultural relics of Mogao Grottoes, including pottery, ironware, painted sculptures, scriptures, inscriptions, corpses, bronze Buddhas, etc., which are countless, or placed in glass covers on the table; or Put it on a stand; or hang it on the ceiling, and there are several rows of bookshelves on the innermost side, which are full of scrolls, documents, Buddhist scriptures, embroidery, painting streamers, etc., which are different from those collected by the Dunhuang Museum. Top-secret cultural relics, only members of the secret research team have the honor to witness.There is a small door on the east side of the basement, and the old Huangtou led Qin Yun in.Inside, three people who Qin Yun often sees but don't know their names are sitting at a square table. They must be members of the secret research team.There is a laptop computer and a projector on the table, and the projector projects a picture of the appearance of Monk Hua’s tomb on the white screen on the wall.On the top of the white screen, there are a few large characters "JM01 No. 1 Cave Archaeological Excavation Plan". Qin Yun was secretly delighted. It seems that he was really introduced to the Secret Research Group, a national secret archaeological research institution.