Chapter 5 Chapter Four: The Tomb of the Deserted Village

Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang inquired about the way to Gaojia Village. In order to avoid attracting attention, they didn't need a car and just followed the road on horseback. Di Chun stayed at the inn to take care of his luggage and didn't carry it.After walking for a while, the snow had stopped. Sure enough, a dilapidated village in the snowy field was built on a slope, and the road in front of the village was almost invisible because no one walked for a long time. Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang came into the village and tied their horses to a random tree. They saw that the houses were dilapidated. Some of the roofs had collapsed, leaving only a few ruined walls. The window was half slanted down in the snow, looking very desolate. The road in the village is narrow and leaning against the slope of the hill, with highs and lows, turning seven turns and eight turns. Di Renjie walked silently, while carefully looking around, turning For a moment, Li Yuanfang felt that the dilapidated house was similar everywhere, and couldn't recognize the place where he came in just now, so he couldn't help saying: "Sure enough, what Xiao Er said is right, the roads in this village are indeed a bit weird."

Di Renjie smiled and said: "Yuan Fang, you can find that the roads here are not only complicated, but when we walked around the village, we always circled at the bottom of the slope, and the tombs on the slope that seemed to be in front of us were always inaccessible. ?” Li Yuanfang looked down at the messy footprints on the snow, frowned and said, "That's right, what's going on?" "Just now I walked all the way, I feel that the layout of the village is very ingenious and rare. It should be built according to the formation of the Eight Diagrams of the Nine Palaces. Although it has fallen into ruins, it can still be seen that the houses were built at the beginning of the year. It is inevitable that you will feel lost. Such painstaking design is to prevent outsiders from entering the cemetery on the slope. Is it really the place where Gao Changgong's bones are buried?"

Di Renjie pondered slightly, and said, "Yuan Fang, follow me." Li Yuanfang followed Di Renjie closely, the two of them sometimes walked along the road, sometimes passed through the firewood fence of the house, and sometimes they walked towards the tree and courtyard wall when there was a clear path, but they all made sense. The maze-like cottages, Li Yuanfang stood on the slope and looked back at the village. At this time, he was condescending. Looking down, he saw the village's exquisite and unique layout. He didn't know how to turn it out just now. He couldn't help sighing: "Nothing is too difficult .”

Di Renjie said with a chuckle: "It's important to find Gao Changgong's tomb first. This formation is mostly used in marching and fighting. Few people are willing to spend such a great effort on building a village. If you are interested, I will talk to you in detail when I have time." Listen." As he said, he looked around on the slope, because the top of the slope was extremely uneven, and it was hard to tell where to put his feet under the snow, Li Yuanfang hurried forward to help him, and he had to pay attention to his feet. Looking for it, they walked very slowly, and the two couldn't help looking at each other and smiling: looking at this leisurely state, it seemed like enjoying the snow scene in a deserted village.

"Your Excellency is talking about Gao Changgong, but the legendary Northern Qi Lanling King who wears a mask every time he fights because of his handsome appearance?" "Well, have you seen "The Song of the King of Lanling Entering the Battle"?" Di Renjie said: "This dance song is about the battle of Luoyang. The soldiers couldn't recognize who was coming, and they thought it was the enemy's trick. When he took off his mask and showed his face, the army in the city was very excited and quickly repelled the Zhou army. The people of Qi were brave and good at fighting. The song "Entering the Battle" was performed as "Big Mian" dance drama in our dynasty. Although the content was edited by later generations, Gao Changgong is indeed a real person. He is the grandson of Gao Huan, the prime minister of the Eastern Wei Dynasty. He has a beautiful voice and appearance. Mulan joins the army, and the last one to vote is the tent of King Lanling."

Li Yuanfang nodded and said, "I have heard this story before." Going around a rock, seeing mud and rocks slipping from the top of the slope, the ground has collapsed. Although the height is covered with thick white snow, there is a black seam at the bottom where it meets the ground. Li Yuanfang bent down and squeezed a snowball , with a light throw, knocked off the snow on the slope, only to see a recessed hole revealed, hurriedly turned to look, after a while, still returned to the hole and shouted: "My lord, this looks like an entrance." .” The entrance of the cave was probably formed by the collapse of its own accord over a long period of time, and it was extremely difficult to enter. Li Yuanfang applied force with his palm and knocked down a few pieces of adobe to allow people to walk in. The passage was straight but not long. It was a circular tomb. The hole was wide open at this time, and the snow light reflected in, but it was not very dark. Di Renjie took a rough look, and there was nothing in the tomb except for a small stone platform in the middle.Li Yuanfang took out the fluorescent beads from his bosom, and a layer of faint light suddenly floated in the room, adding a sense of mystery.

There are some life-size figures carved on the wall. Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang stepped forward to take a closer look, and saw that although there were horses and the like, there were not many figures wearing armor. The main figures in the picture were specially molded into half reliefs. It protrudes from the wall, but it seems to have been made in a hurry, and there are still places that are not finished, and it is unevenly mixed with the wall.The finished figures are molded with tightly folded clothes, and oil paint is applied on the outside of the clay. At first glance, it gives people a clear and beautiful feeling. Although the background of the siege battle is painted on the back of the mural, it does not make people feel the battle. The bloody and terrifying atmosphere contrasts with the well-dressed and vivid charm of the main characters in the picture. Then look at the person in the middle of each group of paintings, and he is wearing a mask. Unfortunately, several parts of the color have peeled off, and one character's face has fallen off completely, leaving nothing to be seen. The shape of the mud stick protruding outward was left.

"Looking at the statues on the wall, the characters are beautiful and the bones are clear, and the clothes are like water. They do have the charm of Cao Zhongda's painting style in the Northern Qi Dynasty." Di Renjie looked at Li Yuanfang, and said to himself: "Sculptures and paintings on the walls of the tomb. The scene of the tomb owner's life is also in line with the status of the Lanling King and Northern Qi nobleman, but in this small cave, only the middle platform seems to have been used to put things, but judging from the shape of this platform, it is impossible to put it The coffin, is this just a tomb of clothes?"

Li Yuanfang was puzzled and said: "Since Gao Changgong is the king of the county, why does the statue on the wall seem a little rough and unfinished? Besides, the tomb seems to be too simple." Di Renjie said: "If it is really the tomb of Gao Changgong, it is possible. Because he was killed by Gao Wei, the empress master of Qi, because of the envy of Gao Wei, and Northern Qi established itself until it was destroyed. In just 30 years, there were constant wars in the north. Most of the masters are known as cruel and crazy people in history." Speaking of this, Di Renjie couldn't help sighing and said: "Gao Changgong's tomb was completed in such a hurry, maybe this is the reason."

Li Yuanfang said: "So that's the case. In fact, even if the tomb is designed to be exquisite and concealed, can it really bring the world's prosperity and wealth underground forever?" "That's right, even the tomb of Gao Huan, the ancestor of the Northern Qi royal family, cannot escape being stolen." As Di Renjie said, he lowered his body to look at the stone platform, stretched out his hand to brush the plaster on the platform, and suddenly changed his expression: "Yuan Fang, fetch some snow." Li Yuanfang went back to the entrance of the cave to hold some snow, and Di Renjie wiped the snow on the stone platform, and under the fluorescent light, a picture appeared, some images were carved with thin lines on the original smooth stone surface.

After careful identification, you can see that it is a symmetrical picture, with a person and a rider engraved on each side, facing each other. There seems to be a river in the middle, and there are some trees. There are suns and moons on the left and right sides of the picture. Draw with a single line, but don't understand what the drawing means. Di Renjie frowned and said: "This painting is very strange. It is completely different from the mural style. The image is simple, but it seems to be some symbols." "Look, my lord, the two people in this painting look like bearded hair." Li Yuanfang pointed to the stone surface, looked at Di Renjie, and said in a daze, "Is the painting a Khitan man?" Di Renjie nodded and was also very puzzled: "It should be very important for this painting to be carved on the stone platform, but it would be hard to notice it if the original things on the platform hadn't been taken away. Hidden and obvious, I don’t know what’s the purpose?” Li Yuanfang shook his head, his face was also blank. Di Renjie lowered his head in thought, walked slowly around the stone platform unconsciously, stared at the cave wall directly behind the stone platform, stood still, followed his gaze, and saw the peeling off paint on the wall, which seemed to be relatively neat. A long strip fell from top to bottom, Li Yuanfang understood, stretched out his hand to grope on the cave wall, after a while, only heard the sound of "Zhaza", a cave wall in front of him turned outward, revealing a secret door, Li Yuanfang opened it early After getting Di Renjie to avoid it, he paused for a while, and after seeing nothing unusual, he walked in with Di Renjie. After a while, the secret door closed by itself.