Chapter 13 Section 12 Tuyugou Grand Canyon

When Chu Feng told Fatty the news and asked Fatty to promise not to leak the secret, Fatty's expression was a little strange. It made him lose his mind: "Fatty, what's wrong with you? Are you uncomfortable?" "Oh, no, no." The fat man quickly replied, "I'm just sighing, or the friendship between brothers back then is true. Over the years, no matter what, no matter what, you are the only one who promised me without asking why." After hearing this, Chu Feng walked up behind the fat man, and patted the fat man's shoulder twice: "Fatty man, what are you talking about? Back then we were able to give each other our backs." Back then, Chu Feng and the others When I was a soldier, the border was not peaceful. Sneak attacks and frictions happened from time to time, and the friendship established in the battle was extremely solid.

Hearing what he said, the fat man seemed to have returned to the past. He looked at Chu Feng and stretched out his hand: "Good brother!" The two held hands tightly. Coming out of the fat man’s house, Chu Feng suddenly felt that he had nowhere to go. He had to go to Lop Nur, and the preparations would take at least a few days. Professor Ling was concentrating on deciphering the birch bark document, and it was inconvenient for him to bother him. He was in Urumqi. , besides Fatty, he has no acquaintances. He was worrying, when suddenly his eyes lit up: Yes, how could I have forgotten him.He dialed the number of the black tower man Sambu.

Sangbu happened to be looking for him, so when he received the call, he asked Chu Feng to go directly to the office of their archaeological team to look for him. When Chu Feng arrived, in his poorly furnished office, besides him, there was another young man, who were lying on the table looking at the map. Chu Feng greeted him when he entered, and when Sangbu saw him coming, he dragged him to the table without saying any polite words. This is a detailed map of the Lop Nur area. Sangbu pointed to the map and said: "I heard that you have appointed me to lead the team when you go in this time, but I still have a rescue and archaeological excavation task in Shanshan this time. Come, I just want to make a plan that has the best of both worlds." He said, pointing to the place marked with a yellow line on the map, "The location of the stele we are going to this time is in the west of the ancient city of Loulan, commonly known as Loulan. That is, the west bank of Lop Nur, near the lower reaches of the Tarim River, is already on the northeast edge of the Taklamakan Desert. There are many roads to get there. Since ancient times, entering the Lop Nur area has been nothing more than entering from Dunhuang, Hami, and Shanshan in the east or from the west Ruoqiang, but there are only two or three relatively safe ones. From Dunhuang west to Yangguan, Yumen, through Bayi Spring, to Lop Nur Town, and to the west, this is a road that goes through the desert to Ruoqiang County. Then go directly to the north from Argan Township in Ruoqiang. This is the second route, and there is another route, which is to take the newly built National Highway 235, starting from Hami, going directly to Lop Nur Town, and then going west. For us, This is the closest and most convenient way. But—"

After hearing this, Chu Feng knew that Captain Sangbu must have some difficulties. He said, "Captain Sangbu, just tell me what you have. I will listen to you about the route when you go out this time." After hearing this, Sangbu didn't raise his eyelids. He still stared at the map and said, "This is Shanshan. Not long ago, when the villagers of Tuyugou Township in Shanshan were building a village road, they dug up an ancient tomb. The superior ordered us to carry out rescue archaeological excavation. Now the project is more than half in progress, but the work has not yet been suspended, and the time is tight and the tasks are heavy. Just this time, I came back with a meeting excuse! You are going to Lop Nur again, and you have also designated I lead the team, but we don’t have enough manpower, so I thought, otherwise, didn’t you contact the Xinjiang Institute of Biodiversity? Let me show you a way. During the preparation period for the past few days, I will go to Shanshan first. When you are ready, meet me in Shanshan. We will go to Shanshan and cross the Kumtag Desert. When we get here, you Look—" he pointed to a small green dot on the map, "here is a car trap spring, go southwest from here, it's very short, and you'll be there, but this road is a bit more difficult to walk."

At this time, Chu Feng didn't know that the road Sangbu mentioned was the North Lop Nur Road that no one had traveled for hundreds of years. It used to lead directly to the ancient city of Loulan and Gaochang.This road is currently the most dangerous of all the roads leading to the Lop Nur area.He called Professor Ling and told him about it. After pondering for a long time on the phone, the professor agreed.Chu Feng hung up the phone and nodded to Captain Sangbu with a smile. There was no relaxed expression on Sangbu's face. He whispered something to the young people around him, and then said to Chu Feng: "Then How about this, come to Shanshan when you are ready." After saying that, he was ready to go out.

Chu Feng hurriedly followed: "Captain Sangbu, I have a merciless request..." Sangbu stopped suddenly and interrupted him: "What's the matter? Just tell me!" Chu Feng knew that he couldn't say polite words to such a person: "I want to go to Shanshan with you!" Sangbu turned his head and stared at him with wide eyes. Chu Feng took his time to meet his gaze, his eyes were clear and energetic. Sangbu looked at it for a while, then turned his head and left, and said in a low voice: "If you want to go, follow!" The reason why Chu Feng is so sure that Sangbu will bring him is because this kind of archaeological activities has always required the participation of experts. Although he has not been in this industry for a long time, not to mention his previous reputation, he is only against Professor Ling's disciples. The signboard is also the coveted invitation object of many archaeological activities.General experts must consider these factors when participating in such activities, which has resulted in some small-scale archaeological activities that hardly invite real experts to participate.

The reason why Chu Feng wanted to join the archaeological team was also to start adapting to the wild archaeological environment in Xinjiang in advance.After explaining to his mentor, the fat man, and Lin William who was still in Nanjing, Chu Feng asked Ling Ning and the other two to join the main force in Shanshan, and then he boarded Captain Sangbu's Mitsubishi off-road vehicle. Three hours later, they arrived at the scene.Here Chu Feng met Professor Wang who had met in Professor Ling's ward last time.He went up to say hello to him, and when the old man saw him, his eyes lit up and he was very excited: "Why, Professor Ling also thinks that this place is connected with the ancient tombs of Astana?" He misunderstood Chu Feng intention of coming.Chu Feng had no choice but to hum and haha ​​this question.

"Astana" means "capital" in Uighur. The ancient tombs are located about 40 kilometers southeast of Turpan City.The ancient tombs of Astana include the Gobi in the north of Astana, Hara and Zhuo villages. It is a public cemetery for the residents of Gaochang from the Western Jin Dynasty (3rd century AD) to the Tang Dynasty (8th century). A nether world where people seek after-death happiness.The entire cemetery extends from the northeast of Gaochang City to the northwest of the city. It is about 5 kilometers long from east to west, 2 kilometers wide from north to south, and has a radius of 10 square kilometers.

From the geographical point of view, this area is not far from the ancient tombs of Astana, but it is not enough to judge whether the two are related. Chu Feng saw four vehicles from the Xinjiang archaeological team, There were probably less than 20 team members, and the team members were organizing migrant workers for construction, and the whole site was full of dust. As soon as Chu Feng arrived, he checked the terrain everywhere. This place is at the foot of the Flame Mountain that is said to have forced Sun Wukong to borrow the banana fan three times, but it is not close to the Lianhuo Expressway that has opened up a scenic spot. It is on the south side of National Highway 312. Tuyugou Grand Canyon is not far away.

The mountains here are all made of red sandstone, from light to dark red from top to bottom, and the mountains run from east to west, like a crouching red dragon. It was around 5 pm at this time, and these nearby hilltops seemed to be on fire in the sun.Chu Feng knew that after a while, when the sun sets, this kind of mountain will emit colorful streamers, which is extremely beautiful. However, he also understands that beauty is beauty, and after the sun sets, they should suffer. Although it was early summer at this time, in the Turpan Basin of Huozhou, especially in Shanshan, the highest temperature had already reached above 35 degrees Celsius, and here was the center of Huozhou. Even though it was afternoon, it made Chu Feng feel unbearably hot.He brought a computer bag with him, but left the luggage at Fatty's house. He was still wearing a casual jacket at this time, and he quickly took it off, revealing the blue shirt inside.

This can already be regarded as the Gobi Desert. Camping here, don't look at it being so hot now, it will be very cold at night.Chu Feng secretly regretted why he didn't buy a sleeping bag and bring it with him. As it was almost dusk, Captain Sangbu seemed a little anxious. He yelled at the team members, those who pitched tents, those who collected migrant workers, whoever moved slowly would be scolded by him. After giving instructions for a while, Sangbu came over, called Chu Feng, and went together to a tomb that the migrant workers had already dug up. In this entire tomb, only one clay pot was unearthed. Chu Feng carefully observed the newly unearthed painted pottery pot. With his current eyesight, the exact age of this pot is still unclear, because this kind of pot is too common, and it is commonly used in the Western Regions. The narrow-mouthed and round-bellied faience pots were used from the 3rd and 4th centuries to the 20th century. Even the Uighur villagers in some places in southern Xinjiang still use this kind of pots, and some sell them as handicrafts. . In addition to the pot, a passageway was dug out, which is obviously a tomb passage. On the left side of the place where the pot came out, it continued into it. A well is like a well, deep in the shade, 80 meters square, but I don't know how deep it is. All this shows that there should be a tomb group here, and it is a tomb group with complex burial customs.However, in the burials of ethnic minorities in the ancient Western Regions, there are very few cultural relics unearthed. One is that there is no custom of being buried with them, and the other is that local materials are scarce and cannot be buried with them. Sang Bu pointed to the two tombs and analyzed them with Chu Feng. Vertical tombs are usually seen in the burial customs of the northern minorities, especially the ancient Sai people, and the tomb with a tomb passage is likely to belong to the Han people. Chu Feng agreed with this judgment, but Sangbu didn't have time to talk with him, and was quickly called away by the team members. Chu Feng stood alone by the entrance of the tomb, looking up, but saw that Professor Wang got into the car and seemed to be leaving, he was very puzzled, waved his hand, walked over and asked: "Professor Wang, why did you come?" Are you leaving?" Professor Wang smiled awkwardly: "I just stopped by to have a look. At first I didn't plan to participate in this field archaeological activity, so I didn't bring some things that should be brought. Now I have to go back first." Chu Feng nodded in understanding.However, he didn't plan to go back. Since Captain Sambu was willing to take him with him, he wouldn't be unprepared. After Sang Bu arranged the manpower, he suddenly had someone seal the opening of the open vertical tomb.Chu Feng didn't know the reason, so he could only keep silent beside him.The sun was about to set, and the village head and the villagers were going back by tractor. Sangbu waved to stop the village head, whispered to the village head for a while, and then pointed to Chu Feng.When Chu Feng saw this, he knew in his heart that Sangbu was arranging a place for him. The result was not what he expected.These villagers are all from Mazha Village, more than 20 kilometers away. "Mazha" in Uighur means cemetery.The villagers in this village are all Uyghurs. This village is one of the seven holy places of Muslims in the world - the location of the tomb of the Seven Saints. It is the oldest Uyghur village in Xinjiang and the most complete preservation of the ancient Uyghur traditions and folk customs. . To go to the village, you must pass through the Tuyugou Grand Canyon.Tuyugou Grand Canyon is the most mysterious place in western China.The canyon is 8 kilometers long and about 1 kilometer wide on average. It cuts the Huoyan Mountain longitudinally from north to south, and the highest peak of the Huoyan Mountain is located in the canyon.In the canyon, there are not only a great mosque, but also the Tuyugou Thousand Buddha Caves dug in the Jin Dynasty and the Sixteen Kingdoms period, and the remains of a large Tibetan Buddhist temple surrounded by architectural layouts.Therefore, this village located in the valley at the southern end of the canyon is not only the "Oriental Mecca" in the eyes of Muslims in the northwest region, but also the "Holy Land" in the eyes of Buddhists. Every year, many Muslims and Buddhists come here for pilgrimage. Soon Sang Bu asked the archaeologist Xiao Wang to drive and sent Chu Feng to the village chief's house. At this time, it is the time when the Tuyugou Grand Canyon is the most colorful in a day. Under the setting sun, although Chu Feng is well-informed, he can't help but marvel at the canyon scenery with strange rocks and ravines!Currently, there is only one "heart-to-heart road" on the west bank of this canyon.The car is running on the "Lianxin Road" halfway up the mountain. On the other side are rocks and mountains that glow in the setting sun; below are winding mountain roads and canyons with a depth of thousands of feet. The ups and downs of the mountains and the overlapping peaks make people feel awe-inspiring and cheerful.