Daomu Biji

(The uncle ’s next narrative is very cumbersome and involves a lot of things in old Changsha, but these things are very interesting to me, because I have loved the old things with the smell of earthy scorpion since I was young. It ’s okay to listen to the sense of history.)

The name of the missionary in Sanshu ’s mouth at that time was called Cox Hendry, and the Chinese name was Jude Kao. He worked in a church school in Changsha and was one of the Americans who came to China during the Kuomintang period with the then eastward tide.But this man has been unclean since he was a child. He has little interest in foreign culture, but he is very interested in Chinese culture. Perhaps in the American economic concept, cultural relics are only one of the commodities. They can be bought and sold freely, and they can also be exported naturally. So in the third year of China, he occasionally did some smuggling of cultural relics in secret, that year he was only 19 years old.

Judeka's smuggling business has always been done with care, and the business is not very big.At that time, there were two kinds of smugglers. One was a running camp, which took a large amount, but the bid was very low. It was a one-off transaction, which was very risky.Jude Kao is a "iron trading", that is, high bids, less things, but very safe, come to a sum.His way of doing business was very appetizing to Grandpa, so Grandpa had a good relationship with him at the time.

But Judeka was not a friend worth making. From the bottom of his heart, he did not regard grandpa as a friend, even he did not regard grandpa as a person equal to him.My grandfather knew afterwards that in private, he called my grandfather a bug.

After the liberation of Changsha in 1949, the Kuomintang was completely defeated. Then in 1952, the church began to withdraw from China. Many Americans stranded in China began to return to China. He also received a telegram from the church to let him return when it was safe.

He realized that his business in China was coming to an end, so he began to make preparations and transferred his property.Before he left, he had another sinister idea. He and his fellow party began to buy the Mingqi, and used the Chinese's psychology of trusting the old relationship to take away a large number of cultural relics with extremely cheap deposits. My grandpa's Warring States silk script.

At that time, my grandfather was not willing to sell this thing that his parents had exchanged for. It was Jude's lies that the money would be used to open Shantang. The grandfather felt that this was Jade, and he barely shot it (of course, my grandfather said it himself Yes, I do n’t know if it ’s true. I do n’t think a person like him is likely to have this kindness).

After all the goods were on board, Judeco knew that some of these people were not easy to provoke. In order to avoid future troubles, he took a telegram on the ship to the police station at that time, and sent my grandfather to a dozen or so All the traces were leaked to the temporary garrison of the Changsha People's Liberation Army at that time.

This was the very famous "Book of Warring States Period".This is not just a case of smuggling of cultural relics, because the relationship between Judeco and the generals of the Kuomintang before the liberation involved a lot of factors that were peculiar to the era, such as spies and treason, and became very complicated and almost alarmed the central government.On that day, Jude returned home in full force, and the batch of natives who had accumulated wealth for him shot dead, jailed in jail, and wailed.

Although it also deserves sin, such a death is really too tragic.Later, the smuggling of Chinese cultural relics during the Great Leap Forward and the "Cultural Revolution" was almost extinct, and it was also related to the death of this group of people at that time.

At that time, my grandfather was clever. When he saw that the situation was wrong, he fled into the mountain overnight and hid in an ancient tomb. He slept with the dead body for two weeks, escaped the limelight, and fled naked to Hangzhou.This incident hit my grandfather so much that the Warring States silk script later became a taboo for him.When he was alive, he always told us not to talk about things in this area, so people in our family have always been scornful about this.

After Jude's return to the United States, he auctioned the relics and made a fortune. The Warring States silk was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of New York at a high price, becoming the highest-priced relic at that time, and Jude's became a millionaire and an upper class society. Upstart.His story in China has been written into a biography, which is widely circulated.

After becoming rich, Jude Kao gradually turned his interest to socializing. Around 1957, he was invited to serve as a consultant to the Far East Art Department of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, providing consultants on the research work of the Warring States silk script.The curator of the museum at the time was the infamous Pu Allen. Both of them were China Connect. They both hired bandits to dig the homes of cultural relics in China and soon became friends.Judeco also sponsored a sum of money to the museum as a fund for the acquisition of private Chinese cultural relics.

Probably because of the laid back of affluent life and the love of Chinese culture, Jude's self-cultivation and self-cultivation gradually became addicted to the study of Chinese culture. He hosted several large-scale projects in the Metropolitan Museum, and the results were quite remarkable.However, it was in 1974 that he really made his name in the annals of history. He solved the matter of the ciphertext of the Warring States silk.

At that time, his research on the silk books of the Warring States period had lasted for more than 20 years. At first he was to raise the price of silk books, but later it was entirely because of interest.

At the beginning, no one believed that an American like him could unlock the ancient Chinese code. However, Judeco did it with amazing perseverance.

It is also a coincidence that he used the inspiration from an ancient Chinese "Embroidery Book" to discover the decoding method of the "Warring States Books".This decoding method is actually similar to the method of using text to record embroidery programs in "Embroidery Spectrum".In mathematics, it is a dot matrix to make a picture. It is not complicated to say that it is completely a coincidence. You can think of it and you can solve it. You ca n’t think of it, even if you are proficient in ancient Chinese cryptography.

After discovering the decoding method, Jude Kao was overjoyed and immediately summoned personnel to translate the grandfather's Warring States silk script on a large scale.A month later, all the ciphertext was solved.

However, to Judeka's surprise, what appeared on the decoding paper at the time was not the ancient text that originally predicted the divination calendar during the Warring States Period, but a strange and completely meaningless pattern.

It's hard to describe the strange appearance of this pattern. I looked at the sketches drawn by my third uncle and couldn't figure it out.To describe it, I can only say that the pattern is very simple. It consists of only six curved lines and an irregular circle. The lines extend to each other, a bit like the veins of the river on the map, or the stems of some vines, but , I do n’t feel like giving the circle.When you look at it from a distance, it seems to be an abstract text; when you look at it closely, you don't know what it is.

In addition, there is no information. If you do n’t say that this is from a broken book of ancient Chinese books, everyone will think that this is a line drawn on the paper by a child who just took a pen.

After thousands of hardships, the translated thing turned out to be such an inexplicable pattern, and Judeco felt very surprised.He once thought that his translation method was wrong, but after repeated verification, he found it impossible, if it was wrong, then it was impossible to successfully convert the text into a seamless pattern.Obviously, what is recorded in cipher text is these seven lines.

What do these seven lines represent?Why did the owner of this silk book hide it in the text?

With so many years of experience in China, his instinct tells himself that he can be written in cipher text on an extremely expensive silk and silk, and it will not be an ordinary pattern.This line must have any special meaning, maybe it's not trivial.

He became very interested in it, and immediately began to consult the information.He spent a lot of time to turn through countless libraries, and at the same time, took this pattern to the Chinese sinologists at the university to consult.However, the group of people in the United States has a limited level, and tossing for half a year has no results. Even if some people say speculation, it is nonsense and totally unfounded. It is nonsense when it is heard.

Just when his interest diminished and he felt that there was no hope, a friend from the university pointed him out.He told Jude Kao that such Chinese weird things should be asked in the old man's heap in Chinatown. At the time of the Cold War, in Chinatown, there were many old scholars from Taiwan, Canglong Crouching Tiger, and there might be clues.

Jude Kao was right when he heard it. With the last hope, he really went to Chinatown for advice.

There is a kind of library in Chinatown, where the old people gather. Judeka went to this kind of place, and circulated the graphics, but also lost his life, and he really encountered him.

This tall man is a skinny old man who is a celebrity in the local area. He was listening to a book in a tea house that day and happened to encounter Jude Kao to send a picture. Zhang Na was asked to see it.After this look, he was taken aback by asking where Judeka got it?

Jude took a look at the door and couldn't help being overjoyed. He naturally had his own set of rhetoric. After talking to the old man, he quickly asked if the old man knew anything.

The old man shook his head and said no, but he told Judeco that although he did not know the origin of the figure, he had seen something similar in one place.

Jude Kao heard it, and his heart moved. He asked where he saw it.

The old man said that while he was still on the mainland, he saw a red furnace in a Taoist temple in Qimeng Mountain, Shandong. The figure was carved on this red furnace.

Chapter Eleven Bronze Pill

For a long time, this graphic is mysterious, and there is no clue how to find it. Now that I heard this, Jude Kao was very excited. He immediately invited someone to make a pot of good tea and handed it respectfully. Please ask the old scholar for details Talk.

The old scholar had nothing to do with himself. Seeing that he was very interested and interested, he gave Judeco the story of the time.

That was 30 years ago, when the old man was a professor of Chinese Studies at Peking University, a member of the Kuomintang, and his son-in-law was a brigade commander under Zhang Lingfu.After the defeat of the 74th Division, the Kuomintang's remnant army was reduced to zero, and his son-in-law fled the Qimeng Mountain with the remnants, became a bandit, and spent three years in the mountain.Later, the PLA's bandits and his son-in-law were forced into desperation, and they took over with the Kuomintang agents, preparing to flee to the United States.

After buying the road, the old man and his family were taken into the mountains by his son-in-law, waiting for the news of the boat.Because the wind was very tight and it was inconvenient to bring family members, during this time, his son-in-law settled them in a Taoist temple, disguised as a Taoist, and waited for the secret agent to respond.

The Taoist temple is actually a kind of folk clay temple. However, unlike the temples in other mountainous areas, this Taoist building is strange between two cliffs less than 50 meters apart.The entire Taoist temple is similar to a huge ladder, one layer at a time, a total of seven floors, the walls are painted yellow mud walls, very simple, the top four floors, is a wooden board between the two cliffs, even There are no railings.Several shrines are made of clay sculptures of Sanqing, and there are also Guanyin and land, which have Chinese characteristics.

The entire Taoist temple was managed by two old Taoists. The older one was the father of a younger Taoist. At that time, the soldiers were scarce and the incense was thin. His son-in-law gave them some money as a cover.

The old professor lived in Taoist temple for two months. Taoist temple was in the deep mountains. It was inconvenient to climb up and down, and he had nothing to do. He began to study the antiques in this Taoist temple.It was during that time that he discovered something strange.A lot of things in this Taoist view are crudely manufactured folk soil goods, which are of little value. Occasionally there are a few pieces of antiques, which were also things of the Ming Dynasty.However, there is a bronze alchemy furnace at the top of Taoist temple, which has a very peculiar shape, like an upturned lotus flower. Looking at the patina above, it is much older, and it is very different from other things here. .

The old professor did not study history, but the old master at that time had some experience with these. He was very interested and asked the old Taoist, where did this monastery come from.

The old man praised him for his great vision. This dan furnace was indeed unusual. It collapsed from the mountain before an earthquake before liberation. At that time, there were many dead skeletons. The villagers were very scared, so they brought it here to give The fairy has been in town for more than sixty years. He was still young at that time, and he didn't know the exact situation.

The old professor felt more and more interesting after listening to it. However, at that time, he was in a state of chaos, his identity was special, and he could not carry out more investigations. He pondered for a while in Taoist temple, and later there was no more.However, the circumstances and circumstances at that time made him remember the incident very deeply. He also remembered the shape and pattern of the red furnace very clearly, so he recognized the figure Judeka showed him.

He told Judeco that the pattern was on the lid of the Dan furnace, and the shape was exactly the same as the figure. He would never forget it.If he wants to know more, he can find a way to go to that Taoist temple to understand the situation. However, the vicissitudes of the sea are still there, depending on your character.

After Jude's listening, he was excited and disappointed.The excitement is that the content behind this graphic is obviously more abundant than he thought; disappointed that after listening to these narratives, he still knows nothing about the graphic.

He wanted to see the bronze dan furnace in the mouth of the old professor with his own eyes. However, this was almost impossible at the time.At that time, it was quite difficult for an American to go to China, especially his infamous cultural relics dealer.

But Judeco was very conceited. No one could stop what he wanted to do.He still thought of a way: he could not go to China, but after so many years of cultural relics activities, he has a close network in China.He began to try to contact the old relationship in China, find a way to find someone to enter Qimeng Mountain, take a look at that deep mountain Taoist temple, and understand the situation. It is best to be able to steal the Dan furnace and transport it to the United States.

At that time, China had just suffered ten years of catastrophe, and it was a waste of life. His old relationship had disappeared. The older generation of Confucius died in Qingsu after liberation, fled, and smuggled cultural relics. , Has completely reshuffled.With the help of his relationship with the Kuomintang, he exhausted almost all channels and could not find a person he knew.

In desperation, he could only take the risk and turn to several cultural relic smugglers who were not familiar with him at that time to let them introduce some newcomers in the industry of Changsha.

This was another setback, but the time and effort paid for it. Finally, he finally contacted him with a Chinese who was willing to cooperate with him.

This person is unchaining.

How Uncle Lianhuan entered this business was unclear at the time because of the great environment at that time, even the grandfather of the Jie family did not dare to dabble in his own business and could only eat his own food.This smuggling of cultural relics is a big crime. Like the current drug trafficking, it is the work of keeping his head on the waistband. Generally, he is not in a hurry to ask for money to save his life. No one dares to do this.

At the time, Jielianhuan was a young kid, a complete second-generation ancestor. The old man of Jie family deliberately cleaned up. From an early age, he was not allowed to contact his family business or let him learn anything. So regardless of guts, vision, experience or other objective conditions, It is impossible to enter this business, and there is no reason to be able to connect with foreign smugglers.

To put it bluntly, the smuggling of cultural relics requires craftsmanship. Taking the goods, appraising and appraising these techniques, without two or three decades of exercise and accumulation, you can't become a climate, and if you don't have these capabilities, even if you are subjective If you want to enter the business, you can't find a doorway, and your buyer will not care about you.Therefore, if Jude Kao can contact Jielian through an intermediary, it means that Jielian must have had business dealings with these people and gained the trust of the other party.This is how to solve the problem, it is impossible.

This question has always troubled the third uncle until he returned from his first trip to Xisha and began to investigate the matter, and asked the boss of the family to know some ins and outs.However, this matter has nothing to do with Judeka's matter, and there is no need to mention it here.

After Jielianhuan and Judeka took over, Judeka sent his plan to understand Lihuan.It was a detailed document with a sketch of a bronze dan stove drawn by the old man and an advanced camera.He asked Xie Lianlian to first confirm whether the Taoist temple was still in existence—at that time, the ancient temples and temples belonged to the four old and might have been destroyed—then, he collected information from this furnace and took photos, Send back to the United States to confirm that if everything is correct, then look for opportunities to smuggle this thing abroad.

Although Xie Lianhuan does not understand the things going down to the ground, he can still go to a place to see if things are there and inquire about things.After he got the information, he went to Shandong. Based on the old man's memories, he found the mountain area where the ancient Taoist temple was built.

Fortunately, because Taoism is so remote, it has not been harassed too much, and it has been miraculously preserved in the ten years of turbulence. However, the old Taoist is dead, and only the son of the old Taoist is still in the wind.Xie Lianhuan filmed the Taoist temple and the bronze dan furnace and sent it back to the United States.Judeka took out a comparison of the translated patterns. Sure enough, the old man was right. The figure on the lid of the bronze monastery was exactly the same as on the silk book.However, for the origin of this dan furnace, because the age is too long, the old son can only give a rough idea, and the content that the old professor said is also similar, and no more clues can be obtained.

Despite this, Jude Kao was overjoyed, and issued an order for Jielian to begin preparations to find a way to smuggle Dan furnace secretly.

However, as soon as the solution was prepared, it was discovered that this was actually an impossible task.

What Judeka didn't consider was that this furnace was much larger than he had predicted in advance, and the times were different. It was impossible for China to ship such things through customs at that time.However, if you smuggle ships, you must first reach Zhejiang or Guangdong, and the risks are also very large. At that time, the chaos in the southeast coast was unimaginable to ordinary people.

They tried many methods, but no results, but caught Lei Zi's attention.In desperation, Jude Kao had a despondent thought.He asked Jielianhuan to smash the entire Dan furnace, sawed it into more than forty pieces, then marked it, and mixed it in batches in the silk exported at that time.

For the archaeological community, this is a heinous animal behavior, but Judeco doesn't care at all, because the value of this thing is no longer meaningful to him, he wants the above information.

This can also be said to be a coincidence. When Jielianhuan saw the Dan stove, he found the bottom of this bronze Dan stove, there was a very clever organization.It was with this organ that the secrets of the mysterious graphics on the silk books of the Warring States Period were finally unlocked.

Chapter 12 ■ Astrolabe

With that said, Uncle San took out two crumpled photos from his broken bag and handed it to me.

I know that the two photos must be taken from the Dan furnace. These photos should be given to him by the foreigner.This matter is more complicated. Without these pictures, I am afraid I can't make it clear.Now he has used it on me.

After taking another look, I saw the first photo taken of a huge red hearth displayed in the museum. When the third uncle said it, I did n’t know that it was such a big thing. It is indeed an impossible task to smuggle such things abroad.

The second one is about the bottom of the Dan furnace. I saw a bronze furnace bottom covered with patterns. In the center of the furnace bottom, a fist-sized bronze beast was cast, with his head up to the sky, very powerful. As far as styling is concerned, it belongs to the top class.

"This is the red furnace restored in the museum, and the second one is the inside of the red furnace." The third uncle explained to me, "The furnace bottom mechanism found by Xielianhuan is a very clever water inlet for alchemy. At that time, add water to the Dan furnace, the furnace wall is hollow, there is water inside, as long as the lid of the Dan furnace is turned, and the figure above is turned to a certain position, you can open the machine underneath the Sky Beast, the furnace wall The water will be sprayed from the mouth of Wangtian Beast, so that when alchemy is done, there is no need to open the furnace cover. "

I nodded my head to wonder, but this kind of organ skill is not really special in China. Why is this organ the key to unlocking the Warring States silk script?

Uncle San said that the problem was not the function of this organ, but the way the organ worked. When he said it, he took out a magnifying glass and let me take a closer look at the pattern on the bottom of this furnace.

The picture is very small. When I look closely, I can see that there are many small relief points around the hearth of the furnace bottom. There are many small relief spots. There are many dense reliefs. If you don't look closely, you will think it is patina.

"Is this?" I still didn't understand and asked.

"You don't know or excuse it. The relief on the hearth is an ancient star chart."

"Ancient star map?" I froze for a moment, "Is the map that marks the position of stars in the sky?"

The uncle nodded, and took a graphic photo translated from the Warring States silk script for comparison: "This is the most ingenious part of this institution. The bottom of the furnace is an ancient star map. When the furnace cover is turned to the correct angle, the furnace cover is The curve on this graph will coincide with the six stars in the star chart under the furnace, and the organ can be opened. "

When I heard it, I immediately thought of something, and then I suddenly realized: "The two figures can coincide, so to speak, the strange lines on the silk books of the Warring States period are actually a" astrolabe "?"

The uncle nodded: "Yes."

The astrolabe is a tool for stargazing, because there are tens of thousands of stars in the sky, and it moves according to the changes of time and seasons. It is very difficult to find out the specific ones from so many stars every time. With something like the astrolabe.Generally, the lines are connected according to the arrangement of stars and stars. As long as the Big Dipper on the astrolabe is aligned, you can rotate the astrolabe with the compass and the scale of the season. Those specific lines will match the few stars you are looking for. coincide.

I couldn't help but scream, it's not that hard to think, why didn't I think of it just now?This is also very logical. Astrology in the Warring States period was very developed, and people of that era believed that the movement of astronomical phenomena represented the movement of everything in the event, and some insights could be gained from it.These heavenly planes often herald changes in the country, major wars and catastrophes, and generally cannot be leaked at will. It is also reasonable for Tie Miansheng to hide the star charts he observes in the silk script.

This star chart also appeared on the Dan furnace at the same time. Perhaps this astronomical sign represents a special meaning, which made many people notice it at the time, which is also a very likely thing.

The third uncle nodded: "Your boy has grown up, and he is right. After these things were transported to the United States, Jude Kao immediately discovered the secret. Like you, he thought of stargazing."

This is a very exciting discovery. It can be said that this is the first time in the history of archaeology that Jude Kao is famous again.However, at this time, he no longer cares, he has been completely addicted to the process of archaeology: what is the meaning of the astrology circled by the astrolabe?Judging from how closely it is hidden, this astrological sign clearly indicates something extraordinary that cannot be known by others.

After overlapping the star chart and the astrolabe, he found out the specific six stars from the whole star chart, synthesized the star chart, and then checked the ancient book information, wondering what this star chart represents in stargazing What means."

However, astrology in ancient China is almost of the same ancestors as Feng Shui, and it is extremely complicated, even more esoteric than Feng Shui, and there is almost no systematic information.The star map hidden in the silk books of the Warring States Period indicates what kind of astronomy is impossible to find.

At that time, the only way to unlock this secret was to go to the so-called masters, but this time it could not be found in the United States, so Judeco again asked to unravel the chain and go to the Chinese folks to search.

However, this time the unlinking failed to complete the task. Those who knew Zhou Yi Feng Shui in that era were all sent to the bullpen. Those who missed the net were trembling and no one spoke. It sounded sneaky, which was very inconvenient.

This search took two years, with no results, and no other research in the United States has made any progress.

In desperation, Judeco had another whimsy, and his attention was again focused on the Warring States silk script.He speculates that since there is this star chart on the silk book, then in other pages, there will be secret records of the star chart.

So, while he began to buy Lu Huangbo in China, he started the idea of ​​selling the grandfather of the Warring States silk.According to his experience, Tufuzi generally do not go thieves. This silk script cannot be a single volume. Grandpa wants to steal it. It must be the whole one. The remaining part may still be in Grandpa's hands.

At that time, the relationship between Jielianhuan and Judekao was already very good. If he had a bad heart, he helped Judeka get information from Grandpa.It is a pity that my grandfather's tone is very tight, and he can't ask anything, but in desperation, Jielian again asks the third uncle.At that time, Uncle San was interested in the records in Grandpa's notes. When he drank the wine and talked a lot, he told the story of Grandpa's stolen story from the Warring States period.

When I heard this, I could n’t help but say, “Three uncles, how dare you feel that the foreigner knew about the blood corpse tomb, did you say it yourself?”

The third uncle smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I drank too much at that time. I couldn't remember talking to him once the wine was over. Later, the foreigner talked to me before I remembered it. . "

I also accompany him with a wry smile, which is really dramatic, but then, Jude Kao chose to unravel the chain at that time, maybe I already knew the relationship between the Wu family and the Jie family, and I already had this level of intention.The mystery of this foreigner's actions is really frightening.

After Jude Kao got the news at that time, he had plans to dig the corpse of blood corpses again, but it was a pity that he wouldn't fight back when he untied the chain, and he couldn't find anyone else.At that time, Sino-US relations began to pick up. He felt that the situation would change, so he waited patiently for a while, and it really made him wait for an opportunity.He then returned to China with a group of archaeologists and began planning this operation.So there was what the uncle had experienced before.

Guess what happened afterwards. After the third uncle escaped from the tomb that night, Judeco also entered the tomb in the afternoon of the next day. Needless to say, this incident turned into a disaster.When they opened the dark grid at the bottom of the coffin, the flying king almost killed all the people in the tomb.

It was also due to the fact that one of the guys he found at the time was very clever, that is, when he was most dangerous, he exploded the explosives and completely collapsed the inner chamber. At that time, Judeco in the outer chamber was able to save his life.It's a pity that he and a man were all buried in the ancient tomb.

At that time, the scene was extremely terrifying. Judeka, who had witnessed it, was greatly hit. He was almost insane. His understanding of China for decades had completely collapsed.After returning to Changsha, he immediately returned to the United States. He was seriously ill and almost mad.The research on the silk books of the Warring States Period was immediately terminated.

However, we know that this is only temporary. One year later, the second marine archaeological era is coming, and the wheel of fate begins to turn under the sea of ​​Xisha, faster and faster.