The crack is not wide, and the diameter is not much different from the small wells commonly seen in rural areas. It is just enough for one person to pass through. With the rope tied around the waist and the legs spread apart, I can just step on the stone walls on both sides of the crack, which is not too strenuous.
At first, I just wanted to land as soon as possible.
But as I went deeper and deeper, my attention was involuntarily attracted by this crack.
This crack does not seem to appear by chance!
In other words, it was not created by Luo Chenzi and the demon corpse during the fierce battle, but was completely dug out by humans!
If it is because of external force or the movement of the earth's crust that the ground cracks and forms cracks, then this crack must be irregular, with loose soil and rocks. If you step on it, it will collapse at any time.
But in the process of climbing down, although there are occasionally some gravel rolling down, they are all gravel and gravel, and there has never been a collapse.
I was hanging in the air, holding the rope with one hand and wiping the sweat off my face with the other. While I was catching my breath, I looked around with the help of the flashlight Zhang Xinya held up. I saw some pebbles evenly protruding on the stone walls on both sides of the crack, mixed in the fine and compact soil. I poked the soil with my fingers. It felt soft and delicate, even slightly elastic, and extremely moist, with a layer of fine and dense water droplets condensed on the surface.
This reminds me of a special kind of clay called sweat soil in ancient times. This kind of clay is not formed naturally, but artificially configured. It has a certain relationship with pottery clay. It is also mixed with quartz sand crushed into powder. In addition, there should be something else added. Unfortunately, the specific formula has been lost. This kind of clay was once widely used in the field of ancient architecture. It is not afraid of moisture, just like cotton. After compaction, water vapor penetrates into the clay and will be squeezed out quickly, like people sweating, so it is called sweat soil. However, the buildings constructed by this kind of clay have strong longitudinal compressive strength, but poor lateral compressive strength. A hammer from the side can knock down a wall, so it was eliminated quickly and replaced by building materials whose main component is glutinous rice.
Of course, this kind of clay is suitable for tombs, because the tomb structure mainly considers the longitudinal compressive strength. Anyway, it is hidden underground, and the lateral compressive strength can be completely ignored.
Sweat soil mixed with pebbles is the most common building routine of some early northern nomads.
Considering all these, I have almost determined that this crack is part of the tomb.
Mechanism!
These two words popped up in my mind.
However, this canyon is very long and the depth is quite amazing. If it is really controlled by a mechanism, how terrifying a huge mechanism would it take to complete it?
In the ancient tomb, the word "mechanism" is no small matter.
I began to be cautious. While climbing down, I searched for bits and pieces related to this in my mind.
There is no doubt that this kind of mechanism has nothing to do with our ritual officials.
There are very few people who tamper with the burial mound. Even if there are, they are all means to wipe out the family, because tombs are like this. As long as the coffin is put down and the soil is covered, they are basically not going to be moved. The mechanisms involved are all anti-theft. As far as I know, most of the mechanisms in the burial mound are related to fire, and there may also be some traps for catching animals. The most powerful ones involve some explosive reactions. If you don't know how to do it, you can blow it up directly.
The mechanism in front of me is obviously a live mechanism, which can be controlled at will, just like the front door of my house, and can be entered and exited at will.
Of course, this is only for those who know the secret of this mechanism. If you don't know, you can only dig all the way to the tomb, which is very laborious. For a structure like this with soil and pebbles, digging from top to bottom can make people tired to death. It can't be blown open even with explosives. It's normal for us brothers to dig back and forth for half a year.
To be honest, I have never heard of such a mechanism.
However, the mechanism is something that changes but remains the same. Since I have come to this step, I can probably see the leopard from the tube.
If there is no accident, if you want to build such a mechanism, you have to dig a deep pit on the ground at the beginning, and then divide the deep pit into two, build a shed on each side, and leave a gap in the middle. The height of this shed is slightly lower than the depth of the pit, and then cover the shed with soil on top to make it flush with the ground.
This is considered to have completed a frame structure.
The next step is to build a wall.
The so-called wall is the stone wall on both sides of the canyon!
Yes, this stone wall looks solid, but it is actually a wall!
After the two walls are built, they are stuffed into the sheds on the left and right sides respectively. If nothing unexpected happens, there are slides on the upper and lower walls, so that the two walls can move back and forth.
The mechanism that controls the movement of the two walls should be in the tomb.
I thought about it, in the Donghu era, the only mechanism that could do this was the talc rope!
The so-called talc rope is actually something similar to a windmill, with some iron chains or levers on it. In terms of principle, it may be a bit similar to a bicycle chain, but it is a bit more crude.
On the windmill, there is a slideway with a round boulder in it. Usually, the boulder is blocked by a baffle. Once it starts, the stone will roll down the slideway and hit something like a seesaw. The other end is connected to the windmill, which makes the windmill rotate immediately. Then, through chains or levers, the two giant walls are pulled so that the two walls can slide back and forth on the slideway in the shed.
In this way, the direction of rotation of the windmill can be controlled by the boulder in the slideway, so that the two giant walls can move back and forth to achieve the effect of opening and closing the door.
When the two giant walls are closed, the crack will close, and when the two giant walls are pulled apart, the crack will appear. As long as the soil outside is filled, it is basically invisible.
To put it bluntly, this is probably a very primitive mechanical structure, not very complicated, and there are too many similar mechanisms.
I guess there might be a mechanism outside this burial pit that directly controls the huge stone in the talc rope. If we find this mechanism, we can open this crack from the outside and reach the ancient tomb directly! !
This structure is probably related to the demands of the Donghu. They built this tomb not only for sleeping, but also for other purposes. Naturally, there must be a way to get in and out. To put it bluntly, they are all a bunch of lunatics who don't care about their own affairs after death. I suspect that even if there is a coffin in the tomb, it is not nailed.
The crack is not too deep, and I landed soon.
As expected, the ground that can only accommodate one person is very flat, with obvious traces of artificial repair.
I took out the flashlight, turned it on and shone it forward. A few dozen meters away is the end. There is a round arch, which seems to be the tomb door.
"What's going on down there?"
Brother Yaozi asked from above. I looked up and saw that his flashlight was shining downwards. The strong light was dazzling and I couldn't see his face clearly.
After thinking for a while, I said, "It's dangerous, but if you want to enter this tomb, you have to go through this trip. You better hurry up..."
This mechanism is too complicated to explain in a short time, and I didn't explain it.
Brother Yaozi and the others naturally trust me. After listening to me, they immediately got busy.
I heard a series of rustling sounds from above, and soon several people came down one after another.
Lao Bai fell in front of me. He is a typical lazy man. Even Zhang Xinya didn't say a word. He leaned against the wall and complained first: "What a hell of a place, so narrow, damp and stuffy, it's hard to breathe, it's too uncomfortable...ah!!!"
Before he finished speaking, he cried out in pain and jumped up.
In a flash, I saw a "tail" on his butt...
Then, he pulled the tail off and smashed it hard on the ground. The other party immediately swam away, and when it was slightly away, it suddenly raised its upper body and protested to us, making a series of strange "squeaking" sounds.
This was a snake that was only 30 centimeters long and about the thickness of a thumb. It was colorful and looked brighter than the neon lights in the city. When the flashlight was shone on it, the scales reflected colorful light, which was very beautiful. The most bizarre thing was that when this thing was enraged, it was like a big rooster, and the scales all over its body exploded. The weird sound was made by it flapping its scales. The tail was even more peculiar. It didn't look like a snake's tail, but like a fish's tail. It was forked in the middle and the color was so green that it was clear!
Only then did I see that there was a small hole where Lao Bai was leaning, and the little flower snake lived in it. Lao Bai had blocked the hole with his butt, which naturally led to this thing.
"What kind of mythical beast is this?"
Lao Bai covered his butt, his eyes almost popped out, and gritted his teeth and said angrily: "I must ask Mr. Zhang to check for me later. Is my butt in conflict with the tomb? I always get hurt every time I go to the tomb."
"This seems to be..."
Lao Diaoye stared at the little flower snake in front of him for a moment, turned his head and looked at Qi Ye, and the two said almost in unison: "Hua Linzi!"
Zhang Xinya was curious and asked what this Hua Linzi was.
"I've lived for most of my life, but I didn't expect to die soon. I finally saw this thing."
The old man seemed to be very happy and said with emotion: "The Saker Falcon in the sky and the Flowering Scales on the earth, if we talk about beauty, I'm afraid there is no animal in the world that can compare with these two. The Saker Falcon is valued for its jade claws, and the Flowering Scales is valued for its emerald tail. Look at this one in front of you, its tail is like jade, it is the Flowering Scales with a emerald tail."
Obviously, Qi Ye was not unfamiliar with this. He told us that you can still see the Saker Falcon, which is actually a falcon, but no one has ever seen this flower scales. There is a family named Bao in the pastoral area. They are serious nobles, descendants of the Borjigin clan. During the Qing Dynasty, they made great efforts to unite the Manchus and Mongols. They also entered the imperial city and enjoyed a good life. They were very good at walking dogs and playing with birds. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, they returned to NMG. At that time, they told them about this, saying that this flower scales really exist, but they are very rare. If you can catch one, it is worth a hundred taels of gold, and if you can have a pair, it is worth a thousand gold!
Because this kind of flower scales are valuable in pairs, and the most sophisticated way to play is to raise a pair, because this kind of thing can resonate with each other, as if the sound of their scales exploding is a strange sound wave, which can be heard by the same kind from a long distance. One is placed at the door, and someone comes in and makes a sound. The other is placed in the house and it also barks immediately. It is much better than a dog and much more high-end.
"You mean, these things can communicate with each other?"
My face has changed.
Master Qi didn't notice the clues in my expression, nodded and said, "But it's much more powerful than a dog. In the whole capital, there were only a few families who raised a pair of flower scales, and they were black-tailed flower scales. Like this green-tailed flower scales, it's a legend..."
Legend, you don't even know it when you are about to die!
I didn't care about anything else, I took off the hammer hanging on the side of Lao Bai's backpack, and smashed it on the stone wall on the side...