This stele is more than two meters high and one and a half meters wide, and is carved from a single piece of bluestone. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 It is rare to carve a huge lotus seat under the info monument, but it may be because of the long time and the damage is very bad. There are some cracks in the stele, and it is filled with black-gray plaster soil, which seems to have been buried in the soil for a long time. The name engraved on the front of the stele should be the ancestor of the Ma family, and the inscription on the back has more than 1,000 words, densely engraved with heavy regular script.

I looked at it carefully, and I couldn't read many words clearly, so I could only roughly guess the meaning of them. The stele should be the story of the Ma family moving from Shanxi to Beijing in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, it seems that the ancestor of the Ma family had meritorious service in the event of Ming Chengzu going south to seize the throne, and was canonized to an official position, but the ancestor of the Ma family was not obsessed with the official position, and soon resigned and went into seclusion, was given a thousand tilts of the field, and lived here, and this area was also called Majiazhuang in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.

The way of describing this inscription also makes me wonder, the general inscription on the merits and glory of the ancestors should be a big book, but this tablet is only a passing and the language is unknown, the back mainly writes how he is committed to the study of gold and stone literature, concentrating on the cultivation of things, and also records his interaction with Yao Guangxiao and Yang Shiqi, an important staff member of Ming Chengzu. If this ancestor surnamed Ma is one of these famous figures, why do I have no memory of this name, and it doesn't seem to be recorded in the history books?

Looking down further, at the end of the stele, is the name of the person who erected the stele, but the last line is engraved with the words "Servant Du Zijian". It seems that the relationship between the Ma family and the Du family is very unusual, and the relationship between master and servant is just that, and it is even more rare to be able to get an inscription. I hurriedly called Xiao Zhang to come and see, Xiao Zhang looked at these words, touched his head, did not understand the meaning, but seemed to suddenly remember something, and told me, "Uncle Chang, what you said about the original tower foundation, what was planted, I asked the old people in the village, it seems that for many years all the corn has been planted, and no vegetables have been grown, you let me ask why this is? Why am I getting more and more confused?" ”

I smiled at Xiao Zhang, "Xiao Zhang, I planted corn because it grows tall and can cover up a lot of things, it seems that there is a secret of the Ma family in this field, or the Du family, let's go, we will wait for Xiao Lei's news now." ”

Xiao Zhang and I returned to the police station, and sure enough, just after lunch, Xiao Lei hurried over, and as soon as he entered the door, he grabbed me and said, "Uncle Chang, it will take a few days for the conclusion of the identification center, but they can be sure that the skeleton of those babies has a large time span, estimated to be about 400 years, and there is a piece in the key, and the time of death is only more than 30 years." Also, Aunt Li's autopsy report came out, she was dead before falling into the elevator shaft, it should have been a heart attack. Xiao Lei was very excited when he said it, which was very different from his usual calmness. "Uncle Chang, look at it this way, there is a criminal case behind this tower?"

"I can't say that, but at least the haunting of the tower is about to come to fruition. I pulled a chair, asked Xiao Lei to sit down, and handed him a cigarette, "Calm down every time you meet a big day, Xiao Zhang, you can help me check again, does the Du family have a house in the tower?"

Xiao Zhang said yes and ran out, and I told Xiao Lei about going to the Ma family cemetery early this morning, and Xiao Lei was confused and didn't understand what this had to do with what happened in the tower. Seeing his fidgeting appearance, I smiled and told him: "If I guess correctly, the Du family has only one suite in this tower, and everything that has happened in the tower from the construction to the present is related to this suite." Xiao Lei, this is a story that spans hundreds of years, the people who do this bureau think very far, everything is arranged perfectly, we may never be able to solve this case, you have to be mentally prepared, we can only try to get as close to the truth as possible. ”

Xiao Lei had calmed down and nodded to me. After a while, Xiao Zhang ran in and said to us, "Uncle Chang, you guessed well, the Du family also has a suite, which is on the twelfth floor." ”

"Xiao Lei, Xiao Zhang, let's go, I'll invite you two to have a good meal, let's talk while eating, and I'll restore the secrets in this tower for you. ”

We sat in a small restaurant on the edge of the canal from two o'clock in the afternoon until the dead of night, and ate from lunch to dinner. Xiao Zhang specially brought a bottle of good wine, and our grandfather listened to me tell this sensational story while looking at the calm water.

"Xiao Zhang, you must be wondering, what I saw from the Ma family's tombstone this morning, and what am I verifying, right?" Xiao Zhang nodded, opened the wine, and poured it for me.

"In the morning, I also wondered, why Emperor Chengzu gave the official land, but the Ma family is not recorded in history, now I think about it, this monument is not erected when Ming Chengzu was erected, it should be erected in the Xuande period, the merit of the Ma family is not entirely to support Chengzu, but should be related to some secret things that Chengzu did. Zhu Di rebelled from Emperor Jianwen to seize the country, he wanted to reflect his orthodoxy, and even the genealogy was tampered with later, including the mausoleum feng shui. The ancestors of the Ma family have a close relationship with Yao Guangxiao, so Yao Guangxiao is helping Zhu Di do this, this is on the surface, maybe it is the people of the Ma family who really complete the execution below. ”

"It is rumored in the world that the real purpose of Zheng He's trip to the West was to hunt down and kill the escaped Emperor Jianwen, whether this is a fact or not can be ignored, but in history, with the power of a country, most of them went across the sea to the east, mostly to ask for elixir for the emperor. Zheng He was Zhu Di's most trusted eunuch, his original surname was Ma, and Zheng was later given the surname. Zheng He's most important assistant and translator in the West is also surnamed Ma, called Ma Huan. Zheng He's most complete voyage record to the West was also written by Ma Huan, called "Winning and Winning". It is difficult for us to verify now what kind of relationship the Ma family in Mawang Village has with the eunuchs of Sanbao and Ma Huan, but these should not be coincidences, at least the Ma family played a very important role in the Ming Dynasty. ”

"But what does this history have to do with our tower?" Xiao Lei couldn't help but interject.

"So is there such a possibility, Zheng He or Ma Huan, in the voyage to the sea, found a way to live forever? But Zhu Digui is the Son of Heaven, so naturally he can't risk his life and try it himself, so someone must verify whether this method is effective. Chinese politics is so strange that the emperor would like to find a way to live forever, but the princes and ministers do not think so, and they can find a whole bunch of sage arguments to dissuade him. Therefore, for Ming Chengzu, this matter must be carried out in secret, so who is the right person to find to do this verification? I wonder if the resignation of the ancestor of the Ma family will be to undertake such a task?"

Xiao Zhang and Xiao Lei both opened their mouths wide and shook their heads, "There will never be evidence to prove this?"

"Yes, after hundreds of years, it is very difficult for us to verify the truth of this matter, we can only assume that this is the case, and then reason whether all the clues are plausible. First, in my family's genealogy, it is recorded that in Thailand, the shaman in Myanmar is not only good at Gu poison, but also has a method to achieve immortality with the help of Gu poison, which requires raising a special Gu poison from the corpse of a child. The death of a child is most likely to cause resentment and the soul does not disperse, and this kind of Gu poison is borrowed from this evil spirit, with more than ten years of hard work, more than a dozen corpses take turns to feed Fang Cheng, the Gu poison matures, and it has the effect of rejuvenation. However, the quality of Gu poison determines the degree of youth of the body, and under normal circumstances, it is only maintained for ten to twenty years, and then it has to be re-raised. This method has been practiced by some people in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but because it is too evil and contrary to ethics, it can only be raised secretly, so few people know about it. ”

"Second, why this method appeared in Thailand and Myanmar, in addition to the Gu poison factor, the most important thing is that the climate there is hot and humid. And in a climate like Beijing, Gu poison must not be able to survive. The reason why this stone statue is called the Water Swallower is that it is said to be able to swallow the flood water and save one side from the threat of flooding. Therefore, the soil where the pit pit is buried is much wetter than the surrounding area. Is it a simple coincidence that the Yuan Dynasty pit pit was buried on the banks of rivers and lakes, and only this one is one kilometer away from the Jingmi Aqueduct and is in the Ma family's vegetable field? I prefer to believe that it was the Ma family who dug up the pit by the river and moved it here in order to maintain the soil here, or the humidity of the tomb inside. ”

"Third, when Associate Researcher Qian excavated this tomb, he had determined that this was a living tomb, and it had an outward passage, through which they constantly transported corpses inside, and the original ancient tomb had a good thermal insulation effect, which could ensure the growth of Gu poison. And once the cultivation is completed, that person can return to the ground through this passage. The people of the Ma family have always controlled this land in their own hands, and what they want to protect is the secret hidden in this cemetery, and planting corn on that land is also the best cover for that passage and the people who enter and exit. ”

"Fourth, this plan has been carried out in secret, but before the success of the experiment, Zhu Di returned to the west with his life, and in the end it was not used, so in the county chronicles of the Ming Dynasty, you can see that there are monks who collect records of children who died of the plague for burial, in fact, this is the Ma family lost government support, and the cover for the collection of corpses shows that this plan has been implemented, but it is becoming more and more difficult to keep this secret. ”

Obviously, my description of this background did not reduce the confusion in Xiao Zhang and Xiao Lei's hearts, but made them even more foggy.

"If it is a place where the Ma family raises Gu to refine corpses and seek immortality, then the excavation of Associate Researcher Qian has already cleaned up the ancient tomb, and the ancestral tomb of the Ma family has also been moved, why are there still these strange things in the tower, it doesn't make sense. Xiao Lei frowned and asked me.

"Cleaned up, maybe not?" I put down my chopsticks, lit a cigarette, and looked at them.

(Holding on to the profit is not as good as it is; it is not as good as it is; it cannot be kept for a long time.) The hall is full of gold and jade, and Mo can keep it, and he is rich and arrogant, and he is to blame. After retiring, the way of heaven is also. --Tao Te Ching) (To be continued.) )