The death of the emperor is not trivial, it must be solemnly buried, and the mausoleum must naturally adapt to its noble status. Therefore, the funeral system stipulates that the construction of the mausoleum must begin one year after the emperor succeeds to the throne.

In view of the fact that the mausoleum can be said to be feng shui, in the end, Emperor Zhaoren took Jiuzhi Zong Mountain as his final destination.

Jiuzhi Mountain is abrupt, located in the yin of the Jing River and the yang of the Wei River, separated by the Guanzhong Plain in the south, and confronted by the peaks of Taibai and Zhongnan; On the east and west sides, the mountains are undulating, and the plains are undulating. There are nine mountain beams evenly distributed around the main peak, which are arched high, so it is named Jiuzhi Mountain.

Jiang Rin rushed all the way from the capital to Jiuzhi Mountain, where the emperor's tomb was located, and the emperor's tomb specially set up a five-grade tomb so that Liu Yong had already led people to wait for him on the official road at the foot of the mountain.

"It's better to be famous than to meet, I have long heard that Master Jiang is a talented and handsome man, but I didn't expect it to be younger than Xia Guan imagined." Liu Yong is in his forties, slightly plump but not obese, with a kind face, slender eyebrows and eyes that give people a sense of closeness when he smiles.

Jiang Rin returned the salute: "Lord Liu praised it falsely, but it's just a false name." ”

Liu Yong didn't seem to expect Jiang Rin to be so humble, and his smile became a little more sincere, "Lord Jiang has a hard journey, so it's better to follow the lower officials to the humble house to rest first, and the lower officials have already packed up your proper accommodation." ”

Jiang Rin had been mentally prepared for this trip for a long time, and was not in a hurry to enter the imperial tomb, so he smiled and said, "There is Lord Lao Liu." ”

The two exchanged a few simple greetings, Liu Yong led the way in front, Jiang Rin and his men followed, and the group walked along the road to the mountains.

Liu Yong is a talkative person, explaining things around him for Jiang Rin along the way.

"The terrain of Jiuzhi Zong Mountain is high, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, the north is gentle and the south is steep. Mainly on both sides of the river and the northern mountain range, Jing River, Wei River, Swill River surrounding, rich in products, shrubs, jungles and green spaces, it is indeed a treasure of feng shui, if Jiang people have no official business next time, they can stay here for more time in the spring and summer season. ”

At this time, the mountains are covered with snow, and although it is a rare beauty, the climate is not so pleasant. Jiang Rin smiled: "Lord Liu has been here for many years, right?" ”

"Yes......" Liu Yong said with a look of remembrance: "When I first came here, the imperial tomb had not yet been completed, and it had been more than ten years ago. ”

The people who guard the tombs of the emperors are basically passed down from generation to generation and are called mausoleum households. In addition, it is the official who made a big mistake and was punished by the emperor to guard the imperial tomb.

Liu Yong is the latter.

Jiang Rin followed him through the guards on the outskirts of Jiuzhi Mountain, riding slowly on the path between the trees. When he arrived at a junction, Liu Yong took the lead in reining in his horse and said, "Master Jiang is young and strong, and it should not be a problem to climb to the top of this hill from here." ”

Xiong Yishan looked up at the "Xiaoshan" in Liu Yong's mouth, and muttered to Liang Chen in a low voice: "Didn't this Lord Liu have any misunderstanding of the word 'small'?" Liang Chen's face darkened, signaling him not to talk nonsense in front of outsiders.

Jiang Rin raised his eyebrows, looked at the "hill" in front of him, and said with a smile: "Lord Liu usually lives here?" ”

"That's right, in and out of Jiuzhi Mountain, the residence of the palace people and the mausoleum keepers is the only way to pass, but there are plank roads and suspension bridges between the bees, which is convenient for the palace people and guards to clean and search." Liu Yong handed over the reins of the horse in his hand to his subordinates, and motioned to Jiang Rin: "Lord Jiang can rest assured that the horses are left here, and the stables over there are guarded by special personnel." ”

Jiang Rin and the others are all practitioners, and it won't be too tiring to climb a mountain or something, but they just feel a little troublesome. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that they didn't have to climb every day, and they handed over their horses to the guards.

The bluestone-paved steps are very smooth, winding but not steep at first glance. Everyone climbed the stairs and finally climbed to the place where the mausoleum keeper was located in half an hour.

There are palace people in the imperial mausoleum, and officers and soldiers guard them. The houses where the palace people live are not much different from the ordinary palaces in Da'an Palace, and the palace maids and chamberlains have special personnel to control and are responsible for the sprinkling and cleaning of the mausoleum pavilions. The guards commanded by Liu Yong were responsible for the safety of the entire imperial tomb.

Jiang Rin overlooks it from afar, sees that the emperor's mausoleum is built on the mountainside of the south slope of the main peak of Jiuzhi Mountain, the cemetery is broad, together with the burial tomb, stretches for dozens of miles, the momentum is magnificent, it is magnificent. There is a wall outside, and there are houses and halls on the mountain, which is a place for the soul of the tomb owner to play. Because the mountains around the underground palace are steep and uneven, there is a plank road on the edge of the mountain to chisel the stone frame, and the plank road goes around the mountainside, winds up, and goes straight to the palace gate.

Several peaks are connected by mountain beams, and more than 190 burial tombs take the main peak of Lingshan as the axis, and are distributed on both sides of Lingshan and due south in a fan, arching and guarding the emperor's mausoleum, just like the stars guarding the north chen.

Just like the layout of the capital, the emperor lived in Ouchi in the north, and the residence of courtiers and nobles in the south, symbolizing the supreme power of the emperor.

Liu Yong walked to Jiang Rin's side and followed his gaze to a mountain peak, where there was neither a plank road nor a suspension bridge, and it was as lonely as a lone bee rising from the ground, without any support, and even stood a little abruptly in the middle of the entire Jiuzhi Mountain Range.

He said: "At that time, the mausoleum had not yet been built, and the imperial concubine of Compassion passed away due to illness, so Emperor Zhaoren temporarily placed her in the newly dug grotto of Jiuzhi Mountain. Because of the special location, after the mausoleum was completed, the emperor did not want to disturb the peace of the imperial concubine, so he ordered someone to dismantle the plank road, so that the spiritual tomb was hung high and isolated from the outside world. ”

Jiang Rin was silent for a moment and said, "So, if we want to enter the tomb of the Imperial Concubine, we have to climb up from the cliff." ”

Liu Yong nodded: "Other than that, there is no other way." Otherwise, the mausoleum hall that respects the imperial concubine is frequently abnormal, and the lower officials don't need to specially ask people to enter Beijing to return to the emperor, they have already asked people to go to the cemetery to check. "He can't climb up anyway! Although his subordinates could climb up, they didn't dare to check the mausoleum of the imperial concubine without permission, and it was useless to go, so Liu Yong simply asked someone to go back to Beijing to tell the details and ask Emperor Zhaoren to speak.

"What is the abnormality that Lord Liu is referring to?"

"I'm afraid it's hard to express it clearly in words, but when it comes to the night, Lord Jiang will naturally understand."

Having said that, Jiang Rin had nothing to insist on, anyway, he originally planned to ask the palace people guarding the tomb to ask about the situation first.

Although the place where the mausoleum keeper lives is also the appearance of the palace, it is very similar to the place where the palace people live in Da'an Palace, regardless of the main hall and the side hall. It's just that the palace people with a slightly higher grade live in a slightly larger house, and Liu Yong has a separate residence.

The accommodation he arranged for Jiang Rin was the same as his own, a separate courtyard.

There was a middle-aged waiter standing at the door, slightly bent back, his face was extremely ordinary, he belonged to the kind that could not be found if he fell in the crowd, I don't know if it was a psychological effect, Xiong Yishan now looks at people here and feels that there is a problem. Liang Chen saw that he was about to stop himself and mutter, so he hurriedly flashed to the side: "I think you have the most problem here, thief eyebrows, you give me honesty!" ”

Xiong Yishan looked angry, and said that there was something wrong with sharing his worries for his son, but he still obediently closed his mouth and made a gesture of sewing his mouth shut.

The furnishings in the house were simple but very clean, and Liu Yong personally arranged the meal, let everyone have a good rest, and then left temporarily.

As soon as the others left, Xiong Yishan's mouth suddenly opened, and he said, "Childe, don't you think the waiter at the door is ghostly?" ”

Jiang Rin laughed and said, "Ghostly? ”

Liang Chen glared at Xiong Yishan on the side, "It's like you've seen a ghost." ”

Xiong Yishan will be excited as soon as he arrives in a strange place, and he keeps moving around the house: "Do you want to catch a few people now?"

"You have to ask, but you don't need to catch it." Jiang Rin took the wet handkerchief handed over by Liang Chen and wiped his hands, and said, "You stay and watch them pack up their things, and Liang Chen will go out for me." ”

Xiong Yishan: "Why ...... me"

"Who made you talk a lot!" Liang Chen patted him on the shoulder with a smile and admonished: "Childe, you are careful about that set of tea sets, if there is a good one, you are the only one who asks!" ”

The two went out one after the other, and the attendant who guarded the door saw that they were going out, and he didn't ask anything, so he sent them away dutifully, and continued to stand in place to guard the door.

Jiang Rin frowned, "This chamberlain is indeed a little strange, he doesn't seem to have any desire to talk, and he doesn't even show the slightest curiosity. "This kind of sparsely populated place, not to mention a large number of new arrivals, should be a novelty even if a wild thing appears one day. Even if you know what they're here for, you won't have no reaction at all, right?

Liang Chen said: "Most of the palace people who were assigned here to guard the mausoleum made mistakes and were punished, plus they stayed on the deserted mountain all year round, so it was inevitable that they would become lonely and eccentric, right?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt like he had been slapped in the face.

Because when turning the cloister, the whispering voices of several women came from behind the rockery, and the conversation was quite good.

"The adults who came to investigate this time are Jiang Tanhua in the three tripods of the imperial examination! I heard that he was a fairy-like man, and I really wanted to see what he looked like! ”

"Huh? Who do you listen to? ”

"When I went to the big kitchen to get food today, I heard Aunt Lian say that there was a distinguished guest arriving today, and Lord Liu told Aunt Lian to cook more delicious meals, and there were five or six kinds of game in the mountains alone. Few of us came, and Aunt Lian was also a little curious, so she asked a few questions, and I hid aside and heard it. ”

"Lord Liu is so attentive, presumably this Jiang Tanhua's origin is not simple?"

"But, Tanhua Lang's crepe can drive away ghosts......

As soon as these words came out, they immediately brought a wave of horror, and everyone's scalps trembled, "Don't talk about this, during this time, I have nightmares every night......"

"That's it, let's talk about that Tanhua...... Why don't we go and take a sneak peek together to see what the gods look like? ”

At this time, an extraordinarily delicate and lively voice said, "Don't say it's an adult who looks like a fairy, even if it looks like a yaksha, I still want to see it......"

Someone immediately chimed in: "Yes, let's stay all day and it's really boring, I'm only a teenager, I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life!" ”