I saw the old man herding sheep in his cave, the dwellings here are not as fine as the wooden structures in the south, and it would be good to be able to gather the wood for the purlins when building a house. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Most of the villages are cellar yards, the villagers plant trees in front of the courtyard slope, the kiln yard is hidden in the shade of the trees, the sound of chickens and dogs is heard but not seen, and the voices of people are noisy and there is no unique style.

Tian Wanqing said that in the past, the peasants here worked hard all their lives, and their most basic wish was to build a few caves, and only when they had a kiln did they marry a wife, and the men worked on the loess to eat, while the women took care of the housework and had children in the clay caves.

The old man's cave is a little old, but it is well organized by his wife, the kiln wall is smeared with lime, it looks white and dry and bright, it is noon when we go, the old man is very hospitable, let the wife Zhang Luo a pot of stewed noodles.

The old man crossed his legs and smoked dry cigarettes with Zhu Qi, chatting for a long time, and then Ye Zhiqiu got down to business: "Uncle, do you remember that you picked up a golden halberd before?" ”

"Golden halberd?" The old man's brows furrowed, and the wrinkles on his face became even deeper. "What's that?"

Tian Ji took out the golden halberd and put it in front of the old man: "Uncle, this is it, do you still have an impression?" ”

"Oh, this piece of broken copper and iron, remember, I sold it for two hundred dollars."

"Uncle, do you remember where you picked this thing?" Tian Wanqing asked.

The old man nodded, saying that it was on the Loess Ridge, but he didn't notice it at first, and he tripped over the exposed golden halberd, and when he dug it out, he didn't know what this strange thing was for, so he inserted it into the sheep herding stick, and was later seen to pay for it.

We asked the old man to take us to see, the old man nodded and agreed, saying that there are guests to come, and then go after eating the stewed noodles, the old man who came out of the kitchen said that the old man should find a wooden stake on the top of the cave to support it before going out, and he was worried that there would be water seepage when it rained a lot recently.

It can be seen that the conditions of this family are not very good, the cave has fallen into disrepair, and a lot of wooden stakes have been erected to support the cave.

The two old men were grateful, the wife sat on the kang and Tian Wanqing and they were homely, and Tian Ji and I followed the old man to help repair the cave first, and were taken to the sheepfold by the old man, and he struggled to carry a stump from the pile of wood.

"Uncle, you go to the side and rest, I'll do it." Tian Ji asked the old man to stand aside, looked a little surprised when he carried a piece of wood, and turned to me. "I didn't see it, this wood is not big but so heavy."

It is because of the scarcity of wood here that the local residents will build caves according to local conditions, but I saw dozens of yellow wood in the sheepfold, and then I looked closely, the whole sheepfold is actually made of wood, for the residents here, such a sheepfold seems too luxurious.

This wood is enough to build a new brick and wood house, and I asked curiously: "Uncle, so much wood, you pile it in the sheepfold too wastefully, why don't you build a new house." ”

"I can't afford to toss at this age, I've lived in the cave all my life, I can't smell the loess and can't sleep steadily, besides, this wood is as hard as an iron pillar, and the axe can't cut it."

"Don't be stunned to come over and help." Tian Ji can't even carry a single piece of wood by himself.

I walked behind him and lifted the wood, and glanced at it, the wood was light yellow and dense, and I could vaguely smell the faint woody fragrance, about the thickness of my arm, I was suddenly secretly startled in my heart, and looked back at the dozens of woods piled up in the sheepfold: "Uncle, did you cut these woods?" ”

"How is it possible, there is no such wood in this radius, I found it when I was grazing sheep in the Loess Ridge, it is strange to say, one by one it is inserted in the river, I have it when I was a child, and no one has ever pulled it out."

The old man took off the dry tobacco at the corner of his mouth and said, about when he was young, it rained heavily for more than half a month in a row, and the river was full of water, and it was estimated that the ground was soaked soft, and when the rain stopped, he found that these wooden stakes were loose, so he dragged them out, and he didn't know what kind of wood it was, and it was decades for a while, and it didn't rot, so he moved it back to support the cave.

I hurriedly put down the wood on my shoulder and patted Tian Ji on the shoulder: "Tell everyone else to come out." ”

When everyone was called out, I pointed to the wood on the ground and asked the old man, "Uncle, do you remember where you brought these woods back?" ”

"Remember, of course remember, everyone in the village knows it."

"You know?"

"We have wood in this place, such hard wood is even rarer, there are more in the valley of the ancient river channel, like plum blossom piles on the river, the village people who lack wood will go to the col to dig, now there is no more, all for the villagers to carry home to repair the house."

"Then this thing is quite expensive to repair a house......" I couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The wife asked the old man to go in and cook noodles in the house, and after the old man left, Zhu Qi squatted on the ground, looked at the wood carefully for a moment, and was suddenly surprised: "Gangbai!" ”

"A cypress tree is also said to be a coincidence, listening to the old man's meaning, the villagers here have also moved hundreds of cypress trees on the river, I am afraid that something is wrong." I say.

"What is a cypress?"

"It is a cypress tree, the cypress that strips off the bark, that is, the heart of the cypress, is named after the light yellow color of the wood, its color is yellow and the texture is dense, also known as the cypress, because the wood itself is moderately soft and hard, has a fragrance, strong resistance to rot, and is also a precious wood in ancient times."

"This wood is expensive?" The palace lord was puzzled.

"It's expensive, and ordinary people can't use such wood." Zhu Qi explained.

Ye Zhiqiu's face was shocked after hearing this, and he hurriedly squatted on the ground to check the steel cypress, and was stunned when he looked up: "Could it be this, this is the yellow intestine?!" ”

Zhu Qi and I nodded at the same time, and Tian Wanqing was even more excited: "Very few yellow intestine questions have been found, if it is true, then the mausoleum of the monarch of the Kingdom of Yu may be of high standard, beyond our imagination." ”

"I saw a record of the yellow intestine inscription in the literature, but I didn't expect to be able to see the yellow intestine more than 2,000 years ago." Xue Xinrou looked shocked.

"Mom, what is the yellow intestine problem?"

Ying Chengyuan explained to Tian Ji next to him, the yellow intestine inscription, the earliest documentary record appeared in the Warring States Period, according to the book, to the cypress yellow heart to the outside of the coffin, so it is called the yellow intestine, the wood is introverted, so the question is called.

Yellow intestine is the heart of cypress trees, not the ancients all used yellow intestine wood, only when the Son of Heaven was buried, the cypress wood was piled into the shape of a coffin, there was a toilet outside, and it was also piled up with cypress wood, and there were a large number of funeral goods inside, the main reason was that the ancients paid attention to thick burials, a cemetery cost tens of thousands of giant trees to the extreme, and a cemetery could use so many high-quality wood that could not be supported by one person's financial resources.

As for the inscription, it refers to the structure in the tomb, which is made of yellow intestine cypress wood and is tiled and stacked layer by layer, generally without mortise and tenon, and all the wood is introverted, piled up into a frame-shaped structure, and the coffin is surrounded by a circle of walls with wood, and the top is covered with a roof, just like a house, and there is a toilet outside, which is an important part of the emperor's mausoleum with the Zigong Palace, the outer coffin, and the golden jade clothes.

The yellow intestine inscription is exclusive to the Son of Heaven, but by special gifts, the princes, doctors, and scholars below the Son of Heaven can also use the inscription, and the use of the yellow intestine inscription is to indicate the identity and status of the tomb owner, and on the other hand, it is also conducive to protecting the coffin from damage.

"This kind of burial system will no longer appear after the Western Han Dynasty, and now there are very few yellow intestine inscriptions unearthed, each of which is precious, I didn't expect that there would be a yellow intestine inscription under the Yellow River Ancient Road." Ying Yuan was full of emotion.

"Dad, since it is a special burial system for the Son of Heaven, the specifications must be very high, why is there no yellow intestine question after the Western Han Dynasty?" Tian Ji asked.

"To build the yellow intestine inscription, first of all, you have to collect the precious wood from the deep mountains and poor valleys, the decoration is exquisite, the manufacturing is exquisite, the cost of manufacturing is huge, now the unearthed yellow intestine inscription, the ancient tomb of Beijing Dabaotai, the yellow heart cypress wood as many as more than 15,000!" Zhu Qi stood up and said unfazed. "You should treat these as casual wood, then if you cut one, you will have one less, even if the Son of Heaven wants to repair it in the future, he must have so many precious woods."

"When the monarch of the state of Qiu was building the mausoleum, it happened that Zhou Tianzi diverted the course of the Yellow River, and it was bound to build a dam upstream first, so a large amount of wood would be used. I nodded.

"It's not that only the Son of Heaven can use the yellow intestine to make up the question, isn't it a usurpation of the ancestral system by the monarch of the Kingdom of Qiu with such a burial system?" Gong Jue asked.

"The monarch of the Kingdom of Yu built the mausoleum under the river, it is bound to consider the firmness of the mausoleum, and it is reasonable to use the yellow intestine inscription, and since the Son of Heaven can give the monarch the gift of nine tins, it is also reasonable to reward the yellow intestine inscription." Tian Wanqing said.

"If the yellow intestine is so strong, why does it appear outside the river?" The palace lord was still puzzled.

"This is a good explanation, the old man said that there was a heavy rain here for half a month, presumably the ancient tomb seepage is serious, you must know that the yellow intestine is not used to make up the mortise and tenon, after the water seepage, the cypress floats, and slowly penetrates out of the river before it is discovered by the villagers here." Xue Xinrou said unhurriedly.

"It's easy to understand that the cypress is exposed outside the river, but why does the golden halberd, one of the nine tins in the tomb, appear on the Loess Ridge?" Ye Zhiqiu was at a loss.

"It shows that the tomb of the monarch of the kingdom of Yu has collapsed, and the golden halberd is a ritual weapon and hollow, which can float on the water, that is...... "I raised my head to look at the others." There is a rift in the tomb, and if we find it, we can enter the tomb. ”

"It shouldn't be so easy, Jia Yan has already excavated after getting the golden halberd, if there is really an ancient tomb below, Jia Yan can't miss it, he said that the silt and river sand deposited in the river are as solid as a rock, it is difficult to dig a cave, even if we know the approximate scope of the ancient tomb, but it is impossible to dig for a long time, we must find the crack in the shortest possible time." Ying Cheng Yuan said.