The person who spoke was Old Man Fu Shuangling.

Although he was still blindfolded at the moment, unable to see, and unable to see the gaze in his eyes, his raised face was now flushed with excitement, and was filled with an impassioned expression.

He waited for decades, and finally completed the ancestral training of the Fu family in his lifetime, and the last wishes of many generations of ancestors led the person with the dragon pattern on his back to the legendary ancient city of Loulan, and the excitement in his heart can be imagined.

The mouse looked at him with some disbelief in his eyes, and asked, "The old gentleman just said that you know the internal structure of this royal city?"

Old Man Fu nodded, and said with certainty: "Yes! The old ancestor Fu Jiezi had sent many envoys to Loulan back then, so he was very familiar with the Loulan Royal City, and among the many records he left, he had mentioned it. ”

He cleared his throat and said slowly: "In the records of the ancestors, it is said that the appearance of the Loulan Royal City is very peculiar, and it is very different from the architecture of the Central Plains, and even from the architectural styles of other countries in the Western Regions. There is a circular dome on the top, and the whole royal city is cylindrical, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, as if it were the shape of a bronze bell fastened to the ground. ”

Zhang Fatzi was stunned for a moment and asked, "Bronze bells?" Are you talking about the bronze bells hanging up and striking in the temple?"

Fu Shuangling nodded: "Exactly." In the records left by our ancestors, there was a hand-drawn sketch that was exactly what it was. However, such an architectural style has never been seen in the Western Regions, and after the whole country moved from Loulan to Shanshan, no such shape appeared in their buildings. ”

"The royal city is divided into three floors, and the top floor is the main hall used for deliberations and banquets, and the decoration is splendid and extraordinary. Outside the main hall, there is also a stargazing platform, and it is said that the kings of Loulan in the past dynasties were proficient in the art of astrology, and often watched the stars at night and looked at the sky. ”

"On the second floor are the large and small dormitories where the king and his concubines lived, while on both sides of the ground floor are the residences of the king's guards, and it is said that in the middle there is also the king's study and the treasury of gold and silver treasures. ”

"Treasure Trove?" Ye Feng muttered.

He thought to himself, could the secret of the dragon-shaped pattern on his back be hidden in this treasure trove?

Old Man Fu Shuangling misunderstood what he meant, thinking that he was interested in the gold and silver treasures in the treasure house, so he snorted coldly and said, "However, the two layers below are heavily guarded, and the ancestors have not seen it with their own eyes. ”

"The three floors are connected to each other by a spiraling staircase, and if we can enter the main hall, we believe that we can use the stairs to go down to the ground floor. If you look at the three dunes, the larger one in the middle, the round dome above the royal palace should be below, and the smaller ones on either side may be the spires used for decoration on the side of the dome. ”

The rat looked at the three sand dunes carefully and muttered for a while, and said, "In this way, the most convenient way to enter the interior of the royal city is through this dome. ”

After listening to their words, everyone had some confidence in the plan to enter the inner city of the royal city and go down to the bottom of the lake to find the dark river.

Zhang Fatzi jumped to his feet and said loudly: "Then what are you waiting for?

Next, all the sergeants and everyone gathered together, except for Miss Cheng, Xiao Sanji and Old Man Fu, the others were divided into three teams according to the arrangement of the mouse, and took turns to start digging the sand dune in the middle.

Everyone seemed to be a little confused about the arrangement of the mouse, and Zhang Fatzi muttered in a low voice: "Why do you want to separate? Wouldn't it be faster for everyone to dig together?"

But it didn't take long for him to know the answer.

Although the sand in the desert is relatively soft, it seems that it is easier to dig than the soil, but as the saying goes, "the force starts from the feet", and the digger standing on the soft sand surface also feels that it is difficult to borrow strength, but it is more laborious to dig.

And in the storm of the scorching sun

Under the sun, the temperature on the surface of the sand is very high, scorching the people standing on it.

Coupled with the strong sunlight reflected on the sand surface, the excavators felt dizzy and sweaty after a while. So I had to replace another group of people to continue digging.

It was only then that everyone finally understood why the rat divided everyone into three groups and took turns to dig.

The mouse looked up at Zhang Fatzi, who was still complaining just now, and Zhang Fatzi smiled quite awkwardly, indicating that he had understood.

The mouse snorted coldly, and muttered in a very low voice, "All of them, I have so many digging tools there?"

The rat gathered everyone together in one part of the sand dune and dug for several hours, and when the sun began to set in the west, a sergeant who was digging suddenly screamed, and he dug up a hard object.

He screamed endlessly, and the sand in front of him suddenly roared loudly, collapsed, and the quicksand flew out, if he hadn't climbed up in a hurry, he was almost sucked up by the quicksand.

After a while, this piece of quicksand poured out, and in front of everyone, a swarthy hole appeared.

The rat ran over and shoveled away the sand near the hole with a small shovel, revealing a wall with deep cracks.

This must be the circular dome above the main hall.

It seems that this dome was shattered when the royal city fell. Just now the sergeant's hard tool poked the piece of dome that had been shattered, and then it fell down, revealing the hole.

The mouse looked at this hole and was a little stunned.

He was surprised that the tentacles of this dome were hard and cold, and if he looked closely at the section of the cave, it turned out to be metallic!

This Loulan Wangcheng actually uses metal to cast this dome? The mouse has never heard of such a thing before, it seems that the architectural style of this Loulan Wangcheng is really as peculiar as Old Man Fu said.

The hole wasn't big, but it was big enough for one person to enter and exit, and it was so dark that you couldn't see anything, except for the cold wind that was pouring into it.

The rat is a veteran of digging and robbing tombs for many years, so he naturally knows that a building like this, which has been buried underground for many years, has thin air inside, and must be ventilated first.

He sat and waited for a long time before lighting a torch and throwing it through the hole.

The torch was not extinguished, but kept falling, and it took a while to hear the sound of crashing to the ground.

Since the flame will not be extinguished, it proves that the ventilation inside is almost complete. The rat stuck his head into the hole and leaned in to look inside.

By the faint light of the torches below, the rat looked at the hole below from the dome, and was afraid that it was seven or eight feet high.

The old man Fu Shuangling said that it was not bad at all, under this dome is a huge hall, but it seems that when the royal city fell, it was also shaken a lot, and all the furnishings in the hall fell to the ground, and even several huge pillars in the hall were also staggered, and some were broken into several pieces.

Nevertheless, it is fortunate that the temple is not flooded with yellow sand and is well maintained.

It seems that the outer walls of this royal city are very solid, and even the metal dome was shattered by the fall, but the four walls are undamaged.

The rat took a deep breath to make sure there was nothing wrong, and then beckoned the sergeants to prepare the ropes and hang down from the hole in the dome into the main hall.

Adjutant General Hao left five sergeants on it to guard the horses and luggage, and the others were successively hung along the ropes into the main hall. It took a full hour, and even Xiao Sanji and the blindfolded Old Man Fu went down to the main hall.

Originally, Vice Admiral Hao wanted to keep the two of them outside, but they resolutely disagreed, and Vice Admiral Hao really couldn't resist them

Reluctantly agreed, let them also tie the rope and hang down.

The torches in everyone's hands illuminated the entire hall as if it were daylight.

After a lot of hardships and several escapes from death, now that their feet have finally stepped into the legendary ancient city of Loulan, everyone's hearts can't help but feel inexplicable excitement, and they have visited around this hall.

Although it has been buried in the desert for thousands of years, the wooden objects in the temple have long since decayed, covered with dust, and are far less brilliant than those mentioned in Fu Jiezi's records.

However, from the extraordinary grandeur of this hall, the exquisite carvings on the walls and some remaining objects, you can still vaguely see the glorious scene of this place.

On the high platform of the main hall was a huge stone throne, although half of it had collapsed, and the remaining half alone could be deduced how beautiful it was in the first place.

Zhang Fatzi surrounded the half-remaining throne and marveled at its carving process, and even how such a large and heavy boulder was transported back then.

When his gaze fell on the wall behind the throne, he couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise, and waved his hand again and again to beckon Ye Feng and Xie Zhen to light them over.

Everyone gathered around, and it turned out that the carvings on this wall were different from those elsewhere, but there were several murals carved on them. Although the original coloring paint has been peeled off, the contents of the painting can still be faintly identified by the traces of carving.

These murals are carved very simply, but they are also very expressive, but a few simple knives, but the figures, mountains and rivers are carved vividly, which shows that the skills of the people who carve the murals are extremely extraordinary, and they must be extraordinary craftsmen.

Zhang Fatzi pulled Xie Zhenliang and said, "Second brother, you have always studied ancient characters and symbols, or would you like to take a look at what is said above?"

Xie Zhen glanced at him, what kind of ancient characters and symbols? These are clearly just some simple pictures, who can't understand them?

However, he still watched and told everyone about the contents of the mural.

He looked at the first mural, which depicted a fireball falling in the sky, and a group of people on the ground kneeling in worship of the fireball.

The second mural depicts a group of people at the water's edge looking at a smoking object on the ground, and they are also kneeling on the ground and bowing, but there is a man with a feather on his head recording something.

The third mural depicts these men cutting wood and quarrying at the water's edge, and building a city on top of the smoking object under the command of the man with the feather on his head.

Listening to Xie Zhenliang's introduction here, Old Man Fu suddenly said: "The content on these three murals should describe the establishment of the Loulan Kingdom. ”

"In the records left by the ancestor Fu Jiezi, it is mentioned that in ancient times, there was a heavenly fire on the shore of this salt lake. The people in this vicinity thought that the gods had descended, so they built a city on the site of the fall of the heavenly fire and established the ancient kingdom of Loulan. ”

The name of Loulan first appeared in the "Historical Records" recorded in the letter of the Xiongnu Shan Maodun to Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty during the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, and Loulan was mentioned for the first time and called its vassal state. Now it seems that the establishment of the ancient kingdom of Loulan is probably much earlier than this. ”

Everyone felt the truth when they heard it, and they all nodded.

At this time, Zhang Fatzi suddenly screamed, pointed to the mural and said: "If this smoking thing is some kind of heavenly fire falling from the world, its shape is ......."

Old Man Fu couldn't see with his eyes, so he asked, "What's wrong with its shape?"

Zhang Fatzi said with some consternation: "The shape of this heavenly fire is like a big bronze bell!"