It turned out that the big golden tooth happened to know a professor from the Beijing Institute of Archaeology and Museums, and they often had horizontal exchanges with each other.
After the reform and opening up, the archaeological protection and other activities that were forced to be interrupted in the ten years of the Cultural Revolution have been restarted, and the last three years have been a peak period for archaeology, and a large number of ancient tombs and relics have surfaced.
Antique collection exchange and trading is also extremely hot, all kinds of large and small tomb robbery gangs heard the wind, and dug when they saw the mound, especially in Shaanxi, Henan, Hunan and other places, and there is a tendency to intensify.
Since the discovery of the Xiaohe tomb group in Loulan, Xinjiang, people seem to have suddenly woken up to the fact that in the great desert of Xinjiang, the once glorious Silk Road, the 36 countries of the Western Regions along the Peacock River, Huhu, Loulan, Milan, Niya, Luntai, Pu, Gumo, and Xiye... The paradise of adventurers, I don't know how much treasure and prosperity are covered by the vast yellow sand.
For a time, countless expeditions, archaeological teams, and tomb robbers rushed into the Taklamakan Desert in search of treasure. This is the second craze for exploration after the desert exploration craze of the early 19th century, but for most inexperienced explorers, the desert is a place from which there is no return, as the famous Swedish explorer Sven Hedin explained to Taklamakan from which there is no return. The Sea of Death, hence its name.
The protection of ancient tombs in Xinjiang is urgent, but the government does not have enough manpower and financial resources to excavate and protect the remains in the Taklamakan Desert, and a large number of archaeologists are racing against time in Henan to excavate ancient tombs that have been robbed or damaged by construction.
The professor, whom Da Jinya knew, had been studying the culture of the Western Regions for a long time, and was worried about the destruction of ancient tombs in Xinjiang, and had been looking for leaders to apply, hoping to personally lead a team to the desert to conduct an on-site assessment of these relics, and then apply to the relevant departments for excavation or protection.
The superiors used the lack of funds as an excuse to repeatedly postpone the delay, but in fact, the funding is secondary, mainly because there are too many people who have had accidents in the desert recently, and they are worried that the professor will have some accidents when they go. There is an unspoken rule in officialdom, do not seek merit, but seek no fault, not to make mistakes is to make great contributions, and it is a matter of time before you are promoted to an official position and make a fortune.
It wasn't until recently, when a Chinese-American stepped forward to provide full financial support to the professor's archaeological team, that the trip was possible. At present, this archaeological expedition team is still in the preliminary preparations, they also need to find a team leader with rich experience in desert survival, in addition to the lack of a capable person who understands the art of feng shui stargazing, because most of the archaeological team members are nerds who gnaw books, and without a team leader, they will definitely not be able to get out of the desert; There are no masters who know the feng shui of the stars, and they can't find ruins and tombs or anything like that.
It's not easy to find this kind of person, some people come to apply, most of them are deceitful people who steal their reputation, and when the two sides talk, they show their timidity, so the professor also asked the big gold tooth to find such a capable person in the people.
The big gold tooth asked me if I wanted to go, but the price offered by the Americans was quite high, and I could go to the desert to see if there were any big tombs, so I should step on the plate and have a reference for future actions.
I said, "It's a good opportunity, it's a great practice for us, we've never worked with archaeologists before, and if we can go together, we can learn a lot from them." I have been to the desert before, and the troops have twice gone deep into the desert to conduct military exercises. A tour leader is a team leader, and if you want to enter the desert, you must also find a good local guide. In addition, I understand the celestial star feng shui, as long as there are stars in the sky, I can take them to find the place they want to find. It's just that I don't quite understand, why did this American pay to sponsor our Chinese expeditions? What is his purpose? Americans are not Lei Feng, Americans are very pragmatic, they value practical interests the most, and they will not do anything that is not beneficial. "
The big golden tooth said: "I don't know the details of this matter very well, only a rough idea. The American who funded the money is a woman, Chinese, and her father is a Wall Street tycoon, and she usually likes to explore archaeology and other activities. Last year, her father went on an expedition to Xinjiang with a group of Chinese explorers, and her father seemed to be particularly interested in some exquisite culture. They went that time to find the exquisite ancient city hidden in the hinterland of the sand sea, but they went and never came back, and no one came back, and the local garrison sent planes to look for it, but in the end they didn't find it, and there was no clue at all. She has inherited a large inheritance from the family, and I am afraid that she is not too dead on her father's affairs, and this sponsorship may also be trying to do her best to find her relatives again. Although she is an American, after all, she is Chinese, according to our Chinese tradition, after death, people have to be buried in their hometown, thrown in the desert in the wind and sun, and their relatives far away at home are not at peace. "
The three of us drank until the evening, and agreed that the big gold tooth would contact the buyer and introduce us to Professor Chen, the organizer of the archaeological team who was about to leave, and we needed to meet Professor Chen if we could join in.
Two days later, Da Jinya took us to Tianjin, where there was a small antique store in Shenyang Road, Tianjin, and the owner was a white woman in her thirties, and we all called her Sister Han. Sister Han is the mistress of a big boss in Hong Kong, and the boss is one of the few major antique collectors in Hong Kong.
Sister Han is a woman who doesn't like to talk much, but she has a very high attainment in antique identification, and after seeing our Ming artifact, she generously paid 60,000 yuan: "The current market, at most, is 50,000 yuan, and I will pay you 10,000 more, I hope that we will make friends, and if there are any good things in the future, please get it here." "
I took the thick banknote in my hand, I was excited, my hands were a little trembling, and I secretly scolded myself for not being productive: "Lao Hu, Lao Hu, you can be regarded as a person who has seen the world, when Chairman Mao inspected the Red Guards in the Tiananmen Tower, were you excited when you participated?" Frankly, I was excited, but not as excited as I am now. Anyway, you can be regarded as a person who has climbed trees in the big forest, dug a pit on Kunlun Mountain, and shot at the Vietnamese counterattack, why are you so excited today that you can't even hold the money? Alas, that's the power of money! No way, you can disrespect money, but if you don't have money, you can't pull wires for the villagers in the mountains, and you can't improve the lives of the families of those who sacrificed their comrades, money is too great, born and died, for what, it's for money. "
After I went back, I divided the money into four parts, one for Yingzi, one for the fat man, and one for the branch secretary, and divided it among everyone, and the remaining one was kept for the purchase of equipment and the funds for the next operation.
The fat man didn't want his share, he said that the money this time was a lot less, but it was not too much, it was definitely not enough to build a road for the Ganggang camp, we didn't have much left, I heard that Lao Hu you have a lot of martyrs in the countryside in your company, the family has a large population, although there are government subsidies, but life is very difficult, and even some of the old lady, her son died, she has no money to buy a ticket to Yunnan to see her son's tomb. When I heard you say this, my eyes are sour, and my heart is very uncomfortable, so why don't you send me this to the martyrs and the wounded and crippled brothers. In my life, my biggest wish is to be a soldier and fight on the battlefield, but my father died early, I don't have that chance, Lao Hu, you can help me fulfill this wish, and it will not be too late for us to share it with me when we have more money in the future.
Speaking of this, tears also rolled in my eyes, and I patted the fat man on the shoulder: "Okay, now my consciousness is getting higher and higher." There are opportunities to make money in the future, and this time we will strive to go to Xinjiang and make money from Americans. "
After resting for a few days, Big Golden Tooth came to inform him, saying that he had made an appointment to meet Professor Chen of the archaeological team, and took me and the fat man to Professor Chen's office.
The professor is not young, and as soon as I meet, I can't help but worry about him, this old bone still wants to enter the world's second largest mobile desert?
Along with Professor Chen, his assistant Hao Aiguo, a middle-aged intellectual in his mid-forties with his hair as messy as a chicken's nest and a lack of experience in dealing with people, and his deep myopia glasses show that he is a person who has a rigorous, pragmatic and hard-working attitude to study, and does not pay much attention to his own image. There were many times when he was in the Humanistic Revolution, but after the reform and opening up, with the popularity of new knowledge, new trends and new values, there are not many people of this old school.
Hao Aiguo looked at us seriously, and he was not polite, and said straight to the point: "Two comrades, we already know the intention of your visit, and I think you also know the requirements of our archaeological team. What we need are talents, do you two have experience in desert survival and exploration, or do you understand the science of star feng shui? You can't be sloppy about this, and if you don't have the skills to do so, we won't go through the back door. After speaking, he glanced at the big gold tooth, "It doesn't work to see anyone's face." "
Professor Chen felt that Hao Aiguo was too straightforward, he was also very familiar with the father of the big golden tooth, and often asked them some questions about antique appreciation, and he didn't want to make the relationship too stiff, so he got up from the sofa and played a round, invited us to sit down, chatted a few words, asked me and the fat man some things, and nodded with a smile after listening: "It's not easy, I have been a company commander of the People's Liberation Army, and I have participated in the war, and I have been to the desert, it is really rare, when we are the leader of nerds, it is really more than enough." The ruins and ancient tombs in the desert, most of them are buried under the yellow sand, the old road of the Peacock River has long been dry and difficult to find, if you don't know the Tianxing Feng Shui, I'm afraid you can't find it, I don't know if you two understand this Feng Shui? "
I know that this kind of Tianxing Feng Shui, also known as the Tianqiong Green Capsule Technique, is the Tianzi scroll in the "Fragment of the Dragon Shaking Sutra", the most obscure chapter, I have never actually used it, but at this time, I can only blow it hard. I scratched my scalp and replied, "Sir, it's not me bragging, I'm familiar with this astrolabe moon carving feng shui technique, but where do you start..."
In order to get this job that was paid in dollars, I poured out all the inventory in my stomach, hoping to knock them down. Thanks to my ancestral secretary, Hao Aiguo saw that I was young at the beginning, thinking that I was a relative of the big golden tooth, and came to them to eat at the back door.
This feng shui is known as the best of geoscience, and the land of feng shui can be simply summarized as: the place where the wind is hidden, and the place where the water is obtained. This "Book of Burials" (1) says it well: "The mourner, take advantage of the anger." Qi is dispersed by the wind, and the boundary water is stopped. The ancients gathered to make it not disperse, and the line made it stop, so it was called feng shui. "
Later generations expanded Feng Shui infinitely, not only limited to the leyline acupuncture points of tombs, but gradually extended to the art of Kanyu. To put it bluntly, it is a science that analyzes the relationship between heaven, earth and man.
But today I will only talk to the professors and teachers here about a branch of Feng Shui, "Celestial Star Feng Shui". The ancient emperors and nobles attached great importance to the afterlife, and the treatment they enjoyed during their lifetime should continue to be possessed after death, not only that, but they also believed that the rise and fall of the world were all in the dragon vein, so the mausoleum should be set up in the treasure land of feng shui. Emperor Yongzheng once outlined the emperor's mausoleum incisively, he said: Qiankun gathers the beautiful area, the place where yin and yang meet, the dragon's cave sand water, no beauty is not collected, the situation is reasonable, all auspicious and salty, the mountain water law, the order is detailed, Xun is the land of Shangji.
Although there are only a few short sentences, this is undoubtedly the most direct, most vivid, and most vivid description of the emperor's choice of land, but he only said half of it, the ancients pursued the realm of the unity of heaven and man, not only the mountains and water, but also the sun, moon and stars.
Since ancient times, people often watch the celestial phenomena, study the changes of the stars, and use them to speculate on the good fortune and bad fortune, when choosing the treasure of feng shui, they will also add the essence of astronomy, the difference between heaven and earth, 84,000 miles, the heart and kidney of people are different, eight inches and four points, the human body is gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, and there are five stars corresponding to the heavens and rivers, and there are twenty-four stars corresponding to the geography of the mountains and rivers in the world, the stars have beauty and evil, and the earth has good luck and evil.
All the auspicious soil must echo with the sun, moon and stars in the sky, and the Qingwu technique of using the flow of nebulae to determine the acupoints is the most difficult to master in feng shui.
There are 24 nights in the sky, 24 hours in the day, and 24 solar terms in the year, so Feng Shui also has 24 directions and 24 places. We can understand the auspicious and evil arrangements of these stars, and then locate them through the compass, we can find the place we want to find, but there are many schools of Feng Shui of this kind of celestial stars, each with its own rules, and there are many contradictory monuments in the vast sea of sand, after a thousand years, it is good to have a 23% chance to find it.
When Professor Chen heard this, he stood up happily and said, "Comrade Hu said it so well, God opened his eyes, he finally sent us such a talent." In the great desert of Xinjiang, after thousands of years, or even thousands of years, the vicissitudes of the sea, the former oases and cities have become a vast sea of sand, mountains and rivers have disappeared, if we want to find those mausoleums on the ancient Silk Road, relying on the art of Tianxing Feng Shui is the most concise and effective way. I announce that both of you, from now on, have officially joined our archaeological working group. "
Hao Aiguo also came over to shake hands with us warmly, and apologized for the unkindness just now: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, intellectuals like us are all stinky old men, and after so many years of the Cultural Revolution, we have been squatting in the clay kiln, squatting stupidly, and we don't know how to speak, please don't care." "
I secretly rejoiced: "Hehe, I know so much, and I have to show my feet if I go any further." Celestial Star Feng Shui is rare and unimaginable, I can't quite understand it, but presumably you intellectuals who wear short-sighted glasses can't stand the test of the cruel environment in the desert, and you have to run back in less than two days after entering. In addition, I exaggerated, saying that the probability of finding the ruins is extremely low, if I can't find it, then it's not my responsibility to understand the celestial star feng shui, but our wages can't be less. "
I was about to be proud, when a young woman came in the room, and Professor Chen hurriedly introduced us: "This Miss Yang is the funder of our funding, and she also goes with us, don't look at her as a girl, but she is a photographer of the famous National Geographic magazine in the United States." "
I shook hands with her as a gentleman, and I thought that since the other party is an American, I have to speak English to others, how do you say it? It's like: "Ha... Ha... Leakage. "
Miss Yang smiled slightly: "Mr. Hu, I can speak Chinese, let's talk in Chinese." You can call me Shirley Yang from now on. "I didn't expect her Mandarin to speak very well, without the slightest American accent, as for what the American accent is like, in fact, I don't have a concept, anyway, I think she is no different from Chinese."
Shirley Yang shook hands with the fat man again, and then raised a question, Mr. Wang Kaixuan (fat man) came with Mr. Hu, Mr. Hu has great ability, has commanded troops, and understands Tianxing Feng Shui, however, what skills Mr. Wang has, we have not yet understood. This desert expedition is a big deal, and we don't need people who don't have unique skills.
I didn't expect the Americans to speak so directly, everyone looked at the fat man together, and I hurriedly said for him: "It's not peaceful in the desert, my friend, good marksmanship." "
Seeing that the American woman looked down on him, the fat man pursed his mouth and said angrily: "What is Xinjiang, when my lord I went to the Xinjiang desert to suppress bandits, killed the bandits in the Niya Oasis, and killed the bandit leader with my own hands." You see, this is the spoils of war. After that, he took out the piece of jade pendant and shook it in front of everyone's eyes, "Have you seen it, you?" "
I grinned beside me, thinking to myself, this idiot, you can't talk nonsense, you put all the heroic deeds of your father's generation on your own head, and you went to Xinjiang to suppress bandits, and you still wore open crotch pants when you suppressed bandits, and you said that you had eaten Xinjiang mutton skewers. Now, it seems that I can only play tricks, if I don't take the fat people to go, I won't go, I guess they can only compromise in the end.
However, no one refuted, Professor Chen and Shirley Yang's eyes were attracted by the jade pendant in the fat man's hand, and wherever the fat man held the jade pendant's hand, their eyes followed, and they were reluctant to blink their eyes.
Shirley Yang originally did not agree to the fat man's participation in the archaeological team, but since she saw the fat man's jade pendant, she did not hesitate to promise to pay each of us $10,000, and if we can find the exquisite ancient city in the heart of the desert, we will pay twice as much. But the money won't be cashed until we come back from Xinjiang.
The big gold tooth has also seen the fat man's jade pendant, and with his age, he can't see the origin of this jade. He is not as knowledgeable as Professor Chen and others in this regard, after all, the big gold tooth is an upside-down thing, Professor Chen has been immersed in the study of ancient culture in the Western Regions for decades, Shirley Yang's father and he are good friends, Shirley Yang has been influenced by the family environment since childhood, and he is also half an expert in the history of the Western Regions, so the two of them looked at this piece of jade and came out of the door.
Professor Chen believes that the jade is at least 1,500 to 2,000 years old, and the inscription on it is a ghost cave script. The ghost cave is an ethnic minority in the Western Regions in ancient times, and now this nation has long been extinct, according to some classics unearthed in Dunhuang, the queen of the exquisite country is the ghost cave people, and the ten ghost cave characters on the jade, what is the content, still need further research.
Professor Chen and Shirley Yang's father are obsessed with the culture of the Western Regions, and this once prosperous and gorgeous city can be said to be the best among the 36 countries of the Western Regions.
The glory of the past has been buried in the yellow sand, and the clues that prove its existence are only sporadic records in some ancient documents, and the legend says that the Queen of Essence is the first beauty in the Western Regions, she is like the sun in the sky, and her appearance eclipses the stars and the moon.
Shirley Yang's father was looking for the queen's tomb, and an expedition of five Chinese and American scholars, carrying top-notch equipment, went into the depths of the sand sea, but never returned.
In this operation, one is to conduct on-site assessment and survey of ancient tombs in the desert; The two also wanted to try their luck and see if they could find the remains of the five explorers and bury them properly.
Shirley Yang wanted to buy the jade pendant in the fat man's hand, and the fat man and I thought that the strange goods were habitable, so we didn't sell them if we killed them, and secretly counted how many dollars we could kill her.
We joined this expedition of scholars and photographers, and I was the leader and the fat man was the vice-captain. The matter of going to the desert was thus finalized.
The first stop was Xi'an, where we were to meet up with a few of Professor Chen's students and then to Urumqi, where the expedition's equipment would be shipped directly.
As soon as Hao Aiguo came in, he made the fat man's stinky feet so smoked that he almost fell, and he pushed me awake: "Comrade Hu, wake up, wake up, the professor is looking for you to discuss something, come over for a while." "
I looked out the car window, it was still dawn, I didn't know what time it was, I fell asleep, put on my clothes and followed Hao Aiguo to the next door.
Professor Chen and Shirley Yang were looking at the map, and when they saw me coming in, they beckoned me to sit down, and Hao Aiguo poured me a cup of hot water, and I asked them what was the matter.
Professor Chen said, "We will be able to go to Xi'an tomorrow morning, pick up my three students, and all the personnel will be there." You are our captain and would like to discuss the route with you in advance. "
Shirley Yang also said on the side: "Yes, Mr. Hu, I have discussed with the professor, and plan to start from Bosten Lake, go south to find the ancient Peacock River, and then, through the ancient Peacock River channel, enter the deep desert, and go south along the Ziduyan River to find the ruins of the exquisite ancient city, we would like to ask for your opinion." "
I think it's funny in my heart, these intellectuals and rich people are whimsical on paper, and if you go in circles in the desert Gobi Desert, how can anyone dare to take a Z-shaped route in the desert, even if they don't die of thirst, starvation, and sunburn, they will die of exhaustion in the end. But I've always thought that these people belong to those who have a lot of money to burn, who have enough to eat, and who have a good life, but they have to go to the desert to suffer, and they have to cry and shout to go back in less than two or three days, so it doesn't matter what route they take, just give me the money when you go back.
I said to Shirley Yang: "Miss Yang, although I am the leader of the team, I am not qualified to participate in the decision on the arrangement of the route, you have determined the route and goal, and I am responsible for leading everyone to the place, in other words, your, the shopkeeper's work, ours, the coolie work." "
As soon as the words came out, I also regretted a little, as the saying goes, take people's money and people to eliminate disasters, people spend money to hire me, of course I have to do my duty, so I told them that about the route, we must wait until I arrive in Xinjiang, find a local guide, ask for his opinion, and then decide, it is a bit too early to say, the matter of finding a guide is on me.
After this conversation on the train, I had a vague feeling that they were so determined that they might not have to run back a few days after entering the desert.
In Xi'an, I met the rest of the members of our archaeological team, all of whom were students led by Professor Chen, the simple-looking Sa Dipeng, the tall Chu Jian, and a female student Ye Yixin.
With the addition of the previous five, there are eight people in total. When I arrived in Xinjiang, I contacted a former comrade-in-arms in the army, Liu Gang, who was a descendant of the 359th Brigade of the Xinjiang Army, and was born and raised in Xinjiang, but he was not very familiar with the locals, and it was not easy to find a local guide who was familiar with the geography of the desert.
The old man's name is no longer called, and people call him Anliman, which means a living map in the desert.
An Liman held a cigarette pouch in his mouth and shook his head non-stop: "No, no, it's the wind season, go into the desert, Hu Da and his old man, that's to blame." "
I asked Professor Chen to show the documents, and I explained to him that we are cadres sent by the state to work, and the local comrades must cooperate, and if you don't give us a guide, we will find the police and confiscate your camel and donkey, so that you can't do business.
Shirley Yang told him again, "As long as you come and be our guide, I will buy all your cattle for double the price, and when you come back from the desert, these animals will still be yours, and the money will be yours."
An Liman was helpless, so he had to agree, but he put forward a request: "Don't drive the car, Hu Da doesn't like machines, camels have a lot of areas, Hu Da likes camels." "
At this point, I agreed with the old man that camels are much more reliable in the desert than cars.
On the day of departure, we loaded all our equipment and materials onto the camel's back and brought them with us
A large amount of bean cakes and salt were served, and the fat man asked while helping him carry things: "Old man, let's eat bean cakes and salt in the desert?" Doesn't this make you thirstier the more you eat? "
An Liman laughed: "Oh, my Wuli Anjiang (strong friend), this, you can eat it, but Hu Da thinks that these should be left for the camels to eat." "
An Liman told us that the current season is the most dangerous time in the desert, from Bosten Lake to the ruins of the West Night City, this previous section of the road, there are deserts and Gobi Desert, fortunately there is the ancient channel of the Peacock River connected, it is not difficult to identify, but if you want to go deeper, whether you can find the Zidu Dark River, it depends on Hu Da's will.
Our team of nine people is not so much an archaeological team as an ancient camel team, and the amount of food carried is less than a month, and the clean water is enough to be used for more than ten days. In addition, there are several large leather pockets of yogurt soup, when you are thirsty in the desert, you can drink a sip to quench your thirst, which can withstand ten mouthfuls of water. Coupled with the various equipment and equipment of the expedition team, the weight of each camel is very large, and when traveling, the personnel can only rely on two legs, walk half the way, and ride half of the camel.