After walking along the mountain wall for another two miles, everyone came to an open area.
This place has obviously been artificially processed. A horse-head-high stone wall was built outside the stone wall. The stone wall and the stone wall formed a long and narrow courtyard, about three meters wide and long. About thirty meters, it actually has nearly a hundred square meters, and even people and cavalry can live in it.
After entering the yard, Zhou Zhi knew where the stones for the wall came from. It turned out that stone caves were cut out on one side of the mountain wall. The stones used for the stone walls were the waste materials dug out of the stone caves. Repurposed.
Zhou Zhi is very familiar with this kind of caves. One of his important achievements during his fieldwork in Jiachuan was to find out the distribution of caves in Jiachuan County. However, the caves in Jiachuan are all made of They were originally used as cliff tombs, and later some of the larger ones were used as places for stacking firewood and raising cattle.
The stone cave here is similar to the cliff tomb of the Han Dynasty in Jiachuan, but its function should be for living people.
There is even a water source here. A small stream of water seeps from the cracks in the cliff and converges along the bottom of the stone wall into an artificial pit. The pit is covered with stones to form a "shady well" with a jar on top. Covering the mouth of the small well, the well is completely sealed, leaving only one outlet. When the water is full, it will flow out on its own.
The advantage of doing this is to avoid the growth of organisms in the water and keep the water clean.
In addition to wells, there are also fire pits, stone seats, stone tables, and even concave pits dug at the exits of the stone caves used as bedrooms. There is a thick bowl in it, with a rope on the mouth of the bowl. It turned out to be an oil lamp.
“Can this be considered a village?” Everyone came back from a circle here curiously, and Zhou Zhi asked Lao Chiri who was hanging bags of materials on the horses.
“This is the Niangniang Temple.” Lao Chiri said: “A few old Bimo once built a temple here to practice scriptures, but later it was abandoned I don’t know which year.”
"It's probably after the people from the villages outside evacuated." Zhou Zhi pondered.
This village itself cannot carry out production activities, so if you want to survive here, basic supplies have to be brought in from outside. Recently, they have to be brought in from Pantuo Village by the river outside.
However, there are also family migrations within Daliang Mountain. Some places that are not convenient for survival will be abandoned with the flow of population, and then gradually become unknown. When new people move to Pantuo Village, they may They didn't know that behind the hidden entrance under the stone bridge, there was a path leading here.
And when all the newcomers to Pantuo Village have moved away again, and even Pantuo Village has become ruins, it will be even less likely that anyone will know about it.
In addition to word of mouth, Bimo keeps secrets.
"But you can say it's a stockade." Lao Chiri said: "It can be regarded as a stockade to protect Bimo Cave."
"Where is Bimo Cave?"
" Behind the stone wall of this courtyard, there is nothing in the courtyard." Lao Chiri pointed in a direction. He said: "I will take you over after the horses are ready."
"Grandpa Chiri, you don't seem to be excited or nervous at all?" Lao Chiri, who was holding the material bag, felt that the old man really didn't look like he did before he opened the big treasure.
“I just feel relaxed now.” Lao Chiri smiled candidly, as if every fold on his face was filled with comfort: “From now on, the heavy burden will be left to you.”
Zhou Zhi couldn't help but sigh at the old man's wisdom. One day, when someone had the conditions to better preserve his collection, would he be able to hand it over as happily as Lao Chiri?
No, as soon as I had this idea, Zhou Zhi felt that his heart began to hurt. Those below level two or three are easy to negotiate, but those above level one can only be handed over if I am dead!
It is probably because of the fact that horses live in the courtyard. Bimo of the past dynasties believed that horses would desecrate the scriptures by pooping and urinating. Therefore, the courtyard was not suitable for storing scriptures, so they specially built a road between the scripture storage place and the courtyard. Stone walls separated it. Lao Chiri led everyone around the stone wall to the rear, and the full picture of Bimo Cave was finally revealed in front of everyone.
This is a natural cave, one person high from the ground, with natural moisture-proof conditions. In order to facilitate entry and exit, later generations carved out stone steps up and down.
There is a mud wall on the stone steps. Under the lens of Chi Xueli's camera, Lao Chiri took out a scraper and scraped off the surface, revealing the back, which turned out to be piles of mud bricks.
The mud bricks are placed on top. After the mud layer is scraped off, they can be pried off with a scraper.
Everyone went up to help, and within a short time a window-sized hole was removed.
"That's it for today." Lao Chiri stopped and said, "According to the old habit, we need to get some air first and then go in tomorrow morning."
"Then I'll touch up the lens first. "Chi Xueli said as he raised the camera: "Elbow, help me get the light."
Under the light of the photography light, you can take a look inside the cave through the entrance. The space inside the cave is very large. There are at least three caves three to five meters high and five to six meters deep. They are densely packed with wooden frames. , bamboo baskets, stacked with scriptures such as sheepskin, silk, rice paper, and even yellow straw paper.
The further in, the more messy the scrolls are visible to the naked eye, and the further out, the cleaner and more orderly they are.
This is easy to understand. The Yi people have experienced several cultural disasters in history. The materials originally hidden in this scripture cave must have been done in a hurry. The income was both abundant and urgent. , the stacking is not so neat.
Later, Bimo's sutra delivery became more leisurely. However, the number of people was very small, usually only one or two people, and there was not much energy to organize. As it is now, there may be many descendants. The result after sorting it out.
After all, future generations still have to sort out the materials they sent in, or are busy copying scriptures and taking them out, so there is not much time left for sorting.
However, Zhou Zhi was a little worried about the poor condition of the parchment rolls inside. After all, the smell could be smelled at the entrance of the cave, which was quite unpleasant.
Chi Xueli couldn't hold on for long. The two quickly left the entrance of the cave, gasping for air. They were all suffocated just now.
Lao Chiri had already taken an oven, buried a red-hot cigarette-smelling medicine cake in the incense ashes that had been stored in the oven for hundreds of years, and used a hooked Bamboo poles were used to carry the oven into the cave, and then the entrance of the cave was covered with charwa, which is the Yi people's The cloak covered it up: "That's it. It will be easier to enter the cave tomorrow. Now let's cook first and then settle down!"
"Send the fire in, isn't it good?" Zhou Zhi saw it. He was frightened. If there was a fire, there was a possibility of a fire. He was so scared.
"It's okay. The incense ashes are buried and burned slowly. There is only light smoke and no sparks come out." Lao Chiri said: "This is also because I am afraid that the smell inside will attract wild animals and destroy the books. Two It’s the lesser of the consequences.”
Zhou Zhi thought about it and still respected Bimo's inheritance. Since the inheritance of so many generations was fine, it meant that there might be something special in that oven.
Instead of worrying about this, it is better to prepare dinner to recuperate and prepare for tomorrow's drama. (End of this chapter)