Chapter 519: Ancestral Master, Wang Xizhi! The
Progenitor of Calligraphy! The Massacre by Sima Yi! (2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“A distinguished lineage, these people possessed. Indeed, they were not of insignificant origin.”
Gu Santong intentionally kept his audience in suspense, smiling as he said, “Do you know how many of these effigies there are?”
In his heart, Luo Feng had quietly made an estimate. He spoke, “About four or five hundred, I suppose!”
After all, Luo Feng had seen them one by one.
Though he had not counted them.
He still had an idea of the approximate number.
“Correct, the confirmed count is indeed 470!” Gu Santong declared. “Now, consider where we are!”
“This place is, of course, Qianshan!” Luo Feng answered without hesitation.
“No, I mean during the Three Kingdoms period, what was this place known as?” Gu Santong posed the question again.
“If you’re referring to the Three Kingdoms period, it was Liaodong Commandery!” Luo Feng responded.
“That’s right, it was Liaodong Commandery!” Gu Santong confirmed. “Do you know why Sima Yi came to Liaodong Commandery in the first place?” “War?” Luo Feng responded quickly, adding, “Against the Yan Kingdom?”
Hearing this, Gu Santong felt a pang of disappointment and regret, chuckling as he said, “Speaking with a person of your intellect really leaves one without a sense of accomplishment!”
However, many of those standing nearby were truly confused.
What was going on?
Why was everyone befuddled?
“What does the Yan Kingdom have to do with this?”
“Indeed, Liaodong Commandery was once the land of the Yan Kingdom, but what does this have to do with Sima Yi?” “Please explain, I do not understand!”
“What are the host and this Professor Gu up to?”
Gu Santong spoke, “I discovered a few effigies along the side of the burial chamber, one of which is named Gongsun Yuan!” Although Luo Feng had already guessed it.
He was still shocked when he heard Gu Santong say this.
He knew that Sima Yi was cruel.
But he had not expected him to be this ruthless.
The audience, upon hearing this name, were momentarily dumbfounded.
“Gongsun Yuan? I can’t believe it’s him!” “I understand what happened now!”
“Did Sima Yi even spare the dead?”
“Victors write history. I think what Sima Yi did wasn’t wrong!”
“You think it’s okay to kill someone and then turn them into a tomb guardian?
Is that what you call not wrong?”
“People nowadays glorify heroes from the Water Margin, claiming they were all great men. But some from the newer generations feel superior, asserting that there were hardly any true heroes in the Water Margin, and that their deeds were unheroic. It amuses me that these individuals seek to impose modern moral standards upon the ancients. If the ancients were to behold our present-day women, they would likely find all of them deserving of harsh punishment.”
“Indeed, modern and ancient moral standards differ. Perhaps a thousand years from now, our present moral standards will also be seen as ludicrous.”
“Also, those who argue that Pan Jinlian did nothing seriously wrong by killing Wu Dalang—you are using present-day moral standards to judge. Remember, in that era, infidelity was utterly unacceptable to society.”
Upon hearing this, Luo Feng was slightly taken aback. These netizens made some valid points.
As a child, he thought all the characters in the Water Margin were heroes.
At eighteen or nineteen, influenced by the opinions of some, he felt there were few true heroes
In childhood, the heroes of Water Margin seemed gallant.
At the age of eighteen or nineteen, influenced by certain opinions, it appeared few were indeed heroes.
As he aged further, only then did he truly comprehend their stories, intertwined with the dynastic backdrop and moral standards of the time.
Only then could he savor their true essence.
Gu Santong began, “These funerary figures, apart from Gongsun Yuan, all belong to the Gongsun clan and the civil and military officials of the Yan Kingdom of that time. Among the Gongsun clan, dozens of individuals are here, leaving almost nothing behind.”
Luo Feng nodded and inquired, ‘Where are their effigies placed?”
“I will show you.”
Gu Santong led the way, promptly reaching a stone gate that separated the tomb corridor and the passage.
Here stood a funerary figure roughly 1.7 meters tall.
On a stone tablet on the ground, Gongsun Yuan’s name was inscribed.
Such a pitiful sight.
Utterly tragic.
Even in death, he was made to serve as a security guard for Sima Yi, guarding the tomb.
Recalling the war with Sima Yi, after his victory, Gongsun Yuan’s entire family, accomplices, and bureaucrats, nearly a hundred people, were slaughtered.
Even a massacre of the city was conducted.
“Little Luo, is there a way to open the ancient tomb from inside?” Gu Santong looked around before he asked.
After all, if one were to keep digging from below,
It would indeed make matters rather complicated.
“At the moment, it seems not, but there are other ways. Let’s go up first and discuss,” Luo Feng proposed.
Swiftly, they made it to the surface.
Gu Santong called over other members of the archaeological team, all gathered around Luo Feng.
“Little Luo, quickly share your idea!” Gu Santong urged.
Luo Feng nodded and began, “Upon my observation inside, in the access corridor and the main burial chamber, I found patches of quicksand.”
“I do not recommend prying open the stone bricks from outside, considering the high risk. The best method is to direct these patches of quicksand into the tomb corridor. ”
“But wouldn’t that destroy the tomb corridor?” Gu Santong challenged.
Luo Feng raised his hand to calm Gu Santong, then continued, “If the tomb corridor does not contain relics, we can guide it directly there and excavate later. It won’t cause significant damage.”
“The only problem now is that we cannot ascertain the volume of the quicksand. That remains uncertain to me. If indeed the entire outer boundary of the burial chamber is surrounded by quicksand, then a single tomb corridor might not accommodate it all! If there really is a large volume of quicksand, we can only dig more and guide the quicksand out from the tomb corridor.”
Luo Feng’s proposed solution, though not perfect, had provided a direction.
Indeed, it was a viable approach.
If the tomb corridor could accommodate the volume of quicksand sealed away, then Luo Feng’s plan should work.
If it could not, a new excavation would be required to guide the sand out.
Yu the Great’s approach to water control advised Luo Feng to facilitate flow, not obstruct it.
“Could we dig the bottom passage a bit larger? I believe it would be better to first remove those relics, then proceed with the operation,” Gu Santong suggested.
“We could do so, but enlarging the bottom passage is no minor task,” Luo Feng agreed, but not completely.
After all, to enter Sima Yi’s tomb, one had to avoid the quicksand from below.
Such a task below was far from easy..
Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only