Endless route

Chapter 289 59. The floating wooden coffin and the military households in the city

Zheng Yun and his party were waiting under the shade of the trees by the lake. Two assault kayaks came from the other side of the lake, creating ripples on the lake and quickly arriving in front of them with their tail waves.

"We meet again, Zheng Yun."

Li Wu got off the boat wearing a life jacket.

"You guys move things first, Li Wu, what's going on here?" Zheng Yun greeted Hu Zi and the others, and then pulled Li Wu aside, intending to ask about the situation in detail.

"I also have this plan."

Li Wu nodded with a serious expression.

But there was not an inch of clear land in the swamp area, and there was bottomless silt everywhere. The two could only follow a rotten tree, carefully walk deeper, and squat among a group of rainforest plants.

"These wooden coffins appeared strangely. We came here very early and watched helplessly as the wooden coffins floated up from the water, intermittently, and one floated out every few minutes."

"We opened a lot of wooden coffins for inspection, and the corpses inside were basically the same. According to the old history professor, there was something wrong with the masks on the faces of these corpses."

"In addition, there are also a lot of strange and messy objects floating in the lake. We have salvaged and collected them in one place. Some of them are not burial objects at first glance."

"Many young colleagues have never experienced this kind of scene, and they feel a little burdened. Fortunately, it is broad daylight, and the helicopter blows away the water mist, so the visibility of the lake is good."

Li Wu just squatted down and spoke in a low voice, briefly introducing the current situation to Zheng Yun. As he spoke, he suddenly pointed to the lake and said, "Look over there, another wooden coffin floated out."

Zheng Yun followed him and looked.

The lake was turbid, black and green in color, like a bottomless pool of death. At the center of the lake, a series of bubbles emerged from the depths. After a few seconds, a wooden coffin suddenly emerged.

The surface of the wooden coffin was rotten.

It was also covered with black silt.

There happened to be a rescue boat next to it, and the colleagues on the boat were already not surprised. They picked up the fishing net and gently pushed their eyes away.

This scene is indeed weird.

There must be a problem at the bottom of the lake.

That was not what Zheng Yun really wanted to ask. He was asking about the situation of the trapped people, but Li Wu's first reaction was to introduce the wooden coffin and make fun of the young people while speaking.

"None of us are trapped, right?" Zheng Yun looked around the lake. The entire lake had been controlled by Gu Bo. Helicopters were flying overhead, and people were coming from all directions.

No Westerners in sight.

The group of explorers who used the explosives might have been controlled by Gu Bo, and they might have been captured and imprisoned somewhere.

"Actually, there is. Our colleagues in Ancient City No. 2 discovered this underground space very early and have been exploring the surroundings. However, the situation here is similar to that of an ancient tomb."

"The sealed space is buried in a swamp. Once it is opened, it will be completely destroyed. Even a small hole cannot be made, so our colleagues are only exploring near the upper level."

"But not here."

"But at another entrance."

"When the team of Western explorers used explosives here, our colleagues were also affected. The subsidence was implicated there, which indeed caused several colleagues to be trapped underground."

"But we have a whole archaeological team over there. This is not a big deal. We can't talk about saving people at all. We can just go down and continue exploring in the depths."

Li Wu smiled and whispered.

"it is as expected."

"What about the Western Expedition?"

Zheng Yun nodded. There was an archaeological team here, but they hadn't seen it from beginning to end, and they didn't come to take charge of the search and rescue work here. It turned out that they were rushing to make progress on the other side.

"have no idea."

Li Wu suddenly shook his head and his expression became serious. He pointed to the lake and said, "The expedition team's camp is in the center of the lake. After the ground subsided, the entire camp was gone."

"Gone?"

Zheng Yun was slightly startled.

"Yes, this camp fell into a closed space in the early stages of the subsidence. Later, the silt lake water poured in, and this team of explorers did not float up together with the wooden coffin."

"I don't know where they went. At first, there was intermittent signal to locate them, but then it disappeared completely."

"This is quite strange. Our colleagues have seen this group of Western explorers. There are thirty-four of them. Even if the ground collapses, they should not be able to send out even a single signal."

Li Wu sighed lightly.

Western explorers are also well-equipped. They have explosives and emergency equipment. Even if they are trapped deep in the swamp, they can at least hold on for a while until rescuers.

The only possibility in this situation is that this group of Westerners has lost the ability to move and cannot even use the walkie-talkie to call for help, or the signal has been cut off.

The possibility of the latter is not high. Mr. Sun also encountered the same situation before and lost the signal deep in the underground ancient city.

But it was forty meters deep underground, with three layers of underground waterways and at least four stone walls blocking signals.

Still have to give priority to the former.

This team of explorers has died, either from an overdose of explosives or from some unknown danger.

"Are you talking about them just now?" Zheng Yun couldn't laugh or cry. Was it this group of Westerners who lost the positioning signal?

"They lost the signal, don't we have to lose it too? It can't be different." Li Wu smiled and shook his head.

"So what is our real mission? To rescue these Westerners?" Zheng Yun continued to ask.

"You don't know? Senior Zhao Qiufu didn't say anything. I didn't know the truth until I came over on site. I thought I was waiting for you to come over and you would assign tasks and start working."

Li Wu was also a little startled. He really didn't know the mission, but he didn't expect that Zheng Yun didn't know the mission either?

"..."

Zheng Yun was silent.

These old foxes.

However, if you think about it carefully, it is true that this place has collapsed. Although it leads directly to the underground space, the unknown structure is too dangerous. At the same time, no one is trapped underground.

It is impossible for them to risk their lives and use their own lives as bets to rescue those Western explorers.

At least this order cannot be issued.

So the old fox said nothing.

They called themselves and Li Wu and asked them to lead a team here to check the situation on the spot. What to do specifically, and whether to rescue the Western explorers, let Zheng Yun make his own decision.

If you can get down here, you can explore through this entrance and see if you can save a few people.

"Senior Xu Yu and his companions' destination is another entrance, right? Have any Westerners come to rescue their companions during this time?" Zheng Yun stood up and walked towards the kayak.

"The first question is unclear, and the second question is hard to answer. There are Western explorers on the way, but they may not be trying to save people." Li Wu shook his head and stood up to follow.

"Forget it, we can't figure out the seniors' plans. What should we do? Do you have any diving equipment?"

Zheng Yun no longer thinks about it.

"You don't want to dive from here, do you? This place is very strange and dangerous. Look, another wooden coffin has surfaced on the lake." Li Wu's expression changed slightly and he pointed to the center of the lake.

"Let's see and then talk."

Zheng Yun stepped onto the kayak.

The two kayaks started immediately, taking Zheng Yun and his party towards the temporary camp of the archaeological team on the other side of the lake.

When passing by the middle of the lake.

The kayak stopped for a moment, and everyone watched helplessly as a rotting wooden coffin suddenly floated to the surface from the bottom of the lake.

"What is the situation at the bottom of the lake? These wooden coffins are floating up one by one." Xiao Hu felt a little chill on his back.

"Is it possible that there is only a crack in the underground ancient building, and these wooden coffins are lined up, like sausages, being squeezed out little by little?" Huzi asked his guess in a surprising voice.

"Tiger."

Hu Ruihua gave Tiger a hand.

How can you talk nonsense at this time?

"In fact, it is possible. We made preliminary calculations and found that the amount of water poured into the underground space is very large, but the water flow is not large. It took a long time to fill the underground space."

Li Wu smiled and smoothed things over for Hu Zi.

"What did the old professor say? What is the origin of the mask in the wooden coffin?" Zheng Yun suddenly asked.

"In the past archaeological work, Gu Bo has discovered several similar masks. They were either made of gold, silver or precious jade. They can be roughly judged by the texture of the masks."

"This time the situation is slightly different. The lines on the mask are blurry, but several guesses can be made."

"The people in these wooden coffins may be special soldiers in the military camp in the ancient city of Nanze. They were buried with some weird rituals after death. This has happened several times in history."

"The second possibility is that the ancient city of Nanze has special rules. These people may have made some kind of mistake. These masks are some kind of punishment or branding, and they are buried together after death."

"The third possibility is that these people have performed meritorious services, and this mask is buried with them in the coffin, which is an honorary reward."

Li Wu spoke briefly.

"Did you find anything on the bones?" Zheng Yun frowned slightly. Li Wu's words could easily remind people of the spiritual throne tower in Dusi Mansion in Nanze and the Humarsh Camp.

Hunumu Camp is a unique military camp in the ancient city of Nanze. Perhaps it also has some unique rewards, punishments and burial rules.

There are only spiritual thrones in the spiritual throne tower, and not a single corpse has been seen. However, there are a large number of strange wooden coffins here.

Perhaps the skeletons in the wooden coffins are the remains of the soldiers and soldiers in the spiritual throne tower, and these suspected silver alloy masks are the same reward as the spiritual throne tower.

Of course it cannot be ruled out.

These masks are actually a kind of antiseptic method, or some kind of magical method. Even the entire wooden coffin is a method similar to the formation of ships in a floating city in the deep sea.

They have been through many dangerous places, and now they are experienced. They have countless lessons learned from the past, so they have to be on guard. Maybe these wooden coffins also have hidden secrets.

It's a pity that Ji Dao is not here. If Ji Dao comes over, there may be a chance to recognize the origin of these wooden coffin masks.

But at this time, Noriichi was probably on his way to W-06 by boat, crossing the ocean alone...

"The skeletons were not studied carefully. The archaeological team has special regulations. Skeletons discovered suddenly in situations like this cannot be examined without sufficient conditions."

"But after a rough look, all the skeletons are basically middle-aged people, and they are more likely to be soldiers or sea guards."

Li Wu continued to explain.

"Well, last time I was inside the Dusi Mansion, I found a large spiritual tablet. There were many spiritual tablets in it, all from a military camp called Hunumu Camp."

Zheng Yun shared the information.

"Hu Marsh Camp? I really know this. We have found clues about this Tiger Marsh Camp inside the east wall of Nanze Ancient City before, but we know very little about it."

Li Wu was slightly surprised but didn't ask any more questions.

"Then what does Gu Bo think of the auspicious porcelain vases inside the east city wall? What do those auspicious porcelain vases represent?" Zheng Yundao said.

The tower on the east city wall is under the control of the Gubo archaeological team. The tower is higher than the swamp. There should be many cultural relics preserved in it, but it may have been explored by Westerners before.

"Auspicious porcelain vases? You mean those porcelain vases with weird patterns, right? Those porcelain vases have more than one pattern, and there are many speculations within the Gubo."

"One is that it is a prophecy, which means that the soldiers and people of the ancient city of Nanze knew that the disaster was bound to happen long before the disaster occurred, and the whole city was optimistic."

"Another possibility is that the ancient city of Nanze experienced frequent anomalies before the disaster, and natural phenomena such as aurora, colorful clouds, and loud noises appeared in the mountains from time to time as regional characteristics."

"The third type is..."

Li Wu continued to explain.

"Brother Li, can we keep it simple and just talk about the most likely scenario? My head hurts from listening to it." Huzi complained in a low voice. Captain Li was so good at talking.

"The most likely one is the first one. All the soldiers and civilians in Nanze Ancient City know that something is going to happen, but they can't leave and don't want to leave. They must hold on until the last moment."

"Gubo's team actually entered the ancient city and found a household registration book in a government office, recording all household registrations in a district, and they were all without exception..."

Li Wu was not annoyed at all. He smiled and speeded up his explanation, but was interrupted by Zheng Yun before he could finish his sentence.

"They are all military households." Zheng Yun sighed softly.

He had already learned about this situation in Wuhaixianzhou, and later the Ming Dynasty even went to Wuhaixianzhou to recruit troops.

"Yes, there are nearly a million people living in the ancient city of Nanze, and all of them are military households." Li Wu nodded.

"What do you mean?" Huzi was stunned.

"I don't know. The military household system was different in every place in the Ming Dynasty, but the most likely thing here is that the families in the military households had their children and grandchildren joining the army for generations."

"As long as the Ming Dynasty recruits troops."

"Input as much as you have."

"Even if the whole family is born without a child, they still have to apply."

"This is not an ordinary ancient city, but a city with an important capital. All the people in the city are soldiers, and all the families are military households. They live and work in peace and contentment in their spare time, and all enlist in the army in times of crisis."

Li Wu's tone was serious.

Everyone was silent for a while.

Zheng Yun had known about this situation for a long time, but he actually couldn't understand why the Ming Dynasty wanted to build Junhu City in Nanze and what kind of checkpoints they were guarding.

Ming Dynasty had no enemies on the Eastern Sea Route.

Unless the enemy is inside, there are rebels from the Ming Dynasty who want to station troops to rebel, or the enemy is not human...

"Why?" Song Wan asked softly.

As soon as she said these words, everyone in the audience looked at Zheng Yun, even Li Wu looked at Zheng Yun, as if Zheng Yun must know the truth and be able to provide an answer to this question.

What exactly is Daming guarding against?

Has it been successfully defended in the end?

"Look what I do, I don't know. Let's change clothes. Let's go down and take a look." Zheng Yun waved his hand.

"Zheng Yun, do you really want to go down?"

Hu Ruihua also gave a word of advice.

"What are you afraid of? If these wooden coffins contain soldiers from the Huzhu Camp, then they should all be heroes of the Ming Dynasty."

Zheng Yun shook his head and changed into his diving suit.

You have to go down and take a look to know what the specific situation is, and Zheng Yun has a strong intuition that this place contains the truth about the ancient city of Nanze, at least part of it...