Chapter 55: CH 28.2

The props team created a replica of the Emperor’s Mausoleum on the cliff at the back of the city. There was no clear record of the style of the imperial mausoleum of the Dongnu Kingdom in ancient books.

Before liberation, there were fire cemeteries in some Qiang villages in Dajin County area. “Taiping Yulan” mentioned that “when the Qiang people died, their bodies were burned.” This was evidence. At the same time, hanging coffin burials were common in the Dadu River area. Coffins or urns were nailed to cliffs or hidden in cliff caves. This was a unique burial mode for ethnic groups living near the water.

Teacher Yu Juan made a bold guess based on these two pieces of information that the Queen of the Dongnu Kingdom should be cremated and buried in a cliff cave after her death.

At the beginning of the construction of Wangcheng, the props team asked someone to build a cliff-side wooden plank road on this cliff, and circled it, which looked breathtaking and invincible.

The Emperor’s Mausoleum was located in the cave at the end of the plank road. In front of the altar were placed three sacrifices and five tripods. Behind the altar was a stele of gods with the queen’s posthumous title and a eulogy written by Tang Qinlan.

The Qiang people believed in Bon religion, and there were altars and statues in the niches on both sides.

Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness, followed by the ministers, went to the Emperor’s Mausoleum, after crossing the mountain road and climbing the plank road, they finally came to the Emperor’s Mausoleum.

The great wizard personally led his disciples, beat the sheepskin drum, jumped and rotated in front of the monument and danced solemnly, the atmosphere was dignified as he chanted words in his mouth, as if to comfort the emperor’s spirit in the sky. Tang Qinlan kowtowed nine times towards the stele, and Cui Ling followed closely. Some old officials who had been highly regarded by the previous emperor were so moved that they couldn’t help crying.

After the bow and worship, a group of wizards in armor, divided into two teams, fluttering swords and spears in front of the imperial mausoleum, and battled against each other. The armored wizards wore a felt hat with pheasant feathers on them, and armor made of cowhide, with cow bones hanging on the armor, which was very strange.

The armor dance was only danced when paying homage to the queen, and many people present were seeing it for the first time.

As the drum beats intensified, the armored wizards danced more and more intensely. Suddenly Cen Baoqian rushed in, with a horrified expression on her face, and knelt down to Tang Qinlan with a thud, “Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness…is coming.”

Qin Lan stood beside her.

Tang Qinlan glanced at him, then turned around and reprimanded: “Why are you panicking? Father came here despite being ill, which shows that he has a deep relationship with Mother Emperor.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the ministers outside were divided into two columns. Su Mingchen walked in slowly, followed by armed soldiers behind him. Their sharp blades shone with bloodthirsty light.

Her father, who had been paralyzed in a wheelchair for ten years, appeared in front of everyone, looking tough. Although he looked bad, he didn’t need a wheelchair. Otherwise, no one would carry him on the suspended plank road, and he would not be able to come up anyway.

Tang Qinlan sneered, this was the 20-year relationship between the father and the mother? All lies!

Su Mingchen swept his eyes over the crowd, and his eyes finally fell on Cui Ling.

“Hey someone! Let this king arrest this Yizhou spy.”

Everyone was startled and looked at Cui Ling.

Cui Ling stood upright, like a pine tree, completely motionless.

Cen Baoqian drew out her sword and pointed at Su Mingchen: “What do you mean by besieging the Emperor’s Mausoleum? Hurry up and step back! His Royal Highness was selected by the great wizard in accordance with the will of God. You can’t slander him.”

Su Mingchen laughed. “Your maid is still so naive. Do you think Your Majesty doesn’t know? Or is she unwilling to tell the world that she married a foreign spy. This foreigner wants to steal the golden map and destroy the foundation of the people of Dongnu!”

His words really shook everyone to pieces, and those ministers who were going to argue for Her Majesty the Queen hesitated.

Cui Ling raised his head and looked at Tang Qinlan with a cold face, “So Your Majesty knew it.”

The corners of Tang Qinlan’s lips twitched, “Is Cui Ling moved by me?”

“I’m not worthy!”

Tang Qinlan raised her head and laughed like she had heard a joke, pulled a long whip from her waist, and threw it straight at Cui Ling. Just when everyone thought she was going to hit Cui Ling, the whip tail suddenly changed direction.

Su Mingchen jumped up and flew backwards. The tail of the whip rubbed the corner of his clothes and hit the ground. The blue bricks burst, and the sound of the whip reverberated in the cave.

Su Mingchen raised his finger and pointed at Tang Qinlan, “Your Majesty is obsessed, today this king wants to act for the heavens and abolish you.”

“Empress mother, do you know that he has always wanted to replace you?” Tang Qinlan rubbed the wrench handed to her by the mother emperor, “In order to poison the mother emperor, you did not hesitate to carry poison in your body, day and night eroding the mother emperor’s body little by little. When the mother emperor sought famous doctors from all over the world for you, didn’t your heart hurt?” Before the cremation, Tang Qinlan asked the great wizard to secretly inspect the body of the mother emperor and found that her internal organs were purple in color. Obviously, this poison was not given in a day. Who else besides Su Mingchen could poison the Empress?

Su Mingchen looked at Tang Qinlan, his daughter coldly. If it was in the Tang Dynasty or Tubo, would she dare to speak to him in such a tone.

“I never wanted to be a queen’s husband.” Su Mingchen raised his arms and roared, pointing at the stele, “What she gave me was never what I wanted.”

He stepped back and pointed at everyone in the cave, “Kill, kill them all.”

In an instant, the sword light shone, blood spurted out, and there were cries.

Su Mingchen coldly watched Cui Ling protect Tang Qinlan and hide behind the monument. Cui Ling was a spy, and even after his identity was exposed, he still protected the rebel girl. The two obviously had a very deep relationship. But what’s the use, he occupied the plank road, unless someone had wings, they would not be rescued. Since they were in love, let them go to the underworld together.

Cen Baoqian and Cui Ling protected Tang Qinlan from left and right and retreated. There were not many soldiers accompanying them today, and there was not much time to resist.

Behind the monument was a stone wall blocking the way. The sound of fighting was all around them.

Tang Qinlan grabbed Cui Ling’s hand and asked sternly, “If I die, will Cui Ling be buried with me?”

At this moment, someone outside was crying.

“The plank road was burned.”

“The way down the mountain is gone.”

“There are soldiers from the neighboring country.”

Tang Qinlan looked at Cui Ling with a sullen face.

“Your Majesty will not die.” Cui Ling said softly, “The leader of the neighboring country has come to rescue us.”

Tang Qinlan’s eyes were red, and she said in a trembling voice, “You asked him to come? You knew that father would betray me?”

Cui Ling shook his head, “This official is not an immortal. But if you prepare in advance, you will never go wrong.”

When Su Mingchen saw the flames on the cliff, his eyes were split, and he turned to the panicked soldiers and shouted, “Go back for me. You can only survive if you catch the Queen alive.”

Everyone knew that Su Mingchen was right. There was nothing to eat except the three animals that were dedicated to the late emperor. Now that the plank road was gone, did they really want people to eat people?

The fighting became more intense.

Tang Qinlan walked to the stone wall, rubbed left and right up and down for a while, suddenly found a raised stone, pressed it hard, and a door that only allowed one person to enter appeared in front of the three of them.

Cen Baoqian opened her eyes wide, she didn’t know there was a secret passage in the imperial mausoleum.

Tang Qinlan grabbed Cui Ling’s hand and dragged him in without hesitation.

The three of them ran all the way, and their ears were full of mountain winds that got in from nowhere. There was the sound of water droplets, and stalactites hung on the top of the cave, like sharp swords that would fall on the three of them at any time.

Running to a fork in the road, Cui Ling stopped.

Tang Qinlan gasped and said, “Come on.” She pointed to the hole on the left, which led down the mountain. As long as they met with the leader of the neighboring country, they would be safe.

Cui Ling took a step back, knelt down before her, raised his hands up, held his head high, then slowly bowed his back, prostrated on the ground, and kowtowed three times.

The sound of the mountain smashing came from the other end of the secret passage, it was Su Mingchen.

Cen Baoqian hurriedly said, “Why do you have to give this great gift, Your Highness?”

Tang Qinlan looked at him coldly.

Cui Ling lowered his eyes, “Since Your Majesty knows the identity of this official, you know… This official can no longer follow Her Majesty. From now on, I wish Her Majesty peace and good health every year.”

Tang Qinlan stepped forward, the whip handle pressed against his chin, and she said every word with clenched teeth: “You are my husband, wherever I go, you will go!”

Cui Ling straightened his back and pointed to the right fork in the road, “This path goes to Xianyun Ferry. I have things to do, so I have to go.”

This was what the leader of the neighboring country told him, and it was also the path of retreat he left for himself.

Cen Baoqian was so anxious to see that the two were twisting again at this juncture.

“Your Highness, what is more important to you than the safety of Your Majesty?”

Cui Ling pursed his lips and smiled bitterly, looking directly at Tang Qinlan, “Your Majesty should know that this official was reluctant from beginning to end.”

Tang Qinlan’s heart trembled, and tears appeared in her eyes instantly.

“Your Majesty, please let the official go.”

“If the official is gone, His Majesty doesn’t have to be burdened by the official.”

After speaking, he ignored Tang Qinlan’s reaction, and ran to the right intersection with a cold face.

“I’ll send someone to Yizhou to bring your sister back. No matter how much risk you take, you can’t.”

Cui Ling paused his feet, but after just a pause, he continued to run without hesitation, and the figure disappeared at the entrance of the cave in an instant.

That night, His Royal Highness, Su Mingchen, attempted to rebel and attack the Emperor’s Mausoleum in an attempt to kidnap Her Majesty the Queen. As a result, the cliff path of the Emperor’s Mausoleum was burned cleanly, and even the cliff wall burst open, and the rebels were trapped in the cave of the Emperor’s Mausoleum, causing countless casualties.

Her Majesty the Queen suddenly appeared at the foot of the mountain as if with divine help. Together with the leader of the neighboring country, they watched Su Mingchen jump into the Dadu river, and instantly die. The rebels were headless, so the rebels who were not burned also jumped into the river, and many drowned.

Her Majesty the Queen should have appeased everyone and established her authority, but who knew that she would mount a horse and run towards the depths of the night.

The valley was quiet, the river was smooth, and the road went around one mountain after another.

For the first time, Tang Qinlan felt heartbreak.

The horse fell on the Xianyun Ferry, his mouth foaming.

A small boat was docked under a big tree on the shore.

Tang Qinlan jumped onto the boat, kicked open the bamboo door, and there were two people inside.

One was Chen Gang and the other was Cui Ling.

Cui Ling had his eyes closed tightly and his lips blackened, as if he had been poisoned. Chen Gang held a piece of silk in his hand, on which was painted the veins of mountains and rivers, and the golden characters in circles were clearly visible.

He still had a trace of breath, and when he saw Tang Qinlan, he muttered from his throat, “Golden map, my golden map!”

Tang Qinlan slapped Chen Gang with a cold face, kicked Chen Gang, and he fell with a thud. The golden map was also kicked into the flowing water of Dadu River.

Tang Qinlan knelt down and stroked Cui Ling’s cheek, her hands shaking badly, but she immediately hugged him tightly. Big tears fell down her cheeks, but she couldn’t make a sound. The pain was so extreme that she couldn’t even cry.

Everyone watching from the camera felt their eyes get irritated with tears.

Xing Weimin choked and shouted cut.

Ji Muye opened his eyes, Jiang Zheng was still holding him with her eyes closed, her nose was red from crying, her eyes were swollen, and her whole body was shaking.

No one dared to speak, sometimes the actors were so emotionally involved in the scene that even if the director called for a cut, they would not be able to break free for a while. So, they had to be given time to adjust slowly.

What’s more, today’s filming was a high and tide abusive scene. Jiang Zheng and Ji Muye acted with enthusiasm from morning to night. In the end, this scene on the boat was the most abusive.

Ji Muye only needed to pretend to be dead, and Jiang Zheng needed to mobilize the greatest emotion to express the pain of “losing” her lover to the audience.

Xing Weimin asked everyone to quietly evacuate the scene. Let the hero and heroine slowly calm down.

Ji Muye didn’t dare to move and waited silently, Jiang Zheng hugged him tightly, closed her eyes and wept, the corners of her lips trembling.

Ji Muye was afraid that she would hurt her body by crying too much, so he whispered, “Teacher Jiang.”

Jiang Zheng still couldn’t stop crying.

He pursed his lower lip and said softly, “Jiang Zheng, Zheng Zheng.”

Jiang Zheng slowly opened her eyes, her eyes were filled with deep pain as she looked at Ji Muye in a trance in front of her.

Ji Muye patted her back lightly with his hand and coaxed: “Zhengzheng, it’s me. I’m here. I’m still alive.”

He turned his face, showing his beautiful profile again, and said softly: “You touch the earlobe. It’s hot.”

The author has something to say: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh