As for this tomb, King Liang did not build it for himself, but for his children.
To be more precise, it was built in memory of the monk named Le!
The long scrolls of calligraphy and painting are all carved from high-quality stone, showing the highest craftsmanship of that era.
The story in the first painting is very simple. King Liang, who has not given birth to an heir for a long time, is praying for the arrival of his future heir. He wants to give the best of everything in the northwest to his child and let him rule the world.
After waiting for several years, his concubine finally became pregnant, but when she delivered the baby, she really shocked King Liang!
It turned out to be a strange baby with Saijo arms!
King Liang was so disappointed that he ordered his men to throw the baby into the well and drown him.
Seeing this scene, everyone had palpitations. At the same time, they all noticed the text under the painting. There was actually a dense line of official script there.
Lao Jiang's eyes moved and he explained: "The characters in this official script are square and flat, as sharp as a knife. It is a typical Northern Liang style!"
Then he told us the secrets behind these paintings.
It turns out that this is not the first time that King Ryo has given birth to a strange baby. His previous concubines gave birth to deformed babies with Saijo arms.
King Liang was troubled by this. What's even more terrifying is that I don't know whether it's out of inner guilt or the death of the babies he drowned in the well. Every midnight, when King Ryo fell asleep, he would dream of wet children crawling toward his bed with Saijo arms.
He was still shouting: "Father, father."
"Why did you throw me down?"
"It's so cold, wet, and dark in the well."
"Father, come and stay with me, come and stay with us, hehe hehe..."
Each sentence struck his heart like a hammer. Every time he woke up, Prince Liang would break into a cold sweat, and he suffered from severe insomnia.
As time went by, King Liang's spirit became worse and worse, and he was almost on the verge of collapse.
One day when I first arrived, a monk from the Western Regions came outside Dunhuang City. That monk's name was Le.
Monk Le ignored the guards' obstruction and entered the palace for the first time. He insisted on seeing King Liang!
It is strange to say that the heavily guarded Dunhuang City, with five hundred imperial guards in armor, actually allowed Monk Le to enter like this...
King Liang was also strangely in a good mood and agreed to meet him. He wanted to know what the monk wanted to ask for when he insisted on seeing him.
However, what King Liang did not expect was that Monk Le did not want money or temples. The first words he said were: "Please King Liang stop sending troops to the surrounding areas and let the people live and work in peace and contentment."
When King Liang heard this, he laughed angrily: "You monk, are you stupid for practicing Buddhism? Even my ministers don't dare to say such things, and you, a commoner, dare to mention it. Monk, do you know that in today's world? There are many powerful enemies. If I don’t fight others, others will fight me.”
"What will happen to our people in Beiliang then? Will they not all turn into lambs and be slaughtered?"
"Are you a spy sent by another country?"
Monk Le just put his hands together, murmured "Amitabha", and then told King Beiliang what he saw and heard along the way.
The road they passed was covered with blood, and there were mountains of corpses on the border. Countless people were displaced due to continuous battles.
He could understand the worry of King Liang, but weren't the people who were suffering right now the people of Beiliang?
If King Liang can temporarily put down his swords, guns, swords and halberds, and the people can rest and recuperate, and the country is strong, how can any enemy army dare to invade?
If the people are strong, the army will be strong, and if the army is strong, the country will be strong. Instead of resorting to militarism now, when it is clear that the people are already suffering and cannot afford to eat, they still have to spend a lot of money to build weapons. It is clear that there are not many young and middle-aged people, but they still have to let them die one by one. On the battlefield.
Although Le is a monk, what he said is not completely unreasonable. King Liang is not a person who likes killing, but the current situation is such, so he put forward a condition: "If you can prevent the enemy countries from touching the northwest, then I will disband Army, swords and guns in storage, eternal peace.”
Unexpectedly, Monk Le laughed and said, "It's not difficult. I'll convince you first, and then I'll go and convince the other kings."
Prince Liang looked him up and down and said contemptuously: "How can you persuade me? How can you be sure that you can persuade me?"
Monk Le clasped his hands together, looked at King Liang with a smile, and said only one sentence: "I can help you sleep well at night, and I can also help you give birth to a healthy prince."
King Liang felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
These two points are exactly King Liang’s most urgent needs at the moment!
He didn't know where the monk came from, nor how he learned about his long-cherished wish, nor what magical powers he had used. He only knew that it was on the third night when the monk sat in the palace and chanted sutras. Up, I could finally have a peaceful sleep.
In the dream, the drowned babies appeared again.
Only this time they are smiling!
They said they were so warm now and wanted to go to a place called Mogao Grottoes, where they would find bliss...
On the western day, a horse with a speed of 800 miles rushed out of Dunhuang and ordered all the vanguard troops who were preparing for battle to regroup.
On the same day, King Liang issued an edict announcing that the whole country would believe in Buddhism!
He wanted to build the largest temple in Beiliang for Le and let Le receive incense and offerings from all the people of Beiliang, but Le refused.
Le did not stay in Beiliang for long, but left with the skinny horse he came with and a nine-ringed tin staff in his hand.
The last words he left were: "I still want to persuade other kings. If you are interested, go to Mogao Grottoes to find me."
In the text, King Liang almost exhausted himself and used all the gorgeous words he could to praise Le.
At the end of the story, Le seems to have exerted great magical power and really persuaded all the kings to stop killing and sign a peace contract to build the Mogao Grottoes with him!
This is the entire content of Xifu's engravings. After reading these paintings, we feel sad.
Even Diao Ye couldn't help but caressed the paintings and murmured to himself: "The Sixteen Kingdoms period was the most chaotic in history! I once had a question: Why was Buddhism the most widespread at that time? And why the miraculous Mogao Grottoes were built at that time, now I understand.”
Lao Jiang took a step forward and continued what Diao Ye said: "The Mogao Grottoes represent not only oriental art, but also the peace that generations of people yearn for!"
“At the end of the official script, it is written that after Monk Le passed away, the kings built a pagoda specifically to house his colorful glazed relics.
Among them, the Western Kingdom, which is closest to this desert, built a burial tomb in the east, west, south, north and west corners respectively to protect the relics. "
"And this tomb should be one of them!"
As for the two small mountains of funerary objects, I asked Lao Jiang if he wanted to pick a few. Lao Jiang waved his hand and said, "There is no need to take these gold and silver jewels. If you take them, you may not be able to take them back, so let them stay here. Let’s wait for future archaeologists.”
"We can only bring back real national treasures!"
After Lao Jiang took a few photos with his spy camera, we prepared to enter the main tomb chamber. Connecting the burial chamber to the main tomb is a tall red lacquer door inlaid with many gilt copper nails, and even the copper lock on it is gilt.
This copper lock was no problem for us master and apprentice. Under Lao Jiang’s instructions, I only borrowed a silver needle and opened the keyhole.
With a creak, we pushed open the door.
If the murals in front were enough to open our eyes, then the world behind the door took us by surprise.
Although the main tomb behind the door is smaller than the funerary chamber, the dome is inlaid with moonstones to illuminate in the dark, like a bright Milky Way shining in the closed tomb!
Under the illumination of the moonstone, we saw a round platform in the middle with a clay statue enshrined on it.
This clay statue is a strange twin man and woman, like conjoined twins, with a man on the left and a woman on the right. The woman maintains a beautiful dancing posture, while the man raises his neck as if singing.
"This is..." I breathed faster, and I could even feel the slight resonance of the other clay statues in my backpack.
Lao Jiang's eyes widened and he uttered three words: "Kinnara!"
