First-rank palace maid Su Jixiang

Chapter 384: Incomprehensible Formula

"It's not that easy to move the treasure." Su Jixiang said, "In order to conceal his whereabouts, Emperor Suzong not only expanded the Taoist temple but also built two new temples. So there must be something connecting the two temples to the Taoist temple. Otherwise, if we want to take out the treasure and transport it to a new place to hide it, it will definitely leak out. So building two new temples is definitely not that easy."

After hearing what Su Jixiang said, Wei Ling pondered for a moment again, "Look at this!" Wei Ling remembered something, then rummaged through the secret letter and found a few sentences. These words were excerpted from the records originally stored in the palace.

"Your Majesty used 400,000 civilians back then?" Su Jixiang looked at it and said, a little shocked. "We only recruited 200,000 civilians to widen the river a few years ago. Your Majesty actually recruited twice as many civilians as us, and it also took three years..."

"Yes. This is quite telling!" Wei Ling nodded.

He didn't care about these things before, and didn't really take the trouble to look for the treasure. He just sent people over. Now he is really concerned about it.

Su Jixiang's analysis makes sense.

It would not be a problem to build two temples in three years, but it was a bit exaggerated to conscript 400,000 laborers.

If 400,000 civilians were really conscripted, it would probably take less than three months to build these two temples!

Su Jixiang took out the picture he had drawn again, and then compared and calculated with the lines he had drawn on the picture.

Wei Ling knew that Su Jixiang must have thought of something, so he was not in a hurry to ask or disturb her.

Su Jixiang's formula was very strange. Wei Ling had seen these winding, mysterious yet simple-looking numbers more than once.

He had asked before, and Su Jixiang had taught him, saying that these were Arabic numerals, which were the characters used for cardinality from the Arabs, and were very simple and easy to learn. He knew Arabic numerals, but the formula Su Jixiang used this time was something Wei Ling had never seen before...

One map was not enough for Su Jixiang to calculate, so Lu Shui quickly went to get a few more pieces of paper and handed them to Su Jixiang.

Su Jixiang calculated for a long time, with a light sweat on the tip of his nose, and then he put down the pen.

"I calculated the amount of earth that 400,000 laborers can dig in three years." Su Jixiang first checked his formula again, and then said to Wei Ling, "We dug a river channel, and I have supervised the project over there, so I am relatively familiar with how much earth one person can dig and how much work is required per day. According to the progress of digging the river channel over there, we can calculate the amount of earth here. Of course, the geological conditions on both sides are different, so the progress of the project will also be different. But in general, we can make a rough estimate."

"Yeah." After hearing what Su Jixiang said, even a smart person like Wei Ling knew what she was estimating!

The height of Phoenix Mountain is fixed, and it is marked on the map drawn by the spies he sent out before.

Moreover, the distances between these two temples and the Taoist temple are also marked.

Although the people they sent to search for the treasure before were like headless flies and did not know the right method, a lot of basic work was still done very solidly!

For example, how many households and natural villages there are in this mountain, whether there are any special legends or taboos in each village, etc., have all been explored clearly.

Because of its good feng shui, all the emperors of the Daxie Dynasty, except the deposed emperor, have visited Phoenix Mountain.

The only person who had built a large-scale construction here was King Sukjong.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the current emperor sent people here to investigate based on the historical records.

The Chaotian Taoist temple has existed since the previous dynasty and has a history of more than 700 years!

Therefore, Su Jixiang’s analysis that the treasure is in Chaotian Temple is not unreasonable.

However, except for Emperor Suzong, all the emperors who came to Phoenix Mountain during the Daxie Dynasty never lived in Chaotian Temple. They all lived at the foot of the mountain and only went up the mountain to play and worship Buddha.

Therefore, Chaotian Temple was just an inconspicuous small Taoist temple before it was expanded by His Majesty Sukjong. It was a very low-key existence among the many magnificent temples and Taoist temples on Phoenix Mountain.

Even after Emperor Suzong expanded the Chaotian Temple, its reputation was not as famous as other places.

The buildings here are very old, rough and simple, not as exquisite and gorgeous as those in other places with carved beams and painted rafters.

Therefore, the old villagers of Fenghuang Mountain still remember the large-scale construction project that Emperor Sukjong carried out on Fenghuang Mountain fifty years ago.

It is said that many death row prisoners in nearby prefectures and counties were used to build the temple. It was said that as long as they worked hard, the emperor would issue a general amnesty to pardon their death sentences after the temple was built. Later, after the temple was built, Emperor Sukjong actually issued a special amnesty to pardon these people. However, they could be pardoned from death but not from living crimes. After all, they were all extremely vicious people who committed capital crimes. So although they did not have to die, they could not avoid being exiled.

However, the people sent by Wei Ling were able to find out these rumors, and the people sent by Your Majesty were even more familiar with them.

They turned Chaotian Temple upside down, but found nothing.

Currently their focus has shifted to the other two temples.

But they were not able to find it properly. Even if they had the emperor's order and could search everywhere in the temple under the pretext of repairs, they would not be able to find anything.

Su Jixiang's method of calculating the earthwork was not thought of by the person appointed by Your Majesty.

Su Jixiang drew several areas in the belly of Phoenix Mountain. "According to my calculations, I think these are the most likely places." Su Jixiang looked at Wei Ling and said with certainty.

"These are all in the belly of the mountain." Wei Ling frowned and said after looking at them.

"Yes, we have received confirmation from the deposed emperor himself that the treasure is in Phoenix Mountain." Su Jixiang continued to analyze, "But the current emperor may not know this news. If he can really confirm this news, it is estimated that more than just these few people came to Phoenix Mountain to search for it."

"Yes!" Wei Ling was very sure of Su Jixiang's inference.

"The people sent by the emperor have searched everywhere on the ground, but still found nothing. The only possibility is that the treasure is underground." Su Jixiang was very calm. "And the emperor used so many civilians back then, it certainly wasn't just to build the temple! So I think they must have dug downwards! As for how deep they dug and where they dug to, I calculated, and these few places are the most likely."