Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 920 The Missing Treasure

Building buildings with metal is not a new concept. Since humans learned to smelt metals, metals were soon used in the manufacture of buildings.

For example, when the stone buildings in the ancient Greek era were built, bronze or lead were used to make fixtures to fix the stones, or to make some auxiliary buildings such as railings, gates or sculptures.

Later, after entering the Renaissance era, a large amount of lead was used to build the roof of the church, and it was similar to the gilded bronze altar in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

As for the various metal buildings after entering the industrial age, there are more, whether it is the Crystal Palace or the Eiffel Tower, they are the best among them, and even in some eras, building buildings with metal and glass has become a representative of an era.

It's just that these metal buildings have a common feature, that is, they have their own unique style, especially the early metal buildings look more like large metal sculptures, which are completely different from traditional buildings.

But Huaxia's metal buildings are another matter. These copper temple buildings basically adopt the style of ancient wooden structures, which can be said to be an extension of the traditional Chinese architectural style.

In terms of architectural technology, the various parts of the copper temple are cast separately by the lost wax method, and then assembled together.Just like traditional Chinese architecture.

There are no screws, nuts, welds or rivets in these copper-cast buildings. The connection method of the copper temple parts adopts a mortise and tenon structure similar to wooden components.

The copper hall that Liang En and the others are looking for is one of them. This building called Zongjing Pavilion is the most independent building in the Zhuyuan Temple complex. on the hillside.

The entire temple was built in the 26th year of Qianlong (1761). It is the essence of ancient Chinese architectural art and the largest temple in the summer resort. The Zongjing Pavilion in the temple is modeled after the Baoyun Pavilion in the BJ Summer Palace.

Because the construction of the temple was very difficult and costly, it was not completed until 20 A.D. 1781 years later. According to records, the whole pavilion is 7.55 meters high and 4.66 meters wide, and there are Buddha statues in the temple.

Back then, 220 tons of fine copper were used to cast Zongjing Pavilion, which cost 6 taels of silver. Considering that copper was a hard currency at that time, such a sky-high price was paid.

Zongjing Pavilion has many similarities with other bronze halls, such as: imitating the shape of wooden double eaves and Xieshan top; it is also cast separately by lost wax method; it also uses a structure similar to mortise and tenon for structural positioning.

But the most amazing thing about Zongjing Pavilion is that the various parts are fixed to each other with a "mortise and tenon" lock.In other words, the various components of Zongjing Pavilion can be disassembled and assembled at any time.

All the connecting locks that are said to control these parts require only a special key to open them.Just because of this key, Zongjing Pavilion naturally became the leader among all the bronze halls.

It’s just that such a copper temple no longer exists completely. According to legend, in 1944, the Japanese invaders urgently needed copper as military raw materials due to the war.

There are even rumors that explosives were used during the demolition process.There are other sayings that are more deductive, saying that the old lama sacrificed himself in order to protect the Copper Temple without handing over the key.

Therefore, the only relics preserved in this bronze hall today are the Zongjing Pavilion copper plaque and copper couplets that Tang Yulin, the chairman of Rehe Province at the time, took down and hid at home because he liked it.

However, according to Liang En's previous exchanges with Chinese scholars, he learned that this kind of legend is just a legend. On the one hand, this temple was a Chinese Buddhist temple at that time, so it is unlikely that such a thing would be given to a lama if he really had a key. .

On the other hand, when the Japanese invaders plundered cultural relics, they were planned and scaled. For example, during the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, Ryuichi Kuki, a Japanese court adviser, personally formulated the "Wartime Qing Dynasty Treasure Collection Method".

After that, what will follow Huaxia?The decline continued, and the Japanese continued to send various expeditions to collect Chinese cultural relics everywhere. For example, the head of the Buddha statue in Tianlong Mountain was knocked off by the Japanese.

During the war, the Japanese even more blatantly plundered.For example, a large number of bronze wares and ancient books were unearthed from the tombs in Jincun, Dongdu, and 200 rare books of the Song Dynasty version in the Song Dynasty Baishanlou, etc.

Therefore, it can be judged from the planned plunder of the devils that the Japanese could not treat Zongjing Pavilion, which was printed on banknotes in 1920, as scrap copper and rotten iron.

At the same time, according to the internal records of the Puppet Manchukuo, for example, "Zhuyuan Temple's Clearance of Bronze Pieces for Transport" records: At that time, the destroyed copper temple parts were packed in 26 boxes and 30 bundles, about 500 pieces, and were transported to Fengtian by railway.

This is obviously not for the copper materials, because if it is only for the copper materials, there is no need to record them so carefully, even if no one will record what the waste products are when collecting waste products.

Historically, after the Japanese army occupied Rehe on March 1933, 3, people of all colors came to the Mountain Resort and Waiba Temple to carry out various activities.

For example, in May 1935, Yunobu Ito, a Japanese, was entrusted by the Puppet Manchurian Ministry of People's Livelihood, and a group of six technicians came to Rehe to conduct on-the-spot inspections and surveys of historic sites, and to make plans and budgets for the restoration of ancient buildings.

The Director of the Investigation Institute, Igarashi Mu, personally led four young staff members to go to the temple every day for on-site surveying and mapping, and stayed in the institute on rainy days to sort out materials or make drawings. This work continued until 4.
Therefore, the Japanese are fully aware of the value of the ancient buildings in the Rehe area. If it is only for destruction, there is no need to spend so much time and energy doing these things.

This is a survey to prepare for the restoration of the summer resort building. If the Japanese "Great East Asia Jihad" goes well, the building renovation may be carried out, and none of the Zongjing Pavilion will be demolished.

However, as the war progressed, the Japanese invaders retreated step by step, and the resources used to launch the war gradually dried up, so that they had to do their best to search for various resources.

Taking metal as an example, the copper and iron utensils in the palace of the Puppet Manchukuo, even the copper rings and iron hooks on the doors and windows were all handed over, and the copper handles and copper chandeliers on the doors and windows of the office building of the highest administrative institution of the Puppet Manchukuo were not spared.

As for the ordinary people, it is even worse. Door handles, spoons, dim sum molds, music racks, grates, etc., no matter how big or small, all those with metal edges are listed in the "Metal Recycling Act". The copper pipe pot in the mouth is also a recycling object.

But the strange thing is that there is no Zongjing Pavilion in these records at all, but anyway, if there are even records of copper pipes and pots, it is impossible for such a 200-ton copper building to have no records.

Moreover, with the so-called craftsman spirit of the Japanese, if hundreds of tons of copper are really put into production, it will definitely leave traces, especially Fengtian Arsenal is one of the four major armories controlled by the Japanese. The production management is strict, and it should leave traces. Production records.

But what is strange is that this 200-ton copper building completely disappeared after being transported from the railway on the Rehe side, and there are no traces of them in memoirs or records.

And the Buddha statue that Liang En found now is one of the several Buddha statues placed in this bronze temple, which means that the golden temple is likely to be waiting to be excavated somewhere.

(End of this chapter)