"That still doesn't help pinpoint the exact location where Emperor Yang of Sui was killed," said a male subordinate of Bai Qingcheng, arms crossed. He was one of the three people Bai Qingcheng had met mid-journey, two men and one woman, all in their forties and dressed like members of some sect. They had been on the rooftop.
"No, that's not true," Bingbing said, pulling out her phone and opening a photo. "My brother and I were checking historical records at noon, and the materials mentioned that Emperor Yang of Sui was pursued by the elite Xiaoguo Army and forced into a palace called 'Xi Ge' (West Pavilion), where he was strangled."
"And so?" Bai Qingcheng asked.
"Look," Bingbing showed Bai Qingcheng a picture on her phone, a photo she had secretly taken of the literature. "The book says there was a lotus pond in the front courtyard of Xi Ge. Could this 'water bubble' be it? Ancient lotus ponds were usually made by digging wells, then diverting the water to create the pond. There's only one spring nearby. I'm thinking Wang Shichong built the Jiangdu Palace in a very short time, so he might have used local materials."
Everyone found her reasoning sound.
Despite her lack of formal education, Bingbing's logic in analyzing problems was surprisingly strong. Her expertise in geology, groundwater, and springs, though a sideline, was crucial. Those involved in extreme outdoor sports, like rock climbing, needed to understand geological structures to know where to place safety anchors without them dislodging.
Bai Qingcheng pointed to the artificial lake. "Xi Ge... according to the architectural standards of the Sui Dynasty, Xi Ge should face east, with the lotus pond in front, to the east of Xi Ge."
It seemed she had also done her homework.
A lotus pond wouldn't be very large, but the current artificial lake was vast and perfectly circular, about fifty meters in diameter. If this were the case, it was highly probable that the original location of Xi Ge was now submerged within the lake.
The group descended and came to the lake. A comrade named Yang Zhou Shabiya asked Bai Qingcheng if they should pump the water out to expose the lakebed.
Bai Qingcheng didn't answer. She walked slowly along the shore, scanning her surroundings. The location of the spring in the center of the lake could be identified by the slight ripples on the surface, indicating that water was continuously bubbling up from below.
She stopped at a spot with a railing, looked towards the pavilion on the mountaintop to her left, then gestured to estimate the distance to the spring in the lake's center. She stamped her foot. "It should be here."
I understood. She was using the pavilion, the lake's center, and Xi Ge to form a right angle, which was consistent with ancient architectural principles.
"Perhaps it's not in the lake, but on the shore," Yao Yao said. "The historical records say the rebels found Emperor Yang of Sui inside Xi Ge. He wouldn't have been waiting in the main hall for the rebels, but rather in the inner chambers behind the hall, which would be the westernmost part of Xi Ge. Judging by the distance, it should be around here."
She then stamped her foot. As a princess, her understanding of palaces was likely superior to that of ordinary people.
Bai Qingcheng turned to me. "Chengfeng, what do you think?"
"I think... it's probably around here. But if Xi Ge was destroyed, the original location would be underground, not on the surface."
Historical sites are layered one on top of another. Over the past thousand years, other structures might have been built on this spot.
Bai Qingcheng looked at Comrade Yang Zhou Shabiya, who nodded and made a call to summon more people.
Soon, two construction vehicles arrived: one an excavator, responsible for digging, and another with a large rod attached to its operating arm, designed to break up hard objects like flagstones on the surface.
After some rumbling, the surface was broken, and the excavator began to dig.
It was already after dinner. The young teachers in the building who weren't out for a stroll had mostly returned to their rooms. They gathered by their windows in small groups, watching our peculiar group at work.
As expected of a thousand-year-old capital, there was little soil underneath, only layers of ancient ruins. There was white marble, granite, and more commonly, the bluestone slabs found throughout the southern regions. I had expected the excavator to be the main workhorse, but unexpectedly, the large rod stole the show, rumbling away for quite some time.
After each bout of rumbling from the rod, the excavator would come over to scoop out the debris from the pit. While they worked, our group sifted through the debris, looking for any traces, such as inscriptions.
Our efforts were eventually rewarded. When they had dug about one meter seventy or eighty deep, Shao Chen discovered a shard of tile with writing on it. It read, "Da Ye Year Twelve, Made by Jiangdu Official Kiln Factory."