We returned the same way we came and arrived at the first underground cave. After searching around, we indeed found five Song typeface characters, “Záo Tiānqǐ Yuánnián – carved in the first year of the Tianqi era,” carved at the cave entrance.
When the four of us climbed out of the manhole, it was just past eight o’clock. Most of the shops on the Pedestrian Street were not yet open for business, and only a few pedestrians were passing by.
“The library is about to open. How about we grab some breakfast and then go with me to the ancient books reading room to look through the *Jiudong Fuzhi* (Gazetteer of Jiudong Prefecture) to see if there’s any record of the cave being dug in the first year of the Tianqi era?” Old Zhang suggested.
The three of us expressed our willingness to go along.
After I covered the manhole, I noticed a few passersby walking over.
A middle-aged man with a fat head and big ears asked, “Are there any treasures in this manhole?”
“It stinks inside. Do we look like we found any treasures?” I joked.
Everyone laughed, but the middle-aged man looked at me with a strange expression.
The ancient books reading room of Jiudong City Library has been digitized. The four of us sat around a large computer, with Wen Rourou in charge of operating it.
Old Zhang placed his library card from the Jiudong City Library on the card reader. After the information was read, Wen Rourou entered four characters in the online book title bar: *Jiudong Fuzhi*.
“It’s really convenient to read ancient books online. The full text image of the *Jiudong Fuzhi* allows you to use the page reading tools to switch pages and zoom in,” Wen Rourou said, sincerely praising as she operated the computer.
The Jiudong City Library has three versions of the *Jiudong Fuzhi*, which were compiled during the Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty.
Wen Rourou first clicked to read the *Jiudong Fuzhi* printed in the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661) of the Qing Dynasty, which has a total of twenty-eight volumes.
The entire book has fifty main and supplementary items. At that time, Jiudong Prefecture governed one state and eleven counties. The items were basically arranged in the order of prefecture first, then state and counties, and were recorded separately.
The information contained in each item is relatively rich. For example, the “Mountains and Rivers” item focuses on mineral resources, and any that exist, whether ancient or modern, are noted. The “Disasters and Anomalies” item records the activities of the peasant rebel army in Jiudong Prefecture at the end of the Ming Dynasty in great detail, which is very valuable historical material. The “Miscellaneous Records” item includes strange and interesting stories, various characters, and various customs related to Jiudong Prefecture.
According to this version of the *Jiudong Fuzhi*, in the first year of the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty, a foreign race descended from the sky and dug nine underground caves in Du Guangfu, connecting the past and the future.
“This version of the *Jiudong Fuzhi* mentions Du Guangfu. What is the connection between this Du Guangfu and Jiudong Prefecture? Is it because after digging nine underground caves in Du Guangfu connecting the past and the future, Du Guangfu was renamed Jiudong Prefecture?” Wen Rourou asked, looking at the three of us.
“The oldest extant *Jiudong Fuzhi* is the version printed in the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, which is the version we are reading now. Later, there were versions from different periods such as Kangxi and Qianlong. It is no longer possible to verify whether the *Du Guangfu Zhi* and *Jiudong Fuzhi* were printed in the Ming Dynasty, because none have survived. Judging from the content recorded in this version of the *Jiudong Fuzhi* printed in the Shunzhi period, I think Du Guangfu should have existed first, followed by Jiudong Prefecture. Du Guangfu and Jiudong Prefecture should belong to the same place, and Jiudong Prefecture was renamed from Du Guangfu. As for which year it was renamed, we can use the keyword search function to find out,” Old Zhang took over Wen Rourou’s words and began to analyze dialectically.
Wen Rourou entered the two characters “Du Guang” on the computer and found that there were two places in this version of the *Jiudong Fuzhi* with the keyword “Du Guang”.
One place was about the digging of nine underground caves in Du Guangfu in the first year of the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty; the other place said that Du Guangfu was renamed Jiudong Prefecture in the first year of Chongde (1636) of the Qing Dynasty.
“Du Guang was a mysterious place in ancient times. Ancient books such as the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* and *Huainanzi* record that the ancient god Yellow Emperor planted a divine tree called Jianmu on Du Guang Mountain. This divine tree is the ladder for the gods to travel between heaven and earth,” Old Lin is also a person who “knows astronomy above and geography below,” and it is easy for him to talk about these things.
“The *Jiudong Fuzhi* records that a foreign race descended from the sky. Is this foreign race what we modern people call aliens?” Wen Rourou asked, looking at Old Lin and Old Zhang.
“The foreign race mentioned by the ancients generally refers to foreign ethnic groups or foreigners. Aliens are of course a foreign race, but if we conclude that the foreign race mentioned in the *Jiudong Fuzhi* is aliens, it would be biased,” Old Zhang’s explanation of the term “foreign race” was impartial.
“Then can these nine underground caves really connect the past and the future?” Wen Rourou looked at Old Lin, Old Zhang, and me, her face full of longing.
“If there are two caves in front of you now, one that can return to the past and one that can go to the future, and you can only choose one, do you want to go to the past or to the future?” I asked, looking at Wen Rourou with a smile.
“I want to go to both, but I want to go to the past more. That way, I can become a omniscient and omnipotent prophet in the eyes of the ancients. Maybe I can even have my name recorded in history,” Wen Rourou smiled happily.
After that, we also read the *Jiudong Fuzhi* compiled during the Kangxi period.
At this time, Jiudong Prefecture still governed one state and eleven counties. The content of the book did not change much, basically following the old records, and continued to compile nearly thirty years of events after each item. However, this version deleted the original supplementary records and magazine items on the grounds of so-called “strictness and correctness,” which is a major regret.
The *Jiudong Fuzhi* compiled during the Qianlong period has a total of one hundred and twelve volumes, with one hundred and eight items.
This gazetteer is a huge work with rich content. We mainly read the contents of the “Disasters and Anomalies” and “Miscellaneous Records” items. Among them, three strange events recorded in the “Miscellaneous Records” item aroused our attention.
Event 1: On the evening of the twenty-first day of the eighth month of the seventh year of the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty (1627), five people who had rushed from the capital, Beijing, jumped into a bottomless underground cave dug by a foreign race, their fate unknown. The next day, Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Tianqi era died in the Qianqing Palace (Palace of Heavenly Purity) in Beijing.
Event 2: On the evening of the sixth day of the first month of the eighteenth year of the Shunzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (1661), five people who had rushed from the capital, Beijing, jumped into a bottomless underground cave dug by a foreign race, their fate unknown. The next day, Emperor Aixinjueluo•Fulin of the Shunzhi era died in the Yangxin Hall (Hall of Mental Cultivation) in Beijing.
Event 3: On the evening of the twenty-second day of the eighth month of the thirteenth year of the Yongzheng era of the Qing Dynasty (1735), five people who had rushed from the capital, Beijing, jumped into a bottomless underground cave dug by a foreign race, their fate unknown. The next day, Emperor Aixinjueluo•Yinzhen of the Yongzheng era died in the Yuanmingyuan Imperial Villa in Beijing.
“Now that we put these three events together, it is indeed strange. In each event, five people jumped into the cave, and then the next day an emperor would die,” Wen Rourou said with some consternation.
“History is always surprisingly similar. The three events are separated by hundreds of years. Did these people who jumped into the cave die, or did they travel to the past or the future?” Old Lin looked at the computer screen, as if mumbling to himself.