Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

The Jiang family’s old grave is on a slope.

The slope is not high.

The top of the slope is about ten meters high and extends downward in a gentle slope for a hundred meters.

The hundred-meter-long gentle slope became the Jiang family cemetery, with more than 200 graves densely stacked on top of each other.

Looking at it in the night, the densely packed graves are very creepy.

When the night wind blows again, my hairs stand on end.

Jiang Nanle pointed to the top of the slope and said, "The grave you are looking for is right there."

"Girl, you are not kidding us, are you?" Old Li asked half-doubtfully.

Because the top of the slope is flat.

There is no trace of the earth covering it.

The burial form of covering the tomb with burial mound appeared in the late Spring and Autumn Period.

In the past, graves were not sealed or planted with trees.

By the Warring States period, burial mounds had become widespread.

And the rules for the size of burial mounds were derived from it.

The higher the status of the tomb owner, the higher and larger the burial mound will be.

For example, historical records show that the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang is fifty zhang high, which means it should be 115 meters high.

Later, when I was a consultant, I also measured the height of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum.

The measured height will vary depending on the measurement location and distance.

Measured from the west side of the mound, the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang is 43 meters high.

Measured from the gentle slope in the northwest corner, it is 46 meters high.

Measured from the ruins of the north gate outside the cemetery, it is 87 meters high.

The difference in measured height is closely related to the height of the terrain at the observation point.

Moreover, the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang is a unique square burial mound, and the tombs of subsequent Western Han emperors also followed the square burial mound form.

The burial mounds in the folk are mostly round mounds, commonly known as "earth buns".

In the south, people would build "turtle shell tombs" and even carve tortoise shell patterns on the tombs.

Considering Guard Jiang's status, the mound should be at least two or three meters high.

Jiang Nanle said with a cold face: "It can't be wrong."

"In the past, during the wars, many bandits and warlords were interested in digging up graves."

"The clan leader at the time was afraid that the ancestral tomb would be targeted, so he led people to level the mound and sold the stone sheep and stone horses in front of the tomb."

"There used to be a straight road going up, but it was blocked by the relocation of many graves."

“That’s why you can’t see the grave now.”

After she explained this, Lao Li and I suddenly understood.

No wonder there is no mound on the grave.

It turned out that the Jiang family had razed it to the ground themselves.

I have to say, this method is really clever.

As long as the Jiang family members don’t say it themselves, it will be difficult for others to guess it.

"It's really clever. No wonder I didn't notice it after checking it twice."

"Daquan Ershuan, quickly grab your tools and dig a hole to find out the location of the tomb."

Old Li brought only three Luoyang shovels.

Two small ones and one big one.

The small one is used for digging exploration holes, and the big one is used for digging robbery holes.

It just so happened that Daquan and Ershuan each took a digging hole.

Cui Hao and I could only be spectators.

In fact, Lao Li still had some thoughts and didn't want us to have too much contact with the Luoyang shovel.

Daquan and Ershuan were working hard to explore the cave.

Cui Hao brought Jiang Nan with him, squatting aside to watch curiously, and asking for some tips from time to time.

Daquan and Ershuan are also slippery.

No matter how Cui Hao asked, he kept rambling and didn't mention the important techniques.

Old Li took me to stand at the highest point of the slope and looked around in the moonlight.

"Let's see how the feng shui of this tomb is."

We both have only a superficial understanding of Feng Shui.

Add them all together, and the bottle is less than half full.

However, it does not prevent us from speculating and judging the good or bad feng shui by the terrain around it.

This is itself a process of accumulation.

The more you see and the more you accumulate, you might finally get it one day.

I first looked due north.

North is of great significance to ancient tombs.

For example, most of the ancient imperial tombs are oriented north and south.

However, the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang faces west and east.

Experts have various theories as to why this is the case.

It is said that Qin Shi Huang believed that the gods were in the East, so the Mausoleum of the First Emperor faces west and east, hoping that the gods from the East would come to take him away.

It is said that Qin Shi Huang believed that there was the aura of the Son of Heaven in the East, so in order to protect the Qin Dynasty for a long time, the Mausoleum of the First Emperor faced west and east to deter the aura of the Son of Heaven from the East.

There is also a saying that the Qin Dynasty etiquette respected the west. From Qin Shihuang to the nobles and literati, the host seat was sitting west facing east, so the Mausoleum of the First Emperor also faces west to east.

At first glance, many of these inferences seem to make sense.

But why, perhaps only by opening the imperial mausoleum can we know.

Looking due north from the slope, there is a flat farmland.

More than ten kilometers to the north is the Wei River.

If the tomb chamber faces north and south, then Guard Jiang’s tomb will have no support.

The term "backer" that we often talk about is derived from Feng Shui.

A location with good feng shui must have support behind it, which means there is a mountain to rely on.

It is naturally impossible to rely on a smooth road.

I turned and looked south.

To the south is the Qinling Mountains, which can serve as a perfect backing.

Could it be that Guard Jiang’s tomb faces south?

As I pondered this, I asked, "Brother Li, can you tell which direction the tomb is facing?"

Old Li frowned, sucked his teeth and said, "There's nothing to lean on in the north, but the Qinling Mountains in the south are a good support."

"If I'm not mistaken, this tomb faces south and north."

Our half-baked opinions clashed.

It is generally believed that the orientation should be south facing north.

"I think so."

"But there are also flat farmlands on both sides, not surrounded by mountains and water."

"The feng shui doesn't look very good."

Old Li grinned and said, "Feng Shui values ​​mountains and water, so it's the most difficult to find Feng Shui sites on the plains."

"Have you ever visited the Western Han Dynasty imperial tombs?"

"For example, the feng shui of Emperor Wu of Han's Maoling Mausoleum is very difficult to understand."

"The surrounding area is flat farmland, the mountains are far away and not high, and there are no mountains or water on the left and right sides."

Emperor Wu of Han's Maoling Mausoleum is located on the Xianyang Plateau.

It is the westernmost of the Western Han Dynasty imperial tombs buried on the Xianyang Plateau.

To be honest, I had never visited Emperor Wu of Han at that time.

But the Changling Mausoleum of Emperor Gaozu of Han and the Anling Mausoleum of Emperor Hui of Han were right at my doorstep, and I have been playing on the tall mounds since I was a child.

After obtaining Tuoye's family notes, I also studied the feng shui of Changling and Anling based on the feng shui content in the notes.

But as Lao Li said, I haven't really thought it through.

The locations of imperial tombs such as Changling, Anling, and Maoling do not meet the feng shui standard of being surrounded by mountains and water.

Later, I studied historical materials and talked with several elderly villagers living near the imperial tomb, and only then did I discover some clues.

The most important factor in choosing the location of the Western Han Dynasty imperial tombs is not feng shui.

Instead, the imperial mausoleum was used to protect the national destiny of Chang'an.

This move is called "sitting and looking at Chang'an".

Because the sun sets in the west, the west is considered the resting place of the gods.

Therefore, Emperor Gaozu of Han chose the west side of Chang'an City as his burial place.

To the west of Chang'an City, the only high ground suitable for the imperial mausoleum to overlook Chang'an is the Xianyang Plateau.

Therefore, nine of the eleven emperors of the Western Han Dynasty were buried on the Xianyang Plateau.

"The secrets of the feng shui of the Western Han Dynasty imperial tombs may be hidden in the Secret Burial Sutra of the Han Dynasty's Original Tomb. You may understand it if you read it more." I said with a smile.

Old Li took out a cigarette and lit it: "You are making fun of me, that book is all in classical Chinese, I really can't understand it."

"Let's go see what those two bastards are doing."

When we turned back, Ershuan's Luoyang shovel just brought up some mixed soil.

"Master, the five-colored soil is coming out!"

"The tomb is right down there!"