Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

When I was in a mess, Cui Hao's crying voice rang out.

"Are we dead?"

The sound woke me up.

What seemed to be holding the left arm was a pair of hands.

Warm and moist.

This is fucking manpower!

"Hold!"

"Mouse, are you grabbing my arm?"

"Ah? Ah, it seems so."

I waved my arm to shake off his hand, and took out matches from my bag with a mixture of anger and laughter.

"Look at your rat-like courage. Do you know that scaring others can kill them?"

"I'm not scaring anyone. I just saw a dark shadow emerge from the blood coffin and pounce on us. It must have disturbed the ghost."

Swish.

The match burned into a flame the size of a bean.

I carefully lit the oil lamp in my hand, and the light returned to the tomb.

Cui Hao squatted tremblingly.

The oil lamp that should have been in his hand rolled aside.

A row of bronze ritual vessels were neatly placed where the oil lamp had fallen.

Bronze ritual vessels such as round tripods, square tripods, gui, lei, and pots are all quite large, with intricate patterns and green copper rust on them.

Seeing this, my breathing suddenly became rapid.

The presence of bronze ritual vessels in the tomb indicates that it is at least a tomb of an aristocrat from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

It is not impossible that it is a tomb of a Western Zhou noble!

His gaze turned to the other side of the tomb.

On the second-level earthen platform are small bronze items such as copper combs, copper bubbles, copper bells, as well as turquoise and agate beads.

These things are easy to cash in nowadays.

But at that time I found it difficult to sell.

On the one hand, many similar bronze artifacts of that period were put into the furnace, which made me feel that bronze artifacts could only be sold as scrap metal.

On the other hand, there were no channels for selling antiques at that time, and the only place I knew how to buy antiques was the antique shop.

But the cultural relics store is a state-owned unit.

Selling bronze artifacts stolen from tombs would attract too much attention and could lead to big trouble.

I thought about it before I went down to the tomb, and I would try to get some hard currency.

Gold is the best, followed by jade.

Gold and jade can be said to be dug out from the land, so it is understandable that people doubt them.

Don't think I'm joking.

On the Xianyang Plateau, especially in the Yaodian area, it is common to pick up Qin bricks, Han tiles, and copper coins.

Horse-hoof gold and unicorn-foot gold from the Han Dynasty were dug up several times while farming.

In 68, a primary school student found Empress Lü's seal near the Changling Mausoleum of Emperor Gaozu of Han and handed it in, and was later rewarded with 20 yuan.

Let’s get back to the tomb.

I walked around holding the oil lamp.

The burial objects placed around the tomb are basically bronze artifacts.

There is no gold or jade jewelry that I have been longing for.

The tombs of nobles must have gold and jade artifacts buried with them.

If there is nothing outside, then it can only be inside.

My eyes were fixed on the vermilion coffin.

He held the iron bar in his left hand and was thinking about how to open the coffin.

"Brother, look at your feet, they're red!"

"Is the blood in the coffin leaking out?!"

Cui Hao raised his hand and pointed at my feet in horror.

I looked down and saw blood all over my feet.

The blood spread to the bottom of the vermilion coffin, and it really looked like blood was flowing out of the coffin.

But I'm sure it wasn't blood.

Because there is no smell of blood.

I squatted down and touched the blood-colored soil. The damp soil was soft and grainy.

The particles seemed to be some kind of hard gravel.

Grab a handful and look closely at it.

The blood-colored particles mixed with the damp soil to form a strange blood-colored soil.

"It seems to be cinnabar." I said uncertainly.

I remember when Professor Zhang was teaching the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, he mentioned that when nobles were buried, cinnabar would be sprinkled first and then the coffin would be placed.

The higher the rank and the stronger the nobles, the more and thicker the cinnabar was sprinkled when they were buried.

It's a status symbol.

"It should be the tomb of a high-ranking noble from the Western Zhou Dynasty, at least a scholar-official."

The reason for this judgment is that the area where the cinnabar was spread was not too large and did not cover the entire tomb chamber.

Later, as tomb robberies became more frequent, people discovered that in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the power of many princes declined and they did not have the financial resources to purchase cinnabar to cover the entire tomb chamber. They could only put some on the bottom of the coffin as a token of their respect.

By the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the impoverished nobles could not even afford cinnabar.

You can only use red powdered cinnabar. That thing does not contain any cinnabar, it is just red in color.

When I come across a tomb where a shovel has dug up cinnabar soil, I usually turn around and leave.

Because it is a fallen noble tomb, nothing valuable can be found.

"Brother, don't worry about what it is, just grab your things and leave."

Cui Hao was so frightened that he almost lost his courage and just wanted to grab his things and run away.

The courage that was previously claimed to seek wealth and fame at the risk of one's life is now completely gone.

"Mouse, these things are big and heavy. Even if we take them up there, who's going to take them? Will they be sold as scrap metal or recycled into steel?"

"Uh……"

"So you're going there empty-handed? You're not willing to do that. How about taking these little ones?"

As he was about to put the small bronze objects into his bag, I knelt down in front of the coffin.

"I'm sorry."

"If I become rich, I will definitely ask a Taoist master to perform a Yin De ritual to repay my debts."

I kowtowed three times while reciting this.

It is an apology for disturbing the deceased by opening the coffin to take out the treasure.

click!

I rammed the tip of the iron rod into the crack of the coffin, then raised the hammer and hit the tail of the iron rod hard.

With a few bangs, the iron chisel head was knocked into the crack of the coffin.

I held the iron bar tail with both hands and pried it hard.

"Hey!"

crunch!

As I shouted loudly, the coffin lid made a teeth-grinding sound and the corner was pried up to reveal an opening.

I pushed twice more and felt a burning pain in my palm.

Due to excessive force and excessive friction with the iron bar, blisters appeared on the palm of my hand.

"Rat! Come and help me."

I gritted my teeth, pulled the iron bar harder, and shouted at Cui Hao in a muffled voice.

Cui Hao, who felt numb all over, shuddered.

He gestured around helplessly, not knowing how to express his inner shock.

His reaction was normal.

Newbies are usually afraid when they go into a grave and open a coffin, and they need some mental preparation to adapt.

I was forced into a dead end by life.

Today, even if the Jade Emperor comes to stop me, I will open this coffin.

"What are you still standing there for? Come on!"

My urging made Cui Hao grit his teeth, muster up the courage, and walk towards me tremblingly.

"Brother Shitou, you are really my good brother!"

After muttering a few words to himself as if to build up his courage, Cui Hao came to my side, closed his eyes, made up his mind, rolled up his sleeves and held the iron bar.

"I'll risk it all. I'll be with you through life and death!"

"There are no ghosts in the world, only ghosts in your heart. If you are not afraid, then you will be fine. I will shout three times and push hard together."

"One, two, three! Hey!"

We worked together and soon opened the coffin lid.

We looked inside excitedly, expecting a great harvest, but were both dumbfounded.

There was also a vermilion coffin inside.

Except for being a little smaller, it is almost exactly the same as the coffin just opened.

"Brother, what's going on?"

"Forget about the coffin. The coffins of nobles are different from those of ordinary people. They usually have several layers."

I slapped my forehead in frustration.

I only thought about the gold and jade items in the coffin, forgetting that the nobles at least had one coffin and one outer coffin.

There are four coffins and one coffin, or possibly three coffins and two coffins.

If it was the Zhou emperor, he would have a seven-layer coffin.

"I've already done it, so I have to see it through to the end."

"Keep opening the coffin!"