Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

"That's weird." I pretended to be surprised.

Hong Guangxiang nodded vigorously: "It's very strange! This matter has been gagged and cannot be spread outside."

"It is only because you, Mr. Chen, are of high status and well-informed from Hong Kong Island that I dare to say these things."

"Change someone else, I won't say a word even if you kill me."

"Where exactly is the cave?" I asked.

"It's in the mountains, and it's impossible to describe the specific place with words. If you're interested, I can arrange for us to take a walk outside the cave tomorrow."

"Okay, then I'll wait for your arrangement."

Hong Guangxiang shook his head and nodded vigorously twice, then suddenly covered his mouth and made a retching sound.

It seemed as if something in his stomach came up, and he swallowed it back.

Such situations are inevitable at the dinner table.

Some people couldn't help but burst out.

Someone like Hong Guangxiang who can swallow it back can be considered a real man.

"I, I'm going to the toilet..."

He covered his mouth and ran out.

Wang Hu just heard a little bit of the story and was so curious that he felt like he was being scratched by a cat's claws.

"Master Chen, how evil is that cave?"

"It's like a horror story."

I can’t say how weird it is.

But judging by the mysteriousness of the tomb of the king of Bi State, the cave is probably not much worse.

Especially those strange fish with sharp teeth, which sound like piranhas.

If there really are piranhas in the dark river, finding the Baon snake will be even more difficult.

Not to mention that we are basically landlubbers, even if we have the ability to swim in the waves, we can't beat piranhas in the water.

It seems I need to ask the rescue team members who have been into the cave.

What they say is the most true and reliable.

Hong Guangxiang's words are all hearsay, and are inevitably filled with errors, omissions, and his own imagination.

Not long after, Hong Guangxiang came back.

After vomiting, he washed his face and looked much more sober.

"Mr. Chen, I was just drunk and talking nonsense. Just treat it as a story and don't take it seriously."

"Actually, our area is picturesque with beautiful mountains and clear waters. There's nothing weird going on here."

This is when I came to my senses and realized that I had said something wrong, and I started to make amends.

I laughed and said, "That's fine. I just like to hear weird stories. If you have more stories like this, please tell me more."

"Okay, as long as you like it, I will definitely tell you a good story on the way."

"Your accommodation has been arranged. It's in the regional guesthouse. The room is a bit shabby, so please don't mind."

Hong Guangxiang took us to the district guesthouse.

The guesthouse is a two-story red brick building.

It is similar to the expert buildings built by some large factories.

The various facilities inside are also relatively simple.

Of course, this simplicity is compared to the room where Boss Dong lives.

In that era, it was considered very good.

"Our conditions here can't compare to those in the provincial capital. If you need anything, just tell me and I'll get it for you right away."

"That's all, no need to bother."

"Deputy Director Hong, please go ahead and do your thing. We'll talk about the inspection tomorrow."

Send Deputy Director Hong away.

I asked Wang Hu to find out about the injured rescue team members.

In the evening, Wang Hu came back with his head down.

"Master Chen, the wounded are all being treated in the military hospital. I can't get in at all."

"I asked a lot of people on the way, and they all said that the cave was a demon cave. In the past, Zhang Tianshi sealed the demons in the cave, and anyone who entered would die a miserable death."

I smiled and patted his shoulder: "Why, are you scared?"

"Afraid... Not really, I just think that place is pretty spooky. There's no need to waste our energy in a dangerous place."

"If you ask me, I'd rather find a big tomb. Dig up a few and you'll become rich!"

"By the way, on the way back, I saw a few people who looked like they were going to work. How about we go and take a look?"

When I heard that a colleague was going to do the work, I immediately became interested.

Since I entered the industry, I have never seen how my peers work.

At that time, everyone was just entering the industry.

Those who have some experience learned it from the elders in their family who have worked in this field, so they are all in the stage of practical exploration.

In addition, there are few people and many tombs, so there is not much sense of competition among them.

As long as two groups don't target the same tomb, there will basically be no conflict.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for colleagues to observe and exchange experiences.

Let me tell you something that you may not believe.

In the 1980s, I led people to rob tombs in Chang'an County.

There was a saying at that time: Turn a dead treasure into a living treasure, and you will become rich.

Dead treasures refer to burial objects buried in the ground. If you dig them out and turn them into living treasures and sell them, you can make a fortune.

The widespread circulation of this sentence reflects the rampant tomb robbing at that time.

So how rampant is it?

When night fell, people from nearby villages went up to the plateau in groups of three, five, seven or eight, carrying hoes and shovels to dig graves.

That's right, grave digging.

At that time, everyone's legal awareness was weak.

Think it's just digging, not stealing.

Thousands of villagers and tomb robbers from outside went to the plateau to dig graves.

The scene was as big as searching the mountains and suppressing bandits.

Moreover, they were talking and laughing with each other, without any conflict like they were enemies in the same industry or who was competing for territory.

Even when they discovered a tomb with something found in it, they would call their friends to dig together, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

When it was almost dawn, people came on tractors to collect the things, and you could cash them in by handing them over.

An industrial chain has been formed where tombs are robbed that night and the goods are shipped that night.

However, this grand occasion did not last long.

The overly blatant madness attracted severe legal crackdowns, and a large number of tomb robbers were caught in the special crackdown.

Since then, colleagues have been much more low-key and increasingly wary.

"Change your clothes and go see what the Shangluo colleagues are like."

I took out some ordinary clothes from my bag, changed into them, and left the guesthouse with Wang Hu to catch up with those people.

After asking around on the way, I finally caught up with those people I was traveling with.

Their clothes were covered with patches.

It seems that he is a farmer who works in the fields for a living and has chosen this path in order to give his family a good life.

The leader was an old man over fifty years old, with a dark face full of wrinkles, but a pair of bright eyes.

Following him were a middle-aged man and two teenage boys.

Several of them look a bit alike.

I guess they are a family.

Follow them from a distance out of the city and into the mountains in the southwest.

The hillside is gently sloping, with its back against the Qinling Mountains and facing the small plain in the Shangluo area.

From the perspective of Feng Shui, it is well-protected, but compared with a truly Feng Shui treasure land, there is still a big gap, and it can only be regarded as a small lucky location.

This kind of small auspicious location is usually the family cemetery of local wealthy families, most of which are tombs from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

But the possibility of tomb upon tomb cannot be ruled out.

The upper layers are tombs from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and there is a possibility that there are even older tombs in the deeper layers.

At this time, the four people stopped on the hillside.

The old man squatted on the ground and said a few words.

The middle-aged man and two young men took out the long iron rods used to poke boilers and started poking hard into the ground.

Every time I poked the iron rod until it was completely buried in the soil, I pulled it out and moved to another place to continue.

This is similar to using a piercing rod.

However, due to the limited length of the iron rod, the detected soil layer is very shallow, and at most it can detect tombs from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

I laughed when I saw this.

I wanted to learn from my colleagues, but it turned out that their skills were not very good.

So I took Wang Hu and walked straight over.

Our appearance made the four people nervous.

The middle-aged man and two teenagers raised their iron picks and formed a triangle around us.

"who are you?"

"What do you want to do?"