Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

When Mengzi heard that it had to be split in half, he became anxious.

He immediately grabbed the old man's arm and whispered, "Dad!"

"We finally found a landlord's tomb, how can we divide the things among them?"

"It's just a brick roof, at most we can just smash it open with some effort!"

The old man took a puff of his pipe and shook his head slowly.

"It's not a matter of effort or not; it's a technical job."

"When your uncle encountered a brick tomb, he used brute force to smash it, and the roof of the tomb collapsed, nearly costing him his life."

Opening the top of the coupon is indeed a technical job.

If one must enter the tomb chamber from the top of the vault, one usually chooses to pry open the wedge-shaped bricks or mortise and tenon bricks from the corners.

Vouching is a construction term.

It refers to the first step of using wedge-shaped bricks to make the vault into an arch.

A wedge-shaped brick is a rectangle with unequal thickness on both sides and isosceles trapezoidal faces at both ends.

When the arch is made, the thick side faces outward and the thin side faces inward, and then they are connected with mortise and tenon bricks, and the arch top is constructed through the mortise and tenon structure of the brick mouth.

The multi-layer vaulted ceilings of high-standard tombs are supplemented with soil mixed with glutinous rice juice as an adhesive to increase the firmness and sealing of the vaulted ceiling.

Glutinous rice juice is glutinous rice porridge cooked until it becomes thick. It is very sticky and is one of the adhesives used by ancient people when building city walls.

It is said that when Chang'an City was built, glutinous rice juice and kiwi juice were added to the adobe layer inside the city wall.

"Don't be greedy, if you have money, everyone will benefit."

"Mengzi, remember what I said. Your grandfather's family died or were injured because of greed."

I don’t know if Mengzi heard the old man’s earnest teachings.

Anyway, I think Mengzi looks a bit resentful.

Obviously, he doesn't want to share things.

"dad……"

"If you still consider me your father, just do as I say." The old man said coldly.

Mengzi nodded helplessly.

Then he said to me, "Don't brag. If you don't have the ability, go home and sleep early."

"Hey! How are you talking to Master Chen?"

Wang Hu was indignant at his words and rolled up his sleeves, ready to take action.

Mengzi raised the iron pick and glared without showing any weakness.

"Want to fight?"

"Cough cough!" The old man coughed loudly and snatched the iron rod from Mengzi's hand.

Then he signaled his two grandsons to put down the iron rod as well.

"Lou'er, Sheng'er, both of you throw the iron rods on the ground too!"

The two boys hesitated for a moment and then threw away the iron rod as the old man said.

The old man put on a smile and clasped his hands together and bowed: "It turns out to be Master Chen. My apologies."

"My surname is Su, and this is my son Su Meng, and my grandsons Su Lou and Su Sheng."

Old Man Su introduced his children and grandchildren.

"That's just a joke from the brothers, don't take it seriously, uncle."

"I understand all the rules of the underworld." Old Man Su said very seriously.

Then he waved to his children and grandchildren, indicating that they should come and greet me.

Su Meng and his two sons were forced into a corner, and reluctantly clasped their hands and said, "Master Chen."

Old man Su frowned, very dissatisfied with the casual attitude of his children and grandchildren.

He swung the pipe and hit Su Meng hard on the thigh.

"What's your attitude, you bastard!"

"Again!"

After being beaten, Su Meng became completely obedient.

He led the two children and respectfully clasped his hands again, "Master Chen!"

Old Man Su smiled apologetically and said, "I usually neglect to discipline my children and grandchildren, so they are all ignorant. Master Chen, please don't bother with them."

Old Man Su has a very good attitude.

As expected of someone who came out to make a living in the old society, he is very knowledgeable in dealing with people.

In comparison, Su Meng is too green and naive.

If he meets a ruthless person, he will at least be injured.

"Master Chen, is there any way to open this brick tomb?"

The topic returned to opening the tomb.

To be honest, I have never opened a brick tomb.

The last time we opened was an underground palace, which strictly speaking was not a tomb.

So I want to put it into practice and try out the contents of Tuoye’s ancestral notes to see how effective they are in practice.

"Of course there are ways. The simplest one is to determine the direction of the tomb chamber, find the location of the tomb door, and then dig down to open the door."

"laugh!"

Su Meng sneered, "That's easy for you to say, but how can you tell which direction the tomb door faces?"

Su Lou and Su Sheng followed suit.

"My grandfather has dug more graves than you've eaten rice, and he can't even find the door to the tomb, so you, a cucumber, have no chance of finding it either."

"Don't brag here, or you might get your tongue bitten by the wind."

"It's because of my kindness that I didn't expose your lie. I advise you to get out of here as soon as possible and stop embarrassing yourself here."

Old Man Su frowned and thought.

Opening the tomb door sounds easy, but for unskilled tomb robbers, finding the tomb door is a difficult problem.

Since they only had experience digging out coffin lids, they could only use the clumsy method, which was to continue digging along the top of the vault, and then find a way to break it open when they reached the tomb wall.

But that would be too time-consuming and would take at least two or three nights to complete.

"Mr. Chen, can you find where the tomb door is?" Old Man Su asked tentatively.

“That’s amazing.”

"I checked Feng Shui when I came here just now. This place is backed by the South Mountain and is located on the mountain's shady side. The tomb door must face north."

"hiss!"

Old Man Su took a breath of cold air.

There was a bit more respect in the look he gave me.

"No wonder you're called Master at such a young age. It turns out you're an expert in Feng Shui!"

In the tomb-robbing business, those who can find dragon points and burial sites are usually called Mr. Expert.

There are also connoisseurs in the antique business.

In the antique business, helping to identify the authenticity of antiques means helping to determine the authenticity of the goods. The person who is responsible for identifying the authenticity of the goods is gradually called the "Zhang Yan" or "Mr. Zhang Yan".

But the expert in tomb-robbing business is much more mysterious than that in antique business.

Mr. Zhangyan does not directly participate in tomb robbing.

Only responsible for finding the location of the tomb and determining the age.

Then the boss would pay the money and send his men to carry out the tomb robbery.

Usually there is only one pot-holder behind the pot, but the pot-holder may be responsible for more than ten or even dozens of pots.

Most people believe that Zhi Guo is the financial backer of the team and the commander of the entire tomb-robbing operation.

actually not.

In the wave of tomb robbing that began in the 1980s, the tomb robbers were actually the first to get rich.

Many of the pots were originally the master's subordinates.

In order to avoid risks, the Zhangyan, after becoming rich, retreated behind the scenes and was only responsible for finding large tombs and shipping.

Let Zhiguo take his legs and work hard to do the most risky things.

In the tomb-robbing business, it is common for the tomb robber to be caught, but it is extremely rare for the tomb robber to be caught.

Because the person who supports the pot usually carries the pot himself and will not offer it to the master behind him.

It can be said that the person in charge is the project planner, the person in charge is the project manager, the person in charge is the technical manager and supervisor, and the person who does the hard work is the construction site worker.

There are also people who hold the pot on one shoulder.

The famous Mr. Yao was such a person. He searched for dragon points and robbed tombs by himself.

The last type of Feng Shui expert is a master in the Feng Shui circle.

He crossed over to the tomb-robbing circle to make extra money, simply selling information about the locations of large tombs and not participating in anything else.

"What kind of expert? I think he's just bragging." Su Meng rolled his eyes and muttered.

"Shut up!"

"How could I give birth to such an ignorant thing like you!"

Old Man Su's face was full of disappointment.

This made Su Meng even more rebellious.

"Dad, you scolded me for his empty words?"

"I dare say he's just bragging!"

Su Meng rushed over in two steps and glared at me fiercely: "My dad is old and easily fooled, but I won't fall for your tricks!"

"Let's make a bet today. I bet the direction of the tomb door you mentioned is wrong!"

"hehe."

I chuckled and said, "Okay, what do you want to bet on?"