Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

"Then let's bet...ah!"

Before Su Meng could tell him the bet, Old Man Su swung his hand and slapped him on the back of the head.

"I'll let you bet!"

"I'm not dead yet!"

"I have the final say on the Su family's affairs!"

"If you dare to say another word, I'll beat you back to your mother's womb!"

Old Man Su’s temper made Su Meng protect his head with both hands.

Su Lou and Su Sheng were even more nervous as they held onto Old Man Su, fearing that their grandfather would go berserk and do something cruel.

"Master, don't be angry."

The grandson's persuasion calmed down Old Man Su.

He glared at his son who was rubbing the back of his head in grievance, and couldn't help but sigh.

He clasped his hands and apologized to me on behalf of his son.

"Master Chen, I apologize to you on behalf of Mengzi."

"Uncle, you are serious. I was just joking with him."

It's not worth worrying about such a small matter.

Whether he gambles or not, Su Meng will be the one who gets embarrassed in the end.

The results are exactly the same for me.

"Huzi, drive the iron rod one and a half meters north."

Wang Hu picked up the iron bar and walked towards the north side of the tunnel dug by Su Meng and his men.

Stop at about 1.5 meters.

Lift the iron bar and drive it into the soil.

After stabbing several times, Hu Zi stopped and said, "Master Chen, it feels like rammed earth."

I walked over and grabbed the iron rod to feel it.

It does feel like digging into rammed earth, indicating that this is the location of the tomb passage.

The tomb door is located between these 1.5 meters.

I pointed my foot at the exact middle position and asked Wang Hu to put down the iron rod again.

After a few bangs, this time it hit the brick wall.

The location of the tomb door was reduced again.

"Okay, let's dig right where we put the pick."

"You guys come and help, it's okay to dig a bigger hole."

Su Meng lowered his head and pretended not to hear.

After being kicked by Old Man Su, he came over with a hoe to dig a hole.

Wang Hu joined them.

An hour later, the tomb door was completely exposed.

There was a big hole on the tomb door, which should have been sealed with blue bricks. It was obvious that someone had visited it before.

Wang Hu climbed up and spread his hands to me with some regret: "Someone has been here before, so I guess it's empty."

At this time, Su Meng's shouting was heard from the tunnel.

"Tomb, tomb door?!"

"We really found the tomb door!"

There was disbelief in the shout.

Immediately afterwards, Su Meng climbed up quickly and ran towards me excitedly.

Wang Hu opened his arms to stop him: "What are you doing?"

"Master Chen has already found the tomb door, and you still want to cause trouble?"

Su Meng moved sideways two steps to try to get around Wang Hu, but Wang Hu also followed him and moved in circles.

After failing to get around it after several steps, Su Meng simply stopped moving.

"Master Chen, you are amazing!"

"I didn't recognize the real man just now, but now I'm really convinced!"

"Can you, can you, can you accept me as your disciple?"

"I kneel down and become your disciple!"

Su Meng is really straightforward.

When I was not convinced, no matter how my father taught me, I still was not convinced.

Once convinced, it is unconditional and wholehearted.

Old Man Su laughed: "You idiot, you finally got it."

"Master Chen, please see how my son is doing."

"If you think he's not good enough, why don't you look at my two grandsons?"

"As long as you nod, I will prepare the apprenticeship gift!"

People are so realistic.

Once you show your abilities that far surpass yours, they will cling to you and worship you.

Wang Meng curled his lips and said, "There are so many people who want to become Master Chen's apprentice. I haven't even gotten in line yet, so forget about it for you."

"Hey!"

Old Man Su sighed and looked at me hopefully.

He really wants me to accept his child as my apprentice.

Su Meng pulled his two sons over, wanting them to kneel down and beg him to accept them as his disciples.

I stopped him with a smile.

"I don't plan on accepting any disciples. Get up quickly."

"Oh right, we've found the tomb door. Regardless of whether it's been robbed or not, let's go in and take a look."

I entered the tunnel first.

Go down to the bottom and look at the opened tomb door.

Most of the tomb door sealed with blue bricks was broken open, and it was clear that a colleague had indeed been there before.

In fact, many ancient tombs have been robbed repeatedly in history.

Qin Tomb No. 1 is the most robbed tomb known to date, with as many as 247 robbery holes.

Even so, the archaeological team still unearthed many precious cultural relics in the tomb.

So there is a term in the tomb-robbing circle called "filter pit".

Filtering pits refers to entering a tomb that has been robbed and filtering it again to find burial objects that have not been taken away by predecessors.

Some tomb robbers have experienced many pit filtering incidents and gradually summed up a set of experience.

It specifically analyzes whether the tomb has been robbed, approximately when it was robbed, whether there are any burial objects left inside, and whether it is worth entering the filtration pit.

The ancestral notes of Tuoye’s family contain information about filter pits.

I went to the tomb to see it, also to verify it in practice.

Wang Hu, Old Man Su, and Su Meng also followed, while Su Lou and Su Sheng were left upstairs to keep watch.

I held up the oil lamp and read.

The coffin was placed on the bluestone slab in the middle of the tomb chamber.

The open coffin lid was thrown on the ground, and the bones inside the coffin were scattered.

It was obvious that the previous tomb robbers were unscrupulous and had no respect for the tomb owner.

Not only did they open the coffin to take out the treasure, they also searched inside the coffin.

There were many ceramic fragments scattered on the ground around.

Judging from the scattering pattern, it looks like someone deliberately smashed the burial ceramics.

In this case, the tomb robber is either the tomb owner's enemy.

Either the tomb robbers were narrow-minded and destroyed everything they couldn't take away, leaving nothing for those who came later.

Wang Hu and the others squatted on the ground picking up broken porcelain pieces, with expressions of regret on their faces.

"Wet his ancestors!"

"Who is so ruthless as to smash all the plates and bowls buried with him?"

"He's not afraid that the tomb owner will come looking for him at night!"

"What a pity! If they weren't broken, they could still be sold for some money."

I looked around the tomb before squatting down to pick up the broken porcelain pieces and look at them.

The porcelain is relatively rough from the body to the glaze color and surface, and cannot be compared with Jingdezhen porcelain.

According to the kiln, it should be a northern kiln.

It is most likely from Yaozhou Kiln or Cizhou Kiln.

When judging the kiln, I once again felt the lack of knowledge about antiques.

If you want to succeed in the tomb-robbing business, it is not enough to just know how to rob tombs. You also need to be able to judge the dynasty, material, craftsmanship, origin, value, etc. of the items.

Among the tomb robbers, those who work hard only do the hard labor, digging holes, spreading soil and moving things out.

The assistants know some tomb-robbing techniques and can determine the location of the tomb-robbing hole, guide the subordinates to dig the hole and spread the soil, supervise the subordinates to move things out of the tomb, and prevent the subordinates from hiding things.

To set up a tomb, one must have the ability to judge people, recruit suitable people, work hard to build a team, and be able to distinguish the age of the objects found in the tomb and determine their initial value.

If the stolen item is brought out by the master, after getting it, it is usually shown to the master first.

If the connoisseur sees something he likes, he will bid to buy it, then launder it and put it up for auction, sell it to a collector of high status, or smuggle it out to enter the international market.

If the connoisseur does not like the food, the chef will sell it himself.

The recipients of the sales of the supporting pots are not so high-end, and they usually go to antique dealers or small collectors in various places.

I was lost in thought as I looked at the porcelain pieces.

I always feel that the reason why these porcelains were broken is not simple.

Did the tomb robber smash it out of anger because he didn't get what he wanted?

As soon as the idea came to my mind, excitement flashed in my eyes.

Perhaps, there is a golden well in this tomb!