Zhuang Rui sensed through his spiritual energy that the space filled with objects of varying lengths were mostly strip-shaped items, and also some round objects slightly smaller than balls.
"It's round, with two holes on top and one hole in the middle. What is this thing?"
Zhuang Rui was muttering something incoherently while gesturing with his hands in front of him. Suddenly, his expression froze, and he sprang up from the ground.
"Damn it, aren't these dead people's remains?"
In an instant, Zhuang Rui felt his scalp tingle, a chill ran down his spine and straight to his head, goosebumps rose all over his body, and he could no longer control the spiritual energy in his eyes, which poured back into his eyes like mercury from the ground.
"That area, spanning several hundred meters in radius, was filled with dead bodies. There must have been at least a thousand people inside. It must be a burial pit..."
For archaeologists, human sacrifice is not uncommon. Zhuang Rui had seen several human remains in Liu Xiu's tomb before, but the burial pit with thousands of people that he sensed just now still made him feel a chill down his spine.
The gentle rustling of the grass, which had been so soft, now sounded eerie to Zhuang Rui, as if countless ghosts were reaching out their hands to tell him something.
"Damn it, I'm not afraid of living people, why would I be afraid of you ancient ghosts?"
Zhuang Rui scratched his head and shouted loudly at the surroundings, but his slightly trembling legs indicated that this guy was a typical case of bluster on the surface but cowardice underneath.
Chapter 1156 The Golden House
Zhuang Rui had been to tombs dating back more than two thousand years. At the Peking University Archaeological Institute, he faced human skulls every day. Judging by that, he was quite brave and at the very least a staunch atheist.
However, what Zhuang Rui had just witnessed still sent chills down his spine. His hair stood on end, and his scalp tingled. Even in broad daylight, he felt a chill creeping up on him.
Although Zhuang Rui knew perfectly well that many things in this world were just self-inflicted scares, he still didn't have the courage to continue surveying the underground situation. Instead, he left the tall grass and headed towards a slightly higher hill.
"Damn it, no wonder Mongolians believe in Buddhism. It's because they've killed so many people that they seek peace of mind from Buddha."
Feeling the direct sunlight overhead, Zhuang Rui's mind calmed down a little. However, his thoughts were somewhat extreme. When the Yuan Dynasty was at its peak, how many millions of people were killed? Compared to that, the underground burial pits were simply insignificant.
After calming down, Zhuang Rui began to recall what he had just witnessed. In fact, human sacrifice was not uncommon in some ancient tombs. Sometimes, the deceased's wives, concubines, and servants were buried with him. In the tombs of male and female nobles in the Shang Dynasty, there were a large number of human sacrifices.
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of 164 sacrificial victims in the Houjiazhuang Shang Dynasty tomb at Yinxu, 16 sacrificial victims in the tomb of Queen Fu Hao, and 21 sacrificial victims in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, all of whom were young women.
As for King You of Zhou, who lost his kingdom due to his fondness for playing with the feudal lords by lighting beacon fires, his tomb contained more than a hundred corpses, only one of which was male. The rest were all female, his concubines and beauties, who were buried alive with him.
However, the practice of burying living people with the dead was a cruel and barbaric system in any dynasty. After the Qin and Han dynasties, it became somewhat restrained, and wooden or terracotta figurines were often used instead. After the Qin and Han dynasties, it was rare for people to be buried alive with the dead.
However, the practice of human sacrifice revived in the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Taizu of Ming set the precedent, and it continued during the reigns of Emperors Huang Taiji and Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty. It was not until the Kangxi era that the feudal practice of human sacrifice was finally ended.
These are all existing historical records. However, the history of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty is rarely recorded in historical books. To this day, not even a single tomb of a Yuan Dynasty emperor has been discovered, let alone whether we know that the Yuan Dynasty had a system of funerary sacrifice.
However, in this tomb whose owner is still unknown, thousands of skeletons were discovered in the outer perimeter alone, which is unprecedented among known large tombs throughout history, and Zhuang Rui had never heard of such a thing before.
"The piles of bones in the pit suggest that the dead were killed first and then dumped inside. These dead people were probably the craftsmen who dug the tomb. Killing them before burying them was also to prevent them from becoming familiar with the tomb and having an escape route..."
Zhuang Rui suddenly recalled the results of his survey earlier. There was no spiritual energy in that space, which meant that this tunnel was not used for human sacrifice, but rather to bury the craftsmen who dug the tomb.
It's important to understand that most human sacrifices were the concubines and lovers of ancient emperors. The soldiers who supervised the tombs would never dare to disrespect those women, and they would also have some personal ornaments, so it's impossible for them to be completely devoid of spiritual energy.
The burial pit that Zhuang Rui discovered was clearly filled with people who had been stripped naked and thrown in, making their identities obvious.
Ninety percent of these people are likely the craftsmen who built this tomb.
In ancient times, the craftsmen who built the tombs for emperors were a very special group of people. They had a very low social status and were mostly composed of slaves and convicts.
Generally speaking, the emperor would begin constructing his mausoleum in the second year after his ascension to the throne. The construction could take decades or as little as a few years, and this period of time was a reflection of the lives of these craftsmen.
For the sake of secrecy surrounding the tombs, the final fate of all the craftsmen who participated in the construction of the emperor's tombs was death. Since the tombs themselves were built by these craftsmen, in order to prevent them from damaging the emperor's coffin or leaving a way out, these craftsmen were often killed before being buried.
After Qin Shi Huang's death, Qin Er Shi issued an order that all the concubines and maids in the harem should be buried alive with him. In addition, the number of artisans in Lishan at that time reached as high as 10,000.
Since the discovery of the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang in the last century, numerous mass graves of hundreds and thousands of people have been found around Mount Li, and this is the reason why.
"No, we must find this tomb and see who has such a grand scheme to undertake this!"
After figuring out the key points, Zhuang Rui made a decision in his heart, and his panic from before lessened considerably. These craftsmen were like cattle and sheep, slaughtered at will in life. Could it be that their tempers had become bigger after death, and they could still come to disturb him?
Thinking of this, Zhuang Rui took a deep breath, but this time he didn't close his eyes. Instead, he opened them wide and released his spiritual energy. The room full of corpses on the ground was really too creepy. Opening his eyes and seeing the sunlight made Zhuang Rui feel a little more at ease.
After the spiritual energy entered the underground, it quickly arrived at the tomb passage filled with the bones of the dead. Zhuang Rui had no intention of exploring at this moment, so he quickly skipped over it and continued to investigate.
"Damn it, is this never going to end? And it's about dead people?"
Behind this pit where artisans were buried alive, there was another space, nearly 100 square meters in length and width, where Zhuang Rui also discovered some human remains.
However, compared to the previous burial pit, there were far fewer dead people here, only a dozen or so. Moreover, Zhuang Rui also found some objects containing spiritual energy next to the remains and on the walls around the tomb.
"She must have been a concubine who was buried alive with the emperor..."
Enveloping the small objects in spiritual energy, Zhuang Rui sensed from their shapes that they were likely gold, silver, and jade ornaments. As for the objects on the wall that contained spiritual energy, they were exquisitely crafted ever-burning lamps.
"This should be the main burial chamber, right?"
Upon reaching this point, Zhuang Rui felt a surge of excitement. The spiderweb-like underground labyrinth, the massive underground tunnels, and the horrific burial pits all indicated that the tomb's occupant was no ordinary person.
Even though Zhuang Rui couldn't reveal the secret in his eyes or excavate the tomb, the identity of the tomb's owner still held immense appeal for him.
"This...this..."
When Zhuang Rui entered the next tomb chamber through the spiritual energy in his eyes, he immediately felt a dazzling light before his eyes. The tomb chamber was filled with rich spiritual energy, which soothed Zhuang Rui's eyes and made them feel very comfortable.
"What a grand gesture..."
Zhuang Rui was no stranger to this kind of spiritual energy. He had felt it before when he was in Myanmar. It was the spiritual energy produced by gold. However, in this tomb chamber, which covered an area of over a hundred square meters, the entire structure was made of gold.
The ceiling, the walls, and the floor were all paved with gold bricks. On either side of this golden tomb, there were long weapon racks, and the swords, axes, and halberds on them were all made of gold.
"Damn, it's solid..."
In the center of the golden tomb chamber were four golden horses, each the same size as a real horse. The carriage that followed was also made of pure gold. Zhuang Rui sensed it with his spiritual energy and realized that the horses were not hollow, but were made entirely of pure gold.
"Damn it, no wonder they're called the Golden Family. So they've been using all the gold they've plundered from around the world here?"
Zhuang Rui was increasingly alarmed as he looked at the gold. His usually strong heart pounded incessantly. Compared to the gold he had obtained in Myanmar, it was nothing more than a drop in the ocean.
Zhuang Rui simply couldn't estimate the value of this room full of gold. It probably couldn't even compare to the gold reserves that Chiang Kai-shek brought to Taiwan in 1949.
Zhuang Rui is now quite certain that this large tomb is undoubtedly a Yuan Dynasty tomb.
Putting aside everything else, apart from that dynasty that expanded and plundered wildly on horseback, probably no other dynasty would have been willing to spend so much gold to build a military armory.
Only the Yuan Dynasty, which once drank from the Danube River and established its royal camp on European soil, could have such a grand scale and such wealth.
Who says you can't take your wealth with you when you die? At least this emperor in the tomb succeeded in doing so.
If this tomb is destined to be unearthed, then this gold, enough to drive any nation mad, may still remain here hundreds or thousands of years from now.
"If this place could be unearthed, it would probably cause a bigger sensation than opening the pyramids. If the government knew that such a large amount of wealth was hidden underground, it would probably be tempted, right?"
As Zhuang Rui sensed the spiritual energy within the underground golden house, his mind was filled with countless thoughts. His original intention was to reveal this wonder, which could be considered the greatest in the history of world archaeology, to the world. However, in doing so, Zhuang Rui would have to expose the secret he was looking at.
"Dude, I'm only thirty this year. I haven't even had two years of a comfortable life with my wife and kids. I don't want to become a guinea pig so soon..."
After thinking it over, Zhuang Rui made a decision. Since the things he dug up weren't going to be his anyway, there was no need to lose everything and end up getting himself killed.
"After my buddy dies, he'll write this place into his memoirs. Whether the government is willing to dig it up or not is none of our business..."
Zhuang Rui comforted himself with an excuse and reluctantly looked away from the golden house. He needed to determine the owner of this great tomb. He couldn't very well write "anonymous" in his memoirs later, could he?
Chapter 1157 Burial Goods That Wealth Enough to Rival a Nation
"Damn it, this...this is all gold..."
When Zhuang Rui's spiritual energy entered another tomb chamber, he was astonished to find that it was also a golden chamber. Large blocks of gold bricks were laid on the floor and walls, and the surfaces of the gold bricks were inlaid with exquisite patterns, emitting a dazzling and moving light.
However, apart from the gold floor and walls, the other items in this tomb were relatively normal. Thick Persian carpets were laid on the floor, and several powerful bows hung on the gold walls.
On the weapon rack near the wall were several weapons, including spears, axes, and Persian scimitars. Although a thousand years had passed, Zhuang Rui could still faintly sense the sharp blades through his spiritual energy.
"Damn it, finally we see the coffin..."
Elsewhere in the tomb chamber, there were also some wine cups and vessels made of gold and silver. If it weren't for the two coffins placed side by side in the center of the tomb chamber, the whole tomb chamber would have given people the feeling of a Mongolian yurt, and it would have been as if the owner had just left not long ago.
Seeing the coffin appear in the spiritual energy, Zhuang Rui breathed a sigh of relief.
If no coffin appears, Zhuang Rui will begin to suspect that this place is merely a treasure room rather than a tomb, because the wealth stored here is simply too vast.
"It's still gold. I doubt that gold coins were even in circulation during the Yuan Dynasty."
After a cursory inspection of the two coffins, Zhuang Rui discovered that the outer coffin was also made of gold. This left Zhuang Rui, who prided himself on having seen many grand occasions, speechless with astonishment. It turned out that the gold he had seen before was nothing compared to the gold here.
A coffin is a container for holding a corpse, while a coffin is an outer coffin placed over the main coffin. Coffin is a general term, and the use of a coffin indicates the deceased's status.
A coffin made entirely of gold has never been discovered in China before. Only Egypt once unearthed a gold mummy coffin, which shocked the world at the time. However, that coffin only partially used gold and was mixed with some other materials.
Through these two golden coffins, Zhuang Rui could imagine how powerful the Mongol Empire was at that time, conquering the Western Liao, the Western Xia, subjugating Tibet, destroying Dali, and finally destroying the Song Dynasty.
In its westward expansion into Central Asia, including Khwarazm (present-day Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan), the Mongol conquests extended as far as the Volga River basin in Eastern Europe. Countries such as Sikkim, Bhutan, Kashmir, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and North Korea trembled under the Mongol cavalry.
However, not many cultural relics from the Yuan Dynasty survived to the present day, especially gold and silver items, which has puzzled many historians, as many of the countries conquered at that time were rich in gold.
Therefore, there has always been a speculation in the historical community that the spoils of war from the Yuan Dynasty's conquests were taken into the tombs by the emperors. This is the main reason why countless explorers and tomb raiders have been tirelessly pursuing Yuan Dynasty tombs for thousands of years.
Zhuang Rui had always disagreed with this viewpoint. He believed that the amount of gold mined in ancient times was extremely small, and after continuous consumption and diversion over the centuries, quite a lot had survived to this day. But now, he realized that he was completely wrong.
Although the exact weight of all this gold cannot be determined, and the amount of gold reserves in the national treasury is unknown, Zhuang Rui can assert that such a large sum of gold is something the central government could not produce even if it emptied its coffers.
"This tomb probably belongs to either Temujin or Kublai Khan; only these two could have such a grand scale..."
After marveling at it in his heart, Zhuang Rui turned his gaze back to the coffin. It was a Yuan Dynasty emperor's tomb, that was a certainty. However, the identity of the tomb's occupant still needed to be investigated by Zhuang Rui.
The golden coffin wasn't very thick. After the spiritual energy passed through the coffin, which contained a rich concentration of spiritual energy, streams of spiritual energy several times stronger than that of the golden coffin instantly merged with the spiritual energy in Zhuang Rui's eyes.
In the interlayer between the golden coffin and the main coffin, countless gold and silver jewels were piled up. The dense spiritual energy crowded in this small space, as if giving Zhuang Rui an eye massage, so soothing that Zhuang Rui almost groaned out in comfort.
Since all the objects were piled together, Zhuang Rui couldn't accurately sense their shapes. After lingering there for a while, he continued to peer into the coffin inside.
The entire coffin was perfectly preserved, without any signs of decay. The coffin itself also emitted a faint spiritual energy, indicating that it was made of excellent materials. After penetrating the coffin, which was an inch thick, the spiritual energy in Zhuang Rui's eyes finally entered the coffin.
Zhuang Rui ignored the rich burial goods inside the coffin and instead used his spiritual energy to examine the skeleton inside. After a few minutes, he came to a conclusion.
"Huh? This...is a woman?"
Archaeology is a very broad discipline, and understanding human anatomy is also very important. Through his examination of the bones and pelvis inside the coffin, Zhuang Rui discovered that it was the skeleton of a woman.
"It must be the person closest to the emperor buried in this tomb..."
Zhuang Rui pondered for a moment, then withdrew his spiritual energy from the coffin and entered another coffin. There were only two coffins in this room, so one of them must be the tomb's owner.