"Huh?"
Just as Zhuang Rui was about to climb the ladder, his eyes swept over the deep pit used as a trap, and he suddenly stopped.
"Teacher, there seems to be something in there..."
Zhuang Rui discovered that beneath the remains was a small bronze plaque containing a very dense concentration of spiritual energy.
Where is it?
Professor Meng looked in the direction Zhuang Rui was pointing, but didn't see it.
"I'll go down and bring it up..."
Zhuang Rui handed the flashlight to Ren Chunqiang and prepared to go down. There were gaps between the swords and spears in the trap. As long as you didn't go down sideways and step into the gaps, you wouldn't suffer the same fate as the tomb raider who was pierced through the heart.
"Xiao Zhuang, let's forget about it. That's probably something left behind by tomb raiders..."
Professor Meng didn't want Zhuang Rui to take any risks; the trap was too deep, and one wrong step could lead to him stepping on a knife's edge.
"It's alright, teacher, I'll be right up..."
As Zhuang Rui spoke, he braced his hands on the ground beside the trap and slowly lowered his body down. He touched the swords and spears with his feet, and the blades, which seemed to still be effective, immediately broke in two and fell into the deep pit.
However, the swords below, which were not yet rotten, were still powerful enough to pierce through anyone who fell into the trap. Zhuang Rui dared not be careless at all, and only let go of his hands when his feet touched solid ground.
"Brother Ren, hand me the wooden stick..."
Zhuang Rui reached out to Ren Chunqiang for a wooden stick used for scouting, and poked at the skeleton. The skeleton, except for the skull, immediately crumbled apart.
"Don't be offended, brother, don't be offended..."
Zhuang Rui was startled and quickly clasped his hands in a fist and bowed to the skeleton before reaching out with a wooden stick to push a sign under the skeleton toward him.
"Hey, that's not light at all..."
When he could reach it, Zhuang Rui bent down and took the bronze plaque, which was about the size of a baby's palm, into his hand.
Due to the erosion of time, the bronze plaque has lost its luster, is covered with patina, and has a layer of dark black substance on it.
Standing next to the dead body, Zhuang Rui felt a little uncomfortable. Without bothering to examine it closely, he put the sign in his pocket, exerted force with both hands, and climbed to the ground.
"What did you find?"
Professor Meng was also curious, as ancient tomb raiders were divided into two factions, one in the north and one in the south, and there were also official tomb raiders.
It can be said that the history of tomb raiders developed entirely at the same time as tombs, and there are also special studies on tomb raiders in the archaeological community.
The owners of tombs try every means to prevent theft, while tomb raiders rack their brains to enter the ancient tombs. The two have been fighting wits and courage for thousands of years, but judging from the tombs that have been unearthed, it seems that the tomb raiders have the upper hand.
"It's a bronze medal, teacher, take a look..."
Zhuang Rui took the bronze medal out of his pocket and handed it to Professor Meng.
"Xiao Ren, bring me some clean gauze and sandpaper..."
Professor Meng shone his flashlight on the sign but couldn't find anything. However, when he ran his thumb across it, he felt that it was uneven, as if there were embossed characters.
Taking the water from Ren Chunqiang, Professor Meng first cleaned the bronze plate, then carefully polished its surface with fine sandpaper. The patina was quickly wiped away, revealing a yellow hue.
After wiping away the patina, Professor Meng vigorously rubbed it with gauze. The color indicated that it was a brass plaque.
Professor Meng spread the cleaned bronze plaque out in his palm. Zhuang Rui, who was standing to the side, saw that on the surface of the bronze plaque was a mountain shrouded in mist, with a river flowing through its base.
Professor Meng flipped his hand, revealing the other side of the bronze plaque. There should have been two characters on it, but Zhuang Rui was standing at the wrong angle and couldn't make out what they said.
Before Zhuang Rui could even ask, Professor Meng had already uttered the words "sifting sand."
"Sand washing? Teacher, what is that?"
Zhuang Rui originally thought it was Cao Cao's tomb raider's token, but he didn't expect to hear two unfamiliar words.
"Hehe, this is also an official position. This trip was worthwhile. It turns out that the sand-panning officials recorded in history really existed..."
Professor Meng laughed upon hearing this, and seeing Zhuang Rui's puzzled expression, continued, "In ancient times, it wasn't just Cao Cao's officials who were bandits. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty occupied the Central Plains and once supported a puppet emperor named Liu Yu, whose state was called the Great Qi..."
Everyone, including Dr. Ren and others behind him, listened quietly as Professor Meng explained this period of history. It turned out that Liu Yu was originally a prefect of the Southern Song Dynasty. After surrendering to the Jin Dynasty, he was made the ruler of the Great Qi Kingdom.
Although the Great Qi regime was a makeshift organization, it still needed fiscal revenue as its starting capital. Unfortunately, the areas under the jurisdiction of the puppet Qi regime had been repeatedly plundered and ravaged by the Jin army, leaving nine out of ten houses empty and agriculture and commerce severely damaged. As a result, taxes could not be collected much, and the puppet Qi regime was temporarily destitute.
At the same time, the Jin dynasty, which controlled the puppet state of Qi, also faced a problem: was being too rich a problem? Indeed, whether the Jin dynasty plundered the Northern Song or demanded tribute from the Southern Song, it was always in gold and silver.
The problem lies with gold and silver. Unlike the West, China does not produce much silver and gold. Since the pre-Qin period, China has used copper as currency, which is the copper standard monetary system.
Therefore, although the Jin Dynasty possessed vast wealth, it could not exchange goods for gold and silver with the Southern Song Dynasty.
Since the pseudo-Qi Liu Yu had neither copper coins nor gold and silver precious metal currency, this man, who had a habit of stealing since childhood, thought of tomb raiding as a way out.
As a result, Liu Yu established an official tomb-raiding agency called "Taosha Guan" (meaning "Official of Sand Searching"). They first looted the imperial tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty. Taking this as an example, in order to alleviate the shortage of military funds, Liu Yu's army also began to follow suit and loot ancient tombs on their own.
However, Liu Yu's activities were always confined to the present-day Shandong Province. The fact that a "sand-scouring official" has now been discovered in Henan Province adds substantial evidence to the study of the pseudo-Qi regime of that time.
What puzzled Professor Meng was that official tomb raiders always resorted to violent methods, so why did this official who was digging for sand die here, and why were there no signs of looting around? Could it be that Liu Yu had a change of heart and left?
There are simply too many mysteries left over from ancient times. Professor Meng pondered for a long time but still couldn't figure them out. In the end, he could only shake his head and put the bronze plaque away.
The tomb passage was over twenty meters long. After passing this trap, there was another one ahead, but the wooden planks on top had long since rotted away, rendering the trap ineffective and allowing everyone to easily escape.
"Teacher, this... should be the Dragon-Slaying Stone, right?"
At the end of the passageway, a huge horizontal rock blocked their way.
Chapter 895 Yellow Intestine Coffin (Part 1)
"It's not a dragon-severing stone. Dragon-severing stones are usually placed at the entrance of the tomb. After the burial is completed, someone will put down the dragon-severing stone. Once it falls, the tomb door closes, and the living and the dead are separated..."
Professor Meng examined the horizontal stone in front of him, repeatedly striking it with a hammer. After a while, he said, "Xiao Ren, Xiao Zhuang, let's go back and get the chisels to break through this stone..."
"Break through...?"
Dr. Ren was startled and stammered, "Teacher, instead of drilling through this rock, why don't we dig it out from the side? Judging from the thickness of this rock, it must be several meters thick!"
It's true that the archaeological team needs to dig soil, but breaking through the mountain and breaking rocks is indeed a difficult task for these scholars. Breaking through such a large rock will probably take three to five days.
Professor Meng shook his head and said, "No, the integrity of the tunnel cannot be damaged. How about this, let's go back today, and I'll have someone find a manual rock crusher. It can be cleared in a day..."
According to Professor Meng's idea, after the ancient tomb is excavated, it can be handed over to the local archaeological department as a model of a large Han Dynasty tomb and can also be developed into a tourist attraction. If the passageway is destroyed, where will we find these Han Dynasty bricks to fill it in the future?
Blocked by the boulder, the day's work could not continue. The group could only return to the mountain in a sorry state, taking with them the day's findings, and head back to Zhang Daniu's house.
Apart from the "Taosha" plaque, Professor Meng handed over all the unearthed artifacts to the local archaeological department to take back. As for the bronze plaque, Professor Meng wanted to conduct some further research on it, so after registering it, he kept it.
The next day, the local cultural relics department brought in a stone crusher. After re-entering the tomb passage, Zhuang Rui used the stone crusher to drill holes in different positions on the horizontal stone, and then used a chisel to carve it out.
The group worked for a whole day to break apart the massive stone, which weighed over several thousand kilograms, revealing the tomb entrance inside.
The tomb gate is about two meters high and consists of two doors carved from a single piece of white marble. One door is carved with a dragon soaring through the sky, while the other door depicts a phoenix flying. These two mythical creatures from ancient China are vividly portrayed on the stone doors.
Professor Meng was visibly excited upon seeing the stone gate. He stroked the smooth, jade-like white marble with his hand, muttering to himself, "Unbelievable, unbelievable! This is a major discovery for the archaeological community..."
"Teacher, it's perfectly normal to use white marble for tomb doors..."
Zhuang Rui was quite puzzled by Professor Meng's emotions. He had visited the Ming Tombs before, and the tomb gate in the underground palace was made of white marble, as were many other buildings in the underground palace.
“Xiao Zhuang, you…sigh, you should look at more information about unearthed tombs in the future…”
Professor Meng was getting excited when he was interrupted by his disciple Zhuang Rui. He pointed at Zhuang Rui with a look of exasperation and continued, "Hanbaishi is also called Hanbaiyu. According to historical records, the mining of Hanbaishi took place around the time of the Nanzhao Kingdom in the Tang Dynasty. This Han Dynasty tomb is at least two thousand years old. Do you understand?"
Professor Meng's words made Zhuang Rui suddenly realize that the Tang Dynasty was only a little over a thousand years ago. The discovery of this stone gate pushed back the history of the use of white marble in China by quite a bit, which is indeed a major archaeological discovery.
Seeing Professor Meng peering through the cracks in the white marble door, Zhuang Rui stepped forward and said, "Professor, there shouldn't be any traps or hidden weapons behind this tomb door, right?"
Zhuang Rui had already sensed it with his spiritual energy. There were no stone blocks blocking the door in the groove behind the stone door, and there were no mechanisms on either side of the stone door.
However, in the tomb chamber behind the stone gate, Zhuang Rui sensed a very strong and rich spiritual energy, which is why he spoke up. In fact, Zhuang Rui wanted to see what was inside as soon as possible.
"That's hard to say..."
After observing the white marble door for a while, Professor Meng said, "This stone door should be able to be pushed open directly. Xiao Zhuang, you're strong, stay here and push the door. Remember, after you push the door open, hold your breath and step back. Everyone else, step back a bit. Let the air circulate after the tomb door opens before going in..."
Because the tomb chambers are sealed for many years, some toxic gases will form inside. In ancient times, many tomb raiders would rush into the tomb chambers after breaking through them, but they would often die from suffocation caused by the poisonous gases.
Moreover, some toxins are not transmitted through the air; after they come into contact with people, they can also cause some previously unseen diseases.
The widely circulated story about those who died mysteriously upon first entering the Egyptian pyramids was that they were cursed by the pharaoh, and that the pharaoh's ghost took their lives.
In fact, after autopsies and examinations of the deceased, it was found that they were all infected with an unknown virus, which was very likely caused by the pyramids being sealed for many years.
Most of the ancient tombs that Professor Meng had excavated in the past had been looted ten or twenty times, and the air had long been circulating, so he could directly enter the tomb chamber.
However, it seems that this tomb has not been opened yet, and no one knows what is inside. That is why Professor Meng was so careful and repeatedly reminded Zhuang Rui before leading everyone to retreat.
After Professor Meng and the others retreated to the first tomb chamber, Zhuang Rui looked at the pristine white stone door and took a deep breath. Behind this stone door lay an unknown world, a world that had driven countless tomb raiders mad throughout history.
Zhuang Rui braced his hands on the animal heads of the stone door and pushed hard. With a "click," the two stone doors, carved with dragons and phoenixes, slowly opened inward. It was hard to believe that the tomb doors, which had not been opened for more than two thousand years, could still be so flexible.
As he pushed open the stone door, Zhuang Rui stepped back. As he left, he could only see what appeared to be an altar in the center of the tomb chamber by the dim light, but he did not see the coffin he had imagined.
After crawling and scrambling across the trap, Zhuang Rui couldn't hold his breath any longer. He opened his mouth and took a breath of air, and to his surprise, the air seemed to contain a faint, fresh scent of trees.
"Damn, could it be poisoning?"
Zhuang Rui was startled. In martial arts novels, the more potent the poison, the more beautiful it is. For example, poison like arsenic is fatal and incurable.
With a mix of trepidation and anticipation, Zhuang Rui arrived at the first tomb chamber and exclaimed, "Teacher, hurry back out! There's a very strange smell inside; I suspect it's poison gas..."
No matter what, he himself has spiritual energy protecting him, so he might not be afraid of this gas. However, it's hard to say about the teacher and the others. If all of them collapse in the ancient tomb today, it will definitely shock the entire Chinese archaeological community tomorrow.
"A strange taste?"
Professor Meng paused for a moment, but didn't move. He then asked, "What's that smell? A putrid smell or something else?"
Zhuang Rui shook his head upon hearing this and said, "It's not a stench of decay, but rather a pleasant fragrance. Right, it smells a bit like the fresh scent of trees. Teacher, let's go back out first. Who knows where this smell comes from in a place where people are buried..."
"A light, pleasant fragrance?"
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Professor Meng's eyes suddenly widened. Instead of moving backward, he walked towards the tomb passage, sniffing the air as if trying to smell the scent Zhuang Rui had described.
"Senior brother, please persuade the teacher! Hey, I'm telling you, you should..."
Zhuang Rui was taken aback when he saw Professor Meng's actions. He quickly asked Dr. Ren to persuade his mentor, only to find that Ren Chunqiang was walking towards the passageway just like Professor Meng.
"Haha, hahaha, Xiao Zhuang, this is incredible! We've discovered an amazing Han Dynasty tomb..."
Just as Zhuang Rui was feeling somewhat bewildered, Professor Meng suddenly burst into laughter, his hearty laughter echoing through the tomb passage for a long time.