However, Zhuang Rui's spiritual energy can only detect the type of an object through the spiritual energy contained within the object itself. Therefore, he doesn't know what that water, which has no spiritual energy, is. All of this may only be known after the coffin is opened.
Perhaps due to the existence of sufficient anti-theft measures, the bronze coffin was opened very smoothly. After the four latches on both sides, which had remained intact for thousands of years, were pulled up, the bronze coffin could be lifted up.
Even the coffin lid was quite heavy. Professor Meng selected several strong people to stand at the four corners and work together to lift the coffin lid off the bronze coffin.
"What's this?"
Zhuang Rui was one of the four people who lifted the coffin lid. As he lifted the lid, he turned to look inside the coffin and discovered that about seven or eight centimeters from the edge of the coffin, there seemed to be a layer of watery substance that was gently swaying as the coffin was moved.
However, the water was covered in dust, making it impossible to see what the substance was. The crowd that had been waiting nearby crowded around, pushing Zhuang Rui and the other workers outside.
"Mercury, it's mercury..."
"My God, no wonder it was so heavy, the whole coffin was filled with mercury..."
"Excuse me, let me in..."
Hearing the voices coming from inside, Zhuang Rui squeezed in with all his might. He saw Professor Meng stirring something in the coffin with a wooden stick.
The dust on the surface disappeared completely as the mercury flowed, and under the refraction of the light, the bright mercury shone like a mirror, reflecting endless light.
Zhuang Rui once saw a scientific research report that mentioned mercury residue was found in a ceramic coffin in a Han Dynasty tomb in Shandong. However, the tomb had been looted, so no further clues or information were left.
Mercury, scientifically known as mercury, is recorded in many historical documents. Ancient Taoists used it to refine elixirs in pursuit of longevity. Although mercury can indeed be used medicinally to kill insects, detoxify, and treat diseases such as scabies and malignant sores, it is also extremely harmful to the body.
At least three emperors in history died from mercury poisoning. This emperor also seemed to be a believer in so-called Taoist theories, believing that his body would remain incorruptible if soaked in mercury.
Professor Meng picked up the wooden stick, and a few drops of mercury dripped back into the coffin along the stick. After a moment's thought, Professor Meng said, "There's something in the coffin, definitely the tomb's occupant. However, mercury evaporates quickly upon contact with air, and the gas is also highly toxic. Let's put the coffin lid back on..."
After Zhuang Rui and the others put the coffin lid back on, Professor Meng and several experts discussed it and decided to ask the relevant authorities for some gas masks to scoop out all the mercury.
The work could not continue, and everyone retreated back up the mountain. By the time the gas masks and related equipment arrived, it was already the next morning. ...
"Xiao Zhuang, be careful later, don't let the mercury get on your skin..."
Only eight people went down into the tomb. Besides Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren, the others were also experts in the field of archaeology in China.
After opening the coffin lid, Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren, wearing shoulder-length leather gloves, carefully scooped the mercury from inside the coffin into several buckets. This mercury would later be sent for research and analysis to verify the mercury production process from more than two thousand years ago.
To be honest, after this archaeological excavation, Zhuang Rui has become much bolder. The saying that the environment shapes a person is absolutely true. Before, he would never have dared to do anything so big inside a dead person's coffin.
As ladlefuls of flowing, silvery-white liquid were scooped out of the coffin, the objects inside the bronze coffin gradually came to light.
Chapter 901 The Emperor's Tomb
What is this?
Through the glass of the oxygen mask, Zhuang Rui saw a corpse emerge, but it was grayish-white and hard to the touch, it didn't look like a human body at all.
"Gold...gold-lined jade clothes?"
Just as Zhuang Rui was wondering about this, Professor Meng let out a cry of surprise and threw himself onto the bronze coffin. If the mercury level inside hadn't dropped, it would have splashed all over him.
"Quickly, speed up! This ancient corpse is protected by a jade burial suit, so it probably hasn't decayed yet..."
Although Professor Meng's face was obscured by the oxygen mask, his words revealed his intense excitement; he was practically ready to snatch Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren's ladles and personally clean up the mercury.
Mercury has antiseptic properties, and jade also has a preservation effect. Combining the two, it's no wonder Professor Meng made such a deduction.
The jade burial suit, also known as the "jade casket," was a burial garment worn by emperors and high-ranking nobles in the Han Dynasty. Its appearance was identical to that of the human body.
Jade burial suits were symbols of the wearer's status and rank. The jade burial suits of the emperor and some close officials were made of gold thread and were called "gold-threaded jade suits." Other nobles used silver or copper thread to make them, which were called "silver-threaded jade suits" and "copper-threaded jade suits." There are currently eighteen Western Han Dynasty tombs with jade burial suits unearthed in my country, but only eight of them contain gold-threaded jade suits. The most representative of these is the gold-threaded jade suit of Liu Sheng, the Prince of Zhongshan, unearthed from Tomb No. 1 in Mancheng, Hebei. According to the research on the relevant stone materials, this gold-threaded jade suit was made by connecting 2,498 jade pieces of varying sizes with more than 1,000 grams of gold thread. It was completed by more than 100 craftsmen over two years. The entire jade suit is exquisitely designed and meticulously crafted, making it a rare and precious artistic treasure.
When this jade burial suit was unearthed in 1968, it caused a sensation in the archaeological community at home and abroad. Countless scholars from home and abroad rushed to Hebei to conduct scientific research on this rare treasure.
The fine lines, still faintly glowing with gold, are now visible between the jade pieces exposed inside the coffin. Even a novice like Zhuang Rui, who has never handled a jade burial suit before, can easily tell that it is a jade burial suit. As the mercury inside the coffin is continuously scooped out, more of the corpse wearing the jade burial suit is revealed to everyone. At first, what is seen is his abdomen, which is bulging high, but now, his chest and feet have also been exposed.
"There's something on my head..."
Professor Meng, who had been staring intently at the jade burial suit inside the coffin, suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention. The head of the corpse that emerged from the water was gleaming with golden light; it was actually a golden mask.
Unlike the golden mask that Zhuang Rui had obtained before, this mask was not very large, only covering the nose of the corpse. However, the mask was carved with extremely intricate patterns, and the entire mask was densely covered with various patterns.
Professor Meng leaned out and tried to remove it. The rope binding the mask to the jade suit was probably rotten, and he easily took the mask off.
"A national treasure, a national treasure! It's even more exquisite than the gold mask unearthed at Sanxingdui in Hubei..."
Professor Meng seemed to want to take off his gloves and stroke the mask directly, muttering to himself as if he couldn't put it down.
After examining the mask for a while, Professor Meng looked at Zhuang Rui and said, "Zhuang, although this mask isn't as big as the one in your museum, its craftsmanship is much more exquisite..."
"Hehe, that's right, the skills of our ancestors are certainly better than those of the foreign devils..."
Zhuang Rui smiled, but after saying that, he suddenly felt a little awkward. Wasn't what he was doing now disturbing the ancestors?
"Dude, we're doing archaeology, so that we don't get dug up by tomb raiders later..."
Zhuang Rui found a reason in his mind: in fact, national archaeology is also a kind of official piracy. The only difference between it and tomb raiders is that one is used for private profit, while the other is open to the public.
"Xiao Zhuang, Xiao Ren, take all this mercury out immediately. Also, tell them to prepare the necessary tools. We need to transport this jade burial suit to the laboratory in Henan Province. We're worried about problems if it takes too long. If necessary, call in a local helicopter..."
Upon seeing the jade burial suit and gold mask unearthed, Professor Meng immediately made a decision.
To be honest, the opening of the coffin was a bit too hasty, but it was also due to the limitations of the conditions. It was simply impossible to transport such a large and heavy bronze coffin out of the tomb intact.
As soon as Professor Meng said this, everyone got busy. Protecting the jade burial suit and the body inside was the most important thing at the moment. Any unearthed artifacts in the coffin were put aside for now. After all, the things were inside and wouldn't grow legs and run away.
The state apparatus was mobilized with great efficiency. A little over half an hour later, a helicopter landed on the mountaintop and transported the people, along with their bodies, out of the mountains in a jade burial suit that had been carefully placed in a bag filled with ice.
Meanwhile, the mercury gas in the tomb had mostly dissipated thanks to the blower, and the group went back down into the tomb to begin taking inventory of the items inside the bronze coffin.
It's worth noting that more than 10 days have passed since the initial survey began and the excavation started, yet the identity of the tomb's occupant remains unclear. This has left many experts and scholars, including Professor Meng, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Although many unnamed tombs have been unearthed in China, those tombs were looted by bandits and thieves who took away all the items that could prove one's identity. However, this tomb is very well preserved. If the identity of the tomb owner cannot be verified, it would be a laughing stock among his peers.
There was originally a layer of mercury inside the bronze coffin that had not been scooped out, but the mercury, which was more than two thousand years old, quickly evaporated after being exposed to air, revealing a thick layer of burial goods inside the coffin.
"Is this a jade grip?"
Wearing gloves, Zhuang Rui pulled out a pair of jade artifacts that were entirely black, olive-shaped, round in the middle and pointed at both ends, with some patterns on them.
"This should be a jade pig..."
Zhuang Rui examined the object for a long time and recognized its shape: a long cylindrical piece with single lines carved on it, a typical example of the Han Dynasty's "eight-stroke" carving technique.
Jade grips are one of the jade funerary objects, and they have always been objects held in the hands of the deceased. The ancients believed that one should not die empty-handed, but should hold wealth and power. Pigs represent wealth, so jade grips in the Han Dynasty were basically shaped like jade pigs.
Professor Meng took the jade artifact handed over by Zhuang Rui, nodded, and said, "Yes, it's a jade grip, but you definitely won't find the jade plug here. That thing must be inside the jade burial suit..." As the cleaning work progressed, one artifact after another was taken out of the coffin. There were gold and silver products, small animal figurines representing auspicious meanings, and most of them were jade artifacts.
Jade pendants, jade ornaments, jade figurines—all sorts of jade artifacts were laid out on the white cloth on the ground. Protected by mercury, these jade artifacts looked as new as if they had been unearthed, without any trace of being excavated.
The most surprising item was a sheathed bronze short sword. The sword was no more than two fingers long, but it was extremely sharp. Zhuang Rui tried it and easily sliced through the dozens of layers of white cloth.
The bronze dagger had just been unearthed when Professor Meng wrapped it in soil from the tomb. According to him, unearthed bronze artifacts undergo a qualitative change when exposed to oxygen, so they need to be wrapped in soil from the tomb and then processed in the laboratory.
Zhuang Rui didn't know if Professor Meng's statement had any scientific basis, but when he found the Dingguang Sword, it seemed to be covered in copper rust and dirt.
"Be careful, this is pottery..."
"Wow, this jade is top-quality mutton fat jade..."
The discovery of each artifact elicited gasps of amazement from those around, including a set of sixteen colorful terracotta figurines, each no bigger than a thumb.
These terracotta figurines likely depict the emperor's imperial chefs, some cutting meat and cooking vegetables, others washing rice and steaming it. There is also a terracotta well with terracotta figures drawing water.
Although these terracotta figurines are extremely small, their facial expressions are depicted with remarkable realism and detail, making them almost like miniature versions of real people.
There were originally some brocade quilts inside the coffin, but when the mercury was scooped out, the brocade quilts were disintegrated and stuck to the inside of the coffin, forming clumps that were difficult to clean.
"What's going on? There's no seal or imperial seal?" The cleaning of the coffin was nearing completion, but the imperial seal or imperial seal that everyone was looking forward to had not appeared. Professor Meng, who had been very calm, was now getting anxious.
"No, could it be that the tomb's occupant deliberately kept his identity a secret?"
"Impossible. Burial is something done by descendants, who would definitely put their personal seal in the tomb..."
"How can it not be there? Everyone, please look carefully again..."
Professor Meng was not the only one who was anxious; the others were also quite uneasy. If the identity of the owner could not be found inside this coffin, then there would be even less chance of finding any objects in the other side chambers to prove the owner's identity.
While everyone was discussing, Zhuang Rui released the spiritual energy in his eyes and re-examined the inside of the coffin. When he saw the upper right side of the bronze coffin, his gaze stopped.
There was a large piece of decaying brocade, but Zhuang Rui sensed a very strong spiritual energy in the middle of it. Although the object inside was only the size of an infant's fist, it was filled with purple spiritual energy.
"Teacher, I found this thing, it should be the imperial seal, right?"
Zhuang Rui reached out and took the remnants of the brocade in his hand. After peeling off the rotten brocade, a lump of jade appeared in his hand.
The jade is square, with a coiled dragon carved on the top. The dragon's scales are clearly visible, and a dragon pearl is inside its head. The dragon looks very majestic. Below it is a square seal.
Zhuang Rui flipped it over and took a look. There seemed to be quite a few characters on it, but he only recognized one character, "玺" (xi).
Recognizing the character "玺" (xi) is enough; it at least indicates that this is an imperial tomb. In ancient times, the use of seals was clearly hierarchical. After the Qin Dynasty, there was a distinction between "玺" and "印" (yin). The seal used by the emperor was called "玺," while the seal used by his subjects was simply called "印."
According to Han Dynasty records, the emperor possessed six seals: the Emperor's Traveling Seal, the Emperor's Seal, the Emperor's Credential Seal, the Son of Heaven's Traveling Seal, the Son of Heaven's Seal, and the Son of Heaven's Credential Seal. Each of the six seals served a different purpose and was managed by the Director of Imperial Seals.
However, the Imperial Seal of the State is not among these six seals. This seal is used to represent legitimacy. The so-called "Son of Heaven" must possess this seal; otherwise, he can only be a chicken king rather than a true dragon emperor.
The so-called Imperial Seal of the State naturally refers to the famous He Shi Bi jade in history. After Qin conquered Zhao and obtained the He Shi Bi jade, Qin Shi Huang ordered Li Si to inscribe the eight characters "Received the Mandate of Heaven, May it last forever" on the jade. Wang Sunshou, a jade craftsman from Xianyang, meticulously polished and carved the He Shi Bi jade into a seal, and the Imperial Seal of the State was thus completed.
The Imperial Seal of the State passed through the reigns of the Eastern and Western Han, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties before finally being acquired by Yang Jian and placed in the Sui Dynasty palace. However, after the fall of the Sui Dynasty, Empress Xiao, along with her grandson Zhengdao, fled to the Northern Turks with the Imperial Seal of the State.
Later, when Li Jing campaigned against the Turks, Empress Xiao returned to the Central Plains and presented the Imperial Seal of the State to Li Shimin. However, at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the world was in chaos and heroes rose up everywhere. The last emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Congke, embraced the Imperial Seal of the State and climbed the Xuanwu Tower to mutilate himself. The Imperial Seal of the State disappeared from then on.
"Imperial Seal?"
Zhuang Rui's words drew everyone's attention to him. More than a dozen hands reached out to Zhuang Rui at the same time, which made Zhuang Rui retreat in fright. If this thing breaks, who will be responsible?
"Give it to me..."
Professor Meng also lost his composure at this moment. After taking the jade seal from Zhuang Rui, he didn't care whether there were any harmful substances on it. He took off his gloves and pressed the seal onto the back of his hand.
As Professor Meng examined the seal characters on the back of his hand, an incredulous expression suddenly appeared on his face, and he stammered, "Liu... Liu Xiu's imperial seal?"
"Liu Xiu? Wasn't the matter of Liu Xiu's tomb already settled?"
"Yes, how could that be? Liu Xiu's tomb is only a few dozen miles away..."
"Professor Meng, you must be mistaken."
As soon as Professor Meng said this, the tomb chamber erupted in chaos. Over the centuries, Liu Xiu's tomb had been identified as being located on the banks of the Yellow River, and a garden had been built around it. How could another tomb of Liu Xiu possibly appear here?
"It's real, Lao Li, Lao Song, come and look at these words, it can't be fake..."
Professor Meng could hardly believe his eyes, but the few words on the back of his hand that were gradually becoming blurred confirmed that this was Liu Xiu's imperial jade seal.