Zhuang Rui curled his lip upon hearing this. It was luck to encounter such a thing once, how could it happen again and again? Judging from the envious and jealous looks in the eyes of those businessmen afterward, Zhuang Rui could tell that in the domestic business world, probably no one would be willing to gamble on stones with him again in the future.
"By the way, Fourth Brother, you need to keep a close eye on that money. It's all owed to me now. I saw those guys slipping away so quickly, are they planning to run away?"
The money Zhuang Rui mentioned was the gambling money that Boss Wang and others lost. Since they didn't have that much cash on hand, even including the more than 100 million yuan they gambled today, they only managed to scrape together a little over 200 million yuan. All of this money was put into Ouyang Jun's pocket under the pretext of needing it for business turnover.
As for Zhuang Rui's share, it would take a week to gather the money. After giving Ouyang Jun an IOU, President Wang and the others didn't care that they were the ones who organized the event and left everyone behind in a hurry. Therefore, Zhuang Rui was very suspicious that these guys might have decided to run away instead of making a move.
"Look at you, all greedy. You won't get a penny less, unless those guys decide they don't want to stay in this country anymore..."
Ouyang Jun was dismissive of Zhuang Rui's words. In Beijing, only the Fourth Young Master Ouyang could fool others; no one had ever managed to make him lose face. He held the IOUs of those people in his hands, and even if he couldn't get the money, he could still seize their assets.
Just as Ouyang Jun had expected, Wang and his group, whether through bank loans or high-interest loans, transferred the money to Ouyang Jun's account within three days. As a result, the first Beijing Stone Gambling Club came to an abrupt end.
However, many of the business owners who participated in the jade gambling that day entered the jade gambling circle through other channels. It wasn't until they became insiders that they learned of Zhuang Rui's reputation. After those people spread the word, Zhuang Rui's reputation in the jade gambling circle had already surpassed that of Old Master Tang. Of course, that's a story for later. ...
As May 2009 arrived, the weather in Beijing gradually warmed up, and Zhuang Rui's family moved to a manor on the outskirts of Beijing. This excited the two little ones who refused to go to kindergarten, and they spent their days running wild in the manor with Jin Gang.
Zhuang Rui, who was initially worried that his children's inability to get along with their peers would cause psychological problems, simply stopped worrying when he saw how happy Fang Fang and Yuan Yuan were. He figured that children's childhood should be carefree, and it was only by forcing things on them that they would have a negative impact on their childhood.
"Honey, how long will you be gone this time?"
Even after being married to Zhuang Rui for several years, Qin Xuanbing is still somewhat shy, and she can only call him "husband" when they are alone.
However, Qin Xuanbing has risen to fame in the jewelry design world. Several pieces of jewelry she designed have won awards in international jewelry competitions. Although she is not as well-known as Zhuang Rui in the antique and jade industry, she is still an internationally recognized jewelry designer.
"It's hard to say. If everything goes smoothly, it should take about a month. But if we encounter difficulties, it could take three to five months..."
Sitting on a beach chair, watching his children playing with the golden lion in the distance, Zhuang Rui didn't want to go out for archaeological work. However, this was something that had been planned before the new year, and he had already put it off for several months.
Of course, Zhuang Rui didn't do nothing during these past few months. He consulted many historical records and gained a detailed understanding of the tombs distributed in Gansu, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
Compared to Shaanxi and Henan, which were strategically important locations and the former capitals of six dynasties, the tombs in Gansu, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia are not well-known. Although many tombs with exquisite burial objects have been found there, these places have fewer historical figures and their influence is far less than that of the provinces in the Central Plains.
However, it is undeniable that compared to the ancient tombs in the provinces with a long history of tomb raiding, which are rampant with tomb robbers, the ancient tombs in Gansu, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are relatively well preserved and have greater excavation value. Therefore, Zhuang Rui has always focused his archaeological efforts on these places.
"What are you thinking? It's not like I'm stopping you from going..."
Qin Xuanbing stretched out her hand and waved it reproachfully in front of Zhuang Rui. Although Zhuang Rui always complained about wanting a wife, children, and a warm bed, she could tell that her husband had an adventurous nature. If he didn't go out for a while, he seemed to have lost his soul.
"Um... I was thinking, should I retire before I'm thirty-five...?"
Zhuang Rui smiled sheepishly. Collecting things is similar to smoking opium; both can be addictive. Archaeology is the same. As an archaeologist, if he knows of a place where there might be an undiscovered ancient tomb, he will be eager to go and explore it.
Zhuang Rui initially studied archaeology to enrich his knowledge of collecting. However, the deeper he went, the more he felt the thrill of excavating history and recreating millennia-old civilizations in the archaeological process, which had a tremendous attraction for him.
This led Zhuang Rui to become completely engrossed in archaeology. After completing his master's degree, he went on to pursue a doctorate, demonstrating his deep interest in the field. Zhuang Rui set a goal for himself: to excavate the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in his lifetime and recreate the true Eighth Wonder of the World.
Of course, due to technical and other reasons, this is just Zhuang Rui's dream at present. As a newcomer to field archaeology, although he participated in the excavation of Liu Xiu's tomb in Mangshan, Henan, he did not lead the excavation. What Zhuang Rui needs most right now is to practice through on-site excavation.
These days, being good at studying is not as good as being good-looking, being good-looking is not as good as marrying well, and having a good father is not as good as having your own abilities. Although schools are places for teaching and nurturing people, they cannot avoid personal relationships. As a student of Professor Meng, a leading figure in the field of archaeology in China, Zhuang Rui has gained all the advantages.
Professor Meng put in a lot of effort and smoothed things over for this field archaeology project. Not only was Zhuang Rui in charge of the entire field investigation and excavation, but Dr. Ren was also sent to assist Zhuang Rui. Moreover, once Zhuang Rui identified the tomb, Professor Meng would handle all the subsequent excavation application work.
Therefore, Zhuang Rui was determined to discover a miracle that would shock the world. However, with such ambition came greater difficulty. Zhuang Rui was worried because, apart from the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, he seemed unable to find any other imperial tombs with a greater influence.
After researching the information on the tombs of historical figures from various places, Zhuang Rui was a little frustrated. Most of the famous ones had been looted, and Zhuang Rui didn't bother to excavate the lesser-known ones. Now he could only hope to find some clues on the grasslands, but this was too far-fetched, and Zhuang Rui didn't tell anyone about it.
"Forget it, you look so distracted, you've probably been wanting to leave for ages, haven't you? Alright, everything's packed for you. Peng Fei will be leaving with you tomorrow, but... honey, promise me you won't get into any danger..."
Qin Xuanbing looked at Zhuang Rui with some worry. The art market had been booming in recent years, and when she was bored, she saw a book online called "Ghost Blows Out the Light," which was full of strange and bizarre things about ancient tombs. Hong Kong people are very superstitious, and the contents of the book really frightened Qin Xuanbing.
"Haha, how about I bring a cartload of black donkey hooves?"
Zhuang Rui had also read the book and couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. In fact, modern science can explain all the inexplicable things in tombs. For example, the "Ghost Blows Out the Light" theory is just a phenomenon of objects spontaneously combusting after the air circulates in a sealed ancient tomb. There's not much mystery to it.
Furthermore, people like Professor Meng have excavated countless ancient tombs and have never seen any zombies or similar creatures. Those things only exist in novels, and real archaeological professionals are not troubled by these issues.
"Alright, this is a talisman I got from the temple. You must wear it..."
Qin Xuanbing ignored Zhuang Rui's nonsense, took out a black obsidian bracelet from her pocket, and put it on Zhuang Rui's left hand. Although obsidian is not very valuable, it is known as "Black Diamond Warrior" and is extremely effective in warding off evil. Among the Buddhist artifacts in ancient China, there are quite a few obsidian sacred objects or Buddha statues related to warding off evil or protecting the home.
"Thank you. It must have taken your parents a lot of effort to make this bracelet."
Zhuang Rui immediately recognized that the bracelet Qin Xuanbing had found was made entirely of obsidian, with a glossy black color similar to raven bloodstone. It was the only type of obsidian that reached gem-quality, with an extremely fine texture, making it a rare and precious item. If this were in a temple, it would definitely be considered a ritual object.
Chapter 1083 Grand Funeral
"Senior brother, history books say that Chinese tombs originated in the Central Plains, and it's true. Just by traversing Henan Province, you can find tombs from the Yangshao culture to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Who knows how many ancient civilizations are still buried underground..."
The three vehicles drove out of Henan and into Shaanxi. Zhuang Rui, sitting in the lead car, was chatting with Dr. Ren. For this field archaeological expedition, Zhuang Rui had provided two vehicles himself, and there was also a van from the Peking University Archaeological Institute to carry excavation tools and other supplies.
A week ago, Zhuang Rui, along with Dr. Ren and three graduate students from Peking University, set off from Beijing, passing through Hebei and entering Henan.
Unlike their previous visits to Henan, this time Zhuang Rui and his group hardly entered any cities, spending almost all their time in the wild. Zhuang Rui left his footprints in both excavated historical tombs and places suspected of having burial sites.
"In fact, many of the antique treasures that have survived to this day were originally funerary objects, what we call mingqi (funerary objects). If it weren't for the burial system, many of these objects probably wouldn't have been made. Zhuang Rui, there are many similarities here. Learning more about the origins of Chinese tombs will greatly benefit your collecting..."
When Dr. Ren was pursuing his doctorate, his main research focus was on the origin and development of Chinese tombs. He had an excellent understanding of the periods in which various tombs existed and the social structures of those times.
Almost every place they went, Dr. Ren could explain to Zhuang Rui what kind of people lived there many years ago, from thousands of years ago to the late Qing Dynasty. There was no place that Dr. Ren did not know.
This filled Zhuang Rui with admiration, and he was also secretly grateful to his teacher, Professor Meng. He knew that this was a special arrangement by his teacher to have his knowledgeable and remarkably well-remembered senior brother assist him in order to make his first excavation activity even more successful.
The reason Zhuang Rui stayed in Henan for a week was because he wanted to systematically understand the origin of Chinese burial. In practice, Zhuang Rui gained far more than he could from books and classrooms. Through on-site investigations of different tombs, he has formed a relatively systematic understanding of China's thousands of years of burial culture.
China is predominantly populated by the Han Chinese, who were formerly known as the Huaxia people. The Huaxia people originated from the Yanhuang tribe in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River more than 5,000 years ago, hence we call ourselves "descendants of Yanhuang". The Han people have always practiced burial, a tradition related to agricultural geography and culture. The Han people rose to prominence in the Central Plains, where the land was fertile, and they regarded the land as the foundation of life. The saying "Heaven is the father, earth is the mother" and the saying in the Book of Changes, "Heaven covers everything, earth carries everything," were understood by the ancients as the land having the function of "giving birth". After a person dies, being buried in the ground is a place for the deceased to rest in peace and for the soul to reside. Therefore, it is also necessary to preserve the body in the ground to await the return of the soul.
The earliest known burial in China dates back 18,000 years to the Upper Cave Man. However, this only proves that burial existed at that time, and does not negate whether other burial methods (such as cremation and open-air burial) also existed at the same time, or even which one was the more important burial method. It should be noted that the Upper Cave Man was not an agricultural resident.
In civilized society, burial best reflects the social status of the deceased during their lifetime, best expresses people's feelings of "remembrance" and "filial piety," and serves as a means of governing people's hearts and minds, thus being protected by successive dynasties.
Therefore, in ancient China, not only the Han people practiced burial, but also the Xiongnu, Turks, Uyghurs, and Miao peoples all used burial as their main form of burial.
In ancient times, burial was also called funeral rites. These are two different forms. Zhuang Rui learned from Dr. Ren's explanation that, as a form of funeral, the ancients always regarded funerals as a social activity or even a form of entertainment.
Without exception, they all held a grand and lively funeral, including mourning ceremonies, witchcraft, corpse dancing (entertaining the corpse), chanting sacrifices, praying, and funeral processions, indulging in their emotions to the fullest. Later generations developed practices such as food offerings, small encoffining, large encoffining, mourning clothes, breaking basins, and observing mourning periods. Throughout Chinese history, there have been many corresponding ritual norms for these practices.
This practice is still preserved in China today. For example, there is the concept of a "happy funeral". A happy funeral is generally divided into three categories: full of blessings, full of longevity, and full of death. Full of blessings refers to the fact that the deceased's family was prosperous and formed a large clan during their lifetime. Full of longevity refers to the age of the deceased, who is generally over 80 or 90 years old, or even over 100 years old. At the very least, they must be over 70 years old. The older the deceased is, the more they meet the conditions for a "happy funeral".
The term "complete death" is easier to understand. Also known as "good death," it means ending one's life in a fulfilling and satisfactory manner. In folk belief, if the deceased accumulated good deeds and performed many acts of merit during their lifetime, they would not suffer from illness at the time of death and might even die of old age without illness. This is considered the fundamental condition for a "happy death."
When an elderly person dies under any of the three conditions mentioned above, their family will hold a grand and lively burial ceremony. It should be noted that public cemeteries are not common in rural areas. Even after cremation, strict procedures will be followed to ensure that the elderly person is laid to rest in peace.
The above describes funeral rites. As an evolution of burial practices, the most prominent is elaborate burial, which is reflected in the tomb, the decorations in front of the tomb, and the burial objects. It strives to show the difference between social classes and social status.
Before the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, the Book of Rites, Tan Gong I, said "a tomb without a mound," meaning that no mound or stele was erected on the tomb, but the custom of burial goods in the tomb had already existed. By the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, mound-style tombs became popular and became more and more magnificent.
The Mozi, in its chapter "Frugal Burials, Part 2", describes the extravagant burials of the time as follows: "The coffin must be heavy, the burial must be thick, the clothing and quilts must be plentiful, and the mound must be huge."
To demonstrate their power, prestige, and wealth to the world, monarchs and nobles of various countries also lavishly flaunted and competed with each other on their tombs. The "Collected Explanations of the Annals of Qin Shi Huang" in the Records of the Grand Historian states that Qin Shi Huang mobilized 720,000 people to build his tomb, which was "fifty zhang high and more than five li in circumference, called the 'Imperial Mausoleum,' and it still exists today. A mausoleum is a mountain mausoleum, and later extravagant emperors all followed suit."
In order to limit the unrestrained competition in the size of tombs and to make the distinction between the noble and the common, various dynasties also made provisions in rites and laws. For example, the Han law stipulated that "the tombs of marquises should be four zhang high, and the tombs of marquises within the pass and commoners should be of different heights."
The Kaiyuan Rituals stipulate that the pit for a first-rank official should be 18 feet high, and for officials of the second rank and below, the pit should be reduced by 2 feet for each rank lower, and for officials of the sixth rank and below, it should be 8 feet high.
The Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties largely followed this rule. At the same time, the tombs of emperors were built like palaces, called "underground palaces," and palace-style buildings were also built on the ground, just like imperial palaces. The Ming Tombs and the Eastern Qing Tombs are the best-preserved imperial tombs and their palace-style buildings to date.
Because elaborate funerals and lavish burials required considerable wealth and social status, they were historically initiated by the imperial family, nobles, and wealthy merchants in Chinese society.
For example, the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum has only yielded one of its accompanying burial tombs so far. Nearly ten thousand terracotta warriors, infantrymen, charioteers, and cavalry figures have already been unearthed, along with over five hundred horses and more than one hundred and thirty wooden chariots. Moreover, the soldiers and horses are roughly the same height and size as real people and horses. Some speculate that there should be another such burial tomb on each side of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum (the excavated location is due east). If the entire Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum were excavated, the number of burial objects would be unknown.
During the reign of Emperor Jing of Han, Ju Meng, a gambler from Luoyang, lost his mother. The funeral procession was attended by many officials and wealthy people, and the number of carriages he rode in was over a thousand, causing a sensation in Luoyang. People at the time even used this to judge Ju Meng's social skills and the degree of respect he was held by the people.
This custom of elaborate funerals has been passed down through the ages, up to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and even today there are still many who are enthusiastic about it. For example, the recent news about a wealthy man in a certain place using hundreds of luxury cars for his mother's funeral is actually similar to the mentality of Ju Meng burying his mother, both of which are about showing off their ability and wealth.
Of course, because lavish funerals waste manpower and resources and encourage extravagance in society, they have been opposed by people throughout history. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Mozi strongly opposed them and advocated "frugal funerals" and opposed the belief in ghosts and gods.
At the beginning of each dynasty, the people were generally frugal, and the social economy was in dire need of recovery. To allow the nation to recuperate, the founding emperors of each dynasty strongly advocated for simple funerals and burials, and this was generally effective. For example, Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Jing of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Gaozong all promoted "simple burials." However, as dynasties progressed into their middle and later periods, the trend of elaborate funerals and burials grew alongside the overall extravagance of society, until the dynasty collapsed, a new dynasty was established, and a new cycle began.
Therefore, every grand tomb with elaborate burials is almost a microcosm of the society at that time. By studying the funerary objects and burial forms, we can gain an intuitive understanding of the cultural forms of hundreds or even thousands of years ago. This is also the source of Zhuang Rui's deep attraction to archaeology.
Unfortunately, although Henan has many tombs, most of them had already been looted by tomb raiders along the way. Even though Zhuang Rui had the ability to see through underground tombs, he still didn't find a single intact tomb. This shows that money can corrupt people's hearts, and for thousands of years, countless tomb raiders have been making a fortune off the dead.
"Zhuang Rui, that tomb northwest of Anyang is most likely Gaoling. Why aren't you interested?"
The Gaoling that Dr. Ren mentioned is the tomb of Cao Cao from the Three Kingdoms period. The day before yesterday, when passing through Anyang, the local archaeological department was preparing to excavate this large Eastern Han Dynasty tomb. However, Zhuang Rui was not very interested in Cao Cao's tomb, which puzzled Dr. Ren.
"Hehe, senior brother, Cao Cao had seventy-two decoy tombs, how could they be discovered so easily?"
Zhuang Rui smiled and shook his head. The tomb was quite large, but Zhuang Rui had already noticed that there weren't many burial objects inside. It had probably already been visited by tomb robbers, and even if it were excavated, it wouldn't be of much significance.
Chapter 1084 Huaqing Pool
Cao Cao was inherently suspicious, and in order to raise funds for his army, he established the first army specifically responsible for tomb raiding. The title of "Captain of Tomb Raiders" originated from that time. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao's army raided almost all the major tombs from previous dynasties, making them the earliest official tomb raiders in history.
As the saying goes, "If you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear." But the Three Kingdoms warlord was the opposite. He had done too many bad things in his life, so he was naturally afraid that others would rob his tomb after his death. Therefore, before Cao Cao was buried, he arranged for seventy-two false tombs. The story of the seventy-two false tombs has been widely circulated since the Eastern Han Dynasty. Historians and archaeologists of all dynasties have different opinions and there is still no definitive conclusion.
However, tomb raiding is rampant in Henan. Zhuang Rui explored many underground tombs with ancient artifacts near Anyang and found that they had all been looted. Judging from the looters' holes, the most recent ones were looted in the last few years, while the oldest ones could be traced back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. There was really not much need to excavate them.
Based on this situation, Zhuang Rui deduced that even if Cao Cao had set up 72 false tombs, or even 720 false tombs, it would still be difficult to escape the rampant looting by tomb raiders. Therefore, he completely lost interest in finding Cao Cao's tomb and left after staying in Henan for a week.
Zhuang Rui's field archaeology project aims not only to excavate a large tomb of archaeological value, but also to thoroughly investigate the distribution of tombs in provinces including Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, and to incorporate this information into his doctoral dissertation.
Especially in Gansu and Xinjiang, due to drought and little rain, the funerary objects in underground tombs have always been the best preserved. Almost all the knitwear and calligraphy and painting antiques unearthed in China in recent decades have been found in tombs in these regions. It can be said that as long as the tomb has not been damaged by tomb robbers, the excavation of such a tomb can shock the Chinese and foreign scientific research community.
"Zhuang Rui, you...you don't actually want to excavate Qin Shi Huang's tomb, do you? Let me tell you, not even your teacher has that capability, let alone you..."
While chatting with Zhuang Rui, Dr. Ren suddenly widened his eyes. After searching for tombs for the past few days, he knew that his junior brother was quite ambitious. He came out this time to find a large tomb that had not been looted. However, in the five thousand years of Chinese history, there are very few tombs that have not been looted on a large scale. The closest one is the place where the first emperor of the world rested after his death.
It is actually the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. It has suffered many hardships throughout history. For example, after Xiang Yu, the King of Chu, entered Guanzhong, he once led 300,000 men to plunder the Qin Mausoleum. Later, in the war-torn dynasties, many warlord forces also coveted it.
However, due to the massive scale of the First Emperor's Mausoleum project and its deep underground location, it has never been completely excavated. More than ten years ago, Professor Meng led a survey of the First Emperor's Mausoleum. The results showed that the soil beneath the mausoleum contained extremely high levels of mercury, enough to cause poisoning and death.
As everyone knows, mercury is a highly volatile liquid metal. When air flows, it evaporates even more, forming harmful gases that can lead to mercury poisoning and death in severe cases. Therefore, if Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum had been looted, the mercury should have evaporated long ago over 2,000 years ago, instead of remaining underground.
Several terracotta army pits have been excavated in the area surrounding the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. However, the core part of the mausoleum has not been excavated because there are still technical difficulties. Scientific researchers cannot guarantee that the funerary objects in the tomb will be completely preserved after the mausoleum is excavated.
As is well known, the ancient Egyptian pyramids are the world's largest above-ground royal tombs, while the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in China is the world's largest underground royal tomb. As the emperor of China's first feudal dynasty, the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor embodies the highest achievements of Qin Dynasty civilization. The First Qin Emperor took all his wealth and glory with him to the underworld.
The Records of the Grand Historian states that the tomb was dug all the way down to an underground spring, with a copper base reinforced and a coffin placed on top. The tomb chamber was filled with rare treasures, and the key passages within were equipped with crossbows with sharp arrows, which would kill any tomb raiders who approached. The tomb chamber was also filled with mercury, symbolizing rivers, lakes, and seas, and the ceiling was inlaid with luminous pearls, symbolizing the sun, moon, and stars. Lamps made of fish oil were used inside the tomb to ensure they burned eternally.
Therefore, since the early days of the People's Republic of China, some people have proposed to excavate the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. More than 60 years have passed, but no action has been taken. The reason is that a hasty excavation would destroy the precious cultural relics in the tomb. Perhaps... leaving them underground forever is the only way to truly preserve them intact.
"Senior brother, I'd like to excavate Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum, is that possible?"
Zhuang Rui slightly opened the car window, lit a cigarette. If he could witness the excavation of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum in his lifetime, Zhuang Rui would be very satisfied. As for now, there was basically no possibility.
When the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was built, it exhausted the resources of the entire nation. At its peak, 720,000 prisoners were involved in its construction. The underground palace of the mausoleum, which took thirty-nine years to complete, could not be revealed to the world overnight.
"Brother Zhuang, where are we going? Hehe, we can't just camp in the city center tonight, can we?"