Zhuang Rui's words caused a look of surprise on the old man's face. Although everyone in the country knows about the Tang Dynasty and can name a few emperors such as Li Yuan, Li Shimin, or Emperor Xuanzong, they can only name a few of the more famous emperors. People like Zhuang Rui who can even name the reign titles are very few and far between.
"Young man, are you referring to the Eighteen Tombs of Guanzhong? There were only eighteen emperors in the Tang Dynasty, how come you only guessed these three?"
The old man neither confirmed nor denied Zhuang Rui's answer, but continued to ask questions.
"Did the Tang Dynasty have a total of eighteen emperors?"
Zhuang Rui wasn't sure if his answer was right or wrong; he had only read it from that document. Just as he was about to reply, the old man's question suddenly echoed in his mind, causing him to pause in surprise.
"This old man is in charge of this archaeological excavation; surely he doesn't even understand these basic questions? Could it be..."
Although the Eighteen Tombs of Guanzhong are well-known, it doesn't mean that there were only eighteen emperors in the Tang Dynasty. Zhuang Rui clearly remembered that from Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, to Emperor Aizong of Tang, Li Zhu, when the Tang Dynasty fell, there were a total of twenty-one emperors. However, the Huang Chao Rebellion broke out at the end of the Tang Dynasty, after which the court weakened and various regional military governors held their own power. During the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, he was manipulated by Zhu Wen, the founding emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty, and became a puppet emperor. Not long after, he was killed by Zhu Wen. The last emperor of the Tang Dynasty after him, Emperor Aizong of Tang, was poisoned by Zhu Wen and died in Shandong. Naturally, there is no tomb for him in Shaanxi.
Therefore, looking at all twenty-one emperors of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian was buried in the same tomb as Emperor Gaozong. If we remove the two last emperors, Emperor Zhaozong and Emperor Aizong, there are actually only eighteen tombs. This is the origin of the saying "Eighteen Tombs of Guanzhong".
"Old man, there are eighteen tombs of Tang Dynasty emperors in Guanzhong, but there weren't eighteen Tang Dynasty emperors, were there? I remember there were twenty-one. The Qin Mausoleum of Emperor Xuanzong, the Jing Mausoleum of Emperor Xianzong, and the Guang Mausoleum of Emperor Wenzong are all located nearby. But if you ask me which emperor's tomb it is, then I really can't answer that."
Zhuang Rui sensed that the old man in front of him was a bit cunning and had set a trap for him. If he continued talking, he would definitely get confused. So after telling the old man everything he knew, he frankly told him, "That's all I know. Please don't ask any more questions."
"Not bad, young man, that's a good answer. It's already quite an achievement to know these things. I, this old man, can guarantee that as long as you pass the written test, you will definitely be hired by that old man Meng."
After hearing Zhuang Rui's reply, the old man's face showed satisfaction, and he even started to take full responsibility, as if he could make the decision himself.
Zhuang Rui was rather skeptical. Even Uncle De and Professor Meng, who had such a good relationship, didn't dare to say such things. He wondered where this old man in front of him got his confidence from.
Just as Zhuang Rui was inwardly complaining, a staff member from the local archaeological department walked over and said to the old man, "Professor Meng, you've rested enough. We can go back after working for a while longer. Come back when the sun is about to set."
"Professor Meng...?"
Standing to the side, Zhuang Rui was a little dumbfounded after hearing the staff member's address. Even if he was stupid, he knew that this Professor Meng must be his future mentor. What's more, Uncle De had said a few days ago that Professor Meng from Peking University was in Shaanxi at the moment.
It's no wonder Zhuang Rui didn't expect this beforehand. After all, Shaanxi is so big, and he never imagined that he would run into Professor Meng, a leading figure in the field of archaeology, in this remote mountain valley. This is just too much of a coincidence.
Professor Meng said to the staff member, "Let everyone get started, but be careful. Call me if you find anything..."
"Your name is Zhuang Rui, right?"
After explaining to the staff member, Professor Meng looked at Zhuang Rui. Seeing Zhuang Rui nod in agreement, he continued, "A while ago, Brother De from Zhonghai recommended you to me, praising you to the skies. I didn't believe it at first. But seeing is believing, and you're quite good. Although you're not formally trained, your foundation is solid. As long as you pass the written test, I'll have no problem with you."
Seeing Zhuang Rui's slight unease, Professor Meng reassured him. He was very satisfied with this student. Although he didn't major in archaeology as an undergraduate, he knew so much about the history of the Tang Dynasty, which could be described as extensive knowledge and a strong memory. Moreover, he was very alert and meticulous. He had tried to set traps for people in the past, but he never expected that this young man would see through them.
"Thank you, Teacher Meng. Thank you, Teacher Meng."
Zhuang Rui was also very happy. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, wanting to see how others did archaeological excavations. He never expected to meet his future mentor here. This saved Zhuang Rui and Uncle De the trouble of making a special trip to Beijing to visit Professor Meng later.
Professor Meng was quite satisfied with his future student. Suddenly remembering something, he asked, "By the way, Xiao Zhuang, is your English alright?"
"English? No problem. I can write and speak. For general professional translation, as long as I know the relevant vocabulary, it shouldn't be a big problem."
Although Zhuang Rui didn't understand Professor Meng's meaning, he still answered honestly.
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Professor Meng nodded and said, "That's good. Review your knowledge of classical Chinese. If you have time in September, come to Beijing and I'll give you some study materials."
Zhuang Rui nodded in agreement, but he was really puzzled. Did he have some kind of domineering aura? He had only answered one question, so why was Professor Meng so kind to him?
In fact, Zhuang Rui did not understand that throughout history, not only are good teachers hard to find, but apprentices are also hard to find. Although diligence can make up for lack of talent, a person's talent often determines his future development.
So, although Professor Meng has countless students, apart from his early disciples, he only has a handful of students whom he acknowledges now. These are all students he takes under his wing and teaches carefully, which is completely different from teaching in a large classroom. Now that he has recognized Zhuang Rui's talent, he naturally wants to take him under his wing.
Due to his advanced age, Professor Meng no longer teaches in large classrooms and only supervises a few graduate students. He has also decided that after supervising this group of students, he will no longer recruit graduate students. In a sense, Zhuang Rui can be considered his last disciple.
As for inquiring about Zhuang Rui's English, that's a drawback of China's exam-oriented education system. According to relevant national regulations, English is a required subject for postgraduate entrance exams.
However, many niche majors, such as traditional Chinese painting, have absolutely nothing to do with English. These students often study this major from a young age, so it's normal for them to have poor English skills. This makes it difficult for many experienced professors to accept promising students as their students.
There was once a well-known university professor who, for this very reason, couldn't recruit graduate students for several years and eventually resigned from the university in anger, causing a great social uproar.
"It's good that you have confidence. Since we've run into each other, let's come and help out. Let's get familiar with the archaeological site first, so that when we go to the site later, we won't be afraid of the ancient corpses. That would be embarrassing for this old man."
Professor Meng didn't ask Zhuang Rui why he came here, but just pulled some men together. In fact, he knew that Zhuang Rui couldn't be of much help, he just wanted Zhuang Rui to experience the environment inside the site. Excavating an emperor's tomb is not a frequent occurrence.
"Girls, you guys come here for a second, don't sneak around."
Seeing that Zhuang Rui had agreed, Professor Meng waved to his granddaughter, who was standing in the distance and looking over at them.
"This is my granddaughter Meng Qiuqian, this is Fan Cuo, and the one wearing glasses is Ying Ning. These two are my graduate students this year. Xiao Zhuang will be taking the entrance exam for my graduate program next year. You should get to know each other first. By the way, Xiao Zhuang, although you are older than them, you still have to call them senior brothers from now on, haha."
Professor Meng has a very cheerful personality and often cracks a joke.
"Let's still call him Brother Zhuang, and you can just call me Xiao Fan..."
Seeing that Meng Qiuqian next to the mentor was about to speak, Fan Cuo quickly spoke first and settled on his own name.
"What do you mean by 'mistake'? 'Mistake' sounds much better."
The little girl muttered to herself.
Professor Meng glared at his granddaughter and said, "No manners, Xiao Fan. First, tell Xiao Zhuang about the tomb. I need to go and see if the porcelain piece that was just unearthed can be repaired."
"Brother Zhuang, let's go downstairs and talk about it."
Seeing Professor Meng turn and walk towards the shed, Fan Cuo and Ying Ning, apart from the girl, both breathed a sigh of relief. Although Professor Meng usually didn't put on any airs of a teacher, the unintentional demeanor he exuded made the two of them feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Such demeanor is hard to describe in words. It is a kind of personal cultivation and cultural accumulation that can only be revealed after reaching a certain depth. Zhuang Rui felt somewhat ashamed when he stood next to Professor Meng.
"Xiao Fan, whose grave are you digging now?"
Zhuang Rui followed the others to the bottom of the pit. He had just used his spiritual energy to look down and found it to be about seven or eight meters deep, but there didn't seem to be any coffins or anything like that down there.
Chapter 243 Luoyang Shovel
After Fan Cuo and Ying Ning's explanation, and with Meng Qiuqian chattering on and on, Zhuang Rui realized that they were excavating the imperial tomb of Emperor Wenzong of Tang, Li Ang.
The first novel Zhuang Rui read when he was in school was Liang Yusheng's "The Legend of Empress Xuan Ying". From then on, he naturally paid more attention to the Tang Dynasty and often looked up historical materials about the Tang Dynasty. However, the more he knew, the less fond Zhuang Rui felt of the Tang Dynasty.
Although the Tang Dynasty was renowned, and even those who went abroad in the early years identified themselves as Tang people, giving rise to the term "Chinatown," the emperors of the Tang Dynasty actually met rather tragic ends. Even the founding emperor Li Yuan, who had made great military achievements, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, who led the prosperous Kaiyuan era, were both usurped by their sons and imprisoned and died of depression.
Many of the lesser-known emperors were killed by eunuchs or ministers, and few met a peaceful end. Emperor Wenzong of Tang, the fourteenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, also met a tragic end.
Everyone knows that the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were arrogant and domineering, but the Tang Dynasty was even more so. At that time, political factions were constantly fighting each other, officials were frequently transferred, and the power of the government, even the deposition and life and death of the emperor, were all in the hands of the eunuchs.
Emperor Wenzong of Tang was enthroned by eunuchs. Later, he appointed Li Xun, Zheng Zhu and others, intending to eliminate the eunuchs. In the ninth year of Dahe, Li Xun lured the eunuchs to visit the so-called "sweet dew" in an attempt to eliminate them in one fell swoop. However, the plot was exposed, which instead led to the eunuchs massacring court officials. Afterwards, Emperor Wenzong was further controlled by the eunuchs and died of illness in depression.
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period following the fall of the Tang Dynasty was marked by constant warfare, causing immense harm to the Central Plains.
"Xiao Fan, these eighteen imperial tombs in Guanzhong have been documented for a long time, so why are they only being excavated now?"
Zhuang Rui was somewhat puzzled. As far as he knew, all eighteen imperial tombs in Guanzhong, except for the one where Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong were buried together, had already been looted by tomb robbers. If the state wanted to protect them, it should have taken action long ago.
"Brother Zhuang, you don't know this, the country has always been extremely cautious about the excavation of cultural relics. It will not easily excavate tombs unless absolutely necessary. The reason we are here is that some time ago, Guangdong Customs seized a batch of smuggled cultural relics, including a national first-class cultural relic, the Flying Horse of Gansu. According to the confession of the arrested cultural relic traffickers, this batch of cultural relics came from the tomb of Emperor Wenzong. So we came to carry out a rescue excavation to see if we can protect some cultural relics."
Xiao Fan didn't say some things. In fact, the root cause of the state's control over the excavation and archaeology of tombs is money. Because the unearthed cultural relics are eroded by soil and damp environment for a long time, the preservation after excavation is very important, which requires a lot of expenses.
Putting aside other things, the annual cost of collecting and maintaining the cultural relics in the Palace Museum is an astronomical sum. Even so, many precious cultural relics have been damaged due to improper preservation, and of course, these things are not to be publicized.
If the national level is like this, then local cultural relics and archaeological departments are even more neglected and ineffective, simply unable to afford the funds to maintain cultural relics. Therefore, some people have proposed to temporarily suspend the excavation of the tombs and let the cultural relics remain underground.
However, Zhuang Rui believes these are all nonsense. The longer cultural relics remain underground, the greater the chance of damage and theft. If some people simply cut back on eating and drinking a few less times, the money allocated for cultural relic protection can be saved. Of course, the leaders will not adopt such suggestions. Drinking is also a necessity for revolutionary work. Don't think that drinking like a big shot every day is comfortable.
"By the way, the Flying Horse of Gansu you mentioned earlier is an artifact from the Han Dynasty, and only one has ever been unearthed. How come you say it was unearthed from Emperor Wenzong's tomb? Is it a later imitation?"
When it comes to cultural relics, Zhuang Rui can be considered a semi-expert, and he is naturally familiar with the famous Flying Horse of Gansu.
The Flying Horse of Gansu, unearthed in Weiwu County, Gansu Province in 1969, is an outstanding work that integrates sculptural art and bronze casting techniques from the Eastern Han Dynasty. It represents the highest artistic achievement of the Eastern Han Dynasty in the history of Chinese sculpture.
The bronze horse in the artwork has its head held high, its four hooves churning, its tail raised high, and its mouth open as if neighing. Three of its hooves are off the ground, and its right hind hoof rests on the back of a swallow that is flapping its wings and taking flight. The swallow looks back in surprise, echoing the horse's movements. The horse's head is slightly turned to the left. Due to the lightness of its hooves and the fluttering of its mane and tail, it seems as if it is a celestial horse soaring through the sky. The swallow is unaware of the weight of the horse and is startled by its speed. Its bold conception and romantic technique give people a breathtaking feeling and are truly amazing.
However, Zhuang Rui had only heard of one such work being unearthed, so he had some doubts about the "Flying Horse" that Fan Cuo mentioned.
Fan Cuo shook his head and said, "It's not a later imitation. After authentication, that 'Flying Horse of Gansu' is almost identical to the one in the Gansu collection in terms of size, shape, and material. This means that more than one artifact was made in the Han Dynasty. That's why my teacher came; he also wants to know if this artifact was truly unearthed from a Tang Dynasty tomb..."
"Everyone's up here, time to rest. Brother Fan Cuo, you're always slacking off..."
The little girl's voice came from above, and the people at the bottom of the pit rushed up. It was already close to noon, and the sun was too strong, so they would wait until four or five o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun was about to set, to dig for a while longer.
"Er Mao, go pick two more watermelons..."
Although he hadn't done any work, Zhuang Rui still felt parched. He took out fifty yuan from his pocket and handed it to Er Mao.
"No, no, Brother Zhuang, I can't take your money."
Er Mao waved his hands repeatedly. He would have accepted the money if it came from the archaeological team, but he dared not accept it if Zhuang Rui took it out.
"Here you go, the archaeological team bought this. Go and come back quickly..."
Zhuang Rui knew what Er Mao was thinking and stuffed the money into his hand.
"Okay, I'll be back in a bit."
Er Mao jumped up like a rabbit and ran quickly towards the melon patch.
When Er Mao returned, he was followed by several women, each carrying two baskets. They were there to deliver food. The archaeological team had been staying in Liujiazhuang for some time. Since it would take more than two hours to travel back and forth at noon, they didn't go back. Instead, they spent a little extra money to have the villagers deliver the food to them.
Zhuang Rui was also hungry, and he ate the simple farm-style dishes with relish. However, Ying Ning and the others were getting tired of eating the same food for several days. They barely ate any of the dishes and went to eat the watermelon that Er Mao had brought.
After the meal, Zhuang Rui, Ying Ning, Fan Cuo, and the others gathered around Professor Meng, while the staff and the locally hired women went to find a shady spot to cool off. The armed police officers, however, ate a few slices of watermelon and then dutifully resumed their guard duties.
"Professor Meng, are you sure this place is the location of Emperor Wenzong's tomb? The unearthed items look quite ordinary to me..."
Zhuang Rui just went to look at the broken porcelain shards that were laid out together and marked. Although the craftsmanship was quite exquisite, they did not seem to be royal sacrificial items. Moreover, his spiritual energy could now penetrate to a depth of about ten meters in the ground, but he did not find any precious cultural relics below.
Professor Meng was not angry at Zhuang Rui's question. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Tombs in the Tang Dynasty were generally built against mountains. For example, the joint tomb of Empress Wu and Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi was built in the mountains."
We are now at the end of this mountain range, a place of auspicious geomancy where mountains and water embrace each other. Emperor Wenzong's tomb should be here. However, after more than a thousand years, it has suffered from wars and been robbed several times, making it difficult to deduce the location of the underground tomb from the above-ground structures.
The reason we're digging here is because we previously discovered a tomb raider's hole nearby, and after testing, the soil here is also mixed soil. However, the area where the tomb raider's hole appeared has already been completely dug out, and the unearthed items are not of much value and don't prove anything. Perhaps we've been digging in the wrong direction..."
Professor Meng had already considered the issue Zhuang Rui raised. Judging from the artifacts unearthed so far, it seemed to be a burial tomb. However, they had already explored the area within a few hundred meters and found that only here was the soil layered with various textures. In other places, when they went down seven or eight meters, they encountered a layer of rock, making it impossible for there to be a tomb.
"Xiao Fan, Ying Ning, take the Luoyang shovels and go a little further away, then dig some more holes, making sure to keep them at a straight distance from the sealing layer."
Professor Meng pondered for a moment and assigned tasks to his two disciples. In fact, he had this idea after digging out the cross section of the tomb, and Zhuang Rui's words prompted him to make up his mind.
However, this was quite painful for Fan Cuo and Ying Ning. Digging a hole with a Luoyang shovel was no less strenuous than digging in the soil. After digging seven or eight meters deep, both arms would become sore, numb, and weak.
"I'll go with you..."
Zhuang Rui also stood up. He was mainly interested in the legendary Luoyang shovel and wanted to see it for himself.
The term "Luoyang shovel" has always been associated with tomb raiding. There are different opinions about who invented it. One of the more reliable theories is that it was invented by Li Yazi, a tomb raider from a rural area near Luoyang, Henan Province, in the early 20th century.
Around 1923, Li Yazi, a villager from Mapo Village, went to a market in Mengjin, a place near his home. After wandering around for a while, he squatted down by the roadside to rest. It should be noted that Li Yazi made a living by tomb raiding, so he often thought about tomb raiding.
By chance, he saw a steamed bun shop not far from him. The person selling steamed buns was preparing to make a small hole in the ground. The tool he was using to make the hole caught Li Yazi's attention because he saw that this iron tool, which was only 2 inches wide and shaped like a U-shape, could stir up a lot of soil every time it was poked into the ground.