"Oh, what's wrong?"
Fei San sighed, "I have to admire the wisdom of our ancestors. That tomb was built so well that there was no way to get to it. If we had forcibly blown it open, I'm afraid we wouldn't have gotten anything inside."
I said, "Then don't blow it up, just dig it out, okay?"
Fei Sankou said, "Easier said than done! There are mechanisms in that tomb, which are like a self-destruct mechanism. If you're not careful and dig the wrong way, it will still collapse."
I glared at Fatty Ying: Tell me how much trouble you've caused the country!
"What can we do? The light has already been exposed, we can't just leave it to dry like this, can we?"
"That's right. Several developed countries have proposed to jointly mine with our country, but the conditions are infuriating, like 30/70 or 40/60 split, which is simply taking advantage of our vulnerability!"
I asked, "Were the spies who sent us here the ones who did it?"
Fei San said, "Whether it is or not, they've got thieving intentions. Think about it, who wouldn't want to take a bite of such a big piece of meat?"
I said indignantly, "Then you can't agree to that!"
Fei Sankou chuckled and said, "Do you even need to tell me? It's not that I can't agree, it's that our country simply won't consider it."
I covered the phone and whispered to Qin Shihuang, "Brother Ying, let me ask you a question, how do you dig up your grave without damaging it?"
Qin Shi Huang glanced at me and said, "Stop talking nonsense. I worked so hard to build this empire, not to be dug up by others." His words stunned me. Yes, the reason the fat man built so many tombs was so he could continue to be emperor in the afterlife, not to leave a rich legacy for his descendants. Naturally, he spared no effort to prevent the living from discovering and excavating them, so the traps he laid were all insidious—what Fei Sankou called a self-destructive mechanism. Whether the other two tombs could be found or not is another matter; just consider this one. Without the right method, everything is just empty talk.
I simply hung up the phone and pulled Qin Shi Huang aside, saying, "You've seen it yourself. No one can give up until this tomb is dug up. Do you have any secrets?"
When Qin Shi Huang heard me say this, he also put down his chopsticks, picked up a few pieces of frozen tofu from the plate, arranged them into a small cube, and began to explain to me with gestures.
In ancient times, without electricity, all self-activating mechanisms relied on fine sand. The sand, when shaken, shifted, creating space for the machines to operate. Qin Shi Huang's tomb, as a whole, was entirely constructed with such mechanisms on its walls. If anyone disturbed the peace of the burial chamber, the fine sand would be removed, and the massive tomb roof would collapse, destroying everything. To prevent the sand from clumping over time, Qin Shi Huang's tomb used—golden sand!
Chapter Fifty will be recorded in history.
Looking at the small cubes that Fatty Ying had built with frozen tofu, everyone was at a loss. Whether the gold sand would solidify after a thousand years was a question, but the risk was too great to take.
Baozi tapped the hot pot with his chopsticks and said, "Eat quickly, the meat is overcooked, what are you doing?"
Qin Shi Huang put the top piece of tofu into the pot, and I immediately brightened up and said, "If we remove this top as well, wouldn't the contents inside be safe?"
Xiang Yu, unusually humble, said, "How can we get there? This isn't something a few strongmen with the strength to lift a thousand pounds can do. A tomb is several miles in circumference; how heavy must its top be?"
Seeing that Qin Shi Huang remained smiling and silent, I asked cautiously, "Brother Ying, do you have a solution?"
Fatty Ying laughed and said, "I haven't even thought about being hungry."
As expected of someone who had studied the "History of Chinese Architecture," Li Shishi pointed out, "Actually, as long as we use the current directional blasting technology to blast two support points on each of the four walls supporting the tomb, and then immediately support it with reinforced concrete, the top of the tomb will not fall down. At that time, we don't care about the gold and silver sand; let it flow away. We can continue to dig slowly."
Wu Sangui said, "The four walls need eight support points, and they must be blasted out simultaneously and then replaced with other supports. This is just a matter of precision, not difficult in itself. The difficulty lies in the fact that the person doing this must be someone who knows the inside of the tomb inside like the back of their hand. Otherwise, if there is even the slightest error, the roof will fall down. But where can we find such a person?"
Li Shishi laughed and said, "There has never been such a person before, and there never will be, but right now we happen to have one sitting in front of us."
Qin Shi Huang smiled but remained silent. I glanced at him hesitantly and said, "Brother Ying..."
Qin Shi Huang said, "Alright, alright, if I'm hungry, I'll go dig up my own grave. Anyway, even if I don't dig it now, people will still remember it."
Actually, I just asked casually for fun at first, but I didn't expect Qin Shi Huang to be so open-minded as to agree to dig up his own treasures. But even if he agrees now, I still have to think it over. The country has sent so many experts who are helpless, and I can just find a fat guy and solve it with a few pieces of frozen tofu? How am I supposed to explain this to people? If things go wrong, Fei Sankou might suspect that I'm a spy who has been lying low for years.
I was lost in thought when the television screen flashed, showing an elderly man wearing a hard hat standing confidently in front of the camera at the excavation site. The caption read: "So-and-so, archaeological expert from a certain university in China." The old man, brimming with pride, told the reporter, "After research by myself and several geologists, we've finalized our first plan. We plan to drill a small hole in the tomb wall, just big enough for one person to pass through, to observe the internal structure first."
We, watching on TV, were stunned: This was his so-called solution?
Xiang Yu scoffed, "Why is this expert spouting such layman's talk?"
Li Shishi said, "Even the best swimmers drown. Throughout history, those who have ruined great things are often self-proclaimed experts."
On television, a reporter asked the expert, "When do you plan to begin?"
"We're making preparations now, probably tomorrow."
The reporter, also looking excited, turned to the camera and said, "Viewers, this excavation is likely to be the largest discovery and excavation operation since the founding of our country. We will continue to follow up and report on it, bringing you live coverage..."
Wu Sangui suddenly shouted, "This is bad! We can't let them do it. If they drill, even if the sand is solidified, they'll loosen it up."
Mulan nudged me and said, "Xiaoqiang, hurry up and think of something! What are you daydreaming about?"
I forgot there was an extreme patriot here. I said with a pained expression, "How am I supposed to talk to the government about this?"
Hua Mulan said, "There are priorities. Let's stop them first."
I held the phone for a while, thinking. We now know people at the highest levels, but I doubt Mayor Liang and Secretary Liu can really speak to the central government…
In the end, I decided to call Fei Sankou. After all, this matter is quite sensitive, and he should be able to make a difference.
"Old Fei, tell your experts not to make a move yet." That was my direct statement, almost like trying to stop someone from being executed.
Fei Sankou must have already rested, because he mumbled somewhat, "What?"
I said, "Didn't you see the live stream just now? There was an old man who was going to crawl into a grave."
Fei Sankou exclaimed, "Ah! Does anyone want to rob graves?"
I said succinctly, "Let me put it this way: I've found you a grave-digging expert. If he's in charge of this excavation of the Qin King's tomb, I guarantee you'll get the complete treasure."
Fei San chuckled and said, "Are you kidding me? No matter how many experts consult, they can't come up with a perfect solution. Besides, the excavation is no longer our responsibility."
I sensed that Lao Fei was about to hang up, so I quickly said, "Have you forgotten about the Qin King's Ding? Your experts know there's a crack on the bottom of the ding?"