Zhuang Rui examined it closely and found that there were no inscriptions on the bronze candlestick. The green patina on its surface was very thin and seemed to faintly glow with a layer of gold. In academic terms, this is called gilding, which is commonly found in unearthed cultural relics in Shaanxi, Henan and Gansu.
The term "golden coating" does not refer to the application of mercury or gold during the casting process. Rather, it refers to the formation of a special oxide layer on bronze artifacts in specific soil environments. In the past, this phenomenon was also known as "golden return" or "copper return." This phenomenon usually only occurs on bronze artifacts that have just been cast and buried before being used. Furthermore, the burial site must be located in an arid, sandy environment, and the tomb passage must be tightly sealed and never robbed. Only then can a truly exceptional gold-coated bronze artifact be produced.
To some theoretical experts, such an object would seem like a fake. It's likely the antique shop the Zhang brothers just visited was run by a white-necked expert (an expert with theory but lacking practice). Monkey, who had somehow entered the room, looked at the bronze candlestick in Zhuang Rui's hand and said, "Brother Zhuang, I saw this this morning. It should be from a large tomb, but I'm not sure what kind of tomb it is..."
"These are artifacts unearthed from a dry pit. They are extremely well-preserved and more valuable than some items from water-filled pits. Judging from the shape and style of this candlestick, it is in the Han Dynasty style. A tomb built according to this style belongs to at least a king or nobleman..."
The artifacts mentioned by Zhuang Rui were mostly unearthed in Hunan, Hubei and Zhejiang. They are usually characterized by bright colors and smooth, mirror-like surfaces, either a deep green or a glossy black, as if they had just been pulled out of the water.
After explaining the situation to the monkey, Zhuang Rui looked at the other objects. There were four more bronze candlesticks, all with the same shape, indicating that the tomb passage was quite long.
"Da Niu, when you first took this thing out, was it still colored?"
Zhuang Rui held up a terracotta figurine that was about 20 centimeters tall and asked Zhang Daniu a question.
Zhang Daniu looked astonished and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, boss, how did you know? It looked so beautiful back then, but I don't know what happened, as soon as I took it out, all the color disappeared..."
"Sigh, what a pity, Da Niu, did you manage to clean out everything in the tomb?"
Looking at the terracotta figurines, Zhuang Rui felt a sense of powerlessness. If the glazed terracotta figurines were well-preserved, they could have been preserved in their original state, but now they have all been destroyed.
"Boss, why are you asking this?"
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Zhang Daniu's face showed a wary expression. Zhuang Rui knew from his expression that there must be something else in the tomb.
"Da Niu, do you know that digging up ancient tombs is illegal?"
Zhuang Rui tentatively asked a question.
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Da Niu waved his hand dismissively and said, "What law is it against? There are graves everywhere in our area. At least several hundred people in a township are digging them. Some have even built small villas and gotten married by digging graves. Why can others dig but we can't?"
The two brothers, Da Niu and Da Niu, saw that others were robbing graves at night and sleeping during the day, living a very comfortable life and seemingly never running out of money. This made the two brothers feel very unbalanced, so they went up the mountain, found a hidden grave, and dug up these things.
"Don't the police at the Public Security Bureau handle these kinds of things?"
Zhuang Rui broke out in a cold sweat as he listened. If there were hundreds of people robbing ancient tombs in just one township, how many people would be doing this in a county or city?
It is important to know that archaeological excavation is a very meticulous task. During the excavation process, not only must the integrity of the ancient tomb be maintained, but even the passageway must not be damaged, because those stone walls are often carved with exquisite murals.
Therefore, the on-site excavation of ancient tombs must be carried out by professionals. However, as Zhang Daniu said, if people are digging up ancient tombs everywhere in a village, Zhuang Rui doesn't know how many tombs will be destroyed.
"The Public Security Bureau is in charge. If they arrest you, they'll fine you. Erhu, who lives across the street from us, was fined five thousand yuan, which is why we brought him to Beijing to sell..."
Zhang Daniu's words left Zhuang Rui speechless. Damaging a priceless ancient tomb and only being fined five thousand yuan? Such a lack of supervision will only encourage more and more tomb raiders and make the tomb raiding trend more and more rampant.
Zhuang Rui had only heard that tomb raiding was rampant in Henan before, but he never imagined that it would become an industry, with farmers no longer farming and making a living solely from tomb raiding.
These farmers who raid tombs cause far more damage to ancient tombs than professional tomb raiders. Their methods are often more drastic, and they dare to use explosives, axes, and anything else.
The tombs dug up by these farmers were almost like crops ravaged by locusts, barren and lifeless. Even things that couldn't be taken away were smashed and destroyed by many people.
Chapter 882 Jade Beauty
"Boss, there are a few more things in here, do you want to take a look?"
Seeing that Zhuang Rui remained silent, Zhang Daniu felt a little uneasy. He knew that robbing ancient tombs was illegal, and if caught, he would be fined at least three to five thousand yuan, which his family didn't have.
"There's more? Look, I want to see..."
Upon hearing Zhang Daniu's words, Zhuang Rui immediately came to his senses. As the saying goes, gold is valued in times of chaos and antiques are valued in times of prosperity. With antiques being so popular now, antique dealers are all setting their sights on rural areas.
These rural people, with their unique advantages and generally low level of education, simply do not understand the damage their unauthorized excavation is causing to these historical relics and treasures.
However, Zhuang Rui was puzzled. The country has always cracked down hard on the crime of stealing and selling cultural relics, so why are some places still able to blatantly steal ancient tombs? Are those local governments just sitting around doing nothing?
In fact, Zhuang Rui did not know that in Henan Province, especially around Mangshan Mountain, there was a tomb raiding army of no less than 5,000 people in Meng County alone (I will not give a specific name here, and I will also change the name in the previous chapter to avoid being accused of crossing provincial borders). As the saying goes, the law does not punish the masses, and the few police officers on the payroll simply could not catch them all.
Moreover, even government officials might rely on this for their livelihood, so even if they are caught red-handed, it's just a matter of paying a fine. If they were to be sentenced, the police station would probably be surrounded by a bunch of old men and women the next day. This has happened before.
These local tomb raiders belong to the lowest rung of this industry. In the beginning, the funerary objects they painstakingly dug up, even if they were in good condition, would only sell for a few hundred yuan, while ordinary ones would sell for only a few dozen yuan.
After the antique craze took off, these people felt they had been taken advantage of, and gradually their family-run tomb raiding activities turned into organized gang activities.
Several people with good relationships joined together, with a clear division of labor. Some were responsible for tomb raiding, while others were responsible for lookout. They would stake out the police station, and often the police would get the news as soon as they left, which made the police's work more difficult.
Even if some major cases alarmed the higher-ups and police forces were dispatched to arrest them, it only made them restrain themselves a little. After the heat died down, they continued to dig at night. The task force couldn't stay there all the time, could it?
Therefore, these family-run tomb-raiding gangs cannot be eradicated and will continue to exist, like moles, plundering and destroying precious ancient tombs.
"This...is it a terracotta figurine? Why is it so heavy? Is it solid?"
As the monkey was helping Zhang Daniu unpack another package, it nearly dropped an object when it pulled it out, clearly having misjudged its weight.
"I don't know, this thing is so heavy. If it weren't for my brother's strength, we wouldn't have been able to carry it all the way to Beijing..."
Zhang Daniu didn't care much about these things. In his opinion, these items were neither edible nor drinkable. Although he knew they could be exchanged for money, he didn't understand what these people wanted with them.
So after digging these things up, Zhang Daniu and his brother always hid them in the cellar and never organized them. This time when they came to Beijing, they just picked out a few things from the cellar and brought them with them.
"Monkey? What's that?"
The conversation between the two caught Zhuang Rui's attention. He went over and saw that the monkey was struggling to hold a human-shaped terracotta figurine that was thirty or forty centimeters tall. It was covered with yellow mud, making it impossible to see the appearance or gender of the person.
"I don't know, solid terracotta figurines are very rare, this thing is really heavy..."
The monkey answered Zhuang Rui's question, put the things back on the table, and was panting heavily from exhaustion.
"Hmm, it's really not light..."
Zhuang Rui reached out and weighed it in his hand. This not-so-large object actually weighed sixty or seventy pounds, about the same size as a rock, which surprised him.
Because solid terracotta figurines are very prone to cracking, since the Qin Dynasty, except for the neck which is solid, the bodies and heads of terracotta figurines have generally been hollow. For example, the Qin terracotta warriors unearthed in the Xi'an area look tall, but they are not actually very heavy.
Of course, solid terracotta figurines have been unearthed in history, but those were fired in sections and then pieced together, making them extremely easy to break when moved, unlike this terracotta figurine which gives people a sense of being a whole.
"Wait a minute... something's not right..."
After Zhuang Rui used his spiritual energy to move around the humanoid object for a while, he suddenly paused, because the spiritual energy he found inside it was actually the faint, cool aura of jade.
"Could it be the Jade Beauty?"
Zhuang Rui turned to the monkey and said, "Go find a washbasin, and also get a scrubbing brush. This thing is a bit strange; it doesn't quite look like a terracotta figurine..."
Four or five minutes later, the monkey found a large plastic basin from somewhere, filled it halfway with water, and brought it in, also holding a pig bristle brush in its hand.
Zhuang Rui's strength far surpassed that of a monkey. He grabbed the object with one hand and placed it directly into the basin. The water in the basin immediately became murky after it came into contact with the mud on the object.
Zhuang Rui took a brush, dipped it in water, and started brushing from the head, quickly removing the layer of yellow mud. Before he could examine it closely, the monkey standing beside him exclaimed, "This...this isn't a terracotta figurine, it's a jade figure!" "Jade?"
Zhang Daniu, who was standing to the side, was also stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with joy, and he said, "The boss is really amazing. We really didn't know this thing was jade. It was so heavy to lift..."
Upon hearing that the item was jade, Zhang Daniu rubbed his hands excitedly. Even the most ignorant rural people know that jade is valuable. Daniu had already mentally estimated that this thing would sell for at least 1,000... no, at least 2,000.
Zhuang Rui ignored the two of them. As the jade figure was gradually cleaned up, his expression became serious. He took a tape measure from the table and measured it. The jade figure was a full 48 centimeters tall.
The jade figure is carved from a single piece of white jade. Due to its age, a lot of mud has seeped into the figure, and after being washed clean, it turns yellowish all over. The figure is shaped like a woman holding a zither in her arms.
To be precise, the jade figure is holding a pipa. The pipa's head, including the string grooves, tuning pegs, and nut, is exquisitely carved. Judging from the pipa in the jade figure's arms, she must have been a musician.
The jade figure itself is also very well carved. The entire jade figure is covered with fine, hair-like patterns. This is probably the woman who plays the zither. She has a smile on her face, her chin is slightly raised, and she is wearing a long-sleeved robe, making her look lifelike.
In Zhuang Rui's eyes, the carving skills from more than two thousand years ago are still difficult for anyone to match today. Even with machine carving, it is unlikely that such an effect could be achieved. This is definitely the pinnacle of Han Dynasty jade carving. "Damn it, whose lair did these two guys dig up?"
Zhuang Rui was amazed. The discovery of this jade figure indicated that the identity of the tomb's occupant was far higher than he had imagined.
It is important to know that ancient burial practices were governed by strict etiquette, especially for court officials. There were specific rules regarding what items to be buried with them based on their status. Even if you were very wealthy, you could not afford to bury too many items that violated the rules if you did not have a high social standing. Otherwise, not only would your grave be dug up, but your descendants would also suffer.
In ancient times, especially during the Qin and Han dynasties, jade was an extremely important ritual object for worshipping Heaven. Ordinary officials would not have been able to possess such a large piece of jade to carve into a burial object. Therefore, the owner of this jade figure might have been an emperor.
"Boss, how much do you think this thing is worth? Is it worth 5,000 yuan?"
As Zhuang Rui was examining the beautiful woman, Zhang Daniu couldn't hold back any longer and walked up to Zhuang Rui, asking a question.
"5000 yuan?"
Zhuang Rui gave a bitter smile, feeling a pang of sorrow for the ancient emperors. The tombs and burial goods they built with the full resources of the nation were, in Zhang Daniu's words, only worth five thousand yuan.
"Da Niu, let me ask you a question honestly. Tell me the truth, did you find anything inside the coffin in that tomb?"
Generally, Han Dynasty imperial tombs are very likely to yield jade burial suits with gold or silver threads. Zhuang Rui could tell from this jade figure that the scale of this emperor was probably no less than that of the Mancheng Han Tomb, where a jade burial suit with gold threads had been unearthed.
"A coffin? That big stone coffin?"
Seeing Zhuang Rui's serious question, Zhang Daniu thought for a moment and then said, "There is a large stone coffin inside. Erniu tried to chop it open with an axe but couldn't. I was afraid that what was inside would rise from the dead, so I didn't let Erniu open it. I really don't know what's inside..."
Rural people are quite superstitious, and the two brothers, Da Niu and Da Niu, were not professional tomb raiders. They still believed in ghosts and gods, so in the end, they didn't dare to open the coffin in the eerie tomb.
Zhang Daniu was unaware that ancient tombs contained the most treasures, which were also the easiest to carry and the most valuable. Experienced tomb raiders would first clean the coffin after going down into the tomb, and they would not even let go of the jade plugs that blocked the nine orifices in the bones.
Zhuang Rui breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. If Zhang Daniu and his companion had tampered with the coffin, the loss would have been irreparable. Given their nature, they would have surely cut the gold thread on the jade burial suit and taken the clothes from the body.
"Da Niu, I have something to tell you. Don't be happy or scared yet..."
Zhuang Rui thought for a moment. This tomb involved something too astonishing, both publicly and privately. He dared not hide it any longer, so he continued, "Do you want to know how much this jade figure is worth?"
"Yes, I do," Zhang Daniu nodded repeatedly.
Zhuang Rui nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll tell you, it's worth at least five million. If you sell it overseas, someone will want it even for ten million." "Five million...?"
Zhang Daniu didn't react for a moment. He held up his five fingers on his right hand and looked at them. Then he held up his left hand. After a long while, he managed to utter the word "wan" with great difficulty.
Chapter 883 Donation
The GDP and per capita income that the government talks about have little to do with farmers. If a family like Da Niu farms at home, their annual income is only a few thousand yuan.
Even though the two brothers went out to work some time ago, they only earned a little over a thousand yuan a month on construction sites. After deducting the cost of food, they were left with only seven or eight hundred yuan. After working for half a year, they still hadn't saved ten thousand yuan.
So let alone five million, Da Niu had never even seen fifty thousand yuan in his entire life. He was genuinely shocked by the number Zhuang Rui mentioned and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "I don't need that much, fifty thousand is fine..."
Da Niu wasn't unwilling to accept the five million, but he wasn't stupid either. He knew that if the other party said that, there was no way they would give them the money. So Da Niu became a little nervous, turning his head to look around, almost as if he was about to rush out the door.
“Da Niu, don’t be afraid. To tell you the truth, if I really gave you the money, it would harm you…”
Zhuang Rui poured Da Niu a glass of water and then said, "Do you know that the things you dug up are national treasures, the nation's treasures? Just for these items, you could be sentenced to death..."
Zhuang Rui wasn't trying to scare them. This jade figure was definitely a national first-class cultural relic, and the bronzes and pottery figurines were all national second- or third-class cultural relics. Given the extent of the damage these two brothers caused to the tomb, even if they didn't get the death penalty, life imprisonment was definitely the only outcome.
A major case of tomb raiding and cultural relic trafficking was recently adjudicated in Hunan Province. All three main culprits were sentenced to death, six others were sentenced to life imprisonment, and the rest received sentences ranging from three to ten years. Therefore, Zhuang Rui's statement is not without basis.
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Zhang Daniu's face showed a nervous expression, and he stammered, "Boss...you're joking, right? There are plenty of grave diggers in our village, why are you sentencing us?"