For example, in the tombs of Mongolian emperors, in addition to being buried extremely deep, even the craftsmen who worked on the construction were killed. And that wasn't all; the soldiers who killed the craftsmen would also commit suicide after returning to the surface.
In this way, not only were tomb raiders' ideas eliminated, but even their descendants could not find the location of their ancestors' tombs, only knowing a general direction.
Therefore, Peng Fei scoffed at Zhuang Rui's words. If Zhuang Rui could find out such a thing, then the tomb raiders of the past thousand years could truly die of shame.
"Peng Fei, kid, don't you believe me? When has Brother Zhuang ever misjudged anything?"
Hearing Peng Fei's words, Zhuang Rui got a little anxious. After discovering the tomb but finding it difficult to excavate, he felt really frustrated, which was why he said those words to Peng Fei. Unexpectedly, he was met with a cold shoulder, and the guy completely ignored him.
"Really? Brother Zhuang, where is the tomb? I've heard that Genghis Khan, that old bastard, looted tons of gold and silver treasures when he destroyed the Song, Jin, and Western Xia dynasties..."
When Peng Fei saw Zhuang Rui's serious expression, he also became serious, but what he said was not very reliable, which made Zhuang Rui both amused and exasperated.
"Alright, talking to you about archaeology is like casting pearls before swine. Let me tell you, the Song Dynasty wasn't destroyed by Genghis Khan, but by his grandson. Go away, go deal with your rabbits..."
Zhuang Rui waved his hand at Peng Fei in an annoyed manner, but then turned around and fell into deep thought. Although Peng Fei's words were completely wrong, they did remind Zhuang Rui.
In 1206 AD, Genghis Khan established the Mongol Khanate at the source of the Onon River. After its establishment, the Mongol Khanate continuously launched wars of aggression to expand its territory.
In 1218, Genghis Khan destroyed the Western Liao Dynasty. In 1219, he launched a westward expedition to Khwarazm in Central Asia, advancing all the way to the Volga River basin in Eastern Europe. He returned east in 1225 and destroyed the Western Xia Dynasty in 1227. However, Genghis Khan also died during the expedition against the Western Xia Dynasty.
However, the Mongols conquered the Song Dynasty in 1276 AD, and it wasn't until 1279 that they eliminated the remaining forces of the Song Dynasty and unified China.
However, this raises a question: the tomb that Zhuang Rui just guessed is very likely not Genghis Khan's, but rather the mausoleum of his third son, Ögedei Khan.
You might not understand this, but in 1276, the Song Dynasty was destroyed. By then, Ögedei Khan had already died, and Kublai Khan, who had established the Yuan Dynasty, was in power. So, the tomb should be Kublai Khan's, right?
However, there was a turning point in history that is unknown to most people: the Imperial Seal of the State was not in the Southern Song Dynasty, but in the first year of the Jingkang era of the Song Dynasty, when the Jin army captured Bianliang and Emperors Huizong and Qinzong were taken away. The Imperial Seal of the State had already been taken away by the Jin Dynasty.
The one who led the army to destroy the Jin dynasty was none other than Ögedei Khan, the third son of Genghis Khan, during his reign.
At this point, it is necessary to trace the hardships that the Imperial Seal of the State experienced over the past thousand years, from its creation to its disappearance.
As friends know, the Imperial Seal of the State, also known as the Imperial Seal of the State, is the seal passed down from emperor to emperor after the Qin Dynasty. It was carved from the He Shi Bi jade, which is mentioned in the historical story of "Returning the Jade Intact to Zhao".
As the most important symbol of "divine right of kings and legitimacy," after the Qin Dynasty, emperors of all dynasties regarded obtaining this seal as a sign of legitimacy and regarded it as a national treasure.
The emperors who obtained the Imperial Seal symbolized that they were "ordained by Heaven," while losing it indicated that their "fate was exhausted" and that the whole world could attack them. Those who ascended the throne without this seal were ridiculed as "blank emperors," appearing weak and despised by the world.
This led to fierce competition among those vying for the imperial seal, causing it to change hands repeatedly. In 207 BC, when Liu Bang, the Duke of Pei, was marching at Ba Shang, the Prince Ziying of Qin knelt and presented the seal to the left side of the road to Xianyang. With the fall of Qin, the imperial seal returned to the Han dynasty.
Towards the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the powerful relative Wang Mang usurped the throne. At that time, the young Emperor Han was still a child, and the Imperial Seal of the State was hidden in the Empress Dowager's Changle Palace. Wang Mang sent his brother Wang Shun to demand it back, but the Empress Dowager refused. In a fit of anger, she took out the Imperial Seal and smashed it on the ground, breaking off a corner of it.
When Wang Mang saw that the imperial seal was damaged, he sighed repeatedly and hurriedly summoned skilled craftsmen to repair it. The craftsmen were quite clever and came up with the ingenious idea of inlaying the missing corner with gold. After the repair, it became even more dazzling and was thus beautifully named "Gold-Inlaid Imperial Seal". This is the origin of "Gold-Inlaid Jade".
Later, Wang Mang was defeated and killed. Gong Bin, a captain of the Imperial Guards, obtained the Imperial Seal and presented it to Emperor Gengshi, Liu Xuan.
In the third year of Emperor Gengshi (Liu Xuan), the Red Eyebrow Army killed Liu Xuan and installed Liu Penzi as emperor. Later, Liu Penzi was defeated at Yiyang and handed over the Imperial Seal to Emperor Guangwu (Liu Xiu). By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, eunuchs held power. In the sixth year of Emperor Ling's reign (Xiping era), Yuan Shao entered the palace and killed the eunuchs. Duan Gui fled with the emperor, and the Imperial Seal disappeared for the first time.
During the reign of Emperor Xian, Dong Zhuo rebelled. Sun Jian led his army into Luoyang. One day at dawn, his soldiers saw colorful clouds rising from a well in the Zhen Palace south of the city. They sent someone into the well and found a palace maid who had committed suicide by jumping into it. She had a small box around her neck, and inside the box was the Imperial Seal of the State.
Sun Jian was overjoyed to have found such a treasure and secretly hid it with his wife, Lady Wu. Later, Yuan Shu detained Lady Wu and seized the seal. After Yuan Shu's death, Xu Qiu, the governor of Jingzhou, took the seal to Xuchang. At that time, Cao Cao held Emperor Xian hostage and commanded the other warlords. Thus, the Imperial Seal was returned to the Han Dynasty.
In the first year of the Yankang era of Emperor Xian of Han, Emperor Xian was forced to "abdicate" to Cao Pi, who established the Wei dynasty and changed the era name to Huangchu. Cao Pi had the characters "Great Wei receives the Imperial Seal of Han" engraved on the shoulder of the Imperial Seal to prove that he had not "usurped the Han throne," but this was actually a cover-up.
However, the Wei Dynasty did not last long. In the second year of the Xianxi era of Emperor Cao Huan of Wei, the minister Sima Yan followed suit, proclaimed himself Emperor Wu of Jin, changed the era name to Taishi, and transferred the imperial seal to Jin.
In the years that followed, the Imperial Seal of the State underwent a tumultuous fate. In the fifth year of the Yongjia era of the Jin Dynasty, Liu Cong of the Former Zhao captured Emperor Huai of Jin, Sima Chi, and the seal returned to the Former Zhao. Nineteen years later, Shi Le of the Later Zhao destroyed the Former Zhao and obtained the seal. Adding a unique touch, he inscribed "Heaven's Mandate of the Shi Clan" on the right side. During the Southern Dynasties, the Imperial Seal of the State passed through the reigns of the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties. When the Sui Dynasty unified China, it took the Imperial Seal into its palace. However, after Emperor Yang of Sui was killed in Jiangdu (present-day Yangzhou), Empress Xiao, along with Crown Prince Yuan De, fled to the Northern Turks with the Imperial Seal.
In the early Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, lacking the Imperial Seal of the State, had several jade seals with inscriptions such as "Treasure of Receiving the Mandate" and "Treasure of Establishing the Mandate" carved to console himself. In the fourth year of the Zhenguan era, Li Jing led an army to attack the Turks. In the same year, Empress Xiao and Crown Prince Yuande turned their backs on the Turks and returned to the Central Plains. The Imperial Seal of the State returned to the Li Tang Dynasty, and Emperor Taizong was overjoyed.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and heroes rose up everywhere. Zhu Quanzhong deposed Emperor Ai of Tang and seized the Imperial Seal of the State. Shi Jingtang led the Khitan army to Luoyang. The last emperor, Li Congke, embraced the Imperial Seal of the State and climbed the Xuanwu Tower to mutilate himself. Thus, the Imperial Seal of the State disappeared from the world for the second time.
During the reign of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty, a farmer found the imperial seal in the ruins of Li Congke's palace and sent it to the court. After extensive research by thirteen scholars based on records from previous dynasties, it was determined to be the Imperial Seal of the First Emperor, and the Imperial Seal of the First Emperor reappeared in the world.
However, after Emperors Huizong and Qinzong were captured, the Imperial Seal of the State was taken to the Jin Dynasty. Until the Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the Mongols, the Imperial Seal of the State never reappeared. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were occasional clamors about the appearance of the "Imperial Seal of the State", but they were all fabricated and counterfeit.
Therefore, later archaeologists and historians all suspect that the Imperial Seal of the State was used as a burial object by the Yuan Dynasty emperors. Only this nomadic people who believed in the Eternal Heaven would not take the Imperial Seal of the State, which the Han people regarded as a treasure, seriously.
However, the whereabouts of the Imperial Seal of the State remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in Chinese history, as the tombs of the Yuan Dynasty emperors could not be found.
Although Zhuang Rui had not yet been able to see the full picture of the jade seal, his heart was already surging with excitement. Perhaps the Imperial Seal of the State, which had been missing for thousands of years, was really in this tomb...
"Brother Zhuang, Brother Zhuang, what's wrong? The fire's on your hand, don't you feel any pain?"
Just as Zhuang Rui was lost in thought, he suddenly heard Peng Fei's voice. Zhuang Rui was jolted awake, only to find that the flame had indeed licked the back of his hand. He quickly pulled his hand back.
After calming himself down, Zhuang Rui looked at the bewildered Peng Fei and made up a story: "That old Mongolian devil appeared in my dream again, saying that there are their ancestors' tombs here. Peng Fei, I need to survey this area tomorrow..."
Peng Fei thought Zhuang Rui was joking with him, and said with a smile, "Damn, Brother Zhuang, you can't scare me. Don't even mention that old Mongolian devil, even if Genghis Khan were to be reborn, I'm not afraid of him..."
"Well, I'm hungry, let's eat something first..."
Zhuang Rui shook his head noncommittally and had Peng Fei place the cleaned and skinned rabbit on the campfire. Soon, a fragrant aroma filled the air.
After finishing the roasted rabbit, Zhuang Rui said to Peng Fei, "You'll be sleeping half the night, so you go to sleep first. I'll wake you up around 2 a.m."
Although large packs of wolves are now rare on the grasslands, precautions must still be taken. Even just three or five wolves can kill a person while they are asleep.
"Okay, Brother Zhuang, be careful..."
Peng Fei didn't stand on ceremony, nodded, and crawled into the tent. Soon, the sound of snoring could be heard.
"It absolutely has to be the Imperial Seal of the State..."
After Peng Fei fell asleep, Zhuang Rui sat cross-legged in front of the tent, released the spiritual energy in his eyes, and headed straight for the coffin in the tomb chamber.
"Damn it, being able to see clearly isn't a good thing either..."
As soon as the spiritual energy entered the coffin, Zhuang Rui was shocked to discover that next to the jade seal was a human head that looked like a mummy.
Chapter 1160 The Identity of the Tomb Owner (Part 1)
"Damn, is it a zombie?"
Zhuang Rui was so shocked that he almost jumped up from the ground. Anyone who suddenly saw such a scene in an ancient tomb would probably have the same reaction, or even more intense than Zhuang Rui.
"There's still a hundred or two hundred meters of depth; even if he became a ghost, he couldn't escape..."
Zhuang Rui whispered encouragement to himself in a voice only he could hear. After a long while, he finally mustered the courage to look at the head whose muscles had not yet rotted.
After careful observation, Zhuang Rui discovered that this uncorrupted head was quite different from Egyptian mummies.
A mummy is a dried-up, non-decaying corpse. When Egyptians made mummies, they first used an iron hook to remove part of the brain from the nostrils of the dead body and then injected some medicine into the brain to cleanse it.
After completing the above steps, use a sharp stone knife to make an incision on the side of the abdomen, completely remove the internal organs, clean the abdomen, stuff it with coconut wine and crushed spices, and then sew it up as before.
After this step was completed, the body was placed in lye powder for 40 days, then washed clean, wrapped from head to toe in fine linen bandages, and coated with resin, which was usually used in Egypt as a substitute for ordinary glue. The body was then given to relatives, who placed it in a specially made anthropomorphic wooden box and kept it upright against the wall in the tomb.
This expensive method of disposing of corpses was generally reserved for pharaohs, high-ranking officials, and the wealthy. The poor had a much simpler method of mummification: they would wash the abdomen with a laxative, then soak the body in natron powder for 40 days, remove it, let it air dry, and bury it in a dry sand dune.
However, regardless of the method used to create the mummy, the body always appears withered and emaciated. Although the muscles do not rot, they are tightly attached to the bones, making it impossible to recognize what the body looked like in life.
However, the head that Zhuang Rui is seeing now is very different from that of an Egyptian mummy.
The most obvious sign is that the facial muscles of this skull have not completely atrophied; a faint rosy hue can still be seen on its face. Its eyes are closed, as if it were fast asleep.
The man appeared to be in his sixties, with a large, round face. Although his eyes were closed, he exuded an indescribable air of authority.
Even as if asleep, this person exuded an aura that inspired awe. Zhuang Rui found it hard to imagine the kind of pressure this person would exert if he opened his eyes.
"Is it... dead or alive?"
Even though he knew it was a dead person, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but feel this way.
Many mummies have been unearthed in China, such as the famous Loulan Beauty, which Zhuang Rui once saw with his own eyes. However, the so-called "beauty" was thin and frail, with a hideous and ugly face. People with weak hearts would have nightmares after seeing her.
"Huh? What's this?"
Zhuang Rui's attention had been completely drawn to the head itself, and with that distraction, he immediately noticed that inside the coffin, there was another completely transparent crystal coffin.
The old man dressed in Mongolian clothing was lying in a crystal coffin, inside which a colorless, transparent liquid was immersing the entire body.
The jade seal, radiating a rich purplish-gold spiritual energy, along with numerous other objects filled with dense spiritual energy, were placed inside the coffin outside the crystal coffin. However, due to the coffin's extremely high transparency and its design tailored to the body inside, Zhuang Rui did not notice it immediately.
"Damn, what kind of technology is this? It seems that technological advancements can't erase the wisdom of the ancients..."
Zhuang Rui tried to analyze the liquid with his spiritual energy, but found that the liquid was not only colorless, but also had no spiritual energy at all. He didn't know what it was made of, or how it could keep the corpse from decaying for thousands of years.
Mummies also exist in modern times. For example, the body of Lenin, the former leader of the Soviet Union, is one of the best-preserved mummies in the world.
After Lenin died in 1924, his body was kept frozen. Soviet scientists preserved his body in a secret laboratory under Lenin's Mausoleum. They removed his internal organs and immersed his entire body in formalin.
The scientists in charge of preservation made an incision in Lenin's body to allow formalin to seep into his body more quickly. Several weeks later, Comrade Lenin achieved immortality.
However, this method of preserving corpses requires periodic repairs and maintenance, while the permanent preservation method, such as using a crystal coffin in a tomb, is clearly superior to modern technology.
"The man's dead, and you're still clinging to your treasure. Don't give me a chance, or I'll definitely dig you up..."
After analyzing why the corpse was not incorruptible, Zhuang Rui's attention was drawn to the jade seal next to the crystal coffin. The seal had such a powerful aura that Zhuang Rui couldn't even bother to determine the identity of the tomb's occupant.
"As expected, there is gold inlaid with jade..."
Although he had already determined the origin of the jade seal in his mind, Zhuang Rui still couldn't help but get excited when he saw the gold inlay on one corner of the seal.
Suppressing the shock in his heart, Zhuang Rui turned his gaze to the shoulder of the jade seal, where the legendary inscription "The Great Wei Receives the Imperial Seal from the Han" and the words "Heavenly Mandate of the Stone Clan" on the side were clearly visible.
Combined with the rich purple spiritual energy emanating from the jade seal itself, Zhuang Rui had no more doubts. This... was the He Shi Bi jade that had disappeared for thousands of years... Although the imperial system had been abolished in this day and age, and the so-called Imperial Seal of the State had lost its original meaning, it was still a symbol, a symbol that affected hundreds of millions of Chinese people, and a witness to the development of ancient Chinese civilization. "What a waste! What a waste!"
Although Zhuang Rui's identity has begun to shift from businessman to scholar over the years, he still retains some of the characteristics of a businessman. After the initial excitement, he unconsciously began to weigh the value of this real "Imperial Seal of the State" in his mind.
After much deliberation, Zhuang Rui still couldn't set a price for the "Imperial Seal of the State." In terms of jade quality alone, the He Shi Bi represents the pinnacle of Chinese jade culture. Just this large, flawless piece of jade alone is worth hundreds of millions.
This is just the value of the material. Considering the fact that dozens of emperors coveted it and cherished it, coupled with the significant historical importance and symbolism of the Imperial Seal of the State, Zhuang Rui felt that even if it were priced at 50 billion RMB, wealthy Chinese would probably sell their possessions to buy it.
It's important to understand that if this Imperial Seal of the State were in ancient times, whoever obtained it would be considered to have the Mandate of Heaven, and could incite the entire nation to rebel. Its importance is self-evident.
Even today, when royal power has long since declined, it still holds extraordinary significance.
Imagine the immense prestige of wealthy individuals who possessed the Imperial Seal of the State, stamping it on official documents. This privilege was reserved for emperors in ancient times, and even emperors after the Song Dynasty never had this opportunity.
Thinking of this, Zhuang Rui grinned foolishly. Although people criticize the feudal system all day long, how many men haven't dreamed of being an emperor? At least the harem of three thousand beauties is something every man would dream of.
Of course, all of this is just Zhuang Rui's imagination. Not to mention that he can't excavate this tomb now, even if he could, everything inside would belong to the state and have nothing to do with him, Zhuang Rui.
If Zhuang Rui could borrow even a few items for exhibition in his museum, he'd be overjoyed. As for the thought of keeping them for himself, that was absolutely out of the question.
"Who exactly is this person?"
After having a pleasant dream, Zhuang Rui slowly dismissed his fantasies and focused his attention on the tomb itself. To decipher this Mongolian tomb, he first needed to figure out the identity of the tomb's occupant.
Zhuang Rui is now certain that this person must be a Mongolian emperor, and from a relatively early period. As such, it seems that there are not many options left.
Temujin, the early Great Khan of the Mongols, lived to be 66 years old. After him, Ögedei lived to be 55, Möngke to be 51, and Kublai Khan to be 79. Judging from their ages, this person should be either Temujin or Ögedei.