Shadow of the Tomb Raider: A Complete Record of the History of Tomb Raiders in China

Chapter 12 Who Are the Tomb Robbers: The Past and Present of the Tomb Robbers (2)
From the point of view that officials rob tombs to make money, there are many such examples, and the officials who rob tombs to make money are almost all bad officials.It seems not difficult for officials to rob tombs for money.Although officials have certain powers in their hands and are supported by imperial salaries, if compared with princes and princes, their economic strength is too far behind.In order to live a luxurious life, these officials have to search for ways to get rich.Corruption and bribery can get a lot of money, but the risk is relatively high, and only officials who have reached a certain level have the possibility of corruption and bribery.If the people under the rule are too harsh, there is a danger of causing civil uprisings.Compared with these ways of making money, the advantages of tomb robbery are highlighted.Not only do you not have to worry about being confiscated by the emperor, you don't have to worry about rebellion by the rioters. As long as the tomb robbery is carried out in a more secretive manner, it will not be noticed by the outside world.With these in mind, many officials who are greedy for money naturally put the way of making money on tomb robbery.For example, in the Ming Dynasty, Chen Feng robbed the Ming Ming Mausoleum, all for the purpose of obtaining the treasures in the Ming Ming Mausoleum.

From the perspective that officials rob tombs to please those in power and seek their own future, the most typical representative is Li Chaoru in the Huizong period of the Northern Song Dynasty.As Shaanxi's transshipment envoy, he is responsible for the preparation and transportation of money, food and other materials. It can be said that he is not short of money.However, in order to become a bigger official and continue to expand his future, he thought of a way to please the supreme ruler of society.At that time, the supreme ruler Song Huizong had a hobby of collecting antiques.Therefore, Li Chaoru thought that if he wanted to promote himself, he could start from this aspect and make the emperor happy. Wouldn't the official position come naturally?Tomb robbery is the best way to obtain antiques, especially those that are more precious.In view of the fact that Song Huizong was a very talented emperor, Li Chaoru did not dare to send those ordinary antiques up.The rumors of Bigan's tomb gave him hope, and the legendary epitaph on a copper plate became Li Chaoru's best antique to please Song Huizong.When encountering such a good opportunity, he certainly refused to give up, and tomb robbery became inevitable.

From the perspective that officials rob tombs for novelty, it is represented by Wang Shixie (xiè), the thief of Wen Fang, the governor of the Western Jin Dynasty.Wen Fangzhi made a lot of military achievements for the court at that time, and he can be said to be a good official.However, he is full of curiosity about anything new, even the tomb of Wang Shixie, who is said to be extremely eerie in folklore.Driven by this curiosity, he went to rob the tomb to see if there were any ghosts and gods in the legend, so he dug up Wang Shixie's tomb and opened the coffin.After robbing the tomb, Wen Fangzhi's curiosity was satisfied.However, he also died because of this curiosity-seeking psychology. He fell off his horse and died while returning from the tomb.Regardless of whether Wen Fangzhi really died because of being punished by ghosts and gods, there is no doubt that he died on a tomb robbery.In the final analysis, it was his curiosity that killed him.

From the point of view that the tomb robbery is to satisfy the perverted psychological needs of the tomb robbers, the tomb robbery of the Southern Dynasty prefect Wang Xuanxiang can fully reflect this point.Wang Xuanxiang, like Liu Qu, the king of Guangchuan in the Western Han Dynasty, both had a strong love for tomb robbery, and regarded this shameless behavior as a hobby, and he was not ashamed of it, but proud of it.His achievements in tomb robbery are so outstanding that no complete coffin can be found in his territory.Explaining his motive for robbing the tomb, there seems to be no other answer.He lived in an official's family since he was a child, and he was not short of money, and he did not rob tombs to make money.He didn't have any hatred with the tomb he robbed. He didn't rob the tomb for revenge, nor did he want to get promoted and get rich.The proud explanation for his tomb robbery is a perverted activity carried out under a perverted psychology.

In addition, the tomb robbery of Yang Lian Zhenjia in the Yuan Dynasty is quite special.His tomb robbery combined many factors such as money-making, ethnic hatred and discrimination, pleasing those in power, and abnormal psychology.He was a Buddhist freak formed under the social environment at that time.Yang Lian Zhenjia’s tomb robbery indeed searched for all the funerary objects in the tomb, and the robbery was worthy of the name for making money; Yang Lian Zhenjia’s tomb robbery was also to insult the Song Dynasty and the entire Han society to the greatest extent, expressing the great contempt of the Yuan Dynasty regime for the Pian’an Dynasty of the Southern Song Dynasty .Because at that time, although the Mongolians who founded the Yuan Dynasty achieved political and military victories, none of these could make up for their backwardness in economic technology, science and culture.The Han people also look down on them because of their backwardness.In order to retaliate against the contemptuous attitude of the Han people, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty adopted more cruel means to express their hatred towards the Han people.Yang Lian Zhenjia is very clever in pleasing those in power.He saw that the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty were dissatisfied with the Han people at that time, so he tried his best to do something to cater to the ruler's heart.This can be seen from Kublai Khan's tacit attitude towards Yang Lian Zhenjia's robbery of the Six Tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty.It is not too much to say that Yang Lian Zhenjia is abnormal.As a monk who was supposed to save all sentient beings and based on goodness, he broke the rules and started stealing graves. It cannot but be said that his psychology is abnormal.

The nature of official tomb robbery is relatively easy to distinguish. Most of them belong to official robbery incidents, and only a small part have the common characteristics of both official robbery and civilian robbery. For example, Chen Feng's tomb robbery in Ming Dynasty was both official robbery and civilian robbery. event.It is said that it was an official robbery incident because Chen Feng led the army to rob the tomb in the name of the court.It is said that it was a civil robbery incident because most of the treasures obtained from the tomb robbery were embezzled by Chen Feng.

The officials' tomb robbery methods are extremely unskilled, and a professional tomb robbery team has not been formed.Because they are not full-time tomb robbers, they do not have certain tomb robbery experience and specific tomb robbery techniques.The tools for tomb robbery are also extremely simple, mainly shovels, axes, and swords.Because they did not have tomb-robbing experience, tomb-robbing technology, and reasonable tomb-robbing tools, all the tombs they robbed were destroyed.Some officials are still very cruel in robbing tombs, like Wu Zixu whipping corpses three hundred times, like Yang Lian Zhenjia mixed the remains of the Southern Song emperor with cow and horse dung, and built towers to suppress them.

Throughout the history of tomb robbery by officials in our country, it all happened in a specific social environment.The society at this time must be chaotic, the court ruled in darkness, the people's lives were extremely difficult, and civil upheavals occurred from time to time.Wu Zixu’s tomb robbing happened just after Wu State destroyed Chu State; Wen Fangzhi’s tomb robbing happened in the Western Jin Dynasty during the long-term restlessness; Wang Xuanxiang’s tomb robbing happened in the Southern and Northern Dynasties when many small countries were fighting with each other; Li Chaoru’s tomb robbing happened in the late Northern Song Dynasty when Jin soldiers invaded Yang Lian Zhenjia's tomb robbing happened when the Yuan army wiped out the Southern Song Dynasty; Chen Feng's tomb robbing happened in the Ming Shenzong period when the social rule was extremely dark.It can be said that in a peaceful and prosperous age, when the society was stable, the rulers were virtuous, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, it was rare for officials to rob tombs.Because in those stable dynasties, the punishment for tomb robbers was very severe, and the system was relatively sound, so it was not easy for officials to take advantage of loopholes.In those chaotic dynasties, the rulers couldn't protect themselves, so how could they have the energy to deal with those tomb robbers?Moreover, some officials' tomb robbery was carried out with the tacit approval and support of the emperor, and had a close relationship with the ruler.It was precisely because of Song Huizong's hobby of antiques that Li Chaoru's tomb robbery was triggered.It was precisely because of the support of Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, that Yang Lian Zhenjia dared to cause chaos in the six tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty.It was precisely because of Ming Shenzong's acquiescence that Chen Feng had the courage to steal the obvious tomb of Ming Shenzong's great-grandfather.

A pile of ants is a thief

In stark contrast to official robbers are civilian robbers.Civil robbers refer to tomb robbery by individuals or groups, mostly out of pursuit of interests in funeral objects.After stealing funeral objects, they find opportunities to sell them for huge profits.The biggest difference between official robbers and official robbers is that official robbers are not restricted by the law, while civil robbers are illegal activities, and legal sanctions accompany them like a shadow.

Civilian thieves are not as aggressive as official thieves, and dare not act blatantly, they can only do it secretly.Legend has it that folk tomb robbers are divided into four sects: touching gold, moving mountains, unloading mountains, and faqiu.

First, let's take a look at Mojinpai.

The prototype of Mojin began in the Warring States Period, and Mojin could find the specific location of the tomb according to Fengshui and the direction of mountains and rivers.Before they enter the tomb, they have to wear masks, and when they work, they are required to move quickly and gently, from the head of the deceased to the soles of the feet, without causing any damage to the corpse, and they pay great attention to the technical aspects.Cao Cao set up the post of Mojin Xiaowei to dig mounds, so Mojinmen disciples are also called Mojin Xiaowei.During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there were few disciples from Faqiu, Qianshan, and Xiling, so it was often considered that the inheritance of the school was cut off, and only Mojin was left.

In the school of touching gold, it is not necessary to be taught by a master to be regarded as a disciple. He has a whole set of special marks, incisions, techniques, as long as he understands the rules and terms, they are all in the same school.However, in the inheritance of Mojinmen, only those who have obtained the orthodox Mojin Talisman can be called Mojin Xiaowei.The folk orthodoxy known as the digging party is similar to the methods of Faqiu Tianguan, and is best at calculating the location of ancient tomb treasures based on feng shui astrology.Pay attention to leaving a way out when doing things, and don't do things absolutely.

Captain Mojin doesn't like to cooperate with others, but it is difficult to work alone and the other party is very trustworthy, so he will form a small group of less than five people.Actively absorb the tools and weapons of modern society, and can combine them with Feng Shui techniques, but pay the most attention to traditional rules, and few people violate them.Not very good at martial arts and secret arts.

He and General Faqiu disliked each other. Mojin believed that Faqiu cooperated with the government to excavate the corpses of bad people in ancient tombs, which damaged people's feng shui and violated the traditional rules in the industry; Food and clothing cannot make the industry flourish.

The captains of Mojin are best at finding tombs. They often combine the various materials they have collected with their observations of local geomantic omens, and they can always find the specific location of the tomb very quickly.Whenever a large tomb is excavated, a candle must be lit in the underground palace of the tomb chamber, placed in the southeast corner, and then the coffin will be opened to touch the gold.When doing it, the remains of the deceased must not be damaged, and one or two treasures must be left for the deceased in the end.During this period, if the candle in the southeast corner is extinguished, you must put back the property you got in your hand, kowtow three times respectfully, and go back the same way.

You need to wear a mask before entering the tomb. Do not take off the mask when entering. First, the air quality inside is not good; second, the breath of living people cannot stay in the tomb, which is unlucky; Afraid of cheating.

Usually there are three people in a group, one digs the soil, because the soil cannot be piled outside the pit, so there is another one who is dedicated to loosening the soil, and the other one is to let the wind out in the distance.

Next, let's look at the Taoist faction of moving mountains.

"Moving mountains" adopts trumpet-style digging, which is a method that mainly uses external force to destroy.Most of them dress up as Taoist priests, and because of their attire, they have added a lot of mystery. Many people think that the "moving mountains and dividing armor" they used to excavate ancient tombs is a kind of magic similar to Maoshan Taoism.

The School of Moving Mountains had its embryonic form as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, but flourished in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. The School of Moving Mountains was good at deciphering hidden weapons and mechanisms in tombs, and was also good at dealing with zombies.They often use external force to damage the periphery of the tomb and enter the tomb to steal treasures.Feng Shui is only a rough way, but it is far from the other three schools.Taoists who move mountains often act alone and never cooperate with others.Traditional martial arts are stronger than touching gold, but to deal with zombies, you often use pre-set formations and various self-made small handmade weapons.

The predecessor of the Qianshan School has a slight relationship with Maoshan, but because of the concept, they are also mutually exclusive.Because the school was founded relatively late, there are not many inherited Feng Shui spells, it completely ignores the traditional rules, and is rejected by other sects, so it rarely reveals its true identity. idea.

Mountain-moving Taoists dig hills only for money. Although they are well-organized, they always focus on destruction and use all means to achieve their goals. However, for the sake of personal safety and channels for selling stolen goods, there are also various routines that have been naturally formed and handed down.

The Xiling faction belongs to "amphibians", wandering between the green forest tyrants and tomb robbers, with a large number of people and strong strength.When there is a tomb, dig the tomb, but when the tomb cannot be found, the leader will pass down a card and gather in the mountains and forests to rob property. There are always many people, as long as they can find a place, even if there is a huge tomb, they dare to dig it.It is said that the founder of Xilingmen was taught by immortals, and there is a way to make people stronger. Therefore, most people in Xilingmen are powerful and proficient in martial arts, so they are called wrestlers.Lu Bu, who was so powerful in Kyushu Island, was also a descendant of Xilingmen, prepared military pay for Dong Zhuo, and excavated many tombs of Han emperors.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, this school gradually communicated and merged with each other, absorbing the characteristics of the two schools of Mojin and Laoshan, forming a specific school, and having its own unique understanding of Fengshui techniques.Good at destroying magic circles, familiar with the weaknesses of various geomantic terrains.

During the Yuan Dynasty, he was persecuted wantonly because of his hostility to the Yuan Dynasty regime, so he launched a full-scale revenge, taking destroying the geomantic omen of Genghis Khan's Mausoleum and ruining the Yuan Dynasty as his mission.In the end, several tombs attached to Genghis Khan were destroyed and the Han people were restored.Because of this, they formed a feud with the Mongols. When Mongols occupied the world, they issued the Golden Eagle Order to summon a secret organization of assassins from all over the world to hunt down and kill the Xilingmen people.It is said that to this day, the descendants of this assassin group still follow the ancestral precepts and hunt down and kill Xilingmen sect members.It is also because of this that Xiling Lishi is the most secretive of his identity, and people who are not from the sect will not disclose their identities even if they are wives, wives and children.The Xilingmen people later faded out of the Central Plains, and used to be active in the northwestern area of ​​Miaojiang and Outer Mongolia. They also appeared in Central Asia, North Africa and Europe in modern times.

Most of the Xiling Lishi are extreme nationalists, and they attach great importance to the inheritance of the Huaxia clan. Although the scope of activities is not in the Central Plains, the inheritance is only found among the Han people, and they will do everything they can to countries that may endanger the Central Plains regime of the Han people.Proficient in traditional martial arts, his behavior is similar to that of a knight.He despises modern technological products and weapons, but has a lot of research on modern scientific theories. He is committed to combining theories such as Feng Shui arrays with scientific theories, and occasionally produces products such as Yin Qi measuring instruments and interference wave generators for zombies.

The Xiling group mainly uses their nose to smell. In order to maintain the sensitivity of the nose, tobacco, alcohol and spicy things are avoided.Use the iron drill to drive into the ground, and after pulling it out, use your nose to smell the various smells that the iron drill brings up from the underground soil, as well as the feel of the ground when you dig the soil, the underground is empty, or there are wood, masonry, these feel sure is different.

The real big experts are dismissive of Luoyang shoveling those things, because if the underground soil is not dry enough, the effect will be greatly reduced, especially in those affluent places in the south of the Yangtze River, where the rainfall is heavy, and many ancient tombs are flooded by groundwater. The soil layer was washed into a mess.

The Xiling faction has been hunted down by the Mongolians for a long time, and most of the disciples are precarious. In order to protect themselves, the rules of the predecessors have changed a lot for thousands of years.And evolved all kinds of new rules, such as never doing anything to the tombs of Han people or even Chinese people.

General Faqiu was only available in the later Han Dynasty, also known as Faqiu Tianguan or Faqiu Lingguan. In fact, the methods of Faqiu Tianguan and Mojin Xiaowei are almost the same, except that there is an extra copper seal engraved with Tianguan. Blessing, nothing taboo, is an irreplaceable fetish in the hands of the diggers. It is said that with one seal on hand, ghosts and gods will avoid it.The prototype of this seal is said to have been destroyed in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty and no longer exists in the world.

The Faqiu School is very similar to the Mojin School. The difference is that the Faqiu Heavenly Official has a copper seal on which is engraved with "Blessings from the Heavenly Official, nothing taboo".It is close to the Mojin faction, but slightly inferior in technology, but they focus on teamwork. They often use the identity of antique dealers or pawnshop owners as a cover to target large tombs and even royal tombs. They are the only one of the four factions that do not shy away from cooperating with officials. of a family.In the Qing Dynasty, due to the persecution of foreigners, they were exiled overseas, and they were mostly active in Southeast Asia and the Americas. They were found in many large-scale ancient tomb excavation teams.Most of the remaining branches in the country are involved in government departments as archaeologists.

General Faqiu often invites many people to act at the same time, make detailed plans, and take countermeasures for possible situations.Then step by step, one by one.Therefore, the risk is the lowest during the digging process.Most of the trouble comes from procedures such as the distribution of stolen goods and secrecy after the event, so a series of rules have been produced in a targeted manner.

In addition to the above four major factions, there are two unknown factions, namely the Laoshan Taoist faction and the Maoshan faction.

The Laoshan Taoist school is good at exorcising ghosts and catching monsters, suppressing zombies, unraveling curses, traditional Chinese medicine, geomantic geomantic omen, internal kung fu, etc.Among them, the two methods of geomantic omen and traditional kung fu were diverted to the bandit organization, forming the Xiling Lishi school.Most of the once glorious Green Forest Army was under the Laoshan sect.Huang Chao, the leader of the rebel army at the end of the Tang Dynasty, said that he had learned the art of Laoshan, and had dug many Tang tombs in Shaanxi to pay for the army.However, these skills within the Laoshan School have gradually lost their inheritance.

Taoist priests in Laoshan mostly exorcised demons and ghosts, and traveled around as doctors for a living. Some people served rich officials and officials to deal with their enemies.The Laoshan disciples have always been known for not distinguishing between good and evil, and acting boldly and recklessly. They claim to only respect the destiny and ignore human feelings. Many of the disciples cooperate with the four sects to steal ancient tombs for profit.Among the four sects, most of the magic tools and medicines used to avoid zombies were created by Laoshan disciples.It is a feud with Maoshan.

(End of this chapter)