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

Chapter 14 Who Are the Tomb Robbers: The Past and Present of the Tomb Robbers (4)
The representatives of tomb robbery for the purpose of expanding military pay are Dong Zhuo in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Sun Dianying in the Republic of China.Of course, their purpose of robbing tombs is to raise money, but the main factor is to raise military salaries.As a warlord who started from the northwest, Dong Zhuo was not very strong in economic strength, although he was an official to the grand master and took the emperor to command the princes.The royal family at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was already in dire straits, so there was nothing left to do.Although Dong Zhuo plundered a lot of treasures from the emperor of Han after he took control of the government, compared with his huge military expenditure, it can be said that the role of those looted treasures is negligible.Unfortunately, the eighteen princes across the country attacked him at the same time, which made Dong Zhuo's financial burden even more stretched.In order to win the war, he was willing to risk the disapproval of the world and robbed the mausoleum of Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

In modern times, official thieves became even more rampant. In the early days of the Republic of China, a major case of "Treasure Stealing in Dongling" occurred that shocked China and the world. One night in July 1928, Sun Dianying, the commander of the Twelfth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, ordered Zhuan Sun Ziyu, the engineer battalion commander, to take a company straight to Cixi's Dingdong Tomb.At the same time, they also ordered the division commander Chai Yun to attach his subordinate Battalion Commander Han to Bensheng Shuiyu Emperor Qianlong's Yuling, after seven nights of criminal activities, looted all the gold and jade treasures in the two tombs.Their tomb-robbing activities, whether it is tomb-robbing tools or tomb-robbing technology, have made breakthroughs.At that time, the history of human warfare had entered the era of hot weapons. As the official tomb robber of a great warlord, he fully enjoyed the convenience brought by modern technology.When it was discovered that the entrance to the tomb was blocked with boulders, it was no longer like their predecessors "Captain Mojin" who relied on fire and axes to open the way bit by bit. It only needed a few packs of explosives to get it done easily.

The world is so big, and the king of Guangchuan, Liu Qu, is not the only one who has a hobby of robbing tombs. Wen Tao, the Jiedu envoy at the end of Tang Dynasty, is also a person who enjoys tomb robbing.Taking advantage of the chaotic situation at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Wen Tao transformed himself into a great warlord with a large army in his hands.First, he was not short of military pay, and second, he didn't want to make money. It seemed that he only robbed tombs to satisfy his addiction to tomb robbers.This can be seen from the fact that he wrote a book specially for his achievements in tomb robbery.

From the point of view of earning money by robbing tombs, Liu Yu, the puppet emperor of Qi established by the Kingdom of Jin in the late Southern Song Dynasty, is a typical representative.Although Liu Yu is an emperor in name, he does not have the privileges and treatment that an emperor should have.Liu Yu's crazy love for money may be related to his background.He was just born in a family of ordinary people, and became emperor by relying on some cleverness.In fact, he has never seen any real treasures.Therefore, he set his sights on the Northern Song Dynasty's imperial tomb, which was rich in funeral objects, and robbed and excavated it wantonly.In addition, the tomb robberies of Dong Zhuo, Sun Dianying, and Dang Yukun were all related to money-grabbing.

The nature of warlord tomb robbery, without exception, is official robbery, and they are all carried out with the backing of a large number of troops.The means of warlord tomb robbers are more advanced than other tomb robbers of the same period.Because these warlords all hold heavy troops and master the most advanced weapons and equipment at that time.Take the tomb robbery of various warlords during the Republic of China as an example. When they encountered difficulties in the process of tomb robbery, they used modern tools and techniques such as gunpowder and water pumps.

The process of warlord tomb robbery is extremely cruel. In order to meet their own needs as soon as possible, they took any available method to rob tombs, and some even blew up tombs.After stealing the treasures in the mausoleum, they will greatly destroy the corpses in the mausoleum.The remains of Emperor Qianlong and Empress Dowager Cixi were dismembered and randomly thrown on the ground.

The above-mentioned acts of official robbery are all carried out with the backing of the state's violent machinery.Tomb robbers hold heavy soldiers and the most advanced weapons and equipment at that time, and they can run amok in the era when the sword determines everything.Similarly, their tomb robbery process is also extremely cruel. In order to satisfy their greed and raise military pay, they often take any available method, even blowing up the tomb.There is no power to restrict the official tomb robbery, and the consequences have caused irreparable losses to human civilization, and have written a very disgraceful stroke in history.

Bandits in troubled times have no scruples

As a special group in society, bandits will not leave a good impression on people no matter in terms of social status or moral level.When it comes to bandits, most people think of images of ferocious faces, murderous people, kings of mountains, and robbery.In ancient Chinese society, bandits were very discriminated against.Some people would rather beg for food than be a bandit.Because once you have a relationship with bandits, not only will you be reviled by the world, but your offspring will not be respected by society.Although some bandits have found conscience and done some good things, their status still cannot be changed.Bandits are not only different from the government, but also different from the common people.Compared with the government, they do not have strong financial support and military power.Therefore, they often survive under the suppression of the government.Compared with the common people, the power of the bandits is very powerful.Not only do they have a certain amount of weapons and military power, but they also have a certain amount of money as their backing, although most of that money was robbed.Therefore, they often play the role of oppressing the people.When dealing with those naughty and mischievous children, the common people in our country often frighten them that bandits are coming.The child will immediately calm down when he hears it.It can be seen that the image and status of bandits in the minds of ordinary people is terrified even by children who don't understand the world.

If these bandits want to obtain strong funds as a backing to buy money, food and weapons, they must open up a wide range of sources of income.In the history of our country, there are many ways for bandits to amass wealth, including blocking roads and robbing passers-by, stealing and even ransacking villages and cities with their entire army.These are their relatively common methods of raising money, which not only have small benefits but also high risks.Therefore, some bandits began to turn to other ways of making money.Bandit robbery came into being.

Looking at the bandits' tomb robbery, it has its own characteristics in terms of the purpose of the tomb robbery, the background of the tomb robbery, the means of the tomb robbery, the scale of the tomb robbery, and the degree of damage.

First, in terms of the purpose of tomb robbing, there are nothing more than two, one is purely to make money, and the other is to make money to expand military power.The two are generally intertwined.

Most of the bandits who rob tombs purely for the sake of making money are those who have grown to a certain scale, have relatively strong strength, are surrounded by less competition, and are not much threatened by the government.It has developed into a certain climate. Therefore, the bandit team no longer needs to expand its number, and there is no need to buy weapons if there are no security risks.They rob tombs either because of the personal preferences of the bandit leaders, or because they lack money in their lives.The bandits were generally born in poor families and hardly lived a good life.Once you become a bandit or even a bandit leader, you have a certain amount of power in your hands.With power comes corruption.Therefore, after the bandits made their fortunes, the metropolis lived a life of luxury.It is not easy to maintain such a life.Because the bandit leader not only has to think about himself, but if the brothers under him are doing too badly, it will naturally bring about unstable factors.Therefore, the need for a large amount of funds made them think of tomb robbery.

Most of the bandits who rob graves purely for the purpose of expanding the army are those with small development scale, small number of people, and outdated weapons and equipment. .In order to survive and develop better, they have to do everything possible to arm themselves, and at the same time, they can preserve their own strength to the greatest extent in the process of arming.Tomb robbery can be said to be the first choice for this kind of bandit team to make a fortune.

The above two situations are relatively simple, and there are very few such bandit teams.Under normal circumstances, the bandit team's tomb robbery is not only to satisfy the personal desires of the bandit leaders, but also to expand military power.For example, the theft of Wanniang’s tomb mentioned in this chapter, the theft of Emperor Guangxu’s Chongling Mausoleum, and the robbing and excavation of the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty by Wang Shaoyi, etc.On the one hand, they want to maintain their well-clothed life, and on the other hand, they want to occupy a place in the turbulent era of warlord melee.

Second, from the perspective of the background of tomb robbery, bandit tomb robbery generally occurs in the historical context of social unrest, weak mainstream government power, and years of melee warlords.This is related to the living conditions of bandits.The reason why there is room for bandits in a society is because the mainstream government cannot effectively govern the ruled areas.In the era of economic prosperity and social stability in our country, it was difficult for bandits to survive.This is because the source of bandits will be restricted.If the common people live and work in peace and contentment, who would be willing to be a risky bandit?Even if there are those who are restless or become bandits for some other reason, it is difficult to survive and develop for a long time.Because a strong dynasty must have a strong government and wise decision makers.These decision makers will certainly not allow rebel forces to appear in their territory.What's more, a strong dynasty will inevitably have strong military strength.Therefore, they will vigorously suppress the bandits.Therefore, in the famous period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the period of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, the period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty and the later period of Kangxi and Qianlong, there were basically no bandit riots, and there were very few cases of bandit robbery.On the contrary, those periods when the mainstream government is weak are the times when bandits are rampant.This is because weak dynasties are generally led by incompetent rulers, without a relatively stable society and strong military power.Once the common people appear to be in dire straits and have no means of living, they may fall into the grass and become bandits.The fatuous rulers may not know the bandit rampage in their own world, and even if they know, they may not have enough military strength to suppress it, so they can only watch the bandits run amok in their own territory.As a result, many bandits robbed tombs.There are many such situations. For example, the Song Dynasty in our country was invaded by the Liao and Jin ethnic minorities from the north for a long time, and it was too busy to take care of itself. How could it take care of suppressing bandits?Another example is the end of the Qing Dynasty and the period of the Republic of China. The power of the Qing government gradually weakened or disappeared, and it was invaded by Western countries. There was no time and energy to suppress bandits.Even if they knew that they had robbed the tomb, they could only bear it silently.During the period of the Republic of China, warlords, big and small, fought for years, and there was basically no unified government in the whole country.Even if there are troops and garrisons to supervise the tomb robbery, it is mostly a decoration and does not play a substantive role.

Third, in terms of tomb robbery methods, bandits' tomb robbery methods are extremely low.They are not full-time tomb robbers, but thieves who come to get money.They generally have no experience in tomb robbery, and the tools for tomb robbery are limited to shovels, axes, etc., and their tomb robbery skills are even more scarce.

Fourth, judging from the scale of tomb robbery, there are generally about 100 tomb robber teams.This is related to the size of the bandit team.Because bandits do not have the status of a regular army, everyone shouts and beats them like rats crossing the street.This is doomed that the bandit team will not be very large.Their tomb robbery is not like some rich and powerful warlords, who can blatantly rob.In order to avoid the impact from all sides, they have to act secretly in the middle of the night.

Fifth, judging from the degree of damage to the stolen mausoleum, it can be said to be appalling.Because most of the bandits were born at the bottom of the society and generally had no education, coupled with their rough personalities, they would inevitably do great damage to the tombs they robbed.They used extremely destructive tools such as shovels and axes, so most of the tombs they robbed would be opened and dissected.

(End of this chapter)