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

Chapter 52 Resurrection, reheating: major tomb robbery incidents since the new era (4)
On March 1997, 3, Xi'an Public Security Bureau cracked a case of buying and selling Sancai. On March 14, many ancient cultural relic experts gathered together in a hall of more than 3 square meters in the Municipal Public Security Bureau.They not only brought various relevant instruments for identifying ancient cultural relics, but also cameras and video recorders.They followed the requirements of the leaders of the Municipal Public Security Bureau: they had to be in place at one time, and the results were identified on the spot!Experts in cultural relic appraisal were stunned: So far, China has never unearthed a fragment of Tang Sancai on such a scale.At this moment, when the morning sun had just climbed up the majestic ancient city of Xi'an, many experts on ancient cultural relics had gathered together in a hall of more than 17 square meters in the Municipal Public Security Bureau.They not only brought various relevant instruments for identifying ancient cultural relics, but also cameras and video recorders.They followed the requirements of the leaders of the Municipal Public Security Bureau: they had to be in place at one time, and the results were identified on the spot!Experts in cultural relic appraisal were stunned: So far, China has never unearthed a fragment of Tang Sancai on such a scale.

Experts made a preliminary identification of the external colored glaze, and believed that its color matching is definitely beyond the operation of ordinary folk craftsmen. The degree of corrosion and damage resistance fully demonstrates the superb technical level of the Tang Dynasty.The experts carefully placed the fragments on about fifty or sixty square meters, and then pieced them together. It took 8 hours to put together several very shapeless objects.Faced with the three-color objects that had been put together to give a sense of reality, they all said that they were not objects from the tombs of emperors of the Tang Dynasty, such as Tang Taizong and Wu Zetian, but at least they were treasures from the tombs of nobles who were closely related to the emperors!
The attribution of these three-color objects representing the highest level of ceramic craftsmanship in the Tang Dynasty became a key issue.

Late at night on March 3, a fierce battle between trial and anti-trial reached its peak. At 17:4 in the morning, the criminal suspect Zhang Hongchao was finally defeated by the interrogators and made a preliminary confession.

It turned out that Du Husan, another suspect in this case, couldn't get along in Tongchuan, a coal city, so he went south to Fuping County, hoping to distribute some cultural relics or find some odd jobs to do.In the early morning of that day, he slipped to Liuba Township, Huazhu Township, and Gongli Township in Fuping County. As far as he could see, there were large and small ancient tombs and ancient monuments everywhere in the grassy field.He found a tomb with the smallest dust cover, walked around the tomb seven or eight times, carefully inspected the appearance of the tomb seat, and prepared to strike.

After that, he found Zhang Hongchao, his drinking buddy in Xi'an, and they hit it off.The most important reason why Du Husan asked Zhang Hongchao to work together was that Zhang Hongchao lived in Xi'an, so it was easy to hide stolen goods, and Xi'an was a concentrated place for reselling and smuggling ancient cultural relics, so it was easy to sell the goods early and make a fortune early.

After a day of careful planning and preparation, on the third day, when the sky was still half-dark, Du Husan got up impatiently and quietly patted Zhang Hongchao, who was still snoring and sleeping soundly.The two put short shovels, shovels, knives, ropes and other crime tools into two long strips of large broadband dual-purpose travel bags, and then rushed to the coach station in the afterglow of the dawn moon.In half an hour, the car drove to Chengguan Town, Fuping County.At about 10 o'clock in the evening, Du and Zhang came to the tombs of the dignitaries of the Tang Dynasty between Liuba Township and Gongli Township in the dark.They searched east and west, and it took a long time before they found the small tomb that Du Hu had explored three days ago.You and I shoveled each other, and dug for more than two hours, which made us sweat.They dug with shovels, picked up and piled up pottery fragments worth no less than 800 yuan.Because the mud is thick and sticky and difficult to dig, it is inevitable to bump and bump, smashing many precious three-color objects.

Afterwards, Du and Zhang put the Tang Sancai fragments on the ground into baskets first, and then brought up the fragments piled up in the tomb one by one. They filled 11 bamboo baskets and a plastic woven bag.Taking advantage of the darkness, they transported the stolen goods to Xi'an on motorcycle three-wheelers.

Although Zhang Hongchao confessed to the crime, Du Husan firmly denied it, only saying that he and Zhang Hongchao went to Fuping and bought these fragments from local farmers, and they did not rob the tomb.Soon, Du Husan escaped from his handcuffs while in custody.

In order to solve the case as soon as possible, Lei Zundu, Section Chief of the Third Section of the Economic Investigation Department of the Xi'an Public Security Bureau, divided the personnel who were looking for the scene of the crime into two groups. Lei led Zhang Jun and others to the Cultural Administration Bureau of Fuping County, asking them to help according to the situation, and to find the direction of the perpetrator and the scene of the crime from a wider range.

Lei, Zhang and others rushed to the Bureau of Cultural Relics non-stop, and the director of the bureau, Lao Yang Xun, accompanied Lei Zundu and others to Gongli Township.This is the area where Fuping ancient tombs have been the most robbed in recent years.Lao Yang introduced that two or three days ago, there were suspicious signs in the burial tomb No. 10, Dongxiaqiu Village, Gongli Township.During the patrol, the tomb guards and the joint security team found the prints of travel shoes nearby, and in the distance found the tomb of the Tang emperor's son-in-law Wang Tongjiao, and the entrance of the cave dug by the gangsters.

Hearing this, Lao Lei's heart skipped a beat: the shoes Du Husan and Zhang Hongchao were wearing were sneakers!In addition, the Tang Sancai obtained from the tomb robbery, the light fragments are more than ten baskets, is definitely not available in the tomb of King Tongjiao.Therefore, the general location of the site can be basically delineated, and the ancient tombs dug and Zhang excavated must be in the vicinity of tomb No. 10 as the center.

Experts sent by the Shaanxi Provincial Administration of Cultural Relics and other departments unanimously determined after forensic research, testing, and analysis of the excavated relics that ancient tomb No. 10 in Gongli Township is the source of the Tang Sancai tablets unearthed in the bamboo basket.Zhang Hongchao also admitted before the physical evidence: This is where they committed the crime.

In June of the same year, Du Husan was arrested in Shanxi.Du Husan's return to justice made the case clear.Although Du Husan still avoided the seriousness of the crime and covered it up, but there were witnesses and physical evidence, the facts of the crime were convincing, and the records of the pre-trial personnel were detailed and reliable. Du Husan finally pleaded guilty.

So, who is the "master" in Tomb No. 10?
According to the "Feng Shui Bu Yi Jing" of the Tang Dynasty in China, this place - under the misty Phoenix Mountain, is a treasure land of "objects" hydrology belonging to "Fuya" (that is, the nobles buried with them).Cultural relics personnel have confirmed according to history that this tomb is the tomb of Li Xian, Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty.The owner of the tomb should be said to be Li Xian's daughter.But Li Xian has quite a lot of daughters. According to historical records, Li Xian, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang Dynasty, had 5 charming daughters. They are: Princess Yicheng, Princess Changning, Princess Cheng'an, Princess Anding, and Princess Yongshou.So, which one of the five princesses is the real owner of tomb No. 10?This question has become an unsolved case, because there are no historical materials for the princess to check, no unofficial historical evidence, and no epitaph, stone tablet, stone tablet or other records containing the owner's life, life, and history have been found from Tomb No. 5. about relics.Therefore, it is difficult to determine which daughter's tomb belongs to Tang Zhongzong Li Xian.

Warring States BMW was stolen

As the saying goes, "72 tombs and 82 towers, I don't know where King Zhao is buried."In the hilly area at the junction of Handan County and Yongnian County, there are three major mausoleums, and there are four major mausoleums in Handan County, distributed in Sanling Township. "Handan County Chronicle" records: "Warring States King Huiwen, King Xiaocheng, King Mourning Xiang were buried here."

In 386 BC, skilled craftsmen from all walks of life built a tall building in the southwest of Dabei City, Handan. It looked like a temporary palace, but those familiar with the situation knew that there was bound to be a larger-scale operation in this place.As a result, the news of King Zhao's move to the capital began to fly everywhere in Handan City like catkins in spring.

Zhao Wang, that is, Zhao Jinghou, named Zhang Liehouzi.He came to the throne in 386 BC.In the first year, Handan was the capital of Zhao Shi.

The news was confirmed quickly.One day, a group of noisy people came from the southern road, setting off billowing yellow dust.People and horses surrounded a luxurious chariot, on which was the newly enthroned Zhao Jinghou.He had just quelled the rebellion of the Prince's Dynasty, and instead of staying in Muduojia, the original capital, he came straight to Handan in a mighty manner according to the set goal.He is full of expectations for this new capital, imagining that it will bring good luck to his future career as a monarch, and bring good luck to his country, so that the country will last forever.

Handan, the capital of Zhao State, is like a huge umbrella cover, which completely covers the appearance of Handan before Zhao State.However, when the umbrella cover is restored, there are also omissions.When Zhao Jinghou arrived here, he wrote on the bamboo slips. He may not have seen the earlier oracle bone inscriptions, but the sporadic inscriptions on the oracle bones secretly revealed the origin of this city.On a piece of oracle bone unearthed in Anyang, it was outlined and written: "The king goes to Gan".This "king" refers to Wuding, the king of Shang; "Gan" refers to Handan.A book called "Bamboo Book Chronicles" also left a record that King Zhou of Shang Dynasty built a separate palace in Handan.

Handan is "connected to Yan and Zhuo in the north, and Zheng and Wei in the south", and it is also the intersection of Fukou Xinggoulian North and South Avenues, one of the Eight Xings of Taihang.King Shang Zhou set himself on fire in Chaoge, and Chaoge gradually fell, while Handan, where he used to play and play, rose quietly.The old capital Zhongmu was abandoned because Zhongmu was close to the border between Zhao and Wei. Handan was not far from Zhongmu to the north and penetrated into the interior of Zhao. The advantages were self-evident. How could Zhao Jinghou turn a blind eye?What's more, when Zhao's capital was still in Jinyang, there was a civil strife in the Zhao family. The cause was that Wei Guogong paid 500 families to Handan at that time. Based on the calculation of 5 people per family, Handan can accommodate 2500 people at once. Its strength can be imagined.It should be said that Handan's transportation and economic conditions are more suitable for the development of Zhao State than that of Zhongmou.

From the time Zhao Jinghou moved his capital to Handan in 386 BC to the fall of Zhao State in 228 BC, there were eight princes, seven of whom were buried in Handan.Since there are princes buried here, it is inevitable to rob the tomb.

At about 1997:10 on October 18, 21, a villager from Chen Sanling Village, Handan County quietly went to the No. 2 Tomb of Zhao Wangling to catch hares.The village party secretary immediately dialed the "110" alarm number of the County Public Security Bureau, and 40 minutes later, the patrol team members drove to the cemetery in a police car.

The tomb robbers who were digging vigorously in the tomb did not hear the call of the accomplices at the top. They were given oxygen, so they were very busy at the bottom of the cave, digging out the soil with shovels, and they didn't hear the sound of their accomplices calling them to retreat. When the criminal police and a group of seven or eight people suddenly rushed to the tomb, Liu and others were happy to dig the treasure. !In their joy, they suddenly saw a bright white flashlight beam from the top of the cave. Before they could understand it, they heard someone shouting down with a loud voice: We are from the Public Security Bureau, come up!
The one that was stolen was Tomb No. 2 in the tombs of King Zhao.

The criminal police detachment of the Handan Public Security Bureau quickly established a leading group for the detection of the "10.18" theft of King Zhao's tomb.According to their investigation and analysis of the stolen site, this group of people is by no means the first time to steal ancient tomb cultural relics, and it is very likely that a larger professional criminal gang is hidden behind it.Therefore, the criminal policemen attacked in two ways to hunt down the tomb robber who fled that night.

Hard work pays off, and with the great assistance of Shanxi Houma Public Security Bureau, the special case team quickly obtained three extremely valuable case clues: It turned out that Sun Jinlong and Liu Xiaomin collaborated with another police officer half a year before the case happened. The tomb robber Wang Chunbao formed a tomb-digging group specializing in robbing the tomb of King Zhao. He went to the tomb of King Zhao in Handan twice, carried out frenzied digging, and stole bronze horses, pieces of golden jade clothes and other funeral objects from the tomb.This tomb robbery case was planned by Yang Wei (a native of Beijing), a great cultural relic dealer.

In the early morning of the second day after obtaining this clue, this Yang Wei unexpectedly used codes to frequently call a surrendered gang member and explosives expert K, and asked K to "go to Pizhou, Jiangsu Province as soon as possible to do business (referring to participate in tomb robbery activities)".

Regardless of fatigue, the police moved to Pizhou City in Jiangsu Province and Cangshan County in Shandong Province, and finally captured Yang Wei.

At this time, Wang Chunbao, another principal criminal who robbed the tomb of King Zhao with Yang Wei in March, was arrested by the local public security organs for robbing the tomb of King Chu Yuan in Tongshan County, Jiangsu Province.The special case team decided to move to Jiangsu to surprise Wang Chunbao for interrogation.

Wang Chunbao truthfully confessed: In February 1997, when he, Yang Wei, Sun Jinlong, Liu Xiaomin and other "professional tomb robbers" planned to rob the tomb of King Chu and Yuan in Tongshan, Jiangsu for the second time, there was an infighting with gangs from Shandong and Jiangsu. Seeing that he had no way to intervene, Wei proposed to go north to Handan to rob Zhao Wangling.

Several people rushed to Handan in March. Yang came forward and found five Henan people to start construction. The leader called himself "Wan Sen".After digging for five nights, they blasted the air duct and entered the tomb. Wan Sen found a scattered skeleton in the tomb passage, which could be crushed into powder with his hands.Based on this, the "experienced" tomb robber judged that the tomb might have been robbed in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, and "there is not much oil and water", so he led the group of Henan people to leave Yang Wei and the others to evacuate.

Yang Wei and Wang Chunbao didn't agree with Wan Sen's claim that "it's not a big deal". They didn't want to stop because they had already invested a lot of money in this matter and they didn't want to get nothing in return.So, Yang Wei summoned eight more "grave diggers" from Henan and Shanxi, and continued to move forward. He also transferred a jeep from Baoding Laiyuan, and the theft continued for more than 20 days.They slept during the day and used vehicles to pull people and tools to the scene after 9 pm.After digging through the bottom of the tomb to a depth of more than 9 meters, another 8 meters were excavated horizontally.

At 4 o'clock in the morning on April 7, with the sound of "ding dong", a greedy green light flashed in the eyes of the tomb robber: three bronze horses with different shapes!Digging further, the treasures are rolling in - a piece of animal face shop head, a pair of pure gold waist plaques, and 2 pieces of golden jade clothes!

In the dark depths of the tomb, Sun Jinlong quietly said to Liu Xiaomin: "Let's hand over the bronze horse to Yang Wei on the top, and bury the jade pieces and gold medals first, and then come and get them later." The cunning Yang Wei watched from the top of the tomb. After arriving at the unearthed bronze horse, he was secretly delighted, but he didn't show it on his face. He still had a dismissive expression: "It's worthless!" He gave the "grave digger" 2000 yuan as travel expenses. The people scattered like birds and beasts.

Sun Jinlong, Liu Xiaomin and others pretended to go home, and then returned to the cemetery that night, took out pieces of golden jade clothes and gold waist plaques, and immediately returned to their hometown Houma, Shanxi.In this way, more than 200 priceless cultural relics from King Zhao's tomb were lost in two ways: three bronze horses and an animal face paving head obtained by Yang Wei were transferred to the "backstage boss" Li Qiang; Sun Jinlong and Liu Xiaomin returned to Shanxi Back in his hometown, Wang Chunbao and others hid the above-mentioned cultural relics in a secret corner. After eating and drinking, Wang Chunbao remembered Yuan Weixiang, nicknamed "capable man". Yuan Weixiang was a veteran cultural relics smuggler. Therefore, Wang Chunbao immediately thought of him, but Wang Chunbao and Yuan were not very familiar, so he found Liu Kunyu, a dealer in cultural relics in Henan, and Liu Zuo At this time, Yuan Weixiang was dealing with a batch of smuggled cultural relics in the Anqing and Tongcheng areas of Anhui Province. After hearing the news, he immediately rushed from Tongcheng, Anhui to Shanxi. He bought gold waist plaques, jade clothing pieces, and jade kui, a total of 12 pieces (pieces) of stolen cultural relics.

The gold waist plate and more than 200 pieces of jade, jade kui and other cultural relics stolen by the "grave digger" were resold for 12 yuan to Henan cultural relics dealer Liu Kunyu, and Liu resold them for 36 yuan to Yuan Weixiang, Yuan Weixiang, an outlaw in Tongcheng, Anhui. The cultural relics were sold overseas.

Human desires are unlimited, especially this kind of profit-free business.The two cultural relic dealers Liu Kunyu and Yuan Weixiang who got the jade pieces from the "grave diggers" deduced that there should be far more treasures in Zhao Wang's tomb, so they decided to take another risk and rob Zhao Wang's No. 2 tomb.Then there was the scene of the Dongchuang incident on the night of October 10.

So far, the ins and outs of Zhao Wangling Tomb No. 2 being stolen several times have become clear, but where are the stolen cultural relics?

In the fall of 1998, Liu Xiaomin, Xiong Suling, and Sun Jinlong, the perpetrators of the theft of King Zhao’s tomb, were captured by patrol members of the criminal police team of the Handan Public Security Bureau. A batch of state-level treasures with extremely high historical value, cultural relic value, archaeological and collection value, such as the bronze horse, golden jade clothes and pure gold belt hook, which are "orphan products in the world", were unfortunately resold abroad by black hands. This left a deep regret to the criminal investigators of the Handan Public Security Bureau!

The Handan police, who have been following the clues, learned that Li Qiang, who took the bronze horse, had absconded to California, USA to "shelter the wind".The task force decided to knock the mountain and shake the tiger, forcing it to go home and recover the cultural relics.In desperation, Li Qiang sneaked back to China in March 1998.After arriving in Beijing, he successively approached the Handan police to "throw stones and ask for directions" through many connections, and even spent huge sums of money to get through the "joints" to ensure that the cultural relics dealers "passed the customs". On April 3, Li Qiang, who had almost run out of "event funds", went south to Zhengzhou in a panic, hoping to make one last transaction and get some activity funds. In Zhengzhou, he used an "old acquaintance" cultural relics smuggler to At a private spot on Jinshui Road, he bought a summer magnetic pillow made during the reign of Song Huizong at a price of more than 4 yuan, and then drove to Qingdao, Shandong, where he wanted to sell it to cultural relics smugglers from the sea. , the price can at least double!
(End of this chapter)