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

Chapter 58 Murder Intent Hidden in the Darkness——Anti-Tomb Raider Technology (3)
From the perspective of active defense and passive defense, the technology of blocking stones and quicksand should be a passive method of anti-tomb robbery, while the ambush, knives and guns mentioned in this section are the methods of active defense.Why is it called active defense?First of all, there are swords and spears in the tomb.This anti-theft measure can be seen in the historical records from the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, but there is a prerequisite for setting up such hidden weapons, that is, the tomb must be spacious and bright, and there is a space for swords and arrows.After the Tang Dynasty, most of the imperial mausoleums were made of mountains, or stone chamber tombs of artificially excavated underground palaces.The underground palace of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is a dump-style vertical pit tomb. According to archaeological research, the interior is basically similar in shape to the excavated Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, but it is larger and more complicated than the Mawangdui Tomb.Therefore, such hidden weapons like swords, guns and crossbows cannot be used in a large tomb like Mawangdui. Only a super-large underground palace like Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum can be opened and play the role of shooting.

The specific setting and implementation methods are as follows: first, install strong bows and crossbows on the two walls of the tomb, in the shape of a bow and an arrow. Each crossbow is equipped with one or several arrows. to the point of death.Then fix it with a rope with high strength bearing capacity, fix a hook on the wall at the rear of the crossbow to allow the rope to pass through, and fix the other end of the rope to a hidden place on the door.The rope is stretched diagonally. If it is the left wall, one end of the rope is connected to the right door of the tomb passage; if it is the right wall, the rope is connected to the left door.When the tomb robber opens the door, if he opens the right door, the crossbow rope on the left wall will be broken, and the string of the crossbow will gallop quickly, and the sharp arrow will come out, and the shooting direction will be on the right side of the doorway; Open the left door and shoot according to the same principle; if the two doors are opened together, the crossbows on both walls will close the doorway and shoot the person who enters, thus forming the first line of defense.

As long as the tomb robbers open the tomb door, all the bows and arrows drawn by the turning of the door will be shot out, and the tomb robbers will be shot, even if not all the tomb robbers were shot to death, or escaped the catastrophe by luck. The second line of defense awaits him.The specific method is basically the same as before, except that a number of seesaws are laid behind the tomb door and camouflage is carried out so that the tomb robbers cannot distinguish the similarities and differences from other places.The bow and crossbow traction ropes inlaid on the two walls of the tomb passage are connected under the seesaw or above the seesaw in a concealed manner, becoming a trip wire.When the tomb robber breaks through the door and enters the tomb passage, the seesaw will move up and down naturally, the rope will be broken due to external force, the string of the bow and crossbow will be released instantly, and the sharp arrow will be released automatically, shooting directly at the door of the tomb. Those who died or were injured.If you encounter a trip wire, shoot it in the same way.Because the arrowhead has been soaked in poison, as long as it scratches or brushes a little bit of fur, the tomb robber has little hope of surviving, and will die soon.After the bows and arrows led by the first stepped seesaw or tripwire are finished, if there are surviving tomb robbers who continue to move forward, they will undoubtedly step on the second, third and more seesaws.In this way, the bows and crossbows fixed on the two walls of the tomb passage can be fired in multiple waves, like a continuous crossbow, stretching and recurring, until all the sharp arrows hidden in the tomb passage are shot out, and all the tomb robbers are shot to death.

Because Qin Shihuang's mausoleum has not been excavated, we don't know what kind of bow and crossbow installed in Qin Shihuang's mausoleum.However, judging from the crossbow unearthed from the pit of Qin warriors, its bow stem and crossbow arms are both long, and the material may be "Zhe" (mountain mulberry) from Nanshan, which should be a strong crossbow with good performance.According to estimates by scholars, the range of this crossbow should be greater than six hundred steps (equivalent to the current 831.6 meters), and the tension should also exceed twelve stones (equivalent to the current 738 catties).Such a powerful crossbow with a long range and high tension may be difficult to pull apart with human arm strength alone, and only the use of "kicking" can be effective.

If the crossbows equipped with arrows are connected one by one and fired in clusters or bursts through the machine, the purpose of unmanned operation and self-warning can be achieved.This "machine crossbow" is actually a "dark crossbow".Because there are a lot of rare treasures in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, in order to prevent theft, this kind of trigger weapon is placed in the tomb door, passageway, etc. Once a tomb robber enters the tomb, he will run into the tripwire connected to the trigger , was violently shot.This practice was inherited by the tombs of the later Han and Tang Dynasties, and was developed to install turbines in the coffin to shoot tomb robbers.

Several tools like modern pulleys are installed on the inner wall of the coffin. On one side of the pulley, a crossbow and poisonous arrows are placed, and the rope is connected to the crossbow and the coffin cover through the pulley. This is the turbine.Once the tomb robbers enter the underground palace and open the coffin, the rope will trigger a bow and arrow through the turbine to shoot and kill those who touch the coffin.

Because the power of the tomb robbers to open the coffin is far greater than the energy of the pedal rocker, and the rope generates a new explosive force through the rotation of the turbine. It needs to be several times or even dozens of times more powerful. After the arrow is fired, it can penetrate the human body, and anyone who touches it has no hope of survival.

Yu Yue, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, said such a story under the article "Gaochai Tomb" in his "Four Notes on the Tea Fragrance Room":
Feng Ma'er was a grave thief at that time.Once when he was stealing an ancient tomb in Chenzhou, he dug up a stone inscription that said "break every horse", which strengthened Feng Ma'er's confidence in digging the tomb.When the tomb was excavated, poisonous smoke sprayed out and sharp swords flew randomly, all of which were controlled by a mechanical mechanism.Feng Ma'er destroyed the organs, entered the tomb, and collected gold-cast birds and some jade armor pieces in the shape of dragon scales, as well as countless other rare treasures.Thinking of that kind of situation is thrilling and shuddering.Fortunately, it was "broken every horse", otherwise many Feng Ma'er would have been buried under the poisonous smoke and arrows.

Second, dolls with weapons are placed in the tomb passage to kill grave robbers.The figure of the puppet is made of wood carving or other materials, in the shape of a ghost, holding a sword in each hand, and painted all over the body, it looks hideous and terrifying, making people daunting.

If a tomb robber enters, he will kill him with a knife and a sword.The specific implementation method still relies on the tension of the rope as the thrust. The rope is either tied to the door, or tied to the seesaw underground, and the principle is the same as that of shooting with a crossbow.But after all, the wooden man and the sword in his hand are more complicated and inconvenient to operate, so the overall effect is not as lethal as the bow and crossbow, and it mainly serves as a deterrent.If modern high-strength spring components are used instead of ropes, a huge elastic force is suddenly released according to the principle of tensile energy storage and action force and reaction force, allowing the wooden man to pop out from the original place, and the sharp sword in his hand may be able to play. greater utility.

It is a pity that the spring of copper-iron structure is a modern product, and there is no precedent for spring application technology in ancient times. In 1978, Hubei archaeologists excavated the tomb of the Warring States Period in Suixian, the tomb of Zenghou Yi in Leigudun, and found 20 Mutuo gold springs from the tomb. After identification, the springs were divided into two types: gold and lead-tin alloy. It is made of this kind, but its texture is very soft, it only has the shape of a spring and has no elasticity. It is not clear what the purpose of this device is.

Flooded tomb set up organs

In addition to anti-theft measures, some tombs have also designed some dangerous mechanisms to resolutely fight back against uninvited tomb robbers.These methods are very lethal, and many tomb robbers are buried in eerie tombs.Water storage to prevent theft is one of the "robbing" organs in the tomb.

"Xuanguailu" is a well-known legendary novel written by Niu Sengru of the Tang Dynasty, in which there is a story of "storage of water and attacking robbers":

Someone saw the rolled tiles from the ruts on the road, opened it and looked, and knew that there was an ancient tomb underneath, so he gathered a dozen people, went to Yanyan County together, and asked the county magistrate to live next to the road and open up wasteland for farming.After the crops grew, the tomb robbers used the crops as a cover and began to dig day and night.After opening the robbery hole and entering the tomb, I saw three stone gates, all of which were sealed with molten iron.

One of the thieves was good at chanting scriptures and casting spells. After fasting, he used magic to open the first two tomb doors the next day.Hundreds of bronze figures are placed between the two tomb gates, holding swords, guns, swords and halberds. They are exquisitely made and lifelike.The thief fasted for another three days, and opened the last door with a magic spell. A man in yellow came out and said to the thief, "This is the tomb of General Liu who conquered the South in the Han Dynasty. General Liu made great achievements during his lifetime. After his death, The emperor specially rescued and built a tomb here. We were ordered to protect the tomb, and cast bronze men and horses to maintain the general's prestige. You must come here to get money and jewelry. This tomb really doesn't have what you want Moreover, there will be no jewels buried in the official cemetery. Why do you use magic spells to force each other? If you don’t stop your actions, both sides will inevitably be hurt.” The man in yellow returned after speaking, and the tomb door opened Closed automatically.The thief recited the mantra again, "recited continuously for several days. The door of the tomb opened again. At this time, a man in Tsing Yi came to send a message again, advising the tomb robber to stop as soon as possible, but the robber did not listen. The man in Tsing Yi went back, and the two doors opened The door closed automatically again. After a while, floods gushed out of the tomb, and most of the robbers were drowned. Only one person swam out desperately, surrendered himself to the government, and explained the whole story. The government sent people to check and saw There is a large bed made of stone, and the bones on it have been floating on the water.

After all, the novel is mixed with literary fictional elements. In reality, storing water in the tomb to prevent theft is very technically difficult, and it is a rare anti-theft method.

Under normal circumstances, the underground palace of the mausoleum should choose a dry place to strictly prevent the infiltration of groundwater. If water infiltrates, it is considered "unlucky".Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty was located in Dingling in the Ming Tombs area of ​​Changping. During construction, due to water seepage in the underground palace, Emperor Wanli went to inspect it several times. He was angry and almost changed the location.However, the underground palace built by Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty in the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty was infuriated due to serious water seepage, and finally ordered the demolition of the mausoleum that had been built. .Because most of the emperor's mausoleum underground palaces are tens of meters deep underground, water seepage is inevitable.In order to solve this problem, the usual solution is to first dig a large canal underground, which occupies about half of the cemetery, and fill it with stones, which take up about half of the cemetery. The water pipes are connected to the bottom of the mountain, and the longest can be half a mile away for drainage.This method has been applied at least since the construction of the underground palace in the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, and the mausoleums of successive emperors followed suit.

This has led to new troubles. The owner of the tomb originally intended to use pipes to clear the seepage, but was discovered and dug directly into the tomb along the water pipes. Unexpectedly, it backfired, and the tragic consequences can be imagined.

The excavated are naturally small and medium-sized tombs. If it is an emperor's tomb, the drainage facilities are more complicated, and it is much more difficult to dig along the water pipe than to start from other locations.Back then, Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum "Crossing Three Springs" had a lot of seepage in the underground palace. The way to deal with it was to use pottery pipes to release it from the underground palace to a big abyss called "Yuchi" a few miles away from the mausoleum.Until now, water can still be seen in the "fish pond".It is said that after Qin II closed the tomb door, hundreds of craftsmen were trapped in the underground palace and suffocated to death. Only one young mason managed to get into the pipe and escape outwards. He climbed into the "fish pond" and became the only survivor among hundreds of craftsmen. By.It is said that the craftsman who repaired the mausoleum climbed out of this underground water outlet pipe.

It is easy to think of ways for grave robbers to enter the tomb along the pipeline to dig.However, since there was no way for him to drain the water in the tomb, he simply ignored it and let nature take its course.Naturally, the consequence of this is that it won't take long for the tomb to be filled with seepage water, with a depth of several meters.If the space is spacious and tall, the buoyancy of the water is enough to float the coffin.According to the known situation, the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Leigudun, Hubei during the Warring States period, has a water depth of more than 3 meters.When archaeologists excavated, all the funerary coffins were floated by the water, turned sideways, or buckled upside down, and none of them were complete.When the tombs of Kangxi, Qianlong, Xianfeng, and Cixi in the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty were opened by soldiers and bandits, the water depth in the underground palace was more than 2 meters.The coffins of the three emperors were all floated up and have already traveled elsewhere.Perhaps it is because of such a helpless reason that some tomb owners simply do the opposite, directly immersing the coffin in water and setting up hidden weapons to prevent grave robbers from invading.Thus, a concealed wheeled flying knife came into being.

The usual method is to dig a tomb pit in a place close to the mountain or under a high slope. Some are cliff-shaped vertical pits, and some are in the form of coupon caves. The form is not limited and the size is not limited. Some have as many as three or four layers of stone gates, which are related to the financial resources and status of the owner of the tomb, and have nothing to do with the methods and methods used.But all these tombs have one obvious feature: when water gushes out or seeps out of the ground, they don't block it with sticky things such as stones and white plaster mud, but let it flow until the water level reaches equilibrium.It looks the same as the reservoir in appearance, except that it is separated by stone or wooden walls in the middle, thick stone walls are placed on all sides, and there is a flat or coupon-shaped roof.It seems that such a tomb filled with water has hidden murderous intentions, which is much more powerful than other anti-tomb robbery methods.

In history, the mausoleum that really planned to store water and hide hidden weapons was far more ingenious than the design of the general Han Zhengnan.As mentioned above, the inner and outer coffins of the water-storage tomb are made of stone, sealed and placed on the stone bed and gradually submerged by groundwater.After the mausoleum was completed, an iron-wood composite floor was laid on the corridor and the tomb chamber, and pointed blades were inserted obliquely on the floor, and the blades were regularly arranged in rows and spread all over the tomb.Between the blades, a wheel consisting of blade knives is installed every few feet.The runner is like the chain waterwheel commonly used in the north, or the keel waterwheel in the south.Every three runners form a group, which are connected to each other, and there are seesaws underneath, and the plates are connected with the chains on the wheels.On top of the seesaws there are sticks, each about three feet long, with hidden blades, standing irregularly between the seesaws, connected by chains and wheels.That is to say, there are waterwheel-like runners with knives and jungle-like stick knives all over the tomb. Once the tomb robbers wade in, they must step on the seesaw or wipe the stick knife. The wheel moved immediately, and the flying knife rotated in the water, cutting open the intruder's body and bones. Amidst the surging blood and horrified wailing, the intruder was either killed or injured, and it was difficult to do anything.In order to lure the enemy to go deep, according to the greedy nature of the tomb robbers, special artifacts are set up to attract the opponent's attention, that is, one or several artifacts are deliberately placed in the open, tied with ropes, or hung from the top, or placed on the wall. .The other end of the rope is connected to a wheel with a knife and a stick with a hidden edge.When the tomb robbers saw that there was a treasure in front of them, they got carried away and rushed forward to snatch it. The result was that the rope broke and the board became warped, the wheel rolled, the throwing knife spun, and the stick shook.

On April 1933, 4, Beiping's "Morning Post" reported that in Donghuiying Village, 10 miles northwest of Zhangde City (now Jushang Village, Anyang City, Henan Province), two ancient tombs were being excavated, one was Yuan Tiangang's tomb, and the other was Zhao's tomb. King Jane's tomb.The tomb of Yuan Tiangang is located at the highest point of Hougangling in Donghuiying Village. Its circumference is about 35 feet. The walls of the tomb are all made of green bricks. There is a clear water pool in the tomb, and sharp steel cones are hidden in the water.According to legend, Mr. Li of Lijiapo was a tomb robber. Together with others, he dug up the tomb and took out more than 59 pieces of golden crowns, swords and other gold and silver utensils.They saw a sharp sword hanging from the top of the tomb. Two men with sharp blades tried to cut off the rope hanging from the sword, but they fell into the water and died.The accomplices fished out their bodies and found that the bodies were smashed by the steel cones in the pool.Since then, although everyone knew that there were jewels hidden in the tomb, no one dared to steal them.

Yuan Tiangang's cemetery is located at the highest point of the mountain. It is very difficult to build a deep pool on such a terrain, according to the construction technology and construction conditions at that time, so the credibility is greatly reduced.However, the statement about the hanging sword in the tomb is probably because the owner of the tomb designed such a mechanism to punish the thieves who ventured out of the consideration of preventing theft.

Put on a show and cover up

In life, anyone who knows how to play chess knows that when necessary, one must abandon the secondary to protect the primary, just like a gecko automatically disconnects its tail to escape when it is attacked. Losing its tail is better than losing its life. This is A typical car and handsome guy.Nature has endowed human beings with infinite wisdom. In terms of anti-theft measures in tombs, people have also used the strategy of leaving cars to protect the handsome.

When the ancients built tombs, they dug and built upper and lower tomb chambers.The upper layer stores some cheap funerary objects.In fact, this layer is to confuse tomb robbers, and the really valuable funerary objects are placed on the lower layer.In this way, once the grave robber enters, he will focus on the funerary objects on the upper floor.Even though it is worthless, at most it will mutter "This master is really stingy", the thief will not leave empty, the tomb robber will not be busy in vain, cheap is cheap, satisfied the theft psychology, and left contentedly.In this way, the treasure below can be preserved.

A cellar in the Western Zhou Dynasty adopted this anti-theft method.When archaeologists excavated the cellar, they found that there were some worthless pottery in the cellar, which had been patronized by thieves.When archaeologists cleaned the cellar, they were much more careful than the thieves. They found that the soil at the bottom of the cellar was not raw soil, but was artificially compacted.So it was determined that there were man-made buildings below, and continued to dig down, and sure enough, the second layer of cellar was dug out, which was filled with various bronze wares. It turns out that valuable things are all here!

If the cellar is in this way, the burial can also be in the same way.This cellar has given archaeologists a new way of thinking. Since then, when digging tombs, they have cleaned up the contents of the tomb, and before they are finished, they habitually turn over the soil under the floor tiles to see if there is any debris. Two layers of tombs, so as not to miss.

(End of this chapter)