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

Chapter 59 Murder Intent Hidden in the Darkness——Anti-Tomb Raider Technology (4)
There are countless tombs in the world, and the anti-theft measures are updated again and again, but no matter how clever the anti-theft technology will be cracked in the end, so the owner of the tomb did the opposite, playing the family card and inventing a "gentle" anti-theft method. Impress the compassion of the tomb robbers by "crying poor".

But in fact, none of the dignitaries, royal relatives and relatives of the past dynasties was willing to let themselves become a lonely person after death.They said that they would not put valuables in the tomb, but in fact, "there will not be any less." This clumsy method of "there is no silver 300 taels here" did not play a good role in preventing theft.

Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty was an emperor famous for his "thriftiness" in Chinese history.Once, he wanted to build a terrace on Lishan Mountain.He asked the official in charge of design and construction, how much would the terrace cost if it was built?The head of engineering reported that about a hundred gold would be needed.After hearing this, Emperor Han Wen said that the cost was too high.One hundred gold is equivalent to the property of ten middle-class households.Now that I am the emperor of a country, I own the property of the whole world, and I am rich all over the world. Why should I spend money to satisfy one person's selfish desires?So the construction of the terrace was ordered to stop.

How could Emperor Han Wen, who was reluctant to spend huge sums of money to build a house, build his mausoleum too luxuriously?This is obvious.Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty issued an edict before his death, telling his ministers that he should be buried lightly after his death, without any funeral objects.Many records in history show that the burial objects of Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty were all worthless earthenware, and there were no burial objects such as gold, silver, copper, and tin at all.

The tomb of Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty, which has always advocated thin burial, did not avoid the fate of being stolen.During the Western Jin Dynasty and the Jianxing period, there were still tomb robbers who entered the tomb of Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty with the mentality of trying to get away with it. As a result, they stole countless gold, silver and jewels!
We have reason to believe that the so-called thin burial of Emperor Han Wen was actually a political and moral show.Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty used the mountain as his mausoleum and dug stones as coffins, just to prevent theft. He also made a negative comment for his thin burial: You have been buried lightly and become poor. Why are you still working hard to dig tombs on solid rocks!Another explanation is that perhaps Emperor Hanwen was buried frugally compared with other previous emperors.But as the king of a country, no matter how frugal the king is, there are more treasures in it than ordinary people, which is enough to make tomb robbers flock to them and take risks.

There is another situation that makes people laugh and cry, even writing their own "thin burial" adage on the tomb door.Unless the tomb robber is blind, seeing the "crying poor" on the door of the tomb, maybe he will "retire when he knows his weakness"?

Regarding the matter of "crying poor", we have already mentioned in the previous chapters the joint tomb of Liu Zhu, the king of Chu, and his wife in Xiaoguishan, Xuzhou.In order to dissuade thieves, a sincere "Confession of the Poor" is written on the plug stone outside the tomb passage.Although he cried poorly to the tomb robbers sincerely, he did not escape the bad luck of being stolen.

Cursed intimidation also plays

Facts have proved that "kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy" like the Xiaoguishan Han Tomb doesn't work at all, so what should we do?Then there is nothing but broken pots, broken skins, torn face, revealing the ferocious true colors.The same is true for the anti-theft of ancient tombs. If I try to persuade you not to dig my tomb, you must listen.Then I will curse you, if you dare to destroy my tomb, I will let you die!

Existing information is only one example of an anti-theft inscription on a stone inscription in a Han Dynasty tomb in Jining, Shandong Province: "Anyone who dares to send me a mound is ordered not to leave behind".This is also recorded in many documents in ancient my country, but it didn't play much role. Maybe as a tomb robber, I just live today and don't think about tomorrow's affairs. The effect of those intimidating curses is really negligible.Tomb robbery itself is an immoral thing to be cursed and scolded by others. The guys who engage in these dangerous games simply ignore it.However, there are really life-threatening spells, which appeared in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs.

There is such an epitaph engraved on the tomb of King Tutankhamun, the No.18 dynasty pharaoh of ancient Egypt: "Whoever disturbs the peace of the pharaoh, the wings of death will descend on his head." On the surface, although this sentence The incantation was a bit shocking to read, and it was nothing more than a warning to those descendants who tried to peek into the tomb, to be discouraged, but the incantation was miraculously fulfilled. In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his companions entered King Tut's tomb. Shortly thereafter, Carter died mysteriously due to infection from mosquito bites.From then until 1935, 21 people directly or indirectly related to the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb died successively. These people included the assistant, secretary and family members of the main excavator Carter, and the legend of this spell spread like wildfire. Walk.What is the reason, until now, the medical profession can not give a definite result.

Engraving spells is of no use to illiterate tomb robbers.So such a frightening thing came into being in the tombs - tomb-slayer beasts!Tomb-suppressing beasts are common funerary objects in Chu tombs, and they are also one of the uniquely shaped objects in Chu lacquerware.This kind of utensil is abstract in appearance, strange in conception, horrible and grotesque in image, with strong mysterious meaning and strong color of witchcraft and mythology.A total of about 200 tomb-suppressing beasts have been unearthed so far, all of which are cultural relics of the Warring States period, most of which were in the middle of the Warring States period.The terracotta figurines we usually see are actually used as tomb towns.Holding a sword in one hand, holding the pagoda of suppressing demons in the other, and stepping on the little ghost under his feet.Such a Dharma Protector Heavenly King, with a ferocious face, can really scare people to death when they meet him in a dark tomb.

dumb for leak prevention

In the south wall of the square city of the Tailing Mausoleum of the Western Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty, there is a hole called the ancient hole, which is the only place to pass through to climb the Ming Tower and the Baoding. Inside the ancient hole is a small courtyard, which is connected to the glazed screen wall.Because the front half of this small courtyard is curved, resembling a crescent, it is also called "Crescent City", and the common name is "Dumb Courtyard."

Why is it called "Dumb Yard"?There is a legend here. The glazed screen wall facing the "dumb courtyard" is the tunnel entrance into the tomb, and closing the exit of the tomb is the last process of the entire mausoleum.According to the practice of the past dynasties: all craftsmen who participated in the late construction of the tomb were not allowed to leave alive after the emperor's coffin (coffin) was buried, for fear that they would reveal the secrets in the tomb, and they had to be buried for the dead emperor.

The Qing Dynasty had abolished the bad habit of sacrificial burial, but a group of craftsmen who closed the tomb were released because they were afraid that they would reveal the location of the tomb and the secret of the tomb. Dumb to complete this last process.Even if these mutes are released after the work is completed, they will not be able to reveal the secret.So when the construction of the mausoleum was about to be completed, and only the closing of the tomb and the construction of the "Crescent City" were left, the mutes selected by the overseers from all over the country gathered here to do the front and back work of closing the gate.But the overseers were not at ease, and asked these dumb people to rest during the day and work at night, so that they did not know what they were doing all day long, regardless of day or night.After the completion of the work, these dumb people were dispatched to the frontier for hard labor.Because "Crescent City" was built by dumb people, it is also called "Dumb Courtyard".

Crescent City is in the north of Fangcheng, because its shape is like a crescent moon, so it took this image and beautiful name. Empty and silent, only a colorful glazed screen wall inlaid in the middle of the north wall adds a little vitality to this empty city.This screen wall is also called "Crescent Moon Screen Wall".The "box" in the middle is inlaid with peony flowers and vases that symbolize wealth and luxuriant branches and leaves, colorful.It is said that this screen wall is the entrance to the underground palace.

Although the name of Crescent City is very beautiful, there are many creepy legends.According to legend, when the underground palace was being built, the craftsmen who built the mausoleum might leak the secrets of the underground palace. After the underground palace was completed, all the craftsmen were gathered in Crescent City, and each of them was given a medicine. These people immediately became unable to speak. Dumb", from then on people called Crescent City "Dumb City".Some people also said that when building the underground palace, none of the craftsmen recruited could speak.Because the entrance of the underground palace is on the north wall of Crescent City, Crescent City is called Dumb Courtyard.Some people also said that the craftsmen might expose the secrets of the underground palace when they built the underground palace. When Zigong entered the underground palace, all the craftsmen were sealed in the underground palace.In fact, these are rumors, not history.

The architectural form of Crescent City is a major feature of the mausoleums of the Qing Dynasty, which was not found in the mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty and before.It is a special space that appeared between the square city and the semicircular treasure city, and a "deng road" was built here to go up and down the city and treasure city.

Killing artisans is the cruelest
The custom of sacrificial burial in ancient China appeared in the Longshan Culture Period in the late Neolithic Age about 6000 years ago.In the large tombs of the Longshan Culture in Shandong, people were often martyred, up to dozens of people.In the Shang Dynasty, this cruel funeral system developed unprecedentedly, and the slaves, wives, concubines, and close officials of the nobles were buried in the tomb owner.The concept of the soul of the people of the Shang Dynasty believed that after death, the soul still existed in another world forever, and the tomb was the residence of the owner of the tomb in another world after death. , Serve the owner of the tomb.The Yin Ruins Site in Anyang, Henan Province was the capital of the Shang Dynasty in the late Shang Dynasty. Large-scale palace ruins and royal tombs of the Shang Dynasty were found here. Generally, there are martyrs in large-scale tombs, ranging from a few to dozens, and some are large. The number of people killed in the tomb can reach 300.

After the Han Dynasty, although the rulers abolished the system of martyrdom, the phenomenon of human martyrdom still existed, especially during the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms, the phenomenon of martyrdom often occurred in the northern minority regimes. Xi even asked his sister-in-law Zhang to be buried.

It was Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang who made burial an unchangeable system.Starting from Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty, the cruel harem burial system was stipulated.According to records, after the death of Zhu Yuanzhang's second son, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his concubines to be buried. As many as 38 people were forced to be buried, and more than 30 concubines were buried when Ming Chengzu Zhu Di died.As for the burial of concubines, there are express provisions in the Ming Dynasty's decree that the titles of concubines and above, who gave birth to children and were named feudal kings, and daughters of meritorious service do not need to be buried, and the rest of the concubines are all exempt.This cruel system lasted until Ming Chengzong, and it was not abolished until Ming Yingzong.However, the Manchu Qing Dynasty who moved into the Central Plains after the Ming Dynasty restarted the human sacrifice.It was not until the end of the feudal society that the system of human sacrifice really disappeared.

In the long history of sacrificial burial, there is a special kind of human sacrificial. The people who are buried are neither loyal servants nor intimate concubines of the owner of the tomb, but craftsmen who built tombs for nobles.There is only one reason why they are tragically reduced to sacrificial objects, and that is to ensure the secrecy of the tomb and prevent it from being stolen.

This old habit of executing craftsmen and insiders on the spot usually appeared in the early emperor-level funerals, and it was called "sacrifice burial".In fact, this is an act of killing living victims to prevent insiders from leaking secrets, and it is an anti-tomb robbery tactic.This method is an extremely violation of human rights. Although the craftsmen were punished, they still could not escape the black hands of the tomb robbers.In the old saying, this is "natural reincarnation, retribution is not good".

In history, in order to avoid the leakage of the secrets of the mausoleum, some kings often killed thousands of craftsmen and servants for their own self-interest when the project was completed.

According to legend, after Helu died, his son Fucha built a tomb for Helu on Huqiu Mountain.After the tomb was built, Fu Chai was afraid that these craftsmen would know the secret of the tomb, so he thought, "So many people know the address of my father's tomb, what if one day they are greedy for profit and dig the tomb together?" So he came up with a poisonous plan.One day, he summoned more than 1000 craftsmen who participated in the construction of Helu's tomb, and hosted a banquet for them to watch the crane dance.After drinking revelry until late at night, he ordered his officers and soldiers to kill all these craftsmen.

On Tiger Hill outside Changmen in the northwest of Suzhou, there is a stone that can accommodate a thousand people, known as the Thousand People Stone.The Thousand-person Stone is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and has a strange shape.According to legend, there is a mass grave under the Stone of Thousand Persons. After killing the artisans who built the tomb, Fu Chai, king of Wu, threw the bodies of the artisans into the mass grave.For thousands of years, whenever it rains on cloudy days, light red "blood water" often oozes from the Thousand Persons Stone, and the surrounding land is soaked in blood red, so the Thousand Persons Stone is also called "Blood Oozing Stone".Of course, stones do not ooze blood. This phenomenon has a scientific geological explanation. It is because stones contain a large amount of iron oxide, which dissociates when encountering rainwater, showing a red bloody appearance.People linked this phenomenon with the massacre of the servants by Fuchai, the king of Wu, and expressed their dissatisfaction with this brutal act.

To prevent tomb robbery by killing craftsmen, the method is cruel but has little effect.Ironically, only ten years after the burial of King Helu of Wu, the tomb was stolen and destroyed.

The Qin Dynasty was the first centralized feudal dynasty in Chinese history, during which time it also created the largest burial in Chinese history.

(End of this chapter)