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

Chapter 63
People often say: if you walk too much at night, you will inevitably encounter ghosts.These words are most appropriate for grave robbers.The industry they were engaged in required them to move at night and deal with the dead.There are many tomb robbers, and it is inevitable to encounter ghosts.In the history of tomb robbery in China, there really is such a thing.While the tomb robbers were digging the tomb, the owner of the tomb was able to speak.This is indeed a strange thing.But there is something even stranger.Some tomb robbers saw that although the tomb owner passed away a long time ago, they looked like strangers, and even raped them.

In the feudal society of our country, the emperors and generals were mostly superstitious about the geomantic omen of the cemetery, which led to the endless digging of ancestral graves in the history of tomb robbery.In order to keep their country stable, some emperors spared no effort to dig up the ancestral graves of their political opponents. Incidents of flogging and violating corpses occurred repeatedly, making the deceased restless.

However, tomb robbers can sometimes bring unexpected surprises to people.When they robbed the tomb, they actually stole a shocking anecdote in the cultural history of our country...

Ghost Phantom: "Live to Hell" in the History of Tomb Raiders in China

Treacherous Ghost Blowing Lamp

As the saying goes, "People light wax, ghosts blow lamps". Legend has it that there are three oil lamps on a person's body, one on his head and the other two on his shoulders.This is the yang fire in the human body. When walking at night, if someone calls your name, don't turn your head or look around. If you blow out the oil lamp, you will be summoned by ghosts.The person calling the name is not a person, but a homeless wild ghost, who comes to recruit the souls of passers-by. There are three yang-like lamps on the person, which can deter wild ghosts, but once the three lamps on his body are extinguished, the wild ghosts will be killed. The ghost lost all fear, and took away the souls of passers-by without hesitation.When robbing the tomb, you should also light a lamp. If the ghost does not let you rob the tomb, it will blow out the lamp.It is an agreement between the living and the dead.Tomb robbers dig a tomb, and when they enter the tomb, they should put a lamp on the southeast corner of the tomb. Whether the ghosts in the tomb agree with the behavior of the tomb robber depends on the lighted lamp.If the ghosts in the tomb agree with the tomb robber's theft and do not interfere with their tomb robbery, the lamp will remain on forever, and the tomb robber can safely and boldly sweep away all the funerary objects in the tomb.But once the light in the southeast corner goes out, it means that the ghosts in the tomb will interfere with the behavior of the tomb robbers, and the tomb robbers will leave immediately, and they can no longer covet this tomb, otherwise their lives will be in danger.Because the lamp was blown out by the ghost in the tomb. The purpose of the ghost blowing out the lamp was to warn the tomb robbers that he was not allowed to get involved in this tomb.Of course, this is just nonsense in the legend, and I believe few people will believe it.But tomb robbery itself is a kind of theft that deviates from morality. Tomb robbers will inevitably blame themselves and panic in their hearts. What's more, tomb robbery is a kind of business dealing with the dead. The inner fear can be imagined.Therefore, perhaps it is a psychological hint that most tomb robbers are willing to believe in "ghosts blowing out lanterns", and "ghosts blowing out lanterns" incidents occur frequently during the process of tomb robbery, which adds a mysterious color to this peculiar tomb robbery phenomenon.

So, what happened to "Ghost Blowing Lamp"?There are no ghosts in this world at all, so why does the phenomenon of "ghost blowing lamps" appear? Is the "ghost blowing the lamp" caused by the fear of the tomb robbers, or is there something else hidden?
In fact, "ghost blowing lamp" is believable, it is just a simple physical phenomenon.To use the current scientific explanation, it is to light a lamp to see if there is enough oxygen in it. If the lamp cannot be lit, or if it is ignited and then goes out quickly, it means that there is very little oxygen in it, and if you go down, you will die.

In ancient times, lamps were generally made of pine oil. Modern tomb robbers generally use candles for lighting. Whether it is oil lamps or candles, they use fire for lighting.As we all know, the necessary conditions for an object to burn are combustibles, a temperature that reaches the ignition point, and oxygen.Ancient tombs are buried deep underground for hundreds or even thousands of years. They are tightly closed and airtight, so the air cannot circulate naturally. However, ordinary small tombs are buried about one or two meters underground, and large noble tombs often reach more than ten meters or even 20 meters deep into the ground. .In the underground more than ten meters or even tens of meters above the ground, without good ventilation, hypoxia is inevitable.When the tomb robbers opened the dusty ancient tomb, they just dug a small hole on the top of the tomb that only allowed the body to pass through. The air entering the tomb in a short period of time was limited, and it was impossible to allow sufficient oxygen to enter the tomb.Therefore, hypoxia is a common phenomenon in burials.Therefore, when the tomb robbers put the lamp in a certain corner of the tomb, the lamp was quickly extinguished due to insufficient oxygen in the tomb.

Once the "ghost blowing the lamp" occurs, the tomb robbers must leave the tomb as soon as possible. This is not because of the obstruction of ghosts, but because of the lack of oxygen in the tomb. People who stay in an oxygen-deficient environment for a long time are prone to danger.This is the reason why those tomb robbers who ignored the "ghost blowing the lamp" and continued to rob the tomb died.

The lights can warn of the lack of oxygen in the tomb. In addition, because stealing graves and digging graves is a shameful activity, most of them are carried out at night. In this case, the lights will also play a role in lighting.Therefore, for tomb robbers, a lamp is an essential tool for tomb robbers.

The Ming Dynasty novelist Feng Menglong's "Yu Shi Ming Yan" in the article "Naofanlou Passionate Zhou Shengxian" tells the story of Zhu Zhen, a child of a tomb-robbing family.Among the tomb-robbing tools passed down from generation to generation by the Zhu family, there is an oil lamp called a "leather lamp", which is used to illuminate the tomb.When Zhu Zhen robbed Zhou Shengxian's tomb, he lit this leather lamp.Since Zhou Shengxian's tomb was a new tomb, the air circulation in the tomb was still good when the tomb was stolen, and the leather lamp was still on, so Zhu Zhen successfully robbed Zhou Shengxian's tomb.Not only that, Zhou Shengxian, who had previously suspended animation, was resurrected because of this, which shows that there is sufficient oxygen in the tomb.

"Ghost blowing out lamps" is not a ghost, but a common physical phenomenon. It is only rumored to be mysterious because of the mystery of tomb robbery.Regardless of whether "ghost blowing lamps" exists or not, tomb robbery is a shameful, immoral act that is reviled by the world, and it is not advisable.

Still alive after 200 years

In the history of tomb robbery, there are many strange and incomprehensible "hell" phenomena, which are still passed down to this day.

The most outrageous "hell" is that after Liu Bang's Changling Tomb was dug up by the Red Eyebrow Army, the Empress Lu Zhizhi in the same tomb in a different cave looked lifelike, and was raped by these people.At that time, it had been more than [-] years since Lu's pheasant passed away, and it was amazing that the corpse had not decomposed for such a long time.

In 1972, when Mrs. Xin Zhui in the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha reappeared in front of the world after spending more than 2000 years underground, the whole world was shocked by the superb anti-corrosion technology in ancient China.With her fresh face and elastic skin, Mrs. Xin Zhui let the world witness the exquisiteness of wet corpse embalming.

Back then, the Hunan Provincial Museum and the Xiangya School of Medicine of Central South University jointly protected Xin Zhui's corpse with modern technology. The contrast agent injected into the blood vessels of the corpse could flow normally, and the joints of the corpse could still move freely.

Later, with the help of modern simulation technology and according to the structure of Xin Zhui's skull, experts described her appearance at the age of 50, 30, 18, and 6, and found that Xin Zhui was a standard beauty when she was young, which is a wonder of ancient and modern times. .

Ancient nobles often used materials such as camphor, cypress, and paulownia, which have aromatic and insect-proof effects, in the manufacture of coffins. The coffins used in the Han Dynasty were of high quality. The lid is also sealed with glue paint to give the coffin a good airtightness.They also believe that "gold and jade produce cold", and burial with gold and jade can keep the body from spoiling, so there is the theory of jade clothes and jade coffins.Empress Lu Pheasant was wearing a golden jade dress when she died.

In order to prevent bacteria from decomposing the corpse, the deceased should bathe the corpse with fragrant soup and then scrub with wine before encoffining.This will not only make the corpse "fragrant and beautiful" but also have a certain disinfection effect.The spraying of wine will accelerate the oxygen consumption in the coffin after the coffin is sealed, creating a hypoxic condition.At the same time, tightly binding the corpse with clean inner and outer clothes and sheets can also help to isolate the air and have a certain inhibitory effect on the early corruption of the corpse.In addition, in ancient China, there was also the custom of using mercury and arsenic for anticorrosion.Mawangdui female corpse has two obvious features: one is mercury treatment, and the other is soaking.External water vapor infiltrates to form a sediment that contains a large amount of mercury sulfide, ethanol, acetic acid and other components, which have a fixed effect and become a key factor for the ancient corpse not to rot.

There are also certain requirements for the depth of the tomb when the cells of the corpse are buried. The feudal nobles attached great importance to deep burial, and regarded the thick soil layer as the best shelter. Their tombs are deep and large, and they are required not to leak. breath.In such an environment, the tomb can be effectively isolated from the outside air without being affected by climate change and maintain a constant temperature.Doing so can slow down or prevent the process of decay.

(End of this chapter)