Lintong County, Xinfeng Commune.
When Lin Sanqi climbed to the top of the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum, he was soaked in sweat.
Lin Sanqi was the only one who went hiking in the hot summer. Oh, there were also dozens of cadres at all levels who accompanied Lin Sanqi to search for the Terracotta Warriors, as well as staff from the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Team.
Lin Sanqi stood on the mound, which looked like an ordinary hill, and asked curiously:
"Director Liu, how deep is the Qin Shi Huang's underground palace?"
Director Liu used his straw hat as a fan and replied:
"The underground palace of Qin Shi Huang is right under the mound below our feet. How about it? It feels great, doesn't it? Haha.
The underground palace is 35 meters below ground level, 170 meters long from east to west, and 145 meters wide from north to south. The main body and the burial chamber are both rectangular in shape. The burial chamber is located in the center of the underground palace, 15 meters high, and is about the size of a standard football field.
Lin Sanqi was surprised. He had been to the Ming Dingling Mausoleum before, but the underground palace there wasn't that big.
"Wow, the underground palace is so huge? How many treasures must be stored in it?"
Director Liu pointed to the surrounding area of the burial mound and said:
"Last year, our Cultural Relics Bureau conducted the first comprehensive archaeological survey of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum and drew the first floor plan of the mausoleum. The survey revealed that the mausoleum covers an area of 56.25 square kilometers, equivalent to the size of nearly 78 Forbidden Cities."
Lin Sanqi picked up the telescope and took a look, focusing on the northeast corner.
"Director Liu, I don't think your Shaanxi Province has done a very good job protecting the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Look, there are only large rural areas around it. There are no fences or toll booths. It's completely abandoned."
Director Liu smiled awkwardly:
"We can't protect them all. There are too many imperial tombs in Shaanxi Province. For example, almost all the emperors' tombs from the Han and Tang dynasties are in this area. If we protect them all one by one, the financial burden will be completely unbearable."
Lin Sanqi thought to himself that he actually knew the truth about several imperial tombs.
For example, the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han is not actually in Fenghuangzui, but in the Jiangcun Tomb not far away. Because Emperor Wen's tomb was not sealed or surrounded by trees, it has always been unknown.
In addition, he also knew where the entrance to the underground palace of Tang Zhaoling was. It was actually at the "belly button of the Big Buddha", which was far different from the entrance previously speculated by the archaeological team and was too unreliable.
But Lin Sanqi was not here to be a tomb raider this time, so he didn't plan to say anything.
We have to give future archaeological teams something to do; we can't let them do it all by themselves, otherwise how will they get the funds?
"By the way, Director Liu, have you ever heard of the underground palace of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum being robbed? You've just done a comprehensive survey, so you should have a good idea, right?"
Director Liu waved his hand:
"It's definitely been robbed. Look, this mausoleum is in the wilderness. There were no people around in ancient times, and dynasties changed. You can dig it up at will. Even the Han and Tang mausoleums were robbed, so how could the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang be spared?"
Lin Sanqi was shocked and thought that there was indeed a conspiracy. Someone covered up this shocking secret decades later.
Who knew Director Liu would continue to say:
"However, according to our comprehensive exploration, although we have discovered many robbery holes, one of them has even been dug to a depth of 26 meters in that direction.
But fortunately, no tomb robbers dug a hole into the underground palace, so we believe that the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum has not been robbed.
Historical books say: Later, a shepherd boy lost his sheep, and the sheep entered the cave. The shepherd held a fire to look for the sheep, but the fire burned the coffin. These should all be legends.
Even if the most likely scenario is that Xiang Yu burned down the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, according to our analysis, he would have burned the above-ground buildings, or perhaps some burial pits, not the underground palace.
After hearing this, Lin Sanqi smacked his lips and felt a little regretful.
It is estimated that he will not be able to see the day when the underground palace of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum is opened in his lifetime. It is really true that the man who "looks like a dog from a distance" was too ruthless in the incident of Ming Dingling.
At this time, Commander Qi became a little impatient and looked at the pomegranate tree planted on the mound and asked:
"Old Liu, can I eat this pomegranate?"
"Not yet. It's not mature yet."
When Lin Sanqi heard this, he thought to himself that even if it was ripe, he would not eat it himself. But decades later, there was a study that showed that the mercury content in the mound of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum was seriously exceeded, and the fruits grown there would be poisonous.
When Commander Qi heard that he couldn't eat, he took out his binoculars and looked around:
"Xiao Lin, where is the Terracotta Army pit you mentioned? Why can't I see anything?"
“Ohhhh!”
Lin Sanqi finally came to his senses and realized that he was not here for tourism, but to look for the Terracotta Warriors. So he quickly took out a printed map of Lintong County in the 1960s.
At the same time, a local commune cadre was called over.
"Hello, may I ask which one is Xiyang Village or Maojia Village?"
The local cadre looked at the map in Lin Sanqi's hand and pointed with his finger:
"Leader, this one in the distance is Xiyang Village, and that one is Maojia Village. They're in the direction of my finger. I can see them clearly now."
Following the commune cadre's finger, everyone looked towards the northeast corner of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum:
"There's a factory under construction to the east of this mound. Once it's finished, the Shanghai Sewing Machine Factory will move in. To the east of the sewing machine factory is Maojia Village, and to the north is Xiyang Village."
Several cadres quickly picked up the binoculars in their hands and started looking.
The two villages referred to by the commune cadres are very close, with a straight-line distance of no more than 3 kilometers.
Lin Sanqi compared the two villages and his eyes were fixed on a piece of farmland in the middle. There happened to be a small river passing by the west side of the farmland.
Although there was no trace of the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum that would appear decades later at this time, Lin Sanqi was already very sure that this was the one.
Because it completely corresponds to the location of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum on the map decades later, the only difference is the village, which is probably demolished.
"Director Liu, let's go, take the men, and go look for them in the farmland between Xiyang Village and Maojia Village."
Chief Qi and Director Liu looked at each other. In fact, neither of them really believed what Lin Sanqi said.
Because if there really were Terracotta Warriors under the farmland, then it would be impossible for them not to have been discovered given the farmers who had been cultivating the land for two thousand years.
Unless the Terracotta Warriors are buried very deep, dozens of meters deep.
But Director Liu was an expert and knew that the burial pits of other imperial tombs were actually very shallow and could not be too deep. This was also the reason why almost all of the burial pits had been looted.
So the two of them just acted as if they were "accompanying the prince to study" and followed Commissioner Lin to have some fun.
A group of people came to Xiyang Village in jeeps or trucks under the scorching sun of over 30 degrees Celsius.
When Lin Sanqi got off the car, he turned around and took another look at the tall Qin Mausoleum mound to confirm the distance.
Cars are also rare in the Northwest these days. When they heard the sound of a car, many farmers working in the fields gathered around.
Don’t ask why we are still farming in such hot weather. The reason is that you can only get work points by working in the fields, no matter whether it is sunny or rainy.
Yang Azhang, the village chief of Xiyang Village, was already waiting and they introduced themselves to each other.
Lin Sanqi was particularly happy when he looked at the farmland in front of him, because there was a huge opportunity buried underneath, and he would be the first discoverer in history.
Thinking of this, the happy Lin Sanqi asked the local village chief:
"Village Chief Yang, how many years has your village been here?"
Village Chief Yang replied with a smile on his face: "Reporting to the leader, our ancestors have lived here for generations. Just listen to the name of our village, Xiyang Village, and you will know it, it is at least more than 200 years."
Lin Sanqi asked again:
"So you've lived and farmed here for hundreds of years, and you've never dug up anything strange?"
Village Chief Yang was very clever. He glanced at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in the distance and replied:
"Of course there are things, but they're all bottles and jars, like earthenware, not worth much. Gold, jade, silver coins, that kind of thing has never been dug up."
The villagers all nodded repeatedly, thinking that even if they dug it out, they would not admit it.
As soon as Lin Sanqi heard that pottery had been unearthed, he understood what was going on. It was not that the Terracotta Warriors had never been unearthed, but that the common people would not recognize them after they were unearthed.
"Then, Village Chief Yang, can you find a few pieces of pottery like this now?"
Village Chief Yang looked around, ran to the edge of a field, dug out a few pieces of pottery from underneath, and brought them over:
"Boss, look, it's all stuff like this. This tile doesn't look like a tile, and this jar doesn't look like a jar. We locals call them 'Wa Pen Ye'. Some say they were formed when an ancient clay statue of the Buddha broke apart." (End of this chapter)
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