Chapter 161 The Fish Bit the Hook
The setting sun peeked through the clouds, casting a reddish glow like a crab shell.
The withered yellow grass swayed in the wind, and a few sparrows pecked at the fallen wild wheat.
Scattered graves dotted the fields, with tattered wreaths rustling and paper money scattered everywhere.
To the north, the ring expressway stretches like a long dragon, running east to west.
To the south, the sky is filled with smog, which is exactly where the space city under construction is located.
Lin Sicheng stood on the top of Sanyao Slope.
I said, "The grave is in Beiliwang Village," and the woman pointed to Beiliwang Village.
I told her there was a large Western Han Dynasty tomb, and the woman actually pointed out one to her.
And there are two of them?
That's so thoughtful...
With a soft "whoosh," Lin Sicheng turned his head.
He Zhigang held a piece of paper and examined it closely.
But to be honest, he really couldn't understand what the drawing was about.
"Kobayashi, what is this?"
"Dragon Vein Map!"
"What dragon?"
"Shunlong!"
He Zhigang felt that he had asked the question in vain.
Lin Sicheng pointed, "The top three are the ancestral mountains, and the crescent-shaped one in the middle is called the Lesser Ancestral Mountain. Sometimes it's also called the main mountain or the seat mountain. The white area below the crescent is the Vermilion Bird of the Four Symbols... If we apply it here, it would be the Qinling Mountains, Zhongnan Mountains, and the Hao River..."
"The dragon vein originates from the ancestral mountain, is inherited from the least ancestral mountain, and then descends along the trend, meandering through auspicious places, gathering energy to embrace the acupoint, which is the location of the dragon acupoint."
"The winding line descending from bottom to top is the dragon, and the pool-like area in the middle is the auspicious site. The point below the auspicious site is the place where energy gathers and the ancestral grave is located..."
"The left and right sides refer to the Azure Dragon and White Tiger, and further down are the facing mountains and the gate mountains. The last mountain is the Black Tortoise. In ancient times, it was the official road south of the city, and now it is the ring expressway..."
He Zhigang had some knowledge of feng shui, but not much, so he only half understood what he heard.
After pondering for a while, he looked up and asked, "Corresponding to this, where does 'auspicious land' refer to, and where does 'dragon's acupoint' refer to?"
"Ji Di is Wei Qu Town, and narrowing it down further, it's Bei Li Wang Village. The place where we're standing is the White Tiger Land of the Four Gods, as for the Dragon's Cave..."
Lin Sicheng pointed east: "Two kilometers to the east."
He Zhigang had a gut feeling that this was not very reliable, but he didn't say anything: Lin Sicheng spent a whole million yuan because of this piece of paper.
There must be a reason why he dares to spend money.
Chen Peng, standing nearby, craned his neck to look, then looked up and said, "The 'mountain behind' and 'mountain backing' are easy to understand, like the Qinling Mountains and Zhongnan Mountains. But where are the 'facing mountain' and 'table mountain'? This place is so flat you can hardly find a mound of earth... Besides, there's no water in sight either."
Lin Sicheng smiled and said, "Looking for a dragon on flat land, there is no facing bank in front and no high mountain behind. Yet, a dragon lies hidden in auspicious land, where water flows from all directions. As the classics say: 'An inch lower is water, an inch higher is a mountain...'"
Chen Peng was taken aback: They've started chanting scriptures now?
Despite having been taught many lessons by Lin Sicheng, he remained skeptical: "Are there really tombs from the Western Han Dynasty?"
"Yes, and it's a large tomb! We have a map, so it's not hard to find, and there are definitely tomb raiders' holes, so it's not hard to dig!"
Lin Sicheng paused for a moment, then said, "But it's hard to say how much will be left!"
Based on his estimation, and given Yu Zhiguo's style, the tomb should be similar to the tombs of Han Xiu and Consort Wu Hui: bare walls, so bare that even rats would weep at the sight of it.
As for the main tomb, unless a professional archaeological team is deployed to uncover it layer by layer from top to bottom, digging a tunnel would be risky; ten tomb raiders would be killed...
He quickly changed his mind and went down the steep slope.
Chen Peng and He Zhigang followed.
Besides the Land Cruiser, there were two more vehicles: a box pickup truck and a Jinbei van, both filled with tools for tomb exploration and excavation.
Not instruments, but the kind used by professional tomb raiding gangs...
The three got into the car, and then a yellow dragon rose up across the fields, heading straight east.
It's only two kilometers, you'll be there in the blink of an eye. From afar, you can see a Mercedes SUV parked on the side of the road.
Lin Sicheng pointed, and Zhang Feng slowly drove over.
After the dust settled a bit, Lin Sicheng got out of the car. Zhao Xiuneng, however, beat him to it and quickly came to greet him.
Lin Sicheng clasped his hands together and smiled apologetically: "Mr. Zhao, thank you for your trouble!"
Zhao Xiuneng smiled wryly: "Boss Lin, don't be so polite. I specifically told you before I came: do whatever you want."
As he spoke, he beckoned, and two burly men in their early thirties walked over.
I've met both of them; they're Zhao Xiuneng's sons. Last time in Qishan, the old lady joked, "The eldest is out of the question, he's over sixty, it's embarrassing. But sons, look at my two grandsons, if they were to pass on a skill or two to them, could they?"
But I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to do it.
In a flash, the two men came forward and shook hands, both with their hands, grasping his lower back and hooking him up, their heads bowed, their faces bearing humble smiles: "Teacher Lin!"
Lin Sicheng was taken aback.
The last time I was addressed like this was at Chen Yangyan's villa.
Lin Sicheng nodded politely, then looked at Zhao Xiuneng and said, "Mr. Zhao, this might be a burden to you!"
"Mr. Lin, it's not that exaggerated!"
Zhao Xiuneng didn't care at all and waved his hand dismissively: "Even if Yu Dahai and Gao Zhengang were here, I could still go toe-to-toe with them, let alone those two who have fled abroad?"
After a slight pause, he looked back again: Moreover, this time Lin Sicheng was taking the blame for the government.
Dealing with those few was like crushing ants...
The two hit it off immediately, embracing and chatting happily, while Chen Peng and He Zhigang sat in the car, watching coldly from the sidelines.
It felt like Lin Sicheng was not only skilled in many things, but also had some really wild methods: Zhao Xiuneng, for example, although he wasn't a professional tomb raider, had been registered with the Municipal Bureau and the Cultural Relics Bureau as early as twenty years ago.
They didn't have the same destructive power as Yang Bin, Yu Dahai, or Gao Zhengang. But they had more energy, wider connections, and more profound influence.
But Lin Sicheng only made one phone call, and this person rushed back from Beijing overnight?
Then think back to last night, when Zhang Feng came back to report with an exaggerated expression: Yu Dahai's men looked at Lin Sicheng as if he were their ancestor...
Just then, Lin Sicheng took out the picture, and the two discussed it head to head until the sun set and the stars filled the sky.
Then, the two of them each took out a compass, one pointing south and the other north.
The two moved in much the same way, occasionally stopping to look up at the sky, then at the mountains to the south, and then at the Sanyao Slope to the west. Then they would either turn around or turn their compasses.
Chen Peng and He Zhigang exchanged a glance and found it quite absurd.
About ten minutes later, Lin Sicheng called out, "Boss Zhao, come and take a look!"
Zhao Xiuneng responded and quickly walked over. Then he squatted down and turned on his flashlight.
After muttering something for two or three minutes, Lin Sicheng stood up again: "Brother Zhao, lower the shovel!"
Chen Peng and He Zhigang were energized: Had they really found the grave?
The two exchanged a glance and got out of the car together.
It's so dark now, if someone were really watching us, would they be able to tell who's who?
They walked over in two strides, and when they heard the noise, Lin Sicheng and Zhao Xiuneng turned around.
Fearing Zhao Xiu might be reluctant to speak, Lin Sicheng didn't introduce them, but pointed his flashlight at the ground and said, "Two leaders, there's a tomb robber's hole!"
The lights were bright, and it was clear that a few clumps of wild grass grew sparsely on the wasteland.
Compared to the one next to it, it seems there's no difference?
“It’s different!” Lin Sicheng broke off a grass stalk and snapped it in two: “The grass seeds were sown later and fertilized, so they didn’t grow long enough… and the soil is also topsoil, so it’s been covered here for no more than six years.”
Chen Peng and He Zhigang remained silent.
They'd heard of this method before, but honestly, they couldn't really tell the difference.
Subsequently, Zhao Xiuneng's two sons began digging, using steel shovels like drill bits, one pulling and the other drilling.
With a "whoosh," the shovel head sank into the soil, and with a pull, a hole more than twenty centimeters deep appeared in the ground.
They drilled and lifted again, about seven or eight times, when with a "thud," the drill bit missed.
"It's through, Brother Zhao. Change the shovel... Don't dig out the loose soil, just keep pushing it down, and make the opening bigger!"
"Brother Zhao, use the probe to explore the bottom... The cave is 12.5 meters deep... Zhang Feng, connect the mountain ladder, 13 sections!"
"Mr. Zhao, light the candle box, three candles!"
Lin Sicheng's methodical command left Chen Peng and He Zhigang both astonished and amazed: finding the tomb was secondary; the key was Lin Sicheng's level of expertise. It was as if he had led a group to rob hundreds of tombs...
With a thud, Zhao Da poked around the ground about ten times, and a hole about seventy or eighty centimeters in diameter appeared on the originally uneven wasteland.
Lin Sicheng took the probe and pricked each of the holes in the cave wall.
The earthen mound, over six meters high, is entirely made of loess and is exceptionally sturdy.
Then, the windproof candle box was placed down, and it didn't go out?
Looking at the flickering candle flames at the bottom of the cave, Lin Sicheng and Zhao Xiuneng exchanged a glance: with the cave open on all sides, it was probably all stolen long ago.
However, this is just to lure the fish in; even if it's an empty tomb, they'll definitely make a move!
The two brothers put on their gas masks and went down into the pit one after the other.
A short while later, the bell at the end of the rope rang.
Then, it rang four more times.
Zhao Xiuneng's expression changed slightly, but Lin Sicheng, having anticipated this, remained calm.
A sound indicates that the tomb has reached the center, which is the main burial chamber.
The following four tones indicate that the tomb was visited very frequently, and it has been basically emptied.
Lin Sicheng sighed and rang the bell twice: "This means use whatever you have, even soil from the grave will do..."
Then, a series of clanging and banging sounds came from below. After about ten bangs, the bell rang again, and Lin Sicheng grabbed another rope and pulled up.
The items weren't heavy, and they were lifted up in no time. When a flashlight was shone on them, they turned out to be two tomb bricks.
It is about 30 centimeters long, with four seal characters engraved on the side.
The first piece is: Yichun Qianqiu.
The second item is: earning 10,000 coins a day.
At first glance, they appear to be two tomb bricks inscribed with auspicious phrases, a common feature in Han Dynasty tombs.
But Lin Sicheng's face darkened.
Previously, the woman had given him a similar brick with three words engraved on it: "Great Fortune".
Bricks with these inscriptions appeared relatively late, around the end of the Western Han Dynasty, during the Xin Dynasty of Wang Mang. The woman then pointed to the tomb of the King of Beili, and Lin Sicheng immediately suspected: Could it be the tomb of the Marquis of Guannei, the Marquis of Yichun, from the Western Han Dynasty?
Looking at it now, isn't that exactly right?
Buried here is Wang Zhang, the brother-in-law of Wang Mang, the younger brother of Empress Xiaomu, and the third Marquis of Yichun in the Western Han Dynasty.
It was looted by pirates about five or six years ago, but it wasn't discovered until 2018 when the Qianlin County residential complex was being built here.
When the archaeological team removed the tomb's roof, they found nothing of value left in the burial chamber except for the bricks on the walls. The murals, the coffin, and even the inscribed stone beams in the burial chamber had all been looted…
However, this was only a secondary tomb; there was also a main tomb next to it, where Wang Mang's father-in-law, the second Marquis of Yichun, Wang Xian, was buried.
The tomb chamber and burial pit were much larger and contained far more items than this one, but Yu Dahai dared not rob them.
Because it was a quicksand tomb, with a layer of quicksand nearly three meters thick outside the burial chamber and the burial pit. Anyone who dared to dig a tunnel there would be killed ten times over.
In addition, a mercury pool was hidden inside the walls of the main burial chamber. The tomb had been buried for nearly two thousand years, and the mercury had long since evaporated into mercury vapor, seeping into the tomb walls.
As soon as someone gets in or a fire is started, steam begins to escape, and by the time it's discovered, even a miracle won't save them...
But that woman sold the dragon map to him. She even swore: "Boss, there's definitely a huge tomb, definitely good stuff. Go ahead and dig it up if you don't believe me..."
So, it's not just about taking off your boots backwards.
That woman wanted him dead...
...
Lin Sicheng gritted his teeth. About a hundred meters away from them, two men were squatting in the grass, holding up binoculars.
It was too dark to see clearly, but at least I could see that there were lights going down into the cave and lights shining out of the cave.
After watching for about half an hour, the two got up and headed north in the dark.
They squeezed into the culvert, crossed the ring road, and got into a pickup truck at the bottom of the slope. Then, the man took out his phone and made a call.
"Third Brother, the fish has taken the bait... The one we hired to dig a hole is Zhao the Rascal from Qishan!"
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