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

Chapter 45 The Sixth Wave of Tomb Raiders: Tomb Raiders in Modern Times (4)
Until noon the next day, all the officers and soldiers were sweating profusely and panting. They lay on the ground and could no longer lift their picks and shovels, but there was still no progress.In desperation, brigade commander Han Dabao suddenly remembered that he wanted to go to Tan Wenjiang's and Ding Ting's divisions to check on the progress of the brothers' troops.When he came to the Mausoleum of Cixi with a very depressed mood, found Tan Wenjiang, and under Tan's personal leadership, passed through the three lines of defense inside and outside the mausoleum, and entered the entrance of the underground palace inside the mausoleum, Han Dabao's heart jumped Startled, then his eyes lit up, staring at the entrance of the underground palace motionless—at this time, Tan Wenjiang not only found the entrance of the underground palace, but also broke open the first stone gate in the underground palace with a heavy tree trunk. Han Dabao listened to Tan After Wen Jiang's introduction, he suddenly realized, and immediately returned to Qianlong's mausoleum, and started to act again.

With the reference of Cixi Mausoleum, Chai Yunsheng commanded his officers and soldiers to dig immediately under the glazed screen wall in front of a famous building in the cemetery.This time, Chai Yunsheng was not disappointed. After the soldiers dug vertically down to a depth of more than four feet, they found a diamond wall.Chai Yunsheng was overjoyed, and quickly ordered the soldiers to continue digging down.When the soldiers saw that there were finally traces of the mausoleum, their strength doubled.After digging more than a foot deep along the Vajra wall, the soldiers found a section of the Vajra wall carved with mantras and scriptures in white marble.This section of the King Kong Wall is significantly different from the previous ones.After digging around this special wall for a while, I found a two-foot-square hole, which was the entrance to the Qianlong Yuling Underground Palace.It was late at night on July 7th.

Chai Yunsheng was very cautious. Seeing that the entrance of the underground palace had been found, he only left a small group of people guarding the entrance of the cave, and the other soldiers were guarding around the mausoleum.Han Dabao is solely responsible for going deep into the underground palace and opening the coffin to retrieve the treasure.

Han Dabao was flattered after receiving this task.At this time, it was already dark.He didn't care much, he just wanted to get the treasures in the underground palace as soon as possible, so he took a few brave soldiers deep into the underground palace to investigate.Han Dabao was also very cunning. Although he was eager to know what the inside of the mausoleum looked like, he didn't dare to act rashly.He let those soldiers walk in front, and he followed far behind, so that he could evacuate in time if any accident happened.Han Dabao had no choice but to bite the bullet and let two bold soldiers go in to check the situation first.The two soldiers were eager for money, and they didn't care about safety or insecurity. Holding torches, they walked forward. After walking a few steps, they stepped into a downward slope tomb.Of course, the two soldiers didn't know that the first thing they came into contact with was a ramped corridor. This corridor was four to five feet long. Like Cixi's underground palace, it was specially designed for sliding the coffin of the owner in the tomb.After the coffin is brought into the entrance of the underground palace, rolling logs are laid one by one on the sloped corridor. The coffin is pressed on the rolling logs, and with the help of its rolling force, it slides gently into the first stone gate of the underground palace, and then slowly Moved to the back room.What made these two "silly and bold" even more unimaginable was that the Qianlong Underground Palace had already been filled with four or five feet of groundwater at this time.Since the water has accumulated for a long time, after mixing with coffins and corpses, it forms a mildewed toxin that spreads throughout the underground palace. If excessive inhalation of this toxin will kill people.

As I walked, I saw that the lights in front of me were all extinguished one after another with the sound of "plop, plop", and then there was the sound of struggling.

"Help! Help!"

"I don't know how to water, come and help me!"

Han Dabao didn't dare to go forward, he only heard the voices calling for help inside getting weaker and weaker, and finally fell silent, and the death-like silence returned to the tomb.Han Dabao looked at the dark tomb passage in front of him like a big mouth eating people, he didn't dare to move forward any more, and ran out in a panic.

It turned out that those soldiers didn't pay attention to the changes in the tomb passage when they stepped forward.The slope-shaped tomb passage lasted for a while and then broke, followed by several tall steps.Ignoring the danger, these soldiers stepped on the empty steps one after another and fell down.Under the steps is four or five feet deep groundwater full of putrid gas.The groundwater has already deteriorated due to long-term soaking with those funerary objects and Qianlong's coffin.Those soldiers were not able to swim, so they only struggled a few times before they died one after another.

An hour later, Han Dabao and the others found that the soldiers in the underground palace were still silent, so they quietly approached to discuss countermeasures.Han Dabao decided to imitate the method of Cixi Mausoleum, using explosives to blow up the entrance of the underground palace to expand it as much as possible, so that the range of activities up and down is much larger.

Having made up his mind, Han Dabao immediately asked a group leader to bring his brothers to bring the explosives, and dug another 3-meter-deep hole at the entrance of the underground palace, and buried the explosives in it.Since Zhuan (zhuān) Sun Ziyu's engineering regiments were all concentrated to cover Cixi Mausoleum at this time, and Zhuan Sun Ziyu himself was too busy in the underground palace to take care of Qianlong Yuling's robbery, so Han Dabao simply asked the brothers of the infantry regiment to detonate. After all, infantrymen are not engineers. They forcefully detonate the explosives without being familiar with the explosive technology. Like Ertijiao firecrackers, the powerful medicinal power condensed into a fan-shaped pillar of fire, engulfed in rubble and rubble, and shot straight into the sky, and the collapsing rubble whirled and fell in all directions in the dark night.The doors and windows of the people's homes in the surrounding villages were also rattled, and many people got out of bed in a hurry after being awakened by the shock, and ran to the middle of the yard to see Dongling's panic and horror. Later, when the Dongling robbery incident happened, the cannon shot became indirect evidence provided by the people from all over the world to the government and the press.

After the gunpowder smoke cleared, Han Dabao and others gathered around the entrance of the underground palace one after another.Although the power of the gunpowder was extremely powerful, the effect was not obvious. Only a few gaps were cracked in the entire diamond wall, and the expected holes were not blown.Han Dabao didn't dare to explode again, so he had to order his brothers to use picks and shovels to pry off and remove the bricks of the Vajra Wall one by one, until there was a big opening that was big enough to stand into the underground palace, and then stopped.

Han Dabao selected two more soldiers and ordered them to go in to investigate.Although the two soldiers were timid, they did not dare to disobey the order, so they had to bravely accept the order.For self-defense, the two of them not only equipped with lighting flashlights, pistols and grenades, but also tied a long safety rope around each waist to lead outside.Several strong soldiers held the safety rope tightly so that if something happened to the people who went in, they could be pulled up.After everything was ready, the two soldiers gradually slid down the ramp, and found the foul-smelling black water of the dungeon and the corpses of two "silly and bold" floating in the black water.Seeing this, the two soldiers turned around quickly after being taken aback, shouting and retreating outward.Since the ropes had been tightened outside, they crawled and ran out of the underground palace without much effort.

Panting heavily, the two soldiers reported the situation in the underground palace to Han Dabao.After hearing this, Han Dabao yelled that it was unlucky, and reported to the teacher Chai Yunsheng.

This made Chai Yunsheng very anxious. It took a lot of effort to open the mausoleum, but he encountered such difficulties again.With a gloomy face, he asked his subordinates for a solution.

"Master, don't worry. I heard that foreigners have invented a new machine that can pump water up from the inside without any effort, so that we can go in safely. I heard that there are some for sale in Tianjin, which is very close to here." The teacher can immediately send someone to buy the machine back."

In the absence of other options, the two finally decided to send people to Tianjin overnight to purchase fire pumps and report the situation to Sun Dianying at the same time.

Just after dawn, the water pump was bought back.Chai Yunsheng immediately ordered the soldiers to install water pumps to pump water from the underground palace.In their view, this advanced technical equipment is very magical.In just two hours, the water in the underground palace was almost drained.After another hour, the water in the underground palace was completely pumped up.

Seeing that there was no water in the underground palace, Han Dabao immediately sent troops down to investigate.The soldiers who went down soon got good news. There was no water inside, and a stone door in the tomb was found.

Chai Yunsheng and Han Dabao were very happy to hear the news.They know that when building Daxing's tomb, several stone gates are usually set up near the coffin as the last barrier.The appearance of stone gates in the tomb passage proved that they were very close to Qianlong's coffin.They immediately sent a large number of soldiers to open the stone gate, and they themselves followed behind.

I saw that the tall and heavy stone gate was divided into east and west and tightly closed.On the east stone gate is engraved Manjusri Bodhisattva representing great wisdom. The Bodhisattva's right hand holds up a sword. It is said that this sword can cut off all troubles in the world. The left hand supports Buddhist scriptures, which can increase the wisdom of all living beings.The west fan is engraved with Mahasthama Bodhisattva, which represents great strength. The demon pestle in his right hand can drive away evil, and the law enforcement bell in his left hand can spread the sound of Dharma.Of course Chai Yunsheng and the others didn't understand this, and they thought at first that the carving on the stone gate was a hidden weapon, but after repeated inspections, they found nothing unusual, so they waved their hands reassuringly and shouted: "Hit me!" With enough strength, he lifted the heavy tree trunk, stepped on the black water and mud, and slammed into the stone gate with a huff.After repeating it only three times, the natural stone of the first stone gate was broken, and the gate burst open.The two Bodhisattvas with boundless Dharma who wielded swords and pestles (chǔ) on the door watched this group of crazy officers and soldiers rush in without help.Dharma has failed.

Then, they used the same method to knock open the four stone gates they encountered later.The soldiers thought that the treasure was in front of them, and they were very excited, and they came to the fifth stone gate excitedly.This stone gate seemed to be no different from the previous four, but it depressed the excited soldiers.It turned out that no matter how hard the soldiers tried, even the strength of breastfeeding, Shimen still remained motionless.

Han Dabao was very surprised, he waved his hand to stop the sweating soldiers, and went to the stone gate for a detailed inspection.What puzzled him was that this stone gate looked the same as the first three, why it couldn't be opened by impact, could it be that the soul of Emperor Qianlong was at work in the dark?Or are these two Bodhisattvas on the door at work?Han Dabao wandered around in front of the door, but couldn't find the essentials.In the end, he gritted his teeth and said angrily to Shimen: "Whether it is a ghost or a demon, as long as it falls into the hands of my Han, there is no way to escape! Hmph, since you can't open it, let's blow it up with explosives!" Let’s see if it’s the stone or the explosive.” In the end, he had to issue this order.

After the explosives were placed, everyone withdrew again.With another muffled sound coming from the ground, the fifth door was finally opened.After the smoke cleared, Chai Yunsheng and Han Dabao immediately entered the underground palace again.They thought they would see the treasure right away this time, so they swarmed into the fifth gate.Feeling extremely excited, Han Dabao personally ordered 20 "children soldiers" brought out from his hometown in Henan, and brought various tools into the underground palace, ready to search for treasure.But when they came to the fourth stone gate, they found that the three coffins were pressed under the three-ton stone gate, and they could not be smashed at all.They didn't know until later that due to too much water in the underground palace, the coffin, which was originally placed on the "treasure bed" in the back room, floated like a boat.When the water pump is used outside, these "boats" floating on the water will leave the "treasure bed" and slide behind the stone door with the flow and suction of the water, and squeeze the stone door tightly.As a result, Han Dabao's brothers were unable to knock open the stone gate with tree trunks.When the stone gate was blown down, the coffins of the three squeezed up were naturally pressed down, making it impossible for the grave robbers to start for a while.

Facing the coffin covered by boulders, Chai Yunsheng was in trouble again.At this critical moment, Han Dabao is still smart.After examining the coffins in detail, he decided to cut open the front of the coffins with an axe.Dozens of soldiers raised sharp knives and axes to hack at the coffin.This trick worked very well. After a meal of "cracking and cracking", all three coffins were opened.The soldiers swarmed up and looted all the treasures in the coffin in a short while.There is a female corpse in the coffin, which is still intact even after hundreds of years, as if alive.In order to compete for the funeral objects on her body, the soldiers no longer cared about any taboos. They dragged her out, removed her crown and hair, and stripped and searched her.After a frantic robbery, the naked female body was thrown into the mud by soldiers who only cared about the treasure, and was almost trampled into meat paste.Even the bones of the great emperor Qianlong were torn apart by soldiers and thrown everywhere.

Emperor Qianlong would never have imagined that the luxurious mausoleum he built with painstaking efforts would be destroyed by such a group of shameless tomb robbers.No matter how strong the stone gate is, no matter how many stone gates there are, the illusory Guanyin Bodhisattva and the four heavenly kings can only be helpless in the face of explosives.Although Qianlong was rich and long-lived during his lifetime, the catastrophe he suffered after his death was even more tragic than that of Empress Dowager Cixi.Not only were the treasures gone, but the bones were also defiled.According to the on-the-spot investigation by the aftercare committee, old and new bones were scattered inside and outside the tomb passage, and there were dizzy pearls and remnants of jade everywhere. Some bones were scattered and shapeless, and several golden coffins had been split into pieces.These emperors and noble concubines who ordinary people dare not look at before they were alive, if they really have spirits in the sky, they can only lament that they pay too much attention to the affairs behind them, and their descendants are useless, so they have suffered such a disaster after their death.

Bandits visit Qing Dongling

There are five imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty, three in Liaoning Province, and the other two are the East and West Tombs in Zunhua County and Yi County, Hebei Province, which are the main parts of the Qing Mausoleum.The Qianlong period was the most prosperous period of the Qing Dynasty, and the Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the most extravagant among those in power in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the mausoleums of Emperor Qianlong and the Empress Dowager Cixi are also the most extravagant.And these two tombs are also the most coveted by grave robbers.

Just when Sun Dianying led his troops to retreat to Shunyi and Huairou, the bandits, gangsters, and soldiers from the Fengjun and Zhilu remnants who were hiding outside Dongling, rushed to Dongling, which once again became a vacuum. The place where the treasure is hidden.When they found that all the mausoleums had been dug and riddled with holes, and the underground palaces of Cixi and Qianlong's tombs had been robbed, they took advantage of the confusion to open up the entrances that were not tightly blocked, lit lanterns and torches, and raised their hands. With pockets and various self-defense weapons, he rushed into the underground palaces of Cixi and Qianlong's two tombs, and looted again.The actions of the soldiers and gangsters were gradually heard by the nearby natives.As a result, group after group of aboriginals, like kingless bees just released from a box, rushed towards the mausoleum in groups carrying straw baskets and pockets, and carefully inspected the jewels and jade objects scattered in the underground palace. Searched again.Due to the mixed mud and water in the Qianlong Underground Palace, it is difficult to find the scattered treasures. The aborigines carried them with rake hooks, like raking grass in the fields, and like fishing fish and shrimp in the river ditch. The broken bones of Qianlong and his concubines were put into the straw baskets and bags they brought, and brought out of the underground palace.Then, the straw baskets and sacks were taken to the river outside the mausoleum by picking, carrying or pulling them by cart, and washed them repeatedly with iron sieves to separate out gold grains and jewels.As for the broken bones that were engulfed, they were naturally thrown into the river and left with the water, which can be described as a real looting.Many soldiers, gangsters and natives made a fortune from this.

The "Shiquan old man" and "Queen Lafayette" who were infinitely glorious during their lifetime may never have imagined that they would be treated so rudely and barbarously after death.Not only was his mausoleum stolen and excavated, but he also lost peace again and again.Not only did the two of them find no peace, but many soldiers and gangsters dug up the tomb of Concubine Hui of Emperor Tongzhi who had been robbed before, smashed the coffin and threw the corpse again, searching and looting in an all-round way.The same as what happened to Cixi, the concubine Hui, who looked like life and was in good condition, was stripped naked and thrown naked on the stone slab of the underground palace. In the corner, all the funeral objects were looted.Dongling once again fell into a great loss of control, chaos, and looting.

Time passed day by day, although Dongling was in chaos and people who looted treasures came in an endless stream, but no one reported the news to the government and the Manchu imperial family in time.Yupeng, the titular guardian of Dongling, originally sent by the Qing Dynasty, had started guarding and stealing himself before that, making a lot of ill-gotten gains.When he found out that the Cixi and Qianlong tombs were robbed by soldiers and bandits, he was afraid of taking responsibility and slipped back to his home in Peiping. He neither showed his face nor sent anyone to report to Puyi who lived in Tianjin. cultural relics.On the contrary, Hengyong (style name Liangsheng), a former governor of the Manchu and Qing Dynasty who lived in Beiping, after hearing a little about the theft of Dongling, in order to find out the truth, he sent a letter to his relative, then Zunhua County The governor Jiang Qijun (jùn) wrote a private letter asking about the situation of Dongling.After Jiang Qijun saw the letter, he sent someone to Dongling to investigate, and quickly wrote back with a brief explanation.The original text of the letter is as follows:
(End of this chapter)