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

Chapter 74
In the history of Chinese tomb robbers, the game between tomb robbers and tomb owners has always been going on.Among the many imperial tombs, which ones have been coveted by tomb robbers for a long time, and which one is the first in China?Whose mausoleum has the best anti-theft effect?Why did the ancient country of Loulan suddenly disappear?Why are the ancient tombs in Loulan restless?This article will elaborate on this question in detail.

It is easy to shake the mountain, but hard to shake the tomb: the tomb that the tomb robbers cannot break through

The strongest anti-theft king of South Vietnam
Clearing away the fog of history, in the depths of memory, in the southwestern corner of China, there used to be a powerful regime—the Nanyue Kingdom.It was first built in 203 BC. After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, it was established by Zhao Tuo, the captain of Nanhai County, in 203 BC after annexing Guilin County and Xiang County.In 196 BC and 179 BC, the Nanyue Kingdom was subordinated to the Western Han Dynasty successively and became the "outer vassal" of the Western Han Dynasty. It was destroyed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in 111 BC and passed on to the fifth generation for 93 years.

In this short period of 93 years, the literature has not left much record of this fleeting kingdom.People don't know exactly how far its spiritual and material culture has developed.In my memory, Nanyue Kingdom does not seem to have world-famous bronze wares, nor exquisite jade wares, and Nanyue has been known as a wild land since ancient times. However, the discovery of the royal tomb brought people's attention back to Nanyue once again. On the homeland of...

June 1983, 6, was an unusually ordinary day.On this day, the construction site of the dormitory building of the provincial government office in Xianggang Mountain is still under construction as usual.At noon, several workers were wielding shovels to shovel the soil, and an accident happened: the shovels in their hands made a "clang" sound, and gold flowers splashed everywhere they touched.While complaining about their bad luck, they dug to the place where there were rocks, and at the same time dug up the soil on the rocks, but they never thought that their actions would shock the world.The workers invariably found that these were a few huge rocks that resembled roofs, and there seemed to be gaps in the middle of the huge rocks.They didn't know what shocking secrets were hidden under the gap. As usual, they had to use machinery to move these boulders away.Perhaps it was God's will. On this day, Deng Qinyou, Section Chief of the Infrastructure Office of the Provincial Government with experience in cultural relics protection, was inspecting work near this construction site. When he heard the whispers of the workers, he also came here.When he lay down on the ground and looked inside through the gap of the boulder, he immediately realized that this might be an ancient tomb, so he immediately called the archaeological team of the Cultural Relics Management Committee.No one thought that it was such a group of workers and that ordinary section chief who revealed a secret that had been silent for thousands of years.

The archaeological team of the Guangzhou Cultural Management Committee got the news and quickly sent archaeologists to the scene.After investigation, this is an ancient stone tomb.The archaeologists felt that the matter was of great importance and quickly reported to the Cultural Management Committee. Twenty minutes later, Mai Yinghao, deputy director of the Guangzhou Cultural Management Committee and a famous archaeologist, came to Xianggang Mountain.He pulled out a large five-battery flashlight and peered down through the slit.As the beam of the flashlight kept moving, Mai Yinghao first saw the tomb wall built with stones, the huge stone tomb door, and a pile of messy utensils in the tomb chamber.Among the messy utensils, a large bronze tripod and several pieces of pottery are particularly conspicuous.Mai Yinghao stopped the light beam of the flashlight on these objects, looked them up and down, and judged from the shape, structure, characteristics and other aspects that this should be a stone tomb from the Han Dynasty more than 20 years ago.

In order to further clarify the situation, at ten o'clock that night, Mai Yinghao led a few people to the Xianggang construction site quietly, and asked the archaeologist Huang Miaozhang to drag a rope into the tomb from the crack to investigate.With the help of the flashlight, Huang Miaozhang walked through an aisle and stepped into an ear room of the hall. He was stunned by the scene in front of him: he saw huge copper pots, copper vats, copper pails, copper francium and countless jade ornaments in disorder. On top of a layer of fragmented utensils of indistinguishable texture.These utensils are radiant and dazzling.Ten minutes later, according to Mai Yinghao's instructions, Huang Miaozhang came under the crack of the tomb with a big jade, a copper bell, and a clay pot in his arms. First, he asked the archaeologists above to carefully carry the cultural relics in a cloth bag Go up, and then use the rope to drill out of the tomb.

As the saying goes, good things never come, and the excavation of this tomb also took a long time.However, this is not important. The most difficult thing for everyone who pays attention to this tomb is how to quickly know whose tomb it is and what is inside it?The turning point of the matter happened around 9 pm on September 22 of this year, and there was a dramatic climax in the excavation of the main room of the tomb.An archaeologist accidentally discovered a golden dragon seal between the chest and abdomen of the owner of the tomb.When the dust on the gold seal was gently brushed away with a small brush and slowly turned over, the four strong and powerful small seal characters of "Wendi Xingxi" immediately came into view.An ancient and important historical unsolved case is solved!It turned out that the owner of the tomb was Zhao Zhen (mò), the second king of Nanyue Kingdom.

Zhao Zhen, known as Zhao Hu in "Historical Records", was the second king of the Nanyue Kingdom during the Western Han Dynasty in China. He reigned from 137 BC to 122 BC. He was the grandson of Zhao Tuo, the first king of the Nanyue Kingdom. .

Mystery comes with this Dragon New Gold Seal.What people want to know most at this time is Nanyue Kingdom, because this is a relatively mysterious kingdom in Chinese history.Although there are some records in historical documents, there are few physical evidence to support it, especially from the royal family.Just when history was about to erase those few memories in people's hearts, the news from Xianggang Mountain rekindled the passion of those who were eager to explore the secrets of South Vietnam.Let's open the dusty historical documents!According to historical records, the name of the second king of the Nanyue Kingdom was "Zhao Hu", which pointed out that he was the grandson of Zhao Tuo, the founding emperor of the Nanyue Kingdom, but the gold seal found on Xianggang Mountain was impressively engraved with "Zhao Zhen". History is wrong?The resolution of this question does not seem to take too much time.During the Western Han Dynasty, the language of the Nanyue Kingdom in the south of the Lingnan region was completely different from that of the Western Han Dynasty in the Central Plains. Therefore, the names and surnames of Zhao Zhen were also recorded according to the dictation of envoys. There must be differences in the understanding of local dialects.What is amazing is that the pronunciation of "眜" in a local accent in Cantonese dialect still sounds somewhat like "Hu". It can be seen that a certain envoy 2000 years ago played according to the sound of "Hu".The memory left to us by this Nanyue king named "Zhao Zhen" is mysterious. From the sparse historical memory, it is found that this grandson of Zhao Tuo is not in good health, but even so he still does not forget his desire for pleasure. Therefore, Zhao Zhen's reign was far behind his grandfather's.Zhao Zhen reigned for 16 years, from the fourth year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to the first year of Yuanshou (137-122 BC).During Zhao Zhen's reign, he called himself "Emperor Wen of Nanyue", and after his death he was posthumously named King Wen of Nanyue.During this period, the Nanyue Kingdom was nominally a vassal of the Han Dynasty, but actually maintained the status of an independent kingdom.Because Zhao Zhen didn't know how to govern the country, and he was mediocre and made no achievements during his reign, the national power of Nanyue Kingdom was declining day by day under his hands.In order to continue to enjoy himself in his own independent kingdom during his lifetime, he sent the prince to the Western Han court as a hostage. This laid a hidden danger for the later Nanyue Prime Minister Lu Jia to launch a rebellion, and it was also the direct cause of the demise of the Nanyue Kingdom.Although Zhao Zhen didn't manage the country very well, he had very high requirements for the objects buried with him after his death. The treasures unearthed on Xianggang Mountain are the best evidence.

The emperors of any dynasty will try their best to prevent their tombs from being stolen.If Zhao Xuan is not very capable in governing the country, then he can be said to be a model in preventing theft, because his tomb has been intact for more than 2100 years, and it cannot but be said to be a miracle among the tombs of emperors.

What magical method did Zhao Zhen use to escape the search of the tomb robbers?Does the structure of his tomb itself have anti-theft function?

When studying Zhao Xuan's underground palace, you will find that even if the tomb robbers find Zhao Zhen's tomb, it is not easy to steal the things in the tomb.This Nanyue tomb in the deep mountains has attracted countless attentions, and the rare treasures contained in the tomb have made countless people dream and sigh.And many of the burial objects are even called "the best in China" and national treasures. Experts and scholars from all walks of life also give them good names such as "rare and rare" and "national treasures".What rare treasures are buried in the mysterious Nanyue King's Tomb?

We might as well enter the underground palace of the royal mausoleum to learn more about it.

When we stepped into Zhao Xuan's underground palace, we discovered that the shape of Zhao Xuan's tomb is a bit like the character "Jia", and the direction is head north and foot south.The word "Tian" is the tomb, and the protruding vertical is the passage leading to the tomb, that is, the tomb passage.The tomb passage is rectangular, filled with loess and large stones, probably filled in by the ancients after the tomb was sealed, in order to prevent latecomers from approaching the tomb door and prevent tomb robbers.The outermost periphery of the entire tomb is a slope-shaped tomb passage.At the end of the long and narrow tomb passage, there are two stone doors, on which there are bronze "shop heads" - two animal heads with door knockers in their mouths.The pattern of the animal's head is ferocious, quite majestic.

After crossing a stone threshold, I came to a square stone house. This is the front room, and there are doors on all sides of it.The first thing you see when you enter the front room is the pattern all over the room.This curly cloud-like pattern, painted in red and black paint, covers the four walls and tops the stone "ceiling".

To the south of the front room is the first door of the tomb, and to the north are two tightly closed stone doors.Strictly speaking, the "doors" on the east and west sides are just two door openings.The east and west "gates" each lead to a long and narrow stone chamber.The east side is the east ear room; the west side is called the west ear room, which is also made of stone.One of the stone slabs on the roof of the east room has fallen off, as if a "skylight" was opened.With the dim light, you can see a row of bronze bells on the floor of the room against the wall, as well as a percussion instrument made of stone—the chime.There are other large bronze vessels in the room as well as some small pieces of jade, copper weapons and a burial figure.Behind the second stone gate is the place where Zhao Yu, the owner of the tomb, is buried. The threshold under the second stone gate is made of two sections of stone strips; the threshold is built on the soil on the ground and can be removed.After opening the second stone gate, you will enter the underground palace of the owner of the tomb——Zhao Xuan.

The underground palace itself is rectangular, all stone, but without the beautiful patterns of the front room for decoration.There is also a doorway on the east and west sides, which obviously lead to the tomb next to it.There is also a small compartment separated by stone pillars at the back of the tomb, which is full of large and small copper, iron and pottery, which is as crowded as a storage room.Looking up, you can see the stone slabs covering the roof, and under the slabs, there are two rows of cornice stones pressed against the stone wall.

There is also a tomb on both sides and the back end of the underground palace where the owner of the tomb is located.In the tomb to the east, there were 4 martyrs, as well as many finely carved jade ornaments, some bronze and pottery as funerary objects, and 4 seals were also found.There are seven martyrs in the tomb on the west side of the stone chamber where the owner of the tomb is located. The burial objects of the martyrs are pitifully small. Except for one or two simple and broken jade wares, each of them has one or two bronze mirrors.What attracts people's attention is the silk jade dress worn by the owner of the tomb.The silk-threaded jade garment unearthed from the Nanyue king's tomb is composed of 7 pieces of jade threaded with silk thread and pasted with linen. New species not found in literature and archaeological discoveries.In the past, we heard more about "Jade Clothes with Golden Threads".Jade clothes with golden thread, also known as jade boxes, became popular in the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wei Wu of the Three Kingdoms promoted thin burials, and later generations stopped, so jade clothes are unique to the Han Dynasty.The golden jade clothes unearthed from Zhongshan King Liu Sheng's tomb are world-famous, and they are the best among them.However, 2291 or 3 jade garments with golden threads have been unearthed so far, but there is only one jade garment with silk threads, which can be called an isolated copy.The so-called silk thread means that the thread that wears jade is silk thread.According to regulations, gold wires are used by emperors and empresses, silver wires are used by princes, and copper wires are used by generals. According to the status of the king of Nanyue, silver threads should be worn, but they are silk threads, and the quality of jade clothes is uneven. , the perforations on the jade pieces are even more different in size, and the handwork is rough.Based on this, experts estimate that this jade garment was not made in the Eastern Garden of the Western Han Dynasty, but was probably made by the Nanyue Kingdom itself. It is likely that because Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not approve at that time, they only dared to use silk strands, not even copper wire.When this jade garment was unearthed, the ribbon had long since rotted, and the jade pieces were scattered all over the place.Archaeological experts from Beijing used the unprecedented "bamboo stick insertion and extraction method" to retrieve the jade clothing, and cooperated with colleagues for [-] years to finally restore the silk jade clothing.

In addition to silk jade clothes, a batch of special artifacts were also unearthed from the tomb.They have a strong exotic style, confirming the history of foreign exchanges in the ancient country of South Vietnam, and are the earliest batch of imported products discovered in the Lingnan area of ​​China.Among them is a white silver box that is particularly eye-catching.This oblate silver box is 12 cm high, 14.9 cm in abdominal diameter, and weighs 572.6 grams. It was in the main coffin when it was unearthed, and there were ten boxes of pills in the box.Judging from the technical characteristics of the shape, decoration, and golden trap around the mouth, it is quite different from the traditional Chinese utensils in style, but similar to the relics of the ancient Persian Empire (550 BC-330 AD).After chemical analysis and research by experts, it is considered to be a Persian product, and the pills in the silver box are likely to be Arabic medicines.

And another boat-pattern handle unearthed with burial also shows a unique exotic style.There are four groups of boat patterns on the body of the barrel, with sails raised, warriors wearing feather crowns, naked captives, trophies loaded with booty, and bronze drums symbolizing power of the ancient Yue tribe on the boat.Turtles and seabirds are also painted around the boat and on the bottom of the boat, reflecting the triumphant return of a large ancient Yue people fleet after the war.This is the largest and most complete graphic of sea-going ships discovered so far, which is of great significance to the study of the Maritime Silk Road.

In addition, 5 large ivory tusks were unearthed in the tomb, stacked side by side. The whole pile of ivory is 57 centimeters wide, and the largest ivory is 126 centimeters long.According to the identification of zoological experts, the origin of the unearthed ivory is Africa.It is likely that they came to Guangzhou through the Maritime Silk Road.The 11 copper smokers and some spices unearthed in the tomb are also considered to be imported from Southeast Asia.These precious burial objects record the ever-changing diplomatic history and foreign trade history of Nanyue Kingdom, and are of high research value.

In the tomb of the King of Nanyue, the world's earliest color fabric overprinting tool - printing copperplate mold, the earliest practical screen in China, the earliest plate glass in China, the longest iron sword in the Western Han Dynasty, the largest painted bronze mirror in the Western Han Dynasty, etc. were also unearthed. There are many rare treasures, and there are many.

The discovery of the Nanyue King's Tomb opened up a thousand-year-old treasure buried deep underground, allowing the world to re-appreciate the thousand-year-old charm of Lingnan Nanyue culture.

From Qin Shihuang to Tang Taizong, ancient Chinese emperors always seemed to have the dream of making alchemy and seeking medicine for eternal life.But often it is impossible to live forever and die instead.These legendary panaceas of immortality are obviously people's wishful thinking, but they always carry a strong mystery.No one can tell exactly what it looks like, what its ingredients are, and how it is refined.However, the excavation of the Nanyue King's Tomb has brought a turning point for uncovering these problems.

An archaeologist found some colorful powder substances scattered in the tomb. After analysis, it turned out to be some medicine stones, including 173.5 grams of amethyst, 193.4 grams of sulfur, 1130 grams of realgar, 219.5 grams of ocher and 287.5 grams of turquoise.In addition to these five-color medicine stones, some suspicious lead pellets and cinnabar were also found in the tomb of the Nanyue king.Next to the medicine pestle in the west ear room, two piles of 528 small lead pellets were found.So many people will ask: What is the specific purpose of these small lead pellets?After looking through ancient books, I found out that the ancient alchemists refined cinnabar (mercuric sulfide) and lead for oral administration, which can produce significant effects of calming the nerves, calming the nerves, suppressing adverse reactions and relieving asthma, making people feel refreshed. This kind of "golden core" person is regarded as "immortal" when he dies.Judging from as many as 528 small lead pills found in the tomb, people have reason to believe that Zhao Zhen, who died in his 40s, must have been poisoned to death by taking these so-called "elixir of life" containing highly toxic ingredients. Unfortunately, he To the end of his life, he didn't understand that the "elixir of life" he was looking for could make him so short-lived.

Nanyue King Zhao Xuan really took great pains in order to live forever.In the back storage room of his mausoleum, there are remains of flower turtles and water fish in a copper pail and a special-shaped pot.Moreover, hundreds of turtle and soft-shelled turtle remains were found in the mud layer at the bottom of the stone pool in the garden behind the palace ruins, stacked in layers, up to 50 centimeters thick.Among them, there is a large soft-shelled turtle with a carapace as wide as 44 centimeters. The ancients called such a large soft-shelled turtle "Shanrui".It can be seen that people at that time regarded the turtle as a symbol of longevity.

No matter how he tried to make himself live longer, he was as ignorant and ignorant as all the emperors who sought the elixir of life in Chinese history, and finally died on his own "elixir of life", which can be said to be a great disservice to them Satire.

(End of this chapter)