A comprehensive overview of tombs: starting with the Yellow Weasel's Tomb

Chapter 97 Liao Dynasty Tomb Palace

Hearing the fat man's exclamation, Bai Jing shook his head and said, "No, this is not an emperor's tomb. Although the feng shui layout here is the supreme formation of nine dragons carrying a jade carriage, judging from the lotus flower patterns on the tomb bricks, it should be a woman buried here."

Upon hearing this, Hazelnut immediately asked curiously, "Does the emperor also have women?"

Upon hearing this, the fat man immediately shouted, "Of course there are, like that old woman, Empress Dowager Cixi."

Upon hearing this, Bai Qi said speechlessly, "Empress Dowager Cixi was never an emperor. Of course, although she was not an emperor, her status was definitely no lower than that of an emperor."

Bai Jing nodded and said, "My brother is right. In our history, there have been many women who held very high status. Although they were not emperors, they were no less than emperors. Naturally, the scale of their tombs would not be inferior to that of ordinary emperors."

As far as I know, the Liao Dynasty was a rather interesting dynasty. In addition to the Yelü clan, which was the imperial line, there was also the Xiao clan, a prominent family.

The establishment of the Liao Dynasty can be said to be inseparable from the Xiao family. The empress of Emperor Taizu of Liao, Yelü Abaoji, was a member of the Xiao family, and many of his civil and military officials also came from the Xiao family.

For the next several centuries, almost all the empresses and concubines of the Liao Dynasty were women from the Xiao clan.

In addition, almost all the prime ministers of the Liao Dynasty came from the Xiao family.

All these factors combined suggest that the Xiao family was the most powerful noble family outside the imperial family in the Liao Dynasty. Therefore, the tombs of Liao Dynasty empresses dowager and empresses were often built to a very high standard. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the tomb of one of Empress Dowager Xiao's daughters.

Upon hearing this, Bai Qi nodded in agreement.

The others, on the other hand, all had expressions of having learned something.

Seeing that everyone was mentally prepared, Bai Jing immediately said, "Let's go then. The tomb raiding senior from before probably didn't go in here. Let's take a look."

As he spoke, Bai Jing walked at the front.

The others quickly followed suit.

Who knows if there are any other monsters like the Golden-Headed Centipede in here? Better safe than sorry, stick close to the group.

Several people, carrying torches, walked cautiously through the underground palace.

Liao tombs followed the mausoleum system of the Tang Dynasty, with the underground palace carved into the mountainside. There were only three layouts, which are recorded in both Baiqi's "Measuring the Gold Ruler" and Baijing's "Mausoleum Catalogue".

If we were to compare the three types of tomb layouts to three characters, the first would be "甲" (jia), the second would be "中" (zhong), and the third would be "十" (shi).

As the name suggests, the character "甲" is a single tomb passage structure, the character "中" is a north-south double tomb passage structure, and the last character "十" is a four-passage structure with passages in all four directions. Regardless of the layout, the main tomb passage runs north-south.

The passage through which Bai Jing and his group crawled in from under the Vajra Wall is called the "Tomb Passage," and its direction should be directly opposite the main gate of the Xuan Palace.

The entire tomb passage sloped downwards. Bai Jing and his companions groped their way forward, walking about a hundred steps before passing through two "passageways." Each passageway had a pair of niches carved into it, facing each other on the left and right, occupying the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest corners respectively.

One direction.

Each niche is over ten feet tall, with a roof resembling a palace hall, featuring ridge tiles, drip tiles, and eaves tiles on the outside, and a dome-shaped roof made of bricks and stones inside. Inside the niche are reliefs of the Four Heavenly Kings, and all of them are equipped with ever-burning lamps and candles.

Unsurprisingly, the tomb passage runs north-south. The four Heavenly Kings in the niches are all wearing dragon scale armor. On the south side of the east wall is the Western Heavenly King Virupaksha, who is holding a snake; on the north side of the east wall is the Northern Heavenly King Vaishravana, who is holding an umbrella; on the south side of the west wall is the Southern Heavenly King Virudhaka, who is holding a sword; and on the north side of the west wall is the Eastern Heavenly King Dhritarashtra, who is playing a pipa.

Apart from Bai Jing, everyone else was experiencing this for the first time, and they were mostly clueless, not understanding the ins and outs of it.

Bai Jing explained as he walked.

The "sword, pipa, umbrella, and water snake" held by the Four Heavenly Kings actually symbolize "wind, harmony, rain, and smoothness" respectively.

After passing through two passageways, the people at the entrance will see a gate in the middle of the tomb passage. Each of the two stone doors has a pattern of a "sea beast", and the sea beasts on the doors will have stone rings in their mouths.

This sea beast is actually the fifth of the nine sons of the dragon in legend, named "Suanni". Suanni feeds on tigers and leopards and is the mount of Manjushri Bodhisattva in Buddhist legend.

Around the gate of the son's palace are reliefs of "precious mirror, pipa, perfume, melons and fruits, and heavenly clothes". These five things respectively symbolize the five desires of the human world: "sight, sound, smell, taste and touch". The meaning is very simple: "Break free from the five desires and attain enlightenment".

Outside the relief is another ring with twenty-four flower petals, the decorations are incredibly ornate.

Seeing this, everyone was amazed.

Without further ado, everyone stepped forward and pushed the stone door. With a dull thud, the sea beast stone door slowly opened.

The stone door was extremely heavy. If Bai Jing hadn't been there, even if everyone else had tried together, it would have taken a lot of effort to push it open.

Logically, after passing through the two stone gates, one should have already entered the main burial chamber.

But as the stone door was opened, Bai Jing saw the scene behind it and realized that he had guessed wrong again.

This is a cave carved into the mountainside, long from north to south and narrow from east to west. There are niches on both sides similar to the previous ones, but they enshrine the four great bodhisattvas: the Bodhisattva of Removing Obstacles, the Bodhisattva of Akasagarbha, the Bodhisattva of Ishvara, and the Bodhisattva of Maraka.

Between each pair of niches is an arched doorway. Bai Jing knew that all arched doorways in ancient tombs were called "vaulted openings".

The so-called "book cave" was actually a place to store books.

Such a place is undoubtedly a great treasure for archaeologists.

But for tomb raiders, that's a matter of opinion.

Bai Jing carefully examined the tomb chamber. It now appears that the underground palace of this Liao Dynasty tomb consists of five halls: the front hall, the middle hall, the rear hall, the left side hall, and the right side hall.

The Four Heavenly Kings Cave behind the Vajra Wall is the front hall, and the Four Bodhisattvas Cave behind the Sea Beast Stone Gate is the middle hall. Both the front hall and the middle hall are long and narrow, running north to south. The middle hall has side halls on the east and west sides.

The side halls only have arched openings and no stone doors to block them, while at the end of the main hall, a gate is carved out, with two mythical beasts carrying treasures carved in relief on it, which obviously leads to the rear hall, which is the main hall of this building, and is called the "Hall of Longevity" according to the burial system.

After walking for so long without seeing the crucial coffin, the fat man was getting impatient. He immediately complained, "Why are there so many caves in this Liao Dynasty tomb? At this rate, when will we ever reach the end?"

Chapter 98 The Young Boys and Girls in the Side Hall

Bai Jing, upon hearing the fat man's words, said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, we've already reached the middle hall. The main hall is just behind us, and the coffin of the tomb owner must be in the rear hall."

Upon hearing this, the fat man suppressed his anxiety. Suddenly, he seemed to have noticed something and pointed to the stone door of the underground palace, saying, "Look at these two curly-haired dogs that guard the tomb owner's door, what are they carrying on their backs?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Jing also looked towards the 'curly-haired dog' that the fat man had mentioned, and couldn't help but laugh when he saw the so-called 'curly-haired dog' clearly.

Bai Qi said with some helplessness, "Hey Fatty, your ignorant and incompetent attitude is really something to behold."

Immediately afterward, Bai Qi explained, "The curly-haired beast carrying this treasure is a lion, not some curly-haired dog. To be honest, this is the first time I've ever seen anything like it. There's actually a lion carrying treasure in front of the Hall of Longevity in the Liao Dynasty tomb. This must mean that the tomb owner had priceless burial objects with him."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jun excitedly exclaimed, "Oh? Really? This means there are good treasures in the tomb?"

Bai Jing nodded and said, "My brother is right, and this also proves our previous guess. This tomb is of extremely high standard. In the entire history of the Liao Dynasty, apart from the imperial tombs, it could only be the tomb of Empress Dowager Xiao."

Bai Jing seemed to have thought of something, and glanced at the side halls on both sides, saying, "Let's go and take a look at the side halls on both sides. Maybe there are records about this Empress Xiao."

Upon hearing this, everyone agreed that it made sense, and the group immediately entered the side hall to the west of the main hall.

When they went inside, they were all dumbfounded; the side hall was completely empty.

Moreover, it was definitely not emptied out. You can tell just by looking at the marks on the ground that the side hall has been empty ever since the tomb was built.

The fat man couldn't help but complain, "Are these ancient feudal nobles out of their minds? They carved out such a grand hall in this mountain, but put nothing in it. Was it just to show off, or were they just bored and had nothing better to do?"

It's no wonder the fat man had this question.

Ancient burial practices emphasized treating the dead as if they were still alive. The underground palace in this tomb was formerly called "Xuan Palace". During the Qing Dynasty, in order to avoid using the name of Emperor Kangxi, the name of the Qing emperor, it was changed to "underground palace".

Later, after the establishment of the Republic of China, these taboos were lifted, and naturally, it could be called whatever it wanted. In general, it was the same as the palace where the deceased lived.

If complete consistency is not possible, then at least a basic similarity in layout should be maintained. The excavated tomb chambers should also be divided into three main halls: front, middle, and rear, just like a proper residence, with side halls on both sides. Although they may not necessarily be useful, they should at least be present.

Moreover, the archway of this side hall indicates that it is a vaulted hall, and since it is a vaulted hall, it should be a place where books are stored.

But why was the hall empty? Bai Jing was also puzzled.

After scanning the area, Bai Jing found nothing. The next moment, he glanced up casually and, through his night vision, discovered a dozen or so young boys and girls who had been sacrificed in the hall, all nailed to the wall.

These boys and girls all

Each of them held an ever-burning lamp in their hands, their clothes, decorations, and headdresses were all tattered, and their faces were distorted and their complexions were black. Clearly, these boys and girls must have suffered greatly before they died.

When Bai Jing suddenly saw about ten people in the tomb, his heart skipped a beat.

Seemingly noticing that Bai Jing's gaze was unusual, Bai Qi and the others also looked up.

As a girl, Jian Guo immediately trembled all over and her face turned pale.

Even Hazel felt her body stiffen, and then she clenched her fists.

The burial system of the Liao Dynasty was generally similar to that of the Central Plains dynasties of the same period, but there were also some slight differences. Usually, the skin of the boys and girls who were buried alive with the deceased would be peeled off and nailed to wooden stakes to make them look like human figures. These things were called human stakes.

Before entering the tomb, Bai Jing had guessed that such a scene would occur, but he did not expect that there would be so many children buried alive in the tomb.

Most importantly, this is only the west side hall of the main hall. Presumably, the east side hall should be in the same condition.

Jian Guo and Zhen Zi hid behind Bai Jing and the others, too afraid to look any longer. Bai Jing and several men, however, steeled themselves and stepped forward to shine their flashlights on the boys and girls.

Bai Jing knew all about the various things in the tomb, and naturally he could tell that these were all young boys and girls who had been sacrificed alive.

These boys and girls were all sacrificed alive by having holes cut into their heads and skinned before they were born, then covered with wooden figurines, and then, under extreme pain, their eyebrows were drawn, their eyes were painted, and their cheeks were applied.

The wooden figurines were made of camphor wood, which can remain intact and resistant to insects and ants even after thousands of years in ancient tombs.

And these children who died like this, it's easy to imagine how immense their resentment must have been.

Inside the west hall were more than a dozen boys and girls. These boys and girls had been skinned alive before, and now they were nailed to the wall, holding eternal lamps and standing with their heads bowed on the top of the tomb. This was clearly a ceremonial procession for the tomb owner.

This is not hard to understand. It is because the soul of the deceased was about to ascend to heaven, so the boys and girls who were buried with him were all nailed to a high place, more than ten feet above the ground. In this way, the deceased would have a messenger to guide him to heaven.

Just then, the body of one of the girls suddenly fell from a height, whether it was because the nails securing it were not secure or something else.

The fat man was right below the girl's body. As the body fell, her outstretched arm landed right behind him, and her arm touched his shoulder.

From the fat man's perspective, it felt like someone patted him on the shoulder.

The fat man's gaze swept over Bai Jing, Bai Qi, Lu Jun, Jian Guo, and Zhen Zi, and when he found that none of them were missing, his face turned deathly pale.

At the same time, the fat man's body also began to tremble.