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

Hearing Bai Jing's words, Hu Bayi and Fatty naturally agreed. In the end, after discussion, they decided to leave Yingzi to guard the door. Then, just in case, the three of them put on gas masks and slowly pushed open the door.

Bai Jing, who had just entered the room, took out a flashlight and shone it around.

As expected, the room was full of coffins, each with a different shape, but the owner of each coffin was clearly of high status.

After examining each coffin, Bai Jing knew without a doubt that most of them had already been opened and were now empty.

That makes sense, doesn't it? How could the Japanese leave something like opening a treasure trove to us?

Chapter 134 Human Sacrifice

The group wandered around and opened several coffins, only to find that they were all empty.

The fat man couldn't help but curse, "Those little devils are really despicable. They implement the 'Three Alls' policy wherever they go, leaving us not even a single jar."

At this moment, Bai Jing ignored the fat man's complaints and walked to the side of an ornate coffin.

This coffin was exceptionally ornate, comparable to the coffin of Guo Xiama in the previous tomb. Bai Jing stepped forward and sensed it, confirming that the Yin spirit had emerged from here.

Bai Jing immediately said, "Fatty, Lao Hu, come over here."

Hu Bayi and Fatty rushed over upon hearing this and immediately saw the coffin. They found it to be very ornate and thought Bai Jing had found a treasure. They immediately prepared to light candles and open the coffin.

Seeing this, Bai Jing laughed and said, "There's no need to light the candles. This coffin has definitely been opened by the Japanese. Let's just open it and see what's left inside."

Hu Bayi thought about it and realized that this was definitely not the tomb of the deceased, so there was no need to light candles.

After all, the deceased might not even be inside the tomb. Who would you communicate with by lighting candles?

So the three of them stood on opposite sides and together pushed the coffin lid open.

After opening the coffin lid, Bai Jing glanced at it and, as expected, it was empty again.

The fat man, his face also looking rather grim, said, "I should have known better. How could the Japanese leave the good stuff to us?"

However, Bai Jing shone his flashlight further into the coffin, and sure enough, the next moment he saw the corpses of a boy and a girl sitting on the side of the coffin.

These two corpses were similar to the ones Bai Jing had seen in the tomb of the Liao Empress Dowager. They looked lifelike and were likely filled with mercury.

Immediately, Bai Jing called Hu Bayi and Fatty over.

It turned out that this was the first time the two of them had ever seen a corpse like this, and they were both immediately startled.

The fat man said in disbelief, "This is impossible. So much time has passed, how come the bodies are still intact? Could these two children be fake?"

Hu Bayi noticed the spots on the two corpses of the boy and girl and said in a deep voice, "These are mercury spots, which are highly poisonous."

The fat man, not understanding any of this, immediately asked, "Old Hu, what do you mean? What mercury spots?"

Hu Bayi explained with a somber expression, “When my grandfather was alive, he told me that these boys and girls were actually injected with mercury from the top of their heads while they were alive, and after they died, mercury powder was applied to their bodies, just like making specimens. This way, even after ten thousand years, these corpses will not decompose.”

After listening to Hu Bayi finish speaking, Bai Jing continued, "My grandfather also told me this. If you want to keep the appearance of a corpse as lifelike as it was when it was alive, the only way is to have a living person pour mercury into it, because the blood of a dead person doesn't circulate and can't be poured in."

Bai Jing's words made it very clear that the two children must have suffered immense pain before they died.

After hearing Bai Jing's words, Fatty Wang felt a fire burning in his chest, and he was filled with immense anger. After a long while, he finally cursed...

He exclaimed, "This wicked feudal society!"

Upon hearing this, the fat man felt an overwhelming sense of oppression in the room and immediately turned and left.

Bai Jing and the fat man didn't speak, but their expressions were equally heavy.

As an archaeologist, Bai Jing had witnessed far too many things like this.

From ancient times to the present, and even until decades before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the custom of burial alive still existed in some remote areas.

The practice of burying people alive is a cruel and barbaric act.

In my country, the earliest clan era already existed.

Among the Shang Dynasty tombs discovered so far, it is common to find people buried alive with the dead. This practice gradually declined after the Qin and Han Dynasties, and was often replaced by wooden or pottery figurines. Burials were rare, but traces of it can still be found from time to time.

In later dynasties such as the Tang and Song, cases of funerary sacrifice were rarely found.

However, the northern nomadic peoples were different from the Central Plains dynasties. Archaeological discoveries show that the northern nomadic dynasties experienced a resurgence of their influence during the Liao Dynasty. According to historical records, after the death of Emperor Taizu of Liao, Yelü Abaoji, he even forced more than a hundred ministers to be buried with him.

The practice of funerary sacrifice continued through the Jin, Yuan, and early Ming dynasties until it was legally abolished during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Ming.

Later, during the Qing Dynasty, the practice of burying people alive resurfaced.

Both Nurhaci, the founding emperor of the Qing dynasty, and Huang Taiji, the second emperor of the Qing dynasty, had such an event after their deaths.

After the death of Shunzhi, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty after the conquest of China, more than 30 of his concubines were forced to commit suicide.

Their coffins followed Emperor Shunzhi's coffin in the funeral procession, creating a magnificent scene, which is clearly recorded in the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty.

Emperor Kangxi later abhorred this evil practice and ordered the abolition of funerary sacrifice, which can be considered the complete end of the history of large-scale funerary sacrifice.

However, the practice of funerary sacrifice did not disappear; on the contrary, it still existed in large numbers. The scholar-official class of the Qing government even referred to women who were sacrificed as "virtuous women" or "chaste women," and wrote books and erected memorial arches. In a sense, they were actually advocating for funerary sacrifice.

The Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 25, records: "On the day of Gengwu, Pan, the wife of Kong Lingbao from Qufu, Shandong, who died for her husband, was honored and her name was sent to the Imperial Academy."

This encouragement of funerary sacrifice occurred only a year after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, so the practice of funerary sacrifice was not actually eradicated until the establishment of the Republic of China.

Although the law strictly prohibited funerary sacrifices after the Xinhai Revolution.

But in reality, it is clear to anyone with eyes to see that this has not truly eradicated the practice of funerary sacrifice, and such things still happen frequently in many remote areas.

Bai Jing knew that this was nothing more than the methods used by slaves or landlords to oppress the people during the slave system or feudal dynasties.

Even after seeing so many instances of this behavior, Bai Jing still felt heavy-hearted.

After Bai Jing and Hu Bayi stepped out of the airtight door, Yingzi looked at the fat man leaning against the wall with some concern. Seemingly noticing that Bai Jing and Hu Bayi had come out, she quickly asked, "Brother Bai, Brother Hu, what's wrong with Fatty?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Jing told Yingzi what had happened inside.

Yingzi immediately fell silent.

Bai Jing looked at the fat man who was leaning against the wall smoking, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and gave one to Hu Bayi.

Hu Bayi lit a cigarette and looked at the fat man, asking, "Fatty, what's wrong?"

The fat man took a deep drag on his cigarette and replied after a long pause, "It's nothing, I just feel a bit suffocated and uncomfortable."

Bai Jing understood how the fat man felt, patted him on the shoulder, and said nothing.

Chapter 135 The Gift of the Spirit

After a while, all three of them finished their cigarettes.

The fat man finally spoke at this moment.

"Old Bai, Old Hu, let's take those two kids out, dig a hole, and bury them properly."

Then the fat man lit another cigarette, handed one to Bai Jing and one to Hu Bayi, took a puff, exhaled the smoke, and said, "They've been with the tomb's owner for over a thousand years, now it's time for them to rest in peace."

Hearing Fatty's words, Yingzi was the first to speak up: "I agree with Fatty's suggestion. Brother Hu, Brother Bai, they are so pitiful. They are just children, and they were buried alive for strangers. Let's do them a favor and take them out to be buried. As the old saying goes, 'May they rest in peace in the earth!'"

Upon hearing this, Bai Jing and Hu Bayi exchanged a glance, then smiled at each other, and Bai Jing stopped smoking and threw the cigarette on the ground.

The two went back into the room, found two pieces of cloth, cut them up, and used the cloth to wrap the bodies of the boy and girl.

Then, each of them carried a child's corpse on their backs. But that wasn't all. Bai Jing and Hu Bayi opened all the coffins in the room and found two more corpses of a boy and a girl.

Bai Jing wrapped the two corpses of the boy and girl in cloth again, and called Fatty over.

Thus, Fatty and Hu Bayi each carried a boy and a girl's corpse on their backs, while Bai Jing carried two.

Then the group exchanged smiles, and Bai Jing said, "Let's go back."

After saying this, Bai Jing and the other three returned along the same route.

When he reached the tomb entrance, Bai Jing felt a ghost pass by him, but he didn't pay it any mind. He just glanced back at the tomb chamber and then turned and left.

The journey was smooth, and soon the group left the tomb and arrived on the ground.

The four people dug a large pit for the four boys and girls, wrapped the bodies of the four boys and girls in cloth, and put them into the pit.

Soon, a grave containing the remains of four children, a boy and a girl, came into view.

After doing all this, Bai Jing prepared to offer cigarettes to the group, which also marked the end of this operation.

But as soon as Bai Jing reached into his pocket, he discovered that something that didn't belong to him was inside.

Upon taking it out, Bai Jing was also surprised. It turned out to be a seal with a camel-shaped knob on it. Bai Jing flipped it over and saw the text on the knob. It was a seal with both Jurchen and Han scripts, and it read "Seal of the Washing King".

Bai Jing knew that this was an official seal of a Jin Dynasty nobleman, and this was no ordinary object.

In some local museums, this item is considered a prized possession.

Then Bai Jing remembered the ghostly spirit he felt passing by when he left the tomb. He figured it must have been that ghostly spirit that sent him that time.

Bai Jing smiled as he thought of this.

Seeing the seal button that Bai Jing took out of his pocket, Hu Bayi and Fatty were stunned for a moment, then said jokingly, "Haha, Lao Bai, so this is the kind of person you are."

Upon seeing this, Bai Jing was speechless and said, "I didn't take this. If I'm not mistaken, you should all have extras on you too."

Something.

Upon hearing Bai Jing's words, Hu Bayi, Wang Pangzi, and Yingzi did not believe it, but they still checked it. Then, Pangzi found that there was an extra piece of high-quality jade pendant in his pocket.

Hu Bayi, on the other hand, had an extra piece of crimson jade pendant.