After Fan Cuo and Ying Ning explained, and the little girl Meng Qiuqian chirped at the side, Zhuang Rui knew that what they were excavating was the imperial tomb of Li Ang, Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty.
The first novel Zhuang Rui read when he was in school was Liang Yusheng's The Legend of Empress Xuanying. From then on, he naturally paid more attention to the Tang Dynasty. He often looked for historical materials about the Tang Dynasty, but
The more he knew, the less favorable Zhuang Rui felt towards the Tang Dynasty.
Although the Tang Dynasty was famous, even those who went abroad in the early years regarded themselves as Tang people and had the title Chinatown. However, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty actually ended up quite miserable. Even the founding emperor Li Yuan, who had great military exploits, and Kaiyuan
Emperor Li Longji of Tang Ming Dynasty in his prosperous period was usurped by his son and died of depression due to confinement.
There were also many unknown emperors who were killed by eunuchs or ministers, and not many of them died a good death. As for Tang Wenzong, the fourteenth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, his end was also very miserable.
Everyone knows that the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were domineering, but the Tang Dynasty was even more powerful. At that time, the government and political parties were at odds with each other, officials were transferred frequently, and the political power and even the emperor's life and death were all in the hands of the eunuchs.
Tang Wenzong was supported by the eunuchs, and later appointed Li Xun, Zheng Zhu and others to eradicate the eunuchs. In the ninth year of Yamato, Li Xun lured the eunuchs to visit the so-called "manna" in an attempt to eliminate them in one fell swoop, but the matter was revealed.
Instead, the eunuchs massacred the court officials. Afterwards, Wenzong was suppressed by the eunuchs and died of depression.
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were in constant war, which brought great harm to the Central Plains.
"Xiao Fan, the Eighteen Tombs in Guanzhong have been recorded for a long time. Why are they only being excavated now?"
Zhuang Rui was a little puzzled. As far as he knew, all the Eighteen Tombs in Guanzhong, except for the one where Wu Zetian and Gaozong were buried together, had already been visited by tomb robbers. If the country wanted to protect them, they should have taken action long ago.
"Brother Zhuang, you don't know this. The country has always been extremely cautious about the excavation of cultural relics. It will not excavate tombs easily unless it is absolutely necessary.
The reason why we came here is because some time ago, Guangdong Customs seized a batch of smuggled cultural relics, including one of them, a national first-class cultural relic called Ma Ta Feiyan. According to the account of the captured cultural relic dealer, this batch of cultural relics came from the tomb of Wenzong.
That’s why we did a rescue excavation to see if some cultural relics could be protected.”
Xiao Fan did not say some words. In fact, the root cause of the state's control over the excavation and archeology of tombs is money. Since the unearthed cultural relics have been corroded by the soil and humid environment for a long time, maintenance after they are unearthed is very important, which requires a lot of money.
Big expenses.
Not to mention anything else, the collection and maintenance of the cultural relics in the Palace Museum costs an astronomical amount of money every year. Even so, many precious cultural relics have been damaged due to poor preservation. Of course, these things
These are not easy to spread.
This is true across the country. The local cultural relics and archeology departments, especially the Qingshui Yamen, which are not taken seriously, simply cannot come up with the money to maintain cultural relics. Therefore, some people have proposed to postpone the excavation of tombs and let the cultural relics continue.
Leave it underground.
However, in Zhuang Rui's view, these are all nonsense. The longer the cultural relics stay underground, the more likely they will be damaged or stolen. As long as some people eat and drink less, the money spent on cultural relics protection will be reduced.
Of course, the leaders will not adopt such suggestions. Drinking is also necessary for revolutionary work. Don't think that drinking 2,500,000 to 80,000 yuan a day is very comfortable.
"By the way, the horse trampling on the flying swallow you just mentioned is an object from the Han Dynasty, and only one has been unearthed so far. How do you say it was unearthed from Wenzong's tomb? Was it imitated by later generations?"
When it comes to cultural relics, Zhuang Rui can be considered a semi-expert, and he is naturally no stranger to the famous Horse Treading on the Flying Swallow.
Unearthed in Weiwu County, Gansu Province in 1969, Horse Trampling Flying Swallows is an outstanding work integrating sculpture art and bronze casting technology during the Eastern Han Dynasty. It represents the highest artistic achievement of the Eastern Han Dynasty in the history of Chinese sculpture.
In the whole work, the bronze horse holds its head high, its hooves tumbling, its tail raised high, its mouth open in a neighing manner, its three legs flying in the air, and its right hoof is stepping on the back of a swallow that is fluttering in flight. The swallow looks up in surprise, echoing this.
, the galloping horse looks slightly to the left. Due to the briskness of the horse's hooves and the fluttering of the horse's mane and tail, it is like a horse flying in the sky, so that the flying swallow does not feel its weight and is surprised by its speed. Its bold conception and romantic technique give people a thrilling feeling and make people feel shocked.
People are amazed.
However, Zhuang Rui had only heard of one unearthed piece of this work, so he was a little confused about the one Fan Cuo mentioned about the horse trampling on the flying swallow.
Fan Cuo shook his head and said: "It's not a forgery from later generations. After identification, the size, shape and material of the horse riding on the flying swallow are almost exactly the same as the one collected in Gansu. This also shows that in the Han Dynasty, it should be
Not only did he make such an artifact, the teacher came here just for this reason. He also wanted to know whether this artifact was really unearthed from a Tang tomb..."
"Everyone has come up. Let's take a rest. Brother Fan Cuo, you will be lazy..."
The little girl's voice came from above, and the people at the bottom of the pit ran up in a swarm. It was already approaching noon, and the sun was too poisonous, so they had to wait until after four or five o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun was about to set, before digging.
a while.
"Er Mao, go pick two more watermelons..."
Although he didn't do any work, Zhuang Rui still felt his mouth was dry, so he took out fifty yuan from his pocket and handed it to Ermao.
"No, no, Brother Zhuang, I can't ask for your money."
Er Mao waved his hands repeatedly. If the archaeological team had given him the money, he would have accepted it, but if Zhuang Rui took out it, he would not dare to ask for it.
"Take it, this is what the archaeological team bought. Go back quickly..." Zhuang Rui knew what Er Mao was thinking and put the money into his hand.
"Hey, I'll be back in a minute." Ermao jumped up like a rabbit and ran quickly to the melon field.
When Er Mao came back, there were several women following behind, each carrying two baskets. They were here to deliver food. The archaeological team lived in Liujiazhuang during this period. Since it took two people to go back and forth at noon,
It took many hours, so they didn't go back. Instead, they spent a little more money and asked people from the village to send it over.
Zhuang Rui was also hungry, and he ate the farm food with gusto, but Ying Ning and the others were a little tired of it after eating this kind of food for a few days.
of watermelon.
After eating, Zhuang Rui, Ying Ning and Fan Cuo all gathered around Professor Meng. The staff and locally employed women all found a shady place to cool off, but the armed policemen ate
After eating a few pieces of watermelon, he dutifully took on the task of guarding.
"Teacher Meng, can you confirm that this place is where Wenzong's tomb is located? I think the things unearthed here are very ordinary..."
Zhuang Rui just looked at the broken porcelain pieces that were put together and marked. Although the craftsmanship was quite detailed, they did not look like royal sacrifices. Moreover, the aura in his eyes could now penetrate the ground at a depth of about ten meters.
No precious cultural relics were found below.
Professor Meng was not angry because of Zhuang Rui's question. He thought for a moment and said: "Tombs in the Tang Dynasty were generally built on mountains. For example, the joint tomb of Emperor Wu and Gaozong Li Zhi was built in the mountains.
Where we are now is at the end of this mountain range, a geomantic treasure land belonging to the landscape. Wenzong's tomb should be here. However, after more than a thousand years, after wars and repeated thefts, it is difficult to build it from the ground.
Deduced the location of the underground tomb.
The reason why we excavated here is that a robbery hole was discovered next to it before, and after detection, the soil was also Wuhua soil. However, now the place where the robbery hole appeared has been completely dug out, and the unearthed objects are not of much value.
, it doesn’t explain anything, maybe we are digging in the wrong direction..."
Professor Meng has already considered the issue mentioned by Zhuang Rui. Judging from the objects unearthed so far, it looks like a burial tomb. However, they have detected everything within a few hundred meters, and only the underground here is
It is Wuhua soil. In other places, when you dig down to a depth of seven or eight meters, you will encounter a rock layer, and it is impossible to have a tomb.
"Xiao Fan, Ying Ning, take the Luoyang shovel and go farther, then dig some holes. Pay attention to the straight-line distance from the soil sealing layer."
Professor Meng pondered for a while and assigned tasks to the two disciples. In fact, he had this idea after digging out the side of the robbery cave, and Zhuang Rui's words prompted him to make up his mind.
However, this matter was quite painful for Fan Cuo and Ying Ning. Using a Luoyang shovel to dig a hole was no more labor-intensive than digging soil. If they drilled down to a depth of seven or eight meters, their arms would become numb and weak.
"I'll go with you..."
Zhuang Rui also stood up. He was mainly interested in the legendary Luoyang Shovel and wanted to see it.
The term Luoyang shovel has always been associated with tomb robbing. There are different opinions as to who invented it. A more reliable one is that it was invented by Li Yaya, a tomb robber in the countryside near Luoyang, Henan, in the early 20th century.
Around 1923, Li Yaya, a villager from Mapo Village, went to a market near his home called Mengjin. After walking around for a while, he squatted on the roadside to rest. You know, Li Yaya made a living by robbing tombs, so he often thought about it.
It's also about tomb robbing.
Unintentionally, he saw a bun shop not far from him. The bun seller was preparing to drill a small hole in the ground. The tool he used to make holes in the ground aroused Li Yaya's interest, because he saw that this bun shop
The iron tool, which is only 2 inches wide and shaped into a U-shaped semicircle, can bring up a lot of soil every time it is poked into the ground.
Li Yaya, who was experienced in tomb robbing, immediately realized that this tool was easier to detect ancient tombs than the shovel he usually used. So he was inspired to make a paper pattern based on the tool, and found a blacksmith to make a real object according to the paper pattern.
