"Boss, there are a few more things in this, do you want to see it?"
Zhang Daniu couldn't help but feel a little nervous when he saw Zhuang Rui stopped talking. He also knew that robbing ancient tombs was illegal. If he was caught, he would be fined at least three to five thousand. Their family didn't have that much money.
"What else? Look, I want to see..."
After Zhuang Rui heard Zhang Daniu's words, he suddenly woke up. As the saying goes, antiques were golden in troubled times. Now that antiques are so popular, those cultural relic dealers have set their sights on the countryside.
However, these rural people have unique conditions and generally have a low level of education. They simply do not understand what damage their private excavations will do to these cultural relics and treasures left over from history.
However, Zhuang Rui is a little confused. The state has always cracked down hard on the crime of robbing and selling cultural relics. Why are ancient tombs still being robbed so blatantly in some places? Are all local governments just doing this?
In fact, Zhuang Rui doesn't know that in the borders of Henan, especially in the areas around Mang Mountain, there are no less than 1,000 tomb robbers in Meng County (I won't name him specifically, the one in the previous chapter will also be changed, and the province is crossed).
Five thousand people, as the saying goes, you can't blame the crowd, but with just the few editors, it's impossible to catch them.
And even the families of those government officials might be counting on this for food, so even if they are caught, it will only be a small fine. If they really have to be sentenced, it is estimated that the police station will be occupied by a group of old men the next day.
The old ladies surrounded me, this has happened before.
These local tomb robbers belong to the lowest level of the industry. At the beginning, the ancient artifacts they worked hard to dig out were only sold for a few hundred yuan if they were in good condition, and even dozens of yuan for ordinary ones.
It was sold.
After the antique craze took off, these people also felt that they had suffered a loss, and gradually began to turn from family workshop-style tomb robbing behavior into gang behavior.
Several people with good relationships are united and have a clear division of labor. Some are responsible for robbing tombs, while others are responsible for looking out. They stay at the door of the police station. Often, the police get the news as soon as they leave, which also makes the work of the police difficult.
.
Even if some major cases alarm the top brass and the police are dispatched to arrest them, it only makes them restrain themselves a little. They will continue to excavate at night after the limelight. The task force can't be stationed there permanently, right?
Therefore, such family-style tomb-robbing gangs cannot be stopped, and will continue to exist, like gophers, robbing and destroying precious ancient tombs one by one.
…
"Is this...a pottery figurine? Why is it so heavy? Is it solid?"
When the monkey helped Zhang Daniu unpack another package and took out an object from it, he almost dropped it to the ground. Apparently the monkey failed to estimate the weight of the object.
"I don't know, this thing is so heavy. If it weren't for my brother's strength, he wouldn't be able to carry it..."
Zhang Daniu didn't care much about these things. In his opinion, these items couldn't be eaten or drunk. Although he knew they could be exchanged for money, he didn't understand what the use of these people collecting the items was.
So after digging up these things, Zhang Daniu and his brother took the stuff to the cellar and never sorted it out. This time when they came to dig, they just picked some random things from the cellar and brought them over.
"Monkey, what?"
The conversation between the two attracted Zhuang Rui's attention. He walked over and saw that the monkey was struggling to hold a human-shaped pottery figurine thirty to forty centimeters high. The top was covered with yellow soil, making it impossible to clearly see the appearance and gender of the figure.
"I don't know. Solid pottery figurines are rare. These things are really heavy..."
The monkey answered Zhuang Rui's words and put the things back on the table, breathing heavily from exhaustion.
"Well, it's really not light..."
Zhuang Rui stretched out his hand and weighed it. This object, which was not very big, actually weighed sixty or seventy kilograms, which was almost the same as a stone block of the same size. This made him a little surprised.
Because solid-fired pottery figurines are very easy to crack, so since the Qin Dynasty, except for the solid necks, the bodies and heads of pottery figurines have generally been hollow. Just like the Qin figurines unearthed in Xi'an, although they look tall
, it’s actually not very heavy.
Of course, there have been solid pottery figurines unearthed in history, but those were fired in sections and then spliced together. They are easily broken when moved, and they do not give people a seamless feeling like this pottery figurine.
"Huh? That's not right..."
After Zhuang Rui used his spiritual energy to wander around the human-shaped object, he was suddenly stunned because the spiritual energy he found in this object was actually the light and cool breath of jade.
"Is she a beauty?"
Zhuang Rui turned his head and said to the monkey: "Go find a washbasin and a brush. This thing is a bit weird, it doesn't look like a pottery figurine..."
After four or five minutes, the monkey found a large plastic basin from somewhere, filled half of the basin with water, and brought it in. He also held a bristle brush in his hand.
Zhuang Rui's strength was far beyond that of a monkey. He grabbed the object with one hand and placed it directly in the basin. The water in the basin immediately became turbid when it touched the soil on the object.
Zhuang Rui took a brush, dipped it in water and brushed it from his head. In a few strokes, he cleaned off the upper layer of yellow mud. Before he could take a closer look, the monkey standing beside him exclaimed: "This...
This thing is not a pottery figurine, it is a jade figure!"
"Jade?"
Zhang Daniu on the side was also stunned for a moment, then his face was full of joy, and he opened his mouth and said: "The boss is still awesome, we really didn't know that this thing is jade, it is very heavy to move..."
After hearing that this thing was made of jade, Zhang Daniu was so excited that he moved his hand. Even if rural people had never seen it, they knew that jade was valuable. Daniu had already estimated in his mind that this thing would cost at least 1,000...
No, it requires at least 2,000.
Zhuang Rui ignored the two of them. As the beauty was gradually cleaned up, his expression became serious. He took a measuring tape from the table and measured it. The beauty was a full 48 centimeters tall.
The jade figure is carved from a single piece of white jade. Due to its age, a lot of the earthy color has been absorbed into the jade figure. After being cleaned, the jade figure turns yellow all over. Its shape is that of a woman holding a piano in her arms.
To be precise, the beauty is holding a pipa. The head of the pipa, including string grooves, pegs, mountain passes and other details, is carved to every detail and is extremely delicate. Judging from the pipa held in the beauty's arms, she
He must be a violinist.
The carving of the jade figure itself is also very good. The whole body of the jade figure is covered with patterns as thin as hair. The woman who should be the piano master has a smile on her face, her chin is slightly raised, and she is wearing a long-sleeved robe, which makes her look lifelike.
In Zhuang Rui's eyes, it is difficult for anyone to match the carving skills of more than 2,000 years ago. Even if you use a machine to carve, you probably won't be able to achieve this kind of effect. This is definitely the pinnacle of jade carving in the Han Dynasty.
!
"Damn it, whose lair did these two guys dig up?"
Zhuang Rui marveled in his heart. The discovery of this jade figure showed that the identity of the owner of the tomb was much higher than he imagined.
You must know that ancient tombs are very ceremonial, especially for court officials. They have to pay attention to what they are buried with regardless of their status. No matter how rich you are, if you have no status, you will not dare to bury too many illegal objects, otherwise it will not only be the tomb
If they are ripped off, even their descendants will suffer.
In ancient times, especially in the Qin and Han dynasties, jade was an extremely important ritual instrument for worshiping heaven. It was impossible for ordinary courtiers to own such a large piece of jade for carving funerary objects, so the owner of this jade figure might be
The existence of an emperor.
"Boss, how much do you think this thing is worth? Is it worth 5,000 yuan?"
When Zhuang Rui was sizing up the beauty, Zhang Daniu couldn't hold back anymore and walked up to Zhuang Rui and asked.
"5,000 yuan?"
Zhuang Rui smiled bitterly, feeling a little sad for the ancient emperors. The tombs and funerary objects they spent all their efforts to build at that time were only worth five thousand yuan in Zhang Daniu's words?
"Daniu, let me ask you the truth. Be honest. Did you find anything in the coffin in that tomb?"
Generally, from the tombs of emperors of the Han Dynasty, jade garments with gold or silver threads would most likely be unearthed. Zhuang Rui could see from this jade figure that the size of this emperor was probably no less than that of the Mancheng Han Dynasty, where jade garments with gold threads had been unearthed.
tomb.
"Coffin? That big sarcophagus?"
Zhang Daniu saw Zhuang Rui's careful question, and after thinking for a moment, he said: "There is a large sarcophagus inside. Erniu took an ax and struck it several times without being able to open it. I was afraid that the things inside might be fake corpses, so I didn't let Erniu open it. What details were inside?
There is something, I really don’t know..."
Rural people are quite superstitious, and the Daniel brothers are not professional grave robbers. They still believe in ghosts and gods, so in the end they did not dare to open the coffin in the gloomy tomb.
It’s just that Zhang Daniu didn’t know that in ancient tombs, the treasures in the museum were the most numerous, the easiest to carry, and the most valuable. Generally, experienced tomb robbers would first clean the coffin after going down, even those in the bones that blocked the nine orifices.
I won’t let go of any jade plugs.
Zhuang Rui breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. If the coffin had been touched by Zhang and Daniu, the damage would be irreparable. With their nature, they would definitely cut the gold thread on the jade clothes and throw the body away to retrieve the clothes.
.
"Daniu, let me tell you something. Don't be happy or afraid..."
Zhuang Rui thought for a moment, the things involved in this big tomb were so astonishing, whether public or private, he didn't dare to hide it, and then continued: "Do you want to know how much a beautiful woman is worth?"
"Think so!" Zhang Daniu nodded repeatedly.
Zhuang Rui nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll tell you, it's worth at least five million, and there are people out there who want even ten million!"
"five million?!"
Zhang Daniu didn't react. He stretched out the five fingers of his right hand and looked at it, then stretched out his left hand. After a long time, he spit out the word "ten thousand" from his mouth with great difficulty.
