Chapter 239: Cave Pit Kiln

A Coaster with a Yun-A license plate, followed by several pickup trucks.

Huang Zhifeng leaned against the back of his chair and opened the red-covered certificate: Special Researcher of the Archaeological Institute of the Shanxi Cultural Relics Bureau, Huang Zhifeng.

The certificate had been brought back by Lin Sicheng, along with a payroll card. He didn't have time, so he had He Zhigang distribute them on his behalf.

He Zhigang had made it clear: whether it was the Archaeology Team or the experimental group, from the day they arrived in Yuncheng until they returned to Xijing, they would receive double pay: one portion issued by Shaanxi, and one by Shanxi.

Besides that, there were bonuses for publishing papers in journals.

Although they could only publish under the name of the "Shanxi Sub-center of the Xida Cultural Relic Restoration Center," the money was real.

Calculated out, these two months alone would be worth at least half a year's income at the Shaanxi History Museum.

Huang Zhifeng had a strange look on his face: "How did you manage this?"

He Zhigang spoke bluntly: "Traded for it!"

Huang Zhifeng paused and said nothing more.

During the week or so of rest, there had been rumors in the team: the reason for the long work stoppage was that the departments here in Shanxi wanted to personally survey the Hejin Ancient Kiln. But Lin Sicheng would still be the lead, and they had even sent a special delegation to Xijing to negotiate with Xida and the Cultural Relics Bureau.

Everything else was fine, but there was one point: Lin Sicheng insisted on using his original team.

Because of this, the plan for Shanxi to build a new research center with Lin Sicheng as the core, with an investment of several million, fell through. As for the million-plus research bonus specifically set up for Lin Sicheng, and a Tang Dynasty White Glazed Bowl said to be worth six or seven million, and so on and so forth, there was naturally no need to discuss them anymore.

In this way, in order to help them get an extra salary and the right to have their names on papers and reports, how much did Lin Sicheng lose?

A rough calculation: if not ten million, then at least several million.

Of course, some accounts cannot be calculated directly like this, but to borrow a phrase from Wang Qi Zhi, that bowl and that million-plus bonus, they weren't fake, right?

Huang Zhifeng remembered two months ago when He Zhigang went to the provincial institute, saying he wanted to transfer two teams to Shanxi to help Lin Sicheng.

Everyone else was afraid of being involved and kept their distance, yet Tian Jie and Gao Zhangyi scrambled to sign up?

No wonder, after the Zhang Anshi Tomb robbery case, those two inexplicably ended up on the promotion list?

Thinking about it now, Lin Sicheng probably did something like this back then, and those two definitely followed along and reaped huge benefits...

Huang Zhifeng sighed: This time, was it his turn?

As he thought this, the motorcade left the highway and entered the village road.

After driving for a while, they vaguely saw a memorial archway with four gold-gilded characters carved on the lintel: Beiwuqin Cun.

The newly paved cement road was lined with brand-new houses, and a three-story Kueixing Tower stood in the center of the village.

They continued forward, passed the Kueixing Tower, and the motorcade stopped only when they reached the foot of the mountain.

The scenery was nice: the mountains were lush and green, and two canyons, one on the left and one on the right, carved out a steep peak.

Two rivers flowed down along the valleys, sandwiching the village in between.

These were Guayu and Shenyu, two of the three valleys of Hejin.

"Wuqin Peak; because the mountain produces wild celery, the village was named after it. In 2005, Yuncheng planned a well-off village, and Beiwuqin Cun was in the first batch of pilots."

Shui Jisheng pointed to the north, "That is where the White Glazed Bowl and porcelain shards were discovered back then."

Lin Sicheng looked over: right at the foot of the mountain, a fairly large pine forest.

It wasn't high, only about the height of a person; it must have been planted after the old houses were demolished and the centralized well-off housing point was built.

Lin Sicheng took a look: "Secretary-General Tan, when the old houses were demolished back then, were any porcelain shards discovered?"

"Probably not!" Tan Wu shook his head, "After the houses were leveled, a layer of topsoil from the fields was spread over the old foundations before the trees were planted; they basically didn't dig down!"

According to that, could there very likely be relics left underground?

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment and pointed to the mountain north of the village: "Director Tian, Team Leader Gao, let's go up and take a look!"

The two nodded.

Since there was nothing else to do, He Zhigang, Wang Qi Zhi, and Huang Zhifeng followed as well. Even more people from the local assisting units went; except for a few elderly ones, basically everyone followed.

The photographers were the fastest, carrying their equipment and chasing while filming.

Less than half a kilometer from the village, the mountain wasn't high, and bands of white ceramic clay were exposed between the cliffs. Remnants of stone steps and bunkers built during the Republic of China era remained on the mountainside and peak.

Reaching the summit, Lin Sicheng looked out: "Record!"

Fang Jin hurriedly took out paper and pen.

"Relic site one, located at the northern edge of Beiwuqin Cun, the surface is an artificial pine forest, the nature of the relic is unclear."

"About six hundred meters from Wuqin Peak at the southern foot of the northern Luliang Mountains, the front slope is relatively gentle, the mountainside is a cliff with clay exposed, it should be weathered high-aluminum high-calcium soil..."

Division Chief Ren was stunned for a moment and looked at the cliff on the mountainside: it was indeed clay, and indeed quite white, but how did Lin Sicheng conclude it was high-aluminum high-calcium ceramic clay?

What if it was only limestone (high calcium)?

Just as he was suspicious, Lin Sicheng pointed to the beacon tower on the summit: "Built with strip stones and lime bricks, there are also coal ash bricks... During the Republic of China era, there should have been brick factories built in the surrounding area, check this as a priority..."

After a slight pause, he pointed to several factories outside the village: "Secretary-General Tan, besides the coal plant and coking plant, are there also cement plants and refractory brick plants?"

"Yes!" Before coming, Tan Wu had done his homework and answered fluently: "Two coking plants, two cement plants, and one high-aluminum refractory..."

Division Chief Ren was stunned: High-aluminum refractory, wouldn't that require high-aluminum high-calcium soil?

As he thought this, Lin Sicheng descended the summit and went to the edge of the Guayu valley cliff to take a look.

It was deeper here, a deep ravine in the true sense, but after going down a hundred meters or so, the terrain turned sharply and became flat and level.

Another three hundred meters forward was the place where Mr. Shui discovered that bowl and the porcelain shards.

Lin Sicheng looked carefully, then walked down.

A crowd of people followed behind in a swarm.

Shui Jisheng stood by the car leaning on his cane, looking at him with a smile: "How is it?"

"Not bad, the area of the ruins shouldn't be very large, twenty or thirty mu at most!"

"And the exact location?"

"It should be under the gentle slope at the foot of the mountain, east of the north side of the village!" Lin Sicheng pointed behind him, then pointed to the pine forest by the road, which was where Shui Jisheng had discovered the white porcelain bowl and white porcelain shards, "There should be a temple there!"

Shui Jisheng was stunned: "What temple?"

"Laozi Temple from the Tang Dynasty!"

After thinking for a moment, Shui Jisheng's eyes lit up with a "flash."

The others, however, were quite skeptical: just by walking around in a circle, you dare to conclude that the ancient kiln is on the gentle slope at the foot of the northeast mountain?

And you even inferred the area and scope?

The key is: you even found a temple, and it's a Tang Dynasty temple at that? You even named it specifically: Laozi Temple?

Historical records certainly contain no mention of it, otherwise it would have been brought up in the materials distributed at yesterday's meeting. As for whether it actually existed, heaven knows.

After all, it has been over a thousand years; even if it did exist, it would have long since vanished into the long river of history.

Therefore, it is impossible to understand how Lin Sicheng concluded that there was a temple there, let alone one from the Tang Dynasty.

While they were suspicious, Lin Sicheng walked into the pine forest, raised his thumb, and compared the position of the mountain peaks.

After walking around again, he pointed to his feet: "Captain Gao, let's search here first, using this as the center, within a radius of thirty meters. If we find the temple, the location of the kiln furnace won't be far off..."

"The soil near the river is too wet, the radar might not be able to detect it. Hmm, you should use metal detectors first to see if you can detect any metal objects..."

"Very well, Teacher Lin..."

After replying, Gao Zhangyi assigned the team members.

There were portable metal detectors, and each of the four people carried one.

It was only a little over an acre; they conducted a carpet-style search, going back and forth twice, but found nothing.

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment: "Drill. Start from here and take several more samples!"

Gao Zhangyi made the arrangements again.

They set up the stand-mounted drilling machines, and in no time, two were assembled.

The first two attempts yielded nothing, but after finishing the third drilling, Gao Zhangyi exclaimed: "Teacher Lin, come take a look!"

Lin Sicheng walked over, followed by a large group of people.

Three sections of the hollow drill pipe had been connected, and the soil layers were very distinct.

The top layer was about fifty centimeters thick; one could see grass roots, tree pits, and sheep manure that hadn't fully decomposed.

The second layer was thicker, about one meter, mixed with red brick fragments and tile shards. It was clearly the foundation layer left behind after the building was demolished.

The third layer was thicker still, about one point five meters, half of which was an intermittent layer and half was virgin soil.

But further down, there were suddenly a few pieces of broken porcelain.

Lin Sicheng poked at them a few times, picked them out, took a look, and handed them forward.

Shui Jisheng put on his reading glasses and took them into his hand. After just one glance, he nodded vigorously: "This is it!"

The people behind were stunned: they had spent all day in meetings yesterday, and everyone had handled the white porcelain samples provided by General Engineer Shui. Even a layman who didn't understand much could tell: these few fragments were exactly the same as the white porcelain they had seen at the meeting.

This meant that General Engineer Shui had remembered correctly; the place where the porcelain shards were discovered back then was right here.

But what about the temple? Didn't Lin Sicheng say it was Laozi Temple?

Just as they were secretly pondering, Lin Sicheng poked around some more and picked out a few stones.

Looking closely, they appeared to be fragments of ancient blue bricks.

Wiping away the wet mud on top, a "Tian" character was revealed on the bottom, and one could faintly see a lotus pattern beneath the character.

Shui Jisheng was taken aback and sighed: "Fu Character Brick?"

"Correct, it is undoubtedly Laozi Temple!" Lin Sicheng nodded and stood up. "Senior Brother Fang, a pen!"

Fang Jin handed over a pen and notebook with quick, nimble movements.

"Director Tian, Captain Gao, using this as a coordinate, about one hundred meters due north should be the raw material area. Focus the survey on the kaolin clay piles, limestone piles, washing pits, wood ash piles, and grinding and slag-filtering equipment..."

"Another thirty to fifty meters further north, with an east-west range of one hundred meters. Conduct the survey in three sections from east to west: the southeast is the workshop area; survey the potter's wheel (for throwing), drying racks, glaze vats, and molds..."

"The middle-north is the firing area; about twenty meters south on the gentle slope should be the fuel area, and the gentle slope due north must have the kiln furnace, which should be a half-down-draft cave kiln. Focus the survey on the firing remains and saggers... thirty meters to the west, there must be a waste pit; look for waste porcelain and waste pottery..."

Lin Sicheng gave instructions while drawing, and in the blink of an eye, he had sketched out a draft.

The crowd gathered around together.

Although the drawing was simple, it was clear at a glance:

……………………………………Raw Material Area……………………………………

↓……………………………………↓……………………………………↓

Workshop Area (incl. glaze vats)………………Fuel Pile (pine firewood)…………………Waste Pit

……………………………………↓……………………………………

……………………………………Kiln Furnace……………………………………

Taking the map, Tian Jie and Gao Zhangyi led the team to survey. Lin Sicheng gave instructions to the commercial research team and Huang Zhifeng: "The site is not large, so it might not necessarily be excavated, but since it is a Tang Dynasty kiln site, try to make the mapping as precise as possible."

"There are likely many remains. Since Professor Huang is also here, I would trouble you to arrange for the teachers to collect specimens... besides porcelain shards and pottery bodies, please also collect some soil samples..."

Lin Sicheng gave instructions one by one; everyone here was quite serious and arranged for personnel on the spot.

On the other side, the personnel who came to assist looked at one another.

It was only a trial survey, and the area wasn't large, so they couldn't help much for the time being.

What they found strange was: just by relying on a drill pipe of soil layer samples, how could Lin Sicheng dare to determine the specific location of the ruins?

And even dare to determine the layout of the kiln factory and the exact locations of each supporting area?

The key is this temple; what relationship does it have with the kiln site, and how did Lin Sicheng determine it?

Secretly suspicious, Ren Xinbo looked at Shui Jisheng: "Teacher, Lin Sicheng..."

Subconsciously calling out "Lin Sicheng," Ren Xinbo received a pair of eye-rolls from Shui Jisheng, and he hurriedly corrected himself: "Teacher, what is this temple that Engineer Lin mentioned all about?"

Shui Jisheng thought for a moment: "Since the Han Dynasty, whenever firing pottery or porcelain, one must worship the Kiln Lord. Besides animal sacrifices, one must offer fine vessels to pray that the porcelain coming out of the kiln can reach the level of the one being offered..."

"Because that bowl and the porcelain shards were discovered right here, Little Lin concluded that this should be the Kiln God Temple... In the south, they worship Emperor Shun, and in the north, they worship Laozi, so this should be Laozi Temple..."

"Teacher, the scope of the ruins and the layout of each area, how was that determined?"

"There are many types of kiln furnaces for Tang Dynasty porcelain kilns, among which one is the Down-flame Cave Kiln built against a slope. This place happens to be against a mountain, so Lin Sicheng judged that the kiln furnace is on the gentle slope. And since the Kiln God Temple is so close to the mountain, it is equivalent to the distance from the southernmost end to the northernmost end of the Kiln Factory. Calculating based on this, the range cannot be that large..."

"Although it is not large, it must include porcelain clay selection, clay refining and throwing, Glaze Material preparation, glazing and firing, as well as raw materials and fuel... Lin Sicheng must have determined the location of each area based on the layout of northern Cave Kilns during the Tang Dynasty..."

The group of people suddenly realized.

Someone, suddenly, said: "So simple?"

Simple?

Shui Jisheng was so angry he laughed: If it were simple, would I, your elder, have found it fifty years ago?

Setting everything else aside, let's just mention one point: he had never even considered that the place where that Bowl was buried was not a porcelain cellar (finished product storage area), not a sagger pit (unfinished products not yet out of the kiln), nor a waste kiln (where the kiln furnace collapsed during the firing process), and even less a Waste Porcelain Pit, but the Kiln God Temple.

It wasn't that he hadn't thought of it, and it certainly wasn't a case of being unable to see what is right under one's nose, but rather that there was too little evidence.

Just take one point: the Tang Dynasty used Upward Firing (as opposed to the inverted firing of the Song Dynasty), so there were extremely many types of kiln mouths: direct-flame Mantou Kiln, semi-down-flame and down-flame Half-Mantou Kiln, long slope tunnel-style Dragon Kiln, small wood-fired Madou Kiln, Parallel Horizontal Hole Kiln, Slope Pit Kiln... more than a dozen types in total; who knew which one was used here?

Only by determining which one of these it was could one judge the orientation of the core Kiln Furnace on the mountain, as well as the distribution of other supporting facilities. And only then could one judge which part of the Kiln Factory the area where one picked up the Bowl belonged to.

Of course, it was just difficult to judge, not impossible to find. If he were thirty or forty years younger and given a few more days, he should have been able to analyze it too.

Certainly not as fast as Lin Sicheng, but that doesn't mean it wasn't difficult...

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and Shui Jisheng sneered: "Next time we look for a kiln site, you do it!"

The person who said "simple" shuddered and shrank back.

He blamed himself; he had been listening so intently for a moment that his mouth was faster than his brain...

Just as he was secretly regretting it, Lin Sicheng's voice came over the walkie-talkie: "Teacher Shui, Teacher Shui, I've discovered a Cave Kiln!"

Shui Jisheng abruptly raised his head.

In the due north direction, about three hundred meters away, Lin Sicheng was standing on a gentle slope with a QianTanjie standing beside him.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, their brains buzzing:

Just like that, it was found?

(End of chapter)