Chapter 251: Excavating a Tomb in Half a Day

The drill rod was pulled out of the ground, the probe pipe was dismantled, and the nearly five-meter-deep soil layer was visible at a glance.

The top layer was nearly thirty centimeters of silt, mixed with green grass and leaves, followed by nearly a meter of mature soil and an intermittent layer. Further down was more than two meters of virgin soil.

The soil quality was silty loess, mixed with a small amount of gravel; one look and it was clear it had been deposited by flash floods. Logically, this type of soil layer should persist until reaching the prehistoric geological strata.

But the strange thing was that at about three and a half meters, red soil mixed with white and black spots suddenly appeared, a full half-meter thick.

And it was extremely hard, like stone; a piece the size of a thumb could not be broken even with force.

Looking closer: the white was lime, the black was brick slag, and the red was a mixture of yellow clay and black pottery clay.

Could this not be Sanhe Soil?

Sun Jiamu poked at it a few more times, and when he reached the bottom layer, he paused, then stopped moving entirely.

Wang Qi Zhi leaned in: the fist-sized probe pipe was wrapped around a round stone rod about half a meter long, with layers in the middle—not more, not less, exactly seven layers. The coincidence was that each layer was the same thickness, plus the seams, nearly seven centimeters.

Picking it up and breaking it gently, the stone layer separated into seven circular stone cakes. Taking a close look, Wang Qi Zhi's pupils constricted: on the front of each stone cake, a sika deer's head was imprinted.

Deer head, sika deer antlers, head held high... The more Wang Qi Zhi looked, the more familiar it seemed.

If nothing went wrong, there should be a blade of grass in the deer's mouth; the full name is Running Deer Holding Grass Brick, and it is only used in one place: a tomb wall or tomb roof!

And it only flourished after the Tang Dynasty and before the Yuan Dynasty; in between, isn't that exactly the Song and Jin dynasties?

Adding the Sanhe Soil from the upper layer, if there isn't a tomb chamber underneath this, Wang Qi Zhi would dare to chew these bricks and eat them.

Looking at Sun Jiamu again, he was staring at the few deer-patterned bricks as if frozen.

Wang Qi Zhi sighed inwardly: Stunned, aren't you?

Don't think that just because Sun Jiamu is from Beijing and is a Division Chief at the Cultural Relics Bureau, his knowledge is much higher than his own if they were to compare.

When searching for the Zhang Anshi family tomb, wasn't Wang Qi Zhi also stunned? When it came to Sun Jiamu, even if he were a bit better, it wouldn't be by much.

Thinking about it from another angle: on this vast hillside, let alone markers, you couldn't even see a few trees. But Lin Sicheng said there was a tomb underneath, so there was a tomb underneath?

He said the tomb roof was about three and a half meters from the surface, and it was three and a half meters. He said the tomb roof was one meter thick, and it was one meter, with an error of no more than ten centimeters?

He said this was a tomb from the Song and Jin period, and it was a tomb from the Song and Jin period?

It gave people the feeling that Lin Sicheng had X-ray vision...

After being stunned for a long time, Sun Jiamu looked strange: "Feng Shui?"

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Feng Shui!"

Sun Jiamu couldn't figure it out no matter how he thought about it: "No... is Feng Shui that magical?"

Lin Sicheng paused: If you want to call it magical, once explained, it's just like that—nothing more than following a map to find a horse, or following the vine to find the melon.

Of course, the premise is that you know enough, can integrate it, and draw inferences about other cases from one instance.

If you want to call it ordinary, this stuff is actually quite useful, at least for Grave Robbers finding tombs—they find one every time they look. If you learn to Lin Sicheng's level, then good, it guarantees you a life of no worries: either you have more money than you can spend in several lifetimes, or the state feeds you for a lifetime...

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment: "During the Jin Dynasty, Guo Pu wrote the *Classic of Burial* and the *Blue Bag Classic*, establishing the theoretical foundation of Feng Shui burial studies. During the Tang Dynasty, Yang Yunsong wrote the *Classic of Shaking Dragons* and the *Classic of Doubting Dragons*, and from then on, the theoretical system of dragon vein burial studies was completely formed..."

"And whether it is Guo's school or Yang's school, both take stars, mountains, and water as the core. That is, 'seek star peaks in high places, observe water trends on flat ground.' What is a star? Observe the sun and moon by day, and the Nine Stars (the Big Dipper plus Bi and Fu) by night. What is a peak? A mountain..."

Lin Sicheng pointed to Longmen Mountain, then circled his hand toward the flat slope in front of the mountain: "Terrain like this before us is actually not complicated; anyone who knows a little Feng Shui can see it: the mountain trends on both sides gradually subside, like cicada wings lightly covering, and combined with the stars, in the *Blue Bag Classic*, this terrain is called Cicada Wing Sand, which governs wind containment. Establishing a burial site in front of the sand is medium auspicious..."

Lin Sicheng turned around and pointed to the ravine in front of the slope: "On flat ground, hidden and subtle water paths, diverging and converging like shrimp whiskers; in the *Classic of Shaking Dragons*, it is called Shrimp Whisker Water, which governs Qi gathering. Establishing a burial site in front of the water is also medium auspicious... And whenever a site is established, the area in front of the site is a gentle slope, extending like a blanket, hence the name Blanket Lip, which is also medium auspicious..."

"Three 'mediums' make one 'upper,' which should have been a highly auspicious dragon site. But unfortunately, the soil on the mountain is loose, with sparse grass and few trees; whenever there is heavy rain, flash floods inevitably occur, and once a flash flood occurs, the mountain body inevitably collapses and slides. In Feng Shui, this terrain is called Mountain Broken Form, which governs the decline of family fortune... Similarly, a practitioner who knows a little Feng Shui can also see this."

"Combining the two, the so-called auspicious site ceases to exist, at most being a medium-to-high-grade site. Don't even think about nobility; it at most governs minor wealth, and it won't last long—it will inevitably decline after three generations. As a result, high officials and noble lords would certainly not look favorably upon this place, and commoners wouldn't understand it and couldn't afford to hire a practitioner. So even if they were buried here, it would only be landlords, wealthy households, and the like."

"And whenever they were buried, to seek longevity, they would inevitably have to resolve the mountain's baleful energy and would inevitably set up a Feng Shui formation. And there are only a few types of Feng Shui layouts that can break this baleful energy; choosing the best of the best, there are no more than three. And no matter which one it is, the tomb garden cannot exceed twenty paces in circumference, the tomb chamber cannot exceed three paces (one pace is 1.5 meters) in circumference, the tomb chamber must be at least six feet below ground, and it must be circular or octagonal. After burial, neither a burial mound nor a tombstone is erected..."

"Even the orientation of the tomb chamber, the height of the coffin, the levels of the tomb roof, the thickness of the Sanhe Soil, and the types and quantities of burial objects all have fixed numbers... Therefore, the side chambers must have nine pieces each of gold, wood, and earth burial objects, arranged according to the positions of the sun, moon, and seven stars..."

"For gold, there must be money, mirrors, tripods, and furnaces. For earth, there must be porcelain, pottery, jade, and stone. For wood, there must be swords, talismans, paper, and figurines..."

Lin Sicheng explained the profound in simple terms, logically and clearly, and Sun Jiamu suddenly realized.

It felt so simple: it was nothing more than dialectical reasoning based on Feng Shui: what kind of terrain this belongs to, who can be buried here, what the advantages and disadvantages of hiding it are. How to avoid and eliminate the disadvantages.

Just like solving a math problem, doing a formula, deducing a conclusion based on known conditions; it didn't feel very difficult.

But thinking about it carefully: simple, my foot.

If it were really that simple, the whole world would be full of Grave Robbers. Why would they risk rotting in prison or even getting a bullet to the head to find official tombs or imperial mausoleums?

You could just find any mountain, find a few small tombs of landlords and wealthy households to rob, and you could still earn money you couldn't spend in several lifetimes, without having to take such big risks.

Just like this one Lin Sicheng mentioned, if it is a Song tomb, those nine metal objects and nine earth objects must still be intact. They don't need to be sold for a very high price; selling one for four or five hundred thousand, how much are a dozen or so pieces?

That's seven or eight million; how much does a courtyard house in Beijing cost?

Besides, haven't you seen a pig run even if you haven't eaten pork?

Sun Jiamu has excavated nearly a hundred ancient tombs that had to be salvaged after being looted by Grave Robbers—if not a hundred, then eighty or ninety. Which one wasn't a tomb site that Grave Robbers had racked their brains and exhausted their efforts to find?

And just the tomb site is far from enough; you have to find the tomb passage, and even more so, the tomb chamber. They absolutely checked data again and again, looked at the terrain again and again, and drilled with the Luoyang Shovel again and again.

Sometimes it took months, but they gained nothing. In the end, if they really couldn't determine the exact location of the tomb chamber, they could only dig tunnels or even use explosives.

Not to mention the rough work, the huge commotion, and the extreme consumption of manpower and time, the element of luck was also huge. You could blast ten times and not necessarily hit the mark once.

How is it like Lin Sicheng, who just takes a look at the top of the mountain, points after going down the mountain, and one drill bit later, it's the center of the Golden Roof?

Isn't this exactly the same as those two times the local peers talked about with relish and praised endlessly?

The first time, one probe hit the Wood Ash Pool; the second time, he also walked around the mountain and drew the layout of the kiln site.

He doesn't understand finding tombs or grave-robbing, but having worked in exploration and archaeology for half a lifetime, could Geng Jiamu not even understand this?

He finally understood: Lin Sicheng was intentionally downplaying the difficulty, which is why it sounded so simple. In fact, the difficulty of finding this tomb was no less than finding an underground ruin on a wasteland without any markers.

To put it bluntly, it's two words: professional, even professional to the extreme...

After pondering for a long while, Sun Jiamu let out a long breath: A talent!

No wonder Deputy Director-General Wu keeps thinking about him and wants to get him into the Archaeology Department?

It's a pity that everyone has their own aspirations.

In a flash, Sun Jiamu frowned again: It was found, but how to excavate it?

Can we just dig up a perfectly good tomb based on a single sentence: "There is porcelain down here, very likely Song Dynasty White Porcelain"?

It is said that the dead are paramount; even in this new era, archaeological excavations are not conducted like this. Just look at how much infamy Dean Guo brought upon himself for taking the initiative to excavate Dingling?

While these thoughts were turning in his mind, Lin Sicheng squatted down, flipped through the few Tomb Bricks one by one, and finally picked up the one from the very bottom, looking at it for a long time.

Then he sighed: "Teacher, let's call the Police!"

Call the Police, call what police?

Wang Qi Zhi was completely confused and exchanged a glance with Sun Jiamu. Immediately, the two of them realized something: had this tomb already been robbed?

Otherwise, why would Lin Sicheng call the Police?

Subconsciously, the two of them stared at the brick in Lin Sicheng's hand, looked at it for a few moments, and then glanced at the other few pieces.

It seemed... there was no difference?

Then on what basis did Lin Sicheng judge that the tomb had been robbed?

Seeming to see what they were thinking, Lin Sicheng laid out the few bricks one by one: "Actually, there is a difference: when the drill pipe was just dismantled, the six pieces in the upper layer were slightly lighter in color, approaching brownish-tan, while the one at the very bottom was closer to brownish-black... This is because the blue bricks at the bottom had been in an aerobic environment for a long time, and the iron elements in the Tomb Bricks had oxidized into tri-iron tetroxide (black)..."

"While the iron elements in the other six pieces existed stably in a divalent state in an oxygen-deficient environment, so they were initially yellow. After suddenly entering an oxygen-rich environment, they oxidized rapidly, transforming into iron(III) oxide or tri-iron tetroxide in a very short time. The color changed from yellow to red, then from red to brown, then from brown to black, and finally became brownish-black. So at first glance now, they seem exactly the same..."

"Actually, in the subtle details, there is a difference: due to long-term oxidation, the volume of iron oxide is greater than that of the original iron elements, causing the internal stress of the brick body to increase. The internal clay structure has long since slowly decomposed, leaving it in a fragile state that is only a shell, crumbling at a touch..."

"But these six pieces that oxidized suddenly only underwent a change in chemical structure; the original molecular structure did not change that quickly, so the internal stress did not change much, and the hardness remains very high..."

As he spoke, Lin Sicheng took a Tomb Brick in each hand and rubbed them. With a light touch, the brick powder on the one from the very bottom fell off with a "shushu-shu" sound, but the other piece was the same as it had been before?

In shock and doubt, Sun Jiamu also picked one up and forcefully scraped it with his fingernail. Let alone falling powder, he couldn't even leave a mark.

Glancing at Wang Qi Zhi, the two of them looked at each other in dismay.

Since they worked in this line of business, the two of them certainly understood the principles, but they only knew that it was so, without knowing why it was so.

If they were asked to explain, they would certainly know it was because of the sudden exposure to oxygen. But what were these things like divalent states or trivalent iron?

But then again, these were things taught in textbooks, right?

But to be honest, let alone the two of them, even Huang Zhifeng, who was specifically responsible for experiments, would probably be completely baffled if asked.

Because it is impossible for a person to keep all knowledge in their head and be able to recall it whenever they need to use it.

But looking at it from another angle, how does one explain someone like Lin Sicheng?

In shock and doubt, Lin Sicheng had already taken out his phone, first finding Tan Wu to have him report it to the Police on his behalf. Then he called Gao Zhangyi to have him bring two teams over.

About an hour later, the two teams arrived at the edge of the canyon one after the other.

Tan Wu brought the Police, who just gathered some information and took two statements.

Gao Zhangyi brought the Archaeology Team and migrant workers, as well as two small Excavators.

It was not that they had never seen machinery used to excavate ancient tombs, but this was the first time they had dug three meters at once.

Leaving only two people on duty, Sun Jiamu called all the other Experts over to observe the scene.

In an instant, the small hillside was surrounded by people.

The two Excavators moved forward side by side, one uncovering the tomb roof and the other searching for the tomb passage. Both operators were veterans, shoveling around the two Red Flags Lin Sicheng had planted, and their speed was very fast.

After digging for about half an hour, someone suddenly exclaimed: "A Tomb Tunnel?"

The rest of the people turned their heads in unison: beside the Red Flag representing the tomb passage, at a depth of about one meter, a round hole had suddenly appeared.

It was not large, with a diameter of about fifty or sixty centimeters, just enough for one person to go down. But it was extremely round, and the walls of the hole were extremely smooth; one look and it was clear it had been dug by a person.

Looking closely again, there were a few fine grooves on the walls of the hole; these were clearly rope grooves worn out when people were being lowered or when burial objects were being transported out.

After taking a look with a Flashlight, Lin Sicheng let the Excavator continue the work, but fearing it would collapse the tomb passage, the depth of the mechanical operation was reduced to two meters, and the range of motion was also much smaller.

The other side proceeded as before.

Another hour passed, and the machine uncovering the tomb roof reached the limited depth of three meters. The Excavator left the pit, and Gao Zhangyi organized the migrant workers to excavate manually.

It was just a pit four meters square, and with more than ten people taking turns digging, the speed was still not slow.

After about half an hour, having just dug half a meter, Sanhe Soil was suddenly revealed.

A group of Experts looked at one another.

They finally understood how Lin Sicheng had managed to excavate the Guduo Village Ruins within half a month.

Excavating a tomb in half a day... at this speed, who else could be faster than him?