How did the ancient grave robbers find the ancient tomb? What is the method?

No one knows when the business of grave robbery started. The earliest recorded tomb robbery was the tomb of Shang Tang, the first thief in the Western Zhou Dynasty. It can be seen that tomb raiding has a long history. In addition, there are many dynasties in China, counting from Qin Shihuang, there are 2 in Qin Dynasty, 3 1 in Han Dynasty, 3 1 1 in Three Kingdoms, 78 in Jin Dynasty 16, 16 countries in Five Dynasties, 59 in Southern and Northern Dynasties, 3 in Sui Dynasty, 22 in Tang Dynasty, 55 in Five Dynasties and Ten Countries, and Song Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, there were 12, Nanming and Beiyuan, others such as Li Zicheng and Zhang, Yuan Shikai, the father and son of Hong Xiuquan of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and even Yuan Xiandi, who was only two months old, adding up to a total of 408, and there were countless princes, concubines and queens.

Although there are many people and tombs, with the passage of time and the change of dynasties, how did grave robbers find ancient tombs on vast land? China's tomb raiding is divided into southern and northern factions, according to local conditions. Although the methods used are different, the preliminary work is still roughly the same. First of all, we should look for traces of ancient tombs from historical books, local documents and folklore, so that literate "gentlemen" can take the helm. Then I visited in person, usually chatting with the old people in the village and inquiring about the legends handed down in the village. In the jargon, it is called "picking your tongue and leaking your mouth" to further determine the position. The village is not an ordinary village. Generally speaking, you can get some information from the names of villages. For example, some villages are called Shang Ling Village and Xialing Village, and 80% of the information in those villages is due to the fact that these villages evolved from the former grave keepers, who specially moved to the wake, just like when Emperor Wu moved 10,000 people to his Mausoleum, which is the same reason.

To find a good general position, we must enter the substantive exploration stage. At this time, the methods of the southern faction and the northern faction are different. Before the Qing Dynasty, the Northern School used an iron cone, inserted it into the ground, lifted it and smelled it with its nose to judge what was buried underground. Therefore, grave robbers who are working never eat spicy food, drink or smoke. In the early years of the Republic of China, Li Yazi, a "farmer" in Luoyang, had a whim and invented Luoyang shovel, a magic weapon for grave robbery, and grave robbery entered a new era. The shovel clamp of Luoyang shovel is only 2 inches wide and is in a U-shaped semicircle. The upper part of the shovel is equipped with a long handle. If you drill a hole every time and put a shovel into the ground, you can drill three or four inches deep. If you lift it, you can bring back the ground stuck in the semicircle intact. In this way, the grave robbers continued to drill deep underground and analyzed the soil structure, color, density and various inclusions of different soil layers. If it is cooked soil that has been touched by later generations, there may be ancient tombs or ancient buildings underground. If ceramics, iron, copper, gold and wood are found in inclusions, the nature and layout of underground collections can be inferred. Experienced grave robbers can judge the underground situation by the different sounds made by Luoyang shovel hitting the ground and the feeling on their hands. For example, compacted walls are naturally very different from hollow tombs and tombs.

However, due to the soil geology in the south, Luoyang shovel is rarely used by Nanpai, and another method of dividing gold and locating holes is adopted. Liu Hongfu, a Hunan scholar, has been dealing with folk antique dealers for many years. He took the opportunity to understand and study the management of grave robbers around Changsha before liberation, which can be summarized as "looking", "smelling", "asking" and "feeling", just like taking the pulse to see a doctor in traditional Chinese medicine.

"Look" means looking at Feng Shui. Old grave robbers are experienced and good at geomantic omen, so wherever they go, they should first look at the terrain and see where the ancient tombs that were destroyed on the ground are. As long as it is a real treasure trove of geomantic omen, it is usually a tomb with many treasures inside. It is very successful to use geomantic omen as a guide to determine unmarked cemeteries on the ground. According to legend, during the Republic of China, there was a grave-robbing master named Cai in Changsha, and his feng shui was very good. If he goes out and chooses a place, his followers will gather around. Once he went to visit relatives in Ningxiang county and went to a scenic spot. He pointed to a rice field and told his colleagues that there must be a big tomb under this field, and the treasure in the tomb will definitely make you and me rich. None of his colleagues believed him, so the man made a bet with them: if there was no grave, he would lose 1000 dollars. On the contrary, 70% of the treasures are found in graves. Many people gamble wildly and secretly find dozens of villagers to dig at night. In the middle of the night, they dug up a brick tomb with pictures of the deceased's life before his death. There are swords, Baoding, jade articles, lacquerware, golden cakes, inkstones, bamboo tubes and other items in the tomb. Later, it was sold to American missionaries and made a fortune (Hou Cai's famous works of the Warring States were dug up in Changsha ammunition depot and taken overseas by American missionaries).

"Smell" means smell. Grave robbers with this magical skill specialize in the olfactory function of the nose. Before digging, he turned over the surface soil of the tomb, took a pinch of tomb soil and put it under his nose to smell it fiercely, so as to distinguish whether the tomb was stolen from the smell of the soil and judge the age according to the color of the soil. It is said that Kung Fu can best distinguish the subtle odor difference between the tomb soil in Han Dynasty and the tomb soil in Tang Dynasty with amazing accuracy.

When Changsha was just liberated, an old grave robber was shot. He sold the cultural relics and national treasures he stole all his life to foreigners. This man is Wen Jia, who used to rob tombs in Han and Tang Dynasties. As long as you smell the unearthed objects, you can accurately determine the age. A grave robber brought some old lacquerware, saying it was from a prince's grave. Leaning on the couch, smoking opium, he picked up a lacquer ware, sniffed it under his nose, and then said with a smile, "Dear friend, it will take about seven months for your lacquer ware to be taken out in the urine pit." The man was shocked and even said, "Offend! Attack! "

"Asking" means stepping on the spot. People who are good at this way often dress up as Mr. Feng Shui or fortune teller, travel around the world, pay special attention to beautiful places and places they have been to, and pretend to be high officials. They are generally eloquent and good at chatting with old people. Wherever I went, I visited the local old people as a fortune teller or feng shui master, and got the information and location of the ancient tomb from the conversation. This kind of person has some skills and good eloquence, and it is easy to gain the trust of the other party. As soon as we found out the exact location of the ancient tomb, we immediately called a group of thieves to dig at night.

"Qie" means feeling the pulse. There are three meanings: the first layer refers to how to find the direction of digging a hole and enter the coffin in the shortest distance after discovering the ancient tomb. This kind of kung fu requires not only rich experience in robbing tombs, but also a keen sense of observing things. People who are good at this method often locate the coffin accurately according to the terrain direction, such as taking people's pulse, and then making a hole in the tomb from the slope to the head and tail of the coffin to steal the funerary objects. Zeng Guofan's tomb was stolen in this way a few years ago. The second meaning is to touch the treasure of the deceased after opening the coffin. Touch from the head, through the mouth to the anus, and finally to the feet. Touching a treasure is like feeling a patient's pulse. You should be careful and calm, pay attention to calm and accurate, and there can be no omissions. The third layer means touching the unearthed cultural relics with your hands. Because there are countless cultural relics touched by experts, they often don't have to look at them with their eyes. Just touch these objects slowly, and you will know what they are and how much they are worth. They often gamble with others to win or lose in this way, and they often win. Methods and techniques can be summarized as "looking", "smelling", "asking" and "cutting".

It's true. It's true when it's true. Although there are many rumors, I am afraid that only local tyrants can really understand the real method of dividing money.