Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Chapter 604: Go through the main entrance or dig a hole?

Different dynasties had different anti-theft methods. During the Qin and Han dynasties, they were still relatively crude, and basically door stones were used. In the Ming Dynasty, people liked to use self-propelled stones.

Zhao Tuo was a figure from the Qin and Han dynasties. The thing behind this may be the copper lever-type door stone that was popular among emperors at that time. The back end would be weighted with lead. When the tomb door was closed, the door pressed down the front end. After it was completely closed, the door stone sank due to the gravity of the back end, and the front end rose up to hold up the door.

Such a simple mechanism, without explosives, is enough to trap most tomb robbers.

In the current environment, even if we have explosives, we dare not use them, otherwise we will all be buried alive.

"Aunt Jiang, are you planning to dig in?"

In addition to watching Jiubai and the others having fun, Zhao Shan also took the time to glance at Jiang Shangxian and knew that she was fiddling around on the stone wall.

But the problem is: "This is a stone wall, I'm afraid it's extremely hard and difficult to dig, right?"

Tomb robbers dig up dirt when they dig graves, but this place is all stone.

Zhao Shan, a jerk with no experience in the underworld, felt it was foolish to dig through the wall instead of going through it. "With Qiqige leading the way, why not just find a way to open the door and go in directly?"

Silly hat!

I'm afraid the weight of this door alone has to be calculated by tons. There are at least three door stones at the back, and you still want to go through the main door?

Jiang Shangxian couldn't explain why he knew there was a doorstone behind the tomb door. He simply rolled his eyes at him and said unreasonably, "What do you know? We're robbing a tomb now, and tomb robbing requires a sense of ritual. Do you know what a sense of ritual is? You don't even know a sense of ritual, and yet you're still talking so much!"

Then he shook his head and ignored Zhao Shan, patted the stone wall on the right, and signaled Jiubai and the others to take out the tools they had tied to their backs and brought along the way: "We'll know if it works or not after we dig it out."

Although tomb robbing has existed since ancient times, Cao Cao was the official founder of tomb robbing. He established official positions such as the General of the Fa Qiu Army and the Captain of the Mo Jin Army, institutionalizing the tomb robbing industry.

Later, there were also the pseudo-Qi emperor Liu Yu who imitated Cao Cao and set up sand-mining officials, and there were also people like Wen Tao who robbed 17 Tang Dynasty imperial tombs...

However, most people still despise tomb robbing, a low-class profession, and the laws of the Tang Dynasty are extremely harsh on tomb robbers, listing it as a serious crime equivalent to the ten evils and disobedience.

Therefore, things like the Luoyang shovel used by modern tomb robbers did not exist at that time, and Jiang Shangxian did not know what this thing looked like. Therefore, the equipment they prepared this time were all popular items among tomb robbers nowadays.

For example, the flat shovel that Jiang Shangxian just used is one of them. There are also axes, chisels, pickaxes, mattocks, etc., which are also good helpers for underground workers when they work.

All of them were young ladies getting into bridal sedans, and it was their first time doing such a thing. They had all their weapons out, but they still didn't know where to start. They all looked at Jiang Shangxian like a bunch of idiots.

Xiao Jiang thought to herself, I don’t have much experience, but who makes her the leader?

She pretended to touch the stone wall and said in a profound tone, "Who bought these things in the first place? I think it seems that people in the north like to use iron awls and flat shovels, while people in the south like to use mattocks, right?"

"Madam, iron awls and flat shovels are good for breaking bricks and stones, but mattocks are more convenient for breaking rocks." A guard replied immediately.

"Row."

Jiang Shangxian glanced at the rock on top of the tomb door and kicked the rock near the wall with his toes. "Let's dig from here."

I heard that emperors like to set up mechanisms on the top of their tombs, so there shouldn’t be any on these two sides, right?

The tombs from the Qin and Han dynasties did not take a long time to build, so the number should not be too exaggerated.

Not to mention Qiqige, who stayed in the mountains all day, even Zhao Shan had never seen these things. With their eyes shining, they started working at the guards, discussing non-stop: "Maybe it's all rocks in here. It won't be easy to dig a passage in, right?"

not easy?

It should be easy!

Otherwise, how could those people from the Xiou tribe build an imperial tomb in this mountain in just a few years?

This is a karst cave, not an ordinary cave. The main body should be carbonate rock, that is, limestone. The main component is calcium carbonate, and the Mohs hardness is only three. Of course, it is not ruled out that it contains dolomite, clay minerals, quartz, feldspar, etc., which increases the hardness, but as long as the whole is calcium carbonate, there is no problem.

She had just tried it with a flat shovel, and it worked with just a little effort.

They brought two mattocks in total, so only two of them could work at this moment. However, the others should not think of sitting idle either. This place is small, and the excavated rubble must be cleared out, otherwise the road will be blocked.

Jiang Shangxian was also not idle. She had to decide the size of the hole and its shape. Even if she didn't understand, she had to give orders anyway. After all, if the hole was too big, the workload would be huge, and if it was too small, it would be impossible to get in.

As a leader, you can’t always expect your subordinates to take the blame!

After digging for an hour and a half, Yingzi fell asleep. The guard who was taking turns digging stones came out and said excitedly, "Madam, it seems we have dug up rammed earth."

Qiqige also became excited: "Is it almost through?"

My ancestors, how many people would have to face such a thing as digging up their own ancestral graves in their lifetime?

Jiang Shangxian had no idea what to do, so he could only say, "Everyone, work harder. If you're hungry, eat some Hu Bing first."

You can't cook here. It's just for filling your stomach, it's so hard to chew that your throat will smoke.

When it comes to rammed earth, Zhao Shan has some say. He squatted at the entrance of the tunnel, holding half a Hu pancake and looking inside, mumbling, "This thing is not easy to dig. I'm afraid it will take a lot of effort."

Jiang Shangxian couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. This was too difficult. It would take so long just to dig in.

What Zhao Shan said was right. Finally, she couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep. When she was woken up, another hour had passed.

The original "scratching" noise inside the tunnel had now turned into the crisp knocking of bricks and stones. Xiao Jiang, who was still dazed, jumped up with a start, his feet still wobbling, and he couldn't help asking, "Is it unblocked?"

Just as he finished speaking, he heard a series of violent thumping sounds coming from inside, and then Jiubai came out with a broken green brick in his hand. He handed the brick to Jiang Shangxian and showed it with a relieved smile on his face: "My lady, it's working."

They are so exhausted, day after day. They have never been so tired even when they were on business trips with Cui Bianxu!

Jiang Shangxian took the blue brick and looked at it with Zhao Shan and the others. She didn't understand it, but Zhao Shan did. "This is a diamond-patterned brick. It was mostly used for paving royal palaces during the Qin Dynasty, and it was also popular in tombs during the Han Dynasty. No doubt, shall we go in now?"