Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

Chapter 272 Underground Hole, Bronze Stick

Something golden?

Could it be gold?

In such a humid place, metals like brass would have rusted long ago.

Gold is usually the only thing that stays golden.

I turned and walked towards Cui Hao.

A crack appeared in the ground directly in front of him.

It is probably caused by the earthquake just now, which caused the underground collapse.

"It looks like gold!" Cui Hao shouted excitedly.

"Come and see!"

"It's long and thin, and looks a lot like a golden hoop stick."

"Could it really be Monkey King's golden cudgel?!"

Cui Hao's greed for money came back.

He supported himself with his hands on both sides of the crack and prepared to jump down to get the golden thing.

I grabbed him by the back of his neck.

He was pulled up alive.

Cui Hao grumbled in confusion: "Brother, why are you pulling me?"

"That golden thing down there is probably gold."

"It's worth a fortune!"

"Take it back and sell it to Boss Dong, and you'll make a killing!"

I patted him twice on the back of his head, feeling both amused and helpless.

"Of course I know gold is valuable."

"But you can't choose money over life."

"It's better to be cautious. First, take a good look at the situation below and be prepared before going down."

Cui Hao laughed innocently upon hearing this, scratching his head and saying, "Yes, yes, you have to be careful."

"I am obsessed with money and only want to get rich."

"Ah!" Cui Hao suddenly sighed, "If only Huzi and Nianzi were here too."

I fell silent.

They were possessed by Professor Zhang and their lives are in danger.

I just hope there's still a chance to save them.

After feeling sad for a moment, I raised the emergency light and shone it into the crack in the ground.

There is rock nearly one meter deep below the crack.

Going further down, a huge cavity suddenly appeared.

Because the crack is narrow, we cannot see more of what is inside the cavity.

All you can see is the golden light reflected from below.

It seemed that there were some other objects next to the golden light.

But it is unclear what the object is.

"The huge cavity below should be the so-called God's Tomb."

"Give me the rope."

Cui Hao took out a roll of climbing rope, but didn't hand it to me.

"Brother, I'll go down."

"I'm thin and small, so it's easier for me to get in and out. You can also pull me up from the top."

As he spoke in a casual manner, he had already tied one end of the rope to a huge tree not far away.

Then throw the whole coil of rope into the crack in the ground.

Swish!

The rope fell rapidly, and soon a snapping sound was heard from below.

That was the sound of the rope falling to the bottom of the cave.

I said in a deep voice, "Be careful."

"If you find something wrong, shout immediately and I will do my best to pull you back."

Cui Hao smiled and nodded, then pulled the rope and clamped it under his right armpit.

Wrap the rope around your right arm again.

This is to better control the descent speed when descending and also to increase safety.

It's much better than just sliding down with your hands holding the rope.

If you slide down holding the rope with both hands and lose control and let go, you will most likely fall directly.

I spread my left and right feet across the crack in the ground, holding the rope tightly with both hands.

He warned: "Be careful."

"I'll definitely be careful. I won't use the emergency light."

"Wait, you light up for me from above."

Cui Hao clamped the rope with his right arm and slid down with his legs holding the rope.

The descent speed is controlled very smoothly.

There were no accidents.

pat!

The sound of feet landing could be heard.

Cui Hao's voice was heard shortly afterwards: "Brother, I'm coming down!"

I held the emergency light and stuck half of my body into the crack in the ground, trying to let the light reach as many places in the cave as possible.

"Look around first!"

"Tell me if there's anything unusual!"

"Okay!" Cui Hao turned around on the spot and looked around.

"This doesn't look like a tomb. I don't see any coffins."

"I'm in the very center. The place with the golden light is a stone platform with many things on it."

"There are bronze artifacts, pottery, and even stone artifacts."

“Everywhere else is empty.”

"There's nothing unusual!"

"And I don't see a way to get anywhere else."

Cui Hao’s description made me frown.

An underground cavity cannot exist alone; there must be a way in and out.

How could there be no other way?

Forget it, since there is nothing abnormal, I might as well go down and take a look.

"Mouse, I'm going to throw all my backpacks down, so you better hide."

With two bangs, the bags fell to the ground.

I held the emergency light with my left arm and slid down the rope.

After landing, I saw Cui Hao had already climbed onto the stone platform.

The stone platform is rectangular, about sixty to seventy centimeters high, and is built with flat bluestone slabs. There are steps leading up on the right side.

At first glance, it looks like a simple stage in the village.

But it's different if you look closely.

It is probably the place where sacrificial ceremonies were performed.

Cui Hao turned his head and grinned at me: "Brother, come here!"

"It's really a golden artifact, but it's a pity that it's not a golden hoop stick."

I strode over and walked up the steps to the stone platform.

The stone platform is about four meters long and two meters wide, with two rows of bronze artifacts, two rows of jade artifacts, and two rows of pottery neatly arranged on it.

In the middle of these six rows of objects, there is a golden object that reflects golden light.

Cui Hao carefully held the gold object and raised it up.

It is a stick that is more than two meters long.

The ends of the stick are the turquoise rust color of puddle bronze, and the middle part, which is nearly one meter long, is golden.

It looks like there is a thin layer of gold covering the middle of the bronze stick.

"Brother, this piece must be gold."

"Let's take the gold and throw away the stick."

Cui Hao gestured as he spoke, already trying to figure out how to completely remove the layer of gold.

But I shook my head slightly.

“The complete one is more valuable.”

"If you only take out the gold, the thing will be damaged and its value will be greatly reduced."

"Huh?!" Cui Hao said in frustration, "But this bronze stick is too long. It's hard to carry with me."

"Even if we take it out, it's not easy to bring it back to the provincial capital."

This is true.

Such a long thing is indeed difficult to carry and it can easily attract attention.

It is very difficult to bring it back intact.

Therefore, when tomb robbers encounter large objects that are difficult to take out of the tomb or inconvenient to transport, they usually choose to cut them up and then transport them out.

For example, in the early 1990s, I led people to unearth a giant bronze dragon from the Qin Dynasty.

Those were two pairs of giant bronze dragons entwined together.

The total length exceeds ten meters and the weight exceeds five hundred kilograms.

In order to transport them out smoothly, we cut the pair of bronze dragons into pieces and arranged four vehicles to transport them out from different directions.

A vehicle had an accident during transportation and was seized by the relevant authorities.

The driver refused to confess and took the blame.

The eight bronze dragon segments on the car were handed over to the Shaanxi History Museum by relevant departments.

After restoration, it became one of the treasures of Shaanxi History Museum.

Friends who are interested can take a closer look when they go to Shaanxi History Museum.

Let’s get back to the present.

Just as I was about to take the bronze stick from Cui Hao, I suddenly heard a noise behind me.

pat!

It’s the sound of feet landing!

Someone is coming down the rope!