Chapter 14: Murder in the Tomb

Just as Li Zhi and Ye Fan were purchasing supplies.

The group of tomb robbers were also making their final sprint.

After three years of archaeological excavation, they have been able to clearly see the tomb.

The only thing left to be opened was the main coffin chamber, which was surrounded by yellow-coated inscriptions.

All the treasures in the outer coffin chamber had already been looted by them.

If they continued with the previous archaeological excavation, they would not be able to dig open the main coffin chamber.

Because those huge and heavy cypress trees require large mechanical equipment to move.

Therefore, after clearing the outer area, they planned to use an electric saw to dig a hole directly into the yellow-coffined cypress wall leading to the main coffin chamber.

In order to protect the treasures in the main coffin chamber from damage to the greatest extent possible, they made the most meticulous preparations.

When Ye Fan and Li Zhi were returning from the county town after buying things, they suddenly found that the path leading to the vegetable greenhouse was blocked by a large truck blocking the road.

Vehicles could no longer pass.

And one of the truck's front wheels had been removed.

It seemed that the car stopped on the road because of a flat tire, and they didn't see the owner of the car at the scene. It seemed that the owner had already taken the tire to have it repaired.

Seeing this, Li Zhi said to Ye Fan: "It seems that we can't go today."

Ye Fan was a smart man. He immediately thought of something and said, "I'm afraid they put this car here specifically to block the road. Are they going to do something big today?"

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Looking at the current situation, those people are probably going to make a big move."

Ye Fan asked: "Are we still going?"

Li Zhi thought for a moment, then said with a firm face: "We must go. Of course we must go. And we can't let them get there first. The most useful things for us in ancient tombs are not the gold and silver treasures buried with the dead, but the bamboo slips and silk cloths that are extremely perishable. Once those things come into contact with air, they will immediately decompose."

Ye Fan also nodded, he thought so too.

Then he asked, "How do we get there?"

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Go over there by bike."

Walking is definitely not an option. The purpose of walking would be too obvious and it would easily alert the enemy.

Then Li Zhi and Ye Fan drove to a nearby town.

I bought two off-road bikes at a place that sold children's bikes.

Afterwards, Li Zhi and Ye Fan each carried a backpack and rode their bicycles as if they were going for an outing, and went there again.

At the same time, in Greenhouse No. 4 in the vegetable greenhouse base, six men wearing protective clothing and gas masks were moving things into the tunnel.

There are electric drills, electric saws, shovels, chisels, ropes, winches, and other tools used for digging holes.

The entrance to the tunnel is a vertical shaft with a diameter of one meter.

From the outside it looks no different from an ordinary well.

More than ten meters down from the wellhead, you will reach the bottom of the vertical shaft, and there is a layer of accumulated water more than two feet thick at the bottom.

From the outside, it appears to be a normal shallow well.

But at this time, a scaffolding was set up one meter above the water surface at the bottom of the well.

On the wall of the vertical shaft next to the scaffolding, there appeared a horizontal inclined shaft one meter wide and two meters high.

Moreover, the inclined shaft extending downward was supported by wood, which was done in a very professional manner.

That type of support is almost identical to the support used in underground mines of small coal mines.

Inside the inclined shaft, there is actually a ventilation duct with a diameter of 100 mm, which continuously supplies fresh air into it.

If Li Zhi saw the tunnel they dug, he would definitely exclaim that this was not a tunnel for robbers but clearly a professional mining tunnel.

Among that group of tomb robbers, there must be someone who was a coal miner.

Because they were all wearing gas masks, I couldn't see what they looked like.

"Everyone, hurry up and try to open the main coffin chamber tonight to avoid any more trouble. After this mission, we can stop."

"Brother Qiang, please stop shouting. We are more anxious than you. After three years of hard work, we are finally going to see the true appearance of the owner of this huge tomb."

"Scholar, once the main coffin chamber is opened, you will be in charge of the excavation work."

"Brother Qiang, rest assured. This tomb is well preserved. There is no water in the tomb chamber, and there should be no silt in the main coffin chamber. The good things must be placed there in boxes. As long as we are careful, we can move them all out."

"You are a top student who graduated from the Department of Archaeology. We will all listen to you," said Brother Qiang.

Among this group of people, there were actually professionals who participated in the tomb robbing.

This was news that Ye Fan had not been able to find out before.

"Scholar, I heard that the princes and nobles of the Han Dynasty liked to store horseshoe gold in their tombs. Is there any horseshoe gold in this tomb?"

"There should be. But the number won't be too many. After all, the owner of this tomb is not an emperor, but just a general." The scholar responded.

Then he added, "After we open the main coffin chamber, everyone stay still. Let me take pictures before you can move the things out."

"Don't worry, scholar. We will keep those bamboo slips and jade tablets for you. We will not touch anything with words until you get your consent," said Brother Qiang.

It is not difficult to find out from their conversation.

The scholar and Brother Qiang don’t seem to be in the same group, but more like a cooperative relationship.

The tools were quickly moved.

Then Brother Qiang began to assign tasks to everyone.

The inclined shaft leads directly to a depth of thirty meters underground.

There are abandoned tunnels around the inclined shaft, which should be the tunnels left over from their previous excavation of the burial pit.

The inclined shaft made two turns underground before finally stopping in front of a wall made of wood.

It is the cypress wall that makes up the Huangchangtichou.

After drilling and coring, they had learned that the cypress wall was two meters thick.

The excavation work started immediately, but it was a continuous excavation with people taking breaks while the machines continued.

Two hours later, they had dug a hole in the cypress wall that was about eight meters high, seven meters deep and two meters wide.

Just as they were about to enter the main coffin chamber, Li Zhi and Ye Fan also rode their bicycles to the field path outside the vegetable greenhouse base.

Before Ye Fan could make any move, Li Zhi immediately shouted at him in a low voice: "Ye Fan, don't stop, keep riding forward."

Afterwards, the two of them passed through the area along the field path and soon left the vegetable greenhouse base far behind.

The two men stopped only when they could no longer see the vegetable greenhouse.

As soon as he stopped, Ye Fan asked, "Brother Li, why didn't you stop just now?"

Li Zhi said with lingering fear: "We just walked through the gates of hell."

If it weren't for his rich experience, he would not have discovered that there was a gunman hiding behind the earthen wall of the vegetable greenhouse.

Ye Fan was shocked and asked, "What's going on?"

Li Zhi said: "Just now, after we entered the vegetable greenhouse base area, someone pointed a gun at us in secret. If we showed any sign of spying on them, the gunman in the dark would immediately shoot us to death."

Ye Fan asked: "How dare they be so bold?"

Li Zhi turned his head and looked into Ye Fan's eyes and said, "Xiao Ye, remember what I said. Not everyone respects life. In the eyes of some people, our lives are like chickens and ducks in the vegetable market. They have no value and can be killed at any time."

This remark made Ye Fan silent. He had already prepared for the worst, but he didn't expect the actual situation to be ten times worse than he expected.

There is a risk of life at any time.

If Ye Fan had not been traveling with Li Zhi, he couldn't imagine what kind of trouble he would encounter if he came alone. The thought of it made him scared.

Seeing that Ye Fan was in a bad mood, Li Zhi patted him on the shoulder and said, "The security measures are so strict that they even kill people to silence them. It seems that we have come to the right place this time. There will definitely be important things unearthed."

Then Li Zhi walked to the side of the road, threw his bicycle into the ditch, and said, "Xiao Ye, hurry up and eat something to replenish your energy. There will be a good show tonight."

Ye Fan asked curiously: "What's the show?"

Li Zhi laughed and said, "What a good show of killing each other."

Just as Li Zhi said, the main coffin chamber had already been opened by those people.

What caught the eye were boxes of gold horseshoes, boxes of bamboo slips, and some weapons that looked to be of great value, including knives, swords, halberds, spears, and even six sets of armor.

Near the coffin, various bronze ritual vessels were neatly arranged to form a battle formation.

It seems that the tomb owner was a general of a very high status during his lifetime, and was buried with great honor by the emperor after his death.

Inside the coffin chamber, for some unknown reason, the large lacquered wooden coffin had collapsed.

Inside lay a skeleton wearing armor, and on the right arm of the skeleton was an arm carved out of white jade.

It seems that the general only had his left arm left before he died.

After his death, the emperor ordered people to use jade arms to help him complete his broken body so that he could be buried in his entire body.

Hanging around the waist of the skeleton was a golden sword that seemed to be forged from gold.

And in the hand of that jade arm was holding a jade book.

After the scholar got the jade book and the sword, he rushed over excitedly.

He took out the jade book and started taking pictures.

Seeing this, Brother Qiang immediately came over and asked, "Scholar, what is this?"

The scholar seemed very excited and said excitedly: "This is a real good thing, a good thing that can make people live longer."

Without realizing it, Brother Qiang had already made a killing gesture to the person behind him.

The things inside the main coffin chamber are of astonishing value.

Brother Qiang was unwilling to share the treasure with the scholar as agreed.

Therefore, he felt that as a scholar's partner, his mission had been accomplished.

Suddenly, the sound of a chainsaw was heard again in the main coffin chamber.

After a "wuuuu" sound, Brother Qiang's head was cut off from the back with an electric saw.

Then another tomb robber who was planning to attack the scholar from behind was pierced through the chest with a chisel from behind.

The heart was penetrated.

Instantly fell to the ground.

Upon seeing this, the scholar tore off the gas mask on his face, revealing a sneer-filled, elegant face of a man in his thirties.

The two men who took action also took off their gas masks and said to the scholar, "Mr. Xu, what should we do next?"

The scholar said, "Except for this golden sword and this jade book, I will not take any of the other treasures in here. They all belong to you two."

"Thank you, Mr. Xu." The two said excitedly.

Then, the scholar named Xu picked up the jade book and the golden sword wearing thick gloves.

But before he could walk out of the coffin room with his things.

The golden sword suddenly burst out with a ray of sword energy, which directly pierced through his forehead.

Then the golden sword seemed to have completed its mission, and it shattered into a pile of powder like tofu dregs that had lost its moisture.

The jade book was also turned into powder under the impact of the sword energy.

The other two tomb robbers who were carrying bronze ritual vessels and horseshoe gold were instantly frightened when they saw this.

He ran out without looking back.

But before they could run out of the inclined shaft, they fell to the ground without any warning and died, as if their souls were wiped out in an instant.

There were six tomb robbers plus the scholar named Xu, a total of seven people.

By this point, five people had fallen to the ground.

Only the two tomb robbers who were standing guard outside with guns were still alive.

(End of this chapter)