Daomu Biji

The lid of the box opened slowly and automatically, and there was only a space the size of a little finger inside, which was cushioned by Bai Juan. In the middle of Bai Juan, there was a gold-plated bronze fish.

The workmanship of this copper fish is very fine, each scale is polished to be angular, and there is a sea snake coiled on each of the fish's eyebrows, which is lifelike and lifelike.

I looked at the fish up and down and felt a little puzzled. Antique gold-plated wares are my specialty, but I have no idea about this fish. However, the craftsmanship of this fish is only middle-to-upper-class. , it should not be a very expensive thing at the time. In comparison, the purple gold box used to contain it was much more expensive.

Historically, cheap goods were packaged in expensive boxes only under some special conditions. For example, the fish had special symbolic value.

But I can't figure out what this thing is used for? Soldier talisman? Impossible, it’s too small and has no style at all; token? It's impossible, there's no text on it, and it's too easy to forge. Judging from the shape and size of this thing, the only reasonable use is to decorate musical instruments and weapons, but there are no holes or rope marks on it.

I was puzzled and remembered that my third uncle was also very obsessed with this aspect, so I decided to ask him for advice. Although he may not know more than me, he may be able to deduce something based on his experience.

After being prepared to pay attention, I took the copper fish and knocked on the door of my third uncle's room. My uncle saw me sneaking around and let me in with a puzzled look on his face.

After I sat down, I told the story of how I happened to open the maze box without talking nonsense.

The third uncle heard what I said and looked carefully at the copper fish in my hand. He was also amazed. When I saw that there was a door, I quickly asked what on earth it was. What is it used for?

The third uncle said: "You are asking me seriously. Not more than a hundred people in China know about this thing, and among these hundred, only about a dozen have actually seen it. It can be said to be an absolute thing." A rare treasure.”

When my third uncle said this, I was so excited. I thought it was true that you could eat a gold ring out of cow dung. I didn't expect the things in the broken box to be so valuable, so I asked him how much it could be sold for.

The third uncle shook his head and said to me: "To say that this fish is a rare treasure does not mean that the fish is valuable, but that it has high archaeological value. This fish is very similar to the cultural relics unearthed during an archaeological expedition twenty years ago. It is similar, and there may be some connection. If it were handed over to the archaeological team at that time, it would be almost priceless, but if you want to make a fortune from it, you might as well give up."

I thought to myself that this was not in vain. We don’t do archeology. What’s the use of archaeological value? I can’t take this thing to the cultural relics management office to sell it.

I saw the change in Third Uncle's face, and I felt that there might be some hidden secret behind this, so I asked what happened back then. This thing was brought out from King Lu's Palace. Could it be that what happened back then had something to do with King Lu's Palace?

The third uncle shook his head and refused to say, "I don't want to mention what happened over the years. Anyway, I can tell you responsibly that the appearance of this fish in the Lu Palace was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with King Lu Shang. At that time, The information has been destroyed by a fire, these are all destined."

I was depressed after hearing this. I came to ask you what happened, but you didn't tell me. You also made such a bunch of seductive words. Wouldn't I want to know more? So I resorted to deceitful means and tried hard to get him to tell me.

The third uncle was annoyed by my questioning, so he had to reveal something to me:

Uncle San served as the leader of an archaeological team for a period of time in the early years. He is an expert in field archaeology and is good at handling strange ancient tombs that do not conform to burial customs.

Tombs have been a unique humanistic activity since humans recognized death. Their history is as long as human history. Tombs in various periods contain a large amount of information about human life at that time, including all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation.

The so-called "death is like life" is a burial rule passed down from ancient times to the present day.

However, not every dynasty has always used the burial habits of their dynasty uniformly. There are many feudal ruling classes, and their tombs are very special. It is completely impossible to infer from our daily experience. They built tombs. The technology is also the ultimate secret. For thousands of years, only a very small number of royal craftsmen are qualified to learn it.

What we know now is that the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang is an example. There are considerable records of these tombs circulating in the world, but no one has ever deciphered the structure inside. Some people say that the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang is 1,500 meters deep, and the underground palace is hidden deep in Lishan Mountain. , in fact, they all guessed that if you don’t go in person, you won’t be able to understand even if you are given a floor plan. What Third Uncle likes most in his life is to enter these ancient tombs that no one understands, but in history, large-scale construction can be done There are not many emperors who specialize in this kind of tomb. Even if some information is found, the location of the tomb cannot be found, and there has never been an opportunity for him to show off his talents.

It wasn't until 1984 that archaeologists discovered a rare underwater tomb in the Paracel Islands. Neither the age nor the identity of the tomb owner could be verified. The tomb was accidentally discovered by tomb robbers when they blew up a sunken ship. The seabed was in a mess, with more than a dozen explosion points. The sealing soil of the tomb was almost completely destroyed, and the outer tomb wall was dented in several places. However, the tomb robbers have never found a way to enter the ancient tomb.

Judging from the huge stone anchors found around the tomb area, the tomb should have been built on a large ship first, and then the bottom of the ship was drilled and the ship tomb was sunk into the sea. This burial method is unprecedented, and it can have such strength. The owner of the tomb should have been a very prominent figure at that time, but because he could not enter the tomb, the specific identity could not be verified. At that time, relations with Vietnam were tense, and large-scale construction could not be carried out there. The archaeological team had to find hidden entrances from other places.

The cleanup work continues, and the outer collapsed tomb wall has been cleaned up. The scene inside the tomb wall shows the special structure of this ancient tomb. Archaeologists discovered a second seal with plaster behind the collapsed tomb wall. The dead waterproof wall, the conclusion deduced from this shocked the world - the inside of this ancient tomb was actually sealed.

There was air inside the ancient tomb. This was something no one had thought of beforehand. Even experts like my grandfather had never seen a hollow ancient tomb isolated underwater. All work was forced to stop, and everyone entered cautiously. In the gap between the outer wall and the inner wall, I found a water inlet a foot wide on the inner wall. It was just enough for a person to crawl in. After going more than ten meters deep, he still couldn't see the end. Instead, he found a man lying in the corner of the tomb passage. A copper box with a four-cornered lion's head was opened, and something was wrapped in silk cloth. It was a copper fish with snake eyebrows. The copper fish was covered with gold, and there were two coiled sea snakes on its eyebrows. The craftsmanship was meticulous and lifelike.

Experts from all over the archaeological team took a look and knew that this was a rare treasure. It may have a very important symbolic meaning. But how did this box appear in the tomb passage? Everyone was puzzled. Experts analyzed that there are two possibilities. One is that it accidentally fell there while carrying the funerary objects, and the other is that a tomb robber with great powers has entered the ancient tomb and accidentally dropped it when he came out. Judging from the narrowness of the tomb passage, the latter is very likely.

Many important things were also found in the four-cornered lion-head copper box. Among them was a piece of white silk cloth used to wrap the copper fish, with a line of book "xx Neifu xx" written on it. From this, it was inferred that the tomb was dated to the Ming Dynasty. , and another piece of rice paper, folded into squares, and when it was ready to be taken out, it turned into a ball of powder by mistake, which was regrettable.

The third uncle was the second batch of national experts convened at that time to study the method of entering the ancient tomb. However, due to the general environment, it was not convenient to put forward many constructive opinions, and the research was deadlocked for a long time.

The third uncle has done some research on this kind of "shipwreck and undersea tomb", and he also knows nine out of ten of its construction methods. However, it is so huge and there is still air inside, it is a mess. According to the records of the people who entered it, , he could confirm that the four-cornered lion-headed copper box was left behind by tomb robbers, and the tomb passage on the inner wall must be a key to entering the inside of the tomb.

In this so-called shipwreck undersea tomb, you must open the tomb wall to enter the tomb, but once it is opened, seawater will pour in and cause an unimaginable chain reaction. How does this tomb robber solve this contradiction? Third Uncle Baisi No explanation.

During the research process, someone proposed to dig a tunnel at the bottom of the tomb to enter (the third uncle thought this person might be his colleague), but after digging to a depth of fifteen meters under the seabed, no bottom bricks were found. How long will it take to dig further? It is impossible to estimate. After positioning with a shovel, it was found that the soil on the seabed here is not the native sand of Xisha, but the white paste mud near Guanyao, Fujian. The entire soil sealing area reaches more than 7,000 square meters. Calculated according to the proportion, if you want to go down to At the bottom of the tomb, there was no way to do it with the technology at the time.

After more than a month of repeated research, they still could not come up with a practical solution. As the international situation became tense, the archaeological team was forced to evacuate, and the ancient tomb was re-covered with soil. All research materials and location data were lost. Handed over to the government, the matter disappeared from history.

Later, the third uncle learned that some experts at the time secretly kept some information and conducted some research in private for a long time. The results are unknown.

The third uncle said to me: "Your copper fish was seen by more than 60 experts at the time, but they didn't know what it was used for. Later, after it was transferred to the central government, I heard that some clues were found through research, but we didn't get it at that time. briefing, I don’t know if the information was withheld or was passed on through false rumors. This matter just passed without anyone asking about it. Later, the information was sent to the National Archives and I heard that it was locked in the basement. I originally planned to When the time comes, we can get in touch and go in to take a look. I didn’t expect that a fire a few years ago burned everything down. If you want to know the strangeness, I’m afraid it’s not that easy now.”

I asked my third uncle: "You just gave up on such a weird tomb? With your temper, even if you obviously can't go, I think you can't hold it in private. I think you must know something else, so don't If you tell the truth, I promise not to tell anyone about it even if I am beheaded."

The third uncle smiled meaningfully and said firmly: "No, I won't tell you what happens next even if I take it to my grave."