Northern Grave Robbery Notes

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Just then, someone patted me on the back. "He he, young man, you're so young. What's there to be so desperate about?" l wiped away my tears and turned around, stunned. Wasn't this the old man who had given me directions at Panjiayuan yesterday? lt was this old man who told me that the stalls at Baoguo Temple were free. "Young man, l've been watching you since you came to Panjiayuan to sell your goods yesterday. lf l'm not mistaken, did you get your money stolen?" The old man was dressed in casual clothes, with some white at his temples, but he looked energetic. Without thinking too much, l nodded with red eyes and said that the money l made from selling my goods was stolen and that l didn't want to live anymore. He shook his head with a light chuckle, "Young man, how much money did you lose?" l said l lost over four thousand yuan. "He he," he laughed and held up a finger to me. "Four thousand yuan is money to you? Work with me, and in this amount of time, l can make you earn twenty thousand yuan." Staring blankly at his finger, l asked, "How long? A year?" The old man shook his head. "A month??" He shook his head again. "A week???" "Ha ha, l won't tease you anymore, one minute! As long as you're quick to learn, making a few thousand yuan is a matter of minutes!'

I found it unbelievable, and for a moment, l even thought this man might be a human trafficker, trying to get me to sell a kidney. l wouldn't agree to sell a kidney. Dying was one thing, but l had heard that living without a kidney meant you could never have children, and your wife would end up cheating on you.

He left me with a sentence and turned to walk away.

"Young man, if you want to make a name for yourself and drive a big car home in the inglory, then come with me. lf you still want to die over that bit of petty cash, then don't bother. lt would prove l misjudged you.

Yes, four thousand yuan was an astronomical sum for my impoverished family, but to him, it was just petty cash.This man became my mentor who introduced me to the trade. The lucrative path he was involved in was tomb raiding. "To find a dragon, one must observe the winding mountains; each twist is a barrier, and if a gate seems locked a thousand times over, it surely guards the resting place of nobles.

From the moment l followed him down the overpass, l was in business. Not long after joining, l realized that what the old man said was true; a few thousand yuan was indeed petty cash, and it could be earned in minutes.

You might often hear about the four major schools of tomb raiding: the Touch Gold School, the Move Mountain Taoists, the Unload Ridge Strongmen, and the FaqiuGenerals.

In reality, these schools have long since vanished into the annals of history. Nowadays, tomb raiders are roughly divided into two factions: the Northern and the Southern schools. Some jokingly refer to them as the bold and the cautious. The Northerners are daring and wild, ready to dig with a Luoyang shovel in hand, but they're not adept at diving into water-filled caves, especially in the southern regions like Hunan, Guizhou, and Zhejiang, where the caves can be wet for thousands of years, dry for thousands of years, or semi-dry for half a year. These water caves are challenging, requiring the swimmer to have the skills of a water monkey, and the deeper ones need professional diving equipment with air tanks. To be fair, most Northerners are landlubbers. They're impressive on land but can't handle underwater work. The Southern school often operates within families, with fathers leading sons and grandfathers leading grandsons. They rarely collaborate with strangers, which is why they're mockingly called the cautious faction. This approach is, of course, to prevent betrayal and theft within the group.

The tomb raiding industry is a mixed bag, with all sorts of characters. The truly skilled are legends, capable of reciting burial scriptures by heart and pinpointing sites with an single glance. Then there are the pretenders, those who grab a hoe and dare to desecrate graves. These are the ones who die the quickest and get caught the most. Those who follow a more professional approach, the "regular army" of tomb raiders, are seldom caught.

I'll give you a brief rundown. In a six-person tomb raiding gang, the one who gets paid the most is the "eye leader," which means the person responsible for locating and identifying tombs. This is a skilled job, and a good eye leader is in high demand everywhere. There's also the "rice seller," which is a code name in the trade; "rice"refers to money. In some regions, they're also called "goods sellers." This person is responsible for liquidating the items that are dug up, and this job requires a strong network of contacts. They have their own circles and networks, whether dealing with people from the north or the south, and they must ensure that the sold items can't be traced back.

Then there are the diggers, whose work relies on experience. With a probe of the Luoyang shovel, they can determine the age of a burial site by the soil layers they bring up. Below the diggers are the lookouts, whose job is self-explanatory. They must have good eyesight and keen hearing. This role is crucial; the success of a big job can hinge on the lookout. Some lookouts even start their work a year in advance,blending in with the locals under the guise of running a supermarket to gain their trust.

Another role is logistics, usually handled by one person. This person doesn't go into the pit but is responsible for equipment procurement and supply. Rat suits, diamonds hovels, mini whirlwinds, gas masks, Luoyang shovels, lighters, waterproof flashlights, walkie-talkies, tents, bedding, pots, pans, toothbrushes, toothpaste all must be procured by one person to minimize exposure and avoid revealing identities.

Finally, there's the role l started with: scattering soil. The person who scatters soil gets paid the least, but even the least share is much more than what you'd earn from regular work. The best person for this job is someone who blends in with the crowd,which is why l was chosen for my ordinary face.

Who would bother to pay attention to a sixteen or seventeen-year-old kid every day? On the other hand, if you're too handsome or too ugly, you can't do this job because you might be discovered before you've even scattered the soil from your pockets.

You carry a little at a time, pretending to walk or walk a dog, and shake the soil out through your trouser legs, leaving no trace. Afterward, the money is divided secretly and no one notices us. The old man who brought me into the trade is called WangXiansheng, known as Wang Baotou in the trade. lt's said that he has explored over athousand major tombs, from the pre-Qin dynasties through the Han, and from the Song to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

There are two types of tombs that people in the trade love the most: Han tombs and Western Zhou tombs. The reason is simple: bronze ware and ancient jade are very valuable. lt's often said that nine out of ten Han tombs are empty, and this is true.

Western Zhou royal tombs are even more impressive. During the era when "beacons competed with lords," the lords were numerous, and lavish burials were in vogue. lfyou're lucky enough to find a deep pit filled with bronze ware from a Western Zhoulord's tomb, congratulations, your descendants won't need to work for three generations

Similarly, Western Zhou tombs are the deepest of all dynasties. After Qin Shi Hang unified the six states and built his mausoleum, the practice of building large burialmounds became popular.

The landscape changes over time. Western Zhou tombs are generally more than fifteen meters underground, without burial mounds, making them hard to find and even harder to excavate.

Officially, the sale of bronze ware is prohibited by the authorities, but everyone knows the truth. Where do the bronze artifacts featured in TV appraisal shows come from?

The number of bronze artifacts passed down through generations is less than one percent of the total number. Did the rest just appear out of nowhere?

They all come from the same source: our line of work. When Wang Baotou took me away from Beijing, he also told me not to contact the outside world for a while. My first job was in Shunde.

This job was a Western Zhou tomb. Because of a severe shortage of personnel, WangBaotou took notice of me and chose me to scatter soil. l was the youngest member of the gang at the time.

In Shunde, Wang Baotou handed me a thousand yuan, saying it was a tradition, a redenvelope for joining the trade. He told me to spend it however l wanted, even suggesting I could spend it on girls if l wished.

I was just a kid then,; where would l dare to find girls? l couldn't spend much on food and drink alone. l tried Shunde's water snake soup, four-cup chicken, fried fish cakes, Jun'an steamed pork, and all more delicious.

After hanging around Shunde for two days, Wang Baotou called me over. He said,"Yunfeng, we're going to work tonight. Are you ready? Do you remember everything you?'

I nodded and said, "| remember. Don't scatter soil at dawn, when there are cars, in parks, or where there are many people."

Wang Baotou nodded in satisfaction and asked me, "Where do you plan to scatter the soil?"

After thinking, l told him, "Baotou, at the construction site, near demolished houses in the woods, in the gardens.

"Haha, not bad. l haven't even taught you those yet. Good, good, you have the spirit..

"Be smart, follow us closely, and l'll make you the richest man in your village within two years, gotn't?"

My face lit up with joy, and l immediately nodded in agreement.