The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 185: Story

Che Zhong told me a story. Before the Nationalist Party retreated, many cultural relics were taken from China's Palace Museum, and were now in Taipei's National Palace Museum. What about those that couldn't be removed? During the Second Sino-Japanese War and the following period of civil war, the archaeological research done by private and professional organizations was almost at a standstill. The military's archaeological system was very active, however, because a large number of military bunkers that were being built required the mountains to be hollowed out. Many tombs of Xixia nobles hidden deep in these mountains were excavated during the project.

At that time, the most intense construction period occurred before Yinchuan was liberated. The Nationalist Party deployed its troops in the defensible areas, and the atmosphere was both chaotic and orderly. This kind of feeling is hard to describe. With war approaching, the soldiers were under a lot of pressure, and the small tombs were often looted, which caused civil strife.

Only the large underground buildings of the imperial tombs were strong enough to keep the junior officers out, especially because they didn't have the time to seek guidance from civilian experts. Because Peng Dehuai put him under a lot of pressure at that time and had him under siege, the commander of the war zone obviously didn't have the presence of mind to think about tombs with a large enemy force bearing down on him. As a result, even if a huge tomb was found, it was probably ignored.

The tomb found in this mountain depression, however, must have been extremely special. Especially at that time, Ma Hongkui [1] must have used this discovery as an excuse to flee back to Chongqing before the war zone was clear.

The garrison at that time was ordered to step up the construction of this covert project, and hide the tomb underground in this way.

Since the ground had been artificially raised by several hundred meters, it was impossible for grave robbers of any level to find this ancient tomb by conventional means.

The story was very complete, and I thought it over several times after listening to it. I found that there were no loopholes in the logic, and it seemed to explain the situation here.

I knew that there had to be a very powerful force in this world, but it was hidden. Its strength could be seen from among the countless details, so it was unlikely they would build something so huge for themselves. That was why I constantly felt confused about the current situation here, and felt as if everything was illogical.

But if it was the Nationalist Party's military team at that time, then it was indeed possible. In times of war, whatever you dug in a mountain depression would be seen as merely digging bunkers and fortresses.

So, what happened to the activities here after liberation?

I didn't think it was possible for the Nationalist Party to bury everything here before they withdrew to Taiwan, just so they could come back and continue digging after they staged a counterattack against the mainland. This was a question of political consciousness. In the chaos of war, the retreating party wouldn't be able to stage such a huge project for the sake of a certain valuable cultural relic. The most important thing was to be conscientious.

Similarly, we could speculate on who would have conscientiously carried out such a project back then. If it were me, I would have died of anxiety. No matter what the supervisor said about this project, I would have done it carelessly, because I would have known how impossible it would be for anyone to inspect the goods for at least ten years.

The people who handled this project must not have been ordinary people, because the ability to withstand that kind of pressure was probably a special talent of the intelligence department.

Everything indicated that this ancient tomb had special value for the Nationalist Party. But this special value had nothing to do with money or archaeology, and had to be related to something special that we didn't know about.

After the Nationalist Party buried the place, and Yinchuan was liberated, no information was found on this place, and they decided that it must have been hidden successfully. If the contents were really so important, they wouldn't wait for the counterattack on the mainland, but would immediately send secret agents.

The motorcade and strange people that Lin Qizhong had seen back in those days were probably the secret agents working on this project.

My mind was very uneasy as Che Zhong talked and analyzed with me, because I doubted that this was an ancient tomb.

My gut told me that what Che Zhong said was correct, but what the Nationalist Party had excavated here probably wasn't an ancient tomb, but something else.

There was a problem connecting everything together, however. Back when Lin Qizhong's sister was involved in the car accident, the secret agents that the Nationalist Party had left behind in the country had practically disappeared. The purges that took place in that era were extremely horrible, so I didn't believe there were that many agents who could carry out such complicated activities under the supervision of counterespionage agencies.

Moreover, if the Nationalist Party authorities wanted to bring anything— even if it was just a bit of information— out of this mountain depression, it was extremely risky.

By the time Lin Qizhong appeared, these disturbances should have subsided. The spy activities at that time were certainly still going on, but they had become even more covert and low-key.

Based on all that, I believed the black-clad people driving the trucks couldn't merely be explained as secret agents. Maybe they had some sort of connection with that period in time, but their situation should be different.

And judging from Lin Qizhong's description, they must have succeeded.

"The color and texture of the cement can mean the initial construction took place during the latter half of that period, but our regime wouldn't abandon this kind of project, so this is the only possibility I can think of. As far as I can remember, Yinchuan should have only been bombed by the Japanese, not actually occupied; otherwise, I'd say the Japanese are also a possibility." Che Zhong said. "There's another piece of evidence, in fact, that seems illogical at first glance."

He pointed to the stone plate and the jars: "These things are antiquities, so why place them here? This doesn't conform to ordinary people's logic. "

Right, why would this stone and these jars containing human oil be placed here? If I had seen them in the hidden underground area of this mountain depression, then there would be countless explanations.

But since it was a covert project, the surface work had to be the simplest and safest, so these things were put here. Although there wouldn't be problems most of the time, there was always a hidden danger that it would be discovered.

"There must be a reason for these water jars and this stone plate to be here." Che Zhong lit a cigarette, and said with certainty: "Unfortunately, we can't guess now. Longtao said that this is a stone mill, so if he's right, it may have something to do with human flesh. It seems that the contents of those jars were made by boiling the fat off people's bodies. With the existence of these things, I'm a little worried. I'm afraid it won't be so peaceful down there."

As soon as he spoke, there was a sudden rumbling sound from behind him. The sound wasn't loud, but the vibrations were very strong. We looked back, and I saw that Longtao had set off the first round of explosives.

There was smoke coming from the stone plate. I didn't see it get blown apart, but the small fragments raining down indicated that the central part must have been blown up badly. Longtao threw the detonator aside and climbed up. We asked him how it was, but he jumped off the stone plate with a pale face, and then turned around and ran. 

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Note:

[1] Prominent warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the province of Ningxia. In 1950, he migrated to the U.S., where he lived until he died in 1970.