Chapter 1226: Chapter 1223: River of rcury
It seems that due to the ancient history of this tomb, the wooden beams in the passage have all decayed, making many areas quite fragile.
Even though the tomb robbers dug the passage with great care, it still succumbed to the fate of collapse. In this portion of the passage, several decayed wooden beams suddenly snapped due to the vibrations, causing the wooden support structure to fail and leading to the entire layer of earth and stone above caving in, blocking the passage from the middle.
Looking further inside, at the end of the passage are four linked trap doors, clearly chanisms. Below each trap door is a pitfall, which is commonplace in many ancient tombs. Usually, poisonous creatures or inverted sharp blades are buried beneath the pits, and sotis there are chanisms for arrow showers.
However, Huo Sining was surprised to find that this last pitfall seed different from the previous three. It was about three ters wide, resembling a ravine extending to both sides of the ancient tomb, and it appeared to contain silvery-white liquid flowing inside.
Silvery-white? A hint of confusion flashed across Huo Sining’s eyes, a realization struck him, and he was suddenly utterly shocked. That silvery-white liquid was none other than rcury!
According to the "Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Qin Shi Huang," the underground palace was described as "having rcury as the rivers and seas." Experts have used geophysical thods to prove abnormalities of rcury underground at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Although this discovery has not been fully verified, based on historical records and soil surveys, it can be basically confird that a river of rcury was indeed introduced below the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin.
Discovering a river of rcury in such a tomb was puzzling to Huo Sining.
Who on earth was the owner of this tomb, and why would they use such a precious material as rcury? Such a channel would require at least a hundred tons of rcury to fill completely. In ancient tis, rcury was extrely rare. Why would the owner of this tomb expend such a massive amount of resources to create sothing comparable to the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang?
While Huo Sining was still in a daze, on the other side, Xie Daoyuan and Ji Kun had already carefully erged from the passage. Being blocked by the massive debris, they had no choice but to retrace their steps. Upon seeing the collapsed wall, Professor Xie’s brow furrowed in contemplation, unsure of where to start.
Judging from the condition of the wooden supports inside that passage, it was precariously dangerous. They had to move extrely cautiously within the passage, fearing that even a sound might break those decayed wooden beams inside. Once excavation tools were used, vibrations would be inevitable, which could only worsen the situation.
"Professor Xie, how did it go?" Captain Zhao approached to inquire as he saw Xie Daoyuan crawl out from the passage.
Xie Daoyuan made a round trip between the mountainside and foothill, returned to that passage for another inspection, and shook his head with a tightly furrowed brow:
"The situation is not optimistic; the passage is sealed shut. To get inside, another route must be found. However, I noticed the distribution of trees on the mountain; only this passage is densely surrounded by trees. Clearly, the sides of this passage are drainage channels, so it seems this is the only passage allowing entry into this tomb."
"Professor Xie, if there’s no air circulation, wouldn’t the people inside suffocate? Why not just dig through the stone wall from the mountain top down?"
Captain Zhao didn’t concern himself with archaeological correctness. Since this incident happened in Xianyang, in his jurisdiction, if sothing went wrong, even if the tomb robbers themselves were problematic, he would be held responsible for casualties, which was sothing he couldn’t afford to see happen.
Xie Daoyuan couldn’t be oblivious to Captain Zhao’s thoughts. He glanced sideways at him and replied curtly:
"Can you just dig anywhere? That mountain top is all rock, can you dig through it? Even if we were to dig, it should start from the mountainside, right? Besides, without knowing the internal structure plan of this tomb, can we just rashly proceed? What if we dig into sothing other than the main burial chamber, like a side room or other areas, causing huge losses to the tomb’s structure, then who will compensate?"
Xie Daoyuan’s words left Captain Zhao speechless. He was worried about taking responsibility too. These people trapped underground had to be dealt with swiftly; if not suffocated, they might starve to death inside.
"Professor Xie, take a look over here!"
Just as Xie Daoyuan was feeling particularly troubled, Shi Qingyun ran towards Professor Xie.
Professor Xie looked in Shi Qingyun’s direction and saw him holding a short shrub.
The shrub seed unremarkable, but its roots were exceptionally thick, swollen like a human arm. Under its leaves hung spherical fruits, the size of peas, so pale green, others vivid red.
"Tieliang Umbrella!" Upon seeing the plant, Professor Xie’s expression changed slightly, and he urgently inquired, "Where did you find this plant?"
"Just ahead, there’s a large area of them; they’re growing all over the mountain! Shi Qingyun certainly knew what it was about, hastily explaining and pulling Professor Xie toward the other side of the slope.
Sure enough, on the shady slope on the other side, the mountain was covered in red-and-green intermingled Tieliang Umbrellas. Faced with such a spectacular sight, Xie Daoyuan was speechless for a long ti.
"Just so wild grass, what’s the fuss about?" Captain Zhao couldn’t help but mutter.
Captain Zhao wasn’t familiar with plants, but this wasn’t his first ti seeing a Tieliang Umbrella. This plant is common in many places around Xianyang, though rarely seen growing in such dense patches. However, he found it unsurprising, assuming perhaps the soil here was simply suitable for these plants. Moreover, he saw no relevance between these plants and the purpose for their visit here today.
"Professor Xie, is there a problem with these Tieliang Umbrellas?"
Huo Sining didn’t think Professor Xie was putting on airs. She wasn’t like Captain Zhao, an outsider; although her expertise didn’t lie in plants, one of the most important disciplines in archaeology is geomancy surveying, which involves inferring the internal structure of tombs based on the surrounding environnt.
These Tieliang Umbrellas caused such excitent in Professor Xie and the expert, proving there’s definitely an issue with these plants!
"You know this vine plant called Tieliang Umbrella, right?" Professor Xie asked with a smile.
Seeing Huo Sining nod, Professor Xie continued, "Tieliang Umbrella grows in secluded, shady, and damp places, with leaves similar to wintergreen; its root is as thick as tendons and can be used in dicine. This is general knowledge most people have, but do you know its other na?"
"What other na?" Huo Sining asked curiously, looking at Professor Xie.
"Cinnabar Root." Professor Xie looked toward the hillside, his eyes full of doubt and bewildernt: "Tieliang Umbrella has another na unknown to most people, called Cinnabar Root."
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