Exclusive report: Reporters visited Cao Cao’s tomb in Shen County, Liaocheng_The following text information was collected and published by the editor for everyone. Let’s take a look at it together!

Both pictures are dragons, tigers and auspicious animals in the murals of Cao Cao’s tomb in Shenxian County. Cultural relic experts said that this proves that the owner of the tomb was noble and should have been a prince. Photos by reporter Sun Rui and Jiang Tao

On February 21st and 22nd, our newspaper published two cartoons titled Shenxian Mengxuan’s selection of generation Panqinuo Yiguan? According to this report, a Meng Jiao in the wilderness of Chaocheng Town in Shen County, Liaocheng City became known as the mysterious tomb of Cao Cao.

As soon as the report came out, a single stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the dispute over Cao Cao's tomb was once again pushed to the forefront.

On the morning of February 25, our reporter exclusively entered Cao Cao’s tomb in Liaocheng to find out. Through conversations with local tomb robbers, he found out the whereabouts of cultural relics from the Han tomb, and thus revealed more details behind Cao Cao’s tomb in Liaocheng. A well-known story. The biggest discovery at Mengxuan in Shenxian County is the murals of dragons, tigers and auspicious animals in the tomb, which also proves that the owner of the tomb is a royal or prince.

Liaocheng wants to fight for Cao Cao's tomb. This is an opportunity for Liaocheng and the people living here. However, the black market trade in cultural relics that has become a phenomenon in the local area over the years has made people worry about whether it can seize it. Such an opportunity.

Cao Cao succeeds and Cao Cao fails.

At present, a saying that is widely circulated among the local people seems to let the outside world see Liaocheng's confidence in fighting for Cao Cao's true burial place.

Morning News reporter Jiang Tao and Sun Rui

The reporter captured the heads of pottery figurines packed in the same box.

Our reporter has exclusive access to Cao Cao’s tomb in Liaocheng

Are you going to Chaocheng Town? Are you looking for Meng Jiao? Head south from here and walk straight there. Excavate quickly, and it is best to unearth some cultural relics related to Cao Cao, so that our county will become famous.

On the afternoon of February 25, in Shenxian County, the sudden drop in temperature made the otherwise lively streets deserted, but Mengjiao’s currency selection became the hottest topic in this small county after the Spring Festival.

Driving out of Shenxian County, driving more than 20 kilometers south, we arrived at the ancient town of Chaocheng. The police, staff from the Shenxian Cultural Relics Management Office and nearby villagers have already surrounded the east side of the ancient tomb in Mengxuan. Several piles of new soil surround a large hole. This is the stolen hole discovered before. The staff of the cultural relics management office said that there are no cultural relics inside now, only some blue bricks and murals.

The entrance of the cave can only accommodate one person climbing in, and it is pitch dark inside.

With the help of the flashlight, the reporter saw that the hole was surrounded by soil. After crawling for a while, the space suddenly opened up and turned into a long corridor, which is more than 3 meters wide and more than two meters high.

The sides of the corridor are built with blue bricks, and the top is covered with stone slabs. The reporter measured it and found that each green brick was 44 centimeters long, 25 centimeters wide and 10 centimeters thick.

When the light shines on the wall, the colorful murals mentioned before are clearly visible. The blue bricks are coated with a coating similar to white lime, and brightly colored animals are painted on the coating. They look like birds, and some look like beasts. The animals on the murals all have black outlines, and their shapes are a bit exaggerated, but they are all lifelike. Two of the birds looked like they were having a conversation, with their eyes and feathers colored separately, and there were many dragon-like and tiger-like animals with teeth and claws, from the nose and mouth on the head to the claws and tails on the body.

After extending for more than ten meters, the corridor reached the end.

In the middle of the corridor, the reporter found a tomb door blocked by mud.

This corridor runs from north to south, and the tomb door is on the west side. Li Hongbing, director of the Shen County Cultural Relics Management Office, said that this ancient tomb that is not recorded in historical records is an Eastern Han Dynasty tomb. The entire tomb gate should face east. The tomb door found on the west side of the corridor should be the tomb chamber door. And this ancient tomb should have a front tomb, an ear tomb, and a back tomb like other Han tombs. There may be a surrounding corridor around the entire tomb, and there must be many exquisite murals in the corridor. Li Hongbing speculated.

The discovery of Han tomb murals began in the early 20th century. They have appeared in Han tombs in Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Inner Mongolia and other places. The contents include myths, legends, historical stories and Representing life scenes, the murals in this tomb should be about auspicious birds and beasts. Li Hongbing told reporters that the tomb murals were an innovation and continuation of the social customs at that time of promoting filial piety and integrity. Based on the content of the murals, the identity of the owner of the tomb can often be inferred.

We definitely hope that the ancient tombs will be excavated as soon as possible. However, the state has strict approval procedures for the excavation of ancient tombs. However, we already have this intention and are ready to report it to our superiors. Once the time is right, it can be excavated. What we need to do now is to protect it.

Conversations with tomb robbers looking for the whereabouts of cultural relics from Han tombs

When we revisit Cao Cao’s tomb in Liaocheng, we have to start with a previous interview experience by a reporter.

On the morning of February 25, after inquiries from various parties, the reporter found Xie Kenfeng, who had a high reputation in the goldsmithing business in Shen County, Liaocheng.

Xie Kenfeng, who is nearly sixty years old, is a native of Shenxian County. He has been retired for decades. In the eyes of many tomb robbers in the industry, Xie Kenfeng is one of the few locals who is worthy of being admitted to the Golden School. A tomb robber with the title of Lieutenant.

The reporter learned that the so-called Touching Gold Captain was first set up by Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms. In layman’s terms, he was the person in charge of national tomb robbing, specializing in excavating tombs and stealing property for military pay. Later, it was often referred to as Grave robber.

I quit this business many years ago. It was too dirty, too dangerous, and without any future. Currently, in addition to helping his son take care of a small convenience store, Xie Kenfeng relies on his many years of experience in gold mining to help the government determine the value of some ancient tombs from the Han Dynasty.

Xie Kenfeng told reporters that Liaocheng, located in the west of Qilu, is one of the cities with the most widespread distribution of Han tombs in Shandong. Dongchangfu District and Shen County now have the highest concentration of Han tombs in Liaocheng. place. People in the industry say that Han tombs are the poorest tombs, but there are still valuable things. Xie Kenfeng said that tomb robbers who are not experienced in the industry often do not dare to touch some large tombs, because the tombs of prominent people in ancient times have different obstacles. Once these obstacles are not handled well, it is easy to be destroyed. Tomb robbers lost their lives. Although local Han tombs have been severely robbed and dug over the years, most of the real large caves are still relatively well preserved. Stealing large caves requires advanced tools, technology and a lot of manpower. Under the current situation of increasingly stringent supervision of cultural relics, there is no People are willing to take risks for unknown consequences. Xie Kenfeng also told reporters that the reason why Han tombs in Liaocheng have been severely stolen is mainly because the burial mounds of Han tombs are relatively tall and easy to be recognized. There is also the government's prejudice against Han tombs. They believe that Han tombs are in tatters and have no precious cultural relics unearthed. They do not protect them and do not recover the ancient artifacts lost to the people. The ancient artifacts Xie Kenfeng mentioned are actually the cultural relics in the tombs. He also revealed to reporters that most of the tomb robbers are people from villages near Han tombs. Most of the stolen artifacts were sold to local cultural relic dealers.

The black market transaction behind the loss of cultural relics

Sun Tianhe, 59, is recognized by the industry as the largest cultural relic dealer in the area and owns more than three antique shops in Liaocheng City.

On the day when I said goodbye to Captain Xie Kenfeng, the reporter approached him as an out-of-town buyer and went through many industry rules such as interrogation and body search.

Unlike most antique shops that choose to be in the shade, a store in Sun Tianhe opens its door to the south. In Liaocheng, I have the largest and most complete range of goods. I have everything you want here.

When the reporter asked if there were any artifacts from Han tombs for sale, the other party introduced the reporter to the bedroom on the second floor of the antique shop.

There is a batch of painted pottery that has just arrived. The quality is quite good and the price is relatively high. While talking, Sun Tianhe took out a large cardboard box from the corner of the bedroom. He opened the cardboard box and unwrapped several layers of plastic bags, revealing a painted pottery warrior about one meter tall.

The warrior is divided into two parts: the head and body, wearing colorful armor, a leather neck guard, and holding a bronze sword. The shape is very majestic. According to historical records, the sword weapon was popular from the Shang Dynasty to the Warring States period. After Qin, it gradually disappeared.

Do you know about Cao Cao’s tomb? To tell you the truth, this pottery figurine was sent from Cao Cao’s tomb in Chaocheng, Shen County, and you are lucky enough to come across it. Seeing that the reporter didn't believe it, Sun Tianhe brought three more cardboard boxes from the corner of the bedroom. After opening them, a painted pottery monk and two painted pottery camels were revealed in the boxes.

The painted pottery monks are about the same size as the warriors. The only difference is that the latter’s head is not separated. The monks wear colorful cassocks and hang golden rosary beads, giving them a lifelike appearance. It was later confirmed by staff from the local cultural department that this type of painted pottery monk was discovered for the first time in the excavation of a Han tomb in Liaocheng. According to relevant records, it can be speculated that the owner of the tomb may have believed in Buddhism during his lifetime.

In addition, the production process of the painted pottery camels that Sun Tianhe showed to reporters is even more exquisite. Although each camel is a Bactrian camel and the whole body is mainly white, but if you look closely, they have their own unique features. They are different, some bow their heads and wag their tails, some walk with their heads held high, and the items carried by each camel are also different. Some are carrying gilt treasure boxes, and some are carrying colorful woven baskets, showing the luxurious life of the tomb owner during his lifetime.

Sun Tianhe also told reporters that Cao Cao once served as an official in Dongwuyang, and this is the real Cao Cao, and these painted pottery camels may be carrying treasures for him.

When it comes to price, Sun Tianhe said that each item costs 6,000 yuan. It is not easy to get this batch of goods from the local area. It was difficult to come across such rare items in the past.

Subsequently, our reporter reported this situation to the local public security department. On the afternoon of February 25, this batch of pottery artifacts so-called stolen from Cao Cao’s tomb in Liaocheng were successfully seized by the local police.

The recovery of cultural relics is of great significance to Cao Cao’s tomb

In fact, we have been fighting against tomb robbers.

On the afternoon of February 25, at the protection site of Cao Cao’s tomb in Liaocheng, Captain Liu of the Liaocheng Dongchang Prefecture Public Security Bureau said in an interview with reporters that in order to recover the cultural relics related to Cao Cao’s tomb and Cao Zhi’s tomb, the police also paid a great deal of effort. Huge efforts have been made in view of the large number of ancient tombs in Liaocheng. Over the years, we have never relaxed in the protection of these ancient tombs and the recovery of lost cultural relics.

According to the data: On November 20, 2008, the public security police recovered three Tang Dynasty cultural relics: a grape-wrapped auspicious animal mirror, a celadon-glazed cake-footed bowl, and a celadon-glazed double-series jar; in July 2006 On March 23, Liaocheng recovered 14 precious cultural relics from the Eastern Han Dynasty, including pottery incense burners, pottery urns, and pottery pots; there were also 17 painted pottery horse figurines, horse-riding figurines, pottery standing figurines, and pottery kneeling figurines from the Western Han Dynasty, but they were not found in Liaocheng. The announcement of the ancient tombs of the Han Dynasty is too complicated, and it has also brought many difficulties to our recovery work. Captain Liu said.

Director Zhao of the Liaocheng Cultural Relics Administration Bureau told reporters that since Henan announced the confirmation of the discovery of Cao Cao’s tomb in Anyang, the local public security agency issued an order for the recovery of cultural relics from Cao Cao’s tomb. Now, Anyang has the highest reward for the recovery of cultural relics. It has reached 100,000 yuan.

Li Hongbing, director of the Shen County Cultural Relics Management Office, also told reporters that among the key evidence for identifying Cao Cao’s tomb in Anyang, Henan, some of the cultural relics came from a series of tomb robberies. Therefore, the recovery of cultural relics The identification of the owner of Cao Cao's tomb in Liaocheng can also provide certain evidence. The biggest discovery at Mengxuan in Shenxian County is the murals of dragons, tigers and auspicious animals in the tomb, which also proves that the owner of the tomb was a royal family or prince. In the afternoon of the same day, Director Feng of the Liaocheng Cultural Relics Administration Bureau said in an interview with reporters that they have further strengthened the protection of this tomb. The government also has the intention to protect the excavation and reported the situation to superiors in a timely manner.

It is understood that until January 14, 2010, at the annual public archaeological forum held by the Institute of Archeology in Beijing, eight archaeological experts believed that the Cao Wei Tomb in Xigaoxiao, Anyang County, was the tomb of Cao Cao. The staged conclusions have considerable basis, but there is still no final conclusion. This is an opportunity for Cao Cao's tomb in Liaocheng, and the Liaocheng government should seize this opportunity, because it is also what the local people want.

Li Hongbing said that at present, most of the cultural relics of the Han Dynasty unearthed in Liaocheng contain precious historical and cultural information and are of inestimable value. Through archaeological surveys, clean-up and excavation, and understanding the characteristics of the tombs of the Han Dynasty, we can not only understand the history, but also provide information for the local people. Development provides a good soft environment. Cultural relics are non-renewable and cannot be cherished until they are lost.

In fact, the Mengxuan election in Shenxian County was a fraud and the emperor was sent to send the emperor and his relatives to issue the plaque. The important thing is that through this dispute over Cao Cao’s tomb, it will eventually cause the local government to Pay attention to ancient tombs and cultural relics, and strengthen the protection of those national treasures in ancient tombs.