On a country road a few miles outside of Mapo Xiaoli Village, two young people rode their bicycles slowly back and forth. These two idle people behave strangely, but if you see the scene behind them, then those who understand will naturally understand.
In a farmland a few hundred meters behind them, there were more than 30 men in black, standing in a row several meters apart, with a long-handled shovel in their hands. The iron shovel pole is 3 meters long, and one end is an adze-shaped iron tool.
Dozens of black-clothed men lifted the shovel high together, and with a "hey", they slammed into the ground together, and the shovel lifted up, bringing out cylindrical soil.
Behind them, hundreds of dense holes have been punched, and a good field has been stabbed into a hornet's nest.
Everyone knows that this is looking for a grave.
These people are not the exploration organized by the cultural relics department, but a group of antiquities.
Who is so courageous to search for caves and tombs in broad daylight
The cylindrical mud blocks dug up by these men in black were all concentrated in a clearing. These mud pillars have the thickness of an arm, twenty or thirty centimeters in length. Arranged neatly, arranged in rows in order, hundreds or thousands of pillars are placed there, which looks quite spectacular.
An old man with white beard was walking back and forth between the mud pillars. From time to time, he squatted down, picked up a mud pillar, carefully observed the texture and color, and then put it on his nose to smell it.
This person is the famous elder of the tomb robber family in Luoyang area, the prince of Ma Lao San Ma.
Lord Ma was staring at a column of mud and carefully observed. A cyclist galloped over, parked the car on the edge of the ridge, ran to Wangye Ma, respectfully calling out: "San Ye."
"What's the matter?" Ma Wangye didn't look up, still focusing on studying the pillar of soil.
He knows that it is not an urgent matter. If it is a black cat, the person watching the wind will send a special signal.
"Someone wants to see you."
"Who?" Ma Wangye is not angry. Could it be that the broker in the city brought the buyer to see the goods
Among Wangye Ma’s customers, there are often some big buyers who ask for on-site inspections. For such a big customer, the broker will try his best to meet his requirements.
It's just that this batch of goods hasn't even appeared in the shadows yet, is this bringing people here? Song is impatient.
"Yes, it's Li Tianming from Beimang." The young man said hesitantly.
"What is he doing?!" Ma Wangye was shocked, raised his butt and looked into the distance. On the ground ridge in the distance, four figures stood eloquently.
Li Tianming stood there, watching from a distance a group of people in the field were busy shoveling there. I thought that Luoyang Mawangye really deserved his reputation. Others were sneaking tombs, and only he dared to explore the cave with great fanfare in broad daylight—it can be seen how deep he is in this area.
This time, Li Tianming deliberately brought the scarred Jin He Niu Da to the site of Ma Sanye to "visit", because he had important matters to discuss.
Lord Ma is very famous. Everyone knows that, after being slapped twice by Scar Gold, Lao Ge told him "honestly" that San Ye Ma was "digging the ground" in the village.
Following the direction that Lao Ge pointed, they walked for half an hour, and they saw a group of people busy in the field.
Two young cyclists on the side of the road saw strangers appear, stopped in front of them, and asked in a bad tone, "What are you doing!"
"Tell you Ma Lao San, just say Li Tianming from Beimang came to see him!"
Hearing the words Li Tianming, the young man looking out of the wind was startled. Obviously they also knew Li Tianming's name. A young man got on his bicycle and hurried towards the crowd.
Another young man continued to stay in place to "accompany" them. Standing on the ground with one foot and straddling the bicycle with the other leg, they watched them vigilantly, as if they were ready to run at any time.
"Hey! Take us to see you Ma Lao San! What are you doing here blocking us!" Jin Jin yelled impatiently.
The third generation of Ma is very high. Few people dare to call him by this name. People familiar with him generally call him Sanye Ma, and more people respect him as Prince Ma.
"Ma, Lord Ma, there are rules and regulations. When he or he explores the cave, outsiders and outsiders are not allowed to watch or watch..."
The youngster didn't know if he was born stuttering or was scared by the scar gold, and he stammered.
The younger generation kept beating the drums in their hearts, and these few people were bold enough to run to the land of Prince Ma to make trouble, and their tone was so unceremonious. However, looking at them with a sense of confidence, their later life is really suppressed-if ordinary people were placed on their ground like this, they would have already greeted them with big ears.
Li Tianming stopped the gold that he wanted to do with his arms and sleeves, and said in a gentle tone: "Don't be in a hurry, we are a guest from afar, we have to abide by other people's rules, and so on, it doesn't matter."
In the Mangshan and Luoyang areas, the methods used by some small gangs to robber tombs are similar, but the big families of tomb robbers have their own unique "skills", and these skills are not secretly passed down. Therefore, outsiders cannot watch or spy when working. This is also the rule of the industry.
The characteristic of the Mawangye family is to find graves.
They don't look at Feng Shui when they robber the tomb, but rely on investigating it inch by inch with a shovel. Experienced people can distinguish the soil structure, color and inclusions brought out by the shovel head, and can judge the quality of the unearthed soil and whether there are ancient tombs underground.
Once the ancient tomb is found, use steel drills to find the four corners of the tomb, frame the shape of the tomb, and then dig a hole in the tomb with burial objects.
For experienced people, the shape of the tomb will be exactly the same as the location of the tomb.
Although this method is not efficient, it is very practical. It's just very labor intensive, and only their Ma family has a prosperous family and many disciples can make such a big show.
Over the years, Wangye Ma and his disciples worked hard and worked hard, and the farmland in this area was basically stabbed by the Luoyang shovel of Mawangye.
The disciple who ran to report to Wangye Ma before ran over on a bicycle panting.
"Master Ma said, please come and have a chat."
Li Tianming nodded, and walked towards Wangye Ma who was squatting in the distance. Kaneko and Niuda also wanted to follow, but they were stopped by a hand of the offspring.
"The Lord Ma said, only Li and Li are allowed to pass by themselves."
As soon as Jin Jin became angry, Li Tianming shook his head and winked at the two of them.
He understood that Ma Wangye was different from Li Ergou. His family had a big business and the hundreds of people who ate with him could not fight hard with them, but had to outwit them.
When he came to the ground, Ma Wangye still squatted there to study the soil pillar, without even raising his head.
"Third Uncle, I'll pay you peace." Li Tianming said respectfully. In terms of seniority, Ma Wangye and Li Zhenbei are the same generation, and Li Tianming should call him uncle.
Wangye Ma raised his head and looked at him, "Ao, it's you, how many years have we not seen each other? You were a young man when we met last time, and now your hair is quite white."
Li Tianming smiled and said, "Unfortunate family, sad for the world, old fast, old fast, ha ha. Sanshu is still in good shape. He hasn't seen him for so many years, and he is still the same as before."
Wangye Ma squinted at him and said, "You are not just looking at my health when you come this time? I heard that you are also prosperous now, and you have pulled up a team by yourself."
Li Tianming smiled without saying a word, and looked at the busy figures in the distance with his hands behind his back. This old man Ma has a bad tone, and he is leaning on the old man and selling his old man in front of him.
Lord Ma said again, "I and your father still had some friendship back then. We live in Beimang and Luoyang. We have always been well watered but not river water."
After saying this, Ma Wangye finally stopped squatting on the ground to play in the mud, but straightened up to face Li Tianming.
Although he was twenty or thirty years older than Li Tianming, Lord Ma was very energetic and burly, standing up a full head taller than him, looking down at Li Tianming condescendingly.
"After all, what on earth did you find me for? We don't have to turn around and open the skylight to speak up!"
"If there is anything useful to my Sanshu, I can help as long as I can." Ma Wangye added.
The genocide of Li Ergou's family also spread to Luoyang, and Wang Ye didn't dare to be too negligent with him-he was also a little jealous of this cruel junior.
"The third uncle is really a happy person. I won't go around with you anymore. I'm here this time to discuss cooperation with you."
"Cooperate? You want to find me to support the pot? Haha" Ma Wangye laughed up to the sky, but there was no smile on his face.
"You misunderstood the wrong person. My Lao San has been in the business for decades and has never had the habit of playing with people.
"Sanshu Ma, you misunderstood me. I am not looking for you to help, but for your cooperation." Li Tianming continued to say with a smile on his face.
"Okay! For the sake of your dying father, I will sell you face again. What do you tell me is cooperation?" Ma Wangye knelt down and continued to fiddle with his own soil.
Li Tianming frowned, and this old man repeatedly mentioned Li Zhenbei as if he wanted to remind himself of his seniority.
This horse prince has been famous for many years. Although he is rough in appearance, he is very wicked. Those who knew him on the road secretly called him a "ghost horse."
At that time, he envied Li Zhenbei's ability and took the initiative to come to the door to ask for support, but Li Zhenbei kindly declined. Unexpectedly, things are right and wrong, but now he denies it all at once.
Seeing Ma Lao San pouting his butt to face him, Li Tianming gritted his teeth, Ma Lao San was verbally polite to himself, but looked arrogant and rude.
Now that his wings are not full, let him take a breath for the time being. One day, let you see my methods!
"Uncle Ma, how much money do coolies like them make in a month?" Li Tianming pointed to the man who was shoveling in the distance, and continued without waiting for Ma's answer.
"It's hard to dig a tomb, and the remuneration we can get is only a few hundred or several thousand yuan. But the goods that go out of our hands can be worth millions or tens of millions outside, right?"
Ma Lao San raised his brows without making a sound. He knew that Li Tianming was telling the truth.
In Luoyang tomb robbers, the goods shipped are divided equally by head, and everyone knows how much each tomb is worth.
For the cultural relics with a market price of 100,000, only 80,000 yuan can be used to support the pot, and a formality has to be cleared. This is why he is unwilling to support the pot with others.
Even if a family does it alone, if the money from each tomb is divided equally by the head, there is not much left in the hands. Fortunately for the small family, if you are lucky to do a big job, you can make a fortune all at once.
However, people who do large family business like myself often make hundreds of people's money, and the profits are actually very low.
"My idea is that we work hard and we can't let others take advantage of the cheap. In the future, you and I will unite, we will sit down and raise the price and ship our own..."
"Hahaha" Ma Lao San sneered and interrupted Li Tianming.
"My nephew, are you kidding me? Who do you think you are? Do you want to monopolize the entire antique market in Luoyang and Beimang?"
Li Tianming bit his lip tightly, Ma Lao San was right, but he didn't like this attitude very much.
Ma Lao San sneered and shook his head and said, "For so many years, the tomb robbers and brokers have divided labor and cooperated. Everyone has their own channels and contacts. No one should reach out to others—this is the rule! Back then, you Dad is so prestigious, doesn't he still have to rely on brokers to help him ship the goods?"
Ma Lao San pressed his ass to examine the mud, without looking at Li Tianming, and continued: "You Li Tianming is a bit capable, but you shouldn't take the Luoyang antique world too simple!
The matter of you and Li Ergou grabbing the pot is your personal grievances. How do you solve it by yourself, and outsiders do not mix it up.
But do you want to extend your entire hand to the entire antique world in Luoyang, and take care of all purchases and shipments? You don't weigh your own weight. Back then, your father didn't even have the ability to say such a big thing! "
"My dad is my dad, I am me!" Li Tianming's face sank, and said in a low tone. The old man opened his mouth to your father, shut your father, and didn't put himself in his eyes at all. His patience had reached its limit. .
When Wang Ye saw Li Tianming's face changed, he didn't dare to tease him again. Study your own clods intently.
Li Tianming continued: "From now on, I will have the final say in Beimang area. Luoyang area will still be your land. My people will never touch it. However, your goods want me to help you out... I'm looking at you, Lord Ma. I just came to say hello to you..."
Wangye Ma interrupted him with a wave of his hand: "You don't have to sell my face. My goods are from the Luoyang Song family brothers. You have the ability to deal with them, and then come and talk to me!"
"-Hey, let's not talk about this. Another batch of soil has been released, so come and take a look." Seeing that the situation was getting frozen, the ghostly Ma Lao San immediately changed the subject.
At this time, a strong middle-aged man carried two baskets of earth pillars with a pole and placed them carefully at the feet of Lord Ma.
Wangye Ma squatted down to check one by one, and suddenly "Yeah", picked up a pillar, looked left and right, and handed it to Li Tianming.
"I heard that your ability to search for caves and see the tomb is very true to your father, and you are also a great expert. Come and help me see it."
Lord Ma said he was "helping," but he was actually trying Li Tianming's ability. Are you as evil as the outside world, or are you pretending to have a false name, just show you a piece of mud and see.
Li Tianming took the earth pillar, his eyes lit up, and he smelled it again with his nose. "It's a Tang Tomb!"
Ma Lao San patted him on the shoulder and laughed loudly, "Sure enough, he is behind the celebrity! Domineering vision!"
The smile this time is sincere. Having been busy for more than half a month, the goods are finally available, and Wangye Ma is also very happy. The unpleasantness that Li Tianming brought just now is immediately forgotten.
"Come here, my eldest nephew will continue to help me see if I can find another doorway."
Li Tianming thought to himself, you are a dead old man who doesn't put me in his eyes everywhere, so you will simply knock the mountain and let you see what I can do!
Right now, squat down, look carefully at the basket of soil pillars, and ask the middle-aged man as he looks at it:
"Where was this pillar hit?"
"How deep is this pillar?"
"And this one, how far is it from the one in my hand?"
…
The middle-aged man looked at Wangye Ma hesitantly.
Lord Ma winked at him and nodded.
The middle-aged people told each other one to one.
Li Tianming checked the two baskets of soil pillars and stood up with his hands behind his back. He already had a bottom in his heart.
"Congratulations to Sanshu Ma, this is an ancient tomb of the Tang Dynasty. It is not small in scale and the tomb is very complete. It has not been discouraged yet."
When Prince Ma heard it, his eyes lit up.