Committed between 1927 and 1928
Crime location: Shaanxi Baoji Fighting Platform Daijiagou
Victim: Princes and nobles of the Zhou and Qin dynasties
Perpetrators: Dang Yukun and his army
Modus operandi: Dang Yukun and his men gathered peasants from nearby villages and towns to excavate the ancient tombs one by one.
Consequences of the crime: At least 50 ancient tombs around Daijiagou were destroyed, and the losses were serious.
Nature of tomb robbery: official robbery
Credibility: Historically available
Since ancient times, there have been some people with bad intentions who have always deliberately wanted to make "dead people's wealth". Under the calculations of these unscrupulous people, the tombs of prestigious princes and generals and dignitaries of successive dynasties often became the objects of theft and excavation. And the tombs of those emperors who enjoyed glory and wealth before they died and who had many funerary items after death are the key targets of theft that will not be easily let go.
During the years of the Republic of China, many warlords of all sizes who held military power and dominated the side alone joined the ranks of tomb robbers. There are indeed many warlords who rack their brains all day and dream of making a fortune on the "dead man's wealth." Among these incidents of stealing the tombs of the emperors, the most famous should be the warlord Sun Dianying who excavated the Qing Tombs. As soon as the case occurred, it quickly shocked the government and the opposition, caused a sensation at home and abroad, and aroused the unanimous condemnation and unanimous condemnation of people from all walks of life.
The Tanglin treasure theft case has been recorded in the annals of history by historians, but perhaps many people do not know that in the history of the warlords of the Republic of China, he is not the only person, let alone the first person. In fact, more than a year before his Tanglin treasure theft, there had been a grave-digging treasure robbery case, also directed by warlords: the cockfighting platform treasure theft case.
introduction
Shaanxi Baoji, known as Chen Cang before the Tang Dynasty, was the birthplace of the Zhou and Qin dynasties and the cradle of Zhou and Qin culture. Ancient Chencang is today's Fighting Terrace area, about 7 kilometers east of Baoji City, north of the Weibei Plain, south of the Weihe River, historically known as Chen Cang Bei Han City. The Lady Chen Bao Ancestral Hall (commonly known as the Niangniang Temple) built by Qin Wengong in order to sacrifice the Heavenly Emperor is on this terrace, so it is also called the QijiTai.
Guchencang has a pivotal position in history, not only an important city in the Zhou Dynasty, but also the capital of the early years of the Qin Dynasty, so the underground is buried with extremely rich and splendid treasures created by the ancient working people of the mainland, which is an important area for burying cultural relics. In this area, there is a natural village called Dai Jia Wan, and there is a Dai Jia Ditch in the north of the village that runs from Jia Village to the Wei River in the south, more than ten meters deep and seven or eight miles long.
Locals often see that after heavy rain and heavy water, many ancient cultural relics are exposed to the edge of the earth cliff, including many high-quality products. Although people do not know its dynasty and name, they all know that it is a valuable antique treasure, so they call it "treasure".
Cockfighting platforms are indeed treasures in the Daijiawan area. This is determined by its special historical and geographical reasons. According to the "Records of History", the tombs of Qin Wengong and Qin Xiangong of the Qin State are here. As early as the end of the Qing Dynasty, important bronze relics were excavated here.
At that time, there was a squire named Yang Wansheng in the Doujitai area, who ran rampant in the township on weekdays, full of evil, and the people's anger was great. Later, because he privately increased the tobacco tax, it further aroused the indignation of the local farmers. Some peasants united to denounce his crimes, and some threatened to assassinate him and eliminate harm to the people.
Yang Wansheng couldn't help but panic. He interceded with ma Ben of the party and Zhang Zhixian, who was in his hometown, and exonerated him. Later, Yang Wansheng, who was a thief with a weak heart, learned that Dang Yukun liked cultural relics and was looking for treasures everywhere, in order to find a patron, and also to thank Zhang Zhixian, that is, to reveal to Zhang:
"In the big ditch behind Daijiawan Village, there are several holes near the cliff, and there are antiques in the holes, and the villagers often dig and sell for money. If someone loses a gamble and has no money to pay off the debt, he digs two pieces in the cave and goes to Xi'an to sell dozens of yuan baiyang. As long as you move the hammer in the cave, you will definitely be able to dig out some treasures, and it is normal to sell dozens or hundreds of white oceans at will. If you send someone to dig it up, you will be able to make a fortune. ”
After listening to Yang Wansheng's strange talk, Zhang Zhixian felt that this was a good opportunity to please the master, so he provided a clue to Dang Yukun and said: "There are a large number of antiques buried in a cave in the north of Daijiawan Village, and as long as you plane it gently, you can plan out the cultural relics. Dang Yukun was extremely happy to hear this report, and he had a premonition that the time had come for him to make a windfall.
Therefore, the words of Yang Wansheng and Zhang Zhixian became the most direct reason for Dang Yukun to dig a tomb and steal treasure in Daijiawan, a cockfighting platform.
Prior to this, Dang Yukun also learned from the antique dealers who interacted with him that there were many cultural relics buried in the Daijiawan area of the Cockfighting Platform, and there were treasures almost everywhere.
Dang Yukun stole the treasure process
Dang Yukun listened to the report of his subordinates and decided to go to Daijiawan Village to personally investigate first, the first time was in the spring of 1927, and the treasure theft plan was basically studied and decided at this time. At that time, he was dressed as a gentleman, wearing a top hat, holding a civilized baton, riding a very luxurious horse-drawn sedan, and many of his entourage also rode a high-headed horse with colorful ornaments, which was majestic and full of style. The inferior gentleman Yang Wansheng respectfully welcomed him to his home and hosted a feast for him.
After gaining a detailed understanding of the situation, Dang Yukun, who could not wait, decided to act immediately, and soon after returning, he made a good draft of the treasure theft plan. Subsequently, he ordered someone to make a plan, and accordingly selected the right person to carry out his treasure theft mission. The specific arrangements are as follows: He Yutang, a brigade commander stationed in Yuzhen, Baoji County, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of treasure digging; Fan Chunfang, general manager of Fengxiang "Baoxingcheng" Qianzhuang, was appointed as the general person in charge of the on-site excavation; this person had sat in Hankou City and had a good way to buy and sell antiques; and sent four guards, Including Ma Chenglong, Chai Guanchang, Zhang Fu, and Bai Shoucai, nicknamed "Big Tooth," as the head of the supervision work, and there were many supervisors, and Chai Guanchang, Zhang Fu, and Xiang Shoucai were all from Baoji County, and they were very familiar with the customs and customs of the localities. In addition, Zheng Yuwen, a well-known local antique dealer in Baoji, was also hired as a secretary (known as "Mr. Digging Treasure"), whose actual task was to be the on-site instructor of treasure digging, responsible for the renovation, appraisal and grading pricing of various cultural relics excavated; the inferior gentleman Yang Wansheng played a big role, when the treasure theft headquarters was set up in his home, after the treasure digging operation began, Dang Yukun also lived in Yang Wansheng's home every time he came here to inspect, and he was responsible for receiving him.
After Dang Yukun arranged the above major people responsible for stealing the treasure one by one, he ordered everyone to start excavation.
The migrant workers specifically engaged in treasure digging are all young and middle-aged people who have been caught from the rural areas of nearby counties and districts. At the beginning, the workload was not large, and it was enough to rely on the nearby forced apportionment; as the area of the excavated tomb continued to expand, more and more manpower was needed, and the nearby villages could not be apportioned, and suddenly expanded to most of the villages in Baoji, Fengxiang and Qishan counties. In this way, at the peak of the day, more than 1,000 people were digging for treasures, and the entire Daijia Bay was covered with dense treasure diggers.
In the eight months from the autumn of 1927 to the spring of 1928, this patchwork army of treasure diggers turned the ground on both sides of Daijiawan upside down.
Under the guidance of Yang Wansheng, on the first day of construction, many bronzes and pottery were excavated in a cave on the east side of Daijiawan Bay, including copper mirrors, copper bronzes, pottery stoves, etc., all of which came from the same Han tomb.
On the third day, a precious bronze artifact was excavated in another place, and Ma Chenglong and others said that the object was an incense stick. However, after being appraised by Zheng Yuwen, who was "guided by digging treasures", he said that it was "觯". Then, in this pit, a ding with an inscription, a yi (i.e., a gui) and several broken artifacts were excavated, as well as ge, copper bubbles, and so on. Soon, in another tomb, a large ding was dug up, and there was a small lamb in it, although the skin and flesh had long been decayed, but the skeleton was intact.
At the beginning of the treasure theft, the banner was victorious and the harvest was very rich, and Dang Yukun could not help but be overjoyed. His appetite for digging treasures has become greater, and his arrogance has become more arrogant, not only in terms of organization and control, but also in terms of manpower, he is also constantly enriched and strengthened. This has harmed the people in and around the Doujitai area, causing people and gods to be indignant and miserable.
The treasure digging activity was carried out until the end of November, and the migrant workers dug up a large tomb. According to the people who participated in the treasure theft, there were also murals on the tomb wall, which contained mountains and cattle and sheep. The picture is divided into two parts. The first part is: at the foot of the overlapping mountain there is a flock of sheep, next to the main road, there are pottery bristles, clay pots; the second part is a herd of cattle, the cattle are lying and standing, and there seems to be one person in the herd (peeling). The mountains are drawn in neat triangles of size. The parts of the body of the cattle and sheep are also not very proportionate, with thick contours, inaccurate images, but the head is vivid, exquisite, and the eyes are extremely energetic.
The painting is painted in scarlet and falls off in many places, but it is generally intact. There are also paintings of living utensils on the side of the road, which is likely to be a portrayal of the nomadic life of the Qin people at that time. There are many artifacts excavated from this tomb, most of which are bronze, including black pattern square ding, flat foot ding, animal face pattern zun and so on. In particular, three copper prohibitions (commonly known as "copper bars") have been excavated in this tomb, and the largest prohibition has two rows of wine vessels, such as Fang Ding, Zun, Zhen and Jue. The smaller one has three pieces of bronze on top and a piece of pottery in the middle. These excavated artifacts are beautiful and generous in shape, decorated with patterns, some patterns paint birds and beasts, and the lines are fluent and straight, which is a rare artistic masterpiece.
As the saying goes, "Don't live by yourself.". Dang Yukun wantonly stole treasure in Baoji, amassed property, and his influence gradually expanded, which soon attracted Feng Yuxiang's attention. In addition, in the process of excavating ancient tombs, Dang Yukun and others cruelly oppressed the people, committed many evils, caused anger and resentment in the sky, and the people's anger was everywhere, which made Feng Yuxiang feel that he must get rid of them first and then quickly. In May 1928, Feng Yuxiang, then commander-in-chief of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, ordered Song Zheyuan, commander-in-chief of the Fourth Front, to lead three divisions and a brigade, a total of about 30,000 men and horses, to encircle fengxiang city and confiscate a large number of treasures stolen by Dang Yukun.
The treasure of the Cockfighting Platform is now in place
At that time, Dang Yukun placed some of the treasures stolen from the tomb on the wanbao shelf in his bedroom, the other part in the room of the second aunt Zhang Caixia, and most of the important utensils were hidden in a secret warehouse guarded by guards. After Dang Yukun's entire army was destroyed, all these treasures fell into the hands of Song Zheyuan.
In September 1928, Song Zheyuan took out all the treasures he had obtained and exhibited them for one day at the Military Headquarters of the Four-Sided Pavilion in Xi'an New Town, in order to feast on the eyes of Fengxiang's subordinates. Subsequently, he ordered Xiao Zhenying, the head of the Military Justice Department, to lead the soldiers to escort all the treasures to the Xi'an Military Headquarters. Since then, this very precious treasure has begun to flow and scatter dramatically, and it has been greatly damaged as a result. After the treasures arrived in Xi'an, Song Zheyuan first sent someone to Luzhen Photo Studio to ask photographers to take all the photos for them. Then, he asked Xue Chongxun, who knew how to identify cultural relics, to conduct an appraisal of each piece at the Guangming Temple in Xincheng.
Song Zheyuan first gave a part of the identified treasure to his boss Feng Yuxiang. Feng Yuxiang's water ding was donated to the Palace Museum by his wife Li Dequan after the liberation of the whole country. Most of the remaining treasures, which belonged to Song Zheyuan, were brought to Tianjin by his young wife and Xiao Zhenying, who was then the mayor of Tianjin, when he left Xi'an, and stored them in Song Zheyuan's home in the British Concession. Later, some of it was sold to foreigners through antique dealers in Tianjin.
The Japanese archaeologist Umehara Fuji said in the book "Minutes of Oriental Studies": "The bronze artifacts unearthed in Baoji were bought from Tianjin by the Chinese antique dealer Dai Yunzhai Yao (Shulai) in New York. Yao said that the bronze artifacts that Dang Yukun had stolen in Baoji belonged first to Feng Yuxiang. It is also reported that the Tian Tian (now in Hong Kong), which was once in the Collection of the Higgins in Boston, was also purchased from Tianjin through a Japanese antique dealer in New York. ”
In this passage, in addition to the mistake of "Song Zheyuan" for "Feng Yuxiang", the other contents are conclusive and credible. It can be seen from this that most of the precious cultural relics of Baoji Douji Platform stolen by Dang Yukun were actually lost after Song Zheyuan and his subordinate Xiao Zhenying arrived in Tianjin: most of the treasures of Baoji Fighting Platform, including the treasures of Baoji Fighting Platform, which are now in the United States, Japan, Britain and Hong Kong, were lost overseas. This has irreparably damaged the precious cultural heritage of the motherland.
When identifying these cultural relics, Xue Chongxun, who was quite careful, once used ink to expand dozens of pieces of paper for inscription rubbings. The inscriptions are mostly 1 to 3 characters, with the largest number of words. When Song Zheyuan was transferred out of Xi'an, the cultural relics photos and precious rubbing materials may not have been taken away, but were later discovered by a farmer in Northwest Pass. At that time, these precious materials had been bound into 5 pamphlets, framed like posters, and bought by an antique dealer named Wang Zishan. These 5 pamphlets are the sources of the photos of Dang Yukun's pirate digging of the Doujiagou bronze ware in the Cockfighting Platform that were later circulated at home and abroad.
In 1945, Mr. Liu Anguo (Yiren) of Xi'an happened to be in the broken market of North Avenue in Xi'an City, and met Wang Zishanzheng holding these 5 photo albums for sale. Wang Zishan was a native of Hanzhong, and his son was studying at the middle school where Liu Anguo was the principal. Liu took advantage of this connection and bought the photo album through his son's hand. At that time, these 5 photo albums already had the inscription of the calligrapher Mr. Liu Zizhuo with the words "Right Auxiliary Ring Treasure Liu Zhen".
After Liu Anguo got the photo album, he asked the famous antique artist Yang Zhongjian to look at it, and asked Mr. Xue Chongxun, who had identified the cultural relics one by one and preserved some of the cultural relics rubbings, to identify them and get their affirmation.
After seeing these photos again, Mr. Xue Chongxun could not help but sigh with emotion, so he gladly ordered his pen and wrote at the beginning of the book: "The five volumes of the Yi Instrument Scenery Book are the Fuping Party Yukun (Yu Kun) stationed in Fengxiang, forcing the minfu to excavate at the Qijitai. In 1928, the party was defeated and died, and the instrument was obtained by General Song Mingxuan (Zheyuan), the chairman of Shaanxi, and invited Yu to the commentator of the Guangming Temple in Xincheng, and it has been 15 years since he went... Unexpectedly, Yi Youchun, Yi Ren Brother got it in Chang'an City, that is, the book was taken on the same day, and the original title was written by Yu Yu... Ethyl unitary (1945) Summer April 2, Mihara Xue Chongxun (Dingfu) acquaintance. ”
Between 1955 and 1966, Liu Anguo twice entrusted archaeologists Shi Xingbang and Zheng Zhenduo and others to bring the mimeograph album and 30 rubbings obtained from Xue Chongxun to Beijing, invited Tang Lan of the Palace Museum in Beijing, Chen Mengjia of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other experts to look at them, and asked them to try to edit and publish them. After Mr. Tang and Mr. Chen Er received these precious materials, they remade some of the photos of the cultural relics they had collected, and Mr. Chen also made notes, but in the end they were not published, but all the originals were returned. After the "Cultural Revolution" began, Liu and Xue were both robbed of their homes, and these precious original photos and rubbings were unfortunately all lost.
Excavated artifacts
After liberation, after the in-depth investigation and hard work of cultural relics archaeologists, they basically found out the situation of the cultural relics stolen by Dang Yukun.
Dang Yukun excavated about 1,500 pieces of bronze and jade in Daijiagou, of which more than 740 were well preserved and 153 were complete and could be studied. The era includes several periods such as The Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han Dynasties, especially the Zhou and Qin dynasties. Among these cultural relics, there are also many important bronze artifacts belonging to the early Western Zhou Dynasty.
Among these 1500 cultural relics, there are more than 70 pieces of food utensils, 39 pieces of ding, gui, tile, bean, and wine utensils, 39 pieces of gourds, yi, yi, zhen, bucket, horn, forbidden, zun, jie, jue, jiao, and spoon; 9 pieces of water tools, plates, Han da copper pots, and square pots; 2 pieces of tools, counting axes and cuts; 18 pieces of weapons, including crossbow machines, fishing halberds, bows, go, spears, and other miscellaneous tools.
At the same time as these important bronze artifacts were excavated, a carriage and horse pit was excavated in early December 1927, containing many car ornaments, horse ornaments, and complete horse skeletons. The Chema Pit of the early Western Zhou Dynasty, which has been preserved in its entirety, is an important archaeological research material, but unfortunately it was destroyed by Dang Yukun. If it is excavated by scientific methods, it can not only provide information on the structure and process of the carriages and horses in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, but also provide relevant information on the ritual system of the Zhou Dynasty.
These precious cultural relics, which can be called national treasures, not only have high archaeological research value, but also have good artistic appreciation value, and have been written by many academic and art books and periodicals at home and abroad. Some also fill in the gaps in previous cultural relics, such as the "forbidden" bronzes, which is so.
Dang Yukun is his own
Dang Yukun is a native of Fuping, Shaanxi, also known as Dang Yukun. Because he walks with one leg limp, he is called "party kidnapper" by the locals. From an early age, he did not learn any tricks, was tired of reading poetry, did not want to engage in housework and productive labor, and spent all day with a bunch of hooligans, eating, drinking, gambling, and doing no evil. He was cunning and treacherous, and he especially liked to gather people to gamble. Dang Yukun was stubborn by nature, fighting with people at every turn, and killing people and crossing goods became a common thing for him. His lame leg was injured by his opponent when he was fighting with people, thus leaving a sick root.
It is said that Dang Yukun began to wander around in his youth, once worked as an apprentice in antique shops in major cities such as Xi'an and Beijing, withstood the influence and adulation of antique dealers, and saw many ancient cultural relics. Over time, he became an expert in this field. He is particularly good at identifying bronzes, and the authentic fakes are known at a glance.
Later, Dang Yukun, who had always been extremely restless, abandoned Shang Congrong and first joined the local warlord Guo Jian, who was entrenched in the Fengxiang area of Shaanxi Province, as a small leader under Guo Jian, the leader of the Jingguo Army, and successively served as a platoon, company, battalion, and regiment commander. He is proficient in the way of drilling camps and knows how to vote for the preferences of his superiors, so he is more appreciated by Guo Jian. However, in August 1921, Feng Yuxiang purged the Warlords of Shaanxi, Guo Jian was killed by the Northwest Army for disobeying discipline, and Guo's subordinate Li Si was appointed by Feng Yuxiang as the leader of the army and led troops to garrison Fengxiang.
Dang Yukun immediately lost his patron, and had to lead some of the defeated soldiers to flee to Liquan County, Shaanxi Province. Soon, Li Si was ordered to move east, and the local armies that remained in Fengxiang fought with each other and fell apart. Dang Yukun took advantage of the void and led the ministry to turn back to Fengxiang again in February 1926. In order to increase his momentum and show his prestige, he appointed himself "division commander" and called himself "commander".
In May 1928, Feng Yuxiang, then commander-in-chief of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army, ordered Song Zheyuan, commander-in-chief of the Fourth Front, to lead three divisions and a brigade, a total of about 30,000 men and horses, to encircle and suppress Fengxiang City. Dang Yukun was killed under the eastern city wall of Fengxiang, and all his officers and men were dispatched.