There are many robbery holes on the inaccessible top of the mountain, but the tomb robbers are foggy.
Key figures surfaced, leading to important clues in the case, who is the "Huainan King"?
Who are the "Three Wang Brothers"?
The whereabouts of the main culprit of "missing the crime" is mysterious, and the arrest and tracking are traced for thousands of miles.
The Paper reporter noticed that the "Procuratorate Daily" published an article on August 16, 2022, which introduced the final outcome of the "Huainan King" tomb gang that shook the whole country.
Wechat public account of the recovered cultural relics involved @ Supreme People's Procuratorate
Follow the "Huinan King"
According to the report, in 2017, the Hengtang Police Station of the High-tech Zone Bureau of the Suzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau in Jiangsu Province received an alarm call. During the patrol, the staff of the Hengshan Park Management Office found that there were several suspicious holes on the top of the Hengshan Mountain with a depth of more than three meters.
The police rushed to the scene quickly, and based on the location, size, and depth of the hole, they judged that this might be a tomb robbery, and immediately contacted archaeologists.
On the top of Hengshan Mountain, there are more than ten stone chamber and mound tombs dating from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which have been registered as immovable cultural relics in the third national cultural relic census. After on-site investigation by experts, a total of 5 ancient tombs were found to have been robbed and excavated, and the preliminary judgment was that there were more than 4 people. Professional tomb robbers.
At that time, Sioux City had been raining for several days in a row, and the site was severely damaged. In addition, there were few people on the mountain and there was a lack of surveillance. When was the ancient tomb stolen?
Who did it?
There are very few clues to be traced, and the case detection has reached a deadlock for a while.
In June 2018, the robbery cave reappeared on the top of Hengshan Mountain.
Due to the timely discovery, the police attacked decisively, and finally locked a van that frequently haunted in the early morning by pulling the net to investigate and squatting in secret, and caught 6 tomb robbers in one fell swoop.
During the interrogation, the criminal suspect Cao Mouhua explained that the news of the ancient tomb on Hengshan was told to him by a Zhejiang man named Wang Moujie.
In order to strive for meritorious performance, Cao Mouhua also reported that "Wang Moujie once pointed to a robbery hole and said that it was dug by the 'Huainan King'."
However, Cao Mouhua was unable to provide more information about Wang Moujie and the "King of Huainan", and the police have been unable to verify the specific identities of these two people.
Cao Zhonghua was captured.
Xuancheng police map
In July 2019, the Suzhou High-tech Zone Procuratorate prosecuted six people including Cao Mouhua for the crime of robbing ancient tombs. The court sentenced the six defendants to imprisonment ranging from one year, two months to one year.
Although the tomb robbery case in 2018 has been cracked, the tomb robbery case in 2017 is still hanging in the mind. Over the years, the police have never given up on Wang Moujie and the "Huainan King".
In February 2021, Suzhou police accidentally obtained a clue during an exchange activity: Anhui Huainan police cracked a tomb robbery case in 2018, in which a criminal suspect confessed that he had robbed a tomb in Suzhou.
The police immediately rushed to Huainan to learn about the case. By reviewing the case files of that year, a man named Wang Mouquan caught the police's attention.
His surname is Wang, and he is from Huainan, Anhui Province. He has experience in tomb robbing, and he has been active in Suzhou in 2017. There are indications that Wang Mouquan is likely to be the "Huinan King" that the Suzhou police have been looking for.
At this time, Wang Mouquan has been serving many years in prison.
According to Wang Mouquan's confession in 2018, the "Three Wang Brothers" in Zhejiang were also robbed of ancient tombs in Suzhou, led by a man named Wang Moujie.
The police immediately thought that the news that Cao Mouhua had confessed that there was an ancient tomb in Hengshan came from Wang Moujie.
Therefore, the police focused their investigation on Wang Moujie, and through further analysis and judgment, they finally found out Wang Moujie's identity information, and found that Wang Moujie and the other two men surnamed Wang in the same village were very likely to be the "Wang family members" in Zhejiang. Three Brothers".
In June 2018, the Suzhou police found a robbery hole dug at the top of Hengshan Mountain.
Suzhou police map
In March 2021, the police went to Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Shaoxing to capture the "Three Wang Brothers".
After being arrested, Wang Moujie, Wang Moufei, and Wang Moufeng explained that from the end of 2015 to 2017, the three of them worked together in a time-sharing manner, together with Wang Mouquan, the "King of Huainan", and others in 7 places in the Suzhou municipal area. The crime of excavating more than 10 ancient tombs at the site.
In June 2018, Suzhou police found arrow marks on stones near the stolen ancient tomb at the top of Hengshan Mountain.
Suzhou police map
In September 2021, the Suzhou High-tech Zone Procuratorate prosecuted Wang Moujie and other three people for the crime of robbing ancient tombs.
In November of the same year, the court made a judgment and sentenced the three defendants to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from eleven years and three months to nine years for the crime of robbing ancient tombs, and each was fined.
Wang Moufei refused to accept the judgment and filed an appeal.
In June 2022, the court of second instance ruled to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.
On-site robbery.
Suzhou police map
During the interrogation of Wang Moujie and others, a familiar name entered the police's field of vision again: Cao Mouhua.
According to Wang Moujie's confession, Cao Mouhua was introduced by the "King of Huainan" and participated in the tomb robbery that night.
After that, the two kept in touch frequently. At the invitation of Wang Moujie, Cao Mouhua participated in the excavation of ancient tombs many times.
Due to his "wide network of contacts", in addition to helping to lift soil and look out for the wind at the tomb robbery site, Cao Mouhua is also responsible for an important task - selling stolen goods.
Even if he did not participate in the robbery, Cao Mouhua would help Wang Moujie and others to contact the buyer, resell the cultural relics unearthed by the robbery, and obtain "benefits" from it.
However, when the tomb robbery case was handled in 2018, Cao Mouhua avoided the important and deliberately concealed the fact that he had previously robbed ancient tombs with Wang Moujie and others and helped to resell the cultural relics, resulting in some crimes committed by him without corresponding criminal punishment.
In June 2018, police brought the suspect to the crime scene.
Suzhou police map
Cao Mouhua, who was released after serving his sentence as early as August 2019, became the target of arrest again.
At this time, Cao Mouhua, who has a strong anti-investigation ability, vaguely heard the wind, and kept changing the hiding place. From Hangzhou, Zhejiang to Xuancheng, Anhui to his hometown of Nanhu, Zhejiang, the police tried their best to hunt them down, but Cao Mouhua was finally caught. Disappeared at an unmonitored three-way intersection in the mountains.
In May 2021, in order to fully combat the crime of cultural relics, the Ministry of Public Security issued an A-level wanted order, publicly seeking 10 fugitives for key cultural relic crimes, among which Cao Mouhua was listed.
In order to find him as soon as possible and find out the whereabouts of the stolen cultural relics, the Suzhou police set up a chase team.
Since then, the police have hunted for thousands of miles and visited many places, and finally found the trace of Cao Mouhua in an idle house outside the village, and arrested him in October 2021.
In April 2022, the Suzhou High-tech Zone Procuratorate prosecuted Cao Mouhua for the crime of robbing ancient tombs and reselling cultural relics.
In June, the court made a first-instance verdict and sentenced Cao Mouhua to ten years and three months in prison and a fine of 16,000 yuan.
After unremitting efforts, more than 100 cultural relics of various types were recovered in this case.
"From the Neolithic Age, the Jiangnan area has formed a unique regional culture. Among the cultural relics recovered, there is a Han Dynasty celadon standing ear aromatherapy, which is exquisite in workmanship, smooth in glaze, large in size and well preserved. High cultural relics," said an expert from the Suzhou Institute of Archaeology.
After identification, the recovered cultural relics include 1 second-level cultural relic, 5 third-level cultural relics, and 106 general cultural relics.
The procuratorial organ, together with the public security, cultural relics and other departments, has conducted many inspections of the stolen ancient tombs, and repeatedly communicated and discussed the follow-up restoration of the ancient tombs.
"The open robbery holes will be flooded with rainwater, which will cause damage to the tomb itself. After the investigation of professional institutions, it was finally decided to use the original soil filling method to repair the open robbery holes in their original state as soon as possible, and the relevant costs should be paid by the criminals. Take it." Zhang Rong, director of the Office of the Procuratorate of the High-tech Zone, said.
Subsequently, the procuratorial organ filed a criminal incidental civil public interest lawsuit, requiring several defendants in the case to be jointly and severally liable for the repair costs, and include it as a factor in sentencing.
At present, all the ancient tombs involved in the case have been repaired.
In order to better maintain the red line, bottom line and lifeline of cultural relics safety, in early July, the procuratorial organs actively contacted the competent cultural relics departments in their jurisdictions to jointly discuss the management measures for the protection of regional cultural relics, and the relevant countersigned documents are constantly being improved and communicated.
The principal was involved in the Dayunshan case
The surging news reporter noticed that Cao Mouhua mentioned in the above-mentioned "Procuratorial Daily" report, namely Cao Zhonghua, one of the ten fugitives for major cultural relic crimes issued by the Ministry of Public Security in 2021.
The wanted order shows that Cao Zhonghua, male, born on December 8, 1984, registered at No. 33, Shaxi Group, Nanhu Village, Liqiao Town, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province.
Cao Zhonghua is listed as a Class A wanted criminal.
Network crime reporting website map
On October 4 last year, Cao Zhonghua, a fugitive for a major cultural relic crime wanted by the Ministry of Public Security, was arrested by the police and brought to justice.
According to media reports at the time, Cao Zhonghua had robbed a number of ancient tombs in Suzhou during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In 2018, he participated in the robbery of the ancient tombs of the Zhou Dynasty in Hengshan. .
According to public reports, the Dayunshan Han Tomb is located on the top of Dayun Mountain in Yunshan Village, Maba Town, Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province.
In early 2009, a gang of 14 tomb robbers excavated ancient tombs at the top of Dayun Mountain, killing four people in a row, alarming the local government and cultural relics department.
Later, after the rescue excavation by the conservation department, it was found that there were a large number of precious cultural relics such as yellow intestine inscriptions, golden thread jade clothes and jade coffins (also known as jade boxes), lacquer ware, and weapons in the tomb.
From January 12 to 14, 2015, for three consecutive nights, the "Exploration and Discovery" column of CCTV's Science and Education Channel broadcast "The Mausoleum under the Dragon Pond", which tells the story of the theft of the Mausoleum of the Jiangdu in Dayun Mountain, and the subsequent incidents. archaeological excavation process.
According to Yangzhou Evening News, in early 2009, Xuyi police cracked a large-scale tomb robbery case, and a huge tomb that had been sleeping for more than 2,000 years reappeared in the world.
What archaeologists did not expect was that this large tomb, which was confirmed to be at the level of a prince of the Western Han Dynasty, was buried under a pond.
This inconspicuous pond is on the top of Dayun Mountain, and the villagers call it Longtang.
At the beginning of 2009, the bottomless robbery hole made by tomb robbers is next to Longtang.
The most interesting thing is the special title of Longtang. Does it mean that the tomb at the bottom of the pond is a "dragon tomb" related to the emperor?
With the development of archaeological work, the secrets of the top of Dayun Mountain have also been revealed layer by layer. After a year of archaeological exploration, the archaeological team gave preliminary exploration results.
Archaeologists admitted that the tomb turned out to be a huge, nearly 200-meter-long "Zhong"-shaped tomb.
The tombs in the shape of "中" are generally the tombs of princes and kings.
The water in the Longtang was quickly drained, and during the process of clearing the silt at the bottom of the pond, some rotten and damaged utensils were continuously removed.
The archaeological team reluctantly accepted the cruel fact: the tomb was 20 meters deep, but when it was about one or two meters deep, cultural relics from the Han Dynasty, as well as those from the Tang and Song dynasties had already appeared, indicating that at least in the Tang Dynasty And the Song Dynasty, this place has been stolen.
"
What shocked the archaeologists even more was that this robbery cave was different from the imaginary robbery cave. In fact, the entire pond, which was called "Dragon Pond", was a large robbery cave with an opening area of almost 400 square meters. Square meters, and digging down, there is no sign of shrinkage. When the digging is about 3 meters away from the bottom of the tomb, the robbery hole is still very large.
From this, it can be inferred that Longtang is not formed naturally, but a huge robbery hole left by ancient tomb robbers.
During the archaeological excavation, a long ruler was unearthed. The archaeologists said that it was unearthed together with tomb robbery tools. The system of weights and measures, then, it can basically be said that this tomb was stolen during that period.
According to historical records, Cao Cao's tomb robbery was the most powerful, because he needed military pay, and he dug up some gold and silver, and some copper, and then used it as military pay.
There are many tombs proven by archaeology, among which there are three main tombs. The one hidden under the Longtang is the No. 1 tomb where the owner of the tomb was buried. The other two main tombs are arranged around each other. A ton of ancient money, these unique cultural relics are like pieces of a puzzle, gradually piece together the mysterious outline of the tomb owner.
According to the inscription on a tile, archaeologists have listed as many as six candidates for the tomb owner.
And their prominent life experience also makes everyone look forward to the owner of the tomb.
After struggling to exclude a few people, a few teeth of a famous Han Dynasty beauty were unearthed in a tomb of a wife and concubine, which seems to be a harbinger of the next major discovery.
Not long after, the archaeological team found an ancient seal in the corner of the large tomb, and the inscription on it finally confirmed the identity of the tomb owner.
(The Paper reporter Yue Huairang)