Many thieves appeared on the top of the rarely visited mountain, but the tomb robbers were full of fog. Key figures emerged and brought out important clues in the case. Who is the "King of Huainan"? Who are the "Three Brothers of the Wang Family"? The main culprit of "missing crime" is mysterious, and he is arrested thousands of miles away and followed the line. The truth of the Chen Nianyin case is revealed, and all members of the tomb robbers are arrested.
Pengpai News reporter noticed that the " Procuratorial Daily " published an article on August 16, 2022 to introduce the final outcome of the "Huainan King" tomb robbery gang that shocked the whole country.
The cultural relics involved in the case were recovered WeChat public account @Supreme People's Procuratorate Picture
Follow the line and track the "Huainan King"
Report introduced that in 2017, the Hengtang Police Station of the High-tech Zone Branch of the Suzhou Public Security Bureau of Jiangsu Province received a call for the alarm. Staff from Hengshan Park Management Office found while patrolling that there were several suspicious holes at the top of Hengshan Mountain, with a depth of more than three meters. The police quickly rushed to the scene and judged based on the location, size, depth and other conditions of the entrance. They believed that this might be a tomb robbery, so they immediately contacted the archaeological expert.
There are more than ten stone chamber mound tombs from the Shang and Zhou periods distributed on the top of Hengshan Mountain. They have been registered as The third national cultural relics survey immovable cultural relics. After on-site investigation by experts, a total of 5 ancient tombs were found to have been robbed. It was initially judged that it was done by a professional tomb robbery gang of more than 4 people. At that time, Sucheng had been raining for several consecutive days, and the scene was severely damaged. In addition, the mountain was rarely visited and there was no surveillance. When was the ancient tomb stolen? Who did it? There are very few clues available for investigation, and the case was solved in a deadlock for a while.
In June 2018, a thief hole appeared on the top of Hengshan Mountain. Due to the timely discovery, the police decisively attacked, investigated and secretly guarded the Internet, and finally locked up a van that frequently appeared in the early morning, and arrested six tomb robbers in one fell swoop. During the interrogation, the suspect Cao Mouhua confessed that there was a tomb on Hengshan and a man from Zhejiang named Wang Moujie told him. In order to strive for meritorious performance, Cao Mouhua also reported that "Wang Moujie once pointed to a thief hole and said that it was dug by the 'King of Huainan'." 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 the two. In 2017, the Hengshan tomb robbery case was in a deadlock again.
Cao Zhonghua was arrested. Xuancheng Police Photo
In July 2019, the Suzhou High-tech Zone Procuratorate filed a public prosecution on the crime of Cao Mouhua and six others suspected of excavating ancient tombs. The court sentenced six defendants to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from one year to two months to one year.
Although the tomb robbery case in 2018 has been solved, the tomb robbery case in 2017 is still hanging in my mind. For many years, the police have never given up on tracking Wang Moujie and the "King of Huainan". In February 2021, the police in Suzhou accidentally obtained a clue during an exchange activity: the police in Huainan, Anhui cracked a tomb robbery case in 2018, in which the 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 attracted the attention of the police.
The surname is Wang, and he is from Huainan, Anhui. He has experience in tomb robbing and had activity tracks in Suzhou in 2017... All signs indicate that Wang Mouquan is probably the "King of Huainan" that Suzhou police have been pursuing. At this time, Wang Mouquan had been serving his sentence in prison for many years. According to Wang Mouquan's confession in 2018, the "Three Brothers of Wang" in Zhejiang were also robbed and dug up ancient tombs in Suzhou, and the leader was a man named Wang Moujie. The police immediately thought that Cao Mouhua once confessed that there was an ancient tomb in Hengshan, which was from Wang Moujie. Therefore, the police focused their investigation on Wang Moujie. Through further analysis and judgment, they finally found out that Wang Moujie's identity information was found and two other men surnamed Wang from Wang Moujie and his village were most likely the "Three Wang brothers" in Zhejiang.
In June 2018, Suzhou police found a dug hole on the top of Hengshan Mountain. Suzhou Police Photo
In March 2021, the police went to Hangzhou, Jiaxing , and Shaoxing to arrest the "Three Brothers of the Wang Family".After being arrested, Wang Moujie, Wang Moufei and Wang Moufeng confessed to the criminal facts of the three men, in the end of 2015 to 2017, in the form of time-dividing and time-sharing, together with "Huainan King" Wang Mouquan and others, excavating more than 10 ancient tombs at 7 locations within the jurisdiction of , Suzhou City.
In June 2018, Suzhou police found arrow marks on the stones near the stolen ancient tomb on the top of Hengshan Mountain. Suzhou police photo
In September 2021, the Suzhou High-tech Zone Procuratorate prosecuted Wang Moujie and three others for suspected excavation of ancient tombs. In November of the same year, the court made a judgment, sentenced three defendants to 11,3 months to nine years for the crime of robbing ancient tombs, and each was fined. Wang Moufei refused to accept the verdict and filed an appeal. In June 2022, the court ruled in the second instance to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.
stolen holes on site. Suzhou police photo
While interrogating Wang Moujie and others, a familiar name entered the police's vision again: Cao Mouhua. According to Wang Moujie's confession, Cao Mouhua was introduced to "King of Huainan" and participated in tomb robbing that night. After that, the two of them often contacted each other. At the invitation of Wang Moujie, Cao Mouhua participated in the excavation of ancient tombs many times. Due to his "wide connections", in addition to helping to lift soil and look 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 excavation, Cao Mouhua would help Wang Moujie and others contact the buyer to resell the excavation unearthed cultural relics and obtain "benefits" from it. However, when handling the tomb robbery case in 2018, Cao Mouhua avoided the important and deliberately concealed the fact that he had colluded with Wang Moujie and others to dig up ancient tombs and help resell cultural relics, resulting in some of the crimes he committed not being subject to corresponding criminal punishment.
In June 2018, the police took the suspect to accus the crime scene. Suzhou police photo
Cao Mouhua, who was released from prison as early as August 2019, became the target of arrest again. At this time, Cao Mouhua, who had strong anti-researching ability, vaguely heard the wind and kept changing his hiding locations. From Hangzhou, Zhejiang to Xuancheng, Anhui and then to his hometown, Nanhu, Zhejiang, the police struggled to pursue him, but Cao Mouhua eventually disappeared at a three-way intersection without surveillance in the mountainous area.
In May 2021, in order to fully combat cultural relics crimes, the Ministry of Public Security issued a Class A wanted order to publicly want 10 fugitives in key cultural relics crimes, and Cao Mouhua was among them. In order to find him as soon as possible and find out whereabouts of the stolen cultural relics, Suzhou police set up a pursuit team. After that, the police chased and visited many places, and finally found Cao Mouhua's traces in an idle house outside a village, and arrested him in October 2021.
In April 2022, the Suzhou High-tech Zone Procuratorate filed a public prosecution for Cao Mouhua suspected of excavating ancient tombs and reselling cultural relics by . In June, the court made a first-instance judgment, 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 the case. "From the new Stone Age , the Jiangnan region has formed a unique regional culture. Among the recovered cultural relics, there is an Han Dynasty celadon stand-alone aromatherapy. It is exquisitely crafted, smooth glaze, large in size, and well preserved. It is a cultural relic of higher grade." An expert from Suzhou Archaeology Institute said. After identification, the recovered cultural relics include 1 second-level cultural relics, 5 third-level cultural relics, and 106 general cultural relics.
The procuratorate, together with the public security, cultural relics and other departments, has conducted multiple investigations on the stolen ancient tombs and conducted repeated communication and discussions on the subsequent restoration of the ancient tombs. "The open thieves will have rainwater flowing backwards, causing damage to the tomb body. After investigation by professional institutions, it was finally decided to use the original landfilling method to repair the open thieves as soon as possible, and the relevant costs should be borne by the criminal." Zhang Rong, director of the Office of the High-tech Zone Procuratorate, introduced. Subsequently, the procuratorate filed a criminal and civil public interest lawsuit, requiring several defendants to bear the joint and several liability for repair costs , and include it in the sentencing consideration. At present, all the ancient tombs involved in the case have been repaired. In order to better protect the red, bottom and lifeline of cultural relics safety, in early July, the procuratorate actively connected with the cultural relics authorities in the jurisdiction to jointly discuss regional cultural relics protection management measures, and relevant meetings and signing documents are constantly improving communication.
The main culprit once participated in the Dayunshan case
Pengpai News reporter noticed that Cao Mouhua mentioned in the above-mentioned "Procuratorial Daily" report was Cao Zhonghua, who issued an A-level wanted order in 2021, publicly wanted by the Ministry of Public Security, who publicly wanted ten fugitives in major cultural relics crimes. wanted order shows that Cao Zhonghua, male, was born on December 8, 1984, registered address: No. 33, Shaxi Group, Nanhu Village, Liqiao Town, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province.
Cao Zhonghua was listed as a Class A wanted criminal. Website for reporting online crimes and crimes Figure
On October 4 last year, Cao Zhonghua, a fugitive for major cultural relics wanted by the Ministry of Public Security, was arrested by the police. According to media reports at the time, Cao Zhonghua had robbed and dug several ancient tombs from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in Suzhou. In 2018, he participated in the robbery of the ancient tomb of Hengshan Dongzhou. The two main culprits in this case were previously sentenced for participating in the tomb robbery of Dayun Mountain in Xuyi.
Public reports show that Dayunshan Han Tomb is located on the top of Dayun Mountain in Yunshan Village, Maba Town, Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province. It is an extremely high-standard tomb of a couple in the early Western Han Dynasty . The owner of the tomb is Jiangdu Wang Liu Fei.
In early 2009, a 14-person tomb robber gang excavated an ancient tomb on the top of Dayun Mountain, killing four people in a row, alarming the local government and cultural relics departments. After the rescue excavation of the cultural security department, it was found that there were a large number of precious cultural relics in the tomb chamber, including yellow intestine , gold-thread jade clothes , jade coffin (also known as jade box), lacquer ware , weapons and other precious cultural relics in the tomb chamber.
From January 12 to 14, 2015, for three consecutive nights, CCTV Science and Education Channel's "Exploration and Discovery" column broadcasted "The King's Tomb Under Longtang", which tells the story of theft of the royal tomb in Jiangdu, Dayun Mountain, and the subsequent archaeological excavation process.
According to the Yangzhou Evening News, in early 2009, the police cracked a large tomb robbery case, and a huge tomb that had been sleeping for more than two thousand years was reappeared in the world. What archaeological experts did not expect was that this tomb, which was confirmed as the level of princes 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. The bottomless robber hole that was cut by the tomb robbers in early 2009 was right next to Longtang. What is most interesting 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?
As the development of archaeological work, the secrets on the top of Dayun Mountain were also uncovered layer by layer. After a year of archaeological exploration, the archaeological team gave preliminary exploration results. Archaeologists admitted that this tomb turned out to be a huge "middle"-shaped tomb that is nearly 200 meters long. Tombs with the shape of "Zhong" are the tombs of two tomb passages, which are generally tombs of princes and kings.
The water in Longtang was quickly drained. During the process of cleaning the silt at the bottom of the pond, some decayed and damaged objects were constantly cleaned out. The archaeological team reluctantly accepted the cruel fact: the tomb is 20 meters deep, but when it was dug about one or two meters deep, Han Dynasty cultural relics had already appeared, as well as Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty cultural relics, which shows that at least in the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, this place had been stolen. "
What shocked archaeologists even more was that this thief hole is different from the imagined thief hole. In fact, the entire pond, which is called "Longtang", is a large thief hole. The opening area is about 400 square meters, and it is dug down without any sign of shrinking. When it was about 3 meters away from the bottom of the tomb, the thief hole was still very large. From this, it is inferred that Longtang was not formed naturally, but a huge thief hole left by ancient tomb robbers.
During the archaeological excavation process, a long ruler was unearthed. Archaeologists said that it was unearthed together with the tomb robbery tools. The scale of one foot was 24 cm. The ruler in the Han Dynasty was 23.1 cm, and 24 cm was exactly the weight and measure system in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. So, it can be basically said that this tomb was stolen during that period. According to historical records, Cao Cao tomb robbers were the most powerful because he needed military pay, and the tomb robbers dug out some gold and silver, some copper, and then used as military pay.
There are many tombs discovered by archaeologically, including three main tombs. The one hidden under Longtang is the No. 1 tomb burying the owner of the tomb. The other two main tombs are arranged on the left and right, with a wide range of cosmetics, rich and complete toiletries, and an ancient coin weighing one ton. These unique cultural relics are like puzzle pieces, gradually pieced together the mysterious outline of the tomb owner.
Archaeological experts list up to 6 candidates for tomb owners based on the inscription on a tile. And their prominent life experience also makes everyone look forward to the tomb owner. After struggling to eliminate a few people, several teeth of a famous Han Dynasty beauty were unearthed from a tomb with a wife and concubine, which seemed to be a sign of the next major discovery. Not long after, the archaeological team found an ancient seal of mud in the corner of the tomb. The inscription on it also finally confirmed the identity of the tomb owner. The mysterious tomb owner of the Han Tomb in Dayun Mountain is Liu Fei, the king of Jiangdu. (Pengpai News reporter Yue Huairang)
Source: Pengpai News
