"This is?!"

Wu Liang had only seen this kind of scene in the tomb of King Xiao of Liang. After those poor soldiers were urinated by "Jian", they completed the corruption process in a short period of time. In a short time, they completely turned into

Mummy.

But the transformation speed and process of the corpse in front of me are obviously different.

In just the blink of an eye, Wu Liang discovered that the surface skin of the corpse had turned into powdery debris.

In the blink of an eye, the entire corpse had turned into a piece of powder that could barely maintain the outline of a human figure. It was spread out and piled up in the coffin. It seemed that even the hardest bones in the corpse no longer existed.

This kind of powder is very light and dry.

Even the slightest movement of air will blow these powders away. Now there are some fine powders floating in the coffin, which can be seen clearly under the bright sunlight...

Wu Liang was not sure what was going on.

However, he knew that some things that had been placed in a closed environment for a long time would undergo rapid oxidation once they were exposed to air again. Archaeologists of later generations have encountered similar things more than once when excavating ancient tombs, especially those who were excavating ancient tombs.

The pigments used in the murals that have been buried underground for thousands of years will be rapidly oxidized and damaged the moment the tomb is opened, and even a void image similar to a mirage will appear due to rapid oxidation.

Therefore, he had reason to suspect that something similar might have happened to this corpse.

certainly.

Other unknown possibilities cannot be ruled out. After all, the mountains rising from the bottom of the lake and the "mysterious creatures" themselves cannot be explained scientifically, and the things hidden within cannot be completely examined with a scientific perspective.

"How could this be?"

The backbones of the Hu army also saw this scene, and they all had surprised looks on their faces.

"Don't touch the powder just yet!"

Before he understood the situation, Wu Liang naturally had to remain cautious. Then he raised his eyes and looked at the remaining coffins with the same human figures, and finally said, "Don't touch these coffins either. Yang Wanli and Zhuge Liang, you two will first put them in the coffin."

The two big roosters were tied up and driven into different caves to determine if we could enter them and investigate. Maybe the answer we want is inside."

He had carefully observed the situation in the coffin.

Unfortunately, apart from the male corpse that quickly turned into powder, there was not even a single burial object in the coffin, and there were no inscriptions carved on the inside of the coffin. In this case, Wu Liang was naturally unable to determine the identity and identity of the corpse.

Due to the social environment in which the body lived, it is impossible to even deduce the approximate time of death of the body.

"promise!"

The two immediately picked up the chicken coop and walked up the mountain.

at the same time.

"Report!"

Two soldiers of the Hu army ran from the bottom of the mountain, and when they came to Wu Liang, they bowed and saluted, "Sir, we followed your wishes and continued to explore along the road down the mountain. We found another one about two hundred feet away.

Several larger pits were found, and around these pits, we also found many huge stone tools!"

"Oh? Have you found out what's going on in the pit?"

Wu Liang perked up and asked quickly.

"The two of us didn't investigate in depth, but we found this brightly colored stone on the edge of the pit. Please take a look at it, sir."

While one of them was talking, he presented a fist-sized stone with a very rough surface.

This is indeed an extremely colorful stone, with a patchy blue-purple gradient color on the surface. It looks a bit similar to the color of peacock feathers, and can even reflect light.

"This stone is so beautiful."

Bai Jingjing couldn't help but sigh.

"Sir, is this some kind of priceless gem?"

Yu Ji also came over and asked with shining eyes.

"This is copper ore."

Wu Liang observed it carefully, but gave a disappointing answer, "If I read it correctly, this should be a relatively rare bornite ore, and red copper can be extracted through ancient refining methods."

at the same time.

Wu Liang has already begun to speculate on the time range of human civilization here based on this.

The Celestial Dynasty began to use copper mines a long time ago, but the first ones used were naturally formed copper blocks. Only in the Shang Dynasty did the fire method begin to be used to refining ores in batches to refine bronze. Then it spread rapidly and lasted until the Warring States Period.

For more than a year, bronzeware was the mainstream metal in the Chinese dynasty.

Although the earliest ironware appeared in the Shang Dynasty, it was not until the Warring States Period that it became truly popular, gradually replacing bronze as the mainstream metal.

Now the soldiers reported that in addition to several larger pits ahead, there were also some huge stone tools...

Combined with this piece of bornite ore and the previously discovered pit that may have stored a large number of bronze weapons, we can draw a conclusion: this human civilization should have mastered the technology of refining copper ore.

Therefore, Wu Liang speculated that the human civilization in this area was most likely in a period between the Shang Dynasty and the Warring States Period, that is, between 400 and 2000 years ago.

in addition.

If combined with Yu Ji's previous description of the "dead dragon", even if a "strong dragon" is cut off, it will still take thousands of years to turn into a "dead dragon".

Then the time frame of this human civilization can be further shortened.

It should be at least some time between 1000 and 2000 years ago...

"Lead the way."

With this in mind, Wu Liang immediately said to the two soldiers of the Hu army.

He had to conduct an on-site investigation to determine the function of the pits and huge stone tools discovered by the two soldiers, thereby further confirming his speculation.

…

Sure enough, as Wu Liang guessed, this is a completed bronze refining base.

The huge stone tool mentioned by the soldier was a shaft furnace used to smelt copper ore. After removing the silt inside and at the bottom of the shaft furnace, you can see the relatively pure bronze remaining in the furnace during the refining process.

As we all know, bronze is an alloy made from a mixture of red copper, tin, and lead.

In other words, by the time this step is reached, the alloying process has been completed, which means that this human civilization has also mastered the technology of distinguishing and refining tin ore and lead ore.

This did not surprise Wu Liang.

Because the earliest bronze ware discovered by archeology in later generations was a bronze knife about 4,800 years ago. It was made of tin bronze. This was actually about 1,000 years older than the Shang Dynasty when bronze was popular.

.

And the place of discovery...is exactly Gansu!

Yuanquan, where Wu Liang is currently located, is also located in Gansu, so the upper limit of the time range Wu Liang previously deduced may be extended by another 1,000 years.

Besides.

Wu Liang also discovered many specialized stone models and pottery models at the site. The so-called "stone models" and "pottery models" are actually molds made of rocks and clay. These molds can cool the molten bronze water into the desired shape.

Such as various weapons, various types of furnaces, various masks, various types of figures, various types of tableware, etc. required bronze ware.

After Wu Liang observed carefully, he found that most of these molds were weapon molds, with a small amount of tableware and animal molds mixed in.

And wait until Wu Liang finishes checking these things.

Several soldiers from the Hu army who followed also cleared out three larger pits nearby. Two of these three pits contained the bornite ore that Wu Liang had already seen.

As far as Wu Liang knows, this ore with a distinctive appearance is mainly sulfide minerals, which means...

Wu Liang subconsciously looked at the mountain with many caves behind him.

Could it be that this mountain tomb was originally a mine?

And those caves are mines dug out of the mines?

This possibility is indeed very high.

Because Wu Liang has previously speculated that this mountain is most likely an active volcano, and the easiest thing to form in an active volcano is sulfide minerals. In addition, there is such a bronze refining base here, so it is easy to teach people to use these.

Bornite ore, which can be used as a raw material, is associated with this active volcano.

After all, there were no large-scale machinery in ancient times, and transporting ore was very time-consuming and laborious. Therefore, ore refining bases were usually built near mines.

As for the remaining pit, there is a black-gray crystal-like rock stored there.

Wu Liang was not a geologist, so it was naturally impossible for him to know all the rocks, but he suspected that this was tin ore that was mixed with red copper to refine bronze.

Because as far as he knows, tin ore usually exists in nature in the form of crystals.

"..."

Now, Wu Liang finally has some new guesses about this mountain tomb.

A large amount of bronze weapons, a bronze refining base with simple but complete tools, a large amount of bornite ore, an active volcano that may still be moving...

This mountain tomb is most likely a mine that dates back thousands of years.

A bronze mine dedicated to refining weapons and bronzeware for a certain race, such as the "Gogi".

But if it was just an ordinary bronze mine, why would it be hidden at the bottom of the lake and not see the light of day until Wu Liang put in the magic weapon used by the "Hu Zhuo clan" to clean up the "mysterious"?

besides.
To be continued...