Yao Yuzhong, the founder of the tomb robbing world: High technology is never used in tomb robbing. Why is it so accurate to find one?

In May 2015, the Ministry of Public Security announced that the largest tomb robbery case since the founding of New China had been solved. The police arrested 225 suspects and recovered 2,063 cultural relics involved. The "big brother" among these suspects is Yao Yuzhong. It is said that he never uses high technology when robbing tombs, but he can find one accurately. Therefore, his magical skills in tomb robbing are respected as "The Grandmaster" and "The No. 1 Master Outside the Customs" in the tomb robbing community. How did he do it?

In 1962, Yao Yuzhong was born in Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Since he was a child, his father taught him his unique skills of feng shui and tomb reading. He usually doesn't talk much, is cautious, and likes reading. He stopped studying after finishing elementary school. After dropping out of school, he became a tomb robber and hired help. During the day, he walked alone. At night, Yao Yuzhong led his gang members to rob the tomb. As long as he finds the right place, he will not give up until he finds the treasure. So, he often digs multiple times in the same place.

As Yao Yuzhong’s gang became more and more famous among his peers, people in the circle spread rumors about his abilities. According to legend, he could read the sky and could determine the location of a tomb within a hundred miles based on the position of the stars and the compass in his hand. However, according to his accomplices, Yao Yuzhong committed crimes very frequently. From 2013 to 2014, they committed more than 200 crimes.

In addition, Yao Yuzhong also has a nickname, "Old Prodigal". Because he is addicted to gambling, winning and losing millions is common, and the highest one reached more than 10 million. When he lost his mind, he took out the cultural relics he had just arrived from the ancient tomb and mortgaged them to the casino. In one casino in Hebei alone, he owed more than 70 million yuan in gambling debts. Usually, the price of these cultural relics is greatly discounted, and he doesn't care, and basically will not redeem them afterwards. Yao Yuzhong dresses luxuriously, frequents high-end hotels, and owns a luxurious villa in Chifeng, all of which he obtained by reselling cultural relics.

I often walk by the river without getting my shoes wet. In 2014, the police focused on Yao Yuzhong. He is neatly dressed and wears gold-rimmed glasses. He likes mountain climbing and hangs around nearby mountains when he has nothing to do. The police thought he was acting suspiciously and followed him for a long time. In the second half of the year, the police arrested Yao Yuzhong and found many cultural relics in his home. Subsequently, a large number of cultural relics were also discovered in his son's home and old residence. But there was not a penny in his account.

On the way to escort Yao Yuzhong to identify the scene, when the guards were not paying attention, he hit a big rock on the mountain and attempted suicide, but was stopped in time. According to the investigation, Yao Yuzhong participated in the excavation of ancient cultural sites 11 times and the excavation of ancient tombs 16 times. Among them, three are national key cultural relics protection units.

How did Yao Yuzhong manage to dig accurately? According to his confession, his gang would use a homemade tool called "Zazi" when committing crimes. It has higher performance than the Luoyang shovel. After it is inserted into the soil and pulled out, by observing the color change of the tip, you can determine whether there is a tomb underground. Therefore, his secret weapon is "Zha Zi". Compasses, metal detectors, three-dimensional imagers, etc. are also necessary tools for their crimes.

On October 17, 2017, the Liaoning High Court made the final verdict on the Yao Yuzhong tomb robbery case: Yao Yuzhong was guilty of robbery, excavation of ancient cultural sites, ancient tombs, and reselling of cultural relics. Several crimes were punished concurrently, and it was decided to execute the death penalty with a two-year suspended sentence.