The Mystery of the Blackwater Treasure (2)

In 1886, a Russian named Potanin, on an expedition to western China, spent some time in Ejina, mainly exploring the weak waters and Badain Jaran Desert. By accident or by accident, Potanin learned from local pastoralists and other sources that there was a Blackwater site in the area, and that "you can find silver and things like that" in the ancient city. Before AND AFTER PoTANIN'S VISIT, THERE HAD BEEN SEVERAL GROUPS of RUSSIANS LOOKING FOR TREASURES here, but the TURhot people of Ejina, out of a natural sense of self-protection, refused to tell them the exact location of Blackwater City or provide any convenience in finding it. This time, Potanin is not without exception hit the wall, although Potanin in Ejin did not achieve the purpose of visiting the city of Blackwater, for the first time will be the secret of the city of Blackwater to the world was officially released so that the Western countries of the ambition of the city of Blackwater.

In 1899, Kozlov, also a Russian, came to northwest China to investigate. When he passed through Ejina, he asked the local people about the location of Blackwater City and tried to excavate it. As on previous occasions, the Turgot did not reveal their secret to the Russians, and Kozlov left for Tibet and Xinjiang, deeply disappointed. Still, in the years that followed, Mr. Kozlov, who had made a lot of money elsewhere in China, did not give up on Blackwater. As the days went on, Kozlov finally got the moment he was looking forward to. In the 33rd year of Guangxu (1907), the Russian royal geographer organized the Mongolian Sichuan expedition to China for the fourth time, and Kozlov was the leader. Before the expedition set off, Tsar Nicholas II summoned Kozlov and allocated the expedition 30,000 rubles and some guns and ammunition from the Treasury. Kozlov was encouraged, feel very "glorious" under, secretly determined, and must try to uncover the mystery of the city of Blackwater.

In March 1908, Kozlov arrived amid the overwhelming windblown sand of Ejina. He was afraid and remembered the lessons he had learned here. First of all, he tried every means to please and win over the Lord of Turhut, and showed humility to the local people, to eliminate the hostility of the herdsmen to foreigners. At first, things seemed to be going the same way as before, with Wang "trying to convince me that there was no way to get where I wanted to go." But Kozlov didn't lose heart, resistance to his temper, he continued to assiduously, the Russian rifle, revolver, and brought the article such as the phonograph to the report presented, fete nobility, and also to the Chinese government actively wrote a letter please, to make positive anomaly in hand can cash-strapped report from the court than usual two times the salary. In the face of these chattering words and more attractive gifts, the Lord was finally bought, Kozlov broke through the defense of Blackwater city.

Although the excavation was short, Kozlov was so successful that in his travel book Mongolia and Qinghai and the Ruins of Harhot, he could not help but exult:

All our expeditions and excavations have been done with great care and care. Every object found on the ground or the surface of the earth causes a collective excitement. I will never forget the surprise I felt when a few digs with my shovel revealed a Buddha painted on cloth.

Expedition in hot site spend a few days later, he won the rich variety of goods, book, letters, files, metal coin, women's accessories, Buddhist worship portrait, and so on remote as for quantity, then we collect of archaeological data, is full of ten big mailboxes, prepare later shipped to Russia's geographical society and academy of sciences.

In addition, we also use the report to the team of turehot, immediately through Mongolia to big postal Cullen (and then to Petersburg) send a few cases of parallel email, report the Hala hot has been found that the collection of news and found here, and attach to the sample of the words and pictures, to get research and appraisal as soon as possible...

As soon as this expedition, which satisfied the Russians, was over, Kozlov set out across the desert to explore Alexa, east of Ejin. A year later, Kozlov left the Dingyuan Camp (present-day Bayanhot), drove day and night, and nineteen days later entered Blackwater for the second time. "No one has visited our dear old city, and the ruins are still as we left them, even the superfluous artifacts that we have left behind from the ruins and rubbish, have not been touched." Having completed his other expeditions, Kozlov had enough time and energy to dig more at Blackwater. Kozlov's first excavation, which focused on the center of Blackwater, is now focusing on the west of the city. If the Russians had been fortunate with their first discoveries of all sorts of fine antiquities, Kozlov's joy was heightened by this one. On June 12, 1909, the stupa, not far from the western Wall, was dug up by the daring Kozlov and revealed something that astonished the Russians: The existence of thousands of engravings of all kinds, a vast collection of ancient books of 24,000 volumes, more than three hundred "finest" paintings, and a multitude of other precious and exquisite objects filled the Russian people with an indescribable "sense of interest and pleasure." They became God's favorite children.

Kozlov's two excavations of Blackwater City as soon as the results of the announcement immediately shocked the world, and also provoked Britain, the United States, Japan, Sweden, and other countries' explorers sticking out their noses, in a rush.

In 1914, the British Indian Department of Education and an archaeological survey sent Stein to lead the third Central Asia expedition to China, via Jiuquan to arrive at Ejina. Stein hired local folk to scour the ancient ruins, where the gates had been opened and found plenty. In the winter of 1923, Americans Landon Warner and Horace Jain arrived at Blackwater, panting, and spent ten days and nights digging. The two men then went to the caves of the Thousand Buddhas and used chemicals to remove some of the most precious murals from the caves, which still exist today. In the following years, Sweden's Sven Heding, France's Haarde, and then into the Ejina a group of Japanese, and so on, have been to Blackwater City excavations and investigations, and have been found.

In St. Petersburg, Kozlov exhibited the documents he had brought back from the Chinese city of Blackwater, causing an immediate sensation. Blackwater City has since attracted attention. From then on, a new international discipline -- Tangut Studies came into being.

Based on the reading of these documents, the face of Blackwater City gradually becomes clear.