The Ping Sanmen are the main force of the Jia Lama, all of them lone heroes, each with at most a few apprentices under their command. These are the people who roam the mountains all day long. They are generally young and extremely greedy, willing to do anything from killing to looting. Their reputations are built on fighting, so they have no scruples. All the major cases after the founding of the country were related to this group.

The Xia Sanmen are merchants who have already gravitated toward the antique trade, mainly dealing in reselling. Although their skills are not weak, they rarely act on their own. The Xia Sanmen have close ties with the Ping Sanmen, while the Shang Sanmen have grown too large in scale to share any profits with the Xia Sanmen, so there is almost no interaction between the Shang Sanmen and the Xia Sanmen.

If you had to sum it up in one word, the Shang Sanmen are the officials in this line of work, the Ping Sanmen are the thieves, and the Xia Sanmen are the merchants. Since ancient times, officials, merchants, and thieves have always colluded with each other. This place is no exception.

Shang Sanmen

The three old heads of the Shang Sanmen were all famous old bosses. These three families could be said to be the top figures in the underworld at the time. Calling them tomb robbers might be a bit of an understatement, because by then their family power was already similar to that of small warlords. Since the Autumn Harvest Uprising, most members of these three families had joined the revolution, and one of them even became a founding hero. Because of this, I can't say much more, so I only know a few names.

Big Bolton

The Great Buddha Lord's name is Charles Bolton. The Zhang family was the number one family in Changsha, and because they had a giant Buddha statue of unknown origin in their home, he got the nickname Big Bolton. Charles Bolton's feng shui skills were extremely profound and very different from the southern school of tomb raiding. He was a northerner who had migrated south. According to legend, Charles Bolton could read three generations of earth. Standing on a mountain, with one glance, he could see what the mountain looked like three hundred years ago and what it would look like three hundred years in the future—all clear in his mind. That's why the great tombs discovered by the Zhang family could never be found by others, and they often obtained rare treasures. The bracelet on Charles Bolton's wrist was taken from a corpse and was called the "Double Echo Bangle." When struck, this solid jade bracelet would ring twice. It was extremely precious. There was an inscription on the bangle, and Mr. Bolton believed it must be part of a pair, so he offered a fortune for the matching bangle, hoping to make a "Triple Echo," which became a much-talked-about story.

The most legendary story of Big Bolton was how he led his family to escape from the northeast to Changsha. Before the fall of the three northeastern provinces, Big Bolton was still a young man. His father, sensing trouble ahead, had already sent the womenfolk to his in-laws' home in Changsha, while he himself prepared their valuables and planned to take his son and a few men down the Yangtze River by boat.

But before they could get to the boat, the Japanese arrived, and Big Bolton was trapped in a village between Liaoning provinces. To break out of the encirclement, they tried to cross the border, but his father was gunned down by a machine gun. He and his men were all sent to a concentration camp.

At that time, being sent to such a place meant being taken to Heilongjiang to mine coal—a place with no hope of escape, certain death. The Japanese guards were strict; anyone who tried to escape was caught and bayoneted to death. Very few ever succeeded in escaping.

Big Bolton lay low and observed carefully. He discovered that the reason no one could escape was mainly because the Japanese dogs were too formidable. The concentration camp was on a mountain, with sentries above and below. It seemed easy to escape and hide, but the mountain was covered in shrubs, and anyone passing through would leave a strong scent. Once the Japanese released their wolfhounds, no matter how you hid, you would be found.

He also noticed that the Japanese only pursued escapees for two days. If they couldn't catch you in two days, they would give up, because in that time you could have reached deep into the mountains, where the trees were towering and the area vast, rendering the dogs useless.

So he figured that to escape successfully, he had to find a place to hide for two days where the dogs couldn't find him. For the dogs to lose his scent, there had to be standing water, as water acts as a barrier and can block one's scent.

But where could he find standing water deep enough to hide a person? If it was too shallow, it wouldn't mask the scent; if it was too deep, there wouldn't be any on the mountain.

Truckloads of people were being taken away from the camp, and he was anxious but helpless. Until one day, while transporting materials, he discovered an ancient tomb on the western slope of the mountain.

The tomb was shaped like a ghost's claw and built on the shady side of the mountain, a very inauspicious location. The tomb owner must have offended many people in life, but judging by the surrounding terrain, the tomb was well preserved.

An idea struck Big Bolton. First, he had to get to the tomb and break through the top, so that when it rained, water would collect inside. Then, he could escape into the tomb and hide in the accumulated water, making it impossible for the wolfhounds to find him.

But the tomb was on a slope outside the camp. If he tried to climb out, he would likely be shot. How could he get there? He needed a plan.

He racked his brains and discussed with his men. Breaking through the tomb roof would take two hours, which was too long, and they had no tools. So it couldn't be done secretly; they had to find a way to get the Japanese to take them out and to do the job right under their noses.