Shadow of the Tomb Raider: A Complete Record of the History of Tomb Raiders in China

Chapter 47 The Sixth Wave of Tomb Raiders: Tomb Raiders in Modern Times (6)
这下把王绍义乐坏了，他赶忙命令众人将财宝收了起来。然后，他又命令把其他五具棺椁都一一打开，又获得了许多珍宝。据史书记载，康熙的景陵内的珍宝有：天鹅绒鎏金朝冠1顶；金冠珠顶1座，上嵌大正珠顶、东珠各15粒；勒苏草拆经缨冠1只，嵌镶银珠20颗；各种玉及镶钻石、宝石镏子35件；镀金点翠上带红宝石的连环4对；玉镂田瓜盅1只；百褶金龙1只；金累丝镶嵌色珠石九凤钿1顶；各色玉骊条环38只；玉、镶珠挑杆8枝；金珐琅盅碟2件；镀金银奠池5件；镀金银中碗7只；镀金银爵盏10个；龙形翡翠饰物1个；黄杨木镂雕八仙过海盆景1尊；九龙玉杯1只……这还不算那些陪葬的金银、玉器、古董、花瓶等。其中最著名的当属九龙玉杯，这便是小说《三侠剑》中杨香武三盗的宝物，在这场劫难中也被盗墓者盗走，最终下落不明。

The tomb robbery of Wang Shaoyi and others soon attracted the attention of the National Government.Although they took some covert measures during the tomb robbery, there was no way to cover up the huge explosion.The national government not only dispatched personnel, set up checkpoints in four directions, arranged some special agents to guard the jewelry store, captured the robbers who came to Peiping to sell their stolen goods, confiscated all their jewelry, and detained them for interrogation. The crime of being the behind-the-scenes commander of the Communist Party was put on the head of the Communist Party, which led to a farce in which Chiang Kai-shek questioned Zhou Enlai at the old CPPCC meeting held in Chongqing in 1946.With the successive victories of the People's Liberation Army, the Ji Zunxing Joint County Special Task Force led by the Communist Party also attempted to investigate the tomb robbery case of the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty.The tomb robbers were all punished as they deserved.

The main culprits, Wang Shaoyi and Huang Jinzhong, absconded in fear of crime.Huang Jinzhong was captured by military reunification agents in 1946, and later died in the detention center of the Beiping District Court.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the local people's government of Zunhua County tried Wang Shaoyi for illegally obtaining state property and destroying cultural relics and historic sites by excavating Jingling Mausoleum.He was executed by shooting in 1951.The tomb robbers who were motivated by money finally got the punishment they deserved, and the Jingling Mausoleum was repaired after repeated catastrophes, but the precious cultural relics in the tomb were scattered and lost, and they were never found again.

Gold Zhong steals Dongling again

When the Jingling Mausoleum of Emperor Kangxi, Yuling Mausoleum of Emperor Qianlong, and Dingdong Tomb of Cixi were robbed, other tombs in the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty were not spared either. The great emperors who are famous in history cannot protect themselves, and of course they cannot protect their descendants. In 1945, just after the afterglow of the Qing Dynasty receded, the tombs of Xianfeng and Tongzhi were ransacked. The person who robbed these two tombs was Huang Jinzhong, who had followed Wang Shaoyi to excavate Qingjing Mausoleum.

Dingling Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Emperor Xianfeng Aixinjueluo Yijia (zhǔ), located in Pingan Valley, the westernmost part of the Eastern Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty.Its Shinto connects with the Xiaoling Shinto in the south of the Qikong Bridge, and goes west until it turns north on the east bank of the Xida River. The first building is a five-hole flat bridge with 7 railings on each side, and then there are one culvert, five One hole arch bridge, one pair of watchtowers, five pairs of stone statues (lions, elephants, horses, military generals, civil servants), a towering arch gate, a Shinto stele pavilion, a god kitchen yard on the west side, and a three-way three-hole stone bridge on the north. There is a facing room facing east and west, and a duty room facing Bowa rolling shed in the east and west. The Long En Gate is in the middle. For the seat gate, the second pillar gate of Dingling was abolished, and the rest is the same as that of Zuling. In 1966, the Xichaofang and Xibeidian were demolished.Dingling Mausoleum was first built on April 1859th in the ninth year of Xianfeng (1866) and completed in December of the fifth year of Tongzhi (7). It took seven and a half years.When Dingling was built, there was a lot of controversy in terms of scale and regulation.Due to the sudden death of Emperor Xianfeng, the construction of Dingling Mausoleum was abnormally urgent, and the Xianfeng Dynasty experienced heavy damage from the Opium War. The Qing government cede land and pay compensation, which has long since returned to the heyday of the Kangxi and Qianlong heydays, and the royal family’s expenditure has also decreased accordingly. It is imperative to "shrink" the mausoleum.Compared with the previous mausoleum of Emperor Qianlong, the scale of Dingling Mausoleum has been reduced, and some of the construction materials are waste materials from the mausoleum of Emperor Daoguang.However, as the mausoleum of the emperor, Dingling is still magnificent in scale, with a net consumption of 313.4547 taels of silver.

In 1945, after the Jingling Mausoleum of Emperor Kangxi was stolen, the bandit Huang Jinzhong began to plan to excavate Dingling Mausoleum.Huang Jinzhong was the head of the enemy industry department in the Jidong Division of the Liberated Area. He had participated in the Eighth Route Army and made great achievements in the War of Resistance Against Japan. For some reason, he also joined the team of tomb robbers.

Although they had the experience of robbing Jingling, opening the underground palace of Dingling took the tomb robbers several days of work.When the tomb robbers tried their best to open the gate of the underground palace, a bad smell gushed out.The tomb robbers panicked, and someone shouted: "There is poisonous gas!" People retreated one after another, and when the mildew in the underground palace cleared, the tomb robbers gathered again, and another bigger difficulty lay in front of them - Dingling There is underground water in the underground palace.As the tomb robbers went deeper, the underground water in the underground palace became deeper and deeper. Gradually, the tomb robbers floated and sank in the groundwater, making it difficult to move an inch.

Under the command of Huang Jinzhong, the bandit soldiers took a large plaque from the top of the incense case in the Long En Hall, added two red sandalwood door panels, and tied them together with ropes to make a simple raft. They rode the raft all the way into the underground palace of the main tomb.It is a strange thing that has never been seen in the ages that the underground water "flooded" the tomb robbers. What is even more strange is that these tomb robbers actually took a "boat" to rob the tomb, which undoubtedly added a bit of legend to the theft of the tomb.The tomb robbers went through all kinds of difficulties and finally found the coffin of the emperor they had dreamed of, and then unceremoniously split it open, and the countless gold, silver and jewels buried with it were also robbed.

Shuangshanyu Huiling was stolen at the same time as Dingling.Huiling is the mausoleum of Emperor Tongzhi, the son of Emperor Xianfeng.

Tongzhi Emperor Aixinjueluo Zaichun, Emperor Muzong of the Qing Dynasty, was born in the sixth year of Xianfeng (1856). He was the eighth emperor of the Qing Dynasty.Emperor Tongzhi was the only son of Emperor Xianfeng, whose mother was Empress Dowager Cixi, the last de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

On August 11, the 1861th year of Xianfeng (21), Emperor Xianfeng was critically ill. He summoned the former imperial ministers Prince Yi Zaiyuan, Prince Zheng Duanhua, the co-organizer of the university, the minister of household affairs Sushun, and the military ministers Mu Yin, Kuang Yuan, Du Han, Jiao Youying He wrote Zhu Yu on behalf of him, made Zai Chun the crown prince, and ordered the above-mentioned ministers to praise the government affairs.Zaichun's biological mothers Nala and Niu Hulu were honored as empress dowagers.Emperor Xianfeng died the next day, and Zaichun, who was 6 years old, came to the throne with the reign name Qixiang.

Because the Empress Dowager Cixi was greedy for power, she delayed the time for Emperor Tongzhi to be in power on the grounds that Emperor Tongzhi "had not completed the classics".It was not until September 11, 1872th year of Tongzhi (October 10, 16) that the wedding ceremony was held for his 17-year-old son Zai Chun.The marriage of Emperor Tongzhi was a big problem.The empress dowagers of the two palaces had different opinions on who to be the empress: the Empress Dowager Ci'an suggested that Arut, the daughter of her servant Chongqi, be the empress, and the Empress Dowager Cixi advocated that the Fu Cai, the daughter of her servant Fengxiu, should be the empress.Emperor Tongzhi himself liked the former, so Huiling of Emperor Tongzhi made Alut as queen and Fucai as concubine Hui.In the 12th year of Tongzhi, Emperor Tongzhi was in charge for only a little more than a year.

On January 13, the 1875th year of Tongzhi (19), Emperor Tongzhi died of illness. Emperor Tongzhi was only [-] years old when he died, and his life span was the shortest among the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.There are different opinions about the cause of Tongzhi's death: one is syphilis.This is a folk saying.Emperor Tongzhi liked Queen Alut.And Empress Dowager Cixi asked Emperor Tongzhi to get closer to Concubine Hui.Emperor Tongzhi was unhappy and often stayed alone in the Qianqing Palace.Depressed, he was guided by Wang Qingqi, and traveled with Zai Cheng (dèng) (Prince Gong Yi's first son) in secret, looking for flowers and willows outside the palace, causing sexually transmitted diseases.Empress Dowager Cixi mistakenly treated smallpox and died of illness. There is insufficient evidence for this claim.One said it was smallpox.This is the official statement.According to relevant historical materials and notes of contemporaries, most historians agree that Emperor Tongzhi died of smallpox.After the death of Emperor Tongzhi, he was buried in Huiling Mausoleum in Ruishan, Changhe, Hebei. The temple name was Mu Zong.

Emperor Tongzhi did not build a mausoleum during his lifetime, and his mausoleum began to be built after his death.The empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi who were in power at that time finally chose the site of the mausoleum in the auspicious land of Shuangshan Valley, three kilometers southeast of Jingling, in the spring of 1875 (historical record is February of the first year of Guangxu).On February 23, the name of the mausoleum was determined to be Huiling.According to the Zhaomu system of the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty, the mausoleum of Emperor Tongzhi should be located on the west side of the cemetery, next to the Yuling Mausoleum of Emperor Qianlong.From the start of construction on the third day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar in 1875 (the first year of Guangxu) to the completion of the ninth month of the lunar calendar in 1878 (the fourth year of Guangxu), it took three years and one month and consumed a total of 4359110.89 taels of silver.The Minister of Undertaking, Prince Chun Yixuan, Yushi Kuiling of Zuodu, Minister Ronglu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Minister Weng Tonghe of the Ministry of Industry and Engineering, etc.

The architectural regulations of Huiling Mausoleum follow Dingling Mausoleum, except that the stele pavilion of holiness, morality and meritorious deeds and the Erzhu Gate were not built, and the stone statues and the sacred path connecting the main Shinto were cut.The architectural layout from south to north is as follows: one five-hole arch bridge, two flat bridges, two stone pillars, one archway gate, one east and west dismounting cards, one Shinto stele pavilion, one magic kitchen storehouse, one well pavilion, and three three-hole arch bridges. Road and Pingqiao, one east and west facing rooms, one east and west duty room, one Long En gate, one east and west old burner, one east and west supporting hall, one Long En hall, three glazed flower gates, and five terrace stones. One for each, one for Fangcheng, one for Minglou, one for Baocheng, and one for Baoding.The mausoleum is surrounded by sand mountains.Except for the east and west duty rooms, which are covered with tiles, the roofs of other buildings are covered with yellow glazed tiles.Although the mausoleum is an emperor's mausoleum built in the late Qing Dynasty, the wood used is nanmu wood, which is hard and commonly known as "copper beams and iron pillars". Therefore, the large wooden structure has been well preserved.

The Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty was unfortunate. It was almost stolen in just a few decades after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and the most unfortunate cemetery among the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty was the Huiling Mausoleum of Emperor Tongzhi.Huiling was stolen three times in just four years from 1945 to 1948!
In 1945, the first batch of tomb robbers stepped into the underground palace of Huiling. Since then, Huiling has become an underground bank that the tomb robbers are eager to patronize.The first batch of tomb robbers who entered Huiling also encountered a solid tomb door, and they used the same method as their predecessors-exploding the tomb door with explosives.They split open the coffin of Emperor Tongzhi, and robbed a large number of precious funerary objects in the coffin.

A year later, local tomb robbers entered the mausoleum with the door open again.This time, the tomb thieves dug the golden well of Huiling and robbed the burial objects in it.

In 1948, the last group of tomb robbers knocked on the door of Huiling's tomb. This was the largest theft in Huiling's history. Almost all the funerary objects in the underground palace were stolen, including the bodies of Emperor Tongzhi and Empress Arut. Lying on the outside of the coffin, the poor Emperor Tongzhi was left with only a dry bone, all the funerary ornaments on his body were collected, and the empress Arut was humiliated to the corpse.

Unidentified Soldiers Bandit Chongling

After the completion of each imperial tomb in the past dynasties, there will be people who guard the tomb to settle down near the tomb in order to guard the imperial tomb for many years.Therefore, there are always many villages near the imperial mausoleum.Qing Xiling is no exception. In the autumn of 1938, Chongling, the last imperial mausoleum in the history of our country, failed to get rid of the claws of tomb robbers, and was robbed by a group of unidentified soldiers just 25 years after its completion.

In 1937, the "July [-]th Incident" broke out, and the Japanese invaders invaded on a large scale. In the second year, they occupied Yixian County and coerced the puppet regime to station the so-called "Tomb Guard Police" in Xiling.At that time, the Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party of China rose up in the war of resistance and liberated the vast mountainous area west of Xiling. The mausoleum guards of the pseudo-Xiling Office were terrified by the God of the Eighth Route Army and fled into Yi County in a hurry.In this way, the entire mausoleum area has become a guerrilla area for the enemy and us.Except for an elderly mausoleum guard who has served here for many years, there are no armed guards in each mausoleum, and the entire Xiling mausoleum is guarded in a vacuum.Ordinary people can also go to the mausoleum area to collect firewood and cut grass, walk around and have a look, and come in and out at will, which creates opportunities for criminals who want to steal and dig the tomb.

The Chongling Mausoleum was first built in 1909. The mausoleum site is named Jinlongyu, 5 kilometers east of the Tailing Mausoleum. It is the last existing imperial mausoleum in my country.At that time, the Qing Dynasty had been overthrown, and the Xunqing royal family continued to build it.Emperor Dezong Jingdi Guangxu and Empress Xiaodingjing Yehenala are buried inside.When Guangxu died, the mausoleum had not yet been built, and his Zigong (coffin) was temporarily placed in the Guande Hall of the Forbidden City. The Chongling Underground Palace was completed in 1913, and Guangxu's coffin was officially placed in the Chongling Underground Palace on November 11. Empress Longyu, who died of illness in 16, was also buried in the underground palace.

(End of this chapter)