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

Chapter 76
Strange things happened right after. Four months later, the archaeological team suddenly announced the abandonment of the excavation operation and withdrew from Mongolia.Seeing that the fruits of victory are about to be reaped, what caused this explorer who was obsessed with Genghis Khan to suddenly give up his dream for many years, and what force forced him to withdraw his troops hastily and withdraw from Mongolia in such a panic?It is said that the archaeological team was blocked by the Mongolian government and the people.Because according to traditional Mongolian beliefs, digging the land brings bad luck, and touching an ancestor's grave destroys his soul.Therefore, when the Mongolian people heard the news, they strongly opposed the excavation, and the Mongolian government also ordered the archaeological team to stop the excavation and withdraw from that area.Therefore, the main investor Kravitz had to announce the suspension of inspection activities.

Is it really?There is a popular saying among the folks: After the American archaeological team began to excavate, many poisonous snakes suddenly emerged from the walls of the tomb, biting some staff members, and the archaeological work was forced to run aground, and their vehicles parked on the side of the mountain also disappeared from the hillside for no reason. Sliding and falling, the lives of the archaeologists were threatened.Is the car slipped for no reason caused by human beings, or is it an unknown force at work?Strange things happen one after another, is it a pure coincidence or a causal loop somewhere?Could it be that Genghis Khan really appeared and forced the American archaeological team back?
It is said that there is spiritual energy in the world, perhaps, there are really some unclear reasons for it.

The existing Genghis Khan Mausoleum is in Ejin Horo Banner, which is a tomb of clothes and clothes, known as the "Eight White Room".As the name suggests, the Eight White Room is composed of eight white buildings. The building is majestic and has a strong Mongolian national style. The "eight white rooms" were originally eight white felt tents, and later the Mongols built a mausoleum on horseback for Genghis Khan in honor of him.The portrait of Genghis Khan is enshrined in the yurt, which symbolizes the cemetery.Such a cemetery is not only convenient for relocation, but also convenient for offering sacrifices, which is in line with the characteristics of nomadic people's migration. The "Eight White Room" moved to many places, and finally moved to Ejin Horo Banner on the Ordos Plateau. It contained his clothes, family tree, and it is said that the soul of Genghis Khan's last breath before his death was also in the pagoda.However, where Genghis Khan's remains were buried after his death has not been completely determined until now, and this has become an eternal mystery.

It is very strong to wear mountains into mausoleums

In Nanjing folk, there is such a legend that even children know. In 1638 AD, on the day of Zhu Yuanzhang's burial, there appeared "Ecstasy Array", that is, thirteen gates of Nanjing were buried at the same time.This statement is recorded in historical books. Zhu Guozhen's "Emperor Ming Dynasty's Great Political Records" stated that on the day Zhu Yuanzhang was buried, "he was buried, and each family was buried."Since Zhu Yuanzhang had already found a place for his home before his death, and chose Zhongshan and Shanyang to build his mausoleum, who doesn't know where he was buried?Why put up a "Ecstasy Array"?Could it be that Zhu Yuanzhang was not buried in Xiaoling, this is just his empty tomb?This mystery was not discovered until one day more than 600 years later.

On the eve of 2000, a stone tortoise, which had been sleeping for more than 600 years, shook off the soil covering its body, and broke out of the ground in the majestic appearance of China's largest giant tortoise.The stone tortoise was discovered in the woods on the east side of Meiling Palace. At that time, the stone tortoise and the stele were in two places, separated by a few meters, and almost buried by mud and bushes.According to the speculation of the cultural relics department, there are two possibilities for the origin of the stone turtle.One possibility is that the object is a waste product left over from the making of the "Shengong Shengde Stele" in the Sifang City of Xiaoling Mausoleum in the Ming Dynasty, and it was discarded due to unsatisfactory carving.Comparing this object with the stone tortoise in Sifang City today, there are differences in the carving techniques between the two, the former is rough and the latter is fine.

Another guess is that the object may be the "Wordless Stele" originally made for the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty, which corresponds to the "Shengong Shengde Stele" in Sifang City today.There are two steles in front of the tomb, one with words and one without words. This kind of regulation began in the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty. For example, there were double steles in front of the Mausoleum of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin.Fengyang Minghuang Mausoleum, built in the early Ming Dynasty, was built by Zhu Yuanzhang for his father. There are two stele pavilions on the tomb path. "No Word Monument".When Zhu Yuanzhang built his own mausoleum, he made some reforms to the regulations of the imperial tombs of the previous dynasty, which opened up a new generation of imperial mausoleums, including the cancellation of the form of double steles in front of the mausoleum.Since then, the Ming Tombs in Beijing and the tombs of the Qing emperors have only one stele, some with characters and some without characters.

Through multiple investigations by archaeologists, it is now basically confirmed that Zhu Yuanzhang was buried tens of meters below Dulongfu, and the underground palace is well preserved, which ruled out the theory that the underground palace was stolen in the past.It seems that the claim that Zhu Yuanzhang's Xiaoling Mausoleum was stolen is pure nonsense.

In fact, for more than 600 years, many tomb robbers visited Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. During the Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty, more than a hundred people collectively robbed Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum at night, but they were all unsuccessful.That is to say, the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum was stolen but is still well preserved.What made the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum escape the hands of thieves repeatedly for hundreds of years?Could it be that Ming Taizu's gods showed up to scare away those thieves?Or is there some invisible mechanism hidden in the underground palace to block the invasion of bandits?According to the in-depth research of He Yunao, a professor at the Institute of Natural and Cultural Heritage of Nanjing University who once presided over the application of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, he believes that the reason why the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is well preserved is the joint decision of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum's special anti-theft measures, historical opportunities and geographical location of.

After exploration, it was found that Dulongfu, where Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is located, was originally a solid stone mountain.Some imperial mausoleums dug a deep hole from top to bottom, and then sealed it up after being built, but the Ming Xiao Mausoleum was cut horizontally into the mountain, and the Jianxuan Palace was hollowed out from the inside.Although this horizontal hole method is a huge project, it is very strong.In the absence of explosives, it is impossible for ancient tomb robbers to dig holes from the top down.Under such a design, the tomb passage became the only passage for tomb robbers to enter the tomb.At that time, in order to prevent the patronage of tomb thieves, they had to hide the tomb passage, and in order to hide the tomb passage, the craftsmen who built the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum were even more painstaking.The tomb passage of Xiaoling Mausoleum was not designed according to the conventional design. It was located in the middle of the north-south axis, but to the southeast side. This unconventional design made many tomb robbers return without success.

In addition, a thick layer of rounded pebbles was laid under the high mound of sealed soil on the top of the Xiaoling Mausoleum in the Ming Dynasty.On the one hand, it is convenient for rainwater to quickly infiltrate into the drainage facilities of Baoding, and more importantly, it is also an important anti-theft measure.This is similar to an ancient quicksand anti-theft method. When grave robbers dig a hole, pebbles will roll down from all directions to fill the hole.In addition, the proximity to Nanjing City is also an important reason why the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum escaped the hands of thieves. As long as there is any trouble, the city will know immediately, which makes it impossible for the excavation activities to continue for too long.

Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum adopted three effective tomb-robbing measures, and also received a very good anti-theft effect, but if it encounters a warlord with heavy troops and explosives like Sun Dianying, the Dongling robber, I am afraid that he will not escape.Fortunately, historical chance allowed Ming Xiaoling to escape the claws of these thieves.Although the city of Nanjing suffered from repeated wars after the Ming Dynasty, each new regime protected Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum without exception.After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the anti-Qing thought in the Jiangnan area was effectively eliminated by protecting the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty.Even Emperors Kang and Qian must come to Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum to worship every time they went to the south of the Yangtze River. Kangxi also erected a stone tablet "Zhilong Tang and Song Dynasties" in front of the mausoleum.The first thing Hong Xiuquan and Sun Yat-sen did after they established their regime in Nanjing was to pay homage to the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty to show their determination to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty and restore China.Perhaps, all of this really has its own destiny.

Seven times stolen and still unsuccessful

Zhongxiang is an ancient and magical land.It is located in the central part of Hubei Province, at the northern end of the Jianghan Plain, and is one of the birthplaces of Chu culture in China.Emperor Shizong Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty gave the county the name "Zhongxiang", which means "auspicious Zhongju".Historically, there have been 6 emperors who "conferred kings" here, so Zhongxiang is also known as the "Hometown of Emperors".

Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang had 26 sons, one died young, one became a prince, and the other 24 were all named kings.Zhu Dong, king of Ying Jing, is the No. 20 third son of Zhu Yuanzhang. Ying is his fief name, and Jing is his posthumous title after his death.

King Yingjing was born in the Wuchen year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, that is, 1388 AD, and was canonized as King Ying in 1391. He died of illness on November 12, 1414 AD, the 27th year of Ming Yongle, at the age of 13.In the 1415th year of Yongle (AD [-]), he was buried on the sixth day of April in Baohe Mountain, which is now Huangchengwan, Group [-], Sanchahe Village, Jiuli Hui Township, Zhongxiang City.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were three Ming Dynasty vassals, King Yingjing, King Xingxian, and King Liangzhuang, who were entrusted here successively. However, King Yingjing, the 23rd son of Zhu Yuanzhang, was the first Ming Dynasty vassal to be entrusted to Zhongxiang.He is the son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang along with King Xiangxian of Jingzhou, King Liao Jian and King Chu Zhao of Wuhan.

The feudal dynasties in China advocated "thick burials with clear filial piety", and every time the emperor died, he did not hesitate to spend a lot of money and manpower to build a huge mausoleum for him.These mausoleums are a concentrated expression of the belief in the soul in the feudal era of China, embodying the political thoughts, moral concepts and aesthetic tastes of a period; The level of craftsmanship is the highest form of expression and architectural model of Chinese funeral art.

In 1368 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, ended the turbulent political life at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the social economy gradually recovered and developed. Because he absorbed the various disadvantages brought about by thick burials in previous dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang strongly advocated thin burials and opposed thick burials. He once proclaimed to the world, "Let me know the righteousness of loyal ministers, filial sons, loving brothers, and fraternal brothers."Therefore, thick burials, which have been practiced for thousands of years in our country, were greatly restrained in the Ming Dynasty.The unearthed tombs of other princes of the Ming Dynasty are not as large and high-grade as the tomb of King Yingjing.Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was strictly hierarchical, and it was impossible for King Ying Jing to raise the level of his own tomb without authorization, so people don't know why.

The grand scale of the tomb of King Yingjing fully conforms to the regulations for the tombs of princes in the early Ming Dynasty.According to "Xingdu Zhi" records: the tomb of King Yingjing was buried in Baohe Mountain, Qingping Village, 120 miles south of Xingdu City, and his concubine Guo was buried together.There are seven halls of enjoyment, ten rooms in the east and west rooms, five rooms in the divine kitchen, three rooms in the slaughter house, one drum tower, one stele pavilion, three rooms in the Lingxing gate, three rooms in the coupon gate, a red wall with a circumference of 11 seven feet, and one residence for internal officials.In the 1516th year of Zhengde (AD 1524), the palace was destroyed (pǐ), and Emperor Ruizongxian (Xingxian Wang Zhuyou) ordered officials to repair it.In the third year of Jiajing ([-] A.D.), Zhu Houqin, emperor Shizong Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty gave it a repair, and the curtains and curtains of the dormitory were completely new.

It was destroyed by the Japanese invaders in 1937, and the buildings on the ground were completely destroyed. Only the tombs and some architectural relics remain in the cemetery.Since then, there have been wars here, but the tomb of King Jing has basically remained intact except for the damage to the ground buildings.

Since 1999, cultural relics criminals have been blinded by profit, and have robbed the tomb of King Yingjing many times. The deepest hole is eight meters deep. Two of them blew through the roof of the underground palace, which caused serious damage. The protection of cultural relics in the tomb has been severely damaged. havoc.But the tomb robbery failed several times.

(End of this chapter)