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

Chapter 79 The Emperor’s Tomb That Makes Tomb Robbers Covet (2)
The Maoling Mausoleum is a magnificent building, and the burial objects in the tomb are extremely luxurious and rich. It is said in history that "money and property, birds, animals, fish and turtles, cattle, horses, tigers, leopards, and poultry, all of them are hidden away."According to legend, Emperor Wu's gold carved jade clothes, jade box, jade staff, etc. were buried in the tomb together.Later, there were written records that said that due to the long reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in the later period, there was no place in the mausoleum to put the rare treasures collected later.Around the mausoleum are the tombs of more than 20 people including Mrs. Li, Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, and Huo Guang.Maoling Mausoleum is the largest among the imperial tombs of the Han Dynasty, with the longest construction period and the richest funerary objects. It is known as the "Pyramid of China".

Although the Maoling Mausoleum has not been officially excavated, people have speculated that in the Han Dynasty, when death was as important as life, and rich burials were popular, the mausoleum of this king must be full of all kinds of rare treasures.It is no wonder that people speculate like this. There are extremely luxurious descriptions of the Maoling Underground Palace in many historical materials. "Han Shu Gongyu Biography" records, "Emperor Wu abandoned the world, Huo Guang devoted himself to his work, and hid a lot of money and property. Birds, animals, money, turtles, cattle, horses, tigers, leopards, and birds, all ninety things, were hidden away."It can be seen from the above text that the number of funerary objects in Liu Che's mausoleum is abundant.Later, there is a text saying, "Emperor Wu has been buried for a long time, and there is no more content in the mausoleum."This means that due to Liu Che's long reign, when he died, there was no room for those rare treasures in the mausoleum.From the above records, it can be seen that because Emperor Wu of the Han reigned for a long time and was in the heyday of economic prosperity, there were many funeral objects. , and also buried together.According to other records, the king of Kangqu Kingdom presented the jade box and jade stick to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, as well as 190 volumes of miscellaneous scriptures that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty read during his lifetime. They were contained in a gold box and buried in the mausoleum.

According to "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes", the emperors of the Han Dynasty were buried in "Jade Caskets with Pearls and Jackets", which were shaped like armor and connected with gold wires.The so-called "pearl jacket jade box" is the jade garment with golden thread.Due to the difference in status, the materials of the strands used in the gold strand jade clothes and jade pieces are also different from gold strands, silver strands, copper strands and silk strands.Since the golden hazel jade garment symbolizes the identity of the emperor and nobleman, the requirements for its production process are very strict.

The rulers of the Han Dynasty also set up the "East Garden" which specialized in making jade clothes.When making jade clothes, the jade materials used have to go through procedures such as cutting, sawing, polishing and drilling, and then the jade pieces are designed into different sizes and shapes according to different parts of the human body, such as square, rectangle, half-moon, Triangles, etc., the large one is 9 square centimeters, and the small one is less than 1 square centimeter.Then use gold wires to pass through the small holes in the four corners of these jade pieces to connect all the jade pieces together.According to the level of productivity more than 2000 years ago, the cost of making a medium-sized jade garment was equivalent to the sum of the property of 18 medium-sized households at that time.Take the gold-threaded jade garment unearthed from Han tombs in Mancheng as an example. Liu Sheng’s jade garment is 2498 meters long, sharing 1100 pieces of jade pieces and 2160 grams of gold wire. 700 grams.One of Liu Sheng's jade garments took hundreds of craftsmen more than two years to complete, and the manpower and material resources required were astonishing.

Then, why did people in the Han Dynasty attach so much importance to using jade clothes as funeral clothes?It turns out that the emperors of all dynasties longed for immortality and immortality, which was a major event in their lives.The emperors tried their best to find the elixir of life before they were alive, or ordered people to make pills for health preservation.Even after death, they will not give up this desire to survive, hoping to continue to maintain the life before death.According to the ancients' point of view, after death, the soul will be separated, the soul will ascend to the sky, and the body will return to the earth.And how to make the soul energy ascend to the sky, but also keep the body and soul intact?Only use jade.They believe that jade is the essence of heaven and earth, has anti-corrosion function, can make corpses immortal, and jade plugs nine orifices can make people's popularity last forever.

Due to the high price of jade clothes, the imperial tombs of the Han Dynasty attracted more tomb robbers than the imperial tombs of other eras. Not only did the emperors and nobles fail to achieve the goal of incorruptible corpses, even their skeletons were burned to ashes.It was not until AD 222 that Wei Wendi Cao Pi became the emperor of Wei. He believed that the use of jade clothes was "foolish and vulgar", so he ordered the abolition of the system of burial with jade clothes, and the history of jade clothes with golden thread came to an end. up.

The largest and strongest belongs to Qianling
Located in the hinterland of Qinchuan, which is [-] miles away, the Weibei Mountains in Shaanxi Province contain beautiful mountains and rivers created by nature.In this group of beautiful, majestic, towering and steep cone-shaped peaks, there are dozens of tombs of Chinese emperors of the Han and Tang Dynasties, forming a spectacular landscape for the [-]-mile Weibei Mountain Plain.Among them, Liangshan, located in the north of Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province, is famous at home and abroad for burying a powerful woman in Chinese history. The mausoleums of other emperors in the Tang Dynasty and Qianling Mausoleum form a fan shape around the capital Chang'an.

Drive from the ancient capital of Xi'an, go west along National Highway 312 for about 70 kilometers and enter Qianxian County. If you look northwest, you will see three tall and steep peaks set off by vast smoke and clouds, which are high in the north and low in the south, towering under the vast sky. From a distance, it looks like a young woman with long hair after a new bath, with her head north and south, lying on her back under the blue sky and white clouds. This is Liangshan. Qianling is known as the joint burial place of the only female emperor Wu Zetian and her husband Tang Gaozong Li Zhi in Chinese history.

Qianling Mausoleum is the only one in China and even in the world where the emperors of two dynasties and a couple of emperors were buried together.It is a national key cultural relic protection unit where the third emperor Gaozong Lizhi of the Tang Dynasty and the only female emperor Wu Zetian in Chinese history are buried inside.Built in 684 AD, it took 23 years to complete.The Qianling Mausoleum is currently known to be the most well-preserved imperial tomb with the richest cultural relics and has not been stolen. It is known as the "Ninth Wonder of the World" buried underground.

The Qianling Mausoleum was built in 684 AD, and it took 23 years for the project to be basically completed.The momentum is majestic and magnificent.Qianling Mausoleum is located on Liangshan Mountain, 6 kilometers north of Qianxian County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province.Liangshan is a conical limestone mountain with three peaks. The North Peak is the highest with an altitude of 1047.9 meters. Qianling Mausoleum is on the North Peak.The two peaks in the south of Liangshan are lower, facing each other from east to west, with Sima Road in the middle, so the two peaks are named "Rufeng".According to historical records, the mausoleum originally had two inner and outer city walls, four city gates, and many magnificent buildings such as the dedicated hall and quelou.Exploration shows that the total area of ​​the inner city is 240 million square meters.The city walls are surrounded by Zhuquemen in the south, Xuanwumen in the north, Qinglongmen in the east and Baihumen in the west.Stepping on the stone steps from the first gate of Qianling Mausoleum, there are 537 steps in total, and the height difference of the steps is 81.68 meters.After walking the steps, there is a flat and wide road until the stele of "Tomb of Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty". This road is "Sima Road".On both sides, there are 1 pair of Huabiao, 1 pair of winged horses and 5 pair of ostriches, 10 pairs of stone horses, 2 pairs of Weng Zhong, and 61 stone steles.In the east is the stele without characters, and in the west is the stele of Shushengji.There are 1 statues of Wang Bin, a pair of stone lions, and 17 accompanying tombs around. The tombstone of "Tang Gaozong Mausoleum" is 2 meters high. It was erected by Shaanxi governor Bi Yuan for Gaozong. The original monument has been destroyed. Now this monument was rebuilt during the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty.Another tombstone on the right front side of this stele is Guo Moruo's inscription "Tomb of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi and Emperor Zetian" in 12 characters.In addition, outside the south gate, there are 61 stone statues of the leaders of Chinese ethnic minorities and envoys of friendly countries who participated in the funeral of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian.In Chinese history, the number, types and placement of the stone carvings in front of the mausoleum have been fixed since the Qianling Mausoleum, and it has been extended to the Qing Dynasty, with similarities and minor differences throughout the dynasties.

There are 17 burial tombs in Qianling Mausoleum.There are Prince Tomb 1960 (Prince Zhanghuai Li Xian, Prince Yide Li Chongrun), King Tomb 1971 (Ze Wang Li Shangjin, Xu Wang Li Sujie, Bin Wang Li Shouli), Princess Tomb 5 (Princess Yiyang, Princess Xindu, Princess Anxing , Princess Yongtai), Minister Tomb Eight (Wang Jishan, Xue Yuanchao, Yang Zaisi, Liu Shenli, Doulu Qinwang, Liu Rengui, Li Jinxing, Gao Kan). From 4300 to 100, five accompanying tombs including Princess Yongtai, Prince Zhanghuai, Prince Yide, Zhongshuling Xue Yuanchao, and Yan Guogong Li Jinxing were excavated successively, and more than [-] precious cultural relics were unearthed.Among them, there are more than [-] gorgeous and colorful tomb murals, which can be called a magnificent and unique art gallery in ancient China. " and other murals are of great value not only for the study of Tang Dynasty paintings, but also for the study of Tang Dynasty architecture, clothing, customs, sports activities, court life, and foreign affairs.

(End of this chapter)