What was the process of the emperor's burial? How did the last craftsman come out?

According to Ming Taizu's major policies, Zhu Yuanzhang was buried in various doors on the day of his burial. This book was written by Zhu Guozhen, the first assistant minister in Wanli period of Ming Dynasty. He was a university student and scholar in Wuyingdian. In ancient times, the president meant to sum up and decide his affairs. For example, the director of the National History Museum of the Qing Dynasty was in charge of compiling national history. So this history still has some credibility.

Perhaps, Zhu Yuanzhang also saw that many emperors' tombs were looted and destroyed, and their bodies were poisoned by thieves or retaliated by enemies. Instead, it is not as good as ordinary people. Zhu Yunwen's last words made the funeral "ecstatic". That is, thirteen funeral processions set out from thirteen gates in Nanjing at the same time, and the number of carriages, people, flags and coffins was the same. This method makes it impossible to tell which coffin is Zhu Yuanzhang's real body. In this regard, although the archaeological community has proved the existence of the Ming tombs underground palace, it is impossible to prove whether Zhu Yuanzhang's bones are buried in the underground palace. As a matter of fact, it is not uncommon for imperial tombs to be stolen in history. For example, in Guanzhong Plain of Shaanxi Province, there are 72 imperial tombs with 73 emperors buried, but all of them are empty, and even the tomb of Qin Shihuang has been found, with 247 stolen caves. It can be seen that the probability of the emperor's mausoleum being stolen is high.

Therefore, emperors of past dynasties paid little attention to the safety of their tombs. This has formed an insoluble contradiction. If the royal family wants to protect the safety of the first emperor's mausoleum, it is bound to kill the craftsmen to prevent the secrets of the mausoleum construction from leaking out, and the craftsmen will naturally try their best to escape. So, can the craftsmen who built the imperial tomb escape from life?

What work did the last craftsman (or the last batch of craftsmen) need to complete during the emperor's burial?

Grave structure

To talk about the burial of the emperor's coffin, we have to talk about the four burial structures of the ancient emperor's mausoleum.

1. Burying in a pit: Just dig a pit on the ground that can accommodate the body, and then put the body in for burial without a coffin. This kind of funeral mainly originated in the early primitive society. However, in the late Neolithic Dawenkou culture, the area of the tomb pit began to expand. After the tomb pit was built with wood, it was covered with wood, which was the earliest prototype of the coffin.

The second type is the wooden coffin underground palace: the bottom is the box, the top is the box cover, and the boxes are all around. This is the early form of the coffin. At the same time, several squares will be divided around the coffin to facilitate the storage of funerary objects. This process belongs to the primary stage of the development of imperial tombs.

3. Masonry Underground Palace: From Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, imitating the living style of real life, the imperial tombs generally adopted the form of masonry, and the wooden underground palace was gradually replaced. There are a large number of funerary objects in the tomb, and portraits are carved in the tomb, so it is called "stone tomb". For example, the hollow brick tombs popular in the mid-Western Han Dynasty, the stone tombs appearing in the late Western Han Dynasty and the Jingling underground palace in Tang Xizong. Whether "building a tomb with earth" or "building a tomb with mountains" (such as Tang Zhaoling), there is a similar feature, "building a treasure city and repairing a treasure top", that is, building a tall brick city on the underground palace of the tomb, and then filling the dome in the brick city to make it higher than the city wall, which is called "treasure city treasure top". When buried, the coffin can be placed through the underground passage, but the underground entrance is closed. However, most people bury the coffin first, then cover it with earth and lay it in the shape of a treasure top.

Therefore, as the last craftsman who closed the entrance to the underground palace, it was actually the last batch of craftsmen, which seriously threatened the safety of the imperial tomb. Can they survive by luck?

Burial process

Whether it is a folk burial or an imperial burial, it is inseparable from three major processes: burial, burial and soil sealing.

Funeral: According to Qin's calculation, the coffin will be carried to the mausoleum. For example, on the day of the funeral of the Qing emperor, all members of the royal family followed. At the front line, 64 guides carried people's flags and umbrellas, and 65,438+028 porters wore mourning clothes. There are 72 people in three classes, and they come out of Donghuamen and go to the mausoleum. Followed by 1628 funeral guards, holding all kinds of paper wreaths, paper figures, paper cages and burnt offerings made of silk and satin. At the same time, there are monks, Taoists, nuns and lamas in the funeral procession. They wear vestments and hold instruments to recite scriptures and pray. The whole funeral procession is vast, tens of miles long, solemn and spectacular.

Burial: After the coffin was sent to the underground palace, the new emperor went into the tomb pit alone to check the construction of the tomb and sort out the funerary objects. When you leave, you need to clean up your footprints, and the rest of the royal family can only burn paper outside the tomb to pay homage.

Fieldhood: After the new emperor withdrew from the underground palace, the last batch of mausoleum-repairing craftsmen sealed the stone gate at the entrance and exit of the underground palace, then the new emperor shoveled the first shovel to seal the door, and finally the death row sealed the door.

So, what will be the end of the craftsman?

"Historical Records of the First Qin Emperor" records: "When the great event is finished, it has been hidden, and the door is tilted, and the craftsman is hidden, so he cannot return." Don't say the last craftsman, all craftsmen have only one ending, and that is death. For example, the construction of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum has an extremely strict supervision system. Every 10 craftsman is 1 group with 1 team leader (small foreman); Every 10 group is 1 team, with 1 long queue (foreman). During the construction, nine big foremen commanded 90 small foremen, and then 90 small foremen led 900 craftsmen to carry out the construction, and the system of troops sitting together was implemented. If 1 people neglect their duties or run away, they must actively expose them, otherwise the whole group will be implicated. Therefore, no craftsman has a chance to escape.

According to Zi Jian, during the Southern Dynasties, after the death of Qi, all the craftsmen who repaired the tomb and participated in the funeral were killed. However, after the demise of Qi, the son of a craftsman stole the tomb of King Wu of Qi through the drawings secretly sent by his father, and finally avenged his father. It can be said that in ancient times, the craftsmen who repaired tombs were extremely strict, and it was extremely difficult to "escape the net".

For another example, after the death of the Great Khan of Mongolia, even if he met someone unfortunately, he would be killed immediately. After Khan was buried, not only the craftsmen who repaired the mausoleum would be killed, but also most of undertaker, camels and horses.

As for the sayings circulating on the Internet, such as "self-invited stone" and "turning nails" are all plots in tomb-robbing novels, which are extremely unreliable. Because, behind the door by the stone, far and near. As long as the Shimen is closed, the "top stone" behind the door will slide into the groove behind the Shimen, and there is no need to reserve another nail hole. Moreover, it is impossible for the royal supervisor not to pay attention to such obvious security risks.

Therefore, whether it is the last craftsman or other craftsmen, the outcome will be executed. However, they will never be buried in underground palaces. After all, not everyone can "share the same room" with the emperor after death.

So, how and where did the craftsmen who built the mausoleum die?

"Historical Records of the First Qin Emperor" records: "When the great event is finished, it has been hidden, and the door is tilted, and the craftsman is hidden, so he cannot return." In other words, all the main craftsmen died between the closed middle door and the lower outer door. At the same time, according to the archaeological findings of later generations, there are 140 tombs of service personnel on the west side of Qin Shihuang Mausoleum, and the number of remains is unpredictable. Therefore, most craftsmen and laborers who know how to build graves (with emphasis on death row inmates or slaves) will be killed. (Note: Envy Gate refers to the tomb gate. )

Another example is the Mausoleum of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which is located 9 kilometers east of Xingping City, Shaanxi Province. The mausoleum covers an area of more than 600,000 square meters, and the cemetery of spiritual practitioners accounts for about 40,000 square meters. It is estimated that more than 20,000 bodies will be buried.

Then, since all the people who repair the mausoleum ended up dead, why do people still do the business of repairing the mausoleum?

Many people may think, since spiritual practitioners end in a tragic death, who will do the work? After all, you can't do it, and no one can do anything about it.

Actually, it's simple to put it bluntly. For example, a eunuch will be willing to be a eunuch, not forced by life. Many people can be proud of being a policeman in the palace. Therefore, whether in ancient times or later generations, as long as the interests are sufficient, it is completely easy to buy a life. Another example is Zhao Yi's Notes on Twenty-two Histories in Qing Dynasty. It is recorded that the concubines, maids and other families who died for Zhu Yuanzhang were all named female households in the sky by the emperor, and all families were named thousands of hereditary royal guards. Then, who dares to make trouble, and who is willing to make trouble?

Therefore, although the result of spiritual practice is tragic, there will still be many people willing to do this work, and this business will naturally not disappear.

So, are there any spiritual practitioners who survived?

Of course, there must be some mistakes. For example, in July of 1928, Sun Dianying, commander of the 12th Kuomintang Army, committed the "Dongling robbery". At that time, the "guide" was a stonemason, a lucky survivor. When Cixi was buried, 8 1 person was responsible for sealing the tomb. During the construction, the stonemason was unfortunately hit by a falling stone on the head and fainted on the spot. The on-site supervisor had already killed him, so he was thrown into a mass grave and saved his life by luck. Therefore, when Sun Dianying stole the Qing Tomb, he heard about it and asked the masons to be "guides", thus successfully finding the entrance passage of the tomb and blasting the entrance. Otherwise, indiscriminate bombing will not only fail to steal treasures smoothly, but may also blow up ancient tombs, resulting in the destruction of treasures or death.

So there must be very few people who can survive by luck.

Image source network