Because of the severe drought in the northwest, the court could not come up with the money and food needed for disaster relief, so it had to go to the wealthy clan to catch the autumn wind. Now, in order to raise money and food for disaster relief, the emperor even tried to silence some people. After Taizong moved the capital, he had stopped building his own Shouling Mausoleum in the Gongyi Imperial Tomb area where all the emperors of Da Qi since Taizong were buried.
Originally, because Huang Qiong, the emperor, was always in good health, the Shouling project was not progressing quickly. It was not until the beginning of the year that the queen became critically ill several times, and the construction progress was accelerated. The construction of the imperial mausoleum itself is a complex project. Even if the progress is accelerated, it will not take more than a year and a half to complete even a single step.
Due to the temporary suspension of work, not even one-third of the Shouling project has been completed. Therefore, although the underground palace has been completed, the Baoding and Minglou are only half-built. Therefore, even if Queen Dahang’s Zi Palace is transported to the imperial mausoleum, it cannot be buried in the underground palace for the time being.
It could only be temporarily placed outside the feng shui wall of the imperial mausoleum, because Emperor Duanzong died suddenly before he could build his own Shouling Mausoleum. Emperor Lizong who ascended the throne could not hastily bury his brother because of etiquette. In the funeral palace built to house the emperor who had nowhere to stay in Zi Palace for the time being.
According to the so-called ancestral system of this dynasty, all kings, princesses, consorts, ministers, officials of fifth rank and above, and high-ranking concubines who died in Beijing after the death of an emperor or empress were sent to the imperial mausoleum. As one of the kings in Beijing, Huang Qiong naturally cannot violate the ancestral system. Although it is not possible to bury him for the time being, he still has to follow the farewell procession until he is sent to the funeral palace outside the imperial mausoleum in Gongyi before he can return.
Fortunately, Huang Qiong studied archeology at university in his previous life, and because of his career after graduation, he has always had an unusual interest in the tombs of ancient Chinese emperors. And ever since I discovered that I had come to this era inexplicably, I had become extremely curious about the imperial tomb in this life.
After all, in his previous life, despite China's thousands of years of history, there were enough emperors to strengthen the battalion, both legitimate and illegitimate. The number of emperors is large. Even if we exclude those kings who lost their country and were hastily buried without imperial mausoleums, the number of imperial mausoleums in the past dynasties is actually not much less.
Because most dynasties in the past advocated generous burials, kings were even more particular about treating death as life. These imperial mausoleums were often built too magnificently, and a large amount of priceless treasures were buried with them. Therefore, after the fall of the dynasty, they became the first target of tomb robbers. Even when the world was in chaos, it was organized and destroyed by the authorities.
Of these imperial mausoleums, not to mention the above-ground buildings that have long since been reduced to ashes, even the underground ones are intact and there are very few that have not been stolen. Even if there are many anti-theft methods, they cannot stop the tomb robbers who have many similar methods. What's more, some imperial tombs were directly excavated by some warlords organized troops.
Huang Qiong had done this in his previous life, and he knew that except for a few of the imperial tombs in China, almost all of them were empty. Except for the imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which are generally intact, the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty that were too close to big cities, and those that were either too strong to be dug, or because they were buried secretly without any markings on the ground, were able to escape the disaster. Outside, it has basically never been stolen.
Among the remaining imperial tombs, there are only stone statues and tall tombs that were ignored because they were too bulky, accompanying the imperial tomb that was actually empty. In addition to robbing the imperial tombs, these organized tomb robbers often also set fire to the equally magnificent buildings on the ground in order to cover up the evidence.
Being able to see the imperial mausoleums of this era, especially the imperial mausoleums that were different from the Ming and Qing imperial mausoleums that he had seen in his previous life, and what they looked like, was still very tempting to Huang Qiong. Therefore, as a concubine, he was not allowed to ride horses or sedan chairs along the way, so he could only follow the team on foot. Although it was a bit harder, Huang Qiong was far more energetic than during the wake.
In my previous life, when I was in college, I studied archeology. After graduating, Huang Qiong worked underground for many years, and Huang Qiong still had an understanding of the general structure of the tombs of Chinese emperors throughout the ages. Of course, what he knew in his previous life were all guesswork based on archaeological excavations. The real thing, at least in the previous life, has never been seen again.
After returning to this life, he looked forward to seeing the entire Tang Tomb, the largest imperial mausoleum in Chinese history. It's just that although Tang Ling is located in Chang'an in the northwest, he can't go there for the time being. But Huang Qiong thought that since this dynasty inherited the Tang Dynasty, the mausoleum system should also be copied from the previous Tang Dynasty.
After all, although the imperial mausoleum system has changed in each dynasty according to their own circumstances, there is still a great deal of inheritance between them. As he knew, the imperial mausoleums of the Northern Song Dynasty should have appeared at this time. Although the scale was far inferior to the Tang mausoleums, the general architectural situation has not changed much, and the architectural regulations of the imperial mausoleums of the former Tang Dynasty have basically continued. .
Since the imperial tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty that were supposed to appear in this time and space have not changed much in terms of regulations, then the imperial tombs of this dynasty should also be based on the Tang system. It was only when he arrived at the imperial mausoleum in Gongyi that Huang Qiong discovered that the mausoleum system of this dynasty was fundamentally different from the former Tang Dynasty described in books about previous lives in his memory.
Among the original ground-level buildings of the imperial tombs of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the large-scale lower palace had long been cancelled, and only the upper palace building for worship and worship was retained and expanded. The entire Gongyi Mausoleum area is centered on Taizong's Mausoleum, and the rest of the imperial tombs are distributed on both sides of Taizong's Mausoleum in Zhaomu position. Although the entire mausoleum complex is equally magnificent, it is almost the same as the Ming and Qing imperial mausoleums I saw in my previous life.
Even the building structure is not much different. The layout of each tomb is circular in front and back. In front of each mausoleum is a stone archway, followed by three stone bridges. Behind the bridge are the stele pavilion and the mausoleum gate. There is a platform in front of the mausoleum gate, with five divine kitchens and five divine treasury rooms. Behind it are the Lin'en Gate and the Lin'en Hall. Behind the Lin'en Hall are the square city and Baoding.
Moreover, the top of the treasure is not in the shape of a bucket in the Han and Tang Dynasties. It is round like the imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties that I saw in my previous life.
It's so similar. Except for the slightly different architectural style, the customization and specifications are almost exactly the same as the Ming Tombs in the previous life. But Huang Qiong didn't know whether there were five stone offerings, whether there were screen walls, dumb courtyards, and Lingxing gates under the treasured roof. These were buildings that could not be seen from the outside.
Because these imperial tombs are all Huang Qiong's ancestors in this life. Even though he is a prince, he cannot enter without obeying the imperial edict. Even for the annual memorial ceremony, only the emperor could come. If the emperor is in poor health or unable to come due to other matters, he will at least send the prince.
If there is no prince, then the emperor sending that prince to pay homage to the mausoleum is basically equivalent to actually establishing a heir apparent. Precisely because entering the imperial mausoleum is an important matter, the consequences of entering without the imperial decree will be serious. Even if he, the prince, entered the imperial mausoleum without authorization, even if the emperor did not pursue other charges, at least one transgression crime could not be escaped.
Therefore, what Huang Qiong can see is only the appearance, and he cannot see the real details. But just the appearance of these imperial tombs was enough to shock Huang Qiong. As for the mausoleum building, it no longer matters to him whether there are stone five offerings, dumb courtyard, and Lingxing Gate.
When Huang Qiong saw these majestic and huge imperial tombs, he acted like a fool entering the city and seeing something new for the first time. King Yong walked to him and told him that these imperial mausoleums were imitations of Emperor Taizu's imperial mausoleums in Chang'an. It's just that the specifications are slightly reduced.
From the mausoleum gate to the square city behind, the height and width were reduced by half, the Ming Tower was also changed from the three holes of Taizu's mausoleum to one hole, and the regulations of the Baoding were also reduced by 30%. In addition to Taizong's Mausoleum, the width of the other mausoleums' En'en Hall has also been reduced from nine rooms to seven rooms. From five rooms deep, it was reduced to three rooms. The number of stone statues has also been reduced from sixteen pairs to twelve pairs.
The mausoleum of Emperor Taizu was built under the supervision of the Guilin County Prince. Therefore, the Guilin County Prince not only became the first hero of the founding of the country, but also the person who pioneered the customization of the tombs of the emperors of the Qi Dynasty. It's just that when the imperial mausoleum was built, the remnants of the former Tang Dynasty were still entrenched in Western Shu and had nowhere to harvest nanmu, so the nanmu pillars and beams in the imperial mausoleum were changed to stone.
After hearing what King Yong said, Huang Qiong's brows frowned deeply. He had never thought that the imperial tombs of this dynasty were not copied from those of the Han and Tang dynasties. Instead, the imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties hundreds of years later, or to be precise, the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty, were copied almost intact. Even the construction of the Feng Shui Wall outside the tomb area with the Shouling Shinto Road as the only shrine in the imperial mausoleum area has not changed.
The only difference is that the first mausoleum after the Ming Dynasty imperial tombs has stone statues, while the other imperial tombs do not have stone statues. The imperial mausoleums of this dynasty each have their own stone statues. Moreover, the architectural situation of the Qin'en Hall and the Qin'en Gate is more in line with the current architectural style.
These are almost the only differences. If you don't understand the difference between the late Tang style architecture and the Ming Dynasty architectural style, you will easily feel a sense of time confusion when you first see these imperial tombs. It is believed that the imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties scattered in northern China have also traveled to the Central Plains hundreds of years ago.
I remembered that my mother had told me before that the Guilin County Prince was able to win the battle in Tongzhou by collecting copper coins and casting cannons. Huang Qiong's heart couldn't help but be moved by the various methods of the Guilin County Prince who successively introduced methods of roasting tea and drying salt, and united with a group of founding dignitaries to establish Wuwei Bank.
It is important to know that the tradition of building imperial tombs in ancient times is very important. Since Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, large-scale modifications to the upper and lower palaces continued until the founding emperor, a cowherd boy and a monk, came to the throne. Before the monk emperor's major changes, the Yuan Dynasty had always adopted the traditional secret burial method and did not build imperial tombs at all.
Of course, there may have been several dynasties during this period. Rather than paying attention to sparse burials, it was more to ensure that their imperial tombs were complete and protected from the prying eyes of those tomb robbers with powerful tombs. Even Baoding was unwilling to raise it, and instead adopted a system of neither sealing nor planting. But it did not last long, and building luxurious mountain tombs was still the mainstream. The upper and lower palace system has always been a traditional system for the construction of imperial tombs in China.
If there had not been changes of more than a hundred years during this period, the secret burial system of rulers born outside the Great Wall would have changed the traditional culture. Even the emperor who almost changed China for thousands of years and whose political tradition abolished the consul-general and the prime minister may not change. You must know that the system of upper and lower palaces in imperial tombs is another copy of the system of sleeping in the front and back in ancient Chinese palaces. Treating death as life is the first priority of Chinese dynasties in building imperial tombs.
