How many secrets does a Qing Dongling Tomb hide?
When it comes to the imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty, the first thing that comes to people's minds is the Qing Dongling, thanks to a TV series called "The Tanglin Thief", which tells the story of Sun Dianying's theft of the treasures in the Qing Dongling.
But few people know that the Qing Dynasty is long gone, but the Qing Dongling has always been guarded, so who are these people? What are their stories?
The imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty are divided into two places, Dongling and Xiling, but in terms of importance and the importance of the Qing Dynasty, it has to be Dongling.
The Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty is a magnificent project, which began to be built during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, and it took more than 240 years before and after, which has almost caught up with the entire history of the Qing Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Qing Dongling is a witness to the history of the Qing Dynasty.
There were a total of five emperors sleeping in the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty, including Shunzhi, Kangxi, Qianlong, Xianfeng, and Tongzhi. In addition, 15 empresses, including the Empress Dowager Cixi, and more than 150 concubines are buried. It is precisely because of this that the scale of the Qing Dongling Tomb is also unprecedentedly huge.
Why the five emperors? You must know that there were more than five emperors in the Qing Dynasty, and in fact, there was a lot of attention to this.
Emperor Kangxi had already planned at the beginning of the construction of the Qing Dongling, which could only bury five emperors. After all, there are too many mausoleums, which may break the feng shui and affect the fortune of the Qing Dynasty.
Located in the center of the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty, it is naturally the father of Emperor Kangxi, Shunzhi, as the first emperor after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the founder of the Qing Dynasty, he is the most qualified person.
In the east, west, north and south directions around the filial piety tomb of Shunzhi, they are the Jingling of the Kangxi Emperor, the Yuling of the Qianlong Emperor, the Dingling of the Xianfeng Emperor, and the Huiling of the Tongzhi Emperor.
These four imperial tombs jointly guard the filial piety mausoleum in the middle, while the mausoleums of empresses and concubines such as Cixi can only be built around these five imperial tombs, and the scale is determined according to the status of the tomb owner during his lifetime.
In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the two emperors Xianfeng and Tongzhi are not qualified to be buried in the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty, after all, these two emperors have mediocre qualifications and have not made any immortal achievements. and Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Qianlong are not the same.
The reason why the two of them were able to enter the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty was the meaning of the Empress Dowager Cixi. As the most powerful woman in the Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi naturally wanted to enter the Qing Dongling, but she was not the emperor and did not have this qualification, he wanted to go in, so he could only enter as the empress of Xianfeng, so Emperor Xianfeng had to enter the Qing Dongling.
As for Emperor Tongzhi, that was the most beloved son of the Empress Dowager Cixi, this son died early, Cixi, the mother, naturally wanted to compensate her son for one or two, so she also entered the Qing Dongling.
The Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty buried so many prominent people, and the treasures buried in it were naturally countless. In order to guard against the likes of "touching the golden school captain", the Qing Dynasty arranged for the Qing Dongling to guard the imperial tomb.
We often see in TV dramas that those eunuchs who fail in the battle in the court are often sent to guard the tomb of the first emperor, and these eunuchs are often crying and shouting that they are unwilling to go. This gives the illusion that guarding the Imperial Mausoleum is a chore that no one wants to do.
Actually, no, maybe for those eunuchs, after all, they are nothing without the emperor. But for other mausoleum keepers, the opposite is true.
This mausoleum is a beautiful difference, and many people want a place.
The mausoleum keepers of the Qing Dynasty must be the children of the Eight Banners. The children of the Eight Banners were originally pampered, and what they all rushed to do was naturally a lot of benefits.
The ideal job of modern people is "more money, less things, and close to home", and guarding the emperor's tomb satisfies two of them, but it is very far from home.
First of all, there are few things, and the errand here is to inspect the imperial tomb every day to prevent small people from taking advantage of it. At its peak, there were tens of thousands of mausoleum guards, and no one dared to clear the idea of Tanglin. It can be seen how idle this errand is.
Besides, there is a lot of money, not to mention Yulu, which is several times that of ordinary guards in the palace. It's not that the emperor is generous, it's that the emperor can't help it. After all, there are many treasures in the Qing Dongling, and no one can guarantee that the mausoleum keepers will not fight these treasures.
The emperor only had to give more money to appease these people, which was similar to "raising incorruptible silver".
In addition, many good things sent to the Qing Dongling also fell into the hands of these tomb keepers.
For example, the Kangxi Emperor, who was famous for his frugality, would send thousands of livestock to Xiaoling every year for sacrifice. But most of these things entered the mouths of the mausoleum guards, and Kangxi actually knew this. Only a few livestock are needed to sacrifice to Shunzhi, and many of them are actually for these tomb keepers.
There are many similar things, which can be regarded as the benefit of this errand.
It is precisely because of this that those children of the Eight Banners who are used to being pampered will rush to this errand.
However, with the decline of the Qing Dynasty, the good days of the mausoleum guards have come to an end. At first, all kinds of benefits became less and less, and then they were simply reduced to the same as ordinary guards. At this moment, the mausoleum keepers have changed from fragrant buns in everyone's eyes to no one cares, and the number of mausoleum guards has also plummeted.
Later, Pu Yi abdicated, and the Qing Dynasty was gone, but their fortune was still unbroken. Yuan Shikai promised to continue to raise these people.
It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, with the death of Yuan Shikai and the chaos at the time, these people completely lost their income. Most of the mausoleum guards chose to go out to find work, and some of the older people remained, reluctant to stay in the Qing Dynasty, and still chose to stay in the imperial mausoleum.
These people can't protect themselves, so naturally they can't protect the Qing Dongling, so Sun Dianying came and easily took away countless treasures.
Until the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state attached great importance to the protection of cultural relics, and listed the Qing Dongling Tomb as a key unit for the protection of cultural relics. It is not only repaired and maintained, but also protected by special personnel.
Now the Qing Dongling Tomb is already a pleasant tourist resort, welcoming countless tourists from all over the world every year.
From the changes in the situation of the Qing Dongling and the mausoleum keepers, we can also see the rise and fall of a country.
When the Qing Dynasty was at its peak, the Qing Dongling Tomb continued to expand, and those emperors and concubines were all buried in a beautiful manner. Even those mausoleum guards are living very well. Guarding the tomb also became the preferred errand for the children of the Eight Banners for a time. The amount of money and benefits they get every year is innumerable.
However, when the Qing Dynasty was declining, the Qing Dongling Tomb became more and more dilapidated, and the mausoleum guards could only barely eat and wear, and this errand became unpopular.
Today, the Qing Dongling Tomb has become prosperous again, and it can be seen that today's China has come out of the predicament of the past and has become rich and powerful.
On the way home is the New Year