Yongding Mausoleum

Yongding Mausoleum

Yongding mausoleum is a joint Mausoleum of Zhao Heng, Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, empress Liu of Zhang Xianming, empress Yang of Zhang Hui, and empress li of Zhang Yi. Empress pan of Zhang Huai was buried with her, and empress Guo of Zhang Mu was buried with her. Located 1 km north of caizhuang, Gongyi City, Henan Province, the mausoleum has not yet been officially excavated.

General situation of Mausoleum

Yongding mausoleum is a joint Mausoleum of Zhenzong Zhao Heng, Zhang xianmingsu's empress Liu's, Zhang Hui's empress Yang's and Zhang Yi's empress Li's. Zhang Huai's empress Pan's is attached to the tomb and Zhang Mu's empress Guo's is buried with her. There are 16 mounds around the building sites. So far, the mausoleum has not been officially excavated, and the situation in the mausoleum is still unknown. The buildings on the ground have been destroyed, but the stone carvings of horses, sheep, lions and tigers in front of the mausoleum are well preserved, which is the best preserved group of mausoleums in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Song Zhenzong

Zhao Heng, Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, was Emperor Xiao of the Yuan Dynasty (from 998 to 1022).

Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty was named Zhao Heng (968-1022 A.D.), originally named Zhao Dechang, later renamed yuanxiu and Yuankan. The third son of Taizong. Taizong died and succeeded to the throne. After 25 years in office, he died at the age of 55 and was buried in yongdingling (now caijiazhuang, Southeast of Gongyi City, Henan Province).

Zhao Heng was the third son of Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty. Before he ascended the throne, he was granted the titles of King Han, King Xiang and King Shou. He succeeded as the crown prince in 997. Zhenzong has been in power for 25 years. During the reign of Zhenzong in Song Dynasty, the rule of Northern Song Dynasty was more and more solid, the national management was more and more perfect, and the social economy was prosperous. The Northern Song Dynasty was relatively strong, which was called Xianping's rule in history.

In 1004, Liao invaded the Song Dynasty. Most ministers of the Song Dynasty proposed not to resist. A few people, led by Prime Minister Kou Zhun, strongly advocated resistance. Finally, they convinced song Zhenzong to fight in person. The two sides met in Chanyuan, and song won. Zhenzong decided to strike at this point, to buy peace with Liao with 100000 liang of silver and 200000 pieces of silk every year, and set up an alliance with Liaoyuan. This is the beginning of the Song Dynasty's exchange for peace from fanfangna coins.

In the later period of the reign of emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, Wang qinruo and Ding Wei were the prime ministers. They believed in Taoism and Buddhism. They were called by the book of heaven, sealed Mount Tai and worshipped Fenyang, and built many temples.

There are three empresses buried in Yongding mausoleum, namely empress Liu, empress Yang Shufei and empress Li Chen. Princess Li Chen was originally empress Liu's maid. Later, she was loved by Zhenzong and was named "talented person". She gave birth to Zhenzong's youngest son, Zhao Zhen, who was later emperor Renzong. Zhao Heng had six sons, all of whom died early, leaving only the precious son born to Li. However, shortly after the birth of Zhao Zhen, empress Liu sent someone to take him as his own son. After the death of Zhenzong, Zhao Zhen succeeded to the throne. At that time, he was only 12 years old, and Empress Dowager Liu decided all the important affairs in the court. Soon Li was promoted, but she was ordered to go to Gongxian County to serve yongdingling. The traditional opera "cat for Prince" is based on this fact.

The process of mausoleum building

Empress Dowager Liu appointed Prime Minister Ding Wei as the general person in charge of the construction of the imperial mausoleum. Eunuch Lei Yungong was the capital supervisor of the Imperial Mausoleum (the specific person in charge of the project), and he was from Suzhou. In the history books, he was called "resourceful and resourceful", but also "treacherous" and "treacherous". He used the method of "telling auspicious omens and building a palace" to cater to the psychology of Zhenzong, so as to win Kou Zhun's favor. He tried his best to be courteous to Kou Zhun. One day, Ding and Kou had a dinner together at prime minister's mansion. Kou Zhun had a lot of soup on his beard. Ding said to see quickly took out a handkerchief, one hand stroked Kou Zhun beard to wipe. Kou Zhun couldn't stand this kind of low-key flattery, so he refused with a smile: "Ding is a minister of the country. I'm afraid it doesn't fit the system and lose his character to put on his beard in public. Don't do it again.". Several people said that Ding was red in the face and red in the ears. From then on, he had a grudge and waited for revenge. Soon Ding said that he had a relationship with eunuch Lei Yungong. He used Lei as his eyes and ears. He knew the secrets of the palace and the emperor's every move like the palm of his hand. Lei Yungong, on the other hand, relied on Ding Wei to expand his influence and influence to the outer court. They used each other to fight against Zhengren. Kou Zhun, Li Di and other ministers were dismissed from the central government and demoted to the remote areas under the slander of Ding and Lei. So Ding Wei became prime minister. Ding and Lei were more arrogant and domineering, "the party was evil, ugly and upright", "the eyes of the world were evil", and all the court officials were indignant. Wang Zengli, the Vice Prime Minister, was worried. He wanted to get rid of them, but he had nothing to do.

Since Ding and Lei were appointed as mausoleum repair envoys, this is a kind of Royal trust envoys. They are not happy. At that time, Si Tianjian (the office in charge of astronomy, calendar, auspicious omen) had already selected WoLonggang, six miles northeast of Yong'an, as the site of the mausoleum. However, Lei Yungong thought that it was not lucky and that it was necessary to move up another 100 steps to be the site of the mausoleum. Xia shouen, who was in charge of the construction, led tens of thousands of people to break the ground at the place designated by Lei Yungong. Unexpectedly, only a few feet deep, a lot of pebbles appeared. When he dug again, the groundwater gushed out. According to the geomantic book, it's a very fierce thing to bury a corpse in the water. Some people report this to the imperial court, but Ding says that he covers up Lei Yungong in every way. So the Empress Dowager Liu ordered the king to go to the mausoleum to investigate. The king investigated the matter and told the empress dowager, "when I went to the mausoleum to investigate and understand, everyone said that the original mausoleum site was the most auspicious, and the new site could not be used because of the water. Ding said that he harbored evil intentions and let Lei Yungong move the Imperial Hall to the Jedi, which was a great crime." after hearing this, Empress Dowager Liu was furious and found out many facts about Ding and Lei's collusion, so she ordered Lei Yungong "died" and Ding was exiled to Yazhou (now Yaxian County, Hainan Province). Wang once took advantage of mausoleum building to get rid of two bad people in power. Later historians praised him as an ingenious political means for "one net leads to two traitors" without any trace.

Funerary objects

On April 1, 1022, the construction of the mausoleum was officially started. The project was very large. Tens of thousands of migrant workers and troops were employed. It was not until September that the project was basically completed. On September 11, Empress Dowager Liu summoned the Minister of culture and military to the Huiqing hall to visit the funeral articles prepared for Zhao Heng, including Zhuru (a coat made of pearls), jade casket (a jade dress made of money or silver), Sui (a quilt), Han (a pearl jade treasure), costumes and various precious utensils, as well as Zhao Heng's "clothes for life, a good tool for the emperor to play with" The empress dowager, the emperor and the ministers also discussed how to deal with the large number of "auspicious objects" and "heavenly books" that were collected and worshipped. Some said that they should continue to be worshipped; some said that they should be burned and sent back to the "heavenly palace"; others said that a palace should be set up for special collection. In the end, the Prime Minister Wang once proposed: "the declining heavenly book and the national contribution of auspicious things are the special gift of the Emperor God to the former Emperor. This honor belongs to the former Emperor. The former Emperor has gone to the immortals. The heavenly book and auspicious things should also go to the Imperial Hall together with the former Emperor. They should never be left in the world." Therefore, it was decided that all the "heavenly books" and "auspicious objects" would be sent to Yongding mausoleum before the emperor's coffin and buried in the mausoleum. Later generations said that the treatment of burying Prime Minister Wang Zeng was "a little more careful", which not only eliminated the superstitious atmosphere in the imperial court caused by Zhao Heng, but also put an end to the large amount of unprofitable expenses of building immortal temples and worshiping "heavenly books" and "auspicious objects", which was beneficial to the society.

Mausoleum regulation

Yongding mausoleum "huangtang" (the underground palace where the coffins are placed) is 81 feet deep, with a square bottom and 140 feet around. So far, the mausoleum has not been officially excavated, and the situation inside the mausoleum is still unknown. The buildings on the ground have been destroyed, but the stone carved horses, sheep, lions and tigers in front of the mausoleum are still well preserved. Among the tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty, they are the best preserved. They are large in shape, fine in carving, smooth in ornamentation, and lifelike in expression. They are excellent works of stone carving art of the Song Dynasty. Even if we regard the stone carvings of this Mausoleum as an open-air exhibition hall of Song Dynasty plastic arts, it is not too much.

Yongding mausoleum "Zhaocheng" (mausoleum area) covers an area of 1800 mu, with three empresses buried. Namely: Empress Liu of Zhang xianmingsu, empress Yang of Zhang Hui and empress li of Zhang Yi.

Empress Zhang Xianming and empress Su Liu

Empress Liu was born in Huayang (today's Chengdu City), Sichuan Province. Her father, Liu Tong, was an officer. He died early and his family declined. Liu was raised by relatives. At the age of 15, she went to Kaifeng with her husband, Gong Mei, a silversmith, to make a living. One day, Zhao Heng, who was then Kaifeng's Yin (mayor of the capital), asked Gong Mei to make jewelry in his mansion. As soon as he saw Liu, he fell in love with him and married him as a concubine. After Zhao Heng became emperor (Zhenzong), Liu was named "beauty" and later became Queen. Liu Cai Lue is excellent, proficient in the history of books, and has a strong memory. Once she knows about the affairs in the court and the palace, she can tell the whole story in detail and never forget it for a long time. When Zhao Heng read the memorials late into the night, Liu always accompanied him, and sometimes put forward some suggestions, which were often to the point and adopted, so he "spoiled the special room". After the fourth year of the reign of emperor Tianxi (1020), Zhao Hengjiu failed to recover from his illness, and the minister's memorials were mostly reviewed and commented by Empress Liu. Zhao Heng died in 1022, and Zhao Zhen (Renzong), who succeeded him, was only 13 years old. The ministers asked Liu (who was respected as the Empress Dowager at this time) to "name the system before the court.". When the court meets, Renzong sits on the left and Empress Dowager Liu sits on the right. Empress dowager Liu decides the important military and state affairs. She is sensitive in handling affairs, strict in command, good at both kindness and power, and quite able to restrain herself. Therefore, during her 11 years of "listening to politics behind the curtain", her political affairs were handled in an orderly manner. She died in 1033 at the age of 65. Buried about 1000 meters northwest of Yongding mausoleum, to the south of Quangou village in the future, it is a slightly low-lying but flat place. Posthumous title: Empress Dowager Zhang Xianming.

Chinese PinYin : Yong Ding Ling