Mention the word "Baling", people who love classical Chinese literature will not feel strange. Because of this term, it often appears in ancient Chinese poetry.
For example, Wei Yingwu's "Guests come from the East, dressed in Baling Rain"; Liu Changqing's "Already a Dongting person, just look at Baling Moon"; Bai Juyi's "Smoke Tree Baling Bank, Wind and Dust Changle Slope"; Liu Yong's "Jagged Smoke Tree Baling Bridge, Wind and Objects In the Front Dynasty". ”
Li Bai also has a more famous farewell poem, called "Baling Farewell", the full text is as follows:
Send Junba Ling Pavilion, the water flow is vast.
There are ancient trees with no flowers on the top, and sad spring grasses on the bottom.
I asked the Qin people for the way, and the cloud was the ancient road of Wang Yue Nandeng.
The ancient road continues to walk xijing, and the purple que sunset floats in the clouds.
At the time of the severed intestines on this evening, huang li could not bear to listen.
As long as you have read these ancient poems, then you will easily find that there is a place called "Baling" in these ancient poems. In ancient poetry, the word "Baling" and "Bashang", "Bayuan", etc. refer to the same place.
"Baling" is located in Lantian County, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, adjacent to the famous Bailuyuan. The reason why "Baling" is called "Baling" is because it is located on the Bayuan and buries the third emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Heng, the Emperor wen of Han, who is now generally written as "Baling".
The discovery and confirmation of Baling
On December 14, 2021, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held an online meeting and announced that the tomb of Liu Heng, the Emperor of Han Dynasty, was not in Bayuan, but at the western end of Bailuyuan, which was 2100 meters away from it.
As soon as this news was announced, it immediately rushed to the various hot search lists, which aroused the attention and heated discussion of many netizens. At present, this news is still at the top of the various hot search lists.
So, why do many netizens care so much about this news? Mainly because this time, the tomb of the famous "Emperor Wen of Han" was confirmed.
Liu Heng, emperor of the Han Dynasty, was the founder of the "rule of Wenjing" in the Han Dynasty and played a very important position in Chinese history. In addition, the netizens in the comment area also like the name "Baling".
This is probably because this "hegemonic" character looks very much in line with the royal prestige of the Han Dynasty. For this reason, some people even asked who gave it this name. The tomb of Qin Shi Huang did not dare to be called "Baling".
However, it is disappointing that as mentioned above, the reason why "Baling" is called "Baling" is because it is built on the bayuan and has nothing to do with whether its owner is a "hegemonic president".
However, Emperor Wendi of Han's son, Emperor Jingdi, was a "domineering president", and at a young age, because he lost chess, he smashed the brain shell of others with a chessboard. However, the imperial tomb of the Han Jing Emperor was called "Yang Ling".
The Han Dynasty was the second unified dynasty in China, and the Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han was an era of relative prosperity. It is reasonable to say that the location of the Tomb of the Han Dynasty Emperor should not be mistaken, but in fact it has indeed been mistaken for nearly a thousand years.
So, why was the location of Emperor Wen of Han's tomb misunderstood for so long? This is because the imperial tombs of ancient emperors cover a very large area, often tens or hundreds of square kilometers.
For example, the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin covers an area of 56.25 square kilometers, the Tomb of the King of Xiling covers an area of 53 square kilometers, and the Zhao Mausoleum of Li Shimin covers an area of up to 200 square kilometers.
On a plain that is often measured in "square kilometers", it is very difficult to find a tomb, even if it is the tomb of the emperor.
However, in addition to the Yuan Dynasty in ancient China, the imperial tombs of other periods generally had "Shinto", "Weng Zhong" and "Inscriptions" and other ground buildings. As long as these things are not completely destroyed, then the correct location of the mausoleum can be judged through these things.
But the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han may not have been so exquisite when it was built. During the time of Emperor Wen of Han, the country's economy had just recovered. Emperor Wen of Han embraced Huang Lao's ideas, and people at that time did not attach as much importance to funeral rites as they did after the Confucian rule in China.
According to the "Records of History", Emperor Wen of Han once ordered that when building the Baling Tomb, precious metals such as gold, silver and copper were not used for decoration, but only pottery. And the builder is required not to "seal the mound". Strive to be economical and not disturb the people.
Since the surface of the Han Wen Emperor's mausoleum did not even have a "sealed mound", it was very suspicious whether there was a ground building or a stone Weng Zhong. In addition, in the last years of the Western Han Dynasty, the Chimei Army burned chang'an Palace, and dug up the imperial tombs of the Western Han Dynasty.
During the Jin Dynasty, Baling and the rest of the Han imperial tombs were burned and excavated many times, so it was difficult for future generations to judge the correct location of The Baling. Nowadays, people think that Baling is located in the "Phoenix Mouth" area of Bayuan, which was originally influenced by archaeologists in the Yuan Dynasty.
Today, our archaeologists have found the "Jiangcun Tomb" on the White Deer Plain by confirming the location of the tomb of Empress Dou of the Han Dynasty. After several years of archaeological excavations, the correct location of the Tomb of emperor Wen of Han was finally determined.
So, how did today's archaeologists find the tomb of emperor Wen of Han? This is also more interesting, because of the han dynasty burial customs, the emperor and empress are buried together, but they are "different caves in the same mausoleum" and will not be buried in a tomb.
The emperor and empress each have a tomb, but they are not too far apart. The mausoleums of Liu Bang and Lü Hou of Han Gaozu are only 280 meters away; the tombs of Emperor Huidi of Han and Empress Zhang are only more than 260 meters apart.
However, according to some research by some archaeologists in the Yuan Dynasty, the "Baling Tomb located at the mouth of the phoenix" and the tomb of Empress Dou are 2400 meters away, which is obviously not logical.
We all know that Emperor Wen of Han and Empress Dou had always had a very good relationship during their lifetime. After the death of Emperor Wen of Han, Empress Dowager Dou assisted emperor Jingdi of Han and Emperor Wu of Han in two generations of monarchs, and always adhered to the "Yellow Old Thought" believed by Emperor Wen of Han. After her death, it was absolutely impossible not to be buried with Emperor Wen of Han.
Since Emperor Wen of Han proposed that funeral rites should be frugal before his death, Empress Dowager Dou should not be disgusted by the low specifications of Emperor Wendi of Han's mausoleum and ask for a new land to be built of a luxurious tomb of higher specifications.
Finally, archaeologists finally found the "Jiangcun Tomb" 800 meters west of the tomb of Empress Dou and confirmed that it was the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han. However, this kind of discovery is not entirely imagined by the archaeologists as soon as they pat their heads.
Mainly because in 2001, there were "tomb robbers" selling cultural relics in the local area. Subsequently, according to the clues, the relevant departments found the "Jiangcun Tomb" and protected it. In 2017, some archaeologists thought it was Baling, but it was just speculation.
Nowadays, the "Jiangcun Tomb" has been officially recognized as a baling tomb by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. Although the Baling has been excavated, fortunately it is large enough, so we can still find a large number of valuable artifacts in it.
epilogue
The real "Baling", the reason why it is so difficult to find, is mainly because of its age. In addition, Liu Heng, the Emperor of Han Dynasty, advocated frugal funeral rites and did not make "sealing mounds" for tombs. Archaeologists cannot use these buildings to determine the location of the Baling.
Later, some archaeologists in the Yuan Dynasty again randomly "pointed out" and pointed the location of the Baling tomb to the "phoenix mouth", causing the "Empress Dou" to guard the "lonely tomb" alone for 700 years, standing 2400 meters away in a daze.
In ancient poetry works, the imperial tombs of the Han Dynasty are often mentioned, in addition to the "Baling Tombs", there are also "Five Tombs". For example, there is a sentence in Cen Shan's "Floating Tu with Gao Shi Xue According to Dengci'en Temple": "On the northern plains of the Five Tombs, the ancient qing is misty." ”
Tang Bohu's "Peach Blossom Anthem" also has a sentence: "There is no tomb of The Five Tombs Haojie, no flowers and no wine to hoe the field." The "Five Tombs" here refer to the five Han Dynasty imperial tombs on the north bank of the Weishui River in Chang'an City, which are buried in Han Gaozu, Lü Hou, Han Jingdi, Han Wudi and Han Zhaodi.
Emperor Wen of Han's Tomb is located in the southwest direction of Chang'an City, on the shore of Bashui, far away from the "Five Tombs". Every time ancient poets mentioned the "Five Tombs", they could not help but have a sad feeling of time and dynasties.
But when it comes to "Baling", more often than not, it is simply used as a place name. This is probably because Emperor Wen of Han was still an emperor who was more sympathetic to the people.
Emperor Wen of Han created a prosperous era for the Han Dynasty and played a very crucial role in carrying forward the upper and lower levels. However, his life was far less bloody than that of Han Gaozu, Lü Hou, Han Huidi, Han Wudi, Han Zhaodi and other people, and there were not so many slots.