Text: Hua Taishi
In ancient times, from the princes and generals to the common people, the tombs followed a strict feudal hierarchy after death. In addition to paying attention to the direction of feng shui, sometimes different burial systems are implemented, in short, the emperors are mostly superstitious and pursue the way of immortality.
As the first emperor to establish a centralized state, Qin Shi Huang, in addition to abolishing the sub-feudal system, unifying weights and measures and other historical achievements, he also created the eighth wonder of the world, that is, the Qin Terracotta Army, which shocked China and foreign countries.
Terracotta warriors are a type of ancient tomb sculpture designed by the chancellor Li Si and are said to have taken 39 years to complete. Judging from the figurine pits currently unearthed, the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses are huge in scale and cleverly designed, located 1500 meters east of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Shi Huang, sitting west to east, with a reasonable layout and peculiar structure, and are the world's largest underground military museum.
Legend has it that at the beginning, Qin Shi Huang did not have the idea of constructing terracotta warriors, he hoped that after his death, there were still thousands of armies and horses, so he hoped that the living would be buried, which was also a common thing in ancient times, but large-scale living burials would not only lose labor, but also greatly hurt the people's hearts, so some ministers suggested that the imitation of human appearance be made into clay figurines, so that it would not decay, and the number was freely designed, and at the same time, it was reasonably organized according to the layout of the army, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone. This left such a large-scale funerary pit, and today thousands of tourists witness the excavation of the Terracotta Warriors every year, reflecting the strictness and complexity of the burial system under the feudal ruling class.
Terracotta warriors are funerary products made of clay in the shape of terracotta, which is relatively humane in ancient times, so the most inhumane thing is human martyrdom.
In fact, during the Qin Shi Huang period, the burial of living people was no longer so prevalent, but there was such a dynasty that made this system re-enter the historical stage, that is, starting from the Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the harem began a cruel burial system.
According to historical records, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was very poor when he was young, and later participated in the peasant uprising to become the leader of the rebel army with excellent military talent, along the way, he experienced the death of his relatives, hunger and cold, the turmoil of the times and other human feelings, so he gradually became resolute and cruel.
When he was young, his parents and brother died one after another due to illness within a month, and the Zhu family had nothing at that time, and naturally there was no graveyard for their relatives to be buried. Fortunately, the neighbor Liu Ji group was kind and gave away a piece of land as the zhu family's cemetery. No one expected that later Zhu Yuanzhang would unify the world and ascend to the highest peak of power, and Liu Jizu naturally blessed the whole family because of the original piece of land.
Zhu Yuanzhang's tragic experience in his childhood made him naturally think of moving the graves of his parents after becoming emperor, in addition to expressing filial piety, but more importantly, adding glory to his ancestors, but then he was dissuaded by the chancellor Liu Ji. Liu Ji is the famous Liu Bowen, good at clever calculations, often help Zhu Yuanzhang plan the layout of feng shui, he heard about this, told Zhu Yuanzhang ancestral tomb can not be changed at will, because the change of burial may indicate the misfortune of the family, and it is precisely because the old tomb is a treasure land of feng shui, there is Zhu Yuanzhang's last great cause of unification, so if it goes against the will of Heaven, it may be discouraged and hurt the dragon vein.
Most of the ancient emperors were feudal superstitious, not to mention that the jiangshan was not easy to come by, so Zhu Yuanzhang followed Liu Ji's advice and adopted the burial method of "old tomb with umbrella", that is, sealing in situ, piling up small hills, and then building a luxurious hall, hoping to continue to shock this "land of Longxing".
In 1398 AD, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang died, according to his will, requiring that all concubines who had not given birth in the harem be buried, perhaps related to his childhood experience, according to incomplete statistics, 38 concubines were forced to commit suicide and bury, and some palace women and children were also buried together as sacrifices, these children are said to be fairy children after death to lead the emperor into immortals, so the means of killing them are extremely cruel, the palace is full of complaints, many innocent lives are implicated, this bad habit lasted until the end of Ming Yingzong.
From the terracotta warriors of Qin Shi Huang, to the umbrella of zhu Yuanzhang's parents' old tomb, and the later resurgence of the martyrdom system, it can be seen that the ancient funeral system was hierarchical and complex. Some are stipulated by the ruling class according to the code, and some are combined with folk customs, reflecting the patriarchal concepts and ethical ideas of the people under the ruling class of the feudal dynasty, of which feng shui superstition accounts for a large part.