Cao Cao is a well-known historical figure, Lu Xun once commented that he was a capable person, Cao Cao was suspicious by nature, and he was familiar with the world, he was very shrewd when he was alive, and he also left countless topics after his death.
It is said that Cao Cao always sent people to rob tombs during his lifetime, so it is said that in order to support his army, Cao Cao could only make this decision and rely on digging treasures in the tomb to feed the army.
Therefore, before Cao Cao died, he expected that after his death, someone would also come to dig his own tomb, so he set up seventy-two tombs, of course, seventy-two is a general reference, in fact, a lot.
There are many legends about Cao Cao's tomb, one of which is the most interesting, that is, Cao Cao followed Zhang Jiaozhi's saying.
Legend has it that after Cao Cao set up the "Seventy-Two Tombs of Doubt", Sima Shi usurped Cao Wei's world, so those ministers who had a grudge with Cao Cao united to look around for Cao Cao's grave, and wanted to dig out his body, and then cut the body into ten thousand pieces to thank the world, but these people dug up seventy-two Cao Cao's tombs, and did not find Cao Cao's real body, and finally in desperation, there was only a notice to find Cao Cao's grave, and the notice said that whoever found Cao Cao's grave could serve as the prime minister.
As a result, the notice was posted for more than a month, and no one came to answer the call, just when these people lost confidence, a white-haired old man unveiled the list and came to the capital Luoyang, saying that he could find Cao Cao's real tomb, and the officials were half-convinced, so they sent more than a hundred soldiers to follow the old man along the Luo River against the water, along the way, the old man looked left, looked right, and finally stopped in a place, pointing to a mound and saying, Right here.
The soldiers then began to excavate, and soon they exhumed Cao Cao's body, the soldiers entered the tomb, moved Cao Cao's body out, chopped it into pieces, threw it into the river to feed the turtle, and then swept away the gold and silver jewelry, and finally, the officials ordered the white-haired old man to be invited, but the old man suddenly disappeared, how could not be found, and later the officials inquired from many sources to know the truth, this old man is the descendant of the three brothers of Zhang Jiao.
Cao Cao was born by suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion, in that year, Zhang Jiao died of illness in Guangzong, the Yellow Turban Uprising failed, the generals who participated in the uprising, in order to protect the bones of their leaders, built a lot of fake tombstones in the vicinity of the place, deceived the officers and soldiers, the officers and soldiers searched for the ground within a radius of three hundred miles, dug up dozens of Zhang Jiao's graves, and did not find Zhang Jiao's body, only Cao Cao refused to give up, and learned the secret of Zhang Jiao's tomb from the hands of traitors, so he personally led the soldiers to dig Zhang Jiao's grave, cao Cao was deeply inspired. So before he died, he secretly sent people to secretly build a tomb under the Luo River, and then killed all the tomb repairers, but he did not expect that good and evil would eventually be repaid, and the descendants of the Zhang Jiao brothers knew all this and discovered Cao Cao's grave, so they avenged their ancestors.
Of course, this is just a legend, in fact, the real tomb of Cao Cao is located in Xigao cave village, Anfeng Township, Anyang City, Henan Province, 12 kilometers west of Cao Cao's capital Yebei City, has been well protected, although it has been stolen, but there are still many important burial items.
So did Cao Cao set up seventy-two tombs of doubt?
The answer is false, Cao Cao did not set up seventy-two tombs, the reason why it is so widespread is because Luo Guanzhong wrote in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that when Cao Cao died, 72 coffins came out from all directions and were finally transported to 72 tombs for burial, so the 72 tombs spread, in fact, Cao Cao did not set up 72 tombs, archaeology proves that it is actually a northern dynasty tomb group.