"On the point of opposing the Qing Dynasty, we are revolutionizing the lives of the living, you are the lives of the dead, and we are like-minded revolutionary comrades." This is the evaluation of "defective general" Feng Yuxiang on sun dianying, the "great thief of Tanglin". After the Tanglin treasure theft case, Sun Dianying once defended himself: "The Manchu Qing killed three generations of my ancestors and had to take revenge." Sun Yat-sen revolutionized the manchu Qing dynasty, Feng Yuxiang drove the last emperor out of the palace, my Sun Dianying was not as good as them, only the lives of the dead. ”
In July 1928, Sun Dianying, commander of the Twelfth Army of the Sixth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, led his troops to excavate the Yuling Tomb of the Qianlong Emperor and the Dingdong Tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Dynasty, and stole one of the burial items in the mausoleum, which was the shocking case of the Tanglin treasure theft, and Sun Dianying also won the nickname of "The Great Thief of Tanglin".
Sun Dianying was a descendant of the national hero Sun Chengzong, who served as a scholar of the Ming Dynasty's Military Department Shangshu and Dongge University, and was a teacher of Emperor Mingxi's Zhu You. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), Qing soldiers detoured through Mongolia and broke into Guannei from Longjing Pass and Hongshan Pass, occupying Zunhua and threatening the capital.
At that time, Sun Chengzong had already returned to his hometown and lived in Gaoyang County. The Qing army attacked Gaoyang, and Sun Chengzong led his people and the entire city to resist the Qing army, and eventually the city was destroyed and captured. The Qing army strangled the 76-year-old Sun Chengzong to death, and slaughtered the Sun family. Only the four sons and grandsons of the family escaped a nanny when the city was destroyed, and brought out a baby boy to yongcheng in Henan, where he was Sun Dianying's ancestor.
From this point of view, Sun Dianying and the Manchu Qing have a bloody feud, and the reason why the excavation of The Tanglin Tombs has a certain nationalist complex, although the reason is a bit far-fetched, it can also be regarded as a good excuse. However, if he had stolen the Ming Tombs, then it would be irrefutable and confirm the crime of greed for money and treasure.
In fact, Sun Dianying's main motivation for stealing the Tanglin Tomb was to withhold grain from the Nationalist government. Sun Dianying's army was a ragtag group of bandits, gamblers, and smokers, who originally defected to the banner of Zhang Zongchang, the "dog meat general". After the Northern Expedition began, Sun Dianying, who was good at seeing the wind and making the rudder, saw that the Zhilu coalition army was gradually defeated, so he switched to Xu Yuanquan, the commander-in-chief of the Sixth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and was appointed as the commander of the Twelfth Army, stationed in Jixian and Zunhua.
Since they were not regular units of the Kuomintang, the salaries and food of the Twelfth Army were always withheld in arrears; the officers and men had not paid salaries for nearly half a year, and the hearts of the troops were floating, and there was a possibility of mutiny at any time. However, he was also the leader of an army, and it was a major crime to kill the head by stealing and excavating The Tanglin Without permission, so he repeatedly urged his superiors to pay him, and Xu Yuanquan had no way to do it, and he was overwhelmed with annoyance.
In the end, Sun Dianying showed Xu Yuanquan a showdown, saying that the grain had not been paid for a long time, the soldiers were miserable, and there was a fear of mutiny, and some officers and soldiers suggested that the Tanglin Tomb should be excavated and used as a treasure inside the mausoleum as a military salary. Xu Yuanquan was shocked to hear this, and then he was thrilled, so that the military salary was guaranteed, And Sun Yuanzi would no longer haunt him like a ghost, and naturally after the success of the matter, he would naturally have a benefit, so he was vague and did not express his position.
Sun Dianying waited for this result, and immediately ordered the division commander Tan Wenjiang to launch an attack on the bandit Ma Futian's troops who were entrenched in Malanyu in the name of "suppressing bandits", and Ma Futian could not resist and led his troops to retreat. Immediately afterward, Sun Dianying drove his troops into the mausoleum area in the name of searching for bandits, and posted a notice on the main traffic route, announcing that a military exercise would be held in the mausoleum area and that idle people and others would not be allowed to enter.
At that time, the vicinity of the Qing Dynasty's Dongling Tomb was desolate and inaccessible, and no one thought that the grand National Revolutionary Army would commit a disgraceful tomb robbery, so it did not attract people's attention. The Ming Tombs are located in the Changping District of Beijing, although it was not as prosperous as it is now, but at least it was once the foot of Tianzi, and people came and went. If Sun Dianying excavates the Ming Tombs, it will definitely attract people's attention, and the success rate will be greatly reduced.
The Tanglin treasure theft case can be said to be the most influential tomb robbery case in modern history, it is said that more than a dozen trucks were used to transport the rare treasures in the mausoleum, and Sun Dianying was also known as the infamous "Tanglin Thief". However, Sun Dianying only excavated two mausoleums in the Qing Dongling Tombs, Yuling and Dingdongling, while hundreds of tombs, including the Kangxi Jingling Tomb, the Xianfeng Dingling Mausoleum, and the Tongzhi Huiling Tomb, were all excavated, which was the sadness of that special era at that time, and could not be blamed on a single person.
All in all, the reason why Sun Dianying stole the Qing Tombs instead of the Ming Tombs was not only the subjective factor of "getting the moon first near the water tower", the appropriate excuse of "suppressing the bandits", and the noble reason of "avenging the ancestors and killing people". Sun Dianying once said: "No matter what others say about robbing tombs or not stealing tombs, I am worthy of my ancestors and worthy of my compatriots in the Han Dynasty!" Perhaps, he really has always used this reason to comfort himself and face the accusations of thousands of people!