Among The Chinese emperors, Cao Cao's mausoleum is probably the most difficult to find, and was once called the "mystery of eternity". Of course, now this "mystery" has been solved:
Gaoling in Anyang, Henan, has been identified as Cao Cao's tomb, and Cao Cao's remains were confirmed in 2018.
So why is Cao Cao's tomb called "the mystery of eternity"? Originally, since the Song Dynasty, people did not know the specific location of Cao Cao's mausoleum, and at this time, Cao Cao was stereotyped as a "traitor", so people regarded the Northern Dynasty tombs of Yicheng as Cao Cao's "Seventy-two Doubtful Tombs" (Tang Taizong Li Shimin once made a sacrifice for Cao Cao's tomb, and it is speculated that in the Tang Dynasty people did not have any doubts about Cao Cao's tomb). People say that Cao Cao was treacherous and afraid of people stealing tombs, so he made seventy-two graves, so now it is not clear where Cao Cao's tomb is really located.
Later, Luo Guanzhong also used this expression in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Because of the great influence of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the saying "Seventy-two Doubtful Tombs" became well known to women and children, and became a strong proof of Cao Cao's "treacherous" image. Later, Pu Songling made "Liaozhai Zhiyi", and also appended a "Cao Cao Tomb", saying that Cao Cao's tomb may be outside the "Seventy-two Doubtful Tombs", and the mystery of Cao Cao's tomb has become more confusing.
(Anyang Gaoling has been identified as Cao Cao's tomb)
In fact, this is a misunderstanding of Cao Cao. The historical Cao Cao did have a treacherous side, but his grave was difficult to find, not because he was treacherous, but because of a virtue worth learning from all of us: frugality.
Cao Cao advocated frugality and thin burial, which objectively caused the location of the cemetery to be a mystery
First of all, when Preparing for his own funeral, Cao Cao did not build a large number of civil works like other emperors of the Qin and Han Dynasties, but "because of the high foundation, there was no seal and no tree", which objectively caused his mausoleum to be very inconspicuous.
Cao Cao advocated frugality and arranged his funeral before his death. In the twenty-second year of Jian'an (218 AD), Cao Cao began to consider the issue of tombs a year before his death, and he made a "Final Decree", which landed his thoughts on the text:
"The burial of the ancients shall dwell in a barren land." Its rule Ximen Leopard Ancestral Hall on the west plain is the ShouLing Tomb, because the height is the base, not sealed and not tree. ”
The meaning of "high as the base" is to use the terrain on the uplifted highlands (usually on the slopes) to excavate and build tombs, rather than to build new tombs on a large scale of conscription.
The meaning of "no seal, no tree" means that without getting a large pile of soil to seal the cemetery, nor to plant trees on the cemetery on a large scale, it is enough to engage in pure natural green tombs.
Cao Cao did not build a large number of buildings, but built on the mountain, which made his mausoleum very inconspicuous. The social atmosphere at that time was not like this. Except for Emperor Wen of Han, who advocated frugality and proposed that "because of the mountains, there will be no graves", the funeral system of most emperors in the Qin and Han Dynasties was extremely luxurious.
(Cao Cao advocated thin burial)
For example, the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was built on the flat land on the shore of the Weishui River, and the scale was unprecedented. The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is now 51 meters high and has a circumference of more than 1,700 meters at the bottom. The Qinling Tomb is surrounded by more than 400 funerary pits and tombs of different shapes and connotations, including the world-famous "Eighth Wonder of the World" Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit. The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was built for 39 years and 720,000 manpower was recruited.
Another example is the Mao Mausoleum of Emperor Wudi of Han, which was built from the second year of Emperor Wudi's succession to the throne and was repaired for a full 53 years. Maoling is 47 meters high, the bottom is close to the square, the side length is about 240 meters, the total area is more than 56,000 square meters, and the volume of sealing soil is 800,000 cubic meters.
Although the mausoleum of the Qin Emperor Han Wu is high-end and atmospheric, but to pile up such a high cemetery on the flat ground, is it not to open the door and steal and set up a FLAG for yourself? For example, the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was stolen many times. In the last years of the New Mang, the Chimei army stole the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang; during the Wei and Jin dynasties, the later Zhao ruler Shi Hu stole the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang; in the last year of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao invaded Guanzhong, and the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was destroyed on a large scale; in the fifth dynasty, the warlord Wen Tao stole the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang; during the Qing Guangxu period, there were tomb robbers who stole the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang. During the Republic of China, the warlord Liu Zhenhua stole the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang.
And Cao Cao's objective effect of "not sealing the tree because of the high foundation" is that his tomb is very inconspicuous, unlike the Tomb of the Qin Emperor Han Wu, which allows tomb robbers to easily find it.
(The mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin is grand in scale, which is tantamount to opening the door and robbing)
Second, Cao Cao asked that when being buried, "the time should be dressed" and that "golden jade treasures" should not be accompanied by a burial.
"Life and death are big things", funerals in the Qin and Han dynasties are quite complicated and very luxurious. For example, the golden jade clothes we learned in our high school history textbooks are the standard when many county kings die. Historical records record that when many emperors died, they had to wear short jackets full of pearls, use jade boxes as burial utensils, and in addition, they also had to "rice jade with jade" and "rice jade" in their mouths, that is, to put broken jade mixed with rice in the mouths of dead people, "containing jade", that is, using jade to prop up the left and right teeth. As for the golden and jade treasures that accompanied the funeral, there are countless more. It is said that the tomb of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was stolen, and there were too many funerary items in it, and the tomb robbers have moved for several years without finishing.
Cao Cao forbade such lavish funerals. Before his death, he made a "testament" saying:
"After my death, when I keep my great clothes, I will not leave them behind... He was buried in The West Gang of Ye, similar to the Ximen Leopard Shrine, and did not hide gold and jade jewelry. ”
The meaning of these few words is that Cao Cao demanded that after his death, he should wear the same clothes as usual, and should not buy another birthday dress, and in addition, the tomb should not be buried with gold and jade jewelry.
Cao Cao's orders were issued openly and were almost thoroughly executed. The objective effect of this order is that everyone knows that there is nothing valuable in Cao Cao's tomb, and it is not interesting to work hard to rob his tomb, wasting time and energy in vain.
(During the Qin and Han dynasties, thick burial became the wind, and the golden jade robe was represented)
Third, Cao Cao demanded that "no tomb sacrifice" be performed, resulting in the destruction of the mausoleum hall and the gradual disappearance of the cemetery in the mountains.
Cao Cao's rules for the sacrifice of offspring are interesting, as he asks his sons to sacrifice themselves at Tongquetai instead of the actual cemetery. Cao Cao said, you set me a six-foot spiritual bed on the Tongque Platform, hang up the Sack cloth spiritual curtain, put a little dried meat and dry food as a sacrifice in the morning and evening, let some concubines and tricksters live on the TongqueTai, give me some music in the first fifteenth of the first month, and the sons will always climb the TongqueTai and look in the direction of the cemetery.
Because there was no proposal on how to sacrifice the tomb, and no one sacrificed the tomb (it is estimated that Cao Cao's son could not sacrifice the tomb if he wanted to sacrifice the tomb, he was sent to the field by Cao Pi), and within a few years, Cao Cao's mausoleum was destroyed. Later, Cao Pi simply issued an edict saying, "Emperor Xian's frugality and testament to the province ... Ancient tomb sacrifices are all located in temples. The upper hall of the Former Emperor Gaoling was destroyed, the carriages and horses were returned, and the clothes were hidden in the house, so as to follow the ancestors' frugal virtue", and directly abolished the etiquette of the Upper Tomb. The mausoleum was destroyed, no one went to the cemetery to sacrifice, and cao Cao's tomb, which was originally inconspicuous, gradually disappeared into the mountains.
Therefore, Cao Cao's tomb later became a "mystery of eternity", not because of treachery, but because he advocated frugality and engaged in environmentally friendly green tombs. His tomb was originally inconspicuous, and no one sacrificed, and the cemetery gradually disappeared into the mountains. Moreover, there was no burial treasure in his tomb, and the tomb robbers at that time did not bother to look for the originally inconspicuous mausoleum, and the location of Cao Cao's cemetery gradually became a mystery. After the Song Dynasty, Cao Cao was stereotyped as "Adulterous Male", and "Adulterous Male" naturally acted cunningly to ordinary people, so people made up the story of Cao Cao's "Seventy-Two Doubtful Tombs", which can be said to be a kind of ugliness against him.
(Cao Cao did not require tomb sacrifices, and his sons could go to The Tongquetai to look at the cemetery from afar)
Cao Cao's virtues of frugality are also reflected in daily life
Reading here, some people may say that Cao Cao's frugality in the tomb may be afraid of being robbed of the tomb after death, and the bones are exposed to the wild, so Cao Cao's frugality in the tomb is a manifestation of treachery. This is also not true. Cao Cao was not suddenly frugal at the funeral, but from beginning to end, consistently.
His life was frugal and not luxurious, which is recognized by historians.
First of all, in Cao Cao's daily life, he was routinely clean and frugal.
Pei Songzhi's quotation from the Book of Wei in his annotations to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be used as a comprehensive assessment of Cao Cao's frugality.
"Elegant and frugal, not good ornate, harem clothes are not splendid, the royal shoes are not two, the curtain screen, the bad is supplemented, the yin is warm, there is no reason to decorate." Siege the city and pull out the beautiful things, then they are given meritorious deeds, rewarded with honors, not stingy with thousands of gold, without merit, and with nothing. The four parties offer the royal family and share it with the crowd. ”
This passage probably means that Cao Cao was frugal and did not like flashy. Himself and the concubines of the harem do not wear clothes made of splendid embroidery, and the shoes are at most two colors, and they must not be fancy. The drapery screen in the house is full of patches, and the bedding can be warmed, and it is not too much decoration. Every time the spoils of war were captured after the war, they were rewarded according to the merits and were never stingy. If there is no merit to be rewarded, it is not given at all. The gifts presented by the four parties were also shared with the subordinates.
Cao Cao did not like to decorate the beautiful daily utensils. His earliest leather suitcase was made of miscellaneous leather, and later lost, so he made a square box out of bamboo, a coat made of black leather, and a coarse cloth as a lining. Later, the box broke down again, and Cao Cao made a new one and painted a layer on the surface. Such a box, Cao Cao felt very luxurious. This style of Cao Cao was in sharp contrast with the custom of advocating gold and silver ware and embroidery carving at that time.
(Cao Cao was frugal throughout his life, praised by historians)
Secondly, Cao Cao demanded that his family should also live a frugal life.
In Cao Cao's harem, there was only one meat dish when eating, the clothes worn did not need to be studied, the bedding was not decorated, and the daily necessities did not use Dan lacquer.
Cao Cao also forbade the use of incense at home. During the Han Dynasty, people liked incense, and incense was like today's perfume. Incense in the home is a symbol of status and a sign of wealth. But Cao Cao felt that this was a senseless waste, so he did not allow it to be used.
When Cao Cao nan conquered Liu Biao, he got some shoes with very fancy colors, and he also gave these shoes to his family at that time, but he stipulated that after wearing them, he was finished, and no one was allowed to imitate them, requiring his family to "not only pick the shoes." Cao Cao also stipulated that his family's shoes could not use the colors of vermilion and gold, because these two colors were symbols of wealth at that time.
Cao Cao married his daughter, nor did he marry his daughter like other emperors. Cao Cao was sending a black tent and no more than ten maids.
Cao Cao's demand for his family to be frugal can also be seen in his attitude towards Cao Zhi. When Cao Cao was established as heir, he said that Cao Zhi's first mistake was that he liked to squander and waste. Cao Cao had put Cao Zhi's wife to death on the pretext that Cao Zhi's wife was wearing splendid embroidery and did not obey her own orders (of course, this crime was too heavy, and it was also An excuse for Cao Cao to suppress Cao Zhi).
Therefore, frugality was a virtue of Cao Cao's life, not pretended to be before his death.
In summary, Cao Cao's tomb has become a "mystery through the ages", not because he is treacherous and engaged in any "seventy-two suspicious tombs", but because Cao Cao has the frugal virtues worth learning from all of us, advocating thin burial, and thin burial eventually produces the objective effect of Cao Cao's cemetery that is difficult to find.