Introduction: Recently watching "The Legend of the Demon Cat", in addition to enjoying the magnificent dreamy picture and gripping plot, there is more observation of the details of the play, and one of the most interesting sentences is: "The emperor decided to bury the noble concubine in the tomb of the ancients." The mystery also emerges: so, who does this tomb of the ancients belong to in history?
(1) Confusing burial details
The tragedy of burying Yang Guifei begins with "the Six Armies do not send helplessness, like turning to the death of Emei before the horse", but in "The Legend of the Demon Cat", Yang Guifei's xiangyu death is not the end of the story, and Master Huang He's autopsy and soul restoration technique becomes the light of hope throughout the play. This is also the reason why Tang Xuanzong deliberately wanted to find an ancient tomb and temporarily bury the noble concubines.
The first clue about the tomb needs to be found in the diary of the Tang envoy Abe Nakamaru, which reveals information about the location of the tomb: "Remember, you have to walk through a forest of water to find the entrance to the tomb. ”
What does it mean to be in the water woods? If we only speculate from the literal point of view, the tomb here should have good feng shui, and it is very likely that the topographic feature is that there is water near the river and there are trees on the mountain. But it is still difficult to lock down which tomb to use, after all, this is a common feature of tomb location.
But why the deliberate emphasis on "water woods"? Do these four words have any other meaning than geographical features?
If you open a brain hole, you can think like this: water and wood may symbolize the orientation of the tomb, that is, the east is wood, the north is water, and the "water forest" is northeast! This clue may imply that the tomb is located northeast of Ma Songyi.
So, how far is the real historical record from the interpretation in the play? According to the Old Book of Tang, the details about the Mutiny of Ma Songyi and the death of The Noble Concubine are as follows:
To Ma Song, the forbidden army general Chen Xuanli secretly qi crown prince Xue Guozhong father and son, and even though the four armies were not dispersed, Emperor Xuanzong sent a soldier to ask, "The thief is still there!" 'Cover refers to the noble concubine also. Lux overplayed, the emperor did not get it, and the concubine Zhao, Sui Han died in the Buddha Treasure, when the Chinese New Year's Eve eight, on the side of the Yixi Road.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this record in the Old Book of Tang that 500 meters west of the Ma Song Street office in today's Xingping City, Xianyang, there is a cultural relics protection unit - Guifei Tomb, which is said to be the place where Yang Guifei was given death.
That is to say, Yang Guifei did not find an ancient tomb for Guifei as mentioned in the play, but was hastily buried at the scene of Ma Songyi. After this, Tang Xuanzong fled to Shuzhong, and according to the literature, its routes were: Ma Songyi, Fufeng County, Fufeng County, Chen Cang, Sanguan, Hechi County, Yichang County, Pu'an County, Basi County, and Shu County.
The Emperor returned from Shu, ordered the envoys to pay tribute, and ordered them to be buried. Li Shuyi ( Li Shuyi ) said, "The Dragon Warriors are loyal to the country, and they are responsible for the chaos of the country." Today, the old concubine is buried, I am afraid that the soldiers will be suspicious, and the funeral is not feasible! 'It's over. The Emperor's secret order made the envoys to be buried in him. When it first fell, it was wrapped in purple mattresses, and the skin was broken, and the sachet was still there. ”
After Emperor Xuanzong returned from Shu, for the sake of appeasing the soldiers, he did not carry out a bright and righteous funeral ceremony, but secretly transferred Yang Guifei from the place where Ma Songyi was buried, and the "skin is bad" mentioned in it shows that Guifei's death is indeed a thing, and it is not as "not seeing the empty place of death of Yuyan" as fantasized in Bai Juyi's "Long Hate Song".
Well, after understanding the basic historical facts, the problems arise: the interpretation in the play obviously has a part that draws on history, such as Xuanzong's decision to bury the noble concubine in the tomb of the ancients, which may be derived from this reburial in the Old Book of Tang, but it is advanced to the time of the Ma Songyi Mutiny before Xuanzong entered Shu.
But where exactly is the place of the reburial? There are no words in the history books, and this mystery will become the most wonderful imagination and interpretation in the film!
(2) A glimpse of the murals in the cemetery
The first clue in the play explains the geographical characteristics and location of the tomb, but it is still too broad. The information that can really accurately locate the tomb itself mainly comes from the second clue: that is, Bai Lotte inadvertently felt a glimpse of the figures on the wall in the tomb passage.
After entering through the tomb door, the two passed through a passage painted with frescoes, at this time, the eight people on the right side brushed their eyes together and opened their eyes, turning their eyes to Bai Lotte who passed by, and when Bai Lotte seemed to feel something and returned to watch, the eight people returned to the state of the ancient well without waves, and closed the curtain.
It is this momentary freeze on the mural that makes the identity of the ancients behind this tomb ready to come out, because these eight people are almost the same as the "Eight People Welcome Map" on the middle wall of a tomb in Northern Qi, except for some details!
Who is the owner of this frescoed tomb? Does the ancient tomb where Yang Guifei was buried really belong to him?
His name was Lou Rui, he was a relative of the Xianbei Wang clan and Northern Qi, and how prominent his power was, which can be seen from these records: his aunt Lou Zhaojun was empress Wuming of Northern Qi Emperor Gao Huan; and he himself was once awarded the title of King of Dong'an, and later successively held the posts of Sikong, Taishi, and Taiwei, and was posthumously awarded the false Huang Yu after his death. However, this man was also proud of this and had a bad reputation in history.
Lou Rui's tomb is located on the west side of the Hanging Urn Mountain, on the Jinwang Ridge, and the Liuziyu water flowing from tianlong mountain in the west to the east flows through its south, and the Fenhe River leisurely exits in the east. 1 km to the northeast, is the village of Wang Guo, where rice and wheat are fragrant, and the Sui Dynasty Yu Hong Tomb, which combines Chinese and Western styles, is adjacent to it (located 600 meters northeast of Lou Rui's tomb).
From the tomb mural alone in the film, it is asserted that the tomb owner is Lou Rui, perhaps just a lone testimony, we should not forget the first clue hidden in the play, that is, the description of the geographical characteristics and orientation of the tomb. West of the Fenhe River and east of the Hanging Urn Mountain, it is roughly in line with our previous inference that the river has water and trees on the mountain, and Taiyuan in Shanxi is located in its northeast direction relative to Ma Songyi (Xingping, Shaanxi). Under the combination of the two, is it a foreshadowing of the "forest in the water" that was buried before? Let's explain it this way first.
After walking through the tomb, a dusty bluestone tomb door in front of Lou Rui's tomb comes into view, and the door is decorated with animal heads, tangled lotus flowers and Mani orbs, which are not only colorful but also pasted with gold leaf, adding a bit of relief feeling. When Bai Lotte and Kukai push the door in, will the noble concubine wait for them in the tomb?
However, what we did not expect was that the second clue about Lou Rui's tomb was suddenly interrupted after entering the tomb, because the layout and frescoes of the tomb looked completely different from Lou Rui' and seemed to belong to another person, who would he be?
(3) Couples sitting on the front wall of the burial chamber
With the continuous switching of the camera in the play, the details about the tomb are gradually unfolding before our eyes: the tomb is sitting north to south, from the south-facing tomb to the Yongdao, behind the demon cat's illusion of Danlong and Bailong, what is presented is the information about the murals on the east and west sides of the south wall of the tomb in the film.
In the actual tomb, the content of the murals on both sides of the south wall door opening is an extension of the east and west walls of the Kurama travel map and the ox cart travel map, it is not difficult to see that on the basis of referring to archaeological materials, the layout and content of the picture have been traded off to a certain extent, such as the location and appearance of the characters, and because of this, it is difficult to determine the final ownership of the tomb by relying on this mural alone, and we need more detailed information.
The north wall and the east and west frescoes with the black cat and the sarcophagus as the foreground are the core of determining the owner of this burial chamber. In the center of the north wall of the tomb in the play, a house out of the eaves of a house is decorated, under which more than twenty attendants are arranged, with different looks and glowing eyes, facing the sarcophagus placed in the center of the tomb. The east and west walls are the ox cart travel map (east wall) and the kurama travel map (west wall).
Therefore, it is not difficult for us to find the prototype of the ancient tomb in this scene in the play: the tomb of Xu Xianxiu, the king of Wu'an in Northern Qi, although his status is not as good as that of Lou Rui, the king of Dong'an, but he is a young hero and has outstanding military achievements, and in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, after the defeat of Erzhu Rong, he was attached to Gao Huan, and then gradually entered the high level of the Eastern Wei regime, successively serving as Sikong, Situ, and Taiwei, and was really a real three dukes.
The west wall of the tomb is the scene of the tomb owner preparing to get on the horse, only to see that under the cover of the Qingluo umbrella, a jujube red horse is ready to go. Four Three Flag Bearers, Sword Samurai and Grooms stand in front of the horses, followed by Deacon Yu Bao, and a servant with a armpit briefcase, an arm-carrying horse, and an official seal in his hand.
On the east wall of the tomb, under the canopy of the feather, a luxurious roll-top ox cart is parked. The royal hand in front of the car was trying to control the restless bull, and there was a Hu man servant next to him. Behind the car was a group of personal maids, holding bags, dressers and cloaks, looking back frequently, as if waiting for the lady to get into the car.
The setting of the murals on the east and west walls is very close in film and archaeology, but the only change is the north wall of the visual center. The actual tomb of Xu Xianxiu, in the middle of the north wall, is painted a wonderful "couple banquet and drinking picture", the male tomb owner image is heroic and majestic, the female tomb owner is noble and dignified, and the servants and attendants, music and dance will sit Xu Xianxiu and his wife on the bed in the tent.
At this point, we see a very interesting side of the intertwining of art and archaeology: in the name of magnificent magic, the "Biography of the Demon Cat" explains the tomb of the ancients who Xuanzong reburied the noble concubine, but it is not all fictional to the wall, but borrows from two famous tombs in Northern Qi: the tomb passage part, which uses the "eight-person courtesy map" on the east wall of the tomb of King Lou Rui of Dong'an, and in the tomb part, the ox cart and kurama travel map of the east and west walls of Xu Xianxiu, the king of Wu'an, are changed to the "couple banquet and drinking map" in the middle of the north. Changed to the gaze of the servants under the eaves.
(4) The metaphor behind the different grafting
Behind such a different grafting, what kind of considerations did the film production team have? Fortunately, we use this to speculate that the thinking of modern people still has the opportunity to verify, but from the old paper pile and the loess to speculate on the concepts of the ancients, there are always thousands of mountains and rivers, but the process of approaching the truth is always gratifying, although it cannot be reached, the heart yearns for it.
In fact, in "The Legend of the Demon Cat", all the costumes need to serve the plot, as the most important element of the scene layout should be so, from this point to think about it, it is not difficult to find that all events are related to the life and death of the noble concubine, just like the classic line in the play: when strong, she is a symbol of the empire; in times of crisis, Datang will no longer need her.
Let's first borrow the "eight-person courtesy picture" from the tomb section of the tomb of Lou Rui of Dong'an, which is different from the long slope tomb passage of Lou Rui in reality, which is located between the tomb door and the burial chamber in the film, which is the "Yongdao" position in the usual sense. Placing this painting here means a lot:
Sir Yang thought that the transplant here may be intended to express a kind of awakening to historical memory: the eight people on the wall had witnessed this royal secret affair with the witness of the event, Abe Nakamaru, when someone took the clue of Abe's diary and tried to find out the death of the noble concubine.
Their eyes suddenly opened, and they were relieved and nostalgic: finally someone could open this long-sealed past again.
And the amazing glimpse of these eight people is definitely a stroke of genius in the play, behind this seemingly magical interpretation, perhaps hinting at such a record:
"Yang Zihua, Shizu (Gao Zhan) was then a general of the Zhi Dynasty. Taste the painting of horses on the wall, listen to the long chirping at night, such as the water grass; TuLongZisu, Shu Curly Clouds And Qi. The ancestors of the world are heavy, so that they are forbidden, and the world is called a painting saint, and it is forbidden to paint with outsiders unless there is a commandment. ”
Yang Zihua was a famous Northern Qi court painter recorded in Zhang Yanyuan's "Records of Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties" located in Zhongpin, and his magic was the same as that of Ma Liang, the magic of the divine pen: the horses painted on the walls could be eaten at night, like living creatures. In this way, why can't the people painted on the wall open their eyes?
In fact, this is also an academic issue related to the author of Lou Rui's tomb murals, and many researchers believe that such a well-laid and exquisitely painted mural is most likely from the hands of the great painter Yang Zihua, after all, in terms of the status of Lou Rui, the king of Dong'an, it is not difficult to ask for an edict to let Zihua paint. From the perspective of the content of the mural, the large number of instrumental staffs kurama is also its most skilled subject, after all, the history books record that the Northern Qi painter Yang Zihua is still "the kurama figure wins"!
Next, about the burial chamber part, the contents of the four walls of the tomb of Xu Xianxiu, the king of Wu'an, were replaced. We focused on two changes to its north wall:
First, the gorgeous drapery, which was intended to highlight the characteristics of the interior, was changed to the style of the house with external eaves;
Second, the picture of the tomb owner and his wife's feast was removed and replaced by a larger number of rows of onlookers.
We can't help but ask, why is this happening? In fact, we still have to return to the plot, this picture of the display originated from Bai Lotte and Kukai's revisit of the tomb, the purpose of which is to determine the mystery of whether the noble concubine is dead, so the visual center of the audience must be the sarcophagus where the two people focus on exploring and holding the body of the noble concubine, rather than staying on the more eye-catching mural content on the north wall of the tomb.
The reason for this can be confirmed by many details: the gorgeous drapery in the center of the north wall of the "center of the center", after the left, right and rear sides of the barrier to the relationship between the characters in the account and the outside, will further force the viewer to put their eyes into a structural framework, and this is the tomb owner and his wife feasting and drinking. Yes, the original drawing of the tomb owner and his wife feasting and drinking in the middle of the north wall of the tomb is the core of the entire mural system of Xu Xianxiu's tomb, and it is the focus of visual art expression.
Therefore, the content of the original north wall of the tomb must be changed, on the one hand, after changing the indoor drapery to a roof with eaves, it will play a role in space expansion to a certain extent, which is conducive to distracting the audience's attention from focusing on the mural; on the other hand, removing the tomb owner and his wife can better reflect that this is a tomb without owners, and also provide objective conditions for the burial of noble concubines.
And under the vast house, row after row of gazing servants, whose eyes converge into the focus, also happen to fall on the sarcophagus in the center of the tomb, but it can strengthen and guide the audience to follow Bai Lotte and The Sky Sea, explore the secrets hidden in the sarcophagus, of course, these numerous bystanders and the eight people in the tomb part, can also be seen as witnesses of history, as if telling something.
Postscript: In the name of magic, the "Legend of the Demon Cat" borrows and uses real archaeological tombs, that is, the murals of Lou Rui's tomb and Xu Xianxiu's tomb are organically combined, making them more suitable for the needs of the plot. In fact, there is still a point worth thinking about for the reader, that is, there are countless ancient tombs in China for five thousand years, why were two ancient tombs in Northern Qi selected separately as the prototype for the layout of the film's scenes?