There is a saying circulating in the archaeological community, the name is called "Han Tomb Ten Rooms and Nine Voids", why do you say so? The Han Dynasty liked to implement thick burials, and a large number of gold and silver jewelry entered the tomb with the deceased princes and nobles, but unfortunately, this ushered in the peeping of a large number of tomb robbers, among which the largest tomb robber in Chinese history was the warlord of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, the founder of the Wei state.
The Three Kingdoms were in turmoil, the war was constant, and fighting was a money-burning profession, while Cao Cao's territory was only a little larger in the early stage of the struggle, and there were not many troops.
Cao Cao started the abacus of the tomb doors of those nobles in the past, and set up special personnel to excavate the tombs of others, because the ancient Chinese people had great respect for the remains of their ancestors, so that the bright and upright planing of other people's graves must not be said, and the tomb robbers were naturally called thieves by everyone, Cao Cao thought that this name was indecent and had a reputation that tarnished his own reputation, so he made these subordinates "Lieutenant Touching Gold." Chen Lin, a scholar of the Han Dynasty, wrote in "Yuzhou for Yuan Shao": "Cao You specially placed the general of Fa Qiu Zhonglang, touched the Lieutenant of Jin, and passed through the Kui, and no skeleton was revealed." "Expose Cao Cao's atrocities."
In the early days of the Three Kingdoms struggle for hegemony, Cao Cao's sphere of influence was still very small, often sometimes the city and pool that were laid down were not too late to rest, and they were occupied by others, so cao Cao, there was no perennial stable base area, this situation was extremely dangerous, which meant that the grain of Cao Cao's troops could not wait until the local peasants were ripe and safely collected, it was difficult to get stable supplies, and Cao Cao had just collected the Yellow Turban Army, with a huge army of 150,000, and eating became a problem of the old and difficult, I have to say, Tomb robbery was indeed able to buy a large amount of military salaries for Cao Cao, which became an advantage among his princes, which is why Chen Lin, the master bookkeeper under Yuan Shao, scolded Cao Cao for being thick-skinned.
After excavating a luxurious tomb, Cao Cao actually obtained the treasure that supported 150,000 troops for three years. According to the analysis, Cao Cao's theft should be the tomb of Liu Wu, the prince of Han Liang, located in Yongcheng Mangshan Mountain.
Liu Wu was the grandson of Liu Bang, the son of Emperor Wen of Han, and the younger brother of Emperor Jing of Han. Because of the relationship between the emperor and the state, he enjoyed all the glory and wealth in his life, but Liu Wu, who was spoiled and habitual, still had a bigger dream, that is, he wanted to sit in the position of emperor.
However, the elder brother Emperor Jing of Hanjing was a man of great talent and won the hearts of the people, and the emperor of the world certainly did not have the opportunity to do it, but Liu Wu hoped to be able to live the emperor's addiction after death, so he ordered people to build a huge mausoleum and bury a huge amount of treasure, because Liu Wu's fief Liang Guo was three hundred miles away, but he also had the ability to meet his wishes.
I believe that Liu Wu did not expect that the tomb he had painstakingly managed would actually cheapen Cao Cao, and Chen Lin described Cao Cao's theft of Liu Wu's tomb in this way: "Cao Shuai will be a general, personally excavated, broken the coffin naked, and plundered the golden treasure." The Holy Pilgrimage wept and the people were saddened. Considering that Dr. Chen Lin was working under Yuan Shao's hands, and was somewhat suspicious of smearing Cao Cao, then let's take a look at the "Notes on the Water Classics" written by Wei Daoyuan of the Southern and Northern Wei Dynasties: "Cao led troops into the stone, sent Liang Xiaowang's tomb, broke the coffin, and collected tens of thousands of jinbao." ”
At that time, many people were very dismissive of Cao Cao's behavior, and Luo Guanzhong, the author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was so contemptuous of Cao Cao, probably because of his behavior.
In 218 AD, Cao Cao issued a "Final Decree", proposing not to bury himself in a thick burial after death, but to bury himself in barren land, according to the original height of the ground as a base, and not to seal the soil on the mausoleum, and not to plant trees. Gold, jade, jewelry, bronzes, etc., should not be buried with them. I don't know if this is because Cao Cao is frugal, or afraid that after his death, he will also be exhumed, but no matter what, it is still a good thing for the common people, reducing their burden, and the later heirs of the Wei state such as Cao Pi and Cao Rui strictly abide by Cao Cao's will, and their tombs are not extravagant and wasteful, but everything is simple.