"The coffin is carried south, and the rope is broken and buried"
Legend has it that this was Zhuge Liang's last big move before he died, which means that people carry his coffin to the south, and when the rope is broken, they are buried on the spot, and the purpose is to prevent tomb robbers.
And it turns out that Zhuge Liang's plan is indeed profound, and this last plan before his death has made his tomb still not been found.
Zhuge Liang is famous for his "divine ingenuity and magic calculations", not only knowing astronomy and geography, but also bowing down for the Shu kingdom, and dedicating his life to helping the Liu family unify the country.
However, it was a pity that he was able to control the situation in the world to the fullest, but he still could not control his own destiny, and even a god-man like Zhuge Liang had to painstakingly arrange his own posthumous affairs.
Regarding where Zhuge Liang's "god" is, in addition to his "grass boat borrowing arrows" and "Battle of Chibi", there is also a famous legend about the "Seven Star Lantern".
It is said that Zhuge Liang anticipated that his limit was coming, so he continued his life, he lit the seven-star lamp, as long as it could burn overnight, then he could successfully continue his life.
However, this method did not succeed, and when the reckless Wei Yan came in to report on the military situation, he accidentally extinguished the Seven Star Lantern, and Zhuge Liang sighed and said that this was Providence, so he stopped doing it.
In 234 AD, Zhuge Liang was already sick with hard work, and he led his troops to the Fifth Northern Expedition, at this time he had been confronting Sima Yi for more than a hundred days, and his body was deteriorating due to day and night work in the army.
Sima Yi took advantage of Zhuge Liang's inability to raise troops, so he led an army to raid the Shu army, which was very successful, and the Shu army suffered thousands of casualties and heavy losses.
Zhuge Liang was so anxious that his illness worsened, and when Liu Chan, who was far away in Chengdu, learned of this incident, he hurriedly sent someone to comfort his illness, and this condolence had two purposes:
The first is to discuss the war; the second is to inquire about Zhuge Liang's successor after a hundred years.
Before Zhuge Liang died, he made arrangements for the army, and he asked Wei Yan and Jiang Wei to explain how to make Sima Yi retreat, and at the same time instructed him to keep the funeral secret after his death.
Sure enough, as soon as Zhuge Liang died, Sima Yifang's morale soared, and he vowed to pacify the Shu Han army, and they launched a fierce attack on the Shu army, and all this was indeed unexpected by Zhuge Liang.
However, when Sima Yi's army confronted the Shu Han army, they were all dumbfounded.
I saw that the flag on the opposite side was majestic, and there was a person sitting in the front, who was shaking a lupine fan, calm and relaxed, who was not Zhuge Liang?
Sima Yi was shocked to see it from afar, he knew that Zhuge Liang's plan was unexpected, and after analyzing it, he determined that Zhuge Liang was killed by deception, so he hurriedly withdrew his troops.
At this time, the Shu Han army was also relieved to see Sima Yi withdrawing, and then calmly retreated.
Of course, the person sitting in the chair at the front to shake the fan was not Zhuge Liang, who before his death, instructed him to carve his own appearance out of wood, and Sima Yi would definitely retreat after seeing it, and the final result confirmed his plan.
This is also the source of the famous historical proverb "Death Zhuge scares away the life of Zhongda".
Zhuge Liang was so calculated, but after all, he was a mortal, and he had never been able to realize his dream of helping Liu Bei unify the world, nor had he been able to lift Liu Chan up, so all he could do was do his best.
Before Zhuge Liang died, he already knew that Shu Han's qi was close, although Liu Chan could not help himself alive or dead, but Zhuge Liang could only "do his best to obey the destiny of heaven", he did what he could, and then closed his eyes safely.
In August of the same year, Zhuge Liang died of illness in Wuzhangyuan, and according to the historical records, Zhuge Liang confessed before his death that he would bury himself on Dingjun Mountain in Hanzhong, and his tomb would be built according to the mountain.
The tomb needs to be able to put down a coffin, no need for any funerary goods, as long as you wear ordinary clothes when you enter the tomb, the tomb of Wuhou recorded in the main history is at the foot of Dingjun Mountain.
In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it is also said that Zhuge Liang was carried to Chengdu for burial after the death of Wuzhangyuan's illness.
Of course, the world knows that the tomb of Wuhou is not the real tomb of Zhuge Liang, and where Zhuge Liang is buried is still a mystery, and there is also a legend about Zhuge Liang's death.
This legend is also true and false, not only the three generations of the Sima family have not solved this mystery, but the future generations have not been able to find the answer after more than 2,000 years.
Legend has it that when Zhuge Liang was dying, he left a suicide note to the lord Liu Chan, and the suicide note was his last plan: "The coffin is lifted south, and the rope is broken and buried."
That is, he asked 4 soldiers to carry his coffin all the way south, and when the rope broke, he would be buried in place.
Liu Chan had great respect for Zhuge Liang, and after seeing the military master's suicide note, he hurriedly found the soldiers and carried the coffin south according to Zhuge Liang's wishes.
You know, the ancient coffins are built of solid wood, not to mention Zhuge Liang's level of figures, the coffin is naturally made of the best solid wood, the weight is extraordinary.
The 4 men carried the coffin for three days and three nights, they were very tired and weak, but at this time there was no sign of the rope breaking at all.
The 4 people discussed and thought that it was a head when they went on like this, so they hit it off, and after they cut the rope, they buried Zhuge Liang on the spot, and then took the broken rope back to his life.
After Liu Chan heard the report of the four people, he had some doubts, how could the rope break so quickly? He therefore summoned his subordinates, who, after half a day of analysis of the rope, believed that the rope was not naturally broken.
If it is a natural break, then there must be wear at the break of the rope, but the rope has a neat incision that is cut, and these 4 people must have a problem.
After hearing this, Liu Chan hurriedly interrogated these 4 people, and finally they could not withstand the torture, and told the truth truthfully, liu Chan directly killed several people in one breath.
Since then, no one has ever known where Zhuge Liang was buried.
In addition to this version, there is another version of the story about the coffin being carried.
It is said that at that time, the soldiers carried the coffin all the way from Gojohara to Dingjun Mountain, but at this time the rope was still not moving, and several people walked to the foot of Dingjun Mountain, put down the coffin and planned to rest.
Who knew that at this moment, the rope broke without warning, and a hole suddenly exploded at the foot of Dingjun Mountain, and the coffin fell impartially in the middle, just buried underneath.
The 4 soldiers were buried in the ground and lost their lives, and from then on, no one knew where Zhuge Liang was buried.
Now that 2,000 years have passed since Zhuge Liang's death, many stories have been embellished by future generations, adding a lot of mysterious mythological colors.
Neither of these two statements can stand up to scrutiny.
Many people say that the actions of the 4 soldiers, including Liu Chan, were all expected by Zhuge Liang, because he knew that the Shu state would soon be overthrown after his death, so he "directed and performed" this play in order to prevent Sima Shi's people from finding their own cemetery, so as not to be retaliated against.
The world likes to compare Zhuge Liang with Cao Cao's operations, because Cao Cao, like Zhuge Liang, is secretive after death, and then uses unique schemes to confuse the world to prevent his tomb from being stolen.
The reason why they were so painstaking about what happened behind them was actually that tomb robbers were extremely rampant during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and even Cao Cao did not do less tomb robbery.
The world knows that once the tomb is stolen, the loss of funerary goods is still a small matter, and it is difficult to say whether his body is still intact at that time, and he cannot sleep, which is indeed a headache.
As clever as Zhuge Liang, it is natural to prevent his tomb from being stolen, so he asks for no funeral goods, and second, he deliberately sets up a mystery to confuse the world.
However, the legend belongs to the legend, although the allusion of "broken rope burial" has been circulated for 2,000 years, but careful analysis can find that there are many loopholes.
First of all, the four soldiers carrying the coffin must have attracted attention when they walked on the road, and if it was to prevent retaliation from the Sima family, this method was obviously not very effective, and the other party could know where he was going with just a little inquiry.
Secondly, if the purpose of this is to prevent someone from robbing the tomb, in fact, it does not play a great role, take ten thousand steps back, even if Zhuge Liang really wants to confuse the world, wouldn't it be better to use Cao Cao's "suspicious tomb" method?
Moreover, zhuge liang died in August, when the weather was still hot, and if the soldier carrying the coffin walked for three or five months, wouldn't he really be unable to rest in peace?
Even if it is really to increase the mystery, it is much safer to have people secretly bury themselves than to carry the coffin around with the fanfare of four people.
Therefore, in summary, the authenticity of this allusion is indeed debatable.
Many people think that the so-called "four people carrying the coffin" is a blinding method, or this story is also invented by later generations, after all, in the hearts of the world, Zhuge Liang has long been "sealed god".
People were reluctant to accept the fact that Zhuge Liang had died in this way, which made up a "mythical" legend to alleviate the heartache and regret of the world.
However, the only thing that is certain is that even the Dingjun Mountain Tomb recorded in the history books is only a crown tomb, that is, this is not the real location of Zhuge Liang's tomb.
Later, Sima Yan was proclaimed emperor, and the Sima family indeed did not find his burial place for three generations, and future generations admired Zhuge Liang's plan.
It is worth mentioning that in today's "Zhuge Liang Tomb", many tourists have found that a yellow fruit tree has grown on top of his cemetery, and the world legends that this is Zhuge Liang's wife Huang A ugly incarnated into a tree after her death, day and night to shield her husband from the wind and rain.
To this day, we do not know where Zhuge Liang is buried, but if Zhuge Liang's tomb is really unearthed one day, it may provide great help to the world in studying Chinese history.