01, burn the tomb
Around 965 A.D., a gloomy night.
A group of people armed with torches gathered on a high slope outside Chengdu.
Just behind them stood a huge enclosure with a towering temple around it.
This is obviously a tomb of a high-ranking official and nobleman, and it is not something that ordinary people can have.
Seeing the leader, he smiled viciously at the grave and only faintly spat out a word: "Dig! ”
A group of people moved quickly, picked up the guys in their hands, and began a grave-digging operation for several days and nights in a row!
It was a chaotic period of war and chaos, and the cemetery that had been heavily guarded had long been empty, and the people who broke in were all the most vicious outlaws...
Subsequently, the gang broke into the main burial chamber and pried open all three coffins lined up on the coffin bed.
The owner of the tomb, who had only been buried for more than ten years, was dragged out of the coffin by the whole because of the good sealing condition and not yet decomposed!
Looking at the mountains of rare treasures in the tomb, the leader's eyes flickered, and he could not hide the excitement in his heart!
At this time, he just coldly glanced at the remains of the tomb owner, who had already been pulled into messy bones, and issued the last order with no expression on his face: "Burn them!" ”
On the cold and dark night of that month, the sky was stained red by the roaring red for several hours!
In that dark tomb, because of the intertwining of air and fire, a terrifying sound occurred, and the tongue of fire that sometimes burst out, like the claws of the devil, made the surrounding people sleep all night!
02. The collapsed burial chamber
In October 2010, a fence was erected near Qinglong Village, Shiling Subdistrict, Chengdu.
A striking sign reads eight big characters: Archaeological Stronghold, No Visit!
Yes, just within the fence, there is about to be a large tomb dating back more than a thousand years to be excavated by archaeology.
After exploration, the underground burial is a huge brick chamber tomb, only the central burial chamber area, has reached more than 300 square meters.
However, shortly after the excavation was carried out by stripping off the sealing soil, the archaeologists found something strange! On the cross-section of the sealing and rammed soil layers, there is a downward depression trend!
This is an unconventional phenomenon, and the explanation for this strange phenomenon can only be one reason: the tomb has collapsed!
This is not good news, because the top of this burial chamber has been revealed to be a vault-like structure, and if there is a collapse, then there will be devastating damage to the core area of the tomb, that is, the main burial chamber where the coffin is parked...
In the end, the archaeologists could only take the "big unveiling" of the main burial chamber to carry out archaeological excavations.
At the same time, the construction date of this tomb is basically determined - the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
03. Tombs of the Five Dynasties
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was an era in China's history in which wars and chaos were frequent and local regimes emerged in an endless stream.
Above the Chengdu Plain, the most influential tomb of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms is the "Yongling Tomb" built by Wang Jian, the founding emperor of the former Shu Dynasty.
Former Shu, founded in 907 AD, only experienced two generations of state lords, lasting eighteen years.
In 925, Later Tang Zhuangzong Li Cunxun sent troops to attack Former Shu, Wang Yan surrendered, and Former Shu collapsed.
However, as the only imperial mausoleum in the Chengdu area, the scale and luxury of Yongling is no less than that of several other regimes during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
The history books record that the former Shu Emperor Wang Jian had 11 biological sons and more than 100 "dry sons".
Therefore, at that time, this area can be said to be full of "wang ye".
Therefore, archaeologists initially believe that the owner of this tomb is likely to be a son of Wang Jian!
Then, the tomb should be a "tomb of five generations".
04. Identity of the tomb owner
In March 2011, the main entrance to the burial chamber was finally opened.
Just in the middle of the Yongdao, an inscribed stone stele broken into two sections appeared! Could this be an epitaph?
After interpreting the text, the expert gave a negative answer!
This is not an epitaph! However, the identity of the owner of the tomb still found the answer from the inscription!
This is a piece of "land purchase coupon" for the owner of the tomb, which means to buy this cemetery from hades, hoping that the owner of the tomb also has the right to use this land underground, which can also be understood as a "real estate title certificate" commonly used in hades.
Interpreting the text on the land coupon, archaeologists found the identity information of the owner of the tomb!
It turned out that he was a magnate from the "Later Shu" period, and Zhao Tingyin, who was named "King of Song" by the Later Shu Emperor!
The history books also record Zhao Tingyi, who was originally a military general and served in the two major regimes of Later Liang and Later Tang.
In 925, the Later Tang dynasty destroyed the Former Shu founded by Wang Jian. Soon after, this Zhao Tingyin was sent to Chengdu.
After that, he became a confidant of Meng Zhixiang, the founding emperor of Later Shu, and was eventually named "King of Song" and a very popular subject.
05, the bones do not exist
This Houshu "King of Song", who was born in a chaotic world and created the peak of his own life, was a place of death that he had carefully built for himself.
It has long been under the harassment of tomb robbers of the past generations, and it is scarred...
Now, even the huge dome has completely collapsed, which is really unbearable!
So, in such a "broken" tomb, will there be any cultural relics that deserve the attention of archaeologists?
Because it was a large-scale excavation, the first thing you see is the main burial chamber where the coffin of the tomb owner is parked!
Unfortunately, the tomb is empty above the huge coffin bed! There was not even a trace of the coffin, let alone burial items such as gold, silver and jade!
Archaeologists took a closer look at the location of the coffin bed and found that at least three coffins had once been placed here!
However, even after more than a thousand years of underground burial, the wooden coffin decayed to the ground, it would not disappear so completely?
The almost carbonized wood cave particles that appeared on the coffin bed made everyone puzzled!
Immediately after, the town tomb beasts and figurines placed in the corner of the tomb were also discovered! However, these clay figurines are all gray-headed and earthy-faced, and almost all of them are broken in several sections, and the horizontal seven speeds and eight are messily piled together...
Soon, more and more traces of smoke in the burial chamber appeared in various burial items left behind,
These conditions can only be one possible cause! The tomb was once deliberately set on fire to destroy the tomb!
It is recorded in the historical records that Zhao Tingyin was extremely poor and extravagant, squeezing the people and making the people unhappy! And only more than ten years after his death, Later Shu belonged to the Northern Song Dynasty and the country perished!
In that turbulent era, was there ever a group of people who took revenge on the King of Song for years of resentment?
This, very likely!
Thus, the opening scene of our story appears. Zhao Tingyin's tomb was pried open, dragging out the bones of him and his wife and discarding them everywhere!
After emptying the various burial gold, silver and jade objects in the tomb, they also set a fire and burned everything in the tomb...
06. Remnants of the tomb
However, this five-generation royal tomb that was once swallowed up by fire still left many surprises for future generations.
Those pottery utensils that were still preserved after being smoked and burned became the last "relics" of the tomb!
In an inconspicuous corner of the burial chamber, the archaeologists found many pottery building components, and many small potters appeared in the gaps.
After the later splicing and finishing, a complete set of "pottery cottages" in the Later Shu period appeared!
In the courtyard of this villa, a group of potters with different looks and attitudes take their places.
And the person sitting on the square stool in the center should be Zhao Tingyin, the owner of this big tomb!
In addition, the large clay figurines in the tomb that have "gray heads and dirty faces" also show a delicate appearance after being cleaned.
These people should all be musicians and vaudeville artists in the palace, their posture is beautiful and lifelike, showing the luxurious life scenes of the magnates in the Later Shu period more than a thousand years ago...
These are also valuable and precious cultural relics in archaeological research!
The Later Shu Dynasty that danced and danced has long disappeared into the rolling river of history.
Only the figurines that have been buried for thousands of years and burned and smoked by fire are still all beautiful, telling us the past of a long, long time ago to the modern world...