In 1957, in Changping, Beijing, the Dingling Underground Palace, which had been sealed for more than 400 years, was slowly opened, and the coffins of the Wanli Emperor and his two empresses were impressive. Subsequently, archaeologists found more than 3,000 precious cultural relics in this underground palace that lasted for 6 years and cost a total of 8 million taels of silver, including a pure gold crown, which is the only one in China so far!
At that time, archaeologists spent nearly 3 months on the location of the entrance to the Dingling Underground Palace. Just when everyone was at a loss, a stone stele in the pit caught everyone's attention, because there seemed to be writing on the stone stele.
After professional dust removal and wiping, 15 large characters were gradually revealed: "This is to the front of the Wall of Kongo, the skin is sixteen feet deep and three feet and five feet."
Archaeologists were overjoyed to see this column, which was obviously a mark left by the craftsmen who built the underground palace in that year, and dug down according to this guideline to find the entrance to the underground palace accurately.
Sure enough, after the people dug up the sealing soil on the surface according to the corresponding size, they came to the "Diamond Wall" (The Diamond Wall, also known as the "Flat Water Wall") recorded on the stone tablet, is a reinforcing wall, which is a vertical load-bearing wall at the foot of the ticket. ) location.
The wall is 5.5 meters high and is all made of solid bricks about 40 centimeters long and 15 centimeters wide. Subsequently, archaeologists moved a ladder and removed the stone bricks one by one along the center of the wall in an "inverted triangle".
After the stone bricks were removed, a white jade gate appeared in front of everyone's eyes, and there was no doubt that this was the gate of the Dingling Underground Palace!
To say that luxury is not the emperor's home, this White Jade Gate is carved from a whole piece of Han White Jade, the carvings on the door, the stone lions are exquisite and meticulous, although the time has turned over 400 years, they are as new as the original system.
After the stone door was pushed open, a cold and cold feeling swept over the face, and the stone wall of the entire underground palace passage was well preserved, except for a few areas with a little peeling, there was no large-scale damage. But the ground was covered with wood, and the wood was already decaying.
After the stone door of the nave was opened, the 3 white jade thrones and a pile of scattered funerary objects looked particularly eye-catching. The three thrones are lined up side by side, and it is obvious that the throne in the center belongs to the Wanli Emperor and the other two are those of his two empresses.
In addition, in the corner of the main hall, there are three large dragon jars, and the inside of the tank is the sesame oil used to make the long lamp. But when the experts looked over, the sesame oil inside had already solidified. Apparently, shortly after the mausoleum was closed, the lights went out.
After passing through the nave, there is the apse, where the coffins of the Wanli Emperor and his two empresses (Empress Xiaoduanxian and Empress Xiaojing) are parked.
Unfortunately, the coffin made of 3 pear blossom wood placed on the bed of the Han white jade coffin had long since decayed to the point where only some residue remained, especially the coffin of Empress Xiaojing on the right, which was the most decaying.
There are 3 pairs of skeletons between the decay, of which the skeleton of the Wanli Emperor is surrounded by various gold utensils such as golden pots, golden bowls, golden jugs, golden wine notes, and golden jubilants, as well as a large number of jade objects such as jade gui, jade belts, and jade pendants, and under the skeleton are 79 gold ingots, 30 silver ingots, 17 gold coins and countless gems of various colors.
The most eye-catching of these is the golden crown! The golden crown consists of two parts, the front house and the back mountain, and the corner. The golden crown is 24 cm high, the back mountain is 22 cm high, and the crown height is 14 cm. 7 cm, crown caliber 20. 5 cm, weight 826 g. The golden crown is hand-woven from 518 fine gold wires with a diameter of only 0.2 mm, and there are 8400 dragon scales alone! And every piece is welded. This golden crown is the only one in our country, which is unique in the world.
Looking at the funerary items around empress Xiaoduan's skeleton, they were also piled with gold and silver ornaments, but these looked much darker in front of the Nine Dragons and Nine Phoenix Crowns on the side of her skull.
Kowloon nine phoenix crown, made of silk, embedded with hundreds of unprocessed natural rubies, more than 5,000 pearls, a total weight of 2320 grams. There are nine golden dragons in front of the phoenix crown, the mouth is beaded, and in front of the lower is eight point green golden phoenixes, and the other golden phoenix is in the back, a total of nine dragons and nine phoenixes. It is beautiful and a treasure on earth.
As soon as his eyes turned, the "treatment" of Empress Xiaojing, who was lying on the other side of the Wanli Emperor, was simply a world apart from that of Empress Xiaoduan!
Because, everyone found that in the coffin of Empress Xiaojing, except for a small amount of gold, the rest was almost all silverware, and the cushion under her body was also copper coins and paper money...
Why is it that the same empress of the Wanli Emperor, the treatment of these two sisters is so disparate?
According to historical records, Empress Xiaojing of the Wang clan, from a humble origin, was initially just an ordinary palace girl in the Cining Palace, only because of a chance to get the favor of the Wanli Emperor, and once she entered the soul, she gave birth to a baby boy.
After learning the news, the Wanli Emperor at first still wanted to settle the account and did not want to recognize this son, but fortunately, the empress dowager came forward, and in the end, the baby boy was named Zhu Changluo by the Wanli Emperor, and Wang Shishi was named "Gong Concubine".
At that time, except for Zhu Changluo, the Wanli Emperor had no other dragon sons, and in the eyes of others, Zhu Changluo seemed to be the legitimate heir to the throne, but at this time, the Wanli Emperor still did not treat the mother and son very well, so he did not have the slightest idea of making Zhu Changluo the crown prince.
The so-called "wall fell on everyone pushed", Wang Gongfei's situation also directly made her humble in the eyes of other concubines, and even eunuchs and palace women could bully her.
Later, Princess Wang Gongfei washed her face with tears all day, and soon her eyes were blind with tears, until she died of illness at the age of 47, when she failed to regain the favor of Wanli...
It makes sense that such an unloved concubine is empty in her coffin.
It is worth mentioning that although the coffin of Empress Xiaojing is very shabby, there are several wooden boxes around her coffin, which are buried by Princess Wang Gongfei's grandson Mingxi Zong Zhu You for her grandmother's "correct name".
Among the funerary items buried in these re-burials, the most precious are the two exquisite phoenix crowns, one is the three dragons and two phoenix crowns, and the other is the twelve dragons and nine phoenix crowns, and their beauty even exceeds the phoenix crown of Empress Xiaoduan.
The mottled stone walls, the solidified sesame oil, the decaying coffins, the dry bones, these dilapidations are more desolate and helpless than the glorious gold and silver utensils, dragon crowns and phoenix crowns. No matter how beautiful the phoenix crown is, Princess Wang Gongfei has never really had it...