Emperor Wen of Han and Baling: Baqiao hurts the imperial feelings elsewhere

Exterior view of the Baling Tombs area.

On the first day of June in the seventh year of the Later Yuan Dynasty (157 BC), Liu Heng, the third emperor of the Han Dynasty, died of a serious illness in Weiyang Palace at the age of 47. The Qunchen gave liu Heng, who had just died, the temple name "Taizong" and the title "Emperor Xiaowen", and the history called Liu Heng Emperor Of Han, which was known as his name. Seven days after Liu Heng's death, on the seventh day of June, his body, coffin, and funeral utensils were also buried in the Baling Garden, which had been built in advance.

On December 14, 2021, after 2178 years of time and dynasties, the Tomb of emperor Wen of Han returned to the public eye again, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage announced that the Jiangcun Tomb in Bailuyuan, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, is the real tomb of The Tomb, which is considered to be the phoenix mouth of the Tomb since the Yuan Dynasty, in fact, there are no traces of Han Dynasty tombs. So, why is Emperor Wen of Han's tomb so special? What is the mystery of the location of Baling? Why is it that until today we are not sure where his imperial tomb is? Everything also needs to start from the life and family relations of Emperor Wen of Han himself.

From Daiwang to Han Emperor

Liu Heng was the fourth son of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, who was born in 203 BC, the fourth year of the Chu-Han War between his father Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu. Liu Heng's mother, Bo Shi, was originally a concubine of Wei Bao, the king of Wei who had divided the southwest of present-day Shanxi during the Qin and Han dynasties, and after Han Xin pacified the Wei and Zhao states, Bo shi was also sent as a prisoner to Liu Bang's camp to weave cloth, and was included in the palace by Liu Bang because of Bo's slight appearance. However, Liu Bang did not have the same political dependence on The Bo clan at all for Lü Hou, let alone the emotional favor for Lady Qi in his later years. In addition, after Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and became emperor, he was basically busy pacifying the various princes of different surnames in the east, and he did not have much time to pay attention to Bo and Liu Heng.

In 196 BC, Chen Feng, who commanded elite troops to defend against the Xiongnu between Zhao and Dai, raised an army to rebel against Han and declared himself the king of the Dynasty, Liu Bang led a large army of Han, Liang, Zhao, Qi, Yan, chu and other aspects to pacify Chen Feng, and after pacifying The Land of Zhao, Liu Bang, in view of the three turmoil in the rebellion of King Xin of Han, the Siege of Bai Deng, and the Rebellion of Chen Feng, changed the princely states with different surnames to the princely states with the same surname, and made Liu Heng, the fourth son of only 8 years old, the acting king, and expanded the dai kingdom that was originally only Dai County and Yanmen County, including Taiyuan County.

The reason why Liu Heng was named the acting king was not because he was favored, and around this year, Liu Bang's sons were made kings in large numbers to replace the previous princes of military merit with different surnames. Among them, The eldest son liu fei was made the king of Qi, the third son Liu Ruyi was successively crowned king of Zhao, and the fifth son Liu Hui, the sixth son Liu You, the seventh son Liu Chang, and the eighth son Liu Jian were named Liang Wang, Huaiyang Wang, Huainan Wang, and Yan Wang in the same year that Liu Heng was enfeoffed as the king, which was used to replace Peng Yue, Yingbu, and Lu Xie, who actively rebelled against Han or were forced to rebel against Han.

In 195 BC, after Liu Bang's death, Lü Shi, who had been promoted from empress to empress dowager, dominated the political arena in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, and his own son Liu Ying, the Emperor Hui of Han, was suppressed, not to mention the rest of Liu Bang's sons. Liu Ruyi, Liu Hui, and Liu You were all forced to die by Lü Hou, and Liu Jian was exterminated by Lü Hou, only Liu Fei, Liu Heng, and Liu Chang survived, of which Liu Chang was raised by Lü Hou, and Liu Fei and Liu Heng only escaped Lü Hou's butcher's knife through Mingzhe's protection and low-key behavior.

After Lü Hou's death and the fall of the Lü clan, among the sons of Liu Bang, only Liu Heng and Liu Changshang were alive, and although Liu Xiang and Liu Zhang, the sons of Liu Fei, participated in the struggle to overthrow Lü, Liu Chang, Liu Xiang, and Liu Zhang all had a certain relationship with the Lü family, and Liu Chang and Liu Zhang were all strong personalities that were exposed, and the nobles of the early Han Dynasty represented by Chen Ping and Zhou Bo were unwilling to support a new emperor who had an affair with the Lü family and had a strong personality, which selected Liu Heng, who was diligent and low-key.

However, Liu Heng was not such a weak master as he seemed, and after some careful choice, he came to Chang'an from the capital of the daiguo state, Jinyang (present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi). After Xiahou Infant and Liu Xingju had sorted out the palace after the coup and brought out tianzi's dharma, they entered Weiyang Palace, and sent their own cronies Zhang Wu and Song Chang to take charge of the northern and southern armies in Chang'an City and the forbidden army in the palace overnight.

From the process of Liu Heng accepting the throne, it can actually be seen that Liu Heng was not a person who was willing to accept the manipulation of the old ministers of the DPRK and China, let alone a person who completely stayed on the basis of Liu Bang and Lü Hou politically. Perhaps it is this kind of boldness that allows him to create the "rule of Wenjing", which is also reflected in the location of his imperial tomb.

From Bashui to Baling

Emperors in ancient China often began to select and build the imperial tomb after ascending the throne, and Liu Heng, who had just become the emperor of the Han Dynasty, naturally needed to consider his fate after his death. However, two embarrassing problems were placed in front of Liu Heng:

First, his father Liu Bang and his elder brother Liu Ying, the Hui Emperor, had built two mausoleums on the north bank of Weishui from east to west, Changling and Anling, and Liu Heng, as the son of Liu Bang, should theoretically be buried next to his father, but his brother Liu Ying was a peer, and according to the Zhaomu system since the Zhou Dynasty, how to arrange the relative position of his own mausoleum and his brother's mausoleum was not a simple matter.

Second, Lü Hou was buried in the Changling Garden, which constituted the Empress Dowager's Double Tomb In changling, and Lü Houling also shared a mausoleum with Gao Zuling and did not build a separate garden wall, which made it difficult for Liu Heng's still-alive mother, Bo, to have a suitable position in Changling. What's more, the relationship between Bo's and Liu Heng's mother and son and Lü's and Liu Ying's mother and son not only does not speak of the kind of closeness that originates from blood relatives, but also has a different kind of coldness from political struggle.

Liu Heng is thrifty, low-key, has a certain political skill, but also filial piety to his mother, this filial piety is not a simple blood affection, the father's snub and the oppression of the mother-in-law, so that the mother and son in the palace of Chang'an and Jinyang depend on each other, support each other to survive more than 20 years of trembling and open guns and dark arrows. We can even boldly guess that such close associates as Zhang Wu and Song Chang are probably also the close associates of the Bo clan who taught Liu Hengfang to win over, and bo Zhao, the brother of the Bo clan and the uncle of Liu Heng, also participated in the plot of the daiwang period, and the maternal relatives were the pillars that must be relied on for the Han emperor Liu Heng, at least at the moment when he had just transformed from a daiwang to a Han emperor.

The Han Emperor Liu Heng did not continue to build mausoleums near the Changling and Anling tombs built by his father and brother, but instead shifted his attention to the White Deer Plains east of Chang'an City. Bailuyuan is bordered by Lishan Mountain in the east, Zhongnan Mountain in the south, the original is the Tongguan Road and Lantian Road that connect the Central Plains and Jingchu in the east of Chang'an, the "Eight Waters Around Chang'an" in the water and the water flow on the east and west sides of the White Deer Plain, from the Bashui River Valley to the southeast is Han Yu wrote "Snow embraces the blue pass and the horse is not moving forward", and further on is the Wuguan pass where Qin and Chu are handed over, and moving south from the Huanshui River Valley is a good place for Gao Shi to retreat or choose a villa site in the Han and Tang Dynasties.

Bailu's original body not only had the important position of the commanding heights of the transportation hub in the eastern part of ancient Chang'an, but also the tomb Zhaoyu selected by the Royal Family of the Qin State during the Warring States period. The King of Qin, who was summarized by Jia Yi in the "Treatise on Passing Qin" as "Yu Lie of The Sixth Dynasty", laid the foundation for the hegemony of the Qin State, since King Zhaoxiang of Qin, was basically buried in the Qin Dongling Tomb in the northeast of today's Bailuyuan and the western foothills of Lishan Mountain, so Qin Shi Huang would build a mausoleum in the northern foothills of Lishan Mountain, and the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum itself is also the inheritance of the Qin Dong Mausoleum. Such a royal atmosphere in the east of Chang'an, near Lishan Mountain, will naturally become an excellent alternative to the north bank of Weishui, with the precedent of Qin, it is logical to build an imperial mausoleum here.

So, why didn't Liu Heng choose Qinling in the south of Chang'an City or Wuzhangyuan in the west of Chang'an City? The reason is very simple, the Qinling mountain stone is too hard, the principle of wuzhang is too far away from Chang'an City and Han Changling, both of which are not as close as the loess of Bailuyuan, and relying on Bailuyuan and stepping on the Bashui River, it is also in line with the ancient people's "back mountain and water" Yin house site selection principle. Then, Bailuyuan can not only meet the purpose of staying away from Lü Hou and Emperor Hui's mother and son, but also meet the requirements of mountain-shaped feng shui when the emperor built the mausoleum, and there are precedent blessings from the King of Qin and Qin Shi Huang in the Warring States period, the distance from the imperial capital Chang'an and gaozu Changling is relatively close, and the amount of engineering at the time of excavation is not too huge, which naturally becomes the best choice for Liu Heng when choosing the imperial tomb.

From mausoleums to allusions

Liu Heng reigned for a total of 23 years and was a notoriously diligent and frugal emperor, which was also inextricably linked to his bumpy experience during the reign of emperor. After all, Liu Heng was not a prince who grew up in the deep palace, so he could more accurately recognize the fatigue and weakness of national strength and people's livelihood in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty. The Western Han Dynasty had just returned to a fragile and stable situation from a series of wars and turmoil in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, qin and the world, the anti-Qin war, the Chu-Han war, and Liu Bang's war to cut off the princes with different surnames, and naturally did not withstand the toss, so Liu Heng followed Xiao He Cao's strategy in ruling the country, adopted the policy of "resting with the people and ruling without doing anything", and further led by example the strategy of thrift and thrift.

The thrifty style is reflected in the construction of the imperial tomb, and the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han is the only imperial tomb that cannot afford to seal the mound, which also led to a certain extent to the misunderstanding of the location of the tomb of the Baling Emperor after the Yuan Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty people, represented by Bi Yuan, the governor of Shaanxi at the time, could only find a phoenix mouth from the landform as the location of the tomb of the Baling Emperor, which was also caused by the lack of sealing. In addition, from the newly certified Jiangcun Tomb (Baling Emperor Mausoleum) funerary pit, we found that baling can use pottery products, not gold products, and the valuable gold and silver utensils buried in the tomb are far less than other Western Han Guanzhong Imperial Tombs. The Nanling tomb of Empress Bo, the mother of Liu Heng, is similar to that of other tombs of the same level in terms of the number of valuable funerary items, far more than Liu Heng himself, which is not only the clear evidence of Liu Heng's frugal and thin burial, but also the embodiment of Liu Heng's filial piety.

When a location is selected, a name also needs to be selected. The western Han Dynasty imperial tombs often use the place name of the site selection place when naming, and directly use it as the name of the imperial tomb. The Changling tomb of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, is because the local ancient name is "Changping", the Mao Tomb of Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty is also because the local ancient name is "Maoxiang", and the DuLing of the Han Xuan Emperor Liu Qing is because the local is the location of the Du State in the pre-Qin period. Therefore, the Tomb of Emperor Liu Heng of the Han Dynasty was actually named Baling because it was next to Bashui. At this time, the Western Han Empire, far from the subsequent dynasties, pursued some auspicious wishes, the intention of the Destiny of Heaven Forever, as long as the place name contains a certain auspicious meaning, not so bad, it will be directly used as the name of the imperial tomb.

After the construction of the Western Han Dynasty Emperor's Mausoleum, the satellite city of Chang'an City, Lingyi, was often set up next to the imperial tomb, or the county name was simply changed to the name of the mausoleum. The "Five Tombs", which often appears in Tang and Song poetry, refers to the five largest counties composed of the Tomb of Liu Bangchang of han Gaozu, the Mausoleum of Liu Ying'an of Emperor Hui of Han, the Mausoleum of Liu Qiyang of Emperor Jing of Han, the Mausoleum of Liu Chemao of Emperor Wu of Han, and the Pingling Tomb of Emperor Liu Fuling of Han Zhao. After the completion of Baling, the original Zhiyang County was changed to Baling County, and Baling became a county name, which was jointly integrated with Baqiao and Bashui into the allusions formed in the Han and Tang Dynasties, and was sung for thousands of years. Baling Drunken Lieutenant, Baling Injury Farewell, and Baling Bridge Folding Willow are allusions that can only be formed in the context of the traffic key position of the area where Baling, Baling, and Bashui are located.

Baling Drunken Lieutenant refers to the fact that an unknown Baling County Lieutenant intercepted General Li Guang, who had just returned from a drunken meal at a field friend in Baling County, at this time Li Guang was demoted to a commoner because of a military defeat, and although the Baling County Lieutenant himself ate wine during working hours, he strictly enforced the prohibition on passage at night in the Han Law, insisted on not allowing Li Guang to pass, and mocked Li Guang as a former general. After Li Guang resumed his position as general, he specially transferred the poor county lieutenant before leaving, and used the excuse to behead him in front of the battle, announcing his personal vendetta. The "Drunken Lieutenant of Baling" thus became an allusion and was discussed by later generations of literati.

Compared with the Drunken Lieutenant of Baling, Baling Injury and Baqiao Folding Willow may be more famous, both because of the transportation hub status of Bashui, making it the farthest place for people in Beijing during the Han and Tang Dynasties to send friends out of Beijing as officials, exiles, and returns to their hometowns, and those who return to Chang'an and those who leave Chang'an often bid farewell to each other under The Baling And above the Baqiao Bridge on the banks of bashi. On the one hand, he was separated from his friends who had often met on this day, on the other hand, he was a lonely figure who went on the road alone after leaving the lively Chang'an, and he did not know how many willow branches beside Bashui had been folded into willow branches that symbolized the return of nostalgia, and the willow color of the year, the baling wounds, and he did not know what kind of mentality Liu Hengquan, the Emperor of HanWen, who had created the rule of Wenjing, knew what kind of mentality he had witnessed the countless times of the Baqiao folding willow over the past two thousand years. Presumably, the literati on the Baqiao Bridge will also see things before and after parting, and sigh a bit of Han Wendi's former governing strategy, right?

Visual I Yang Xiaodong

Edit I Xu Ran

Audit I Liu Lan