In recent days, the news of the discovery of the tomb of Emperor Wen of Han has spread feverishly on the Internet, and people are happy about this news at the same time, but also have a great interest in Emperor Wen of Han.
Judging from the excavations of Baling, the outer pit of its mausoleum can be described as very simple, in addition to seals and pottery figurines, there are also some carriage and horse tools, as for gold and silver jewelry, pearls and jade and other valuables, but there are very few.
I have to say that this is very different from the tomb specifications of many emperors in ancient times.
Of course, this is actually not surprising, after all, Emperor Wen of Han advocated "thin burial" before his death, so it is normal that there is little gold and silver in his tomb.
So, why did Emperor Wen of Han practice "thin burial"? In other words, how frugal was emperor Wen of Han in history?
It is recorded in the Book of Han and the Chronicle of Food and Goods: "Emperor Wen took the throne, practiced frugality, and si'an people."
That is to say, after Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, he began to practice frugality, start with the people, and sympathize with the sufferings of the people.
The reason for this is that at this time, the Western Han Dynasty had just been established and was in the stage of economic recovery and development, so Emperor Wen of Han advocated frugality in order to restore the economy as soon as possible and make the country rich.
So, how did Emperor Wen of Han usually practice frugality?
First of all, as far as travel is concerned, The frame of Emperor Wendi of Han cannot use horses of the same coat color, and some generals even have to ride on an ox cart.
He reigned for twenty-three years, and "his palace courtyard was full of dogs and horses and other costumes."
Once, the palace planned to build a terrace, so it called the craftsmen to calculate how much it would cost.
The result was that it cost as much as a hundred gold, and Emperor Wen of Han shook his head after learning about it: Forget it, forget it, don't do it! So the matter of building a terrace was gone.
It is said that he was also ashamed of this: A hundred gold is equivalent to the property of 10 households in a medium family, and I live in the palace built by the previous emperor, and I often feel afraid and ashamed, so why build a new platform?
In every year of famine, Emperor Wen of Han ordered that princes everywhere should not pay tribute to the imperial court, and that they should take good care of their own kingdoms.
In addition, he also lifted the "ban on yamazawa", that is, to open the mountain forest pond ze that used to belong to the royal family, so that the people could collect fishing and hunting, and side production to solve the problem of food and clothing.
Not only that, after Emperor Wen of Han ascended the throne, he also announced that the level of consumer life would be reduced and the attendants in the palace would be streamlined to reduce the burden on society.
Emperor Wen of Han issued many edicts prohibiting counties from contributing rare and exotic objects, and he usually only wore a cheap dress. If you look at the royal specifications, what Emperor Wendi of Han wears is a typical "cheap product".
In addition to his own frugality, his beloved Lady Shen could not wear gorgeous clothes, and the draperies in the palace could not be embroidered and embellished, so as to set an example for the subjects of the world.
In addition to these, the most admirable thing is the "low specification" requirements of Emperor Wendi of Han for the construction of his mausoleum.
When Emperor Wen of Han built his own mausoleum ,Baling Tomb', he clearly put forward the principle of "thin burial".
According to the Records of Filial Piety, Emperor Wen of Han clearly instructed that when buried, "all should be made of pottery, and no gold, silver, copper and tin should be used as ornaments, and the grave should not be cured." ”
That is to say, pottery is used with burial goods, the underground palace is not decorated with valuables such as gold and silver, and the ground on the mausoleum is not sealed, in order to save money.
These records of Sima Qian are basically in line with the ruins of Baling that have been discovered now!
In addition, when Emperor Wen of Han was dying, he reiterated the requirement for thin burial in his will, and also specified the content of the funeral ceremony of reducing the province, that is, "the Baling Mountains and Rivers have not changed because of their reasons." ”
So seeing this, you should know how frugal Emperor Hanwen really is!
It should be known that in the tombs of ancient emperors, there are very few advocates of "thin burial", and many emperors have adopted "thick burial".
For example, the most typical is the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin!
According to relevant historical records, there are various palaces built in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, displaying many rare treasures, on a grand scale, rare in the world.
It should be known that the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was built for thirty-nine years, and Qin Shi Huang was not yet completed when he was dying, and after Qin II Hu Hai took the throne, it was built for more than a year.
In order to build the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, a total of 720,000 manpower was recruited, and the largest number of people used to build the mausoleum was close to 800,000. The scale of the funeral and the number of funerary objects are simply breathtaking.
So in comparison, Emperor Wen of Han was indeed a good emperor who advocated frugality!
Of course, although some people later said that some precious treasures were unearthed in The Baling Tombs, some people suspected that the "thin burial" advocated by Emperor Wen of Han was just a kind of political propaganda.
However, it is unmistakable that Baling did not mobilize a large number of civilians to engage in civil engineering because the mountain was a mausoleum.
As for the rank and quantity of burial items in the mausoleum, it may be because of the complexity of the situation at the time of burial, which is inconsistent with the will of Emperor Wen of Han.
It is worth noting that Empress Dou, the mother of Emperor Jing of Han, died in the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Jianyuan of the Han Dynasty (135 BC) and was buried with Emperor Wen of Han in Baling.
That is to say, even if the Baling tomb is rich in burial goods, it may be because Empress Dou was buried with her.
After all, in the Western Han Dynasty at that time, after the "rule of Wenjing", the country's economy has been greatly developed, and it will not be able to implement "thin burial".
Moreover, at that time, Emperor Wu of Han had reached adulthood and his grandmother had died, and it was unlikely that he would continue to implement a "thin burial" in accordance with the legacy of his grandfather Emperor Wen of Han more than twenty years ago.
In addition, according to the "Book of Han and the Biography of Dongfang Shuo", Princess Guantao (Liu Yan), the daughter of Empress Dowager Dou, was widowed, "more than fifty years old, close to Dong Yan", and the money was used arbitrarily, and the Zhongfu was ordered: "Dong Jun's hair, a day full of gold, a million gold, a thousand horses, is white."
In the end, "Dou Tai was buried with Dong Jun in Baling".
Here we explain a little: Princess Liu Ofe Tao, her husband is Chen Wu, the Marquis of Tangyi. After Chen Wu's death, Princess Guantao lived a widowed life.
When she was nearly sixty years old, she fell in love with a beautiful teenager named Dong Yan, so the two began to have an affair. Later, dong yan died, and Liu Yan left a last word that she did not want to be buried with her husband Chen Wu, but asked to be buried with her lover Dong Yan in Baling.
This is the so-called "burial with Dong Jun in Baling".
Therefore, it is not difficult for us to infer that under the influence of the world's wind and luxury at that time, there were later tomb robbers who "obtained more treasures" when they excavated the tomb, which was most likely the burial items of other burials in their cemeteries.
Therefore, in general, Emperor Wen of Han was indeed a good emperor who practiced strict economy before his death, otherwise there would be no so-called "rule of Wenjing";
After his death, he did implement the principle of "thin burial", and as for the later tomb robbers who stolen treasures in the tomb, they may be other burial personnel.