There is no existing historical record of what level of funeral ceremony Sui and Tang officials could enjoy, but ancient regulations had strict regulations on this, and it is obvious that they cannot be buried beyond the level.
From the excavations of many Sui and Tang tombs, especially the burial tools excavated before the Anshi Rebellion and the analysis of the tomb owners, a common conclusion is drawn:
A member of the First Rank, a relative of the Emperor and a minister of special contribution, can enjoy a stone rafter, a sarcophagus, and a burial of gold and jade utensils.
However, a 9-year-old girl in the Sui Dynasty used sarcophagus sarcophagus in an extraordinary way, and the funerary artifacts were extremely solemn. Not only that, her sarcophagus was engraved with the words "the one who opens is dead", which makes the people who see it creepy and the experts on the scene shudder, quite thinking: Can this sarcophagus not be opened?
What is the identity of this girl? What's the thrilling story behind it? Look down.
01 Hell! Steelmaking to build factories, digging foundations appeared all kinds of abnormal signs
In the late 1950s, the people of Liangjiazhuang in Xi'an planned to clear the land and build a steelmaking plant. However, when digging the foundation, it was obvious that something was wrong, digging the soil was as difficult as digging stones, and it was only a few carts of soil dug in the morning, and the shovels were rolled up to the edges.
Hell, what the hell? While wondering, people mobilized more people, brought steel pickaxes, shovels, and other tools to make good use of them, exerted the spirit of ants nibbling on elephants, and finally cleared the land and dug the foundation.
According to the normal schedule, it would have been possible in 3 days, but this time it took half a month.
A scene of an archaeological site in the last century
At that time, people were engaged in construction, the momentum was high, and the leader shouted every day: "What is our slogan?" The masses below responded with excitement: "Steelmaking, steelmaking, steelmaking."
Regardless of whether they are leaders or those who should make peace, people sincerely hope to do more for the poor and white country, which is reflected in words and deeds, all of which are from the heart and pure and sincere feelings.
In addition, people do not value other things, such as digging soil, in fact, digging up the ancient artificial rammed earth layer. The appearance of the rammed earth layer is likely to mean that there were buildings on the ground and tombs underground here in ancient times.
According to the rammed earth range of about 50 meters long and about 20 meters wide at the site, if the upper side is judged to be true, it is likely that the tomb below is still a large tomb, and the tomb owner is nothing more than a royal nobleman.
With the anomalies in the excavation of the foundation and all kinds of questions, the foreman subconsciously reported to the local cultural relics department, and the archaeological team quickly arrived at the scene.
On the same day, the Luoyang shovel was used to conduct underground exploration, first digging out the five-flower soil, and then the probe shovel touched the stone, and it was impossible to continue to explore.
Five-flower soil, unlike the original soil or surface soil, is a man-disturbed soil, which is caused by the mix of various colors of soil when the tomb pit was originally built, the soil of each layer was excavated, and the various colors of the soil were mixed when the grave was finally buried; if the stone is not stone, there is only one possibility, that is, the tomb brick or stone coffin.
02 Horror! The ancient tombstone rafters set the sarcophagus, and the coffin now has a vicious curse of "the one who opens is dead"
This discovery brought the archaeology team to the spirit. According to the feedback of the locals, the original terrain here was higher, it was a small dirt bag, and later people often came here to take soil, and the soil bag gradually disappeared.
Both the facts unearthed on the spot and the clues provided by people point to a common point: there is a tomb here.
The experts were so excited that if there were a tomb here, it would not be very deep, so until late that night, the excavation of the site was still underway.
Sure enough, half a meter down, a regular burial chamber about 6 meters long and about 5 meters wide loomed. The previous marble soil was originally filled with burial chambers, but the masonry or coffin is still not seen.
The shape of ancient coffin tombs
It was not until a few days later, about 3 meters down, that the full picture of an inverted pyramid shaft-shaped grave was presented, and at the bottom of the pit appeared a sarcophagus made of bluestone, about 2.6 meters long, about 2 meters wide, and about 1.6 meters high.
But what is even more strange is that the sarcophagus is engraved with the words "the one who opens is dead", why there is such a vicious curse, what is going on, look down.
03 Touching! Behind the epitaph, it turned out to be a past story of the Sui Dynasty princess spoiling her granddaughter
The stone object encountered by the front shovel was a stone epitaph cover with a side length of about 40 centimeters, and the sharp probe shovel was right in the center, and it was smashed into four petals.
Epitaph Gai'er Seal Book: Sui Zuo Guanglu Grand Master Female Epitaph. The epitaph stone has a 370-word inscription in italics, telling the ins and outs of the tomb owner, Li Jingxun, a 9-year-old girl.
Epitaph Gai'er and Zhiwen Takumoto
Tomb owner Li Jingxun, word child. Born with golden jade in his mouth, his family was prominent, for the family clan Longxi Chengji Li Clan (present-day Tianshui, Gansu, the same clan as Tang Gaozu Li Yuan), the ancestors were great generals, when they became the pillar state, the tomb owner's grandfather was a big friend who played with Emperor Wen of Sui, and laid the foundation for the Sui Dynasty to be born into death, attacking the city and laying the foundation for the Sui Dynasty.
Later, unfortunately died in battle, the tomb owner's father (still young) - Li Min, was specially favored by Emperor Wen of Sui, recruited to the palace, from a young age in the palace to run and play, the elderly fell out of a table of talents, swords, swords, chess, calligraphy and painting are very proficient.
Next, Emperor Wen of Sui married his granddaughter (the only daughter of his eldest daughter Yang Lihua) to Li Min, who gave birth to Li Jingxun in 599. Therefore, Yang Lihua, the eldest daughter of Emperor Wen of Sui, was the grandmother of the tomb owner Li Jingxun.
Yang Lihua's affection for her only daughter was extended to her granddaughter Li Jingxun, who was taken to the palace by her grandmother and pampered. Unfortunately, in 608 (the fourth year of Daye), granddaughter Li Jingxun suddenly fell ill and died of some reason.
Grandma's love for her granddaughter is not exaggerated by "holding it in her mouth for fear of melting, holding it in her hand for fear of shattering", but the Si people have gone, and they can only bury their granddaughter thickly, so as not to disturb Li Jingxun in the underground, and even engrave the words "the opener is dead" on the outside of the coffin. Perhaps, this can make up for grandma's inner uneasiness, guilt and pain a little.
However, a deep relationship suddenly dissipated, so that Yang Lihua, who had experienced the monstrous waves of the royal family and was bent on family reunion and peaceful reunion, had a broken liver and intestines, and it was difficult to sleep and eat, and the next year, Yang Lihua, who was only 48 years old, died and went underground to meet her granddaughter.
04 Cruelty! 9-year-old girl funeral products, luxurious style super adult, behind the hidden blood and tears secret history
As the princess, empress, and empress dowager of the Northern Zhou Dynasty of the Sui Dynasty, and also the princess of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Lihua buried her granddaughter Li Jingxun, combined with historical materials, epitaphs and excavated funerary products, which were roughly reflected in the following three aspects:
First, careful site selection.
At the Royal Nun Temple in Daxing City, a good cemetery was chosen for Li Jingxun, the foundation was built with rammed earth, and then large buildings were built above the tomb: pavilions and pagodas. However, with the interpretation of history, Chang'an City was full of wars, and the cemetery buildings and the royal nunnery temple on the bare ground have long disappeared.
Second, the refined coffin.
The coffin of the tomb owner Li Jingxun is a rare work of art. It is divided into two, the outside is a large stone rafter, inside is still covered with a palace-style sarcophagus, the width of 3 rooms, about 1.9 meters long, about 1 meter wide, about 1.2 meters high, the coffin is carefully polished, the surface is smooth, the carving is exquisite, the coffin has maids, male attendants, doors and windows, thresholds and various lotus patterns, the crown cover is a whole stone carved Nine Ridges Peak Hall, the bottom of the coffin tastes the whole boulder composition.
Of course, the ingenuity of the coffin lies in the four words engraved on the outer coffin, "The opener is dead". This is of little practical use to ancient tomb robbers, and at best has a psychological impact, but as the only ancient archaeological discovery, it fully reflects the grandmother's deep feelings for her granddaughter.
Ancient "coffin" trivia:
Coffin, the combined name of coffin and coffin, coffin inside, rafter outside, sleeve coffin.
Coffins, a burial tool, were only enjoyed by royalty and nobles in ancient times, representing identity and status. The burial system formed in the Western Zhou Dynasty, Tianzi was buried with four coffins, one set at a time, the inner coffin was wrapped in buffalo skin, and the outer rafters were made of basswood and catalpa wood in turn. In the Han Dynasty, the burial system was more perfect, with princes, princes and nobles using nan wood, commoners using paulownia wood and miscellaneous wood, and the poorer people only using tile coffins.
Third, precious burial vessels.
The sarcophagus in the tomb is engraved with the words "the opener is dead", just like "idle people are exempt from entering", which serves as a reminder and warning, not only hoping that the tomb owner will not be disturbed, but also to prevent the funerary goods from being plundered by ancient tomb robbers. It is said that after seeing the four words, archaeologists hesitated for most of the day, and finally opened the sarcophagus hard due to the needs of work.
The moment the sarcophagus was opened, I saw a petite corpse wearing a crown of gold and silver beads, a gold necklace with gems on the chest, and a pair of gold bracelets on the wrist. In addition, the body is covered with gold and silver goblets, gold-encrusted jade cups, jade bowls, crystal heads, white porcelain bottles, etc.
Honeysuckle corolla
Gold bracelet
Golden Cup, Golden Jade Cup: Meaning gold and jade full of halls
Gold jewelry
White porcelain chicken head pot, white porcelain double-bellied dragon handle bottle
Tomb owner plaything: small jade fish
Mutton fat jade gold noodles
Tomb owner toy little jade rabbit
Jade knife
Glass orbs
It must be mentioned that this 43 cm circumference gemstone gold necklace, 28 gold balls containing pearls are strung with gold thread, the lower end is inlaid with a large pure chicken blood stone, the upper end is embedded in a rare lapis lazuli, and the stone is intaglio carved with a bighorn deer, vivid. The material and design techniques of the necklace reveal the European and West Asian styles, reflecting the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures on the Silk Road in the Sui Dynasty.
Opening the sarcophagus may be a blessing, otherwise there would be no more than 230 funerary objects unearthed, and all of them were precious and exquisite gemstones, gold, jade, necklace rings, etc.
What is even more shocking is that two of the glass products, green glass lid jars and green glass vials (now in the National Museum), were included in the third batch of 94 cultural relics prohibited from being exported for exhibition in 2013, or national treasure-level cultural relics.
Green glass vial, about 12 cm in height, about 5 cm in diameter, about 4 cm in diameter, thin in the wall of the vessel, presented as the green of the beer bottle, good light transmittance. It is speculated that the Craftsmen of the Sui Dynasty modeled on porcelain firing, drawing on Western glass techniques and using the blowing method.
The green glass lid jar is also well-made, reflecting the superb level of glassware production in the Sui Dynasty.
The tomb of Li Jingxun, a 9-year-old girl in the Sui Dynasty, is a rare luxury, which is not only the infinite love of her family, but also the luxury of the royal life at that time. However, in the chaotic era at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the infighting in the upper echelons of the imperial family was serious, and the cruel dumping was beyond ordinary people's imagination.
A more cruel truth, no one would have thought that behind this there was a more thrilling secret history of blood and tears -
In 609 AD, Princess Yang Lihua of Sui begged her brother Emperor Sui to give her own food to her only daughter Yuwen Eying, 6 years later, her son-in-law Li Min, the father of the tomb owner Li Jingxun, was executed because she was suspected of having two hearts, Yang Lihua's daughter was the mother of the tomb owner Li Jingxun, Yuwen Eying, but around the age of 30, she first falsely accused her husband of rebellion, which eventually led to Li Min being beheaded, the whole clan was cursed, and finally only she was left, and then she was killed by her uncle Emperor Sui with poison.