The Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, as the last two feudal kingdoms in the feudal history of the mainland, are the closest to us and have the most detailed historical evidence.
But there is an interesting phenomenon, the Ming Dynasty imperial tombs have existed much longer than the Qing Dynasty imperial tombs, but why were the Ming Dynasty imperial tombs not stolen while the Qing Dynasty imperial tombs were patronized by tomb robbers?
In terms of the extent of theft of the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, the imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty were almost completely looted. Except for the filial piety tombs, which had no burial goods, both the eastern and western tombs were stolen.
Sun Dianying used acting as an excuse to steal the mausoleum of the Empress Dowager Cixi with soldiers, and the beads in the mouth of the Empress Dowager Cixi were taken out by the soldiers by violent means, and Cixi's body was also destroyed for a time.
But the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty have no traces of theft except for the research and development of archaeologists, what is the reason for this?
The choice of the imperial mausoleum is very particular, in addition to taking into account both feng shui and location, in addition to taking into account all aspects of the mausoleum.
The ancients were extremely concerned about these particularities, Zhu Yuanzhang as the founder of the Ming Dynasty, attached great importance to all this, the Ming Dynasty emphasized that the Son of Heaven guarded the country, and the king died in Sheji, even if he died, he had to guard the country, therefore, the Ming Dynasty Imperial Mausoleum was set by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di in the military land, the Ming Tomb is in the Purple Mountain, and the Ming Tombs are in Tianshou Mountain, not to mention that these are military garrisons, and they are particularly close to the imperial city.
No matter how rampant those tomb robbers are, they don't dare to dig people's ancestral graves under people's noses, so the protection of the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty is relatively in place.
However, the imperial mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty may not be able to do it, first of all, the Qing army entered the customs, and the Jurchens, as a few nomads, did not care so much about the burial.
The second is that there are no requirements and attention to the mausoleum as the Han people, but the place with better feng shui is chosen as the site of the imperial mausoleum.
In the final analysis, although they tried their best to learn Han culture, they were still influenced by Jurchen customs in terms of concepts, so the location of the mausoleum was particularly "casual".
The security of the Qing Dynasty mausoleums was mainly guarded by the mausoleum keepers, which was not inappropriate during the strong period of the Qing Dynasty, but in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the rule of the Qing Dynasty was declining, and the country was getting poorer and poorer, so the cost of the security and construction of the mausoleum was much less than before. Compared with the mausoleums of the previous dynasties, the design of the Qing Dynasty mausoleums is a bit "low-matched".
The mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty have a thickness of 27 meters of sealed soil, and they have been tamped, but the tombs of the Qing Dynasty are not only 9 meters of sealed soil, and some of the tombs have not been tamped.
This comparison shows that the Ming Dynasty mausoleum has three times more enclosure than the Qing Dynasty mausoleum. It can be seen that the Qing Tomb is too easy to dig than the Ming Tomb, the persimmons are picked and pinched softly, and the theft of the Qing Tomb is more serious than the Ming Tomb.
Moreover, the archaeological discovery of the complexity of the Ming Dynasty mausoleum is not comparable to the Qing Dynasty mausoleum, the underground structure of the Ming Mausoleum is complex, the tomb road is curved and changeable, there are multiple exits and options, even if the wrong one can not reach the main tomb, its complexity is not the tomb robber can bear.
However, the shape of the Qing Tomb is exactly the same, and it is very simple, and the tomb entrance can be seen at a glance, which does not have any difficulty for tomb robbers. It is conceivable that in the face of the Qing Dynasty mausoleum, which is easy to dig, the tomb entrance can be easily found without much effort.
However, the archaeology of the mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty was not found in the professional archaeological team for nearly several months, and later the tomb entrance was found after dispatching modern advanced detection technology.
It can be called the most difficult mausoleum to dig after the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, and the construction materials and design structure of the Ming Tomb can reflect the technical deficiency of the Qing Tomb compared with the Qing Tomb. It can be said that the technology of the Qing Dynasty has degraded, and in the previous dynasties, there is a big gap between the mausoleums of the nomadic regime and the mausoleums of the Han regime, and the construction technology cannot be compared.
Finally, we have to talk about the issue of the nomadic regime, you must know that the Ming Dynasty overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty of the Mongols, and Zhu Yuanzhang, as an orthodox Central Plainsman, had a relatively deep mass base. And after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, in order to rule the Central Plains Han people whose population base was several times their own, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty in order to establish their own glorious image, Qianlong had gone down to the south of the Yangtze River, in front of the filial piety tomb three kneeling and nine bows, and also during the six times to the south of the Yangtze River, five times crying tombs, the surface work has also done a lot, repairing the Ming Tombs, appeasing the heart of the Han people.
The people have always been like this, as long as it is not too excessive, can live, they will be grateful to Dade, although these superficial work of the Qing rulers is a bit false, but to a certain extent, it also played a role in protecting the mausoleum, but after the end of the Qing Dynasty, ushered in a period of war and strife, therefore, the Qing Dynasty mausoleum was seriously damaged.
Although the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty are the two dynasties of the mainland, but there is a big gap between them, the Ming Dynasty still has the feat of "Zheng He went to the West", but in the Qing Dynasty, there is only "closed country", and it is becoming more and more westward.
Therefore, it can be seen that only by constantly competing with opponents and constantly confronting opponents can we make progress, and blindly bury ourselves in past achievements, which can only fall farther and farther.