Text | Feng Lu lectured on the law
Edit | Feng Lu lectured on the law
The traitor belongs to Cao Gong through the ages, and the world is strong as Mengde. When it comes to Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, the first thing that comes to our mind is the words traitor and hero.
Indeed, Cao Cao, as a very important figure in the history of the Three Kingdoms, interpreted what it means to be a capable minister who governs the world and a traitor in troubled times.
And the great leader Chairman Mao has also commented on the character of Cao Cao many times, Chairman Mao said that the evaluation of Cao Cao should adhere to the view of dividing into two.
As a military strategist during the Three Kingdoms period, the statesman Cao Cao reformed many bad policies in the Eastern Han Dynasty, implemented the tuntian system, advocated economy, and made the economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty society develop, which we should affirm.
However, Cao Cao's strict treatment of others and leniency towards himself was also criticized by Chairman Mao. Regardless, Cao Cao is indeed a pivotal figure in Chinese history.
Archaeologists have also taken the excavation of Cao Cao's tomb as a key project.
And just a few years ago, the tomb of Cao Cao in Anyang, there was a new discovery, archaeologists after more than ten years of research found that Cao Cao's height was only 1.65 meters, periodontitis was very serious, and there should have been strong bad breath before his death.
So, let's take stock of the new discoveries of Cao Cao's tomb in Anyang today.
The mystery of Cao Cao's tomb for thousands of years
About Cao Cao's tomb, there have been two legends left in history, one is that Cao Cao is suspicious by nature, in order to prevent his death, the tomb is destroyed, so 72 suspicious tombs were set up, and the second is that after Cao Cao's death, he also pulled his wife and concubine to accompany the burial.
So are these two legends true? Let's move on.
In the 90s of the last century, archaeologists found clues about Cao Cao's tomb in the epitaph of Lu Qian, an official in the Later Zhao period.
The epitaph reads, "(Lu Qian) tomb in Gaoduqiao Mo west 1,400 steps, south to Mo 170 steps, so the northwest corner of the tomb of Emperor Wu of Wei westward 43 steps, north back to the tomb Ming Hall 250 steps. ”
In other words, Cao Cao's tomb is near Xigaoxue Village in Anyang County. In December 2009, the Henan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics held a press conference to announce that the Eastern Han Dynasty tomb in Xigaoxue Village, Anyang County, was the mausoleum of Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei.
This is a large brick chamber tomb, sitting west to east, 18 meters long and 19.5~22 meters wide, covering an area of about 740 square meters, there are many tomb doors carved with exquisite stone carvings in the tomb.
A total of three coffins were found, two females in the Backrooms and a male in the doorway of the Frontrooms.
There is no doubt that the male skull is Cao Cao's and is probably around 60 years old, and the two women are 50 and 20 years old. So who exactly are these two women?
After research, the archaeological community generally believes that the two women who accompanied the burial were Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Ding. Madame Ding is Cao Cao's ex-wife and Cao Ang's adoptive mother.
Mrs. Liu is Cao Ang's biological mother, and the history books record that when she was in her 20s, Mrs. Liu died, which is very consistent with the age of the skull.
And the history books record that Cao Cao expressed his guilt many times after he retired Mrs. Ding. Therefore, after the construction of Cao Cao's tomb, it is quite possible that Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Ding will be relocated.
So, the above two legends. It should all be rumors. The first is the 72 doubtful tombs, all of which come from a legend of the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty. It is said that on the day of Cao Cao's burial, 72 coffins were lifted out from four directions at the same time.
But it was later confirmed that it was just a rumor. The so-called 72 suspicious tombs are nothing but the burial areas of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi royal families. The second is the fact that Cao Cao pulled his wife and concubine to accompany the funeral.
Both Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Ding died earlier than Cao Cao, and Cao Cao's wife, Mrs. Bian, died 10 years after Cao Cao's death, so it was impossible to accompany Cao Cao's funeral.
In addition to the above two points, archaeologists, when excavating Cao Cao's tomb, also found things that subverted our previous cognition.
Excavation that subverts previous perceptions
First of all, archaeologists judged from the unearthed skull of Cao Cao that the height of Cao Cao, a generation of heroes, should be about 1.65 meters tall and about 60 years old.
This is quite consistent with the description in the history books that Cao Cao died at the age of 66 and that "King Wu was short-sighted". Therefore, when receiving the Xiongnu envoys, Cao Cao asked Cui Yan, who is 1.75 meters tall, to talk with him instead.
The second point is that archaeologists have found that Cao Cao has very serious periodontal disease and root abscess through the study of Cao Cao's skull, which indicates that Cao Cao should have had severe bad breath.
We all know that it was written in the history books that Cao Cao had frequent headaches for a period of time before his death. Some people think that this may be related to Cao Cao's tooth decay and severe periodontal disease.
The third point is that when the experts excavated Cao Cao's tomb, they found that his tomb burial goods were quite frugal. This is quite consistent with the will made by Cao Cao during his lifetime recorded in the history books.
Cao Cao's tooth decay
Cao Cao said before his death that after he died, he would be buried, just wear ordinary clothes, and he could not use gold and jade treasures to accompany the burial, and even the remaining daily necessities, clothes and other materials were distributed by Cao Cao to his sons.
Therefore, when excavating Cao Cao's tomb, archaeologists excavated extremely simple burial goods similar to plates, jars, umbrellas, hats, weapons, etc.
This subverts Cao Cao's previous impression in our minds. It can be seen that it is not unreasonable for the ancients to say that seeing is believing and hearing is false.