If the emperors of the past dynasties are ranked according to their controversy, then Wu Zetian is definitely in the top three. And these controversies not only set off a bloody storm during her lifetime, but also lasted for thousands of years after her departure, triggering countless war of words.
For thousands of years, too many people have not been able to look at this empress objectively, resulting in biased records of her in the official history and among the people, and they are often belittled or overpraised.
For a long time, Wu Zetian's body was shrouded in a large number of historical mysteries, which made people unreal.
Among them, in addition to the famous wordless monument, the 61 headless stone figures placed in front of its tomb were also confusing for a time, and no one could explain it for thousands of years, until the truth has surfaced in recent years.
What was the reason for Wu Zetian to place such a strange stone figure in front of the tomb?
The strange headless stone man of Qianling
Many mysteries in the Qianling Tomb
As a legendary female emperor, it seems reasonable for any historical mystery to appear on Wu Zetian's body.
And to study the origin of the strange stone man, we must first find out where Wu Zetian is buried.
As the most powerful person in the feudal dynasty, after the death of the emperor, he made great efforts to build luxurious tombs for himself and his concubines, so as not to be touched by others.
But there is one exception, she is Wu Zetian, the empress does not have her own mausoleum, but is buried with her husband Li Zhi.
Although many people conspired to speculate that the joint burial of Wu Zetian and Li Zhi was the discrimination against women in feudal society, in fact, the joint burial with Li Zhi was Wu Zetian's own strong will.
Wu Zetian and Li Zhi in film and television dramas
When the power was tilted towards the government and the opposition, Wu Zetian publicly stated that he would be buried with Li Zhi.
Moreover, she personally presided over the site selection and construction of the Qianling Tomb, perhaps at that time, Emperor Wu wanted to live and die with her husband.
This condensed Wu Zetian's painstaking efforts of the Twin Emperors Mausoleum has a lot of miraculities, and after its birth, it has been shrouded in various fogs.
For example, the wordless monument located on the east side of Sima Road outside the Suzaku Gate has sparked countless discussions, and various scholars and folk histories have diverged all kinds of speculations about it.
But most of the statements are full of loopholes, because they do not match Wu Zetian's personality and behavior.
Qianling has no word monument
At present, the mainstream theory is that Wu Zetian is not afraid of people's words, and feels that his merits and demerits have been commented on by future generations, so he chooses not to make a final conclusion on his coffin.
However, some historians believe that the reason for the appearance of the wordless tablet may be that Zhongzong Li Xian has a grudge against his mother and is unwilling to praise her too much.
This is also understandable, Li Xian was almost tossed to death by his mother, how could there be no resentment in his heart, but it was not good for him to vent directly.
Therefore, when it was time to erect a monument to his mother, he grinded and grinded, and the officials were all talents with full emotional intelligence, so everyone tacitly "grinded foreign workers" together, and the wordless monument was born.
The wordless tablet is the most well-known of the many historical mysteries of the Qianling Tomb, and it has many legendary stories.
Qianling
For example, according to folk rumors, Qianling has suffered many large-scale tomb robberies, but each time it was safe and sound, and it was never really stolen.
In addition, the 61 headless stone figures neatly arranged outside the Qianling Tomb are also extremely mysterious, and for a long time, they were full of mysteries.
The 61 stone figures themselves are simple and atmospheric, and the reason why they are considered mysterious is that all the stone statues have no heads.
According to the local people, some strange things did appear in the vicinity of these stone figures, which invisibly added to their mystery.
Judging from the common idea, these stone statues should be part of Wu Zetian's funerary goods, after all, they are very reminiscent of the terracotta warriors and horses of Qin Shi Huang.
The 61 stone statues appear to be a specially built group of guards, neatly arranged on both sides of the Shinto, with their upper bodies bowed slightly in a pilgrimage gesture.
Ancient emperors hoped that there would be someone to serve and take care of them after death, so there were living burials and terracotta figurines burials, and the terracotta warriors and horses were the culmination of this technology.
It's just that for some reason, all the stone statues in Qianling have lost their heads, and they look extremely weird. And the stone statues are uniquely dressed and don't look like guards, so what is their identity?
The true identity of the stone statue is "exposed"
The first thing that is certain is that the statues must have had heads when they were originally built, as there are obvious signs of fracture in their necks.
There are various theories about the mystery of the disappearance of the head, some believe that it was caused by natural disasters, and some believe that it was caused by man-made destruction.
What is the real reason, historians believe that it is necessary to recover the head of the statue and understand its full picture before making a judgment.
There are many speculations about these 61 stone statues, among which the most widely circulated theory is that they are related to Kanyu and Shushu, and are an important feng shui arrangement for Wu Zetian when he built the Qianling Tomb.
After all, in the wild history, Wu Zetian and Feng Shui metaphysics master Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng are closely related, and it is very likely that with their help, the work of Qianling has been completed.
These stone statues may be the magic weapons designed by the two to guard the imperial tomb, and it is precisely because of their protection that the Qianling Tomb can be safe and sound in the previous wars.
Of course, this statement has not been accepted by historians, because there is no historical evidence to prove that Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng participated in the location and design of the Qianling.
Fortunately, the mystery of the identity of these stone statues has not been completely extinguished.
One day in 1974, several villagers were cultivating wasteland near Qianling, but when they went down with a hoe, they heard a "clang".
As if he had touched something hard, the farmer found that his hoe had been cracked out.
They immediately dug up the earth, but saw a stone human head buried in it.
Because the excavation of antiquities happened from time to time in the local area, the farmers were very calm and quickly reported the situation to the relevant departments.
After receiving the news, the government department immediately sent a special person to protect the site, and a large number of archaeological experts followed a few days later.
After several days of excavation, they found a large number of stone human heads in this area, which were initially identified as coming from a group of ancient stone statues.
Because the location of the discovery is near the Qianling Tomb, some experts think of the 61 strange stone statues. As a result, someone soon compared the stone human head and found that it did match several of the stone statues.
After the statues were completely restored, it didn't take long for archaeologists to figure out their true identity.
It turns out that these 61 stone statues are not from the Central Plains, and many of them are Turkic. The reason why it is impossible to judge at first is that in the case of the missing head, there is not much difference between the two.
And with the heads of the stone statues, it is easy to judge, because they are all tied with small pigtails, which is a very typical Turkic feature.
From this, experts came to a bold conclusion that these 61 stone statues were likely to be the 61 vassals of the Tang Dynasty at that time.
The reason why Wu Zetian placed them in front of the Qianling Tomb was not to guard the mausoleum, but to show the strength of the Tang Dynasty to future generations and boast of his and Gaozong's great achievements.
The couple did have such qualifications, and in the decades of the reign of the two saints, the martial arts and territory of the Tang Dynasty had reached their peak.
In 689 AD, the four towns of Anxi were recovered by the Wuwei army, and the Western Regions were completely pacified. In 702 AD, the Beiting Protectorate was established, and the territory of the Western Turks was officially included in the Tang Dynasty's sphere of influence.
Although during the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin had completely exterminated the Eastern Turks. However, after that, the Turkic power still existed, and they rebelled many times.
Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian successively sent generals Wang Xiaojie and Li Duozuo to the grassland, and both achieved success. The 61 stone statues of vassal ministers before Qianling record the powerful martial arts of Li Zhi and Wu Zetian.
After figuring out the true identity of the stone man, only one last mystery remains, why did these "stone human heads" separate from the main body, or even disappear?
Statues of Wu Zetian and Li Zhi
Why the stone statue lost its "head"
Although the true identity of the stone statue has been clarified, there is still no 100% certainty about the fracture of the "head".
However, most archaeologists now tend to believe that the earthquake caused the "separation of human heads" of the statues.
After studying a large number of historical materials, experts found that in the 35th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, a strong earthquake occurred in Huaxian County, Shaanxi.
The devastation caused by the earthquake was absolutely unprecedented, and geologists speculate that it was magnitude 8-11.
According to incomplete statistics, the earthquake caused more than 800,000 deaths and severely damaged the economy and development of the surrounding areas.
Qianling, which is less than 100 kilometers from Huaxian, was also affected by the strong earthquake.
Experts believe that this powerful earthquake was the main reason for the "separation of human heads" of the stone statues.
Stone statue from the Tang Dynasty
Due to the limitations of technology, the stone statues built in the Tang Dynasty are not firmly connected and may not be affected in normal times, but they are easy to break when they encounter violent impacts.
Therefore, when the stone statue is hit by an earthquake and falls to the ground and is damaged, the head is the most likely to have problems.
However, there are also different opinions among the people: they think that the appearance of these headless stone statues is more of a man-made disaster.
Some people think that the tomb robbers could not find the entrance to the Qianling Tomb, and some people tend to think that Wu Zetian's political enemies deliberately sabotage.
However, historians believe that these two views are not very likely, first of all, the tomb robbers must have swept away the stone statues for money, and it is impossible to discard them at will very close to the Qianling Tomb.
Secondly, the claim of sabotage by political enemies is also very unreliable.
Because Qianling is not only the mausoleum of Wu Zetian, but also the burial of Tang Gaozong here. The one who hates Wu Zetian the most is the Li Tang clan, but these people will never dare to destroy Gaozong's mausoleum because of their identity.
From this point of view, Wu Zetian's request to be buried with Gaozong is really a clever move.
As for the officials who were persecuted by Wu Zetian, it is even more impossible, Qianling is guarded by an army.
Most officials do not have the ability to destroy the royal mausoleum under their noses, and it is really unnecessary.
Risking a huge risk of raiding the family and exterminating the clan, but in the end it was just destroying the stone statue to spread anger, and normal people would definitely not be able to do such a move.
Of course, some people say that it may be that the descendants of the vassal did not want to see their ancestors humiliated, so they destroyed the stone statue.
This argument is even more unreasonable, if you don't want your ancestors to be humiliated, the most reasonable thing to do is to transport the stone statue away and let it disappear completely, and no one will know about it again.
Xingshi cut off the head of the stone statue and buried it near the Qianling Tomb, which does not seem to be something that the descendants of the vassal can do.
In this way, the destruction of natural disasters is indeed the most reliable speculation.
Historians confirm the identity of the stone statue
conclusion
Wu Zetian is indeed a legendary woman, she changed her life against the sky with her own strength, and composed the strongest movement of "women do not let women shave their eyebrows" in the feudal dynasty.
But aside from these unique experiences, Emperor Wu is still an ordinary person after all, and most of those mysterious and wonderful legends and shocking secrets are the chisels and rumors of later generations.
Whether it is the world-famous "wordless monument" or the mysterious "headless stone man", after understanding the historical truth, there is no mysterious component. They are just a memorial left by the empress to future generations, and they are a little wave splashed in the turbulent river of time.
Reference:
"Exploration and Discovery: The Mystery of the Headless Stone Statue of Qianling"
-- CCTV
Social Standards and Moral Standards of Wu Zetian's Evaluation
- Zhao Wenrun