Long Yao discovered the tomb of Li Tan, the "Marquis of Bairen" of the Zhao State during the Warring States period

On December 18, this reporter learned from the Longyao County Cultural Protection Institute that after nearly four months of exploration of the Warring States period tomb group more than 900 meters west of the site of Bairen City in Longyao County, the main tomb was preliminarily confirmed to be the tomb of Marquis Li Tan of zhao guobai in the Warring States period. Experts said that this will play a positive role in the study of the Li family.

According to Zhao Lihu, head of the Xingtai City Cultural Relics Management Office who participated in the exploration work, the exploration work began in August this year, and through four months of extensive investigation and exploration, 28 ancient tombs from the Warring States period were found more than 900 meters west of the site of Bairencheng in Shuangbei Township, Longyao County. The distribution of this tomb group is relatively concentrated, and all of them are vertical cave tombs. The main burial chamber is nearly 5 meters from north to south, about 4.3 meters from east to west, about 4 meters deep, and there is a long strip of tomb passage about 1.3 meters wide in the south of the burial chamber. The south, east and northeast parts of the main tomb are covered with 27 small and medium-sized tombs of the same period, ranging in size from 3 to 10 square meters. According to the shape, scale and excavated pottery pieces of the main tomb found, experts preliminarily judged that the main tomb was the tomb of Hou Li Tan of Zhao Guobairen according to historical records, and the remaining 27 were funerary tombs.

The ruins of BairenCheng are located 12.5 kilometers west of Longyao County, around Shuangbei Township Yicheng and Chengjiao Er Village. Founded in the Spring and Autumn Period, BairenCheng has a history of more than 2,600 years, and was the second largest city in the Zhao State after the capital City of Handan during the Warring States period. In May 2013, the ruins of Borencheng were listed as the seventh batch of key cultural relics protection units in China.

According to historical records, Li Tan (李昙), also spelled Guiyuan, was a famous general of the State of Zhao during the Warring States period, and was given the title of Marquis of Bairen (in present-day western Longyao County, Hebei Province) for his repeated construction of Qigong. According to historical records, after Qin annexed the Six Kingdoms, Li Tan was given the title of Imperial Grand Master and later promoted to Situ. The "Chronicle of Tangshan County" says: "The tomb of Marquis Li Tan of the Warring States Bairen is in the west of the village of Yicheng in the west of the county. Bury the Cypress people according to the county chronicles".

According to research, Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was the 30th grandson of Li Tan, the Marquis of Bairen, and the mausoleum of Li Yuan's fourth-generation Zuxuan Emperor Li Xi and the third-generation Zuguang Emperor Li Tianci, collectively known as tang ancestral mausoleums, was just north of Wang Yin Village, Weizhuang Town, Longyao County. The discovery of Li Tan's tomb further corroborates the historical fact that Li Tang's ancestral home was in Longyao. Li Yinlin, vice president of the Li Clan Cultural Research Association of Longyao County, said that the discovery of Li Tan's tomb will play a positive role in promoting the study of the two major Li clans of Zhao County, Li and Longxi Li.