Xu Maogong was a military master of Wagangzhai in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. He has no exhaustive strategy, and can basically be said to be Zhuge Liang in the Sui and Tang dynasties. But in the canonical history, Xu Maogong should be read as Xu Maogong. After Xu Maogong defected to the Tang Dynasty, he was given the surname Li by Li Yuan, so the history books referred to him as Li Ji. This point is mentioned in many of my articles about Xu Maogong. According to my custom of writing Xu Maogong, I still write him as "Xu Maogong" that we are all familiar with.
In 1971, due to the need for cultural relics protection, the Xi'an archaeological team carried out rescue excavations at Xumao Cemetery in Qianling. In the tomb, experts painfully discovered five burglary holes. Not to mention gold and silver, even a complete piece of pottery can not be found.
In the tomb, however, scholars have made an even more astonishing discovery — a hat. Compared to gold, silver and porcelain, this hat is precious. Because this is the earliest Tang Dynasty hat in the history of Chinese archaeology. According to research, this hat is called Sanliang JindeGuan, which has a history of 1300 years. This kind of Jindeguan is divided into three types: one beam, two beams and three beams. And the three beams into the german crown, only more than three products, meritorious people who have made significant contributions to the country are worthy of wearing.
As the founder of the Tang Dynasty, a great general who destroyed countless countries and was invincible, Xu Maogong, who was knighted as the Duke of England, naturally deserved such honor. So why did Xu Maogong bury a hat in the tomb?
And this, it has to start from Xu Maogong's will. As we all know, Xu Maogong was originally a subordinate of Li Mi and later served under Li Yuan. After the reunification of the world, the contradictions between Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji gradually sharpened. Therefore, Li Shimin consulted Xu Maogong before launching the Xuanwumen Rebellion. However, Xu Maogong, who has always been cautious, did not want to risk betting again, but adopted the attitude of riding the wall.
After the change of Xuanwu Gate, although Xu Maogong was not blamed by Li Shimin, he still planted mustard between the two. Therefore, Xu Maogong has always been a man with his tail between his legs in the Zhenguan Dynasty. When Li Shimin asked him to go on the expedition, he immediately went out on the expedition (and he would win the battle). After the battle, Xu Maogong went straight to the mansion, closed the door, and never made a vain social connection.
However, even so, Xu Maogong still did not escape Li Shimin's suspicions. Before Li Shimin's death, Xu Maogong, who was originally scheduled to serve as an auxiliary chancellor, was demoted to Diezhou to do the assassination history. After the edict was issued, Li Shimin warned the crown prince Li Zhi: "As long as Xu Maogong shows any dissatisfaction, kill him immediately!" ”
However, the scheming Xu Maogong soon saw Li Shimin's intentions, and he did not even pack his bags and went directly to other places to take up his post. And Xu Maogong's act of being quite knowledgeable and uplifting was finally appreciated by Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Li Zhi. Soon, Li Zhi recalled Xu Maogong to the capital.
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Wu Meiniang gradually gained favor. Therefore, Li Zhi decided to depose Empress Wang and make Empress Wumei empress. In order to let the emperor take back his life, the eldest son Wuji, Chu Suiliang and other ministers went to the Daming Palace to exert pressure. However, Xu Maogong, who was also a senior minister, said that he was ill and refused to participate.
However, at night, Xu Maogong's "illness" was cured. So he entered the palace overnight and told Emperor Gaozong of Tang:
"Your Majesty's family affairs, there is no need to ask outsiders!"
At this time, Li Zhi was worried that he could not find political allies. Xu Maogong's statement undoubtedly gave Li Zhi a reassuring pill. So Li Zhi immediately deposed Empress Wang and pushed Wu Meiniang to the rear.
I have to say that compared with before the change of Xuanwumen, Xu Maogong's art of becoming an official has improved a lot. Xu Maogong, who had not taken sides before, quickly made a choice between Emperor Gaozong of Tang and his eldest son Wujie. And this choice also allowed him to avoid the disaster of the later friends. After Chu Suiliang and the eldest grandson Wuji were successively rectified by Li Zhi, Xu Maogong was not only safe and sound, but also rose step by step.
In 669, Xu Maogong died at the age of 76. Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, held a grand funeral for him, and he piled Xu Maogong's tomb into three hills in the shape of "Pin", symbolizing YinShan, Tieshan and Wude Mountain, and bravely commemorating his conquest of the three great powers of Eastern Turkistan, XueYantuo, and Goguryeo.
But before his death, Xu Maogong said to his brother worriedly:
"I saw Fang Xuanling, Du Ruyi and others working hard to establish portals, hoping to be able to honor their heirs, but they were all defeated by the descendants of Xiao. I have handed over my children and grandchildren to you, and you must investigate carefully, and if there are any wrongdoers, kill them immediately. Don't laugh at me like posterity, just like I laugh at Fang and Du. ”
At the same time, Xu Maogong also made a special provision for his funeral:
"When I die, I will be clothed with a revealing coffin, and I will wear it regularly, and I will serve it in the court, and I will know it when I die, and I will see the emperor with this."
The simple translation is: when I die, let me be buried in my usual clothes, and at the same time put the clothes I wore in the coffin. If I had known after death, I would have better dressed and gone to see the Emperor. During the Tang Dynasty, the custom of thick burial was still popular, but Xu Maogong refused to accompany the burial with gold and silver pottery, leaving only a court dress.
Only 15 years later, Xu Maogong's family was indeed defeated by not having children and grandchildren. At that time, Xu Maogong's grandson Xu Jingye raised an army against Wu Zetian, and as a result, he was defeated and died. The tomb of Xu Maogong was also excavated by Wu Zetian, and the bones were ashes. In the tomb, however, not many burials were found, as long as a court dress. In the eyes of others, Xu Maogong is indeed loyal to the country and does not care about personal wealth.
Therefore, according to the author's conjecture, the reason why the hat in Xu Mao Cemetery will remain may be because of the memory that Xu Maogong once spoke for her. If there was no Xu Maogong entering the palace late at night, where would Wu Zetian be today? It was precisely because of this that Wu Zetian only copied the family property of Xu Maogong's family, but did not exterminate it. According to Wu Zetian's previous urinary nature, the clan that destroyed the political enemies was a basic operation.
It is precisely because of Wu Zetian's poor thoughts that the national treasure of Xu Mao's official hat has survived to this day and is properly kept in the Zhaoling Museum.