Chapter 59 Three, the mystery of the tomb

After Cao Cao's death, he was buried in Gaoling, which is located on the high hill in the west of Ye County.However, after several dynasties changed, Ye County prospered and declined again. After more than 200 years, Yang Jian completely destroyed Ye City in the second year of Daxiang in the Northern Zhou Dynasty (580), and it was never rebuilt in later generations.In addition, Ye County is close to the Zhang River, and with the continuous diversion of the Zhang River, the city and its main landmarks have disappeared. Today, when we go to the former site of Yecheng, the only obvious ground relic is an earthen platform, which is one of the three platforms, Jinfengtai. The height and regulations of the wind and rain for thousands of years have made it far inferior to the past. It is replaced by an ordinary small mound, and it is impossible to reproduce the splendor of hundreds of houses on it.

This is especially true of Cao Cao's Gaoling. With the complete disappearance of the surface buildings, we have been unable to confirm its specific location today. In fact, it's not just today, at least eight or nine hundred years ago, people seem to have lost the location of Cao Cao's tomb.Wang Anshi, a reformer and litterateur in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote in a poem called "Jiangci Xiangzhou", in which he wrote: "The green mountains enter Zhangzhou like waves, and the eighth and nine hills to the west of Tongque Terrace. The ants return to the empty ridges, and the Qilin is buried for several spring and autumn. Fame and fame surpass the world to know who is who, and the strength returns to the sky to rest here. Why do the old things left in the earth, and the princes of Wei Gong share their clothes and furs."

Wang Anshi compared Cao Cao to "Qi Lin", which is a very fresh statement.He didn't explain what the meaning of "Eight Nine Hills" in the poem was.Li Bi, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, commented on Wang Anshi's poems. He wrote a note under the word "Bajiuqiu": "Yu Shiyan, passing through Xiangzhou, there are many high mounds on the side of the road, and the cloud is Cao Cao's suspected mound." Maybe this is "Cao Cao." The concept of "suspected tomb" was put forward for the first time, and it has been nearly a thousand years since Cao Cao's death.

Since then, the saying of "Cao Cao's suspicious tombs" has become more and more influential. Fan Chengda, a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, was ordered to go to the Kingdom of Jin and wrote a nostalgic poem titled "Seventy-two Tombs". Wrote: "What's the use of a coffin with a grave like a forest, who will bear this heart like a public. It is said that the northerners are the seals, and there are bosom friends in the world." Fan Chengda was worried that everyone would not understand, so he made a special note for this poem: "The seventy-two tombs are outside Jiangwu City, and Cao Cao's suspected tomb is also there. It is so dense that the Jin people in the north often come here to sweep the tombs and add soil (Northern people More titles than usual)." This shows that by the time of Fan Chengda, the "Cao Cao Suspected Tombs" had spread more and more widely, and there was basically a consensus that the number of them was seventy-two.

Since then, the story of "Cao Cao's Suspected Tomb" has spread more widely. It is not only often mentioned in folklore and drama, but also regarded as official history in most of the nostalgic works of scholars. "Cao Cao's Suspected Tomb" was also written by Pu Songling. In the book, there is an article "Cao Cao's Tomb": "There is a river outside Xucheng, and the cliff is dark. In midsummer, someone was bathing in the river, and suddenly it seemed to be cut by a knife and an axe. Afterwards, there was another person in the same way. Everyone was surprised. The magistrate heard that and sent someone to close the upstream gate to let the river dry up. Only then did he see a deep hole under the cliff with a turning point in the middle. There are sharp blades arranged on the wheel like frost. Take the wheel away, and there is a small stone tablet in it, all of which are seal characters of the Han Dynasty. If you look carefully, it is the tomb of Cao Mengde. Later, the coffin was broken and the bones were scattered, and all the gold and silver treasures buried in the funeral were taken away by everyone. "

This is probably the most bizarre story about "Cao Cao's Suspected Tomb". It is said that Cao Cao designed the tomb under running water. Pu Songling also made a comment in the name of Yi Shishi. He believed that someone wrote a poem, "If all seventy-two suspected tombs are dug, there must be one to bury the emperor's corpse."But how can we know whether Cao Cao's body is in these seventy-two tombs?Cao Cao is really treacherous, but after more than a thousand years, the rotten bones will not be preserved, so what is the use of these tricks?Alas, Cao Cao's wisdom is exactly Cao Cao's stupidity (woo hoo, the wisdom of hiding is the foolishness of hiding)!

Pu Songling is not a historian, presumably he only regarded this incident as a folklore, and most of the records were legends and stories collected by Pu Songling from the society. It has been well-known in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Combining some operas and literati's notebook novels at that time, there are also various versions of "Cao Cao's Suspected Tomb". A lie can become true even if it is said three times, let alone it has been told by countless people for thousands of years?Regarding the existence of "Cao Cao Suspected Tomb", it seems to be a conclusion. However, there is a basic fact that cannot be ignored: the statement about "Cao Cao's suspected tomb" was only mentioned after the Song Dynasty, and people before the Song Dynasty never doubted the authenticity of Cao Cao's tomb.

As the heir to Cao Cao's political heritage, Cao Pi was also the main organizer of Cao Cao's funeral. In "Yiwenleiju", there is a "Wudi Ai Ce Wen" written by Cao Pi, which reads: "Since the burial has been done, the tunnel has been opened. The long night, the quiet and mysterious palace. There is darkness and ignorance, and there is poverty. After the book is organized, the three officials are in parallel. The front builds the flag, and the side holds the sword. Abandon this palace and go to the other mountain." It means: Divination was performed before the official burial, and the wide tomb passage leads to the tomb.The tomb is like a long night, and like a deep palace, with no light and no end, how sad it is!The people participating in the funeral have stood up neatly, and the three officials of heaven, earth, and water are also lined up. In front of them is a flag raised high, and there are people holding spears in the middle.From now on, the late kings will leave the court and arrive at the hill where they are buried.

Cao Zhi, who also participated in Cao Cao's burial ceremony, wrote an "Episode", which is equivalent to a eulogy. In this sacrificial text of more than 600 characters, Cao Zhi recorded the situation of Cao Cao's burial in more detail, which wrote: "It is the imperial palace, bowing to the royal garb. The seal does not keep the body, but the silk is the lotus. There is no ornament on the Ming, and the pottery is the Jia. It is the second Xiling, the boudoir opens the way. The ministers welcome, I am Wang Ancuo. Slender and Xuanyu , the three lights are not clear. When you close the door, the spirit will stay forever."

It means: when you are going to be buried, you still wear your usual clothes, and you don’t bring the seal with you, only the ribbon on the seal.There is nothing gorgeous about the funerary objects, and the most valuable thing is plain pottery.When the coffin arrived at the West Mausoleum, the door of the tomb was slowly opened, and the officials saw him off, and my king was buried like this.In the dark tomb, without the light of the sun, moon and stars, the door of the tomb has fallen, and the supreme king of Wei will live in it forever. Judging from the accounts of two witnesses, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, Cao Cao’s burial was public and grand. Not only did Cao Pi and Cao Zhi know the exact location of Cao Cao’s burial, they also visited the tomb in person.

Lu Ji, a native of Jin who saw the original will of Cao Cao, was born 40 years after Cao Cao's death. His younger brother Lu Yun visited the Three Terraces of Tongque in Ye County. A letter, talking about what I saw and heard during my trip to Ye County.It said that he boarded three platforms and found that the houses above were being destroyed. On one of the platforms there was 100,000 kilograms of coal (graphite) stored by Cao Cao. Before leaving, Lu Yun took some and gave some to Lu Ji as a souvenir . At this time, it has been more than 80 years since Cao Cao's death, the Cao Wei regime has been wiped out, and the Three Tongque Terraces are still there, but tourists can already visit them casually.Lu Yun didn't mention whether he had visited Cao Cao's Gaoling, but if the location of Gaoling was a mystery, he would probably say a few more words. More than a hundred years later, Xie Tiao, a poet of the Southern Dynasties called "Xiao Xie" by Li Bai, visited the former site of Yecheng and Cao Cao's Gaoling, and wrote "Consulting Tongque Terrace Poems with Xie" and "Tongque Sadness". " and other poems, which wrote: "Gloomy Xiling trees, you can hear the song and blow the sound." At that time, the location of Cao Cao's tomb should be well known. Later, Pei Songzhi, a scholar of the Northern Qi Dynasty who annotated Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms", and Xu Ling, a poet of the Southern Dynasty who compiled "New Odes on Yutai", also came here to visit and pay respects, leaving some poems and essays. In the 19th year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan (645), that is, more than 420 years after Cao Cao's death, Li Shimin, another historical great man, personally conquered Goguryeo, and his army passed by the former site of Yecheng. Sacrifice in front of Cao Cao's tomb, this sacrificial text is included in "Quan Tang Wen".Later, poets of the Tang Dynasty such as Song Zhiwen, Wang Bo, Zhang Shuo, Gao Shi, Liu Changqing, Li Bai, Cen Shen, Liu Yuxi, Li He, Li Shangyin, Wen Tingyun, Luo Yin, Lu Guimeng, etc., either visited the former site of Yedu in person, or wrote with There are poems related to Tongque Terrace and Cao Cao's Tomb, but no one has mentioned the issue of "Cao Cao's Suspected Tomb". It can be seen that this problem did not exist in the first place, but was created by people after the Song Dynasty. The reason is related to the changes in the evaluation of Cao Cao in history. Before the Song Dynasty, Cao Cao's image was basically positive. Chen Shou's evaluation of Cao Cao's life in "Three Kingdoms" was basically recognized by everyone. When mentioning Cao Cao, people first thought of a hero, and public worship of Cao Cao would not be popular. Criticism. However, after the Song Dynasty, especially the Southern Song Dynasty, Cao Cao’s image suddenly reversed. Some people think that this has something to do with the political structure of the Southern Song Dynasty’s partiality to the south of the Yangtze River. It involves the question of who is the historical orthodoxy. The hero becomes the villain.Su Dongpo once said: "When it comes to the affairs of the Three Kingdoms, when hearing Liu Xuande's defeat, he frowned, and some people burst into tears; when he heard Cao Cao's defeat, he was happy to sing." This is what he said.Just at this time, "Cao Cao Suspected Tomb" also appeared. Therefore, this is a cultural phenomenon, a historical phenomenon, not an archaeological problem. In addition, a group of ancient tombs did appear along the Zhanghe River to the west of the former site of Ye City. It also adds evidence for the association of "Cao Cao's Suspected Tomb" by literati who came here after the Song and Yuan Dynasties.However, archeology has confirmed that these mausoleums considered to be "Cao Cao's Suspected Tombs" are only the tombs of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi royal families and nobles. When Hebei Province announced the provincial cultural relics protection units in 1956, they were named "Cao Cao's 72 Suspicious Tombs". In 1992, when the State Council announced the national key cultural relics protection units, it was officially renamed "Northern Dynasty Tombs". Therefore, Cao Cao's tomb is an ordinary emperor's tomb. Cao Cao didn't want to make it so mysterious during his lifetime, and this problem has been clear for hundreds of years after his death.Cao Cao's tomb eventually became a "mysterious case". On the one hand, it was due to historical changes and the huge changes in the original site's topography, and on the other hand, it was due to changes in Cao Cao's historical image. What is basically certain is that Cao Cao's tomb is still somewhere underground, and it has not seen the sun for more than 1,800 years.Until one day in December 2009, a news report that was reproduced by major media rekindled people's strong attention to Cao Cao's tomb: "Today (December 27, 2009) morning, a press conference on the archaeological discovery of Cao Cao's tomb was held in Beijing. The reporter learned that Cao Cao's tomb is located in Xigaoxue Village, Anfeng Township, Anyang County, Henan Province. So far, where is Cao Cao's tomb? The ancient mystery has finally been solved. "There are different opinions about Cao Cao's tomb in history. Seventy-two suspicious tombs, outside Xuchang City, under the Zhanghe River, and under Tongque Terrace. For more than a thousand years, there are many mysteries about where Cao Cao's tomb is. Xigaoxue Village, Anfeng Township, Anyang County The archaeological excavation of the No. 2 cemetery finally solved this eternal mystery. The main evidence of experts is a precious stone tablet. "On December 19th and 25th, the reporter came to the No. 2 cemetery of Gaoxue Village at the excavation site, an open field in the south of Xigaoxue Village, Anfeng Township, Anyang County, and learned about the ins and outs of Cao Cao's tomb. Specifications of Cao Cao's tomb Quite high, it is a Chinese-shaped earth pit-style masonry tomb. The tomb is divided into a front room and a back room, and there is a corridor in the middle. One ear chamber. The deepest part of the two tombs is 16 meters above the surface, which is a typical deep-buried tomb. The tomb passage is 35 meters long and 9.6 meters wide, and is retracted in a stepped manner. "There are gold, silver, bronze wares, pottery, weapons, etc. unearthed in this tomb, but among these unearthed cultural relics, what excites experts the most is this stone tablet that says 'Tiger eucalyptus used by King Wu of Wei', According to experts, the three characters "Wei Wu Wang" are enough to explain the problem, because this is consistent with Cao Cao's identity: Cao Cao was king during his lifetime, and he was posthumously named Wei Wu Emperor after his son Cao Pi became emperor; "Wei Wu Wang" It is completely consistent with his identity at the time of his death. This stone tablet with "Wei Wu Wang" has definitely proved the identity of the owner of the tomb. At the same time, three skeletons were unearthed during the excavation process. According to expert identification, one is male, He was about sixty years old, and the other two were women in their twenties and forties. The age of death of the male was very consistent with the age of Cao Cao's death recorded in the history books. "Together with the unearthed cultural relics, there is also a piece of Lu Qian's epitaph that was dug up by Xu Yuchao, a villager in the village, in 1998 when this ancient tomb was identified as Cao Cao's tomb. Distance: "The tomb is 1,400 steps west of Gaojue Bridge, and 170 steps south of Mo, so it is 43 steps west of the northwest corner of Emperor Wudi's Mausoleum, and 250 steps north to the Mingtang of the tomb." Here The so-called Mausoleum of Emperor Wu of Wei should be Gaoling (Xiling), and Gaojue Bridge should be Gaoxue Bridge. In ancient times, "jue" connected to "xue", which shows that Cao Cao's cemetery should be near Xigaoxue Village. "According to the unearthed stone tablet of 'the tiger euphorbia often used by King Wu of Wei', the epitaph of Lu Qian, and the location of the Ximen Leopard Temple, after full argumentation by many experts, it is finally determined that Xigaoxue Village is the location of Cao Cao's tomb. All the guesses for thousands of years All arguments finally cease, and the eternal mystery is finally solved." Once this news was released, it immediately aroused heated discussions in the whole society. The focus was whether the tomb was Cao Cao's tomb or not.In this regard, the voices of the archaeological circles and cultural relics management departments are basically the same: this is the tomb of Cao Cao.The views of the cultural and public opinion circles are just the opposite. They think this is just a kind of commercial hype, which is the manifestation of impetuous exaggeration and quick success in archaeological work. To say that this is not the tomb of Cao Cao, the most favorable evidence is to find out the real tomb of Cao Cao, but now it seems that this is not a matter of overnight results; it seems that more evidence must be produced to say that this is the tomb of Cao Cao Convincing, now it seems that we need to continue to research and collect evidence.This is a very professional question. If you have not done special research and field investigation, you should not easily make a judgment about whether it is true or not. But one basic fact is certain: Cao Cao’s tomb was not deliberately hidden, its disappearance is the result of changes in the natural environment, it is still in this world, if it has not been discovered, it may be discovered. We prefer to believe that this is the tomb of Cao Cao, and that the remains of a man in his sixties are Cao Cao himself. Time has quietly passed through thousands of years, and endless disputes in the world and fighting on the battlefield are blocked by strata. Keep a quiet space, so that Cao Cao, who has worked hard all his life, can have a place to sleep after closing his eyes.