What's special about Zhu Yuanzhang's Xiaoling Mausoleum compared with other mausoleums?
In the cognition of the ancients, the location of the mausoleum is directly related to the fate of future generations. If the royal family wants to pass on the country from generation to generation, it is natural to pay more attention to the construction of the mausoleum.
Zhu Yuanzhang spent a lot of manpower and material resources on the mausoleum he built for himself. It took 25 years to build Hongwu in nine years and Yongle in three years,100000 people and countless financial resources. What's so special about this mausoleum that it took so much effort to develop gradually?
The mausoleum behind Zhu Yuanzhang is called Xiaoling Mausoleum, where Zhu Yuanzhang himself and his empress Ma Shi are buried. The mausoleum is located at the foot of Mount Qomolangma, Dulong Mansion in the south of Zhongshan, Nanjing, with Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in the east and Meihua Mountain in the south. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that there are many strange mountains and thousands of clouds are different. It's a treasure trove of feng shui.
In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Ma Huanghou died. Zhu Yuanzhang buried her in the tomb under construction, because posthumous title in Ma Huanghou is the filial piety queen, and this tomb is also called Xiaoling Mausoleum.
In the thirty-first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang died and was buried in the mausoleum with Ma Huanghou. The underground palace where they were buried together is also called Treasure City.
According to legend, when Zhu Yuanzhang was buried, someone thought of a way to prevent someone from stealing his tomb in the future. On the day of the funeral, an identical procession consisting of thirteen chariots and horses walked out of the thirteen gates of Nanjing, giving people the illusion that they didn't know which one was the real funeral procession.
The gate of Xiaoling faces south, facing Meihua Mountain, and the three characters "Ming Mausoleum" are written on the threshold. The overall layout of the Ming Tombs is divided into two parts. The first part is the Shinto guiding architecture. The second part is the main building of the mausoleum. With a depth of 2.62km and a circumference of 22.5km, Xiaoling Mausoleum is one of the largest existing tombs of ancient emperors in China.
In addition to these, there is another strange place in the Ming tombs, which is the only one among all the imperial tombs in the past dynasties, and that is its Shinto.
The ancients once said: "Clear the way in front of the tomb and set up a stone pillar as the standard. Called Shinto. " Therefore, many emperors will build a Shinto in front of the mausoleum, and then put stone men and beasts on both sides to symbolize their own ceremonies.
In the past, the Shinto of imperial tombs was straight without any bend. However, the Shinto of the Ming Tombs is curved, and the whole Shinto presents the characteristics of being curved and long.
This not only aroused people's association, why did Zhu Yuanzhang make the Shinto of his mausoleum unconventional and come out like this? What's the mystery?
According to people's speculation, there are generally three kinds of statements:
First, because Zhu Yuanzhang was born as a farmer and his style of doing things was more casual, he was so ingenious in the construction of the mausoleum.
Secondly, some people say that Zhu Yuanzhang followed nature and designed such a mausoleum layout according to the trend here.
Third, because this Shinto of Xiaoling surrounds Meihua Mountain, and Sun Quan is buried here in Meihua Mountain. So some people say that Zhu Yuanzhang's purpose is to let Sun Quan guard the mausoleum for him.
However, these three statements have some defects and are simply untenable.
In fact, according to the theory of stars, the design of ancient imperial tombs has always used the heavenly palace and the stars. Zhu Yuanzhang liked astronomical phenomena very much, so he designed his tomb in the shape of the Big Dipper.
The Shinto part just corresponds to the "spoon head" of the Big Dipper, while the formal mausoleum building just corresponds to the "spoon handle" part. Seven stars correspond to Sifang City, Shinto Wang Zhu, Lingxingmen, Jinshui Bridge, Wenwufang Gate, Xiangdian and Baocheng in turn.
However, for what purpose did Zhu Yuanzhang design the layout of the mausoleum like this? Due to the lack of sufficient historical records, we don't know the truth and can only restore it by speculation.