The First Tomb of Princes of the Ming Dynasty: Revealing the Tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang’s Tenth Son Zhu Tan

Introduction: Zhu Yuanzhang had many sons. Historical records record that he had 26 sons. Among them, Zhu Tan, the tenth son, was named King of Lu. He conquered Yanzhou when he was 15 years old and was given the posthumous title of "Huang" after his death. Among the 24 princes entrusted by Zhu Yuanzhang, King Lu was the first to die, and his mausoleum can be called the first mausoleum of a prince in the Ming Dynasty. Thirty-five years ago in 1970, with the support of the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other units, Shandong Province excavated the tomb of King Luhuang in Zouxian County and unearthed a large number of rare cultural relics. However, due to historical reasons, the excavations at that time are still a secret, and the unearthed cultural relics are rare for ordinary people to see. Thanks to the efforts of the Xiaoling Tomb Museum of the Ming Dynasty, the cultural relics unearthed from the tomb of King Luhuang finally "came home" and reunited with Taizu Xiaoling in Nanjing 600 years later. They began to be publicly displayed at the "Meixiang Pavilion" on Meihua Mountain yesterday. Through this, the reporter verified the first-hand information from the excavation and unveiled the mystery of this first tomb of a prince of the Ming Dynasty. Specifications of the mausoleum: The overall shape is similar to that of Dingling Tomb in Beijing

Zhu Tan was the son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Concubine Guo Ning. According to historical records, he was born in the third year of Hongwu. He was named king two months after he was born. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu Fan Yanzhou. After his death, he was buried at the junction of the southern foot of Jiulong Mountain and present-day Qufu County, 25 miles northeast of present-day Zouxian County, not far from Yanzhou. According to the "Zou County Chronicles": "The Garden of Huang Huangwang of Ming Dynasty is in Jiulong Mountain." 200 meters away from the tomb, in today's Shangzhai Village, there are still the remains of the foundation of the "Xiang Hall". Originally they were built with more than 40 centimeters of evergreen bricks, which are extremely strong and 1.4 meters thick. The original shape can still be seen from the intermittent wall base. The cemetery is 206 meters long from north to south and 80 meters wide from east to west. There is a partition wall in the middle and is divided into front and rear courtyards, which are higher in the back and lower in the front. More than 60 meters west of the tomb of King Luhuang, there is the tomb of Princess Ge. Ge was granted the title of princess in the second year after Zhu Tan's death. When Concubine Ge died, Zhu Tan had already been buried, so she was buried here. His descendants are also buried nearby. This place is a "feng shui treasure land". Zhu Tan was buried here after his death. Like Zhu Yuanzhang's Xiaoling Mausoleum, it was carefully selected at that time. Its overall shape is similar to that of Dingling Mausoleum in Beijing, but it is 230 years older than Dingling Mausoleum. . Construction method: It took two or three years to dig out mountains and cut stones.

When the underground palace was opened, it was found that the royal tomb was more than 20 meters deep from the current surface. The covered area is about 13,000 square meters. The tomb passage and the tomb chamber were excavated at the same time, facing south, with a wide outer opening and a narrowing inward. The bottom is high on the outside and low on the inside. The inner opening is 3.9 meters wide. The northern end is 1.5 meters away from the King Kong Wall. The total length is estimated to be more than 70 meters. The tomb door opening is in the center of the lower part of the Vajra Wall. It is completely covered tightly by the red wall of the Vajra Wall, making it difficult to find. At that time, the amount of work involved in building this tomb was relatively large. Preliminary calculations show that only about 200,000 cubic meters of earth and stone are needed to cut the stone and fill it with earth. It requires not only cutting mountains and cutting rocks, but also transporting earth and tamping from a distance. If 200 laborers are used, it will take two to three consecutive years to complete. Legend has it that the soil for the tomb was transported from 2 miles west of Jiulong Mountain. Due to the large amount of soil taken to build this mausoleum, it was dug into a low-lying basin. The current Xihu Village is still a depression, which is a large piece of civilian farmland that was destroyed at that time.

Internal structure: Two huge stone gates at the front and back seal the door wall, 8.86 meters high, 1.6 meters thick at the top, and gradually widen at the bottom to form a wall-like shape. The base of the wall extends outward into the tomb passage. Behind the gate wall, there is a red diamond wall with a height of 8.2 meters and a width of 5.35 meters. The upper part is a gatehouse built with green glazed tiles, and the wall is covered with a layer of hard red mortar, which is relatively strong. There are brick retaining walls on the left, right and back sides of the upper part of the King Kong Wall Gate Tower, which are connected with the gate sealing wall in front. There are two doors in the front and backyard. The first door is retracted into the 1.5-meter corridor at the entrance of the cave, with double leaves and pivots. The door is made of a whole huge stone, with nine rows of eighty-one milk-shaped door nails carved out of it, painted with vermilion lacquer, and the nails are gilded with bright colors. It is inlaid with an iron title ring coated with gold, and the door knocker is locked with a large iron lock. There is a stone threshold 10 centimeters above the ground in front of the door. Just inside the door is the front room of the tomb. The second door has the same shape as the first door and is locked with a large iron lock. The foundation behind the second door is slightly higher than the front room. The corridor has a shorter roof and leads to the back room; the back room (coffin room) is taller and more spacious than the front room, and its plane is in the shape of a "T" with the front room. The top is the coupon from north to south.

The Xumizuo-type coffin bed is built in the middle of the back room, all built with polished bricks. The layout of the tomb: There is a two-lacquered wooden box on the east side of the coffin bed

It is said that when the tomb was opened, it was found that there was water inside, but a large number of funerary objects were intact. Due to the buoyancy of the accumulated water, the position of some objects was moved. In the front part of the front room, there is a large vat with an iron wick holder inside, which is a ten thousand year lamp. There is a red imperial case in the center of the back, and on the west side of the case there is a treasure box with a top, which contains the seal of "The Treasure of King Lu". The seal box should have been on the case. In the front room are a group of wood-carved ceremonial figurines, horses, carriages and small items in the ceremonial guard. The original position of the coffin on the coffin bed in the back room has been moved, and the coffin has been removed from the coffin and floated out of the southwest corner of the back room. There are four tables on both sides of the coffin bed, and the two tables on the west side are placed under the coffin. There are two lacquered wooden boxes on the east side of the coffin bed. One of them is broken and the other is well preserved. It contains crowns, robes, jade, boots, etc. Clothes, hats, jade belts, toiletries, etc. were scattered on the ground. On the ground to the west are chess, calligraphy and painting, the Four Treasures of the Study, etc. In addition, there are 24 wood-carved figurines, porcelain and living models made of wood, bamboo, copper and tin in the back room. On the east and west walls, there are three wooden plaques for funerals.

The coffin and coffin are made of nanmu and are sturdy. The coffin is covered with brocade quilts and robes. Zhu Tan wears a dragon robe, a jade belt, and a round hat; her bun is intact and has a gold hairpin; there are small gold particles under each arm; her frame is stretched out. There was a mattress underneath him, and there were 19 "Hongwu Tongbao" coins on the mattress. Underneath the mattress is a layer of lining board with round holes for the Big Dipper carved on it. The bottom of the coffin is covered with plant ash.

More than 1,000 cultural relics of various types were unearthed from the Mausoleum of King Lu Huang, which are extremely rare. Many cultural relics are national treasures and were passed down from generation to generation at that time. The excavation of the "Tianfeng Haitao" piano shocked the archaeological community. The instrument is 121 centimeters long and 19.5 centimeters wide. It is made of paulownia wood, with a black lacquered body and cracks like snake hocks, and the seal script "天风海波" is engraved on the back. There are two sounding grooves on the belly of the piano: Longchi and Fengmarsh. It is said that the sound of the guqin is like the long wind in the sky and the waves of the sea, and its unique shape has earned it the reputation of "priceless guqin snake tarsus". Lei Wei is famous for his skill in making snake tarsus harps. Lei Wei's Snake Qin has been a treasure handed down from generation to generation during the Song and Ming dynasties.