Why have the tombs of the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty never been discovered?
In Chinese history, the emperor cared extremely about what happened before and after his death. Especially after death, even the unknown emperors in history attach great importance to the construction of the tomb after their death. First of all, the burial items must be sufficient and precious, the feng shui of the location of the tomb must be good, and the anti-grave robbery agencies must be good, so This also led to the discovery of relatively few imperial tombs.
This custom probably started with Qin Shihuang. According to unofficial records, Qin Shihuang requisitioned 300,000 civilians to build imperial mausoleums for him, and attempted to go to Huangquan Road to fight and build a large number of terracotta warriors and horses. Three of them have been found so far. There are more than 8,000 terracotta warriors and horses pits. In addition, a large amount of mercury was poured into the tomb to make it sterile and incorruptible for thousands of years. It can be said to be the most luxurious tomb of a Chinese emperor.
Since Qin Shihuang, both princes and emperors have attached great importance to their own tombs. There are several reasons for this. First, as an emperor, his status is extremely noble. He is the first person in the world and the person who is appointed by heaven. Coupled with the ancient views on the afterlife, if you build an imperial mausoleum after death and choose a geomantic treasure land, you will be rich in the next life.
The second is that in the Chinese ritual and music system, sacrifices are highly valued. The first is to offer sacrifices to heaven, the second is to offer sacrifices to the earth, and the third is to offer sacrifices to ancestors. For the emperor, as long as the dynasty does not fall, they will be sacrificed. As an object, the mausoleum naturally needs to be different in all aspects.
From this point of view, the emperor’s tomb is a top priority, and according to custom, the emperor’s tomb must be built while the emperor is still alive. There is an unsolved case in history? Did the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty have a mausoleum?
Nowadays, in order to understand ancient civilizations, historians, in addition to records in ancient books and historical materials, have another most important way to understand history through the burial objects and architectural styles of mausoleums. So far, all dynasties and generations have The emperor's tombs have all been discovered. Even the tomb of Qin Shihuang (whether the world thinks it is true or not) has been discovered by historians, but only the tomb of the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty has not been found. Therefore, some people think that the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty did not build it. tomb.
Concerning this point, the author has checked historical data and found that the Yuan Dynasty was a nomadic nation and had never had the idea of returning to their roots as people in the Central Plains. Therefore, emperors in the Central Plains did not attach as much importance to mausoleums as they did. They believed that after death, they should return to nature. Building a mausoleum is inconsistent with this philosophy. Moreover, they did not have much reverence for the body, and they even had cremations at that time. From this, it seems possible that the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty did not have tombs.
However, the Central Plains nourished people. Genghis Khan first established a unified country, and then Kublai Khan made Beijing his capital. After several generations of influence, although they were Mongolian, coupled with the impact of Central Plains etiquette, the imperial tombs The importance should be self-evident. After the capital was established, the customs of the nomadic people had turned into a settled form, and since there was no ancestral temple, there was one missing item for sacrifice, which was inconsistent with etiquette. The emperor of the Yuan Dynasty should have understood the importance of building an imperial mausoleum.
So the author speculates that the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty built imperial tombs with different ideas from the emperors of the Central Plains. They were too secretive and have not been discovered by later generations.
In response to this phenomenon, the author searched for historical data and finally came up with possible reasons. First, the Yuan Dynasty was established by Kublai Khan and its capital was Beijing. Although Genghis Khan unified the Mongolian people, he did not call himself the emperor of the Central Plains. Therefore, he was not affected by the etiquette of the Central Plains, so he did not build an imperial mausoleum, but in the traditional form of the Mongolian people. Buried.
In order to ensure that the Mongolian Emperor Khan will not be disturbed for thousands of generations after his death, it is publicized that the tomb of Genghis Khan will be simple, and all those who participated in the construction of the tomb will be buried, and then thousands of horses will trample the traces, and any information about the tomb is prohibited. Book records of Genghis Khan's tomb After several generations, the Mongols have established their capital in Beijing, so Genghis Khan's tomb gradually became a secret.
There is no record in any classics, and unlike the construction method of the Central Plains Imperial Tombs, all tombs after the founding of the People's Republic of China were excavated according to the etiquette of the Central Plains Imperial Tombs, so no tomb of Genghis Khan was found. This leads some people to think that Genghis Khan has no tomb.
Looking at other emperors of the Yuan Dynasty, from Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty to Emperor Yuan Shun, the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, no emperor’s tomb has been discovered by later generations. Regardless of the tomb robbers in the previous seven or eight hundred years, today’s technological advancements To a certain extent, historians have spared no effort to search for the tombs of emperors of various dynasties and generations in order to complete the history books, but they still have not found the tombs of the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty.
The author found out about the burial custom of the Mongolian people. In order to prevent people from disturbing them after death, no matter what form of burial the Mongolian people have, as long as there is a fixed cemetery, the tomb will be sealed. This is different from that in the Central Plains. There are always entrances and exits in the construction of mausoleums. Although many secret passages have been set up to prevent tomb robbers, there is still a risk of being stolen. The sealed tombs of the Mongolian people cannot be entered by outsiders. Coupled with the post-processing on the surface, it is even more difficult to discover the tomb.
If future generations need to worship, they will find a ewe and a lamb after the burial, and then kill the lamb in front of the ewe at the cemetery. When worshiping, only the ewe needs to be sacrificed. Release it and you can find the burial place. And while this approach is feasible, the ewe's lifespan is no more than ten years at most. Even if it comes in this form every few years, it has experienced the change of emperors, dynasties, and the passage of time. It is also forbidden to write any words about the tomb or There are no image records, so the location of the tomb is not clear.
From this point of view, based on the records known to modern times, there is no understanding of the construction of tombs in the Yuan Dynasty. It is simply as difficult as climbing to the sky to find the tombs of the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty. This is not difficult to explain why the modern nation was founded decades ago. , today with such advanced science and technology, there is still no tomb of the Yuan Dynasty emperor found.
So in general, the fact that the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty did not have a mausoleum did not mean that they did not exist, but that it was difficult for future generations to discover them. Because the Yuan Dynasty was not Han, but Mongolian. Mongolians have always been called nomadic people on horseback. The concept of family and country is not as profound as that of the Han people in the Central Plains. Therefore, the concepts of inheritance in imperial mausoleums and ancestral temples are not as profound to them. It's too unreal and doesn't make much sense.
They believe that people are born and raised by the earth, and burial does not require large-scale construction to build a mausoleum. As long as they are not disturbed by future generations and can sleep peacefully, returning to heaven and earth is the greatest respect for the deceased. Under this kind of thinking, the tombs of the Yuan Dynasty must be extremely secretive, so future generations cannot discover them.