Why didn’t emperors build tombs in Sichuan?
Among the many provinces in my country, Shaanxi has the largest number of imperial tombs. There are a total of 79 imperial tombs buried in the province.
Of course, these seventy-nine imperial tombs do not mean that all of them are the tombs of emperors. Among these seventy-nine imperial tombs, seven are actually the tombs of the emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and nineteen are They are the mausoleums of the monarchs of the Qin State. In terms of title, these mausoleums are not considered imperial mausoleums.
But these are nominal titles. From a strict point of view, these tombs can still be included in the list of imperial tombs.
Besides Shaanxi, the province with the most imperial tombs in our country is Henan. Twenty-six emperors were buried in Luoyang Mangshan in Henan alone. It can be seen that the number of emperors buried in Henan is Many. There are also imperial tombs in Sichuan
As long as we observe carefully, we can find that the provinces located in the Central Plains and the core areas of ancient dynasty rule have more imperial tombs.
The reason why there are such a huge number of imperial tombs in Shaanxi and Henan is precisely because many dynasties in ancient times determined their capitals in these provinces. Therefore, when ancient emperors were looking for geomantic treasures for burial, Only then will the burial location be determined in these provinces.
The reason why the ancient emperors did not locate their tombs in Sichuan has a huge relationship with this reason.
In fact, this is not only the case in Sichuan, but also in other provinces that have never or rarely been capitalized by historical dynasties, such as Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian and many other provinces. The situation in Sichuan is similar.
It’s just that the situation in Sichuan is much better than that in these provinces. Although the number of emperors buried in Sichuan is rare, it does not mean that there are no emperors buried in Sichuan.
In history, there are still emperors buried in Sichuan.
The most famous of them is Liu Bei, the emperor of the Shu Han Kingdom, who is buried in Chengdu, Sichuan.
In addition, several monarchs of the ancient Shu Kingdom in Sichuan and several Sichuan regime monarchs during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period also determined their tombs in Sichuan. Transportation and traffic issues are key
I have seen many people say that the reason why other ancient emperors did not choose their tombs in Sichuan was because Sichuan’s Feng Shui was not good.
Because I do not have enough Feng Shui literacy, I am not sure about Sichuan Feng Shui. However, from a rational point of view, I can definitely tell you that this statement is completely ridiculous. talk.
As we said above, the reason why there are not so many emperors buried here in Sichuan is mainly related to the fact that those ancient dynasties did not establish their capitals here and the remote and steep location of Sichuan. As for any Feng Shui issues, it has nothing to do with it. is ranked second.
We can take a look at what would happen if the ancient dynasty did not have its capital in Sichuan but wanted to build imperial mausoleums in Sichuan.
First of all, because Sichuan lacked relevant skilled craftsmen and rare materials needed to build imperial tombs, they had to mobilize thousands of miles to gather skilled craftsmen and materials and rush to Sichuan.
The route into Sichuan at that time was hugely different from today. At that time, there were no airplanes, railways, or roads to communicate with each other between the Central Plains and Sichuan. People who wanted to enter Sichuan had no choice but to go Enter through the steep Shu roads that Li Bai marveled at.
In this process, we can see how huge the unnecessary increase in consumption is.
In addition, there is the problem of transporting the emperor's body.
Due to the inconvenience of transportation in ancient times, it usually took a month or several months for people to travel between the north and the south.
It would be fine if it was an ordinary person on the road, but if it were the emperor's body, the situation would be different.
In that era when anti-corrosion technology was not up to standard, if the emperor's body was really transported from the Central Plains to Sichuan, the emperor's body would definitely undergo severe decay during the journey.
If this happens, the consequences will be very serious. For the succeeding emperor, this will be considered as disrespect for the previous emperor, and for those responsible for this matter It's normal for them to lose their heads over this.
It is precisely because of these serious consequences and troubles that no one in history had the thankless task of transporting the emperor's body to Sichuan for burial, and that few people built emperor's tombs in Sichuan.