The unsolved mystery of the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty: Why did Emperor Kangxi’s Jingling Tomb catch fire three times?
The Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty are the most important tombs of emperors and concubines of the last dynasty in China. They are also the largest and most complete ancient imperial mausoleum building in China. There are only five imperial mausoleums built - Emperor Shunzhi's Xiaoling Mausoleum, Emperor Kangxi's Jingling Mausoleum, Emperor Qianlong's Yuling Mausoleum, Emperor Xianfeng's Dingling Mausoleum, Emperor Tongzhi's Huiling Mausoleum, as well as four empress dowager mausoleums in the east (Ci'an) and west (Cixi), five concubine gardens, and princess The mausoleum contains 14 queens and 136 concubines. Is Xiaoling really empty?
The Dongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty, a geomantic treasure land, was designated as a royal omen as early as the Ming Dynasty, but before it could be built, the Ming Dynasty perished. After the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass, Emperor Shunzhi fell in love with this place and said, "This mountain is so lush and green that it can be my longevity palace." As the first emperor after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, his Xiaoling Mausoleum was the first imperial mausoleum among the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty. It naturally has the best feng shui and the largest scale, covering an area of about 220,000 square meters and 11 kilometers from north to south. Huali. However, for hundreds of years, people, especially in the Dongling area, have been circulating that Xiaoling Tomb is empty and that Emperor Shunzhi was not buried in the underground palace at all.
Spending huge sums of money to build a mausoleum but leaving it empty is indeed a bit unbelievable, but the story of Shunzhi becoming a monk has to make people believe that the Xiaoling Underground Palace is empty. Legend has it that after the death of his beloved concubine Dong E, he was so sad and despairing that he suddenly saw through the world of mortals and became a monk.
Did Emperor Shunzhi really escape into Buddhism in history? According to research, he did indeed have his hair shaved at Wanshan Hall in Xiyuan at one time, and his hair was really shaved. Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang came and threatened to burn his Buddhist brother to death, so Emperor Shunzhi had no choice but to agree to grow his hair and stay secular.
So how did Emperor Shunzhi die? Whether it is the official history compiled by the Qing Dynasty, "Shizu Shilu" or "Yulin Imperial Master Chronicle" and other documents, it is unanimously confirmed that Emperor Shunzhi died of an incurable disease at the time - smallpox. His body was cremated a hundred days after his death, and his ashes were filled with Inside the altar, it was called the Treasure Palace and was buried in the Xiaoling Underground Palace in the second year of Kangxi. Buried with Shunzhi were the ashes of two empresses, Xiaokang and Xiaoxian. Therefore, the underground palace is not empty, but has three treasure palaces, which are what we often call urns. ■Why has Xiaoling Mausoleum never been stolen?
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, almost all the tombs in the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty were visited by thieves, including the tombs of princes, princesses and nannies. What is puzzling is that the main tomb of the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty, the Xiaoling Tomb of Emperor Shunzhi, miraculously escaped the clutches of the devil, as if blessed by God.
In fact, the reason why Xiaoling Mausoleum is the only mausoleum in the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty that has not been stolen should be thanks to folklore, that is, the aforementioned legend that Shunzhi was not buried in the underground palace. Since it was empty, there were naturally no treasures, which made most thieves lose interest in it. In addition, royal burial objects, usually gold and silver products, jewelry and jade, are used to fill the coffin gaps. There is no coffin in the underground palace of Xiaoling Mausoleum at all. There are just three jars of ashes. The jars do not need to be filled. Where did the treasures come from? Moreover, the merit stele of Xiaoling Mausoleum does indeed read "The emperor's decree: no ornaments should be worshiped in the mausoleum, and no gold or jade treasures should be hidden in the mausoleum." Regardless of whether there is no three hundred taels of silver here, these true and false rumors have indeed played a role in protecting Xiaoling. Of course, thieves still excavated Xiaoling Tomb several times, hoping to give it a try. Fortunately, it was already around the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the militias in every village in Dongling had stepped up their vigilance. The bandits failed to succeed, leaving only a large hole less than two meters deep. Why did Jingling catch fire three times?
Compared with Xiaoling, Emperor Kangxi’s Jingling was not so lucky. Emperor Kangxi reigned for 61 years and made significant achievements in both civil and military affairs. He created the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong in China's feudal society, and is known as the "Kangxi Emperor". But I don’t know why, compared with other mausoleums of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi’s Jingling Mausoleum was obviously troubled.
In the first month of the twelfth year of Daoguang (1832), the eaves of the east and west rooms in Jingling caught fire one after another. Fortunately, the fire was put out in time and no fire occurred. Emperor Daoguang still severely punished the officers and soldiers protecting the mausoleum.
On the morning of February 20th, the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), a fire suddenly broke out on the eaves of Longen Hall in Jingling. Emperor Kangxi, 4 queens, and 1 queen were enshrined in Longen Hall in Jingling. The imperial concubine’s magic card. As the flames soared into the sky, the fire spread, and the entire hall quickly turned into a volcano. This is the second major fire that occurred in the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty after the Xiaoling Holy Gong and Shengde Stele Pavilion was burned down in the second year of Guangxu (1876). Emperor Guangxu was furious when he heard that the Long'en Hall in Jingling was burned down. He immediately sent Zhao Erxun, the Minister of Household Affairs, and Tieliang, the Minister of Military Aircraft and the Right Assistant Minister of the Household Department, as imperial envoys to Dongling to investigate the case. The two imperial ministers tried all kinds of methods and struggled for more than ten days, but they could neither find out the cause of the fire nor find the culprit, so they had to return to Beijing. They said helplessly in the memorial written to Emperor Guangxu: The fire came from above, and there were no suspicious signs. Emperor Guangxu had no choice but to give up.