Information about Qin Shiwang Mausoleum

Mount Li is famous for its unique hot springs and scenery. At the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Youwang and his concubine praised the Lord and performed a historical tragedy here, which led to the rise of a vassal in the bonfire drama, thus ruining the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to legend, Qin Shihuang met the Goddess in Lishan before his death, and wanted to play the Goddess during the tour. In a rage, the Goddess spat on his face, so Qin Shihuang soon grew a sore. Although this is a fairy tale, it can be seen vaguely that Qin Shihuang and Mount Li seem to have some fate. His graveyard is also next to Lishan Mountain. Why was Qin Shihuang particularly obsessed with Mount Li, a treasure trove of geomantic omen?

The ancients regarded the choice of cemetery as a great event that benefited future generations, especially the feudal emperor Qin Shihuang, who tried to spread it to the world, naturally paid more attention to the location of cemetery. The reason why he was buried in Mount Li was explained by Li Daoyuan in the Northern Wei Dynasty: "Qin Shihuang built a burial in Mount Li Rong, a Lantian, whose yin was rich in gold and its yang was rich in beautiful jade. The first emperor was greedy for his good name, so he was buried." Li Daoyuan's viewpoint is affirmed by most scholars in academic circles. However, the author has written an article to raise objections. In the author's opinion, the choice of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in Mount Li depends on the ritual system at that time, and is influenced by the traditional concept of "building a mausoleum on the mountain". (See my book A Probe into the Origin of the Cemetery in the Early Qin Dynasty and Wenbo, No.5, 199. ) Now, from the perspective of geomantic omen, the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang is also an ideal geomantic omen treasure. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the concept of building a mausoleum by mountains has emerged. Later, people chose the cemetery and attached great importance to the geographical environment close to mountains and rivers. "To build a grave, you have to go to the mountains to get water." (See "The Secret Buried Sutra of Dahan's Original Mausoleum") The mountains and rivers are regarded by the ancients as the best land of geomantic omen. As for when this concept began, there is no way to test it. The author once thought that the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was a model of building a mausoleum by mountains. Now it seems that this conclusion is not comprehensive enough and not very accurate. It should be said that the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang is a model of "building a mausoleum by mountains and rivers". It is obvious to all that mausoleum of the first qin emperor is bordered by Mount Li in the south and Lishui in the north. However, on the east side of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum, there is also a artificially transformed fish pond water. According to "Notes on Water Classics", it is recorded that: "The water flows out of the northeast of Mount Li, and the source flows northward. After Qin Shihuang was buried in the north of the mountain, the water meandered and flowed eastward, and the first emperor built a tomb to borrow soil. The land was deep and the water accumulated into a pool, which was called a fish pond. ..... the northwest flow of the pool water passes through the north of Shihuang Tomb. " It can be seen that the fish pond water originally came from the northeast of Lishan Mountain, and the water flowed from south to north. Later, when the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor was built, an east-west dam was built in the southwest of the Mausoleum. The dam is more than 1, meters long, generally more than 4 meters wide, with a width of more than 7 meters at its widest point and a residual height of 2 to 8 meters. It is what people usually call the Wuling site. It is this dam that changed the fish pond water originally from the northeast of Li into the northwest flow, and passed around the northeast of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum. In addition, on the east side of the cemetery, there is a stream of hot spring water. According to "Notes on Water Classics", "There is hot spring water in the southwest of fish pond water, which can cure diseases in the world". "San Qin Ji" says: "There are hot springs in the northwest of Li Mountain." It can be seen that the hot springs of that year correspond to the fish pond water in the northwest. From this, it is not difficult to find that the geomantic features of Qin Shihuang Mausoleum are that the mountains are backed to the south, and the east, west and north sides are surrounded by water on three sides. Isn't "Surrounded by mountains and waters" a treasure trove of geomantic omen specially chosen by Qin Shihuang's mausoleum?

the concept of "surrounding mountains and water" in Qin dynasty had a far-reaching impact on the future generations. Mausoleums in the Western Han Dynasty, such as Gaozu Changling Mausoleum, Wendi Baling Mausoleum, Jingdi Yangling Mausoleum and Wudi Mausoleum, were chosen by imitating the geomantic thought of "Surrounding the water by mountains" in Qin Shihuang Mausoleum. After that, the tombs of the past dynasties basically inherited the idea of building tombs around mountains and waters.

The legend of the underground palace being stolen

While the finishing work of the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum was still in progress, the first peasant uprising broke out in the history of China in 29 BC, and Wu Guang in Chen Sheng rose up, and all parts of Kanto responded. A mighty rebel army led by Zhou Wen soon hit the vicinity of Xishui, which is located near xingfeng in the northeast of the cemetery, less than 1 Li away from the cemetery. At this time, hundreds of thousands of mausoleum-repairing personnel had to obey orders to abandon the unfinished cemetery project, and then Zhang Han was ordered by Shaofu to stop the insurgents, and the crumbling Qin Dynasty was destroyed after less than a year of pinching. With the collapse of the Qin dynasty, the bad luck of Qin Shihuang's mausoleum came.

Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, first visited mausoleum of the first qin emperor. The plot and degree of Xiang Yu's excavation of the Qin Mausoleum are not the same in historical records, and even there is a big discrepancy between before and after. Sima Qian recorded in Historical Records that Xiang Yu's excavation of the first imperial tomb was extremely rigorous. In all his records involving cemeteries, there is no mention of the modern mausoleum of Xiang Yu. Only when Liu Bang and Xiang Yu exchanged curses before the war, Liu Bang listed ten major crimes of Xiang Yu, one of which was "digging the tomb of the first emperor". This statement came from Xiang Yu's opponent Liu Bang, and even Sima Qian could not assert it when he wrote Historical Records, so he had to objectively and forever forget Liu Bang's original words. Later, when Ban Gu recorded this matter in Hanshu, he was also cautious. "The work of Lishan was not completed, but Zhou Zhang's millions of masters went down to it." Xiang Ji burned his palace and camp, and those who went there saw the excavation. Later, the shepherd lost his sheep, and the sheep entered his chisel. The shepherd held the fire to shine on the ball sheep and lost his hiding place. Since ancient times, burial has not been as prosperous as the beginning of the emperor. "In a few years, it's a pity that the outside was devastated by Xiang Ji and the inside was closed to grazing. This passage by Ban Gu is also not his own invention. It comes from the admonition book written by Liu Xiang 'an, the minister of Emperor Han Cheng. In those days, Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty built Yanling, and soon changed his plan to build Changling. "After several years of failure, it will be returned to Yanling, and the system is too luxurious." Faced with changing the mausoleum site several times and wasting a lot of manpower and material resources, Liu Xiang advised Emperor Cheng that he should be buried thinly and opposed to thick burial. In his admonition book, he not only listed the typical examples of thin burial but also talked about the consequences of thick burial, among which Qin Shihuang was an example of thick burial he emphasized. As an expostulation book, the author's subjective motivation and emotional color are obvious, and the historical examples involved are not completely accurate. Even so, the author's account of Xiang Yu's excavation of the first imperial tomb is measured. Xiang Yu just "burned his palace to build a palace, and those who went there were eager to see the excavation." "In a few years, what he did outside Xiang Ji was a blessing from Mu Zhi." It can be seen that Liu Xiang's remonstrance book talks about Xiang Yu burning the palace on the ground, but does not assert that Xiang Yu robbed the Qin tombs. In a word, we can draw a preliminary conclusion from the original records of Historical Records and Hanshu: Xiang Yu led troops to dig the first imperial tomb. In short, from the original records of Historical Records and Hanshu, we can draw such a preliminary conclusion: Xiang Yu visited the first imperial tomb and set fire to the "palace camp" of the mausoleum garden, but it is impossible to assert that Xiang Yu led troops to dig the first imperial tomb. However, in the Northern Wei Dynasty, when Li Daoyuan wrote Notes on Water Classics and Wei Shui, his records were quite different from Historical Records and Hanshu. He wrote: "When Xiang Yu entered the customs, with 3, people, things could not flee within 3 days, and the thieves in Kanto sold the copper, and the shepherds found the sheep to burn it, but the fire lasted for 9 days." In fact, part of this record came from Hanshu, when the shepherds found the sheep to burn it; The other part is empty and different from Hanshu, such as "Xiang Yu entered the customs and sent it, with 3 thousand people, and he could not be poor in 3 days." Obviously, Li Daoyuan's records are artificially played, and the lines are full of imaginary colors.

Sima Qian, the author of Historical Records, died more than 1 years ago, Ban Gu, the author of Hanshu, died more than 2 years ago, and Li Daoyuan died more than 4 years ago. It is reasonable to say that the closer the Qin Dynasty is, the more detailed the records should be. However, Sima Qian only passed through Liu Bang's mouth to "dig the tomb of the first emperor"; Ban Gu also said through Liu Xiangzhi that Xiang Yu "burned his palace and camp". It can be seen that these two historians are very cautious about whether Xiang Yu stole the Qin Mausoleum or not, and they are undecided. Later records, however, affirmed: "Xiang Yu entered the customs and sent it, with 3 thousand people, and he could not be poor in 3 days." The number of people who dug graves here and how many days the excavated things were transported are clearly recorded. This cannot but arouse people's doubts. What is the basis of Li Daoyuan? In addition, I'm afraid it's not credible to say that the shepherd son burned his underground palace in Han Shu and Shui Jing Zhu.