Two imperial tombs were excavated at one time and countless treasures were scattered overseas. Why were the tomb robbers not prosecuted?

Among the many small warlords, there is one guy who is special. His name will always be recorded in a prominent position in history books. The reason is not that he is particularly good at fighting, but that he robbed the tombs of Qianlong and Cixi. The world gave him a nickname: Dongling Thief Sun Dianying.

Judging from Sun Dianying's experience when he was young, he can be regarded as a model of a poor boy's counterattack. He was born in Yongcheng, Henan, and lived in the streets since childhood. After growing up, he traveled around the world, joined temple Taoist associations, and met many black and white Taoist figures.

The most prosperous people in those days were the military leaders, who were the local emperors and could do whatever they wanted. As long as you have soldiers and guns in your hands, you are not afraid of defeat. You can change your court at any time and still enjoy the good life.

Sun Dianying took a fancy to this and led a group of people to join the Henan warlord Ding Xiangling in 1922. Relying on the skills he had developed during his time in the Jianghu, Sun Dianying quickly climbed to the position of brigade commander, and his subordinates recruited thousands of surrenders and rebels.

In the next few years, Sun Dianying defected to Zhang Zongchang of the Feng faction and fought successively with Xu Yongchang, Feng Yuxiang and others. Finally, he was recruited by Chiang Kai-shek and served as the commander of the 12th Army, stationed in the eastern Hebei region.

The first person who thought of robbing the tomb was not Sun Dianying, but Ma Futian, another bandit recruited by the Feng clique. Robbery of tombs is an act that is despised by the world, and no Chinese with any conscience is willing to do it. Ma Futian, who was desperate, was so poor that he couldn't care about this anymore. Unfortunately, the barrel of his gun was not strong enough, and he was driven away by Sun Dianying's army before he started digging.

Sun Dianying also knew that stealing tombs was a shameful thing, but the countless treasures in the two imperial tombs made him decide to take the risk. These two imperial mausoleums are the Yuling Mausoleum of Qianlong and the Dingling Mausoleum of Cixi respectively. According to the records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of treasures were buried in the two imperial mausoleums, each of which is a rare treasure and priceless.

In July 1928, in the name of an exercise, Sun Dianying sealed off the entire 30 miles around Malanyu, where the two emperors' tombs are located, and asked the local county government to prepare 30 large vehicles, falsely claiming that he was going from Food is shipped from other places.

This tomb robbery can be said to be the least technical in history. It does not require Feng Shui experts, compasses and Luoyang shovels. There is a universal artifact that can easily open the tomb, which is explosives. Thousands of people dig all over the mountains and fields, dig out suspected targets, and then plant explosives. There is a booming sound. There is nothing that a bundle of explosives cannot solve. If there is, then put another bundle on it.

Sun Dianying first stole Cixi’s Dingling Tomb. After opening the main coffin, he found that Cixi’s body had not decayed for twenty years, with a huge luminous pearl in his mouth. Poor Cixi, the strong woman who had been in charge of China for half a century, was insulted by tomb robbers after her death. Cixi's treasures and clothes were all robbed, and the treasures in the tomb could not escape Sun Dianying's looting.

After grabbing Dingling Tomb, they blew up Qianlong Yuling Tomb. According to Sun Dianying's later recollection, Qianlong's body had decayed, and the most precious items were a string of beads and a Nine-Dragon sword. I’m afraid we will never know exactly how many treasures were stolen from the Tombs of the Two Emperors. All we know is that all 30 carts were filled.

These are just treasures that Sun Dianying keeps under unified custody. Although he stipulates that his subordinates are not allowed to hide them privately, the military discipline of this kind of warlord army can be imagined. Every Sun Jun soldier who participated in the tomb robbery took treasures from the tomb. As a result, many people were eager to sell their dirty work, became deserters, and were arrested in various places. Only then did the tomb robbery incident be discovered.

The Dongling Tomb was stolen, and the whole world was in an uproar. Puyi found Chiang Kai-shek and demanded that Sun Dianying be severely punished and the treasure be recovered. There were also calls to denounce Sun Dianying and tomb robbing across the country. For a moment, it seemed that Sun Dianying could not escape the law and would soon be brought to justice.

But in fact, Sun Dianying had already launched a full-scale operation, giving the stolen treasures to various military and political dignitaries at the time according to their ranks, in order to buy their favor on the matter. He gave away the best treasures, such as Qianlong's Nine Dragon Sword, as gifts, which was a very generous act.

As a result, at the military court in December of that year, Sun Dianying insisted that he had no knowledge and that it was his subordinates who acted without authorization, and finally nothing happened.

According to subsequent investigations, Shang Zhen, the chief judge of the military court, had accepted an emerald watermelon sent by Sun Dianying.

Sun Dianying's troops were downsized and became the new independent second brigade, which continued the crusade against Zhang Zongchang. After the Anti-Japanese War began, Sun Dianying first fought several battles with the Japanese and then defected to the Japanese. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, it was incorporated by the Kuomintang. It was not until the Battle of Tangyin that he was captured by the People's Liberation Army. He eventually died of illness in the War Criminals Management Center in 1947.

Some of the treasures stolen by Sun Dianying were scattered abroad, some were secretly kept by military and political dignitaries at that time, and some were kept in museums by the state. The loss of these treasures is a huge loss to the Chinese nation. I don’t know what year or month it will be before they can go home.