Where is Liu Bei's tomb?
The Huiling Mausoleum where Liu Bei, the emperor of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period, was buried after his death is still nearby today. Judging from the existing materials, there have never been written records that Huiling was excavated, and there are even legends that tomb robbers who entered Huiling were severely punished by gods and ghosts. This caused future generations to question: Historically, emperors' tombs were rarely excavated without being robbed, so why was this tomb intact? Is it really protected by gods? Obviously this is just nonsense fabricated by later generations. For this reason, as early as the Song Dynasty, some people suspected that Huiling was not the real tomb of Liu Bei, but just a tomb in memory of Liu Bei.
Where is Liu Bei’s real tomb? Some people insist that Huiling is the real tomb of Liu Bei. According to historical records, Guan Yu defeated Maicheng and was killed by Soochow. In order to avenge his dead brother, Liu Bei personally led the army to attack Soochow, but unfortunately he was defeated. After the defeat, Liu Bei retreated to Baidi City and died of illness in April 223 AD.
In May, Zhuge Liang carried the coffin back to Chengdu and was buried in August. This shows that Liu Bei’s mausoleum is indeed in Chengdu, and the building of Liu Bei’s mausoleum is still there today. "Three Kingdoms" records that after Liu Bei's death, his body was transported back to Chengdu from Fengjie and later buried in Huiling with Mrs. Gan. Chen Shou, the author of "Three Kingdoms", was the official historian of the Shu Han Dynasty for thousands of years and was specifically responsible for the management of documents and archives, so his records about Liu Bei's tomb must be reliable.
In 1985, Chen Jian proposed that Liu Bei should be buried in Fengjie. He believed that Liu Bei died in April, was buried in August, and was transported to Chengdu from Fengjie (i.e. Baidi City). April and August here should be April and August of the lunar calendar according to the ancient juice month method. At this time, Sichuan is in the scorching summer, the temperature is extremely high, and corpses are most likely to rot and smell. What's more, Baidi City and Chengdu are thousands of miles apart, and they are both upstream waterways and rugged mountain roads. With the traffic conditions at the time, even a one-way trip would take more than a month. Okay, how long does it take to arrive in Chengdu?
In addition, there was almost no preservation technology to prevent corpses from decaying at that time, and some so-called folk methods that could prevent corpses from decaying were actually ineffective according to experts. Based on this analysis, Liu Bei's body must have decomposed in more than a month. How could Zhuge Liang drag the rotting corpse of the emperor on a long journey for more than three months, insisting that Liu Bei be buried in Chengdu? This is obviously unreasonable. Chen Jian also pointed out that most of the classics and local chronicles since the Song and Yuan Dynasties recorded that Queen Gan was buried on the festival. According to "Three Comrades", Liu Bei was buried with Queen Gan, but there was no Queen Gan in Huiling. This shows that Liu Bei should be buried in Fengjie with Queen Gan.
In addition, there are many legends about Liu Bei’s burial here in history. In modern times, many artificial tunnel entrances were discovered in Fengjie City, which looked very much like tomb passages. The cultural relics survey team once used ultra-south waves to carry out geophysical exploration and found that two building structures were buried deep underground in the local People's *** compound to which the tunnel leads, each measuring 18 meters to 15 meters and 5 meters high. Experts Analysis suggests that they are likely to be the real tombs of Liu Bei and Queen Gan.
Scholars who insist on Huiling theory have refuted this. They quoted "Three Kingdoms". Records about Queen Gan in "The Biography of Queen Gan, the First Lord" say that after Queen Gan died, she was buried in Jiangling, Hubei Province. She was posthumously named Mrs. Huangsi and wanted to be buried in Shu. However, before Queen Gan's coffin arrived, Liu Bei died. Later, Zhuge Liang, who escorted Liu Bei's coffin back to Chengdu, wrote a memorial to the queen on the way, saying that Empress Gan "should be buried with Emperor Daxing" and informed the Imperial Ancestral Temple. It can be seen that Liu Bei was indeed buried together with Queen Gan.
This matter is very clearly recorded in Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms". Chen Shou was born in Shu and served as an official in Shu. How could he mark the king's tomb wrongly? In addition, some people say that Qin Shihuang died in the scorching heat but also transported his body all the way to Chengyang for burial. Why couldn't Liu Bei? And if there was no good anti-corrosion technology during the Qin Shihuang period, anti-corrosion technology must have developed greatly during the Three Kingdoms period 400 years later. Therefore, it is not credible to say that it was impossible to transport the corpse back to Chengdu because of the hot weather. What's more, there are clear records in history books that Liu Bei was buried in Chengdu.
Recently, some people have suggested that Liu Bei's tomb is located in Lianhua Dam in Pengshan, Sichuan. Lianhua Village is located at the foot of Muma Mountain and Pengshan Mountain, surrounded by mountains and rivers. It has always been regarded as a geomantic treasure and the best choice for ancient tombs. Moreover, Muma Mountain was Liu Bei's horse farm at the time, and four of Liu Bei's confidants were from Pengshan. Therefore, it is possible to say that Lianhua Village is the location of his tomb.
In addition, Lianhua Village in Muma Township has the legend of royal tombs since ancient times. The nearby farmers also said that most of the people in their village had the surname Liu, and they all said that the person lying in the imperial tomb was Liu Bei.
However, it is not sufficient to judge that Liu Bei's tomb is in Lianhua Village just based on the superior geographical location. The obvious question is: even though Lianhua Village is very close to Chengdu, it is unreasonable for Liu Bei's body to be transported to Chengdu for burial. Is it unreasonable to transport Liu Bei's body to Chengdu for burial? Is it reasonable to go to Lotus Village?
There is also a legend in history that Liu Bei died of illness in Baidi City and was buried there. People explained that the Second and Three Kingdoms period was a troubled time in history. The emperors during this period, whether Liu Bei or Cao Cao, had to prevent their tombs from being damaged and destroyed by tomb robbers of later generations. Out of this mentality, Liu Bei carried out the funeral in four directions, in order to live in peace after death.
Emperors all wished that they could still enjoy a peaceful life after death. However, their mystery and historical records of their burial places have plunged future generations into mystery. So far, various legends are confusing and false, and people are still speculating about Liu Bei's tomb. Let's reveal the secret without jumping to conclusions. We can only wait for further discoveries by archaeologists to clear up the confusion.