novelden Chapter 778 The Great Disaster in the World
Chapter 778 The Great Disaster in the World
The Ming Tombs are actually not together. They are distributed in different mountainous areas. They are huge in scale, covering an area of more than hundreds of square kilometers.
The distance between each scenic spot is quite far. Chen Feng and his party actually arrived at the first stop, Siling, which is the tomb of the foolish Emperor Chongzhen after passing through the palace gate and crossing the sacred road.
"It doesn't feel very big!" Hao Dongmei stood on the Ming Building and looked at the stone tablet erected by the Qing Dynasty that recorded the various "merits" of Chongzhen.
The Ming Tower is actually just a platform made of stone bricks. In addition to other stone carvings, the main thing that attracts people is a very eye-catching stone tablet for worship.
"This inscription says Chongzhen was wise and enlightened, but wasn't he the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"
Hao Dongmei read the flattering article very carefully.
Chen Feng did not even look at the stone tablet, but looked around carefully and said: "The Qing Dynasty, a wild man from the frontier, came to rule the Central Plains. Of course, we should thank Chongzhen. If he was not so useless and stupid, he would not have lost the world and let the Qing Dynasty enter the pass."
"Of course we should give a good evaluation to such god-like teammates and pig-like opponents."
This mausoleum, which was not open to the public in later generations, is now freely accessible.
And probably because of the proper protection provided by the eunuchs arranged by the Qing Dynasty to guard the tomb, the palace walls, floor tiles, stone tablets and other basic protection were relatively intact, unlike in the future, when it became an empty lawn.
Hao Dongmei laughed at Chen Feng's sarcastic words: "The chaos in the Ming Dynasty was not entirely the emperor's fault. I heard from my grandfather that it was also caused by internal party strife, weather disasters, and the rise of the Qing Dynasty."
Chen Feng walked to the side, looking down at the paint peeling and collapsed part of the palace wall, and said: "Since he wears the crown and enjoys the relevant authority, if something goes wrong, he must be responsible."
"Also, when he succeeded to the throne, the situation was not good, but it was not necessarily to the point of the country's demise. In the final analysis, he was not as good as his brother, Emperor Tianqi, who trusted Confucian scholars, interfered in military affairs, and killed his own generals."
"In the end, he hanged himself. He deserved it!"
"Yes, he committed suicide. Who buried him?" Hao Dongmei discovered a problem and asked quickly.
Chen Feng knew this, and said, "After his death, Li Zicheng ordered his body to be collected and buried in the imperial concubine's tomb, which became the smallest imperial mausoleum among all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty."
"This is the tomb of the imperial concubine. No wonder it is so small. Isn't it said that the emperor started building the tomb after he ascended the throne?" Hao Dongmei asked again. As expected of her family's profound knowledge, she even knew these small details.
Chen Feng replied: "No, Chongzhen didn't know how to be an emperor. He only lived frugally and didn't build a mausoleum during his lifetime. He didn't know that no matter how frugal he was, he couldn't change the overall situation of corruption and exploitation by corrupt officials."
Come down from the Ming Building, walk back along the stone road, and around the mound, you will see a small tomb. After reading the words on the tombstone, you will find that it is the tomb of Wang Chengen.
"Wang Chengen, who is he?" Hao Dongmei looked at Chen Feng curiously. She found that Chen Feng knew a lot and could even tell you a lot about the beast at the bottom of the Minglou Divine Monument.
Unlike the many novels, books, and films about the late Ming Dynasty in later generations, this loyal eunuch is very famous, and not many people know about him now.
"He was the chief eunuch of Emperor Chongzhen, who hanged himself with him before his death." Chen Feng smiled and said, "In order to decorate the appearance, the Qing Dynasty re-buried Emperor Chongzhen and buried Wang Chengen here with him."
"Wang Chengen, isn't this the emperor's tomb? Can eunuchs be buried beside the emperor?" Hao Dongmei asked, "Aren't the tombs beside the ancient emperors' tombs all for loyal ministers and generals?"
Chen Feng laughed and said, "The last few capable ministers and generals of the Ming Dynasty were all killed by Chongzhen, so we can only use this last eunuch."
"Besides, whether it's Yuan Chengzhi, er, Yuan Chonghuan, or Sun Chuanting, they've all long since disappeared, and they were blood enemies who caused a lot of trouble to the Qing Dynasty."
"If the Qing Dynasty knew about their graves, they would be lucky not to dig them up and whip their bodies. How could they bury them here?"
Hao Dongmei nodded, not quite understanding.
After coming out, the group of kids did not forget to show off their achievement to the two of them, saying that the motorcycle was not touched by anyone.
Chen Feng smiled and gave them some fructose granules.
Hao Dongmei looked at her watch.
"It's almost eleven o'clock, let's go back."
"There are several tombs behind, don't you want to go and take a look?" Chen Feng asked with a smile.
Hao Dongmei shook her head and said, "Before I came here, I thought the emperor's mausoleum must have cost countless people's money. Now it seems that it is just so-so. There is nothing to see. It is not as good as the Forbidden City."
Seeing the sweat on her forehead, Chen Feng opened his bag, gave her a bottle of soda, and did not forget to twist it open.
"Thank you!"
Hao Dongmei was indeed a little thirsty, and after walking for dozens of minutes, she still felt a little hot.
Chen Feng also drank a bottle of soda, put the bottle away, and then started the motorcycle.
"This is a concubine's tomb, so it looks small and not expensive. If you go to other emperors' tombs, you may not think so."
Hao Dongmei asked: "I heard that the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty was blown up by warlords. Hasn't this place been robbed?"
"Of course, several large tombs were robbed by King Chongzhen and the Qing soldiers, and the gold, silver and jewelry inside were divided up, but Siling was not robbed, probably because the tomb robbers knew there was no money to be made there."
Chen Feng smiled and said, "This is where Li Zicheng was buried. They also robbed the Dingling Mausoleum and other tombs. Naturally, they couldn't take out treasures to bury him with the dead. Only these stones and bricks are preserved."
"The warlords of the Republic of China also knew this, so they naturally did not come here to harass us, but went to dig up the Qing imperial tombs instead."
Hao Dongmei sat in the truck bed, holding a half-full bottle of soda, and said innocently, "So I don't understand, those emperors knew that there were so many treasures in the tombs that would definitely be stolen by tomb robbers, why did they waste the people's money!"
Chen Feng felt more and more that this sister was quite naive.
So what if he knew? How could the emperor be of the same rank as ordinary people? This is one of the core elements of the ritual system established by Confucianism and a pillar of rule for the throne beneath their buttocks.
How could the emperor pull out his own pillar?
"Maybe he did too many evil things in his life and was afraid that after he died he would go to the underworld and have no money to bribe the King of Hell, so he would be sent to the eighteen levels of hell!"
Hao Dongmei wanted to laugh but couldn't. She was very disgusted by the fact that ancient emperors mobilized hundreds of thousands or even millions of people to build tombs.
Although the imperial concubine's tomb is not large, it took at least several thousand people and several years to build.
Not to mention the emperor's tomb, the construction of Dingling took six years, mobilized more than 30,000 people, and cost 8 million taels of silver, not to mention the loss of manpower and material resources such as stones, huge timber, bricks and tiles transferred from other places.
"No wonder my grandfather said that the emperor is the only one supported by the whole world, a tyrant who is a traitor to the people and the greatest harm to the world!"