Once human life comes to an end, where there are princes and nobles and common people, it is just a piece of yellow soil. Even if the emperor is admired by thousands of people before his death, the moment the heart stops beating, it means that the loss of physical functions and the invasion of bacteria will be "left behind for thousands of years" once it is not handled properly.
However, as a common person, once the funeral coffin is completed, it also indicates that I have completely ended in this world. But as emperors, even if their lives are over, they still have to become the kings of the underground, and keeping the corpse intact has become a top priority.
I. Why was the emperor buried so long after his death?
We all know that the emperor began to build his own mausoleum from the moment he succeeded to the throne, the basic construction period of the emperor's immortality could not be ended, and the luxury of a mausoleum was inseparable from the time of his reign. Like the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was built for a full 39 years, the Mausoleum of Emperor Wu of Han was built for 54 years, and their mausoleums have also become the first choice of tomb robbers in previous generations, in addition to the popularity of the emperor himself, it is inseparable from the size of their tombs and underground treasures.
Unlike ordinary people, emperors can be buried after three days of moratorium, and as the supreme ruler, they must choose a good day and auspicious day to ensure that the place of the dragon vein can bring shade to future generations. Coupled with the closure of the mausoleum project and the choice of funerary items, including the disposal of the body, the burial front is far longer.
Taking the last royal funeral of the feudal dynasty as an example, on November 14, 1908, the Guangxu Emperor died in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai, only one day later, Empress Dowager Cixi also completed her controversial life, but their funeral was delayed until the following year, 1909.
The Guangxu Emperor was because he did not build a mausoleum before his death, and only after his death did he hastily select a site, in 1909, Guangxu's Chongling Began construction, until it was completed in 1912, the construction period was very short, the funeral products were gone, and the construction began guangxu was hastily buried, which was really the most depressed among the emperors.
Although Cixi is not an emperor but like an emperor, her funeral has been delayed until the second half of 1909, nearly a year after Cixi's death, in addition to being postponed because of Guangxu's funeral, more importantly, Cixi's funeral products and the treatment of corpses have reached the extreme, after all, Lafayette was a "decent person" before he died, and he had to be exclusive to himself in the underworld.
Second, how to embalm before burial?
The corpse was in the heat, and within three days it would definitely stink, which was also the time to enter the mortician skill. The wisdom of the Ancient Chinese is endless, as early as the Zhou Dynasty, the ancients have initially mastered the disposal of corpses to avoid decay.
The first is to clean the body, wipe it all from top to bottom, inside and out, and then apply special spices to the body to cover the odor emitted by the corpse.
Secondly, in order for the corpse to not decay for thousands of years, the body will be submerged in mercury again to kill the bacteria on the corpse. After the body is all disposed of, the body will be dressed in a special "embalming uniform", such as the golden jade robe of the Han Dynasty, with the night pearl in the mouth, and then put the body into the coffin.
Finally, the emperor's coffins are basically made of the best gold silk nan wood, which can be said to be airtight after careful craftsmanship. Place ice cubes around the coffin and sprinkle quicklime on top of the coffin. After such treatment, not only can the body be prevented from rotting, but even the smell cannot be smelled.
For example, in the tomb robbery of the past dynasties, in the last year of the Western Han Dynasty, the Chimei army invaded Chang'an to excavate the imperial tomb, and found that more than two hundred years after Lü Hou's death, it was still vivid, and even some soldiers made obscene things, which shows the maturity of the ancients' handling of corpses.
Third, it is not a solution
The above is the way to die, if the emperor dies in an accident or dies on the way, then how to prevent embalming?
This is not difficult for the ancients. Emperor Qin Shi Huang died of illness in the sand dunes on the way to the parade, and Zhao Gao and others corrected the young son Hu Hai, in order to block the news of Qin Shi Huang's illness and death, Zhao Gao thought of a special method.
He arranged several truckloads of stinky fish around Qin Shi Huang's car, and the smell of stinky fish completely covered up the smell of rotting corpses, so no one noticed that the First Emperor had died, and everywhere he went, hundreds of officials knelt down to greet them, played political affairs, and everything was the same. When they arrived in Xianyang, Zhao Gao and Li Si announced their deaths and supported Hu Hai to ascend the throne.
There is another emperor who is even more sad, he is the second emperor of the Liao State, Yelü Deguang, that is, the "father" of the famous "child emperor" Shi Jingyao. After Shi Jingyao's death, his successors thought that the reputation of "Emperor Er" was too ugly, so they proposed to be called "Nephew Emperor", and Yelü Deguang was furious when he heard this, so he personally led an army to fight against the Central Plains.
Unfortunately, Liu Zhiyuan of Taiyuan counterattacked from behind, and in desperation, Yelü Deguang had to lead his troops back to the grassland, and along the way he was anxious and angry, spitting blood at the mouth of killing Hu Lin, and dying of exhaustion.
But his mother, Empress Shulu, must see her son for the last time and send an emissary to issue an order: "No matter what, you must see people in life, and you must see corpses when you die!" It was the sweltering heat of June, not to mention seeing people, and when I got to the place, it was estimated that the bones were rotten and could not be seen.
Just when the hundred officials were helpless, a cabinet offered a plan, because he often did the work of drying beef and mutton and bacon, so he boldly suggested that the emperor be made into "bacon". In this way, Emperor Taizong of the Liao State was stripped of his internal organs and directly salted into "bacon".
Not only did it avoid the decay of the corpse, but it also avoided the stench emitted by the corpse, and it also fulfilled the long-cherished wish of the mother and son to see the last side, but a generation of emperors was made into bacon alive, which was surprising and suffocating.