The book "Miscellaneous Memories of Shi Zai Tang" reveals: "After entering the underground palace, I pried open Cixi's inner coffin. The radiant golden lacquer was slashed to pieces by the bandits with knives and axes. After the bandits removed the chopped wood, a red-lacquered coffin appeared.
Fearing that the knife and axe would damage the treasures inside the coffin, the officer-in-charge ordered the bandits to carefully pry open the internal officer with the knife.
At that time, the lid of the coffin was lifted, and each officer and soldier held a flashlight in his hand, watching the face of Empress Dowager Cixi in the coffin, and countless jewels piled up in the coffin. The large jewels were collected by the officers, and the small jewels were packed into the pockets of the soldiers.
Then the soldiers rushed to the coffin in groups, looting the treasure inside the coffin, during the looting, the corpse of Empress Dowager Cixi was pulled out of the coffin, and in the scramble for the corpse treasure, the corpse of Empress Dowager Cixi was torn apart, and the scene was unbearable. ”
This is a record of the theft process of the famous Qing Tombs in 1928, and the huge number of treasures stolen by sun dianying, a great thief of the Tanglin Tombs, is rare in history and is still talked about. Next, let's explore the true face of this Tanglin thief who shocked the Republic of China.
Born in the grass, occupying the mountains as bandits
In 1889, Sun Dianying was born in Sunzhuang Village, Mamu Township, Yongcheng City, Henan Province, and his father died in his early years because he was framed by Qing officials, and his family was poor since childhood. Therefore, Sun Dianying was forced to break through the rivers and lakes since he was a child, he was uneducated, and often mixed with the city scoundrels.
But he was resourceful and good at playing tricks, and he also used his own strength to kill the bandit leader at that time and became the leader of the bandits.
In 1922, he led a group of his men to the command of Ding Xiangling in Yuxi Town. In 1928, he was absorbed by Chiang Kai-shek and became the commander of the Twelfth Army of the Sixth Army, and the entire unit was stationed in Zunhua City, Hebei Province.
The reason why Sun Dianying robbed the tomb is actually very simple, it is nothing more than money.
At that time, although the troops he led were a army, in fact there were only a few thousand people and horses, and even more than half of the soldiers did not have guns, and the source of military salaries was even more unstable, even if they went to exploit the local people, they could not afford to raise an army, so he started the idea of the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi in the late Qing Dynasty.
Stealing the tomb of empress dowager Cixi, the most honorable of the late Qing Dynasty, has obtained thousands of treasures
As the de facto supreme ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi's funeral offerings must not be taken lightly. After Cixi's death, her personal eunuch Li Lianying almost put cixi's favorite things into a coffin and buried her with her.
Naturally, there were countless rare treasures, and the pearl on the crown of the phoenix she wore when she died was worth ten million taels of silver.
In June 1928, Sun Dianying expelled all the guards of the Qing Tombs at that time under the pretext of releasing mines during military exercises, and blockaded the passes, imposed martial law, and the entire army ransacked the Putuo Yuding Tombs.
At first, Sun Dianying could not find the entrance to the tomb of Tanglin, or found a stonemason who had participated in the repair of Tanglin, and under the leadership of the stonemason, he found the tomb entrance of Empress Dowager Cixi. However, at that time, the crossing had been tightly blocked by multiple layers of granite, and Sun Dianying was slow, so he brought explosives from the army, and in the midst of several loud bangs, the tomb passage of Cixi Mausoleum had already been blown open into a large hole.
Then the gang began to vigorously steal the treasure, and it took several days and nights to transport all the treasures in the tomb.
According to the Notes on Ai Yuexuan, the treasures that Cixi buried with her when she was buried were:
1 bead crown, 2 petals of the Night Pearl, 1 lotus leaf, 1 tourmaline lotus, 1 golden silk cotton mattress;
1 thin embroidered Buddha beaded mattress, 1 Dracula sutra quilt, 1 gold silk beaded embroidered dress;
1 embroidered beaded robe, 18 mussel Buddhas, 27 golden Buddhas, 27 emerald Buddhas;
27 Jade Buddhas, 27 Ruby Buddhas, 2 Emerald Watermelons, 4 Emerald Melons;
200 pieces of jade peach, plum, apricot, jujube, etc., 1 piece of jade lotus, 1 piece of coral tree;
There are 1 group of eight horses made of jade, 1 group of 18 jade arhats, etc., in addition, there are about 7,000 beads and gemstones of various sizes.
One of the most precious treasures is the night pearl contained in Cixi's mouth, this night pearl will emit a green cold light, within tens of meters of everything can be illuminated, it is said to be able to ensure that Cixi's body is not corrupted, so it will be placed in Cixi's mouth.
And according to the "Theft of Cixi Mausoleum", this night pearl weighs four two two dollars and seven cents, worth 10.8 million taels of silver, and in the Guangxu years, one or two silver can buy about 100 kilograms of grain, so this night pearl is equivalent to about 1 billion yuan now, and people have to sigh: how luxurious Cixi is.
As the protagonist of the Tomb Robbery Case in Tanglin, Sun Dianying is doomed to have no good end
It is now impossible to estimate how many treasures Sun Dianying stole in this tomb robbery, but according to the records of Cixi's funeral objects in the Qing people's notes, roughly converted down, the total value of Cixi's funeral items exceeded 80 million taels of silver.
However, it is worth mentioning that although newspapers throughout China at that time condemned the act of tomb robbery, and the last emperor Puyi asked the government to severely punish the culprit Sun Dianying, he was not punished.
There are two reasons for this, one is that Sun Dianying sold these treasures, and the large amount of money obtained made his troops expand rapidly and became a military force in the Republic of China; Second, as soon as Sun Dianying received the money, he gave one-third of it to high-ranking officials, including Chiang Kai-shek, Kong Xiangxi, and others, so the Tomb Robbery case in Tanglin was not properly executed.
Until May 1947, Sun Dianying was captured by the People's Liberation Army and imprisoned in prison, and a few months later, because of depression, he eventually died of illness in prison.
The descendants were unexpected, and the son became a great figure admired by thousands of people
Sun Dianying had three daughters and a son in his lifetime, of which the eldest daughter died early, the second daughter died early in Xinjiang, and the third daughter still lived in Dalian, the most worth mentioning is his son Sun Tianyi.
Sun Tianyi was born in the third year after Sun Dianying excavated the Qing Tombs, and his mother was Sun Dianying's second wife, Liu Qingzhen, and Sun Tianyi was not clear about Sun Dianying's tomb robbery, but only learned a thing or two from his mother's mouth.
Under the education of his mother, he was intelligent and studious from an early age, with outstanding grades, and later was admitted to Fu Jen University, one of the four famous universities in Peking, to study in the Department of Western Languages and Literatures.
Her mother, Liu Qingzhen, set a family rule for Sun Tianyi since she was a child: not allowed to keep a tanglin treasure.
After liberation, Liu Qingzhen donated five properties in Peiping to the government, including celebrity calligraphy and paintings of several houses. Liu Qingzhen's various actions are also atonement for Sun Dianying's sins, and her education of her son is also an illustration of this.
Between 1982 and 1983, Sun Tianyi taught in the United States. It was not until his return from the United States that he served as the dean of the Xi'an Chinese Institute from 1986 to 1998. He was indeed a translation wizard, translating eight works, including "Roosevelt's Biography", "Chamberlain's Biography", "De Gaulle's Biography" and other eight works.
Sun Tianyi and the Yellow Emperor Mausoleum still have a history, recalling: "In 1959, I accompanied guests here for the first time, and suddenly saw the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum in the endless Loess Plateau, and my soul was greatly shocked! Here is the root of our Chinese nation. However, when I looked closer, I felt that the place was too small and simple, and it was too incompatible with the status and arrogance of our great country. ”
Later, Sun Tianyi became the vice chairman of the CppcC In Shaanxi Province, and he often came to the Yellow Emperor's mausoleum to pay homage. In 1992, in response to the call of the central government to repair the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum, Shaanxi Province established the Yellow Emperor Mausoleum Foundation, and Sun Tianyi served as the vice president of the foundation.
In the process of repairs, Sun Tianyi strictly managed the financial expenditure, and he never took a penny of salary himself. Later, the funds were not enough, and he was ready to go abroad to raise funds, which according to the logic was a public service activity, and it was reasonable for the foundation to reimburse all expenses.
But he always took advantage of the opportunity of foreign institutions inviting him to go abroad to give lectures, and never spent a penny of the foundation.
In 1994, Sun Tianyi concurrently served as the president of the Yellow Emperor Mausoleum Foundation, became the "tomb keeper" of the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum, and raised donations everywhere, just to make the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum more spectacular, when asked why Sun Tianyi did this, Sun Tianyi's answer was also very simple: "My father is a sinner, I want to atone for my sins, protect cultural relics, and have an unshirkable responsibility!" ”。
brief summary
Although Sun Dianying was a notorious tomb robber, his son Sun Tianyi did not uphold the mantle of "great thief", but continued to improve himself, becoming a generation of scholars and an expert in the protection of cultural relics.