Which emperor in China has the largest tomb may be the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, but if it is said that among the emperor's tombs that have been excavated, which mausoleum is the most valuable, I believe that no one except Cixi dares to bear this reputation.
Although Cixi was not an emperor, her mausoleum was treated like an emperor.
Cixi's tomb is located in the Qing Dynasty Tombs of Zunhua City, Hebei Province, on the west side of the Yufei Garden. Why is the Cixi Mausoleum special?
First of all, the builder of Cixi was the famous Style Lei family. It doesn't matter if you don't know the family, you know how good their family is. One-third of the buildings in Beijing at the time, such as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, were designed by their families.
The repair of the mausoleum was one of the top priorities of the emperor, and in ancient times, it was related to the lifeblood of the country. At that time, when the Cixi Mausoleum was being built, the Tongzhi Emperor personally surveyed feng shui and started construction in the twelfth year of Qing Tongzhi (1873), which was not completed until the fifth year of Qing Guangxu (1880), and the Cixi Mausoleum was rebuilt again in the twenty-first year of Guangxu (1895), and the whole construction period took 13 years.
Coincidentally, on the fourth day after the completion of the Cixi Mausoleum, the most powerful woman in the Qing Dynasty was ordered to return to the Western Heavens.
At that time, when the Cixi Mausoleum was built, it cost a lot of money, and when the first construction was completed, it cost more than 5 million taels of silver, and when the second construction was completed, only the leaves used in the three halls amounted to 4592 taels!
In the external building of cixi tomb, the most interesting thing is the Dan Majesty Stone in the mausoleum, which is carved by high relief and thorough technique, and the pattern is "dragon is below, phoenix is above". This is the truest portrayal of Cixi's position in the Qing Dynasty at that time.
The 69 white jade plates around the Long'en Hall are carved everywhere into "Phoenix Leads dragon chase", and 74 pillar heads break the format of one dragon and one phoenix in history, all of which are "one phoenix pressing two dragons", implying that her two curtains are hanging.
In fact, this is not the most cattle place in the Cixi Mausoleum, but the treasure inside the coffin, it is said that the entire treasure was worth 50 million taels of silver at that time, equivalent to 10 billion yuan now.
So what are these treasures? Why is it so valuable?
According to the historical record "Notes of Ai Yuexuan", before Cixi's body entered the coffin, three layers of gold wire beaded brocade and a layer of pearls were laid at the bottom of the coffin, a total thickness of one foot. The head is a lotus leaf on the head, and a pink tourmaline lotus flower is placed at the foot. He wears a crown of pearls and phoenixes, the largest of which is as big as a chicken egg and is worth 10 million taels of silver. There are 27 statues of gold, precious stones, jade and jade carved Buddhas next to him.
On both sides of the feet are emerald watermelons, melons, cabbages, and more than 200 peaches, plums, apricots, and dates made of gemstones. Put a jade lotus on the left and a jade carved coral tree on the right. In addition, there are 8 jade horses and 18 jade arhats, a total of more than 700 pieces. After the burial, four liters of pearls and 2200 gemstones were poured into the coffin.
Now you should know why Sun Dianying wanted to take the army to steal the Cixi Mausoleum at any cost, right?
From July 4 to 10, 1928, there was a tomb robbery case that shocked the world in the Qing Dongling Tombs, Sun Dianying excavated the Qianlong Emperor Yu Mausoleum and the Cixi Mausoleum, destroyed the coffin and threw away the corpses, plundered all the burial treasures, Cixi's body was thrown out of the coffin, the jewels in the mouth were taken away, the jacket was also stripped off, and only a pair of underwear was left on the lower body, which history called this incident "Qing Dongling Treasure Theft Case".
At that time, when Sun Dianying robbed the tomb, many strange things happened.
The huge coffin of Cixi was made of a precious gold wire coffin, and after Cixi entered the coffin, the craftsmen covered the outer layer with gold paint. On the gold lacquer, the lama wrote the Four Heavenly Kings Mantra in Tibetan script. On the inner coffin of the red lacquer filled with gold inside the golden rafter, the inside and outside are covered with gold filled with Tibetan scriptures, and the lid of the coffin is also engraved with nine statues of Tuan Buddha and other motifs.
The lid of the coffin was quickly pried open by bayonets and sharp axes, and the bones and treasures in the coffin were covered by a thin layer of catalpa wood 'Seven Star Plates', which opened the 'Seven Star Plates' and opened a layer of soft and shiny net beads, and when the net beads were picked, the coffin emitted a colorful treasure light.
In the coffin, Empress Dowager Cixi, dressed in a luxurious and rich birthday robe and wearing a phoenix crown, lay quietly in the midst of colorful rare treasures, and the golden light in the entire coffin shone and the broken light overflowed. Empress Dowager Cixi seemed to be asleep, her eyes slightly closed, and her face was like life. In a few moments, due to contact with the fresh air, the living corpse contracted and collapsed, Cixi's face also changed from red to white, from white to black, a pair of hands contracted violently, and two rows of teeth were suddenly exposed...
Dazzling treasures are taken out one by one: the emerald horse of the golden arhat, the coral tree, the jade lotus, the emerald white lai, the precious watermelon, the purple jade grape, the ruby jujube, the citrix plum... Eighteen strings of pearls, known as priceless treasures, and large treasures such as gold bracelets, jade pendants, jade ruyi, golden pots, gold plates, prayer beads, golden Buddhas, and jade Buddhas, were taken from the "golden well" under the coffin of Cixi, and filled a box.
Sun Dianying rose on a whim and led Liang Langxian, Tan Wenjiang and others to the back room of the underground palace. While inspecting Cixi's body, he suddenly found the night pearl glowing green in Cixi's mouth. Legend has it that the pearl of the night can produce cold and heat protection, and the mouth of the deceased contains this bead, and the corpse can be alive and never decay.