Ancient people have a characteristic, people like to get some funerary goods and remains to bury together after death, the higher the status of the official and the larger the person, the more valuable the funerary goods. It is precisely because of this that an ancient and strange profession was born - tomb robbery.
When it comes to the tomb robber kings in history, everyone will first think of the names of Wu Zixu, Cao Cao and Sun Dianying, when Wu Zixu dug the tomb of King Chuping in order to avenge his family, not only dug the tomb of King Chuping, but also whipped him. Of course, strictly speaking, Wu Zixu's tomb robbery is only a vent of anger, not for money, so he can be called the "most civilized" tomb robbery.
In the early days of Cao Cao's family in the Three Kingdoms, he was poor and white, and in order to fill the army's military ranks, he set up such a special position as "Lieutenant touching gold", which was specially used to do tomb robbery. It is reported that he stole the tomb of Liu Wu, the king of Han Filial Piety, and earned a bowl full of pots. Therefore, Cao Cao can be called the "most professional" tomb robber king.
During the Republic of China period, When Sun Dianying had just fallen in the Qing Dynasty government and the situation under the world was still unclear, he directly excavated the tombs of Cixi and the Qianlong Emperor, obtained countless gold and silver jewels, and his reputation was greatly shocked. Therefore, Sun Dianying can be called the "most daring" tomb robber king.
In fact, there is also a great tomb robber in Chinese history - Wen Tao, the Yaozhou Festival of the Five Kingdoms and Ten Dynasties. He can be called the "craziest" tomb robber.
Yaozhou, which Wen Tao ruled, was located in the Central Plains and was the place where the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty converged. Wen Tao took advantage of his position to carry out crazy tomb robbery, stealing 17 of the 18 Tang Dynasty imperial tombs here, and for various reasons, only Wu Zetian's Qianling tomb was not stolen.
Folklore also circulates such a saying, according to legend, on the day wen Tao was born, the Heavenly Bandit Star landed on mount Saga near Zhaoling, and there was a similar look at Wen Tao's stunned stunned face, and han xiao sighed to the people around him: Born anti-bone, in the future is a big thief who harms one side.
Later, after Wen Tao grasped the military power in Guanzhong, he began to act recklessly, because the real power was in his hands, and even the emperor was jealous of him.
The most direct embodiment of Wen Tao's misdeeds is tomb robbery. Other people's tomb robberies are carried out secretly, but Wen Tao does the opposite, he pulls thousands of soldiers to carry out a huge amount of momentum, and each tomb robbery must be published - a detailed list of stolen calligraphy and paintings, jewelry, burial items and other items. It is reported that Wen Tao's greatest gain was the Zhaoling Tomb of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty Li Shimin. Wen Tao stole countless treasures from the Zhaoling Tombs, such as Yan Liben's paintings, Wang Xizhi's characters, and jewelry, which could not be piled up, so he had to sprinkle them on the ground at will. Wen Tao's soldiers transported them in carts and horses for a full month before they were transported.
According to legend, The Lanting Collection Sequence was buried by Tang Taizong in the Zhaoling Tomb that year, however, surprisingly, Wen Tao's list did not contain the Orchid Pavilion Collection Sequence. Was It Wen Tao who deliberately concealed it and did not write it, and collected it privately, or whether it was destroyed and torn up by Wen Tao, and there was no way to get it. Of course, it is also said that the original manuscript of the Lanting Collection is not in the Zhaoling Tomb, but in the Qianling tomb of Wu Zetian.
In short, before the qianling has not been excavated, Wen Tao's tomb robbery has left a great mystery for eternity: where is the whereabouts of the "Lanting Collection"?
Of course, good and evil were rewarded, and Wen Tao, the most cattle tomb robber in history, eventually died at the hands of Li Siyuan of the Later Tang Dynasty.