The tombs of ancient emperors usually contained huge amounts of burial objects, which was undoubtedly a huge temptation for tomb thieves who made a living by robbing tombs. If there is peace in the world, the imperial court will send people to guard the royal tombs. No matter how courageous the tomb robber is, he will not dare to have any evil thoughts, otherwise he will be executed by the nine tribes. However, once the world was in chaos, tomb robbers took the opportunity to excavate the imperial tombs and rob the burial objects in the tombs. For example, the great warlord Sun Dianying excavated the tombs of Cixi and Qianlong.
Cao Cao, the originator of tomb robbing, once relied on the treasures obtained from tomb robbing to support his army, so that he had the capital to compete in the world. However, although Cao Cao got a lot of funerary objects from the tomb, he was still relatively humane and only stole gold, silver and other valuable items from the tomb without destroying the corpse. In order to ensure that the tomb robbery was organized and efficient, Cao Cao often went to the scene to give instructions in person.
During the Five Dynasties period, there was a tomb robber who relied on his power to openly excavate the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty. He was called the most arrogant tomb robber in history. In just seven years, he visited almost all the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty. Among the 18 tombs of the Tang Dynasty, 17 were excavated by him. There was only one that he was helpless and did not dare to excavate. This person was Wen Tao.
Wen Tao, whose original name was Li Yantao, was a native of Liang during the Five Dynasties. It is said that when Wen Tao was born, a meteor happened to fall on Mount Saga in the area where Zhaoling was located. At that time, there was a divine fortune teller who saw the place where the meteor fell and immediately shouted: "When the bandit star falls, someone who will bring disaster to the Tang Emperor's mausoleum will inevitably appear."
When Wen Tao grew up , got very close to the local ruffians at that time, and gradually became a famous thief. If in peacetime, Wen Tao would definitely be punished by the government, and there would be no possibility of getting ahead at all. But at that time, the world was in chaos and he was so tyrannical that he actually became an official. Because of his flattery, Wen Tao gradually gained recognition, and his official position rose like a rocket, and finally became the chief executive of Chang'an District, that is, the top leader.
According to the "New History of the Five Dynasties": "In the seven years since Tao was in the town, all the tombs of the Tang Dynasty were excavated and the gold and treasures hidden in them were excavated. The Zhaoling Mausoleum was the strongest, and Tao followed Tao's path Below, you can see that the palace system is as beautiful as the human world. In the middle is the main bed, with stone beds in the east and west compartments, and in the iron box on the bed are the clocks, the king's ink, and the handwriting. Then it was passed down among the people. Only Qianling is protected from wind and rain."
Because Wen Tao had not read for a few years, he was semi-illiterate and knew nothing about cultural relics, calligraphy and painting. After stealing the Zhaoling Mausoleum of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Wen Tao took away a batch of calligraphy and painting works. He did not know the value of these works at all. He actually asked his men to tear off all the silk and satin on them and throw away the works. Many precious works were The cultural relics were destroyed in Wen Tao's hands, which made people very angry and regretful.
After excavating 17 tombs of Tang emperors, Wen Tao set his sights on the Qianling Mausoleum with the largest number of burial objects, which is the joint tomb of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty. So he led tens of thousands of troops to roll up their sleeves and dig hard. When work just started, the weather would change suddenly, with lightning and thunder, which was quite scary. As soon as the men and horses retreated, the weather immediately cleared up. This happened three times, and Wen Tao was so scared that he never dared to think about Qianling again.
As the saying goes: "Anyone who commits unjust acts will be punished by his own death, and sooner or later he will pay back those who come out to fool around." Wen Tao stole so many tombs in his life, and was eventually killed by Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, ending his rampage. A disgusting life.
"Others laugh at me for being too crazy, but I laugh at others who cannot see through it. There are no tombs of the heroes of Wuling, and there are no flowers and no wine to cultivate the fields." A few lines from Tang Bohu's song "Peach Blossom Temple" are very popular. , he saw through the world of mortals and looked like a madman, bohemian and unrestrained. He put the helplessness and melancholy of not being able to realize his talents into the things of Adu, and he was as free and unrestrained as he could be. Among them, the Five Tombs of Heroes refers to the five imperial tombs of the Han Empire, including Changling of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty and Maoling of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The once glorious empire has gone far away, and the imperial tombs with endless scenery have become Extremely desolate, it was reclaimed as fields and forever submerged in the torrent of history.
The Maoling of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
In fact, not only the Han Empire, but also almost every dynasty was the same. As the dynasties changed, the imperial tombs with rich burial objects were criticized by later generations. Loot. Even Cixi and Lafayette did not escape, and the tomb was looted by the warlord Sun Dianying. But as far as tomb robbers are concerned, Sun Dianying is not the biggest tomb robber. Compared with the warlord Wen Tao of the Five Dynasties period, he pales in comparison. This "thief star" who fell from the sky dug up 17 of the 18 imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty and destroyed countless treasures. He was the biggest sinner in Chinese history.
Why is he called the "thief star"? Because according to folklore, when Wen Tao was born, a meteor happened to fall on Mount Saga where the Zhaoling Mausoleum is located. At that time, some skywatchers believed that this was a "thief star" that would bring a disaster to the Tang Emperor's Mausoleum. Of course, this is feudal superstition, the result of later generations' speculation, but Wen Tao is indeed a thief who descended to earth. He took a wrong path since he was a child and became a well-known thief. Normally, he would be the one everyone calls for a fight, but as the saying goes, "Heroes emerge from troubled times." The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were in chaos, which was perfect for someone like Wen Tao to grow up.
In the beginning, Wen Tao took refuge with the warlord Li Maozhen and became a general by virtue of his bravery and ruthlessness. But after all, he is a villain. His biggest characteristic is that he is capricious. If he has breasts, he is a mother. At first, he followed Li Maozhen. In order to please him, he concealed his original surname and pretended to be Li. Later, Zhu Wen became more powerful, so he took refuge with Zhu Wen. Later, he rebelled and returned to Li Maozhen's subordinates. But not long after, Wen Tao repeated his old tricks again, abandoned his old master and took refuge in the rear beam. During this period, Wen Tao served as the governor of Yaozhou, Chongzhou, Yuzhou and other places, overseeing the Guanzhong area, and the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty happened to be within his jurisdiction. The prosperity of the Tang Dynasty had just faded away, but the legend of the wealth of the imperial mausoleum was still circulating among the people. Wen Tao, who was a thief, was naturally salivating.
Although it was the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, robbing imperial tombs was despised, but this did not constitute a moral obstacle for Wen Tao, who was a thief. He guarded here for seven years, excavated 17 of the 18 imperial tombs in Guanzhong, obtained a large number of rare treasures, and boldly compiled the names of the unearthed items into a book. He was truly the most high-profile tomb robber in history. The "feat" has also been written into various official and unofficial histories, and has been passed down through the ages and will remain infamy for thousands of years!
Wen Tao's tomb robbery was carried out blatantly in broad daylight, without even an excuse for military exercises. The sturdy imperial tombs were opened one by one, and the diluted treasures reappeared in the world one after another. The emperors who were extremely noble and arrogant during their lifetime were buried in the wilderness in front of the barbaric thieves. Their snow-white bones rolled with the wind in the bleak west wind. The majestic imperial mausoleum built with all the blood and sweat of the people can no longer keep the souls of another world peaceful. Even great people like Li Shimin cannot escape this disaster. His Zhaoling Mausoleum is the strongest, and it is still difficult to escape the murderous hands. "The Zhaoling Mausoleum is the strongest. When (Wen) Tao walked down the road from the old man, he saw that the palace system was beautiful, no different from the human world, and the middle When sleeping, there are stone beds lined up in the east and west compartments. Inside the stone letter on the bed is an iron box, which contains books from previous lives, Zhong and Wang's handwriting, and the paper and ink are as new as new.
Zhaoling
"Then it was passed down to the human world", but what kind of human world was it at that time? It was a time of chaos, frequent melees, and "bones exposed in the wild". It was one of the darkest moments in Chinese history. As soon as these treasures appeared, they once again became funerary objects in a turbulent society. They were displaced in the war, and many of them were destroyed by the war. , bid farewell to this world forever.
It is said that after the death of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, he brought "Lanting Preface" and many other precious authentic calligraphy and paintings by famous artists as funerary objects to Zhaoling. "The handwriting of Zhong and Wang, the paper and ink are as new as new", maybe the "Lanting Preface" is among them. But Wen Tao, who was born as a thief, has no knowledge of calligraphy and calligraphy at all. He is only interested in gold treasures, and he does not like these calligraphy and paintings at all. It is said that after Wen Tao brought the calligraphy and painting works out of Zhaoling, what he admired was not the priceless authentic works, but the gorgeous silk and satin frames. He asked his men to tear off all the silk and satin and throw the work away. Historians speculate that the authentic copy of Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface" has never appeared again, and it may have been torn up at this time.
Among these eighteen imperial mausoleums, the only one that has not been stolen is the Qianling Mausoleum, the joint tomb of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi and Wu Zetian. I remember that Huang Chao wanted to dig this tomb, but failed because he dug in the wrong direction. Why didn't Wen Tao succeed this time? In addition to the solidity of the mausoleum, there was another reason - "Only Qianling Mausoleum is impervious to wind and rain." It is said that Wen Tao led tens of thousands of people to excavate the Qianling Mausoleum in broad daylight. Unexpectedly, he went up the mountain three times. Every time the work started, there would be heavy wind and rain. As soon as the men and horses withdrew, the weather immediately cleared up. Wen Tao really couldn't figure out what was going on. One of his subordinates told him that maybe the tomb was protected by ghosts and gods. Wen Tao was actually afraid of the day, so he didn't continue digging and gave up the idea completely.
Although these are troubled times, Tao Ling's reputation and fickle attitude have become Wen Tao's biggest trademark, and he is also disliked by the supreme ruler. Such a capricious villain will always be a potential A hidden danger, not to mention notorious? Therefore, even though Wen Tao brought out a large number of treasures to organize his affairs, he still could not escape the fate of being killed. In the end, Wen Tao was sentenced to death by Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, Li Siyuan. Wen Tao is the largest tomb robber in Chinese history. The damage he caused was catastrophic and caused irreversible losses to Chinese culture. Wen Tao's crime will never be redeemed by death!