Problem description:
Didn't you find it?
Analysis:
Cao Cao's Tomb —— The Origin of 72 Suspected Tombs
In the 25th year of Jian 'an, Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, Cao Cao died in Luoyang at the age of 66. After Cao Cao's coffin arrived in Yecheng, accompanied by Xia Houshang and Sima Yi, in February of the same year, Ding Mao (1 1, April 220) was buried on a hill in the southwest of Yecheng, which was then called "Gaoling" (later generations called it "Xiling" because it was located in the west of Yecheng) and Ximen Bao. There are no treasures, jewels, copper and iron buried with Cao Cao, except four boxes of final clothes and plain pottery and funerary wares prepared by Cao Cao himself in advance. The whole mausoleum "respects height, does not seal trees", and everything is simple because of ugliness, and no memorial buildings have been built. All funerals are handled in strict accordance with Cao Cao's last wishes. This is in line with his frugal style.
In February of Zhenguan 19 (AD 645), Emperor Taizong paid a high-standard visit to Cao Cao's Gaoling on his way to Korea, and wrote a eulogy entitled "Sacrifice to Wei Wudi". This eulogy of Emperor Taizong put Cao Cao in the same breath as Yi Yin of Shang Dynasty and Huo Guang of Western Han Dynasty, and gave a high evaluation. This shows that in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Cao Cao's tomb was still well preserved.
Until the late Tang Dynasty, in Volume 20 of Yuanhe County Records, Li Jifu still clearly recorded that Cao Cao's Xiling was three miles west of Yexian County.
However, when writing the Music History of the Northern Song Dynasty, although Wei Wudi, Wei Wendi and the Three Tombs of Zanhou in Ye County were mentioned, their specific locations were never pointed out. (Henan Tongzhi was written in 46 years in Qianlong. It may be the last local chronicle that mentioned Xiling, but it is probably a paraphrase of prehistoric related records. )
Based on this, it can be inferred that Cao Cao's mausoleum has fallen down after the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, and it can't be found. Song people only probably knew that Cao Cao's Xiling was in Yexian County, but as for the specific location, it was not clear.
Mr. He You visited the Three Kingdoms. According to "Scenery of the Three Kingdoms", the collapse of Cao Cao's mausoleum is related to the flooding and diversion of the Zhanghe River. This speculation makes sense. There are at least six records about the damage caused by natural or man-made factors in the Book of the Tang Dynasty and the History of the Old Five Dynasties.
Around Cao Cao's Xiling, at least two legends have appeared since Nanliang. These two rumors are recorded in Ren Fang's New Stories. It is said that there is a clear spring in Wei Wudi Mausoleum, which smells fragrant, so it is called perfume by the people. Another said there were two bronze camels and stone dogs in the mausoleum. Such rumors are obviously irrelevant. Because according to nature, Cao Cao will definitely not bury himself next to a wet spring; Moreover, all kinds of written materials, including "The History of the Three Kingdoms", "Learning from the Same History" and other serious official histories, clearly record that there are no funerary objects such as gold, jade, jewelry, copper and iron in Cao Cao's tomb.
But in any case, the appearance of these rumors actually shows that people are increasingly interested in Cao Cao's tomb. However, people in the Liang Dynasty's speculation about Xiling remains at the level of curiosity. And there doesn't seem to be much doubt about its burial place.
But in the Song Dynasty, especially in the Southern Song Dynasty, this normal curiosity became a suspicion and insult to Cao Cao's personality. As a result, the rumor about Cao Cao's arrangement of 72 suspected tombs on the Zhanghe River spread like wildfire, and it seemed to be an irrefutable fact.
Green plum cooks wine. In Cao Cao's Rubik's Cube, Mr. Zhou Zexiong thought that most of the rumors about the 72 suspected graves were fabricated by grave robbers, because they still found nothing after all the excavations on the hills near Ximen Bao Temple, so they fabricated this legend in desperation and talked with * * * *.
This speculation is not unreasonable, but grave robbers have existed for generations. Why do you have to leave the task of fabricating lies to your peers in the Song Dynasty? Therefore, we tend to think that the appearance of the rumor of 72 suspected graves is related to the mentality of Song people and their evaluation of Cao Cao under the guidance of this mentality.
Zhao and Song Dynasties, if not the heyday of China culture, should at least be a glorious period in the history of China's cultural evolution, but she was too weak. Not only has she never been proud of unity, but she is often bullied by her neighbors. Zhao Gou, the King of Kang, even fled south in a panic, living in the southeast corner. At first, meat eaters resisted in order to "defend" national dignity. Later, as for resignation, they were shameless. Her people seem indignant and impassioned, but in fact few people are really willing to go through fire and water for a national humiliation.
What is particularly sad is that in the humiliation of the whole country, a very abnormal national mentality has been bred. They almost never thought about their weakness, but the whole country unanimously accused the ancients of being strong; They never look at the paleness of their own theories, but they are almost paranoid to judge the ancients and comment on the pre-history with a homemade ruler. It was the collective unconsciousness of the ruling and opposition parties in the Southern Song Dynasty that not only tampered with the history of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty, but also made Cao Cao suffer greatly. The image of Cao Cao's white face was basically formed in the Song Dynasty, especially in the Southern Song Dynasty. )
It is difficult to verify the author of the original version of Seventy-two Suspected Tombs and who he is. Judging from the existing relevant materials, the earliest mention of Cao Cao's suspected burial is probably the poem "General Xiangzhou" by Wang Anshi in the Northern Song Dynasty:
Castle Peak flows into Zhangzhou like a wave, and Tongquetai is located in Jiuqiu, west eight.
The ants returned to the empty ridges and acres, and they were buried for several spring and autumn.
The world knows who it is, and its strength rests here.
There is no need to leave things underground. Scholars in Gong Wei separate their clothes from furs.
Comparatively speaking, his narrative is relatively smooth, but his criticism of the literati in the Southern Song Dynasty is much more mean and vicious. Look at Yu's limerick The Suspected Tomb of Cao Gong again;
He deceives heaven and rejects Han before his death, and deceives others to build a suspicious tomb after his death.
If you die with your wisdom, you will rest. Why use your spare machine to go to the mound?
I don't doubt people's suspicions. I don't know one thing.
If you have to dig up 72 suspected graves, your body will be buried.
Fan Chengda mentioned in "Poems of Shi Hu" that during his six years in Xiaozong Road (1 170) when he was in Guo Xu, he saw seventy-two suspected graves of Cao Cao outside Wujiang City, and was so impressed that he improvised a poem.
What's the use of a coffin like a forest? No one is as guilty as a man.
It is said that northerners have sealed the land and there are bosom friends in the world.
His poems are widely circulated. Later, Cheng Zhuo's "Alchemy Record" also plausibly said that he experienced Cao Cao's seventy-two suspected graves on his way to the State of Jin, and the time was December 14th, the fourth year of Ning Zongjia (12 1 1).
Since then, until the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the theory of seventy-two suspected graves has been widely circulated, constantly appearing in some literati notes and novels, which has become a powerful evidence of Cao Cao's paranoia and deep scheming.
Today, there are indeed mounds in the area from the west of Wujiang Town in Linzhang County, Hebei Province to Cixian County, and the local people do say that this is the remains of Cao Cao's 72 suspected graves. Some people think that there must be Cao Cao's tomb in these tombs, but from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, most of these suspected tombs were stolen. Judging from the epitaph, most of the tomb owners were princes and dignitaries in the Northern Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties. According to expert reconnaissance and textual research, these tombs are undoubtedly tombs of the Northern Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties, and have nothing to do with Cao Cao's Xiling.
So where is Cao Cao's mausoleum? Experts and scholars still disagree. Perhaps this is also the wisdom of Cao Cao. Just a "no tree, no seal", leaving an eternal mystery, without making any marks.