The construction of the cemetery began in the 14th year of Hongwu (138 1). In the sixteenth year of Hongwu, the main works of the mausoleum, such as Xiangtang, were completed, and the military industry was mobilized 1 10,000. It was not completed until the 3rd year of Yongle (1405), which lasted for 25 years. In August of the fifteenth year of Hongwu, the empress Ma Shi was buried first. Because of the filial piety of the Queen Mother posthumous title, the mausoleum was named "Xiao Ling", which also means "ruling the world with filial piety". In the 25th year of Hongwu (1392), Crown Prince Zhu Biao was buried in the east of Xiaoling, which was called Dongling. In the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), on May 10th, Zhu Yuanzhang collapsed in Xigong, and was buried with Ma Huanghou in this mausoleum, with 46 concubines.
Within the walls of Xiaoling at that time, the halls were magnificent and the pavilions were magnificent. There are 65,438+10,000 pine trees and 1000 deer in the mausoleum, and a silver medal of "stealing and killing to death" is hung around each deer's neck, which is called "immortal deer". In order to defend Xiaoling, there are 5600 non-commissioned officers. If a lumberjack strays into the mountains by mistake, he will be beheaded by the "just method". When Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty visited the mausoleum in person, they also appointed two guards and 40 mausoleum households to allocate some funds to the company. In the third year of Xianfeng (AD 1853), Xiaoling area became an important battlefield for the confrontation between Taiping Army and Qing Army, and almost all the wooden buildings on the ground were destroyed. The existing Martyrs Mountain Monument, Forbidden Monument, Xiamafang, Dajinmen, Sifang City, Immortal Merit Monument, Weng Zhong Stone Statue, Dashiqiao, Baocheng, Mausoleum, Monument Pavilion and Appreciation Hall built in the late Qing Dynasty are still magnificent and magnificent, which embodies the spirit of the emperor.
According to records, the circumference of the red wall of Xiaoling is 22.5 kilometers, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the length of the city wall at that time, showing its huge scale. Shinto stone carvings in the Ming Tombs are the only ones in the tombs of China emperors that are not in a straight line, but form an arc around Meihua Mountain with Sun Quan's tomb in the Three Kingdoms period, which looks like the Big Dipper. Along the Shinto, there are buildings such as Xiamafang, Forbidden Monument, Dajinmen, Shengde Monument Pavilion, Imperial Bridge, Stone Statue Road, Shiwangzhu, Military Commander, Civil Servant, Xingxingmen, etc. After crossing the star gate, they entered the main part of the cemetery. The main buildings of the cemetery are arranged on the north-south central axis, which is magnificent.
Emperors such as Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty visited Ming Taizu in the Ming Tombs, but later, with the decline of the national strength of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Tombs gradually became barren, especially during the Xianfeng period, the surface buildings in the Ming Tombs were almost destroyed, and the imperial tablets inscribed by Kangxi even fell to the ground. Today, all the wooden halls in the mausoleum have been burned down, but the layout scale of that year can still be seen from the stone foundation left behind. Its layout and architectural form are the same as those of the Ming Tombs in Beijing, but they are much larger than those of the Ming Tombs. It can be seen that all the imperial tombs in the Ming Dynasty are based on this.
Legend has it that Zhu Yuanzhang may not really be buried here, but he was afraid that someone would retaliate after his death, just like Cao Cao, he set up seventy-two suspicious graves. But these legends are not completely based, because the Xiaoling Mausoleum was built before Zhu Yuanzhang's death, and by the time Zhu Yuanzhang died, all the facilities of the mausoleum were ready. Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang died in May of the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), and Nanjing has entered summer. After seven days of mourning, he was buried in Xiaoling. If a new mausoleum is built elsewhere, it will be too late. Moreover, the location of Xiaoling Mausoleum is close to Miyagi, with Zhongshan in the north and Imperial Wall in the south. There are guards of the Forbidden City inside, and officers and men of Xiaoling patrol day and night outside, which is far safer than other places. This place gathers the dragon spirits of Nanjing. Since Zhu Yuanzhang chose this place as the mausoleum, he would not give up his life and be buried.
Long Mai, chosen by his ancestors, gave Zhu Yuanzhang the opportunity to make a fortune. He met many nobles in his life, which also brought him the necessary opportunity to establish a foundation. After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, Nanjing was designated as the capital. Although there is a tendency to be surrounded by tigers and dragons, the dynasties that chose this as the capital were short-lived. Qin Shihuang was named Moling because he was king here and ordered the excavation of Lian Gang to suppress hegemony. In this way, the life span of a dynasty with Jinling as its capital was really only a few decades. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Nanjing really became a short-lived capital, but fortunately, the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, connecting the north and south of Long Mai. This change also made the well-being of the Ming Dynasty last for nearly 300 years.