About this custom, it probably started from Qin Shihuang. According to unofficial history's records, Qin Shihuang recruited 300,000 civilian workers to build his tomb, and attempted to build a large number of Terracotta Warriors and Horses in the ecliptic. At present, three terracotta warriors and horses pits have been discovered, totaling more than 8,000. In addition, a large amount of mercury was poured into the tomb, making it sterile for thousands of years. It can be said to be the most luxurious imperial mausoleum in China.
Since Qin Shihuang, both princes and emperors have attached great importance to their graves for several reasons. First, as an emperor, his position is extremely noble and he is the first person in the world. On behalf of heaven? People, coupled with the ancients' views on the afterlife, will be rich in the afterlife by building the imperial tomb after death and choosing the land of feng shui.
Secondly, in China's system of rites and music, sacrifices are attached great importance. One is to worship the heavens, the other is to worship the land, and the third is to worship the ancestors. For the emperor, as long as the dynasty is not tilted, they are the objects of sacrifice, so all aspects of the mausoleum will naturally be different.
From this point of view, the emperor's mausoleum is the most important, and according to the custom, the emperor will build a mausoleum when he is still alive. There are unsolved cases in history? Did the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty have a mausoleum?
Now, in order to understand ancient civilization, in addition to the records of ancient books and historical materials, historians have the most important way to understand history, that is, through the funerary objects and architectural styles of tombs. So far, the tombs of emperors in various dynasties have been discovered, and even the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang (whether the world thinks it is true or not) has been discovered by historians, but nothing has been found about the mausoleum of the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, so some people think that the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty did not build a mausoleum.
In this regard, the author consulted historical materials. The Yuan Dynasty was a nomadic people, and the people of the Central Plains never thought of returning to their original place. Therefore, the emperors of the Central Plains did not attach so much importance to the mausoleum. They think that people should return to nature after death, and building a mausoleum is not in line with this idea. And they didn't have much respect for the bodies, and even they were cremated at that time. From this point of view, it seems a bit possible that the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty did not have a mausoleum.
However, Genghis Khan first established a unified system, and then Kublai Khan made Beijing his capital. After several generations of influence, although it is Mongolian, coupled with the influence of etiquette in the Central Plains, the importance of the imperial tomb should be self-evident. After the capital was established, the original custom of nomadic people became a form of settlement, and because there was no ancestral temple, there was no sacrifice, which was inconsistent with the ceremony. The emperor of the Yuan Dynasty should understand the importance of building the imperial tomb.
Therefore, the author guesses that the idea of the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty to build the imperial tomb is different from that of the Emperor of the Central Plains, and it is too secret to be discovered by future generations.
In view of this phenomenon, the author consulted historical materials and finally came to the possible reasons. First, the Yuan Dynasty was founded by Kublai Khan and its capital was Beijing. Although Genghis Khan unified the Mongols, he did not call himself the Emperor of the Central Plains, so he was not influenced by the etiquette of the Central Plains, so he did not build an imperial tomb, but was buried in the traditional form of Mongols.
In order to ensure that thousands of generations of Mongolian Tiankhan will not be disturbed after his death, we should publicize the simplicity of Genghis Khan's tomb, and all those who participated in the construction of the tomb will be martyred, and then all books about Genghis Khan's tomb will be banned. After several generations, the Mongols built their capital in Beijing, so the tomb of Genghis Khan gradually became a secret.
There is no record in ancient books, and it is different from the way of building the mausoleum of the emperor in the Central Plains. After the founding of New China, all tombs were excavated based on the etiquette of building imperial tombs in the Central Plains, so Genghis Khan's mausoleum was not found, which led some people to think that Genghis Khan had no mausoleum.
Look at other emperors of the Yuan Dynasty, from Kublai Khan to Yuan Shundi, the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. So far, no mausoleum of the emperor has been discovered by later generations. Not to mention the grave robbers seven or eight hundred years ago, the technology of this world has developed to a certain extent. In order to perfect the history books, historians have spared no effort to find the tombs of emperors in various dynasties, but they still haven't found the tombs of emperors in the Yuan Dynasty.
The author discovered a custom about Mongolian burial. In order to prevent being disturbed after death, no matter what form the Mongolian burial takes, as long as there is a fixed cemetery, the grave will be sealed. Unlike the mausoleum buildings in the Central Plains, there are always entrances and exits. Although many secret passages have been set up to prevent grave robbers, there is still the risk of theft. This kind of Mongolian sealed tomb is inaccessible to outsiders, and it is even harder to find because of the superficial post-processing.
If future generations need sacrifice, they will find a ewe and a lamb after burial, and then kill the lamb in front of the ewe at the burial site. When they worship, they just need to release the ewe to find the burial place. When this is feasible, the maximum life span of ewes is only ten years. Even if they appear in this form every few years, after the change of emperors and dynasties and the passage of time, any text or image recording about the mausoleum is forbidden, so the location of the mausoleum is not very clear.
From this point of view, according to modern records, it is almost impossible to find the tombs of emperors in the Yuan Dynasty without knowledge about the construction of tombs in the Yuan Dynasty. It is not difficult to explain why, after decades of modern construction and such advanced science and technology, the tomb of the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty has not been found today.
Therefore, generally speaking, the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty did not have a mausoleum, not really absent, but difficult to be discovered by future generations. Because the Yuan Dynasty was not the Han nationality, but the Mongols who were always called nomadic people on horseback, and their concept of home and country was not as profound as that of the Han nationality in the Central Plains, so the concepts of inheritance and ancestral temple in the imperial tomb were too illusory and meaningless for them.
They believe that people are born to be raised, and the form of burial does not need to build a mausoleum. As long as you are not disturbed by future generations, you can rest in peace and return to heaven and earth. This is the greatest respect for the deceased. Under this concept, the tombs of the Yuan Dynasty must be extremely secret and cannot be found by future generations.