Zhaoling is the place where Emperor Taizong Li Shimin and his eldest grandson were buried together. Jiuchong Mountain, located at the northeast of Liquan County 10 km. Zhaoling is the largest imperial mausoleum in the Tang Dynasty, with a total area of 20,000 hectares and a cemetery circumference of 60 kilometers. There are more than 200 princes and nobles buried with Zhaoling. At present, there are 185 tombs that can be identified. These buried tombs are distributed in the southern half of Zhaoling, just like the stars on the arch moon.
Reason: the national cultural relics protection policy is to give priority to protection and rescue first. Archaeological teams of all sizes have no time to clean up the mess behind grave robbers and construction teams, and it is also difficult to concentrate huge manpower and material resources to actively explore the highest-ranking imperial tomb among all ancient tombs.
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In the tenth year of Emperor Taizong's Zhenguan (636), Empress Shi was critically ill and her last words were buried. Following the last words of his eldest grandson, Emperor Taizong temporarily settled the queen in a newly carved grotto in jiusan, named Zhaoling. And decided to make Zhaoling the home, buried with the queen after her death, and immediately began large-scale construction projects.
Emperor Taizong chose Jiuyi Mountain as the site of Zhaoling, which had a strong cultural and political background. In ancient China, the so-called theory of tomb geomantic omen was gradually improved with the continuous expansion of surnames and the spread of the theory of yin and yang of the five elements, and a set of theories for evaluating geomantic omen was basically formed in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Jiuyi Mountain meets all the requirements that Kanyu scholars believe that imperial tombs should have. Since the Tang Dynasty, geomantic scholars generally believe that the geomantic omen in Zhaoling is the best among the imperial tombs in China.
In addition, Emperor Taizong's choice of Zhaoling had additional political background. According to the original idea of Emperor Taizong, the Mausoleum of Emperor Taizong should completely imitate the mausoleum of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang. However, Yu Shinan, who is well versed in classics and history, raised objections, arguing that the Han system not only wastes manpower, but also encourages thieves. Therefore, most of the Han tombs were stolen, and the remains of emperors were abandoned in the wild, which was really harmful.
He suggested that Emperor Taizong should follow the example of Emperor Yao, because the mountain is the tomb, and there is nothing hidden in the tomb. A monument was erected outside the tomb to explain it. Yu Shinan's idea of "taking mountains as tombs" can not only save manpower but also guard against theft, which has played an enlightening role in thought and theory for Emperor Taizong's final decision to choose Jiuyi Mountain as Zhaoling site.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Zhaoling