The Huangchao Rebellion occurred in the late Tang Dynasty. Huangchao mobilized 400,000 troops to rob the Qianling Mausoleum. However, they dug a large trench more than 40 meters deep and failed to find the entrance to the tomb, so they had to give up in frustration. There is still a deep ditch on the west side of the main peak called "Huangchaogou". During the Five Dynasties, Wen Tao, the military governor of Chongzhou in the Later Liang Dynasty, organized an army to excavate all the imperial mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty. "All the mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty within its territory were excavated and the gold and treasures hidden therein were retrieved. ... However, the Qianling Mausoleum cannot be exposed to wind and rain." Qianling Mausoleum It was spared due to its strong construction.
In the early years of the Republic of China, warlords fought in a melee and robbing ancient tombs became common. Under the guise of protecting Qianling, the Kuomintang general Sun Lianzhong led his men to station in Qianling and used real gun and artillery exercises to cover a division's troops in excavating Qianling. The soldiers used explosives to blow up many places, but could not find the entrance to the tomb.
In 1958, several local farmers fired cannons and exploded rocks, accidentally blowing up the entrance to the tomb. In February 1960, Shaanxi Province established the "Qianling Mausoleum Excavation Committee". After preliminary excavation, it was confirmed that the bombed area was the underground palace tomb passage, and the excavation of the Qianling Tomb underground palace tomb passage began on April 3. On May 12, all the stone masonry of the tomb passage was revealed. The excavation situation is consistent with the record in the "Old Book of Tang·Biography of Yan Shansi" that "the gate of Qianling Xuanque is blocked with stones, and the gaps between the stones are fixed with cast iron."
Premier Zhou Enlai of the State Council gave the instruction to the "Qianling Excavation Plan" that "we cannot finish a good thing, and this matter can be left to future generations to complete." After that, the State Council issued another notice asking "the emperors of the country to Don't dig before the tomb." The excavation of Qianling Mausoleum stopped.