Revealing the mystery of the Qianling Mausoleum: In the first year of Shenlong (705), the 82-year-old Wu Zetian died of illness in Shangyang Palace. She left an imperial edict to remove her imperial title and called her the "Great Sage Queen of Zetian". She was buried with Gaozong in Qianling.
According to the burial system of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the Qianling Mausoleum was built on Liangshan Mountain, 6 kilometers north of Qian County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province. There are three peaks in Liangshan Mountain. The north peak is the highest, and the two south peaks are lower. They face each other from east to west. Qianling Mausoleum is on the north peak. There is an interesting legend about the location of Qianling Mausoleum.
It is said that shortly after Tang Gaozong ascended the throne, he sent Changsun Wuji and Taishi Ling Li Chunfeng to choose a place for his mausoleum. The two of them took a fancy to Liangshan's Feng Shui at the same time. The main peak of Liangshan Mountain reaches straight into the sky, separated from Wushui in the east by Jiujiujiashi, and connected by Qishui in the west by Loujing Mountain and Qishan Mountain. The two waters, black and lacquer, embrace each other in front of the mountain, forming a water wall that surrounds the dragon energy in the ground. Liangshan can be said to be a rare "Dragon Vein Holy Land" in the world. However, this statement was refuted by Yuan Tiangang. Yuan Tiangang believes that Liangshan appears to be a geomantic treasure, but it has many shortcomings. The dragon vein of the Tang Dynasty branched off from Kunlun Mountain and crossed the Yellow River, entered Guanzhong, and spread eastward to Jiujiujian, led by Qishan. First, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty could not be buried before the dragon's head. In addition, Liangshan is the tail of the dragon vein of the Zhou Dynasty, and the tail gas will surely decline. If you are buried here, you may not be able to protect Li Tang's country. Moreover, the north peak of Liangshan Mountain is high, and the front and rear peaks are like female breasts. I am afraid that the yin energy is too strong and women are in power.
After listening to Yuan Tiangang’s grand remarks, Emperor Gaozong didn’t know how to make a decision. But Wu Zetian knew about this. When Wu Zetian was a child, she heard her father say that she would be emperor in the future, so she suggested to Emperor Gaozong that he agree with Li Chunfeng's statement. Emperor Gaozong agreed, and an imperial edict was issued the next day, designating Liangshan Mountain as the site of the mausoleum.
Later generations of Cantonese scholars also generally believed that Liangshan was beneficial to the heroine. It is no wonder that Wu Zetian died in Luoyang, but moved to Qianling in Shaanxi to be buried with Gaozong, and designated Liangshan as her " Longevity Territory”.
Regarding the naming of Qianling Mausoleum, the officials debated endlessly for a while. Some people say that Taizong's mausoleum is called Zhaoling, and Gaozong's mausoleum should be called Chengling to inherit Taizong's grace. Later, Changsun Wuji reported: "Liangshan is located in the northwest of Chang'an. In the Bagua, it belongs to the Qian position. Qian is Yang, heaven, and emperor. Since Liangshan is the heavenly imperial capital of your majesty's ten thousand years of life, the heaven and earth are in harmony, and your majesty will be the emperor for eternity." Emperor. In my opinion, let’s name it Qianling!” Gaozong was very happy after hearing this and named it Qianling. In the "Book of Changes", it is said that Qian is Yang and Kun is Yin, Qian is male and Kun is female. Liangshan is filled with Yin Qi, and if there is Qian, there must be Kun. It seems that it is destined that "women dominate the world".
The Qianling Mausoleum was built against the mountain. After more than 300 days and nights of intensive construction, the main project was not completed until August 684 AD. After Emperor Gaozong was buried, the construction of Qianling Mausoleum continued.
The construction of the mausoleum was modeled on the layout of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty, which was divided into the imperial city, the palace city and the outer city. According to historical records, the mausoleum originally had two inner and outer walls, four city gates, and a palace tower. and many other magnificent buildings. Exploration shows that the inner city of the cemetery is approximately square, with its north and south walls each 1,450 meters long, the east wall 1,582 meters long, and the west wall 1,438 meters long, with a total area of ??approximately 2.3 million square meters. There are many splendid buildings in the city such as Xiandian, side rooms, cloisters, towers, ancestral halls with statues of Di Renjie and other 60 courtiers, and lower palaces. The city wall is surrounded by Zhuque Gate in the south, Xuanwu Gate in the north, Qinglong Gate in the east, and White Tiger Gate in the west. It is like an underground version of Chang'an Palace.
In front of the Qianling Mausoleum, there are two tall and majestic stone steles. On the west is the "Shu Sheng Ji Stele", which mainly praises the achievements of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. It was written by Wu Zetian and written by Tang Zhongzong Li Xian. Today, individual characters are used. The traces of gold are still there. According to the symmetrical layout of the Qianling Mausoleum, the "Wordless Stele" is opposite to the "Shu Sheng Ji Stele" in the east and west. The wordless monument is 7.53 meters high, 2.1 meters wide, 1.49 meters thick, and weighs about 98.8 tons. The body of the stele is carved with eight intertwined chi dragons, four on each side. The body of the stele is carved from a complete boulder, with a "rising dragon picture" 4.12 meters high engraved on each line on both sides. The "lion and horse picture" is engraved on the positive line of the base of the stele, which is 2.14 meters long and 0.66 meters wide.
The wordless stele was obviously erected by Wu Zetian at the same time when Gaozong died. It should be a "merit stele" prepared by Wu Zetian for herself in advance. However, what is puzzling is that there is no word on this merit monument. People have different opinions on this, and they can be summarized into five main types: one is that there is no need to say that the merits are great, the other is that it is inconvenient to say that one knows that the sin is so serious, the third is that the merits and demerits are left to future generations, and the fourth is that the titles are not unified and it is inconvenient to say. Fifth, if you believe in Buddhism, it goes without saying that everything is empty. These five theories are all possible, but there is no conclusion yet.
The great charm of Qianling Mausoleum is not only that it is the only mausoleum in the world where emperors from two dynasties and a couple of emperors were buried together. More importantly, Qianling Mausoleum is recognized by archaeologists as a mausoleum that has not been visited by tomb robbers. Imperial mausoleum. Wu Zetian's legendary life, her tomb after her death is also full of mysteries.