唐朝女皇『武則天』古墓之迷

 

      

唐朝女皇『武則天』是一個善於用時間打敗一切的人。          作者：王詩涵 教授           

武則天14歲入宮，先是用18年時間當上了皇后，然後又用35年時間當上了皇帝，死後又用1300年時間證明了自己陵墓的堅固以及其魅力的不朽。可以說武則天是生前征服了天下，死後征服了歷史。

如果問世界上那個皇帝的陵墓最難挖，那麼毫無疑問是武則天的『萬年壽域─乾陵』。

武則天的陵墓被冷兵器時代的刀劍劈過，被熱兵器時代的機槍、大砲轟過，1200多年之中，有名有姓的盜乾陵者就有17人之多，其中規模最大的一次出動人數40萬之多，乾陵所在的梁山幾乎被挖走了一半。然而時至今日，乾陵依然不拋棄不放棄，像許三多一樣恪盡職守地保護著主人武則天和丈夫李治的遺體。我們不禁要問，漢武帝的茂陵被搬空了，唐太宗的昭陵被掃蕩了，康熙大帝連骨頭都湊不齊了，為什麼單單武則天的乾陵可以獨善其身？

『萬年壽域─乾陵』城內有獻殿、偏房、迴廊、闕樓、狄仁傑等60朝臣像祠堂、下宮等輝煌建築群多處。

至於裡面的寶貝，經過多年的探測考察，一位文物工作者推算最少有五百公頓﹗在前後通道的兩側,又各有四間石洞,洞裡裝滿了盛唐時最值錢的寶貝。在通向金剛牆的近公引過道兩旁,擺滿了各種金銀祭器。而最讓世人感興趣的就是那件頂尖級國寶─《蘭亭序》。

乾陵一帶的民間傳聞中,早就有《蘭亭序》陪葬武則天一說。 史書記載,《蘭亭序》在李世民遺詔裡說是要枕在他腦袋下邊。那就是說,這件寶貝應該在昭陵,而不在乾陵。可是,五代耀州刺史溫韜把昭陵盜了,但在他寫的出土寶物清單上,卻並沒有《蘭亭序》,那麼十有八九《蘭亭序》就藏在乾陵裡面。

如此豐濃的寶藏使得『乾陵』像花粉一樣吸引著頭班盜墓者、封疆大吏、土匪、軍閥，甚至是農民起義軍，紛紛抄著鐵鍬、鋤頭前來刨上幾下。從武則天躺進乾陵的一刻，梁山就沒消停過。

第一個光顧乾陵的是唐末造反大軍領袖黃巢，歷代所有的農民起義軍領袖中，他的反動程度僅次於明末的張獻忠。

向『乾陵』伸出罪惡之手的第二個人是五代的耀州節度使溫韜，此人似乎生下來就是給李唐王朝的皇帝陵墓找麻煩的。在乾陵之前已經挖掘了17座唐皇陵，只剩下乾陵。但他的理想在此破滅。和黃巢一樣，他也興數萬人馬在光天化日之下挖掘乾陵，不料三次上山均遭風雨大作，人馬一撤，天氣立即轉晴，溫韜實在想不明白這到底是怎么回事，但他還是沒有再繼續挖下去，遂此絕了念頭。乾陵至此逃過第二劫。

『萬年壽域─乾陵』最危險的是第三次，這次出動的不是40萬大軍，而是一個現代化整編師，盜墓的工具也不再是鋤頭、鐵鍬，而是開山劈石如切菜的機槍大砲。主謀就是民國時期的國民黨將軍孫連仲。孫連仲帶領部下，學著孫殿英炸慈禧和乾隆墓的樣子，在梁山上埋鍋造飯安下營寨，用軍事演習作幌子，黑色炸藥炸開墓道三層豎立石條，正準備進入時，突然冒出一股濃煙，盤旋而上，成為龍捲風，頓時天昏地暗，走石飛沙，七個山西籍士兵首當其沖，立即吐血身亡，其他人那裡還敢再向前，發一聲喊跑了出來。
據說，孫將軍的一個團生還者寥寥。當地人流傳因為『武則天是山西人，他最恨老家的人來掘她的墓，所以那七個山西兵必死無疑。』就這樣，『萬年壽域─乾陵』終於躲過最後一劫。  

 

Empress Wu ZeTian (624 – 705) of Tang Dynasty was the only true female ruler in China’s long history, and she was a master of using time to her advantage.  

Author: Gu Xiao Jin

Wu ZeTian was chosen as a candidate for imperial concubine at the young age of 14. It took her 18 years and much effort and suffering to become the queen, and another 35 years to ascend to the throne. After her death, over 1300 years to this day, she has also proven that her plot of building a nearly indestructible tomb has passed the ultimate test of time. People are now even more fascinated with her life and wisdom than ever before. She conquered the land when she was alive, then she conquered history in her death.

If you ask which tomb among the burying grounds of all the past rulers in the world is the most difficult to raid, the answer is clear: the so-called ’ten-thousand-year longevity land’ - ChienLing (乾陵, Heaven’s Tomb).

ChienLing had been knocked with pickaxes and hammers of the old days. In the modern era, machines guns and dynamites have blasted it. Since her death in 705 A.D., 17 historical figures and countless nameless thieves have tried to raid her tomb. The largest scale was a 400,000-man effort that removed nearly half of the mountain that houses the tomb. Yet ChienLing did its job of protecting Wu ZeTian’s and her husband’s bodies.

One has to wonder: most emperors’ tombs in China have been emptied over the years; how can ChienLing survive the numerous attempts to break it?

ChienLing, as a matter of fact, is not only a tomb, it is virtually a small city with many buildings, chambers and at least 60 shrines of Wu’s most trusted chancellors.  One archaeologist estimated the treasures in ChienLing weighs at least 500 tons. There are many artworks, and much gold, silver and gemstone, but one national treasure particularly intrigues people – Preface of the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, a priceless calligraphy masterpiece by Wang XiZhi.

According to historical records, before his death, Tang TaiZong (599 – 649) ordered to have the Preface of the Orchid Pavilion Gathering placed under his head in his coffin. Therefore the masterpiece should be in ZhaoLing (昭陵). But when Wen Tao raided ZhaoLing, the list of inventory did not include the masterpiece. So people naturally speculate that it is most likely in ChienLing with Wu ZeTian’s remains and other relic.

With so much temptation, ChienLing has been attracting thieves, rebels, bandits, warlords and even high officials to try to get into it. The first historical figure who tried to raid ChienLing was the famous rebel leader Huang Chao. The second was Wen Tao, who was a high-ranking government official in ‘Five-Generation’ period of China’s history. Wen was particularly interested in digging the tombs of Tang Dynasty’s emperors; he had dug 17 of them before coming to ChienLing. He ordered tens of thousands of people to march up the mountain on three diffident occasions on bright sunny days, only to be returned back by fierce winds and heavy downpours. As soon as they retreated, the sky cleared up. Wen finally gave up the idea of breaking into ChienLing.

The biggest threat to ChienLing happened during the time the Nationalist Party ruled China. General Sun LienZhong led a brigade of army and pitched tents at the mountain in the name of a military maneuver. They used dynamites to blow open three layers of rock beam barriers. Just as some soldiers were ready to enter the tomb, dark smokes came out of the opening and turned into a tornado. As debris flew, seven soldiers from ShanXi where Wu ZeTian was born, took the brunt of the force and died very bloody deaths. Rumors say Wu ZeTian’s spirit especially resents tomb-raiders from her home-province, and those who dared must suffer grave consequences.

And that was the last large-scale attempt to raid ChienLing.