Even so, there are many outstanding women in history, and Wu Zetian is one of them.
The evaluation of Wu Zetian has been mixed in history. Some people regard her as a general figure of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, while others regard her as a synonym for "ferocity".
In modern times, the tomb of Wu Zetian's granddaughter was discovered, which is also an important archaeological discovery.
Princess Yongtai is the daughter of Tang Zhongzong, whose tomb was discovered in 1960s.
People's Daily and Shaanxi Daily reported extensively on the murals unearthed from Princess Yongtai's tomb respectively, and the related archaeological work continued until the spring of 1962. At this time, People's Daily also systematically disclosed this important discovery overseas.
The reason why it can shock the world is summarized by the media in one sentence: after the liberation of Shaanxi, this is the largest tomb of the Tang Dynasty excavated.
There are many cultural relics unearthed from Princess Yongtai's tomb, and the level is also very high, including many fine works, which also attracted the special attention of archaeologists, so it even caused a research upsurge at that time.
In the epitaph, the life of the princess is also clearly recorded.
She is the great-grandson of the ancestor Yao. Because of some problems in the Tang Dynasty, the princess lived a civilian life. /kloc-at the age of 0/4, the princess was also recalled by Wu Zetian.
It was also from this time that Yongtai brothers and sisters ushered in a life of aristocratic life, but they were still full of confusion about their future.
When she entered marriageable age, Yongtai finally married King Yanji for political reasons. However, they later discussed the crime of "Zhang Er" and vented it on the Queen, which eventually led to tragedy.
After the tomb was cleared, academic discussions never stopped, and most people wondered why Princess Yongtai died.
After a lot of research and investigation, we have also formed two views.
First, according to the unearthed epitaph and related textual research, it is concluded that Princess Yongtai died in dystocia during pregnancy, which has also been tested by practice.
Among the eleven female pelvic fragments unearthed, Princess Yongtai's pelvis was also restored. Authoritative medical researchers came to the scene and found that the princess's pelvis was very narrow, so it was difficult for ordinary fetuses to give birth naturally.
This kind of temptation also enhances the persuasiveness of this statement. Many people think that this is the real cause of death of Princess Yongtai.
However, the death of Princess Yongtai is also explained in authoritative ancient books such as Old Tang Shu and Zi Tongzhi Jian.
They think that the princess died not of natural causes, but at the hands of Wu Zetian.
Especially in Wang Shuanghuai's "The Story of Wu Zetian", it is mentioned that the Yongtai couple and Wang Shao and Li Zhongrun had a contradiction because of talking about "two pictures", and this matter soon spread to Wu Zetian's ears.
Wu Zetian felt that their behavior was harmful to Li Wuqi, which was simply indecent, and finally ordered the Crown Prince to punish him.
The crown prince naturally feels very embarrassed here. If it is not handled well, it will inevitably shake his position, so he can only take the road of putting righteousness above family interests.
Along this line of thought, others have conducted more in-depth research.
In "Princess Yongtai and Princess Yongtai's Tomb", it is also deeply analyzed by combining all the documents and unearthed evidence. It is believed that Zhongzong was finally forced to execute his daughter by Wu Zetian in desperate circumstances.
The shape of this tomb is also very interesting, which makes archaeologists think that this is the second son of Wu Zetian, Prince Li Xian, who was buried in the tomb during the initial excavation.
Because the location of the tomb is close to Ganling, there are not many stone carvings in front of the tomb, which are very well preserved, and there are a pair of stone lions, which are as beautiful as those in front of Ganling Imperial Road.
Among the 17 dead buried in Ganling, it seems that only Li Xian can have such exquisite stone carvings and a vast cemetery.
People are always curious about why Princess Yongtai, who has no political achievements, can enjoy the honor of "no". "The mausoleum after her death is a mausoleum?
Bai Genxing and other researchers synthesized related views in a document. They believe that since Wu Zetian came to power, the status of women in the Tang Dynasty has been greatly improved, and this background has provided a prerequisite for "no mausoleum is mausoleum".
Plus Princess Yongtai is the daughter of Tang Zhongzong and Wei Ruyun, and the weight can be imagined; Besides, she died very grievance. As a father, there is no shortage of guilt and pity.
For these reasons, in the end, Zhongzong was forced by the current situation to deal with the whole thing. It is also human nature that he will surely avenge his daughter when he returns to power.
Then, what he is most likely to do is to run after his dead daughter, so that she can enjoy all the splendor and wealth, and the Zhongzong couple can also achieve a certain psychological balance.
The reason why Princess Yongtai's tomb caused such a great sensation is naturally because the unearthed artifacts are so amazing.
First, there are murals.
Just after these murals were unearthed, the art world was even more excited than the archaeological community. Mr. Ye, a famous cartoonist, personally copied the murals and wrote poems for them.
Through research and analysis, the murals in Princess Yongtai's tomb are mostly based on the real life of the deep palace compound, which reproduces the court etiquette system more than 1000 years ago, and also reflects the real history and colorful cultural scenes of the Tang Dynasty.
After thousands of years, the number that can be preserved is not much, but its subject matter is very extensive and its content is extremely rich and reasonable, which is the masterpiece of painting in the early Tang Dynasty.
He has made great achievements in art and has high artistic value and research value.
Chinese and foreign artists spoke highly of stone carving and line drawing. These line drawings are decorative stone plaques, beautifully carved and rich in content, including not only people, animals, but also flowers and plants.
This is definitely a masterpiece of carving art in those days, and it is also a treasure of stone carving art in the Tang Dynasty, which has extremely important historical significance.
Among the funerary objects of Princess Yongtai, a large number of exquisite cultural relics were also unearthed. In the briefing on the excavation of Princess Yongtai's tomb in the Tang Dynasty, various funerary objects were also listed in detail, which caused quite a shock in the archaeological community.
Among them, the most unearthed figures are figurines, with a total of nearly 900 pieces. In addition, there are a large number of stone carvings, such as lions, huabiao and ground carvings.
Stone carvings are all carved from bluestone, which is huge in volume. It can be seen that when building a mausoleum, there is indeed a consideration of "mausoleum".
In addition to stone carvings, some ceramics were found in the tomb, but compared with stone carvings, the number of porcelain is relatively small, including 104 tricolor ware and 8 1 gray pottery, which are mainly daily necessities and have high ornamental value.
Since the excavation of Princess Yongtai's tomb, it has achieved fruitful results and a wide range of research, covering almost all aspects of life.
However, the mystery of many things cannot be solved with certainty. The fundamental reason is that there are few records about princesses in history, and many problems have been in endless debates.
Therefore, it is necessary to collect more information from all aspects in order to make progress in the overall study of the princess.
What few people know is that when excavating the ancient tomb, archaeologists also encountered a very strange thing.
It was1September, 960, when archaeologists were cleaning up the pyramid-shaped mound, they saw a terrible scene:
At the end of the pyramid-shaped mound, there is a dead man's skeleton sitting askew on the wall, which is out of place with the ancient tomb itself.
After inspection, we also found that this is the skeleton of a man in his twenties, and it is generally considered to be a grave robber.
The specific reason is that there is a big stolen hole above the deceased, but this stolen hole is blocked by others.
According to this analysis, the framed grave robbers can only die here helplessly, and there are some shocking black handprints on the wall.
Like many mysteries in Princess Yongtai's tomb, this incident itself has other explanations.
Because the deceased had a tortoise shell with the inscription: Min Yongtai, eternal life.
Therefore, some people think that this person should be the younger brother of the famous poet Song in the Tang Dynasty.
Song is a very talented man, and he is very flattering to Brother Zhang. In this way, he can also curry favor with Wu Zetian along this line.
Because of his cousin, Song Zhimin also met Princess Yongtai, but at that time, the princess was not a princess, but a monarch.
Later, the princess became a princess, which means that Song Zhimin no longer has the possibility of pursuing Princess Yongtai, and he is no longer worthy of each other's noble status.
Later, Princess Yongtai got married, and Song Zhimin only spent two years in boredom. He thought the princess would live a happy life, and soon after, the princess died.
So he may dig a hole and sit in the tomb without food or drink all day, willing to accompany the princess for life.
The "thief" handed down by later generations is probably Song Zhimin, and what he has can prove it.
His good friend learned of this situation and had to come to seal the cave, which fulfilled their infatuation story of sharing life and death.
However, experts can't give clear answers to these questions, and related research is still going on.
Today, Princess Yongtai's tomb has become a scenic spot, just in the north of Ganxian County. If you want to visit it in 2022, you can take the "Xi 'an Journey No.3 Road" from Xi Railway Station to Ganling.
Here, those shocking murals and magnificent stone carvings will appear in front of you. Princess Yongtai still has too many secrets to be solved by future generations.
Whether the man sitting on the "gold and silver pile" is a grave robber or Song Zhimin is still an unsolved mystery.
Bashan. Academic Research on Princess Yongtai and Princess Yongtai's Tomb [J]. Research on Ganling Culture
Zeng liren On the death of Princess Yongtai [J]. the journal of humanities