Let you wander, you become a national tourism image ambassador

Chapter 438 Visit the Xixia Royal Tombs and appreciate the beauty of history!
"I have to say, Genghis Khan is really incredible!"

After hearing Qin Yuan's introduction, Xu Ke nodded silently and said with emotion.

"Yes, there is only one Genghis Khan who can expand the territory to 3300 million square kilometers. This is unprecedented and unprecedented." Qin Yuan also said in admiration.

Among the emperors of the past dynasties, apart from Qin Shihuang, the one he admired most was Genghis Khan.

"Stop it, we are here at the Xixia King's Tomb. Xixia was destroyed by the Mongolian Empire. Isn't it a bit rude to mention Genghis Khan here?"

Hearing Xu Ke and Qin Yuan suddenly chatting about Genghis Khan, Cheng Dong on the side quickly interrupted with a smile.

The fall of the Xixia Dynasty was directly related to the Mongol Empire, and the Xixia Emperors are buried here in the Xixia Imperial Tomb.

Therefore, mentioning Genghis Khan in this place is no less than dancing on the tomb. If there were really ghosts and gods, the emperors buried inside would probably be so angry that they would crawl out and beat them.

"Hahaha, you are right. It is indeed inappropriate for us to mention the Mongol Empire in this place. Let's focus on these tombs."

As Qin Yuan spoke, he led a group of people towards the direction of the mausoleum, and then continued to introduce them seriously.

Qin Yuan was already used to their reaction.

However, you have also seen that the outer city of the cemetery has completely collapsed, and you can only vaguely see some traces of the past.

There are three stele pavilion ruins in this cemetery, including two on the east side and one on the west side.

There are only 9 named Xixia royal tombs recorded in historical records, while the historical records of the tombs of Shenzong Li Zunxu, Xianzong Li Dewang and the last ruler Li Han are not recorded in the historical records.

The length-to-width ratio of the outer walls or palace walls of these imperial mausoleums is between 1.5:1.7, which is roughly the same as the length-to-width ratio of the Xingqing Prefecture city walls recorded in historical records.

Surrounded by sacred walls, the southern end is 137 meters away from the outer city, and the east, west and north sides are all about 22 meters apart.

These are very professional things, and it is impossible for ordinary people to remember them even if they check them online.

Buried inside is Li Jiqian, the founder of the Western Xia Dynasty, probably in 1038.

The remaining three imperial mausoleums that may exist were not built perhaps due to the war and chaos in the late Western Xia Dynasty.

As we mentioned before, Li Yuanhao was the founding emperor of Xixia.

Now let’s take a look at the largest tomb of the Xixia emperors in the mausoleum area - Royal Tomb No. 3.

To the north of Yuecheng is the inner city ruins, which are rectangular in shape, about 115 meters long from north to south and 200 meters long from east to west.

The base of the wall is about 3 meters wide, and the yellow sand soil was rammed in sections. The remaining wall can reach a height of more than 4 meters, which is quite spectacular. "

Now follow me to the south end of the cemetery. If you see that there are no two things in front, it is the tower.

There are two rows of stone statue ruins on each side of the Shinto in Moon City, 15 meters apart. It is difficult to find the remains of the stone statues.

“It is unrealistic and unnecessary to talk about all nine royal tombs today, so I won’t talk about them one by one.

But the internal structure is roughly the same, divided into four parts: corner platform, Que platform, moon city and mausoleum city.

"There are nine imperial tombs in the Xixia royal tombs. Tombs No. 9, No. , No. , No. , No. and No. are located on the plain.

The tomb area covers an area of ​​about 15 square meters. Although it was damaged, it is still the largest tomb of the Xixia emperor in the entire mausoleum area.

Qin Yuan was like a real tour guide. While leading everyone around Yuling Mausoleum, he introduced the structure and features of the cemetery in great detail.

I heard that Qin Yuan was able to describe everything in the mausoleum in front of him as clearly as possible.

Yuling faces south, 15 degrees south to east, and all the buildings on the ground are in ruins.

Everyone present could not help but give Qin Yuan a thumbs up and called him awesome.

He smiled faintly and led them towards the next mausoleum area.

They are 65 meters apart from each other and are made of yellow sandy rammed earth. The base is square, with each side 8 meters long and about 6 meters high.

The entire cemetery is surrounded by a closed outer sacred wall, with a corner platform outside the wall. From south to north, there are a platform, a stele pavilion, a moon city, and an inner city in the cemetery.

The location we are currently at is Royal Tomb No. 1, and the name of this tomb is Yuling.

There is a doorway in the middle of the south wall, about 35 meters wide, and the other three sides are closed. The wall is made of solid rammed earth and covered with stones, with a thickness of about 1.7 meters.

Tombs No. 10, and are built against the mountains. Each imperial mausoleum faces south and is vertically rectangular, covering an area of ​​more than square meters.

The burial time was probably 1048, and the buried emperor was Jingzong-Li Yuanhao.

And he can be regarded as a legendary figure. Later generations have mixed reviews of him. We can talk about it a little bit.

Needless to say, he said it word for word. The only person who could do this was Qin Yuan in front of him.

Although the outer walls of these imperial mausoleums have three types: open, closed and without outer walls.

There are buildings such as the dedication hall, tomb passage, and mausoleum in the inner city. The outer city is rectangular in shape, 360 meters long from north to south and 250 meters wide from east to west.

It is also possible that it was razed by a local construction unit in the 1960s.

The walls of the Moon City are made of rammed yellow sand, and the thickness of the rammed layer ranges from 8 to 13 centimeters.

Royal Tomb No. 3, also known as the Tomb of King Hao, is a royal tomb often visited by tourists.

On the north side, the east and west stele pavilions are opposite each other, 40 meters away from the platform, and 65 meters apart.

The platform base was filled up with collapsed bricks, tiles, earth and rocks, forming a circular cone shape.

The remaining platform base of the West Stele Pavilion is about 1.5 meters, the side length of the table is 10 meters, and the remaining floor tiles on the table are still there.

In addition to the stele pavilion, there is also a Yuecheng ruins in this cemetery.

Li Yuanhao was born in Lingzhou, which is today's Lingwu, Ningxia. He was a child of a party noble family.

The year after he was born, his grandfather Li Jiqian was hit by a stray arrow in a battle with Pan Luozhi, the leader of the Liugu Tribe of Tubo, and died of serious injuries.

His father Li Deming succeeded him as Xiazhou, which is today's SX Province - Jingbian County, where he served as a disaster relief force to leave behind.

Afterwards, Li Deming pursued the policy of "alliance with the Liao Dynasty and the Song Dynasty", which enabled the Li regime in Xiazhou, Dangxiang, to develop rapidly in a peaceful environment.

Li Yuanhao, who was still in his early years, could not understand his father's policy of being friendly to the Song Dynasty, especially the economic and trade with the Song Dynasty.

Once, Li Deming sent an envoy to the Song Dynasty to exchange horses for items.

Because what he got was not to his liking, he beheaded the envoy in a rage. Li Yuanhao was very dissatisfied with his father's behavior and warned his father that killing the envoy would do no good to them.

Li Deming saw that his only son, who was only more than ten years old, had this kind of insight, and he thought highly of it.

As a teenager, Li Yuanhao had a round face. Under his bright eyes, he had a hooked nose and a somewhat awe-inspiring and inviolable air.

He is of medium stature, but looks tall and majestic with a heroic spirit. He likes to wear red long-sleeved clothes, a black crown and hat, and a bow and arrow.

He often travels with more than a hundred cavalry, riding on his own horse, with two flag bearers in front of him to clear the way.

Later, there were guards and foot soldiers with green umbrellas accompanying them, and the cavalry were mixed together, showing off their power.

Li Yuanhao read military books when he was young. He never let go of the popular military books at that time, such as "Field Song" and "Taiyi Golden Jian Jue", and he studied them attentively and became proficient in their contents.

He is quite talented in literature, proficient in Chinese and Tibetan languages, and also understands Buddhism.

He is especially devoted to legal works on governing the country and ensuring peace. He is good at thinking and planning, and often has unique insights into things.

All these made Li Yuanhao become a talented person with great talent in literature, strategy and military strategy.

In the third year of Dazhong Xiangfu reign of Song Zhenzong, that is, in September 1010, Li Deming was granted the title of King of Xia by Liao.

In May 1028, the sixth year of Emperor Renzong's reign in the Song Dynasty, Li Deming sent Li Yuanhao to attack Ganzhou, which is today's Zhangye, Gansu.

The Ganzhou Uighur Khan fled at night, and the first battle in Ganzhou was successful. After Li Yuanhao captured Ganzhou, he adopted the tactic of attacking from the east and attacking from the west, and sent out surprise troops to raid Xiliang (now Wuwei, Gansu).

Cao Xianshun, king of Guazhou, a branch of the Shazhou Uighurs (now Dunhuang, Gansu), affiliated to the Ganzhou Uighurs, surrendered to Li Deming and returned to Guazhou (now Anxi, Gansu).

At this time, Li Yuanhao was made the crown prince, and Li Yuanhao's biological mother, Wei Mu, was made the queen.

In 1029, Li Deming asked the Liao Dynasty to marry Yuan Hao, and Xingzong of Liao named his daughter Princess Xingping and married Yuan Hao.

In 1032, Li Deming died and Yuan Hao succeeded to the throne, actively preparing to found a country and proclaim himself emperor.

In order to consolidate the rear and punish Tubo for surrendering to the Song Dynasty, he launched an attack on Hehuang Tubo in July of the same year and captured Maoniu City (today's Datong County, Qinghai).

In 1035, Li Yuanhao took advantage of the civil strife in Zusiluo and sent troops to attack the villages in Xingling, Zonggedai, and surrounded Qingtang City. He fought with Anziluo, the general of Zusiluo tribe, and fought hard for more than days.

When Li Yuanhao withdrew his troops to cross the Zongge River, he was defeated by An Ziluo's army and fled.

In December of the same year, Li Yuanhao personally led an army to Hehuang, but was defeated again by Xisiluo.

In December of the following year, when Li Yuanhao defeated the Hexi Uighurs and completely occupied the Hexi Corridor, and wanted to peek into Longshu, he was afraid that the Song Dynasty would use the Tubo tribes to plot its retreat.

So he led the army along the Agan River, defeated the Qiang people in Lanzhou, marched to Mabithan Mountain, and built a town garrison in Wachuan to cut off the access between Tibet and the Song Dynasty.

At this time, civil strife broke out in Zusiluo. Li Yuanhao took the opportunity to bribe Xingjian heavily and induced the mastermind and leader of Moxijiao, Yu Long of Yingcheng, to join him.

Yu Long in Yingcheng led more than 10,000 people to surrender to Yuan Hao, and later married his daughter to Li Yuanhao's son Ning Lingge (named Liang Wang).

After Li Yuanhao escaped from the protracted battle with An Ziluo, the general of the Jisilu tribe, he led his army to attack the Guazhou Uighurs in the west, reached Shazhou, and then returned to occupy Suzhou.

At this point, Li Yuanhao completely controlled the Hexi Corridor, ending the rule of the Ganzhou Uighurs in Hexi.

After Li Deming's death, Liao Xingzong Yelv Zongzhen sent the Xuanhui Nanyuan envoy, Shuofang Jiedu envoy Xiao Congshun, and Panzhou observation envoy Zheng Wenxuan to Xingzhou in the name of "good marriage", and named Li Yuanhao the king of Xixia.

In the Song Dynasty, Yang Gao, a doctor in the Ministry of Industry, and Zhu Yunzhong, deputy envoy of protocol, were appointed as the chief and deputy chief military officer. Li Yuanhao was appointed as the special prefect of the inspection school and concurrently as the military governor of the Dingnan Army, Xia Yinsui, Youjing and other prefecture observers. He dealt with the envoys who were escorted to Fan, and he was crowned King Xiping.

However, Li Yuanhao was not interested in the titles of Song and Liao. When receiving envoys from the Song Dynasty, he did not show courtesy to the Song Dynasty, and he did not kneel down at a distance when receiving the imperial edict granted by Song Renzong.

If he reluctantly accepted the order, he would feel angry in his heart. He looked around at the ministers and said: "The previous king made a big mistake. There is such a country, but I still have to worship others."

Taking advantage of the opportunity of hosting a banquet to entertain the envoys of the Song Dynasty, the sonorous sound of forging weapons was heard from behind the banquet hall, creating a mental deterrent to the envoys of the Song Dynasty.

He also deliberately made things difficult for the Song envoys in terms of etiquette, intending to anger the Song Dynasty and stir up trouble.

Before officially proclaiming himself emperor and establishing the country, Li Yuanhao adopted a series of new cultural measures.

First of all, the surnames Li and Zhao "given" to the Tuoba clan of the Dangxiang royal family were abolished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the surname was changed to "Weiming clan", and he was renamed Wuxiao and "Wuzi".

On October 1038, 10, Li Yuanhao, supported by Ye Li Renrong, Yang Shousu and other close ministers, built an altar in the southern suburbs of Xingqing Mansion and officially ascended the throne of the emperor. The country was called Daxia (historically known as Xixia), and the rituals of Yuan Dynasty were changed to Yan. Zuo.

He also ennobled all the ministers and gave his grandfather and parents their posthumous names, temple names and tomb names.

He also named the Yeli family Queen Xiancheng, established her son Ningming as the crown prince, and worshiped the gods in Xiliang Mansion.

In the first month of the following year, Li Yuanhao, as a minister, sent an envoy to the Song Dynasty to present a petition to Song Renzong, tracing and commending his ancestors' relationship with the Central Plains Dynasty and their contributions, explaining the legitimacy of his founding of the country and proclaiming himself emperor, and asking the Song Dynasty to formally recognize his The title of emperor.

The response received was predictable. The Song Dynasty was unwilling to recognize Li Yuanhao's throne, and issued an edict to "cut off the official titles given by surnames" and stop mutual trade.

The Song Dynasty posted a notice on the border between Song and Xia, offering a large reward to high-ranking officials to capture Li Yuanhao, or to sacrifice his head.

After Li Yuanhao found out the attitude of the Song Dynasty, he frequently sent agents to the border to spy on the military situation, and incited the party members and Han people in the Song Dynasty to join Xia.

He publicly cut off the envoy exchanges between Xixia and the Song Dynasty, and sent a "Manshu" to the Song Dynasty. In the "Manshu", he accused the Song Dynasty of betrayal and ridiculed the corruption and incompetence of the Song army.

He also used the power of the Liao Dynasty to threaten the Song Dynasty, and finally showed that Xixia was still willing to reconcile with the Song Dynasty.

Yuan Hao submitted the "Manshu" to the Song Dynasty in order to anger the Song Dynasty and attribute the responsibility for plotting war against the Song Dynasty to the Song Dynasty.

The war between Xia and Song Dynasty was finally inevitable, so from 1040 to 1042, Li Yuanhao launched multiple attacks against the Song Dynasty.

There were three major large-scale wars, namely the Battle of Sanchuankou, the Battle of Haoshuichuan, and the Battle of Dingchuanzhai. These three major battles all ended with Li Yuanhao's victory.

Therefore, after the great victory at Dingchuanzhai, Li Yuanhao was very ambitious and said, "I want to visit the Weishui River in person and take control of Chang'an directly."

However, although Li Yuanhao's war against the Song Dynasty was a victory, it also brought serious consequences to Xixia.

Due to the outbreak of the war, the Song Dynasty stopped the bulk trade of silver, silk, and money with Xixia, closed the border market, and prohibited the entry of green and white salt produced in Xixia.

This caused Xixia not only to lose direct economic benefits, but also the food, silk, cloth, tea and other daily necessities in the territory were in short supply and extremely expensive.

In this way, it would be very difficult for Li Yuanhao to start a war again.

At the same time, Li Yuanhao also realized that it was not easy to defeat the Song Dynasty with a vast territory and a large population.

The strategic advantage of the Song Dynasty was beyond the reach of Xixia. Based on the above reasons, Li Yuanhao finally tried to seek peace with the Song Dynasty.

There are actually many stories during this period, but today’s time is limited, so I won’t explain them one by one. If you are interested, you can learn about them yourself. "

(End of this chapter)