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Chapter 791 Zhaoling Six Steeds, Xie Liuzhai
Shicai, with Yu Yao's eyesight, can see that the paper and ink are fine.And judging from the charm of calligraphy, Yu Yao also thinks there is no problem!

In the short period of time from seeing "Preface to the Lanting Pavilion", to being immersed in it, and to recovering and putting it away, Yu Yao's mind quickly went through the analysis.

If the "Lanting Preface" hidden in Shuizikou of Guiyanmen is authentic, then either "Lanting Preface" was not brought into Li Shimin's tomb; or, it was indeed brought into the tomb, but was stolen by tomb robbers .

Li Shimin's mausoleum, named Zhaoling, is the joint burial tomb of him and Empress Changsun. It is located in Jiuyi Mountain (Zhouyinzong) in Xianyang. It is known as "the world's famous mausoleum" and is now a famous tourist attraction.

Zhaoling has not been excavated by the archaeological department; however, there are claims that Zhaoling was stolen in history.

In the Tang Dynasty, the mausoleum area of ​​Zhaoling was strictly forbidden for unrelated people to enter and exit, but after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, it was not guaranteed.

It involves the most typical and famous tomb robber named Wen Tao.

During the Five Dynasties, Wen Tao, a native of Liang, served as the Jiedu Envoy of Yaozhou. This man was in a convenient location and did not play small tricks. He was known as the tomb robber who robbed the most imperial tombs.

The key point is that there are clear records in official history that Wen Tao robbed and excavated Zhaoling.

"New History of the Five Dynasties Wen Tao Biography" has these lines: In the seven years in the town, all the Tang Mausoleums in its territory will be published, and the gold treasures hidden in it will be taken.The Zhaoling Mausoleum is the most solid. Tao walked down the road and saw that the palace system is beautiful and not different from the human world. The middle is the main bedroom, with stone beds in the east and west rooms, and stone letters on the bed. Ink is like new, tao learned to take it, and then passed it on to the world.But in Qianling, wind and rain cannot break out.

In the "Zhong Wang's handwriting" here, Zhong refers to Zhong Yao, and Wang refers to Wang Xizhi.It can be inferred from this that if the "Lanting Preface" was one of the "Zhong Wang's handwriting" buried with Li Shimin, it was stolen by Wen Tao and "passed on to the world".

Among them, the Qianling Mausoleum is the joint burial tomb of Wu Zetian and Li Zhi; that is to say, apart from the Qianling Mausoleum, Wen Tao has stolen all the tombs of Tang Dynasty emperors within his jurisdiction!
"New History of the Five Dynasties" was compiled by Ouyang Xiu. In terms of credibility, it should still be acceptable.Moreover, according to the records of "Song Huiyao", it is said that Zhao Kuangyin had investigated the imperial tombs of the previous dynasty and planned to repair them. It turned out that a large number of imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty had been stolen, including Zhaoling.

Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin took the lead. Since the Song Dynasty, the edict to protect the tombs of successive dynasties has gradually become a "tradition".In fact, to protect others is to protect yourself, you protect the previous ones, and future generations protect yours.

So after the Song Dynasty, at least there was no record of Zhaoling being stolen in official history.

However, if "Lanting Preface" was really stolen by Wen Tao, why was there no news for more than 1000 years?With the status of "Lanting Preface", how could it be like a mud cow entering the sea?Don't you even have some famous unofficial history rumors?

This is a very big doubt.

Official history, although it has a high degree of credibility, may not be completely accurate.Therefore, there are opponents of this statement in the academic circles, and some other historical evidences have also been put forward.

However, although from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there was no record of Zhaoling being stolen and excavated, but in the period of the Republic of China, Zhaoling was stolen again with real evidence!
The six bluestone horse reliefs located on the east and west sides of the altar in the north of Zhaoling Mausoleum were smashed into blocks by tomb robbers and stolen from Zhaoling Mausoleum!

This is the famous "Six Horses of Zhaoling".

The Six Steeds of Zhaoling Mausoleum were stolen, and the mastermind was a foreign tomb robber. The process was full of twists and turns; moreover, Xie Liuzhai was also involved!

The stone carvings of the "Six Horses of Zhaoling" are high-relief sculptures with realistic images of war horses, namely: Fist-haired 騧, Saluzi, Shivachi, White-hoofed Crow, Tellerpis, and Qingzhao.

The name sounds a bit strange because the Turkic language of the time was added.

The artistic level of "Six Horses of Zhaoling Mausoleum" is extremely high, and it was jointly created by two brothers Yan Lide and Yan Liben; Yan Liben is a master of painting, and Yan Lide is a master of crafts.

If such a stone carving wanted to be stolen, it could only be smashed down.Foreign tomb robbers also hired people in Huaxia to smash the stone carvings of the Six Horses of Zhaoling Mausoleum into stones and transport them down the mountain.Fortunately in the misfortune, during this process, the tomb robbers were stopped by the villagers who came after hearing the news, and they failed.

Although the foreign tomb robbers returned empty-handed, the villagers only kept the four horses, because the "two horses" - Fist Mao and Sa Luzi, were pushed off the cliff in the process!
Fist Mao and Sa Luzi who pushed down the cliff were later captured by Shaanxi Governor Lu Jianzhang.After he got it, he just heard that the then President Yuan Shikai wanted to build a private garden, so he immediately decided to use it to flatter him.

As a result, Yuan Shikai died when he was transported to the capital.Yuan Shikai's son saw that it was a piece of debris, but he didn't leave it behind.

The fist hair and Sa Luzi were not transported out of the capital, but sold to an antique dealer in the capital.

At this time, Xie Liuzhai, who happened to be in the capital, got the news!

Xie Liuzhai was very young at that time, only in his 20s, but he had already started working in the antique shop.It was at that time that he met Yasujiro Nakatani, a Japanese who had just started collecting antiques in China.

Xie Liuzhai didn't have enough funds at the time, so he wanted to act as a middleman for pulling the strings, and let the antique dealer sell Kenmao and Saluzi to Nakatani Yasujiro.

However, Yasujiro Nakatani's bid was too low, and the antique dealer was very dissatisfied.It was also at this time that someone from the United States also made a bid.

The deal dragged on for a long time, and Xie Liuzhai interspersed a lot during it. It is said that he had hooked up with the Americans again later. In 1920, the matter came to an end, and the two horses were sold to the Penn University Museum in the United States for $12.5.

In fact, after the other four horses were saved by the villagers, Americans once again came to steal them, and after they succeeded this time, they smashed them even more; however, they were intercepted by the people during the transportation!Later, it was not transported back to the original place, but was sent to the Shaanxi Library for preservation.

Therefore, of the "Six Horses of Zhaoling" exhibited in Huaxia Museum today, only four horses are made of original stones; and the two horses, namely, Fist Mao and Sa Luzi, are high-quality imitation replicas.The real two horses are still in museums in the United States.

Although during the period of the Republic of China, there was no exact statement about the theft of funeral objects from the Zhaoling Underground Palace, but the "Six Horses of Zhaoling" were stolen, so it is hard to say whether the underground palace was stolen; Burglary is not completely impossible.

If the "Lanting Preface" in Zhaoling was not stolen by Wen Tao, then there is still a possibility that it was stolen during the Republic of China!
Of course, all this is analyzed on the basis of the "Lanting Preface" being brought into the Zhaoling Mausoleum for burial.

Yu Yao's thoughts stopped abruptly after "Orchid Pavilion Preface" was put back into the box.

At this time, everyone also looked at Cai Pengxi in unison.

Cai Pengxi took a deep breath, and opened the last small square wooden box made of Jinsinnan gloomy wood.

(End of this chapter)