The Ministry of Rites decided that the Empress Dowager’s posthumous title would be Empress Dowager Sheng’an, and her funeral was scheduled for the third day of September.
Because the Emperor is still there, the coffin of Empress Dowager Sheng'an has to be temporarily parked in the Shinto outside the Eastern Mausoleum of the Imperial Mausoleum, just waiting for the Emperor to be buried together in the future after his death.
On the day of the funeral, Emperor Ming Yuan originally wanted to attend the funeral in person, but unexpectedly the Supreme Emperor fell down in the palace and suffered a serious fall. He was afraid that something might happen, so he did not attend the funeral in person.
There was a cry of mourning in the capital, and more than a thousand royal descendants and officials mourned the funeral, wearing sackcloth and mourning, and walked all the way out of the city.
There were sixty-four flagbearers in total, and sixty-four coffin bearers. The coffin was carried out surrounded by filial sons and grandsons. In the vast procession, in addition to the funeral bearers, there was also a dragon carriage, all carrying the funeral companions.
Of quality.
Yu Wenhao and a group of princes were responsible for delivering the spirit. In the carriage at the front were thirty-two eminent monks, chanting sutras all the way.
After arriving at the imperial mausoleum, the mourners had to return, leaving the princes and the funeral attendants to wait until the auspicious time and then take them into the Shinto of the underground palace of the imperial mausoleum.
The things buried with him had to be put down first, so Yu Wenhao, An Wang and others stayed outside to keep vigil.
After waiting for about a stick of incense, someone quickly ran out of the tomb passage. He ran very fast. When he was about to arrive, he almost crawled and rolled down in front of Yu Wenhao. He lowered his voice and said in a trembling voice: "
I have something urgent to report from my humble position."
"explain!"
When Yu Wenhao saw his flustered expression, his heart sank.
"Please allow me to come forward and report!"
The man was obviously very frightened.
Yu Wenhao agreed, and the man tremblingly stepped forward and whispered in Yu Wenhao's ear: "The door of the tomb of the Western Emperor's Mausoleum has been deliberately damaged. I don't know if there is any damage inside."
Yu Wenhao grabbed the man's collar and said angrily, "What?"
"Your Highness, please take a look!"
The man was so frightened that his legs kept shaking.
Yu Wenhao glanced back and saw that the funeral procession was ten steps away. He suppressed the fury in his heart and said to the person who reported the report: "Nothing can be revealed without my king's order."
"yes!"
The man was already paralyzed on the ground.
He immediately told several brothers about this, and the princes' faces changed greatly after hearing this. They hurriedly rode their horses to Xiling. After arriving at Xiling, several people got off their horses and walked quickly inside.
Xiling is the mausoleum of Emperor Huizong, and the tomb door is closed and sealed. Originally, there was no need to go through the Xiling to bury the Queen Mother. It was only because the Queen Mother needed to come to pay homage and offer incense when she was buried that she reported to Emperor Huizong that the door of the tomb was damaged.
Yu Wenhao entered in a hurry and saw that the marble door of the tomb had marks of being struck by a knife and axe, and there was a crack in the place where the two doors were facing each other. Although it was still far away from the underground palace, it was not necessarily possible that the inside would be damaged, but it could not be ruled out.
Someone has been in.
"Is he a tomb robber?"
King Qi asked fearfully.
"It's not like that!"
Yu Wenhao carefully looked at the marks of the swords and axes, and said solemnly: "Grave robbers will not make such a big noise, and there are special guards around the imperial mausoleum. Tomb robbers will only dare to seek death."
"Then why destroy the tomb door?
Also, how did this person get in?"
King An asked.
Yu Wenhao felt strange. Destroying the imperial mausoleum was a serious crime of confiscating a family and exterminating a clan. Who would dare to do this?
And why do you do this?
King Sun also said suspiciously: "Since this person is here, it is easy to get in. The door of this tomb can be opened, and it is not a sealed door in the underground palace. Why should it be destroyed?"
Can’t you just open the door and go in?”
Yu Wenhao's expression changed, "This person may have gone in."
King Qi was shocked, "Oh my God, could it have destroyed the underground palace?"
Everyone looked at Yu Wenhao with serious expressions.
Yu Wenhao thought for a while and called the guards of the imperial mausoleum to come in and asked them to open the door of the tomb and go in along the Shinto to have a look. If the door of the underground palace was not destroyed, then this person should have never been in. The door of the underground palace cannot be opened.
, unless damage sets in.
When the door of the tomb was opened, it was pitch black inside. After the air cleared for a while, the guards of the imperial tomb entered holding torches.
Not long after, the guard ran out panting and knelt on the ground to report: "Returning to His Royal Highness, the three doors of the underground palace have been destroyed. I don't dare to explore inside. Please make your decision."
Yu Wenhao was furious. As a descendant of the royal family, how shameful and humiliating it was for the imperial mausoleum to be destroyed?
Everyone exited the tomb, and Yu Wenhao was so angry that he called the commander guarding the imperial mausoleum for questioning.
There was a mass of people kneeling in front of them in darkness, and they were all terrified and confused.
The guard commander of the imperial mausoleum is named Zhang Tian. He is a demoted general. He had a personal grudge fight in the army and was demoted here to guard the imperial mausoleum for the second year now.
Zhang Tian was so frightened that he came to his senses only after being scolded by Yu Wenhao for a few times. He knelt on the ground and trembled, crying bitterly and reporting: "Go back to Your Highness, I have been stationed here for three years and I dare not slack off at all.
There are patrols day and night, and except for the annual worship, no outsiders are allowed in, and no one has ever sneaked into the imperial mausoleum."
Yu Wenhao said angrily: "No one has ever come in, so why were the doors of the tomb and underground palace destroyed?
If someone enters the underground palace and disturbs Emperor Huizong's peace, you will lose even your heads."
Zhang Tian collapsed on the ground, with a look of despair on his face. The three doors of the underground palace have been destroyed. Can the underground palace not be destroyed?
Everyone withdrew first and sent King Wei back to the capital to report the matter. Whether to enter the underground palace to investigate or not would require the emperor's decree.
The empress dowager's coffin was brought into the Dongling Tomb and placed in a secret room in the Shinto. After the ceremony was completed, the officials in charge of the burial retreated, leaving only a few princes here.
The destruction of Xiling cannot be made public, lest it cause an uproar.
The brothers didn't dare to leave, so they waited in the Xiang'en Hall outside Xiling. Dusk had fallen, and Zhang Tian asked someone to bring food, but the brothers had no appetite to eat.
Everyone was furious, but they didn't dare to lose their temper here.
King An simply sat on the ground, looked at the rising moon outside, and said: "Lao Wu, how likely is it to be a tomb robber?"
Yu Wenhao's face was tense and his eyes were cold and sharp. "The possibility is very low. As I just said, if it is a tomb robber, it is impossible to use a knife and ax to hack the tomb door. Isn't this deliberately attracting attention?"
"What if those tomb robbers didn't know that the tomb door can be opened?
They may have thought they were on the verge of death and wanted to split it in the middle, which is also a possibility."
Sun Wangdao.
Yu Wenhao shook his head, "This is even more impossible. How can you be an ignorant person if you dare to steal the imperial mausoleum?
You must have advanced tomb robbing skills to dare to come."
King Huai's fair face turned red, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Who is so bold that he even dares to destroy the door of the underground palace of the emperor's mausoleum?"
Yu Wenhao's eyes were heavy, "I'm afraid I didn't just destroy the door of the underground palace, but may have already entered the tomb. The guards just went in to investigate, but they haven't reached the burial path yet. Therefore, no one can predict how damaged it was inside."
"
There is a worst-case scenario, but no one dares to say it. Everyone's face is very solemn, they are most worried about that possibility happening.
“Can you go in and see the Martyrdom Hall first?
If the items from the burial path are missing, at least it can be proven that they were stolen."
King An suggested.
After hearing King An's proposal, King Sun and King Huai both looked at Yu Wenhao.
Yu Wenhao couldn't make up his mind for a moment. Entering the burial path meant getting close to Emperor Huizong's coffin.