Unparalleled Beauty

Chapter C113 pt2

Initially, Wushuang did not understand this practice, but later she realized that perhaps this was a form of implicit punishment for himself by the Emperor Emeritus.

The Emperor Emeritus used this to tell himself that only when the son of he and his beloved woman ascended the throne could he be buried with his beloved woman after his own death.

This was precisely the reason why the Emperor Emeritus and Emperor Qianwu, this father and son of the imperial family, possessed a trust that surpassed ordinary understanding. Because Emperor Qianwu had understood the Emperor Emeritus's hint very early on: this Emperor's throne will only be yours.

Therefore, the Emperor Emeritus instated the Crown Prince and proposed abdication. The father and son joined hands to dig a pit for Prince Jin and Prince Qin, inviting them to their doom. Thus, the Emperor Emeritus allowed Emperor Qianwu to move the Black Armor Army into the capital, seemingly unafraid that his son would seize the opportunity to force him to abdicate.

Because this Emperor's throne will only be yours; you need not fight, need not snatch, and this Emperor need not fear that you will seize it.

Perhaps this approach was selfish, but upon closer reflection, it was not difficult to understand.

To return to the main topic, upon learning that Emperor Qianwu was drawing the plans for his and her mausoleum for the afterlife, Wushuang was initially unaccustomed, as people generally avoided discussing death.

But after listening to his description, hearing him say that their mausoleum need not be built too grand, because only you will lie by this Emperor's side, there would be no subordinate burials, nor any funerary sacrifices, she had to admit she was truly moved.

The men of letters and talented scholars indulged in romantic dalliances, composing poems, writing lyrics, and singing praises, envied by all.

But when this Emperor indulged in romantic dalliances, he would only take the mausoleum plans he had personally drawn and tell you how to build it here and how to build it there, and that their mausoleum need not be built too grand, because only the two of them would sleep there.

Only the two of them!

How fortunate she was!

Wushuang hugged Emperor Qianwu's neck, weeping copiously.

Upon seeing the Empress hugging His Majesty and crying, Fusheng hurriedly retreated with cat-like steps, not forgetting to instruct all those serving to leave as well.

[You are so despicable! How did it all become your accomplishment? Wasn't it I who also made suggestions?]

Well, Ji Yang had indeed made many suggestions, but who asked him to lack the patience to draw such detailed mausoleum plans? Thus, his credit was stolen.

[Tomorrow, I will take her to Mount Wanshou.]

The imperial mausoleums of Great Liang were located in the Wanshou mountain range, a little over a hundred li (approximately 30 miles) from the capital. Mentioning imperial mausoleums seemed to evoke images of gloom and dread, but in reality, the area was surrounded by mountains and boasted exceptionally beautiful scenery.

Moreover, the construction of Emperor Qianwu's mausoleum had already begun long ago. He had always wanted to see it but had not been able to find the time. He could use the excuse of inspecting the imperial mausoleums to leave the palace for a day.

Since his ascension to the throne, he had hardly left the capital, except for two winter hunts. Emperor Qianwu knew that he was feeling extremely stifled, and thus, without saying anything, tacitly agreed.

This gave Ji Yang a sense of triumph, as if he had caught him by his weak spot.

In light of this, that evening, Ji Yang told Wushuang that he would take her out to play tomorrow.

Where to go to play?

Let's go play at the Imperial Mausoleum, and take a look at our future resting place.

Very well, that can be considered a unique kind of romantic dalliance.

***

The next day, the Emperor and Empress, without alarming anyone or bringing any ceremonial carriages, went directly to Mount Wanshou on horseback, accompanied only by a few dozen Black Armor Guards.

The Imperial Mausoleum was located right in the middle of the Wanshou Mountain range, surrounded by mountains on three sides and water on one side, said to be an excellent geomantic location. It was said that Great Liang initially established its capital here because there was a dragon vein, and the pulse point of the dragon vein was located here.

Of course, this was what Ji Yang had told Wushuang in private; in reality, many people did not know that dragon veins had pulse points, and even if they did, they would assume it was beneath the Imperial Palace.

And the so-called Mount Wanshou was not just a single peak, but a mountain range composed of more than a dozen mountains, with the imperial tombs of several generations of Great Liang emperors scattered among them.

This place not only held the imperial tombs of several generations of emperors, but also a garrison of over twenty thousand tomb-guarding soldiers. The tomb-guarding army not only protected the safety of the imperial tombs, but also served as a hidden force guarding the vital areas of the capital, which only the current emperor could mobilize throughout the ages.

At this time, the Emperor and Empress, under the guise of inspecting the imperial tombs, were in fact out enjoying the scenery, unaware that the Ministry of Works officials in charge of the imperial tomb construction were suffering a great headache, because several very strange things had happened during the construction of the imperial tomb.

Here, it is necessary to talk about the general process of building a mausoleum for the emperor. Under normal circumstances, shortly after the emperor ascended the throne, he would seek out a minister from the Ministry of Works who was skilled in surveying and selecting auspicious sites to build his own mausoleum.

However, Great Liang had established its capital for many years, and the imperial tombs had already been determined. In order to prevent future generations from mobilizing large numbers of people and wasting money, the founding Emperor Taihe had made plans for his descendants when he built his own mausoleum.

There were many places suitable for building imperial tombs in this Wanshou Mountain range; one could simply find an auspicious spot that gathered wind and energy.

In other words, the Ministry of Works was already familiar with the auspicious spots in the imperial tombs suitable for building imperial mausoleums. Later, when an emperor passed away, they only needed to choose one of these spots.

That was how the Emperor Emeritus's imperial tomb was decided in those years, and that was also how Emperor Qianwu's was decided.

At that time, the officials of the Ministry of Works brought a map to Emperor Qianwu, who looked at the map and selected a spot from it.

As for the remaining work, it was up to the Ministry of Works to do it, such as conducting sacrificial ceremonies with the Ministry of Rites before building the imperial tomb, determining an auspicious day, and even calculating the exact time to break ground, which was also calculated by the Court of Imperial Observatory.

Everything went smoothly at the beginning, and the excavation went smoothly as well.

Generally, an emperor's mausoleum is divided into two parts: not only is there an underground palace, but there is also a palace complex on the surface, for future sacrificial purposes. The palace complex on the surface will be built after the underground palace is completed.

To build the underground palace, one must first dig down to a certain depth, and then begin to excavate the tomb passage. The width, height, and depth of the tomb passage are all customized, and it must be excavated and built simultaneously, that is, covering the rammed earth layer with walls and a roof, and stacking smooth stone strips on top of the soil layer to make it firm.

The construction proceeded very smoothly up to this point, and even because the tomb passage did not require any craftsmanship, it was built extremely quickly. But further excavation encountered difficulties.

First, the craftsmen couldn't dig any further, saying they had hit a layer of stone.

Zhang Pu, now fifty-eight years old, had overseen the construction of imperial tombs for two reigns and had perused countless records of his predecessors' imperial tomb construction. He was intimately familiar with the geology of imperial mausoleums. Given the mountain's terrain and landform, it was impossible for an impenetrable layer of stone to appear.

However, he was cautious and didn't allow the craftsmen to continue digging in that spot. Instead, he moved a few meters down and dug again, wanting to see what kind of stone layer it was.

But digging downwards was also blocked. As these two areas were excavated, the 'stone layer' behind the soil gradually revealed its form, and Zhang Pu discerned a hint of rammed earth.

Moreover, it wasn't ordinary rammed earth, but a rammed earth layer specifically used for constructing imperial tombs.

He even knew the approximate recipe: highly viscous yellow soil, stir-fried until cooked, mixed with a certain proportion of fine sand and lime, and then glutinous rice boiled into a juice and blended evenly.

It seemed simple, but in reality, there was no highly viscous yellow soil near the capital. It had to be transported from the Henan and Shandong regions. And using glutinous rice juice to mix the soil was even more extravagant. You could boil a bucket of glutinous rice juice, but if it were used to seal an imperial tomb, the cost would be astronomical.

Ordinary wealthy families couldn't afford it; it had to be an extremely rich and noble family.

But the rammed earth layer created in this way was extremely solid and firm. A shovel could only make a white mark. It was perfect for preventing tomb robbers.

No wonder the craftsmen couldn't dig through it. This special rammed earth layer, let alone digging with a shovel, would probably take half a day to crack even with a sledgehammer. And there was only one way to break through this rammed earth layer: pour vinegar onto the soil layer, and then digging with a shovel would be much easier.

Zhang Pu was completely dumbfounded. Could it be that there was an imperial tomb from a previous dynasty here?

But that didn't make sense either. Rammed earth was common, but this method of mixing rammed earth was unique to the Great Liang Ministry of Works and was specifically used for constructing imperial tombs. The overall color was dark brown, making it easily recognizable.

Moreover, Great Liang had only lost five emperors in its history, and there was already an imperial tomb built for one of them, the Emperor Emeritus. The current emperor's tomb was, well, currently under construction.

Then what was behind this soil?

Could it be that the Ministry of Works' rammed earth method wasn't unique, but learned from a previous dynasty?

It seemed that this was the only way to explain it.

Zhang Pu also had a concern: building a tomb on top of someone else's tomb was a great taboo.

Although the location of the imperial tomb was chosen by His Majesty, he determined the location of the underground palace and oversaw the construction. Now that such a big mistake had occurred, if His Majesty found out, the lightest punishment would be losing his head.

Zhang Pu thought about it for several days, deciding to take the risk. He had to save his head no matter what. He ordered the craftsmen not to tell anyone about this matter, explained the relationships and consequences, and tied everyone to the same boat.

Then he began to dig through this layer of rammed earth.

His plan was to excavate regardless of whose tomb it was, figuring that His Majesty wouldn't be able to supervise their work anyway. If the tomb below truly conformed to imperial standards, they would borrow this shell, modify and repair it, passing it off as the imperial tomb through deception.

As for who was buried inside, even if it were the King of Heaven himself, he couldn't worry about it now. At worst, during the process of repairing the imperial tomb, he would choose another location to bury the person, ensuring the body wouldn't be left exposed in the wilderness.

Now that it was decided, the rest would be easy.

Zhang Pu personally supervised the craftsmen, spending half a month excavating the rammed earth layer, even uncovering the front hall of the tomb chamber.

But it was precisely this tomb chamber that filled Zhang Pu with both shock and doubt, scaring him half to death.

The style in which this tomb chamber was constructed, even the patterns carved on the walls, were simply too familiar to him.

Before the construction of the imperial tomb, Emperor Qianwu had put forward his own requirements. The Ministry of Works had people draw up plans according to His Majesty's wishes, and after repeated revisions, Zhang Pu participated in finalizing the style and specifications.

It could be said that Zhang Pu could conjure the corresponding images in his mind with his eyes closed, knowing how the imperial tomb should be built and how it should be decorated inside.

Yet everything in this tomb chamber before him was built according to what he had imagined in his mind.

But when had he built such an imperial mausoleum?

The current situation was that something he was still in the process of making had appeared ahead of time. Zhang Pu even suspected he was dreaming!

He slapped himself hard several times, but the dream did not end. Moreover, that wasn't all. In front of the stone door leading from the front hall to the rear hall, there stood a stele.

The contents written on the stele were what truly scared him witless.

***

Just as he was flustered, terrified, and his heart was about to burst, someone came to report that His Majesty was personally coming to inspect the imperial tomb.

His first reaction was that it was over!

His Majesty definitely knew!

What he meant by "His Majesty knew" was not everything that was happening in the underground palace at this moment. He thought Emperor Qianwu knew about his mistake, that he had built the tomb on someone else's burial ground.

At this moment, Zhang Pu, due to excessive fright, had completely lost his composure. Everything he saw was challenging his nearly fifty years of life experience.

He no longer intended to hide anything. He directly, recklessly, reported all the strange things he had encountered to Emperor Qianwu.

Originally, Ji Yang was just bringing Wushuang to go through the motions.

He had said he was coming to inspect the imperial tombs, and he had to make the trip, but what was this person before him saying?

"You—you are called Zhang Pu, correct?"

Ji Yang couldn't recall the man's name for a moment, but then Emperor Qianwu emerged.

"Court Gentleman Zhang, are you aware of the consequences of uttering nonsense?"

"This subject is aware," Zhang Pu said, prostrating himself on the ground, trembling with fear. "But this subject is not uttering nonsense. Your Majesty will know if you take a look."

Emperor Qianwu's first thought was whether someone wanted to assassinate him, and had bribed Zhang Pu to set an ambush in the underground palace.

But such a clumsy scheme was obvious at a glance. Who would use such a scheme?

To be safe, Emperor Qianwu still ordered people to thoroughly clear the underground palace before planning to go down and take a look. He originally didn't plan to bring Wushuang, but Wushuang's face was frighteningly pale at this moment, and she insisted on going down together, so he had no choice but to bring her along.

The tomb passage had nothing peculiar about it, except that at the end of the tomb passage, there was an irregular large hole.

As Emperor Qianwu passed by, he glanced at the side of the soil layer, which indeed matched Zhang Pu's description of being a rammed earth layer.

After passing through this hole, the space inside suddenly opened up.

This front hall was more than ten meters wide and about seven meters high. The whole structure was an arch-and-vault, beam-free construction. The surrounding walls and the top of the hall were carved with many patterns related to Taoism, which looked simple, unadorned, and yet grand.

Facing them was a huge stone door, with a gate tower above it. The gate tower had flying eaves and upturned corners, majestic and grand. Many auspicious patterns were carved on the doorposts, and there were eighty-one stone-carved door nails on the door, which was the regulation for emperors.

Compared with this stone door and this great hall, the stone tablet standing on the left side in front of the door was somewhat abrupt.

Emperor Qianwu walked closer for a closer look.

Several lines of scribbled, blood-red characters were written on it with silver hooks and iron strokes. What made Emperor Qianwu and Ji Yang palpitate was not only the familiarity of the handwriting, but also the content on the stone tablet.

No one is allowed to enter this place except for my wife and I. If anyone disobeys, my descendants of the Ji family of Great Liang will kill without pardon! Sixth year of Qianwu, Emperor Yang.