When talking about ancient tombs in Hubei, the first thing people think of is the tomb of Tanghou At (a prince named At in the state of Zen) in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. In fact, in the land of Kinh So (the old name of ancient Hubei) many noble princes have long been buried.
During the Ming Dynasty, a famous King Liangzhuang was also buried here, and his tomb in terms of scale was second only to the Dinh Mau Royal Tomb of the Ming Dynasty with much gold, silver and jewels.
King Liangzhuang Chu Chiemwei is the ninth son of Minh Nhan Tong Chu Cao Si. He was born in 1411 and was appointed King of Liang at the age of 12, and was given a fief in Hubei. At the age of 18, he officially took office, but unfortunately, before the age of 30, he died of a serious illness. However, in the history books, there is no record of his illness.
Until now, people still thought that “Ming Su” did not mention him much, because he was not a respected figure, until grave robbers used explosives to blow up the tomb and awaken the sleeper. his thousands of income.
At the beginning of the 21st century, King Luong Trang’s tomb was blown up and dug up by the tomb cultists. At that time, local people discovered it and reported it to the authorities.
When investigators from the Zhongxiang city police arrived at the scene, they discovered that the ancient tomb had been damaged by explosives and was leaking, and the scene was a mess. If the archaeological excavation and mausoleum are not promptly excavated, it is likely that the ancient tomb will completely collapse.
In order to save the cultural relics that may remain inside, the archaeological team has been approved by the Department of Cultural Heritage to allow salvage excavation.
Because the tomb robbers used explosives to destroy the structure of the tomb, causing a large amount of water to stagnate in the tomb, it took archaeologists many days to remove the amount of stagnant water in the tomb.
After that, experts had to open the stone door weighing up to 500 pounds, and then discovered a strange phenomenon – at the other end of the tomb, there was still another door. From the traces left from the door frame, this stone door was broken, but they did not see fragments on the ground.
After entering the tomb, archaeologists thought that if the tomb door was broken, the inside must have been robbed. But when they entered, they were immediately stunned by the gold, silver and jewels scattered all over the floor.
There are more than 5,100 burial objects made of gold, silver, jade, precious stones and porcelain in the ancient tomb. The quantity and exquisite craftsmanship of these objects truly make people admire.
Among the gold items, there are vases with gold lids, gold phoenix-shaped hairpins, gold-plated crowns, gold Buddha statues…
Many cultural artifacts, except for what archaeologists have seen in Minh Dinh Tomb, have never seen anything similar in scale in the royal tombs of the Ming Dynasty.
Among them are two gold bars, considered priceless treasures, one bar has an inscription on it with the general meaning: “In the 17th year of Vinh Lac, in the West and other places, you can buy a bar of gold.” 50 tael gold with 80% real gold”.
The measurements of such a gold bar have indeed never been seen by experts in any ancient tomb of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty stipulated that when princes became parents, they would be rewarded by the court with a gold bar weighing 50 taels. That also means that Luong Trang Vuong has married two wives in his life.
In other words, this gold bar was purchased from abroad by diplomat and navigator Zheng He during his trip to the West. Regarding the purpose of these two gold bars, after consulting historical documents of the Ming Dynasty, experts speculate that they were gifts given to them by the royal court upon marriage.
The Ming Dynasty stipulated that when princes became parents, they would be rewarded by the court with a gold bar weighing 50 taels. That also means that Luong Trang Vuong has married two wives in his life.
It turned out that when Luong Trang Vuong was seventeen years old, his wife, concubine Ky Thi, passed away early. The pain of losing his wife made him live in pain and alone for 5 years.
Five years later, in Hubei territory, he met Mrs. Wei. Wei’s thoughtfulness and gentleness, along with her sympathy for the loss of her beloved wife, were like a ray of sunshine shining into Zhou Zhanwei’s gloomy life.
The two quickly fell into the river of love, then decided to get married. Their life was very happy after getting married and they had two daughters, Princess Tan Ninh and Princess Ninh Vien.
However, the peaceful time did not last long. After the two got married, they were only together for 8 years before Luong Trang Vuong passed away due to illness. This time, Princess Wei lost the person she loved. She was so miserable and desperate that she wanted to kill herself many times, but was stopped by her maid.
Before she died, the princess specially instructed her to bury herself next to King Luong Trang. However, the tomb of King Luong Trang at that time was not designed for burial. Therefore, the servants in the royal palace had no choice but to destroy the stone door of King Luong Trang’s tomb and then build an underground room next to it.
At this time, the Orthodox Emperor Zhou Qizhen, the eldest son of Ming Xuanzong, who was Zhu Zhanwei’s uncle, heard this news and felt very sorry for his aunt, so he issued a decree. only forced her to value her life and take on the responsibilities of a mother, because after all, she still had two immature daughters to raise.
In addition, the Orthodox Emperor also specially granted permission not to close the fief and keep the palace of King Luong Trang until she wanted to leave, so that she could raise her children with peace of mind.
Because it was a holy decree, Lady Wei could only shake off the idea of suicide, follow the emperor’s wishes, and concentrate on raising her daughter.
However, Princess Wei was in a weak physical condition, and day and night she missed her husband and became mentally ill, so she soon followed Vuong Luong Trang at the age of thirty-eight, making everyone feel pity.
Before she died, the princess specially instructed her to bury herself next to King Luong Trang.
However, the tomb of King Luong Trang at that time was not designed for burial. Therefore, the servants in the royal palace had no choice but to destroy the stone door of King Luong Trang’s tomb and then build an underground room next to it.
That’s why the stone door was broken but the burial objects were not taken by thieves. The tomb robbers then illegally used explosives, causing underground water to flood the mausoleum. Then, due to lack of professional tools, they had no choice but to give up.
But also because of the reckless actions of tomb robbers, archaeologists know about this tomb. Since then, a large number of precious cultural artifacts have come out of the ground, and at the same time allowed this epic love story to be famous in the world.
