Chapter 70 confusing cause of death

Li Lianying died in the third year after Cixi's death and was buried in Enjizhuang after his death.Today's Li Lianying cemetery in Enjizhuang has long lost its luxurious and magnificent features after years of erosion, but some buildings on the ground are still well preserved, such as ancestral halls, Yangzhai, stele pavilions, tiger skin walls, pine forests, and mounds. , while the archways, single-hole stone bridges, epitaphs, incense tables, five offering tables, and the top of the tomb no longer exist. Li Lianying's tomb was destroyed in August and September of 1966 at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, but the underground tomb is still basically intact. Six meters deep.

Before entering the tomb, there are two stone gates supported by white marble, and the distance between the two gates is less than two meters.The walls on both sides of the passage are inlaid with snow-white stones, engraved with patterns similar to five bats holding longevity.There is a pair of couplets engraved on the door frame of the second door. The upper couplet is true and loyal, and the second couplet is restraint and peace of mind.Both gates are of the same construction, with stone grooves carved behind the gates.Before the tomb door is closed, put a stone ball with a diameter of about 30 centimeters, which can prevent tomb robbers from opening the door at will.There is a three-inch long and four-inch wide iron pin on the side of the second door, which is also to prevent tomb robbers from passing through the second door and entering the tomb.The tomb chamber is about four meters long and three meters wide. The surrounding walls are made of granite and the floor is paved with white marble. There is a complete coffin bed on the ground for parking the coffin. It is about three meters long and one meter wide. Fifth, it is about one foot high, with hexagonal patterns engraved on it, and tiger head-shaped cloud patterns engraved on the part that touches the ground, so that there is a gap between the surrounding and the ground, which is convenient for the placement of the coffin.

There is also a special water well under the coffin bed, and the round hole of the coffin bed is just aligned with the center of the well head. This burial method is called Jinjingyu burial.There are two explanations for this burial method: one is that Feng Shui has a long history like the water in the well, which will make the future generations prosperous;But in fact, Li Lianying is not qualified to use the standard burial method of Jinjing jade burial.In order not to expose this practice of transcending rank, the round hole in the center of the coffin bed was not opened, so as not to leave a handle.

Li Lianying's coffin was smashed to pieces, and now there is nothing left.The entire cemetery was built behind the Guandi Temple, covering an area of ​​more than two acres, plus buildings such as the ancestral hall and the sun house on the ground, it also covers an area of ​​more than ten acres. Sun Baoxiang, an old man at Li Lianying's cemetery, said that in the spring of the third year of Xuantong (1911), when Li Lianying's cemetery was built, he was only fifteen years old. First, his father, Sun Jingchun, was hired by the Li family to look after the grave.Later, when his father was old, he took care of the cemetery.Later, because of the turmoil and the gradual decline of the Li family, nothing was given.

Back then, Sun Baoxiang lived in the west wing in front of the ancestral hall.There are more than 40 Yangzhai in total.Except for the ancestral hall, the rest of the rooms are mainly used for temporary rest when men, women and children of the Li family come to visit the graves to worship ancestors or sweep the graves.These houses are usually idle, and when the Li family comes, the men ride horses and the women ride in cars.All matters such as eating, drinking tea, and resting are all handled by him.Sun Baoxiang also said that Li Lianying's cemetery was built by his eighth nephew Li Futing.Li Futing has a bad temper, because he has a problem with one eye, everyone calls him blind.The entire construction process lasted a year and a half.

In October of the third year of Xuantong (1911), due to the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911, the political situation changed drastically, and the tomb repair workers had to leave one after another.It was not until the second year that the situation gradually subsided, and Li Futing invited people to continue the repairs, and it was not fully completed half a year later.During the entire construction process, bricklayers, masons, carpenters, and horses and horses transporting materials and quarrying came and went continuously, and hundreds of people were invested in the construction every day.When it was fully completed, the whole project cost about 20,000 taels of silver.

At that time, there was a large platform around the tomb, and the treasure roof on the platform was more than two meters high and more than three meters in diameter.There is a corridor in front of the tomb. The sides of the corridor are paved with granite and the middle is made of square bricks. Unfortunately, these are no longer preserved.It can still be seen today that there are four rows of cypress trees on both sides of the Yonglu Road, two white pines (there were five in those days) near the top of the tomb, and a six-meter-high mound behind. The tiger skin wall is still well preserved.

Li Lianying was a slave all his life, and he also experienced joys and sorrows, ups and downs, but he only knew about life and could not predict after death. After Li Lianying's death, in October of that year, the Wuchang Uprising of 1911 broke out and the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, ending thousands of years of feudal rule in China and establishing the Republic of China.The current Li Lianying cemetery is listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Haidian District, Beijing.As a witness of history, in addition to the vicissitudes of the four-cornered pavilion, there are also pines and cypresses and Chinese pagoda trees on the upper and lower sides of the mound, which are still luxuriant and lush.

There are many theories about the cause of Li Lianying's death, the most popular are the following three: 1. Li Lianying was killed in the South Garden of Beijing (the former Shengping Administration), and the head was taken away by the murderer. There was only one body when buried, and the head was fake. It is rumored that the fake head was made of silver or gold of. 2. Li Lianying had a grand-niece who married into Wudi County, Shandong Province. It is said that Li Lianying went to visit her grand-niece and took a trip to Mount Tai. She was killed at the junction of Shandong and Hebei.At that time, the two attendants who followed were so frightened that they only carried a bloody head back to Beijing in a furskin. When they sent people back to find his body, there was no trace of it.

3. After he retired to the South Garden, although Empress Dowager Longyu gave him two eunuchs to serve him, whenever he recalled the power of following Empress Dowager Cixi in the past, compared with the current depression, he was always very depressed.So he slipped out of the capital and went to Dongling to visit Cixi's mausoleum, but was killed on the way back. Which of these three statements is true and which is false? Where exactly did Li Lianying die and by whom?It ended up being a mystery that haunted people. Judging from the situation introduced by the grave diggers, it can at least prove that Li Lianying did not die of illness in Beijing as rumored.Li Lianying's cemetery was originally well preserved, and the tomb has never been opened.When the second door of the tomb was dug, I saw a coffin made of golden nanmu, painted with black-brown wax paint and gilt paintings, all of which were opera scenes, and the characters were lifelike and lifelike.After the coffin was opened, it looked like a person was lying inside, everything was in good condition, covered with a quilt, and there were many neatly stacked clothes on both sides.

When they began to take out the contents of the coffin, people discovered that there was only a skull and two calf bones in Li Lianying's coffin, and nothing else. There was only a pair of boots on the feet, and the soles of the boots were intact.The braid on the head was also intact, three feet long, and connected from top to bottom with something like black silk thread. The upper half was hair, one foot long, and the lower half was completely silk thread. Judging from the situation in Li Lianying's coffin, the legend of being killed may be true.Moreover, an old man in Li Jia Village also said that one day Li Lianying's heir, Li Chengwu, was recovering from illness in the manor, and suddenly someone from Beijing sent a letter on horseback, telling him to leave for Beijing as soon as possible, saying that Li Lianying was seriously ill.After receiving the news, Li Chengwu rushed to the train station and went to Beijing.Soon, news came from Beijing that Li Lianying had died.This statement supports Li Lianying's sudden death, but if he cannot support it, he will be killed.Therefore, the cause of Li Lianying's death is still inconclusive, and I am afraid it will always be a mystery.