"The box office of " Changjin Lake " has exceeded 5.7 billion, and there are movies whose box office is calculated in yuan!"
" Jang Zhidong ", which was released on January 7, 2022, had a box office of only 5.7 billion on the first day. 90 yuan, and the cumulative box office in 6 days was only 2,109 yuan. It was jokingly called the "2022 movie box office tragedy."
What was worse than the box office was Zhang Zhidong’s death.
As one of the representatives of the " Westernization Movement ", Zhang Zhidong pioneered Asia's largest steel mill, created a weaving layout, prepared a new school, and made outstanding contributions in the fields of industry, agriculture, commerce, education, etc., and Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang are also known as the "Four Famous Officials in the Late Qing Dynasty".
Time has passed, and the past glory of the four famous ministers has been crushed by time.
October 4, 1909, night, nine o'clock.
In the courtyard of No. 11 Baimi Xiejie, Xicheng District, Beijing, 73-year-old Zhang Zhidong dragged his broken body and said to his children:
"I am not in much pain." Then he passed away suddenly.
Two days later, the imperial court gave him the posthumous title " Wenxiang" and allocated three thousand taels of funeral silver.
In the same month, Zhang Zhidong’s coffin was transported from the capital to his hometown of Nanpi County, Hebei Province. His family spent another year purchasing an epitaph and tombstone.
On December 25, 1910, Zhang Zhidong's funeral was held grandly. Many princes and dignitaries came from the capital to pay their respects to the funeral, which was a glorious moment.
In less than a year, the Revolution of 1911 broke out, and the late Qing empire that Zhang Zhidong tried hard to maintain during his lifetime collapsed.
Despite this, Zhang Zhidong’s cemetery was not damaged. During the Northern Expedition, a company commander from Hubei passed by Nanpi County. He was grateful for Zhang Zhidong's political achievements in Hubei and took all the company soldiers to bow to Zhang Zhidong's grave.
Even after the war, Zhang Zhidong’s cemetery remained intact.
Until the autumn of 1966, a group of fanatical young people rushed to Zhang Zhidong's cemetery.
These young people are students of Nanpi Middle School. In the name of destroying the Four Olds, they used steel drills and hammers to cut open the coffin in the tomb, regardless of the dissuasion of the nearby people.
Zhang Zhidong in the coffin is wearing an official hat, his skin is dry and his flesh is dry, a few strands of white beard fall on his chest, and he is covered with six or seven layers of quilts. Although he held a high position during his lifetime, the burial objects were only a small comb, a pocket watch, a pair of glasses, two snuff bottles, as well as calligraphy and painting, an inkstone, and some gold and silver.
After plundering all the funerary objects, the young revolutionary generals beat gongs and drums and left. The onlookers dispersed, leaving only Zhang Zhidong's body, left to be blown by the wind and rain.
Two months later, a news spread in Nanpi - Zhang Zhidong's body was missing. People who were busy with the class struggle at that time did not pay attention to this matter. It was just a corpse, maybe it was picked up by a wild dog, it is unknown.
Until after the reform and opening up, many historical figures were remembered by people. As the Westernization Movement was taken seriously, Zhang Zhidong became the cultural business card of Nanpi County.
The staff of Nanpi County Government found Zhang Zhidong's descendants and prepared to establish a Zhang Zhidong Research Society. But what is embarrassing is that the so-called Zhang Zhidong's tomb is actually an empty tomb.
This made Zhang Zhidong's direct granddaughter Zhang Houcan return from overseas with regret.
Until 2007, an old man named Zhang Zhixin told county government officials that he personally buried Zhang Zhidong.
He then took the staff to the designated location, and after DNA comparison of the remains, it was determined that these were the remains of Zhang Zhidong, who had been missing for more than 40 years.
On October 4, 2008, the 99th anniversary of Zhang Zhidong’s death, his remains were buried in a well-prepared cemetery. Since then, Zhang Zhidong, who was known as "xiangshuai" during his lifetime, has been admired by future generations.
Among the four famous officials, Zeng Guofan was the first to die, with the most luxurious burial objects, and his tomb was also the most coveted.
1989, late at night.
Changsha, Pingtang Fulong Mountain at the foot of Jinpen Ridge, several villagers were chatting when they suddenly heard a loud noise.
"It's broken, someone is robbing the tomb again!" the leader of the villagers stamped their feet and shouted. Several people hurriedly ran to the back hill, only to see a robbery hole more than a foot wide, with steel drills, hoes and other tools scattered around it.
Villagers have experienced such a scene more than once. Because valuable funerary objects were buried in this cemetery, their owner was Zeng Guofan, the leader of the four famous officials in the late Qing Dynasty and the founder of the Hunan Army .
On March 20, 1872, Zeng Guofan, then the governor of Liangjiang, noticed a numbness in his feet. He was helped back to the study, unable to speak and convulsing all over. Within an hour, he died suddenly at the age of 61.
After Zeng Guofan's death, the imperial court posthumously awarded him the title of First-Class Yiyong Marquis, with the posthumous title of "文正". Zeng Guofan was proficient in Feng Shui during his lifetime. According to his will, Zeng's descendants transported his coffin back to his hometown of Baiyangping, Xiangxiang, Changsha Prefecture, Hunan, for burial.
The journey was bumpy for two or three months. It was early summer and the weather was getting hotter, and the coffin exuded a putrid smell. Because Zeng Guofan died too hastily and the cemetery had not yet been selected, the descendants of the Zeng family had to temporarily place the coffin in Jinpenling, Changsha.
After that, the Zeng family argued endlessly to choose a cemetery with excellent Feng Shui, and finally decided on the cemetery at the foot of Fulong Mountain in Pingtang.
At this time, Zeng was at the peak of his power. He bought more than 20 acres of land in Fulong Mountain, built a luxurious tomb of more than 300 square meters, and placed tens of thousands of gold and silver jewelry in the tomb. , coupled with the sacrifices offered by officials from various places, Zeng Guofan's tomb has become an enviable treasure hiding place.
Although Zeng Guofan died, the power of the Zeng family still existed. Coupled with the care of the tomb keeper, no tomb robbers dared to approach for decades. After the Republic of China, due to years of war, the Zeng family had no time to take care of themselves and had to neglect the management of Zeng Guofan's cemetery. On the eve of the founding of New China, all the pine trees planted in front of the tomb were cut down by nearby villagers and made into tables, chairs and benches.
Since then, the cemetery has often been visited by groups of suspicious people. Because of this, when the villagers of Fulong Mountain heard the loud noise, their first reaction was that someone had robbed the tomb.
When the police who received the report arrived, they found that the hole was more than 20 meters deep and led directly to the underground tomb. This made the archaeological experts who came later couldn't help but gasp. It's over! The tomb robbers succeeded!
It turns out that Zeng Guofan's tomb was very particular in its construction. The filling material was mixed and poured with Sanhe mud, gravel, and glutinous rice. It was extremely strong. The previous tomb robbers had tried their best and only exploded the rocks on the surface. This time However, high explosives were used, and it is estimated that the funerary objects in the tomb have been stolen.
Experts found another abandoned Qing Dynasty official hat in the grass, which was apparently left behind by the tomb robbers when they escaped. The official hats are finely crafted and well-preserved, and their value is much higher than the official hats preserved in museums. It seems that this group of tomb robbers did not know the goods. This gives experts a glimmer of hope. Perhaps the funerary objects in the tomb have not been stolen?
So, they sent an archaeological team member to enter the tomb. After some inspection, the team member reported the situation of the tomb, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Because the explosives made too much noise, they attracted the pursuit of the villagers. The tomb robbers fled in a hurry. Only some scattered objects were taken away from the tomb, and the loss was not as big as imagined.
After further analysis, experts believed that Zeng Guofan’s cemetery was too difficult to restore and it was better to close it for protection.
With the development of Changsha City in full swing, the vicinity of the cemetery has become a noisy residential area. The Feng Shui treasure land carefully selected by the Zeng family failed to allow Zeng Guofan to enjoy peace.
"Zeng Zuo" in the late Qing Dynasty became famous for a while. Zuo Zongtang, who had been competing with Zeng Guofan for more than ten years, had always been unwilling to do so.
He said angrily, one day, I want the world to call me "Zuo Zeng". Why should my last name be behind Zeng?
Even if it was a matter behind the scenes, the two of them were still at each other's throats. Only this time, Zuo Zongtang won, and he won honorably.
"I'm not a human being, just use this finger to atone for your sins!"
In the 1980s, in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Changsha, Hunan, a drunken man suddenly rushed into the kitchen, picked up a kitchen knife and dropped it. A finger was then cut off.
The man was once a tomb robber. The owner of the tomb he robbed was the national hero Zuo Zongtang.
Zuo Zongtang was an upright man and a breath of fresh air in the official circles of the late Qing Dynasty. In 1878, his heroic feat of carrying a coffin and sending troops to regain Xinjiang ignited the national sentiments of countless people. But even for such a highly respected hero, he could not escape the fate of having his tomb robbed and his body exhumed after his death.
In 1885, Zuo Zongtang, who was ordered to go to Fuzhou to supervise military affairs, died of illness at the age of 73. The next year, Zuo Zongtang's coffin was sent back to his hometown in Hunan by his son for burial.
In order to avoid harassment by tomb robbers, the Zuo family arranged three cemeteries on the day of burial. Except for the real cemetery in Changsha where Zuo Zongtang's remains were buried, the two in Liuyang and Xiangyin were just tombs.
In order to enhance the anti-theft level, an inner coffin, a middle coffin, and an outer coffin are placed in the real cemetery. The three coffins are all made of nanmu .
Since then, it has been baptized by war. Zuo Zongtang’s tomb building was almost destroyed and the trees were cut down.
In 1974, a group of greedy farmers saw the chaos in the current situation and started planning a tomb. In their view, as a feudal official, Zuo Zongtang's burial objects must be valuable after his death. However, when several people used explosives to blow up the tomb, they found that there was nothing else in the tomb. After the coffin was pried open, Zuo Zongtang's remains are lifelike and emit a strange aroma.
Several people searched for a while, and except for a string of wooden beads found on his chest and a piece of small jade taken out from his mouth, there were no other precious burial objects. At this time, a stench hit him, and the remains instantly turned into white bones. The stunned people suddenly dispersed like birds and beasts.
In that feverish era, this tomb robbing incident did not attract the government's attention. A nearby farmer named Wang Guisheng had heard about Zuo Zongtang's deeds since he was a child, and he had the courage to collect the remains and rebury them in the soil.
However, the group of tomb robbers did not obtain the property as they wished, and were often reviled by insiders. Several of them died in depression, and the only remaining one had to cut off his fingers to atone for his sin because he could not bear the humiliation.
A few years later, General Wang Zhen, then Vice Premier of the State Council, visited Changsha. He had led his army into Xinjiang and admired Zuo Zongtang's feat of regaining Xinjiang. In line with the feeling of sympathy between heroes, he decided to pay homage to Zuo Zongtang. The hero in my heart.
After learning that Zuo Zongtang’s cemetery had been stolen and destroyed, Wang Zhen was furious and immediately ordered the Changsha government to allocate funds for restoration.
On November 15, 1985, the restoration of Zuo Cemetery was completed, and Zuo Zongtang’s bones were buried in the foundation cave of the original site. After the 100th anniversary of his death, this hero who has been famous for generations finally has a happy ending.
Among the four famous officials, Li Hongzhang was the most controversial, and his death was also the most tragic.
On November 6, 1901, Li Hongzhang, who claimed to be the "Paperer of the Qing Dynasty", died of hemoptysis at the age of 78.
At this time, negotiations between the Qing government and the Eight-Power Allied Forces were still continuing.
Li Hongzhang's death was like the collapse of the Qing court. When Empress Dowager Cixi heard about it, she shed tears and sighed: "The overall situation is uncertain. If something unexpected happens, no one will share the burden!" Then she issued an edict to posthumously designate him as a first-class Suyi Marquis. , allocated five thousand taels of silver for his funeral.
Li Hongzhang is from Hefei, Anhui Province. He has always admired his fellow countryman Bao Zheng, a famous minister of the Song Dynasty . During his lifetime, he built his cemetery in Xiaoxiaying Village, 300 meters away from Bao Zheng's cemetery. After his death, the descendants of the Li family built the tomb passage with HT4 refractory bricks imported from the UK. It took a full year and four months to build it, and it became an instant hit.
No matter how solid the cemetery is, it cannot withstand the madness of human nature.
In the 1950s, a steel plant was established in Hefei. After receiving approval from superior authorities, the local advanced production cooperative immediately dispatched 32 production team captains to begin excavation of Li Hongzhang's tomb.
Ordinary shovels and hammers cannot dig the tomb passage at all, and even using explosives will not help. Later, someone proposed to dig a tunnel dozens of meters away. After dozens of days of excavation, Li Hongzhang's coffin was finally pulled out of the tomb.
was also pulled out, along with Li Hongzhang's wife Zhao Xiaolian. People first pried open the coffin and found a wooden box. After opening it, they found two heavy gold bricks, weighing a full thirty kilograms. When everyone cheered, the expert shook his head after appraisal and said: "This is not gold, it is copper!"
Are there any valuable funerary objects in Li Hongzhang's coffin? Everyone pried open another coffin.
The result was not satisfactory. Li Hongzhang's body was tightly wrapped in layers of quilts, and there was a booklet under his head, which was his autobiography written by himself. In addition, there is a pair of glasses, a pocket watch, a crutch, a seven-star sword, and seven gold coins arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper.
The Seven-Star Sword was used as a prop by the Anhui Provincial Drama Troupe, and the few remaining items were snatched away.
Afterwards, everyone shouted "Down with the traitors" and hung the two corpses on the tractor and paraded them through the streets. One day later, Li Zhongtang, who had once boasted of "competing with the world," was reduced to a pile of rubbish under the trampling of everyone.
Looking at the four famous officials in the late Qing Dynasty, the Westernization Movement they promoted promoted China's transformation into modernization; limited by the times, their actions had historical limitations. But no matter what, they should not suffer such trampling after death.
Forgetting history means betrayal.
Fortunately, that fanatical era is gone forever.
-END-
Author: Canghai Mingyuesheng
Editor: Daniel Li
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