The only underwater imperial tomb in China was found, lying in the water for 300 years. Whose grave is this?

The only underwater imperial tomb in China was found, lying in the water for 300 years. Whose grave is this? As one of the four ancient civilizations in the world, China has made brilliant achievements in ancient culture. Funeral culture has always been a very important part in the evolution and development of Chinese civilization for thousands of years. Nowadays, the ancient funeral culture has become the research object of experts and scholars, and the discovery of ancient tombs provides powerful material evidence for archaeology and other fields.

Among many ancient tombs, the imperial tomb is often the tomb with the highest specifications and the greatest archaeological value. But for the sake of caution, the imperial tombs are usually not allowed to be excavated, and can only be protected in situ. The most famous mausoleum should be the Mausoleum of the First Qin Dynasty or the Ming Tombs. In today's cognition, most people think that the imperial tomb is built on the ground or underground. However, there are always exceptions. In 1960s, China discovered the underwater imperial tomb for the first time, which was hidden under the lake for nearly 300 years. So, who was this underwater imperial tomb built for?

During the period of 1963, due to the drought in Hongze Lake area, the water level of the lake continued to decline. Finally, a huge ancient tomb appeared in front of the world. Later, after on-the-spot investigation and discussion by many archaeologists, the author made a basic inference about this large-scale ancient tomb, which is a royal tomb in the Ming Dynasty and the first underwater imperial tomb discovered in China.

Archaeologists quickly identified the owner of this underwater tomb. This is a grave with many people. The owner of the tomb is Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestor, great-grandfather and his grandfather, so this underwater tomb is called Ming Zuling. Although we know the owner of this underwater imperial mausoleum, there are still many problems that plague people. Of course, people are most concerned about whether this underwater mausoleum is really built underwater.

The answer to this question is that although Ming Zuling is called an underwater mausoleum, it is not built underwater. So why did it appear underwater? There are two main reasons why the Ming Zuling appeared underwater. First of all, the location of the Ming Zuling is a low-lying area, which is the fundamental reason why it is hidden underwater. Second, human factors directly caused the Ming Zuling to be flooded.

Man-made factors caused the Ming Zuling to be flooded, which refers to the water control policy of the Ming Dynasty. During the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, in order to protect the farmland in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, hongzhi emperor ordered Liu Daxia, the then minister, to build the Taihang River embankment. Once the embankment is completed, the tributaries in the north of the Yellow River will be blocked, and a large amount of Yellow River water carrying sediment will flow into the Huaihe River in the south.

Due to the narrow channel of the Huaihe River, it can't bear such a large flow, and the sediment deposition of the Yellow River, the floods on both sides of the Huaihe River are getting more and more serious. Soon, the Ming rulers realized the seriousness of the Huaihe River flood, so they ordered Pan Jixun, an expert in water resources management, to solve this problem. After investigation, Pan Jixun put forward the water control policy of "controlling water and sand" and "storing Huai River and brushing Yellow River". Although these two water control policies are scientific, there are many problems in actual operation, including the policy of "storing Huaihe River and brushing Yellow River", which leads to the rise of water level in Hongze Lake and the weakening of flood control ability. By A.D. 1680, the Ming Zuling was flooded by a catastrophic flood. After that, it sank to the bottom of Hongze Lake for nearly 300 years.