There are too many legends about Cao Cao's tomb in history. In particular, the truth about the "seventy-two suspected graves" has aroused people's appetite. Cao Cao didn't call himself emperor before his death, but was named Wei Wudi by posthumous title. From this point of view, his tomb can't be called the imperial tomb, but Cao Cao's life is unmatched by many emperors in China history, and we have every reason to regard Cao Cao's tomb as the imperial tomb.

A simple funeral is considered an expensive scam; The reform of changing customs has become a treacherous proof. However, historical materials have not been submerged by folklore and literary works after all. The thousand-year experience of Cao Cao's tomb shows the helplessness and tenacity of historical facts, and bears witness to the "lightness" and "heaviness" of historical truth under the pressure of human speech, morality and times.

Cao Cao's tomb is not mysterious. Compared with many emperors who began to build tombs before they died, Cao Cao paid no special attention to his own cemetery, but he still found a clear "statement". There is the last command written by Cao Cao more than a year before his death in the History of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wudi, saying that "ancient burial must be in a barren land." According to the rules, the original name of the west side of Ximen Bao Temple was Shouling, and because of its height, it could not be sealed or planted. He advocated being buried in a barren land and choosing his tomb site on the hill west of Ximen Bao Temple, without building mounds or planting trees, which can be said to be a simple funeral. In his last work "Legacy Order", it is even clear that "it is buried in Xigang, Ye Zhi, near Ximen Bao Temple, and there is no hidden treasure." He should wear ordinary clothes and not bury jewels. He also asked the funeral to be simple and not to have a tomb sacrifice.

Judging from the existing historical data, Cao Cao seriously implemented the arrangement of his mausoleum. His son Cao Pi's "Ce Wen" and Cao Zhi's "Obituary" both described the funeral and funeral, which not only showed that he was buried in the west of Yecheng, but also wrote that Cao Cao was wearing patched clothes when he died. Lu Ji, a scholar in Jin Dynasty, and Lu Yun's "Diaowen" and other works all introduced the burial place of Cao Cao. In the biographies of Sima Yi, Jia Kui and Xia Houshang in the History of the Three Kingdoms and the Book of Jin, it is also recorded that they escorted Cao Cao's coffin to Yecheng for burial. It can be explained that Cao Cao was publicly buried in Yecheng. Moreover, if it must be said that Cao Caoli built a suspicious tomb, he made up a lie in so many historical materials left to future generations, not only during his lifetime, but also after his death, and his sons, ministers, literati and historians after the regime change, which were not discovered for hundreds of years, and were later pointed out without much practical basis. This seems ridiculous.

According to relevant records, due to the simplicity of the funeral, no tall and solid memorial hall was built. A few years later, the memorial hall on the mausoleum was destroyed. Because "the temple was completely destroyed", Cao Pi ordered that "the horses and chariots should be returned to the stables and the clothes should be hidden in the mansion to save morality from the first emperor." The official protection of Cao Cao's tomb ended only a few years after his death, and the Cao Wei regime was still in its heyday, on the grounds of "frugality." Because there were no treasures buried with the tomb, and they were not valued by grave robbers, and there were no civil tombs and no trees planted, the location of Cao Cao's tomb was unknown after several dynasties. According to historical records, there is no doubt about the location of Cao Cao's tomb in Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, visited Cao Cao's tomb and wrote an article as a sacrifice. However, since the Northern Song Dynasty, although the location of Cao Cao's tomb has been recorded in the history books, no one knows its true location in the actual geographical environment.

Also from the Northern Song Dynasty, due to various reasons, the image of Cao Cao's treacherous hero began to take shape, and the unknown tomb site became the proof of his treacherous hero. There are tombs of the Northern Dynasties in the west of Yecheng, which are said to be the tombs of seventy-two suspected Cao, and gradually entered poetry from oral legend. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong exaggerated the legend and became Cao Cao's "command to set up 72 suspected tombs outside Wujiang City of Zhang Defu, so that future generations would not know my burial place for fear of being discovered." Legend has become a "legacy", which shows that Cao Cao will cheat as long as he is alive, exaggerating his image as a treacherous man. Pu Songling also included a tomb of Cao Cao in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, and expanded the location from Yecheng to Xuchang, and from underground to underwater, pointing out that Cao Cao's tomb may be beyond its 72 suspected tombs, which shows its cunning. With the spread of these masterpieces, the mystery of Cao Cao's tomb is more striking and confusing.

However, in Zi Tong Zhi Jian written by Sima Guang in Song Dynasty, there is still a record that Cao Cao was buried in Gaoling, and Hu Sansheng in Yuan Dynasty even pointed out that Gaoling was in the west of Yecheng. From the History of the Three Kingdoms to History as a Mirror, there are not many questions about Cao Cao's funeral and burial in historical records. But the so-called three men make a tiger, in the face of popular views, historical materials seem a little pale and powerless. Among many explanations about the mystery of Cao Cao's tomb, seventy-two suspected tombs are the most widely spread and the "basis" is the most "sufficient", because Cao Cao is indeed buried in this area, and there are many ancient tombs there, but they belong to the tombs of the Northern Dynasty, including the Northern Wei Emperor Yuan and the Northern Qi warrior Lan Ling. These people are not unknown in history, and there are inscriptions in the cemetery, which should not be difficult to find out.

But it is this rumor that is not difficult to clarify that has been widely circulated for thousands of years and has become more and more abundant. Historical books such as The History of the Three Kingdoms are no strangers to literati. Luo Guanzhong wrote the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, based on which he added something that was not in the original, which was obviously intentional. Cao Cao did many great things, and there were different opinions about it when he was alive. After the Northern Song Dynasty, Cao Cao began to be identified as a traitor. The more he responded to the poem "Cao Cao's Suspected Tomb", he wrote: "Deceive the Han before his death, and bully others after his death." "If you die with your wisdom, you will rest in peace. How can you care about Qiu Long? " "I don't doubt people's doubts. I have an unknown monarch. If I ask 72 questions, your body will be buried. " Su Shi said "Cao Cao is treacherous", and Lu You said "Tian Xin reprimanded Cao Cao". Scholars who read history books all denied Cao Cao, and Cao Cao became the representative of the "villain" in the widely circulated story of the Three Kingdoms. In this case, it is not difficult to understand that the historical facts about Cao Cao are influenced by moral judgment.

With the passage of time, historical situations and historical records are getting farther and farther away from reality. Active in real life are well-known literary works and folklore. The reporter grew up not far from Cixian County, and the so-called seventy-two suspected graves are here. He knew this legend before he knew that there were three countries in history. A few days ago, he listened to the ballad "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" on the radio in a taxi and told Cao Cao that he ordered the establishment of seventy-two suspected graves in Wujiang Town before his death. Under the constant erosion of time, the traces of history are getting weaker and weaker. The so-called "the Yangtze River flows eastward, and the waves wash away heroes" ... Many things in ancient and modern times are jokes. "However, history is history after all. Although "how many things in ancient and modern times" will dance in a joke, it will not blow with the wind in the end.