文/余夕雯

俯瞰宋六陵一號陵園（下左）和二號陵園（下右）遺址。據(jù)史料記載推測，畫面左上方為“宋哲宗孟皇后陵”遺址區(qū)域。陳中秋/攝An aerial view of No. 1 (down on the left) and No. 2 (down on the right) mausoleums of the Six Mausoleums of the Song dynasty. The mausoleum on the upper left side is said to be the place where Empress Meng was laid to rest. Photo by Chen Zhongqiu.

杭州是南宋的皇城，而南宋的皇陵卻在紹興，后人把這里稱為“宋六陵”。這是現(xiàn)存江南地區(qū)分布最集中的皇家陵園。

很多人好奇，帝陵為什么會選在紹興？這是因為一個女人—孟皇后。

要知道，不是每個皇后死后都可以入葬皇陵的，而她不但入葬皇陵，還是啟動南宋皇家陵園的第一人。

從今年的7月仲夏到10月金秋，杭州西湖博物館總館南宋官窯館區(qū)進(jìn)行了一場《國音承祚—宋六陵考古成果展》，這是宋六陵十年考古成果的首次集中展出。

這場展覽，讓很多觀眾記住了孟皇后這個名字。

冷宮娘娘三十年 她是被皇室除名的女人

1073年，北宋熙寧六年，洺州（約在今河北省永年縣）一戶大宅子里誕生了一個漂亮的女孩，父母給她起名孟相，字媚韻。

宋代對子女的教育重視程度和我們現(xiàn)代類似。從小，孟氏就和哥哥弟弟一起上學(xué)、一起習(xí)武。

諸暨市應(yīng)店街鎮(zhèn)十二都村“南孟故里”的孟廟。陳中秋/攝The Mencius Temple in Yingdianjie township, Zhuji city. Photo by Chen Zhongqiu.

她天資聰慧，在私塾中深受夫子喜愛。

聰明多才之外，孟氏還有一個良好的家世—她是孟子第46世孫，她的爺爺是眉州防御使兼馬軍都虞候孟元。

名將之后，這位知書達(dá)理的大家閨秀將來注定不會嫁得平凡。但誰也沒有想到，她可以成為母儀天下的六宮之主。

16歲時，孟氏被征召入宮，經(jīng)過層層選拔和考核培訓(xùn)，終于，在她20歲那年，嫁給了北宋第七位皇帝，17歲的宋哲宗趙煦，成為了其第一任皇后。

俗話說，“女大三，抱金磚”。但故事并沒有往浪漫愛情的走向發(fā)展，因為選中她的，并不是宋哲宗本人，而是他的奶奶、垂簾聽政多年的高太后。

在強(qiáng)勢祖母的陰影下，年少的哲宗內(nèi)心充滿了壓抑和郁悶，對她安排來的皇后，自然也是愛不起來。

“包辦婚姻”一年后，高太后去世，只生了一位公主沒能生出皇子來的孟皇后，在后宮的安穩(wěn)日子也到了頭。

與此同時，宋哲宗在后宮中開始專寵容貌俏麗的宮女劉清菁，徹底冷落了皇后。

心機(jī)頗深的劉美人開始不惜一切手段謀害孟皇后。

機(jī)會終于來了。

1096年，孟皇后的女兒福慶公主突然夭折，劉氏借孟皇后給公主做法事的機(jī)會，派人向哲宗告狀，說皇后在宮中行厭勝之術(shù)，企圖謀害皇上。

哲宗一聽大怒，立刻下旨廢了孟皇后。

于是，23歲的孟皇后被迫住進(jìn)了寂寞荒涼的瑤華宮，成為一名道姑。

遭受喪女之痛加上廢后的雙重打擊，此時的孟皇后已經(jīng)心力交瘁。

瑤華宮雖名為宮，實際上只是幾間簡陋的破屋，圍成一處小院，荒草叢生，等同于一座“冷宮”，沒有皇帝的允許，她不能與外界接觸。

在冷宮里，孟皇后日夜思念著不幸夭折的女兒，外面不時有皇家消息傳來：劉美人被進(jìn)位為賢妃，不久生了一個兒子，成了新任皇后。再然后，新皇后的兒子也死了。又過了4年，一個驚人消息傳來，哲宗駕崩了，年僅25歲。

政局的變化，連帶著孟皇后的命運(yùn)也改變了。

宋哲宗同父異母的弟弟宋徽宗即位后，把嫂子孟氏召回宮中，復(fù)立為元祐皇后。但復(fù)立歸來，后宮中又是一場大戲，這一次，她一樣無法把握自己的命運(yùn)，短短一年時間，孟皇后再次成為宮斗犧牲品，被發(fā)配回到瑤華宮，繼續(xù)做了道姑。

再次被打入冷宮，就沒上次這么幸運(yùn)了，漫長的幽閉生活持續(xù)了近30年，外面的一切都與她無關(guān)，她就在冷宮里一直等到了51歲，才又被這個世界想起。

因禍得福當(dāng)太后 她是宋高宗最感恩的女人

1127年，金兵攻下了北宋首都，北宋亡。宋徽宗、宋欽宗及皇室成員都被金兵擄走，整個北宋王朝風(fēng)雨飄搖。

孟皇后因不在皇室名冊中，又正巧瑤華宮起火，她搬到了宮外侄兒家中暫住，躲過一劫。

金軍撤退后，開封城留下了以張邦昌為首的傀儡政府。張邦昌自忖沒有號召力，在眾人一致要求趙宋皇室的人出來主事的呼聲中，京城的廢后孟氏被請回來主持大局，張邦昌冊其為“宋太后”，請她垂簾聽政。

從這里開始，要改口叫孟太后了。

事實證明，當(dāng)初高太后選人的眼光沒錯，面對國破家亡，孟太后顯示出了她非凡的智慧和勇氣。她不但沒有對帶給她大半生委屈和傷害的宋室王朝反目相向，反而毅然決然地在兵荒馬亂中開始收拾爛攤子，并且當(dāng)機(jī)立斷，要尋找宋室遺孤，以期光復(fù)。

孟太后派自己的心腹侄兒找到了皇室幸存者—宋徽宗第九子、“康王”趙構(gòu)，并親寫書信勸其稱帝。

1127年，21歲的趙構(gòu)在南京應(yīng)天府(今河南商丘)登基，成為南宋開國皇帝宋高宗。

在宋高宗登基當(dāng)天，孟太后就撤簾還政。登基次日，宋高宗感恩這位“母妃”，立即冊封她為元祐太后，后又改元祐太后為隆佑太后，并聲稱孟太后有安定社稷的大功，是奸臣誣陷她的品德，他還命令國史院把她的功績記錄下來，并昭告天下百姓。

平戰(zhàn)亂守牌位 她是開啟“宋六陵”的第一人

南宋朝廷剛穩(wěn)定了沒兩年，因為一場兵變，孟太后再一次被推上了風(fēng)口浪尖。

1129年，建炎三年，面對金兵不斷南侵，宋高宗從南京一路狂奔到杭州，倉促中，以鳳凰山的舊州治（北宋杭州治所）為行在所。

當(dāng)時，扈從統(tǒng)制苗傅、威州刺史劉正彥發(fā)動兵變，脅迫高宗將皇位禪讓于三歲的太子，并請孟太后再度垂簾聽政。

叛軍兵臨城下，高宗被困在了鼓樓上，雙方談判不成。

這時候，56歲的孟太后離開鳳凰山皇宮，來到叛軍面前。她表面上敷衍叛將，暗中則調(diào)兵遣將。她召見大將韓世忠的妻子梁紅玉，讓韓將軍盡快帶兵勤王。待內(nèi)亂平息，宋高宗一復(fù)位，孟太后立即再次撤簾。

內(nèi)亂是平息了，但金兵又繼續(xù)追來，宋高宗、孟太后不得不顛沛流離、亡命天涯。這次，他們兵分兩路，高宗往沿海跑，孟太后則帶著祖宗牌位逃往西南洪州（今江西南昌），她帶著祖宗牌位還有一個重要意圖，萬一高宗被金兵追上了，她還可以指定新的繼承人。

隨著政局改變，南宋政權(quán)逐漸穩(wěn)定。1131年，宋高宗南遷至越州，改年號為紹興，寄托“紹（繼承）祚（國統(tǒng)）中興”之意。

剛穩(wěn)定下來，他立即就派人去接回孟太后。但太后畢竟年紀(jì)大了，再加上一路顛簸，實在是經(jīng)不起折騰，1131年4月，孟太后在紹興臥龍山行宮崩逝，那年她59歲。

高宗悲痛萬分，要將“母后”安葬在哪里？成了他心里一件頭等大事。

在為孟太后選擇墓葬地址時，南宋朝廷的禮官們看中了紹興會稽山余脈的富盛寶山下一片谷地，認(rèn)為這里東南高、西北低，與北宋帝陵地址相似。

這里被視為臨時的安息之所，期望著有朝一日可以魂歸河南鞏縣的祖陵，故將此山命名為“攢(cuán)宮山”?！皵€”有“暫時安置”的意思，就像臨安被視為臨時都城一樣。

浙江省文物考古研究所宋六陵發(fā)掘項目負(fù)責(zé)人李暉達(dá)說，根據(jù)目前的考古發(fā)現(xiàn)，還無法確定，禮官們當(dāng)時究竟是站在哪座山上看中了這片谷地。但這是宋高宗向世人宣告的一個信號，表達(dá)了他收復(fù)中原的政治愿望和決心。“皇陵體現(xiàn)了國家最高等級的喪葬制度，從北宋傳承的文化和傳統(tǒng)來考量，當(dāng)時以什么方式讓皇陵連貫著政治意識，這是個重大問題?！?/p>

已完成主體建筑建設(shè)的德壽宮遺址保護(hù)展示工程暨南宋博物院 ( 一期 )。陳中秋/攝The reconstructed Deshou Palace, which is also the Southern Song Museum. Photo by Chen Zhongqiu.

孟太后去世七年后，1138年，南宋王朝正式定都臨安（今杭州）。在其后的100多年時間里，先后有7位宋代皇帝（宋徽宗、宋高宗、宋孝宗、宋光宗、宋寧宗、宋理宗、宋度宗）和7位皇后下葬于紹興這座龐大的皇家陵園，后人稱之為“宋六陵”。

女中豪杰愛喝酒 她的后人定居諸暨“南孟故里”

孟太后一生榮辱沉浮，是智商情商雙雙在線的女中豪杰，她有一個愛好—喝酒。

據(jù)《宋會要輯稿》記載，在孟太后薨逝后，有一天，宋高宗對大臣們說：“太母恭慎，于所不當(dāng)?shù)?，分毫不以干朝廷。太母性喜飲，朕以越酒烈，不可飲，令別醞，太母寧持錢往沽，未嘗肯直取也！”

高宗認(rèn)為，紹興酒度數(shù)太高了，讓人專門釀造低度酒給她喝，她不愿意，寧可花私房錢買酒喝，不愿給朝廷增加負(fù)擔(dān)。意思是夸她謙恭謹(jǐn)慎，很守本分。

對待自己的族人，她也是嚴(yán)格要求，孟氏一族也因此成為最不愛搞事情的外戚，滿門忠烈。

其中，她的侄子孟忠厚就是典型代表。

他追隨、護(hù)駕宋高宗和孟太后一路南下到江浙一帶，最后定居在紹興諸暨。

《宋史·孟忠厚傳》記載，孟忠厚“遠(yuǎn)避權(quán)勢”。南宋朝廷特別推恩孟氏，南孟一族被五世封王。

孟忠厚還是孟子第47代孫，是孟子后裔在南方始祖。

1170年，奉宋孝宗御旨，諸暨縣令初建“孟子廟”，宋高宗還手書“仁壽堂”匾額為諸暨孟氏宗祠堂號。

孟姓是目前諸暨應(yīng)店街鎮(zhèn)第一大姓，專門有一個“南孟故里”，人數(shù)在兩萬以上。

回到杭州，也有一個地方跟孟太后有關(guān)。

為了追思孟太后，在南宋定都杭州后，宋高宗專門為她建了宅院?！秹袅讳洝酚涊d：“昭慈圣獻(xiàn)孟太后宅，在后市街。”

南宋時的后市街，與鳳凰山南的后宮連著，不僅是酒樓瓦肆聚集的地方，也是一帝三后的府院坐落處。一帝，指的是南宋末代皇帝，三位皇后分別是孟皇后、南宋光宗的李皇后以及理宗的謝皇后。

今天再走后市街，或許會有一點時空交錯的恍惚。孟太后雖然只在杭州待了半年，或許也曾到后市街走過，到酒樓里買酒喝。

她不像歷史上那些憑借能力和智慧一路所向披靡，開啟“大女主”人生的女政治家們，而是在江山社稷最艱難的時候挺身而出，功成后懂得及時歸政放權(quán)，絕不貪戀權(quán)力。

一個弱女子，一步步如履薄冰，為大宋王朝續(xù)了百年的命。歲月長河滾滾，這位賢德智慧與胸襟氣度并存的皇后，理應(yīng)被今天的我們記住。

西湖博物館總館南宋官窯館區(qū)內(nèi)舉行的《國音承祚—宋六陵考古成果展》。陳中秋/攝A visitor is seen at the Exhibition of Archeological Discoveries of Songliuling at the West Lake Museum. Photo by Chen Zhongqiu.

Empress Meng and Imperial Tombs in Shaoxing

By Yu Xiwen

杭州鳳凰山東麓的南宋皇城遺址。陳中秋/攝The Southern Song Imperial City Ruins at the foot of the Phoenix Mountain in Hangzhou city. Photo by Chen Zhongqiu.

Hangzhou was the imperial city of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), while the imperial tombs of the Southern Song dynasty were located in Shaoxing, which was later referred to as the “Six Mausoleums of the Song dynasty”. This is the most concentrated royal mausoleum in the southern part of China.

Why Shaoxing?

That is because of a woman — Empress Meng. Not every empress could be buried in the imperial tomb after death, yet Empress Meng was buried there. It was also for her reverence that the Southern Song royal mausoleum was initiated.

Within the main hall of the West Lake Museum in Hangzhou, an archeological exhibition is underway, the first-ever centralized exhibition of the 10-year archaeological achievements of the “Six Mausoleums of the Song dynasty”. This exhibition has made many visitors acquaint with the name of Empress Meng.

In 1073 in the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), a beautiful girl was born in a mansion in Mingzhou (nowadays Hebei Province roughly), and she was named Meng Xiang.

Meng went to school and practiced martial arts with her brothers from a young age.

She was gifted and intelligent, and was well-liked by her tutors in the private school.

Her family background was extraordinary — she was the 46th generation granddaughter of Mencius (372-289 BC), and her grandfather was Meng Yuan, the defensive governor of Meizhou and the inspector-in-chief of the cavalry.

At the age of 16, Meng was conscripted into the imperial court and, at the age of 20, selected as the spouse of the 17-yearold Emperor Zhezong (1077-1100), the seventh emperor of the Northern Song dynasty, and became his first empress.

Since she was chosen by Empress Dowager Regent Gao(1032-1093), the emperor’s grandmother, Meng was given the cold shoulder.

A year into their marriage, Empress Dowager Regent Gao died, and Empress Meng, who had only one daughter, had reached the end of her peaceful days in the harem. At the same time,Emperor Zhezong began to favor Consort Liu, ignoring Meng completely.

In 1096, Empress Meng’s daughter died suddenly and Liu used this occasion to accuse her of performing witchcraft against the emperor. Emperor Zhezong was so furious that he immediately stripped Empress Meng of her title.

As a result, the 23-year-old Meng was forced to live in a desolate Daoist nunnery, lonely and heartbroken.

While she pined for her daughter invariably, the world outside kept changing: Liu was promoted to be a consort, soon gave birth to a son, and became the new empress; then the new empress’ son died; after another four years, shocking news came that Emperor Zhezong died at the age of 25.

The fate of Meng also changed. After the accession of Zhezong’s half-brother, Huizong (1082-1135), he recalled Meng,his sister-in-law, back to the court and reinstated her as Empress Yuanyou. But she once again fell victim to another harem drama and was sent back to the nunnery just a year later.

However, she was not as lucky as last time. Her secluded miserable life lasted for nearly 30 years before she was remembered by the world again, at the age of 51.

In 1127, the Jurchen forces captured the capital of the Northern Song dynasty. Most of the imperial family was taken captive, and the whole Northern Song dynasty was in a state of turmoil.

After the retreat of the Jurchen, a puppet government headed by Zhang Bangchang (1081-1127) was installed in Kaifeng. Zhang thought he did not have the power to appeal to his people, so he invited Meng, who was living outside the court and escaped the attack, to come back and take charge.

From here on, the title of regent should be added to Meng’s name.

Watching her ruined state and starving people, Empress Regent Dowager Meng showed her extraordinary wisdom and courage. She sent her nephew, the ninth son of Emperor Huizong to find the survivor of the imperial family and persuaded the latter to claim the throne.

In 1127, the 21-year-old Zhao Gou (1107-1187) ascended the throne as the founding emperor of the Southern Song dynasty,Emperor Gaozong of Song. On the day of Gaozong’s enthronement,Empress Regent Dowager Meng stepped down from regency. In gratitude for her act, Emperor Gaozong gave her the title Empress Dowager Longyou, praising her achievements in stabilizing the state, and ordered for her merit to be recorded and publicized.

After only two uneventful years, the peaceful Southern Song dynasty was stirred up again.

In 1129, driven by constant Jurchen invasion southward,Emperor Gaozong ran wildly from Nanjing to Hangzhou, where he took an old government building at the foot of the Phoenix Moutain as his residence.

At that time, a rebel army coerced Emperor Gaozong to abdicate the throne and asked Empress Dowager Meng to take charge of the government again.

To break the stalemate, the 56-year-old Meng left her palace on the mountain and came to the rebels. She perfunctorily dealt with the rebel generals on the surface and secretly deployed her troops. As soon as Emperor Gaozong was restored, she immediately stepped down from regency again.

The civil unrest was quelled, but the Jurchen continued to come after them, and Gaozong and Meng were forced into exile again. This time, they parted ways: Gaozong went along the east coast, while Meng ran towards the southwest to Hongzhou (now Nanchang city in Jiangxi province) taking with her ancestral tablets, with which she could appoint a new successor if Gaozong got caught up.

With changes in the political situation, the Southern Song dynasty gradually stabilized, and in 1131, Gaozong moved south to Yuezhou and changed the title of his reigning era to Shaoxing.

The moment he settled down, Gaozong immediately sent someone to invite Empress Dowager Meng to return to the imperial court. But Meng was too old to withstand the bumpy return trip and died in her palace in Wolong Mountain, Shaoxing in April 1131, at the age of 59.

諸暨市應(yīng)店街鎮(zhèn)十二都村“南孟故里”孟廟中陳列的孟皇后相關(guān)碑刻。陳中秋/攝Stone tablets bearing inscriptions about Empress Meng are displayed at the Mencius Temple in Yingdianjie township, Zhuji city. Photo by Chen Zhongqiu.

Gaozong was so grief-stricken. Where best to bury “Her Majesty” became a priority on his mind.

When choosing a burial site for Empress Dowager Meng,the court officials of the Southern Song dynasty looked at a valley under Fushengbao Mountain in the remainder of Shaoxing’s Kuaiji Mountains, which was considered high in the southeast and low in the northwest, similar to the terrain of the Northern Song emperors’ tombs.

It was regarded as a temporary resting place with the expectation that one day the souls of the deceased would return to the ancestral tomb in Gongxian county, Henan province, so the mountain was named “Cuangong Mountain”. The character “cuan”means “temporary”, just as Lin’an was regarded as a temporary capital city.

Li Huida, head of the excavation project at the Zhejiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, said that based on the current archeological findings, it is not possible to determine exactly which hill the ceremonial officials were standing on at the time, looking at the valley. But it was a signal that Emperor Gaozong announced to the world, expressing his political desire and determination to reclaim the Central Plains. “The imperial tomb is a funeral system that reflects the highest rank of the state,and it was a major issue at that time to present the culture and tradition inherited from the Northern Song dynasty in a way that made the imperial tomb coherent with political consciousness.”

Seven years after Empress Dowager Meng’s death, in 1138,the Southern Song dynasty officially set its capital at Lin’an(present-day Hangzhou). Over the next 100 years, seven Song emperors and seven empresses were buried in the vast royal mausoleum in Shaoxing, known to later generations as the “Six Mausoleums of the Song dynasty.”

Empress Meng, a woman who braved out ups and downs,had a hobby: drinking.

Gaozong thought that the Shaoxing wine was too strong,and asked people to brew some wine of a lower alcoholic content specifically for her. But Meng refused that special treatment,preferring to spend her private money on drinking wine rather than adding to the burden of the court. After her death, Gaozong highly praised her for being modest, prudent and responsible. Empress Dowager Meng also treated her clan members strictly, making her clan the least fussy and most loyal of all the royal relatives.

Back in Hangzhou, there is also a place related to Empress Dowager Meng.

后市街。陳中秋/攝The Houshi Street. Photo by Chen Zhongqiu.

To memorialize Her Majesty, after the capital of the Southern Song dynasty was set in Hangzhou, Emperor Gaozong built a residence specifically for her. As theorrecords, “The residence of Empress Dowager Meng is in the Houshi [or Back Market] Street.”

In the Southern Song dynasty, the Houshi Street connected with the harem in the south of Phoenix Mountain was not only a place where restaurants and taverns gathered but also a place where the palaces of one emperor and three empresses were located. The one emperor was the last emperor of the Southern Song dynasty,and the three empresses were Empress Meng, Empress Li of the Southern Song Emperor Guangzong (1147-1200), and Empress Xie of Emperor Lizong (1205-1264).

Today, walking the Houshi Street again, you may feel a bit of time-space crisscross, although Empress Dowager Meng only stayed in Hangzhou for half a year. Perhaps she also walked to the street to buy some wine for herself from one of the taverns.

She was not like those female politicians in history who had been invincible with their ability and wisdom and lived a life of an “ever-victorious heroine”. Rather, she came forward at the most difficult time for her state and people, and afterwards she withdrew from regency decisively to return power to the emperor,never craving for more.

Starting as a weak woman, Empress Meng headed forward step by step like walking on thin ice, and under her protection,the Song dynasty got to survive for a hundred years longer. As the years rolled by, this virtuous, wise, broad-minded empress with great vision, deserves to be remembered by us today.