The tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang's fiancée, the Yan family of Huamingtang

The tomb of the Yan family of Huamingtang, also known as the 'First-rank Lady Tomb' or 'Miss Yan Tomb', is located 500 meters southeast of Huamingtang Village, Xiaoxi Town, Wuhe County, Bengbu City, Anhui Province, beside National Highway 104, about 70 kilometers from the downtown area of Bengbu City. The 'Fengyang Prefecture Annals' record: 'The Yan family's grave is located under the fertile mountain east of Huayuan Lake, with stone figures, stone animals, and steles.' The tomb was built in the seventh year of the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty (1374), covering an area of 1,500 square meters. It once had a five-bay hall for ancestral offerings, and the tomb complex faces south from the north, situated at the southern end of Dagong Mountain, close to the hillside, with an open area to the south, making it a geomantic treasure spot - 'Ji land'. It has the typical burial style of a first-rank lady from the Ming Dynasty. Currently, there is one unmarked stele, pairs of stone elders, stone tigers, stone sheep, stone horses, and watch pillars; bricks with inscriptions such as 'the seventh year of Hongwu' and 'made in Zhenjiang Prefecture' have been unearthed, corresponding to historical records; it is an important physical material for the study of the Ming Dynasty's funeral system and history, now listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit of the seventh batch. The local legend of the tomb owner Miss Yan and the love story with Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is widely circulated in Huamingtang. At the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was a place called 'Yanjiawa' near Huamingtang Village, where a wealthy Yan family lived, known locally as 'Yan's Tower'. The Yan family had a daughter who was literate and reasonable, beautiful and virtuous, and was a well-known lady in the Xiaoxi area. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang joined Guo Zixing's peasant uprising army in Fengyang. Since Xiaoxi bordered Fengyang, the Xiaoxi area also became a main battlefield between the uprising army and the Yuan forces. In one battle with the Yuan army, Zhu Yuanzhang was injured and fled to 'Yan's Tower', where Miss Yan hid him under her skirt in a basket and later took him to an embroidered building to heal. Over time, Zhu and Yan developed feelings for each other, and although they pledged to marry, they never did. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang intended to arrange the marriage to Miss Yan, he learned that she had already died of depression. Zhu Yuanzhang was heartbroken and greatly rewarded the Yan family, giving her a lavish burial with first-rank honors. Since Miss Yan died unmarried, only a phoenix was engraved on the stele, leaving it unmarked... The site is conveniently located by the national highway but is remote and far from the city center, not close to Wuhe County town either. Although it is open to the public for free, few visitors come. It is said that a few years ago, there was an incident of stone carvings being stolen, but fortunately, they were recovered in time, and now there are people on duty to guard the place.