In 1980, the brick kiln factory in the village and town of Shucheng County, Anhui Province, was working to dig up the soil, a shovel went down but dug out a Spring and Autumn tomb, the archaeological team immediately launched a rescue excavation, but the excitement of the archaeologists has not yet passed, some experts have found that the tomb has long been destroyed, the tomb robbers of the former dynasty have long been here to visit, and took a large number of "souvenirs". However, after day and night of hard work and cleaning, 183 large and small cultural relics were still unearthed in the tomb, most of which were abandoned by tomb robbers for their damage and low value. One of the bronze drum bases in the shape of a dragon and tiger stands out, and its atmospheric structure and exquisite awkwardness all show its sense of honor, but it is a pity that the drum base has also missed most of it. The integrity of the base can not be guaranteed, experts can only regret to designate it as a third-level cultural relic, but with the follow-up clean-up work, the fate of the drum base has taken a earth-shattering turn.
First, explain what a drum is. Jiangu is a large musical instrument popular in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, divided into two parts, the lower part is the Jian drum seat, generally decorated with very intricate ornaments, there is a hole in the middle (as shown in the picture above), to insert a wooden stick, and the wooden stick is topped is the Jian drum, and the wooden stick and the jian drum constitute the upper part. Due to their age, wooden sticks and drums have long since decayed, and only the bronze base remains to this day. Apparently, a considerable part of the Drum Stand was lost, and the structure used to insert the Drum Stick was lost. Artifacts like this, which are common and incomplete and cannot be repaired, often end up being obliterated by time.
The drum stand is quite ornamental: two symmetrical tiger heads and four surrounding green dragons shine together, the tiger's head has square eyes and large ears, open mouth and roar, lifelike, and dragon ornaments are exquisitely carved, noble and domineering, vivid and realistic. While the archaeologists were amazed by the ancients' miraculous smelting technology, there were even more amazing discoveries: there was a line of writing cast on the periphery of the seat, 98 characters on the upper circle and 52 characters in the lower circle, and after careful identification, it was found that one of the inscriptions read: "Only the first month of the first month of the auspicious geng noon xx of the grandchildren xxxx." ”
The Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字) reads: "Shu ye of yu yu. That is to say, "Yu" is said to be "Shu" in the ancient meaning, so the character "Yu xx" in the inscription is translated as "Shu mou". The place where the drum seat was excavated is called Shu County, and there is a spring and autumn small country Shu guo in the ancient texts, so correspondingly, this spring and autumn tomb is the tomb of a certain monarch of the Shu state!
Previously, shuguo had always existed in written records and had not found any physical evidence, and the amazing advent of this drum seat made the country that had disappeared for nearly three thousand years see the light of day, and also opened the door to the history of Shuguo. As the only cultural relics that accurately locate the Shu state, the Jiangu Seat has been rated as a first-class national treasure, not only a first-class, but a first-class first-class, and its preciousness can be seen. Regarding the Spring and Autumn Warring States, everyone knows the Seven Heroes, or the Jin State before the third point, but those small countries with insufficient power will inevitably fall into the fate of being forgotten. The establishment of the Shu state carries with it the glorious history of King Wu of Zhou.
According to records, after Ji Fa successfully destroyed the Shang, he gave a meritorious servant with the surname of "Yan" and arranged his family to Anhui as a viscount, and the Yan clan established a huge Shu state here: Shu Yong Guo, Shu Rong Guo, Shu Jiu Guo, Shu Long Guo, collectively known as Shu Guo. Of course, the small country has the living method of the small country, and when the scepter of Zhou Tianzi can no longer command the princes, the Shu state is destroyed by the slightly stronger Xu state, and although it struggles to restore the country, it is soon destroyed by the chu state, and then it completely disappears into history. It was not until the appearance of this dragon and tiger bronze drum seat that it was justified, proving that there was once a country called "Shu" in this world.