Zhang Xianzhong was a peasant leader in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, and legend has it that before his demise, he hid a large amount of treasure, and if he could find these things, he could get rich overnight.
The claim about the treasure of the shipwreck has been circulating in the folk for a long time, and everyone is half-convinced of this legend. Some people think that this is a folk tale that is not a figment of the imagination. Some people feel that this is a historical fact that must be taken seriously.
So, is Zhang Xianzhong's treasure legend true or false? In order to uncover the secret of this treasure of Zhang Xianzhong, archaeologists pumped water in the cofferdam in the Minjiang area, excavated 20,000 square meters, and unearthed 30,000 treasures.
It turns out that Zhang Xianzhong's treasure legend is indeed true, and the places excavated by archaeologists are full of gold and silver treasures.
Judging from the results, archaeologists have gone to great lengths to excavate the Jiangkou site, which is a good thing worth celebrating. However, before the official excavation, the cofferdam pumping project did not get the support of everyone, but was hindered by some obstacles.
Opponents believe that the Minjiang River is turbulent, it is impossible to carry out protective excavation work through conventional means, if the cofferdam is pumped, it will inevitably cost a lot of manpower and material resources, and if there is no treasure of Zhang Xianzhong in the Minjiang ruins, it is worthless labor and wealth.
In addition, technical issues must also be considered. Suppose there is indeed a shipwreck treasure in the estuary area, and the shipwreck is also destroyed, and the treasure inside has long been washed away by the rushing river water and washed away to other places.
Draining the water through cofferdam technology and digging it up is easy to say, but it is difficult to do. Before that, archaeologists had little relevant experience, no one knew what problems they would encounter when pumping cofferdams, and if they accidentally caused an accident, it would be bad.
Those who hold a favorable opinion believe that the area around Jiangkou in the Minjiang area is indeed a place where Zhang Xianzhong indulged in treasure.
According to the Shu Bi, when Zhang Xianzhong was suppressed, he led an army of more than 100,000 people, loaded with thousands of treasures, and went down the river to fight a decisive battle with the enemy army. In the end, Zhang Xianzhong's team was completely defeated, and his thousands of gold and silver treasures were all sunk into the river.
During the feudal period, science and technology were relatively backward, and there was no way to fight against the turbulent rivers by manpower alone, and those who fought with Zhang Xianzhong could only watch these treasures indulge in the river, and there was no way to quickly salvage them ashore.
There is a similar record in the "Chronicle of the Shu Difficulties", a historical document that clearly states that Zhang Xianzhong's treasure was "accumulated in hundreds of millions of ships, carrying hundreds of ships", and that the battle site between him and the Chuanxi bureaucrat Yang Zhan was in the area around Jiangkou Town.
In addition to these historical records, there is a group of tomb robbers whose actions also prove the existence of treasure.
After the relevant departments caught these tomb robbers, they learned through confessions that they had been secretly operating at the Jiangkou Shenyin site for 4 years. During this period, they stole a large number of precious cultural relics, such as golden lions, gold seals, gold books and so on.
Among them, there are 8 first-class cultural relics, 38 second-class cultural relics, and 54 third-class cultural relics. These treasures are all witnesses of history and have extremely special value for the cultural inheritance of the country, with a total value of at least 300 million yuan.
Tomb robbers have always been unprofitable, and archaeologists are convinced that since these tomb robbers have been staring at the Jiangkou site, there must be a large number of treasures below.
If protective excavations are not carried out as soon as possible, other tomb robbers will certainly continue to hear the news, and if they are ignored, the country's cultural inheritance will certainly be greatly affected.
Technical problems do need to be paid attention to, but we can't hesitate because of the difficulties in front of us, whether we can do it specifically, we should know what we have to do, and we can't give up at the beginning.
After making up their minds, archaeologists quickly formulated a protective excavation plan to pump water from the cofferdam at the Jiangkou Shenyin site.
The plan is easy to say, but it is difficult to do, and archaeologists use a large number of instruments and spend a long time to control the turbulent river.
After the official excavation work, archaeologists found that this Jiangkou Shenyin site, similar to a cornucopia, could easily find gold and silver treasures.
These gold and silver treasures are engraved with clear information, including the name of the craftsman, the place where it was cast and the time of casting.
Experts explained that ancient gold and silver minting was closely related to the lifeblood of the country, so the imperial court has been strictly controlling quality. If anyone dares to cut corners, the imperial court can trace the source at any time and put the responsibility on the individual.
Such an arrangement, in ancient times, when information technology was relatively backward, could protect the quality of gold and silver to the greatest extent.
It is worth mentioning that the gold and silver treasures unearthed in Zhang Xianzhong's treasure are not things cast in one place, they come from Jiangxi,
Places such as Hunan and Sichuan. This information coincided with Zhang Xianzhong's marching route, which should be the treasure he had looted with people.
According to historical records, when Zhang Xianzhong first started his army, he mainly plundered the rich and inferior gentry. Later, because the battle was too fierce, Zhang Xianzhong expanded the scope of his plunder, and even the ordinary people did not spare it.
Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong has aroused strong dissatisfaction among many people. In the end, the regime he established, because it was unpopular, existed for only a short time, and then completely perished.
Among the many cultural relics, there is a "Shu Shizi Treasure", which is a square seal weighing about 16 kilograms, and when archaeologists found it, it had cracked into 4 pieces.
The entire "Shu Shizi Treasure" contains up to 95% gold content, and it is the first time that the Shizi Jinbao physical treasure has been found in China. When experts found it, they were thrilled to say that this should be the only unearthed treasure in the world so far.
People often say that things are rare and precious, and so are cultural relics, and the "Shu Shizi Treasure" unearthed by archaeologists from the Jiangkou site is too rare and has been strictly protected as soon as it is unearthed.
In addition, archaeologists have also found some silver ingots and gold coins printed with the "Great West" era name. Among them, the most precious thing is a gold book about 12 centimeters long and about 10 centimeters wide.
The total weight of this gold book is about 730 grams, and a total of 29 characters are engraved on it, recording a valuable historical information.
After authoritative appraisal, this golden book was rated as a "first-class cultural relic" and was also sent to the cultural relics agency and received special protection.
After the archaeological excavation work began, experts unearthed more than 30,000 treasures at the Jiangkou Shenyin site, but this is not all things, and there are many treasures worth excavating.
In order to avoid the resurgence of tomb robbers, the local government has established a protection and control area with the Jiangkou Shenyin ruins as the core, and sent people to guard it closely.
Today, the excavation of Zhang Xianzhong's treasure is still continuing, and if there is no accident, the experts will certainly be able to dig out a large number of extremely valuable things.