△ Yue Wang Gou Jian Sword
(2019 exhibition at Zhejiang Provincial Museum)
Why was the Yue King's sword unearthed in the Chu tomb
△ National Treasure Archives Film and Television Materials
In December 1965, at the Chu Tomb no. 1 Wangshan in Jiangling, Hubei Province, a bronze sword unparalleled in the world was displayed, and eight bird seal inscriptions of "Yue Wang Dove Shallow Self-Acting Sword" were engraved on the oblique body. Experts unanimously determined that it was a self-used sword used by the king of the Warring States and the early Yue Kingdom in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the early Warring States Period. For more than 40 years, the body of this sword has been rustless for thousands of years, the blade is as sharp as ever, the sword face is flowing with a different light, and the concentric circles of the sword head are exquisite.
However, what plagues the historians and archaeologists has another greater mystery, that is, how could this instrument of the king of the most glorious period of the Yue Kingdom fall into the Chu tomb thousands of miles away? Since the day the sword was unearthed, scholars have long discussed this doubt. Many scholars have written for it to reveal the mystery. However, to this day, the question of why the Yue King's sword was unearthed in the Chu tomb is still like a fog of water, and there is no consensus.
△ Yue Wang sentence jian sword
This paper attempts to capture the views of published relevant papers, summarize and analyze them, as a hole view, to peek into the greatest possibility of why the Yue Wang Gou Jian sword was unearthed in the Chu tomb. Due to space limitations, it is not possible to make a one-to-one statement of the relevant originals. The main points of the paper in question are summarized below:
● (1) Yue women marry Chu as a dowry said
Those who hold this theory are mainly based on a variety of historical materials. He believes that before the King of Chu Wei, the State of Chu had a very close relationship with the State of Yue, especially when King Chu Zhao, he had married the daughter of King Gou of Yue as a concubine, so the "Yue King Jiu Shallow Self-Acting Sword" should have entered Chu as a dowry when he was married to a daughter.
● (2) Yue defeated Chu Cheng's booty theory
△ Photocopy of the volume of the "Yue Wang Sentence Practice Family" in the Northern Song Dynasty engraving "History"
(The original book Fu Zengxiang's old collection, now in the collection of the "Academia Sinica" in Taipei)
Those who hold this theory believe that the "History of the Yue King's Gou Jian ShiJia" contains that when Wang Wujian was "the king of Chuwei raised his army and cut it down, defeated Yue, killed Wang Wujiang, took the ancient Wudi to the Gradual River, and broke through the Qi in Xuzhou in the north." And the more they scattered, the more they obeyed Chu. "When the Kingdom of Yue is defeated by King Cheng of Chu, the King of Yue will become a trophy and enter Chu.
● (3) The trophy courtiers made commendations
The viewpoint of this statement can be regarded as an extension and depth of viewpoint II. Based on some of the bamboo script excavated from the same tomb, the commentators believe that the master of Chu Mu at Wangshan No. 1 in Jiangling is Shao Shui, who was a nobleman during the time of King Huai of Chu. In the "Chronicle of History and The Biography of Gan Maolie" and the "Han Feizi Neichu Shuxia", there are records that king Huai of Chu sent Shao To Yue to alienate the internal contradictions of the Yue kingdom. After Shao Shui's dissension was accomplished, Chu took the opportunity to destroy the Yue Kingdom. In recognition of Shao Shui's meritorious service in destroying Yue, King Huai of Chu gave him the sword of the trophy Yue Wang. When the pawn slipped, the sword followed the Lord into the tomb.
● (4) The dowry is given to the attendant again
△ The ceremony of the entry of the Yue Wang Sentence Jian sword in the exhibition of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum
Similarly, those who hold this theory are also an extension and depth of the idea. Commentators believe that the owner of the Chu Tomb No. 1 in Wangshan, Jiangling, is not Shao Shui, but Shao Gu. According to the zhu jian excavated from the same tomb, Shao Gu was the great-grandson of the king of mourning, and often sacrificed the king of Chujian, the king of sound and the king of mourning, and died young. It should be that the King of Chu, in recognition of Shao Gu's loyal service, gave the Yue female dowry sword left by the previous king to Shao Gu's tomb.
● (5) Allies exchange gifts as gifts
The commentator believes that in the late Spring and Autumn Period, the Jin Dynasty united Wu to resist Chu, and Chu Lianyue used Wu to try to hire each other. Therefore, Wu Wu entered the Jin Dynasty, and the Yue artifacts were unearthed in the Chu capital, none of which were strange. Especially after the destruction of Wu, Chu bordered each other, and it was more likely that they would give each other heavy weapons or relics. The Yue King's sword should have entered Chu as a gift at that time.
● ( 6 ) Yuezi Ben Chu said for the wear product
△ Yue Wang Sentence Jian Sword unearthed
Sword-wielding archaeologist Tan Weisi
Holders of this theory believe that the discontinuation of the Chu Tomb no. 1 in Wangshan, Jiangling is the "middle period of the Warring States", and the "middle period of the Warring States" is only relative to the approximate time period of the entire Warring States period, and its upper and lower limits cannot be determined to a certain year. If the exact burial time of the Chu tomb of Wangshan No. 1 is not after the defeat of Chu Yue, but before the defeat of Chu Yue, even if it is only one year, then the theory of "booty" is no longer valid. Since the yue kingdom has been in a period of great power since the conquest of Chu and the Yue, the instrument of the king of the Yue kingdom is generally impossible to fall to other countries. Therefore, the sword should be a certain prince of the Yue Kingdom who defected to the Chu State, and the sword was worn as a carry-on item into Chu. After the death of the prince, the sword followed the lord into the tomb in Chudi.
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-The end-
Written by | Ge Guoqing
Edited | Han Hua, Qing Yi
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