In the ancient land of "Huaxia", there are not only the Central Plains dynasties such as the "Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties", but also many "unknown" border states; for example, Yunnan, there were also many dynasties in ancient Dali, which are collectively known as "Dian culture" today, including the legendary "Nanzhao Ancient Kingdom".
It is a little regrettable that most of the "Dian culture" was passed down by word of mouth by ancestors, but there are very few written records. The reason for this is that Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, sent the general "Fu Youde" to pacify Yunnan, and then burned almost all the official historical books of the "Cangshan" dynasties.
Without written records, the "History of Dian" became word of mouth, but this inheritance obviously lacked reliability, and at the same time mixed with many "legends of witch gods"; to this day, this "legend of witch gods" is still circulating in the folk, which also leads to a "strange story".
Dating back to the end of the last century, an old Yi man from Weishan County, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province, went into the mountains to collect medicine; on the way, he was suddenly hit by heavy rain, so he hid in a cave, saying that it was a "cave", which was actually a depression in the mountain wall. Perhaps the rain was too strong, and the old man squeezed in as much as possible in order to avoid the rain; it didn't matter, he really "squeezed out" a narrow hole, and the old man drilled into it.
When he first entered the "cave", the old man still felt suddenly enlightened, and with the faint light of the lightning outside the cave, he gradually found that there were obvious traces of artificial excavation in the "cave"; at this time, the old man did not know what kind of cave he was hiding from the rain, it was a cemetery of the "Nanzhao Ancient Country".
It was also too dark inside the "hole", the old man could not see clearly under his feet, and after accidentally falling, his hand touched a bulging thing; another lightning bolt crossed, and the old man saw clearly that what had tripped him was a small pit, and what his hand touched was a "jar".
Not only that, the cave was densely packed with "small pits", and each "pit" had a "jar" similar to what he had touched; this frightened him, stumbled out of the "cave", and would rather brave the heavy rain to go down the mountain; back home, the old man was frightened and rained, and from then on he fell ill and died not long after.
Speaking of this, some friends may say, "Blind fabrication, since he is a local, the mountain environment should have been clear in his chest; not to mention a local old man, it is reasonable to say that he should be 'well-informed', how can a small altar scare him like this?" For this reason, the old man's experience has also become the talk of the locals after tea and dinner.
But for the locals, there is no joke between the words of the old man, but everyone is in danger, which leads to a "legend of the witch god"; according to legend, ancient Dali once existed "Nanzhao" and "Dali" two dynasties, their capitals were built under the Cangshan Mountain, according to historical records, these two dynasties have existed for more than 500 years, and the time of destruction is nearly a thousand years.
Here we only say "Nanzhao Ancient Kingdom". According to local word of mouth, the "Nanzhao" king ruled Dali with witchcraft a thousand years ago; later, after the death of the "Nanzhao King", he made a strange will to cut off his ears and put them into a "golden bottle" to stay in the world.
What is even more frightening is that in order to keep the secret of the specific location of the "golden bottle", the first group of people will hide the "golden bottle", and the second group of people will kill the "first batch of people", and then continue to put their ashes into the golden bottle, and from then on, they will accompany the "King of Nanzhao"; and so on, a batch of people are loaded into the "golden bottle", and finally there is only one person left who knows the specific hiding location, that is, the reigning king of "Nanzhao".
Of course, the legend is even more bizarre, and there are even many theories such as the "Golden Bottle Curse"; in short, people think that the death of the old man is related to the golden vase of the "King of Nanzhao". However, it is naturally not credible to mention legends in today's "scientific society", but what is the "golden bottle" discovered by the old man?
Until 1998, the "Kunming Yangfutou Cemetery" was discovered in the Yunnan region. Its scale is grand, covering an area of more than 40,000 square meters, the excavation area is 10,700 square meters, and 488 ancient tombs of various "Dian culture" and 36 tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty have been cleared out; in general, the age span of the cemetery is very large, which clearly shows the process of "Dian culture" gradually being integrated by "Han culture".
The "Yangfutou Cemetery" also found for the first time exquisite lacquered wood ware with the characteristics of Yunnan "Dian culture", and its excavation results were also rated as one of the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 1999"; here it is only said that the archaeological discoveries of the "Nanzhao" period, the archaeological team excavated a large number of cremation tombs from the Yangfutou cemetery; according to records, the two dynasties of Nanzhao and Dali were far away from the Central Plains, and the people here believed in Buddhism at that time and were cremated in fashion.
Take the "Sheep Futou Cemetery" as an example, the tomb here is more or less "one hole and one (cremation) jar"; of course, the cremation jar is also divided by the identity and rank of the deceased before his death, and the higher the status of the deceased, the better the material and texture of the cremation jar.
Later excavations, the burial customs in the "Yangfutou Cemetery" are many and peculiar, stacked up to five floors, and there are also joint burials, cluster burials and martyrdoms; ceramic figurines, (belt) tiles, floor tiles, paved green glazed bricks of the Nanzhao period have also been excavated, which were once the building materials that made up the Nanzhao King's Mausoleum.
Judging from today's historical data, the "Nanzhao Ancient Kingdom" was a country composed of all ethnic groups in the territory, including the Han people, with the Uman Mongol surname as the king and the Baiman surname as a supplement.
In 2016, the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with the Guandu District Museum, launched another archaeological excavation of the Yangfutou Cemetery in Kunming; this excavation cleared out 53 tombs, unearthed 313 pieces (sets) of various artifacts, and found rare phenomena such as "four-layer stacked burial", which provided important physical data for the study of "Dian culture".
But because of the lack of written records, the "Nanzhao Ancient Kingdom" is still covered with a layer of mystery, and its existence has lasted for more than 200 years, what is the reason why it suddenly disappeared? To answer this question, it is also necessary to rely on today's archaeological excavations.
Although there is not much archaeological data, experts are still basically sure what the "golden bottle" is; perhaps some friends have guessed that the "golden bottle" seen by the old man may be the "cremation jar" found by archaeology today.
As for the local "legend of the witch god", this is not difficult to understand. Experts speculate that it may be that the successive Nanzhao monarchs deliberately made up a "golden bottle" to scare people in order not to be disturbed by people.
But to be honest, there are regrets here. After the old man discovered the "cave", he fled in a hurry and returned home and fell ill again; therefore, the specific location of the "cave" did not leave any clues until the old man died.
To this day, experts have not found more archaeological remains in "Weishan County".