The Shu Bi records: "(Zhang) Xianzhongwen (Yang) was very strong and fearful, leading tens of thousands of troops, loading thousands of jinbao ships, and going down the river to the east to fight a decisive battle with Zhan. In 1946, when the Qing army entered Sichuan, Zhang Xianzhong loaded the gold and silver jewelry stolen over the years on the ship, and thousands of treasure ships broke through to the west of Sichuan. Unfortunately, Zhang Xianzhong was attacked by Yang Zhan on his way to transfer the treasure, and almost none of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers survived. In the end, when Zhang Xianzhong was cornered, he sank all the thousand ships of gold and silver into the bottom of the river, and the Min River has since had the legend of Shen Bao.
Regarding this legend, there is a folk song in Sichuan: Stone Dragon vs. Stone Tiger, Gold and Silver Whoever can see through it, buy all the Chengdu Province. It can be seen that the amount of treasure that Zhang Xianzhong sank into the Min River was extremely large, and even if he bought the Chengdu Mansion, it was not difficult. In addition, the "Chronicle of Shu Difficulties" records: "Hundreds of millions of ships are accumulated." The Shu Police Record also has clouds: "The Collection of Gold and Silver Mountains, collected in a wooden sheath box cage." Both the song and the historical records prove that Zhang Xianzhong did sink the treasure ship in the Minjiang area.
The Qing court had carried out three large-scale salvages in the Minjiang River, but there was not much gain, during the Republic of China, Fan Shaozeng found the Chengdu Nine Eyes Bridge according to folk songs, and he did dig up "stone cows and stone drums" (another version of the nursery rhyme) under the bridge, but unfortunately, there were only three baskets of copper coins inside, not even a shadow of a piece of silver. However, just as the so-called "fate sometimes must have, fate must not be forced at any time", as long as you meet a person with a relationship, gold and silver treasures will naturally appear.
In 2005, the villagers at the mouth of the Pengshan River picked up a few silver ingots by the river, and the "old Song" who lived on the edge of the Min River heard about it, and his heart also itched, he thought that the legend of Zhang Xianzhong's Shen bao was true, so he made up his mind and went to the river the next day to salvage the treasure. Unexpectedly, Old Song's first shot was very fruitful, and he "touched" a golden tiger rune golden seal by the riverside.
After getting the treasure, Old Song was not in a hurry to take a shot, he planned to avoid the limelight for a few years, so this tiger rune gold seal became the "heirloom" of the Song family. In 2012, Old Song's wife fell seriously ill and desperately needed a sum of money for treatment, so in desperation, he had to sell the Tiger Rune Golden Seal. Unexpectedly, the son of old Song is a lord who sees money, he did not sell the gold seal to a serious collector, but sold it to a gang of thieves, and the price of 8 million yuan made him do not hesitate to do it.
Later, while the pirate digging gang continued to dig treasures in the Pengshan section of the Minjiang River, they also shot Zhang Xianzhong's treasure. Soon after, their actions attracted the attention of the local cultural relics department, and with the cooperation of many parties, they were captured in one fell swoop. When the stolen goods were raised, the case-handling personnel found silver ingots, Xiwang reward coins, scattered silver, gold and silver books, silver cakes and other treasures in their hands, including 8 first-class cultural relics, 38 second-level cultural relics, and 54 third-level cultural relics, and the amount involved reached 300 million yuan.
In fact, as early as 2005, that is, the year that Lao Song found the Tiger Rune Golden Seal, the treasure digging work had already begun. At first, the treasure digging was only ordinary villagers along the Pengshan section of the Minjiang River, but later, under the temptation of money, they also specially studied underwater archaeology knowledge, and even purchased diving suits, oxygen cylinders, metal detectors and other professional underwater archaeological tools, lao Song is one of them. In 2015, the old Song's act of selling cultural relics was established, and he was imprisoned and has not yet been released from prison.