In all fairness.
Since the development of civilization, many traces of history have become traceable.
Through exploration and research, people know the origin and progress of many historical cultures, for example, the compass first appeared in the Warring States period, the earliest appearance of engraving and printing was in the Tang Dynasty and so on.
Of course, there is no fixed law for monuments, and there is no way to pursue them.
There is a poem written well: "There is a heart to plant flowers and flowers that do not bloom, and there is no heart to plant willows in the shade."
Many times, coincidence is the key to opening up a new world.
For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, an old patrol man randomly found a place to solve because of internal anxiety.
What he didn't expect was that a piece of paper he had accidentally picked up here was very promising.
It is precisely because of the appearance of this paper that experts have discovered two "world firsts".
First, a piece of paper found by chance
The old man lives in Tianshui City, Gansu Province.
When it comes to this city, I think many people will think of one of the famous historical sites, that is, the "Fangma Beach" located in the Xiaolongshan forest area.
The "Horse Beach" is located in the hinterland of the Qinling Mountains, where the ancestors of Qin Shi Huang originally herded horses for the Zhou Dynasty.
Later, it was also here that the ancestors of the Qin Dynasty accumulated the determination and strength to unify the world and began their careers in conquest of the world.
Due to the beautiful scenery here, many royal families of the Zhou Dynasty and the Qin and Han Dynasties would choose to build mausoleums here as a burial place after death.
There are naturally many tomb robbers in the place where there are ancient tombs, and the ancient tombs here have a long history and are in groups, which has undoubtedly become the first choice for tomb robbers.
Before the special care, many of the mausoleums were destroyed to the point of total disrepair, and the cultural relics disappeared.
So the ranger at the time also took on the task of guarding the mausoleum, patrolling every day, running back and forth in this muddy mountain road.
The old man is older, the humidity in the forest is heavy, this comes and goes, the old man has a cold on a certain day, and has to find a place to be convenient when the patrol is halfway through.
The old man found a corner and squatted for half a day, and finally solved the problem, but he was dumbfounded when he wanted to get up, and he was in a hurry, and he forgot that he didn't have any paper in his pocket!
The old patrolman had no choice but to grab a handful of leaves around him to make use of them, and the leaves were uprooted by him, bringing up a large piece of dirt and a thin piece of paper.
The old man picked up the paper and looked at it for half a day, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt that it was not simple.
Let's say that this is an ordinary piece of paper, which emits strong historical traces in terms of color and thickness.
But to say that this is not an ordinary piece of paper, and it is painted with a pattern that the old man can't understand at all, it is difficult not to suspect that this is just a piece of waste paper thrown away.
After thinking about it, the old man finally brought the paper back with the principle of "preferring to kill the wrong person and not let it go". He didn't know how to read it, so he handed the paper to the local archaeologists for identification.
It doesn't matter if you don't look at it, this look will stunned all the experts, because this piece of paper directly proves that the two "world firsts"!
Second, two "world firsts"
After the identification of experts, the material of this paper and the process used can be basically determined.
This is a kind of plant paper, due to the early emergence of the era, although it has experienced many of the complex processes required for papermaking, but the workmanship is still not fine, the paper surface is relatively rough.
Of course, although the paper is rough, it is also strong and durable, after all, it has carried thousands of years of time and has been passed down to the present.
After judgment, experts determined that this paper originated from the Western Han Dynasty.
The problem, then, was that before that, the recognized inventor of papermaking was Cai Lun, a eunuch of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
And now, before Cai Lun appeared, there was already paper made of plants, what does this prove?
It proves that Cai Lun is not the inventor of papermaking, but only its improver, the real papermaking, as early as three hundred years ago in the Western Han Dynasty!
This thin piece of paper directly presupposes the time of the world's earliest appearance of paper for more than three hundred years, which makes experts how can not be excited.
What they did not expect was that with the further study of the patterns on the paper, they had more exciting results.
It turned out that the pictures that the old man could not understand were not scribbled.
After finding the other fragments, the experts found that the fragments were pieced together to reveal a series of important terrains such as mountains and roads.
In other words, what is drawn on this piece of paper turns out to be a map.
"When did maps first appear?" This question has arguably been plaguing experts for a long time.
According to the records, experts can basically conclude that there were maps in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but the inferences still need to rely on physical objects to support, and before the discovery of this paper, experts have been suffering from the lack of evidence to prove this claim.
But now it is different, the appearance of this paper proves that Ptolemy said in "Geography" that the earliest map of the world is no longer the earliest, it is more than five hundred years later than the map of our country, and the map of our country is the deserved "first in the world".
Third, unintentional willow planting
This piece of paper is really not simple, not only will the time of papermaking in our country advance, but also confirm the time of the appearance of maps in our country, so that our country suddenly has two more "world firsts".
And the big hero in this matter, the old man on patrol, was also very excited after knowing that he had inadvertently neutralized a great achievement.
He did not expect that a piece of paper he had picked up with his hand could have such a big head.
Although the discovery of this piece of paper is only a coincidence, the merits of the old man are undeniable, so after this incident, the government deliberately found the uncle and gave him a bonus of two hundred yuan as a reward.
You know, it was the eighties and nineties of the last century, two hundred yuan is more than the current two thousand, this money was sent to the uncle with an average salary level, which really made him a small fortune.
The power of coincidence is simply vividly reflected in this matter, who would have thought that the patrolling old man just had a stomachache and just happened to see a piece of paper with a big head?
However, just as the so-called "heart to plant flowers and flowers do not bloom, unintentional willow shade", many times, it is those unexpected coincidences that can bring surprising endings.