Professor Chuanda insisted that there was no "Zhang Xianzhong Shenyin", and after Min Jiang found the cultural relics, he changed his mouth
From the end of April to the beginning of May 2020, the people of Minjiang in Sichuan are boiling, and the excavation of the third phase of "Jiangkou Shenyin" has been basically completed, and the "Jiangkou Shenyin" is Zhang Xianzhong Shenyin, which is passed down by the people of Sichuan. This archaeological excavation once again unearthed more than 10,000 important cultural relics. However, a professor at Sichuan University insisted that even though many cultural relics were salvaged from the "Jiangkou Shenyin" site, it was not Zhang Xianzhong's Shenyin, which was occasionally passed down among the people. What's going on here?
"Shi Long to Shi Hu, gold and silver, who can see through it?" Buy all the Chengdu Province"; this folk song has been passed down on the Western Sichuan Plain for nearly 300 years. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Zhang Xianzhong personally led more than a thousand ships filled with gold and silver treasures and prepared to set off from Chengdu to the south. When Zhang Xianzhong and his gang passed through the town of Jiangkou, they were ambushed by the Southern Ming general Yang Zhan, and more than a thousand ships sank to the bottom of the river with gold and silver treasures. Therefore, many people rumored that whoever could read this folk song would be able to find a priceless treasure of gold and silver. In 2011, experts came to Sichuan Minjiang for field exploration, but at that time, it had not yet been approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. At the beginning of 2017, the underwater archaeological excavation of the "Jiangkou Shenyin" site officially began.
Don't think that the excavation of "Jiangkou Shenyin" is very simple, during the three formal archaeological excavations, the staff explored more than 20,000 square meters and obtained more than 30,000 valuable cultural relics. This may also be the first time that China has used the method of "cofferdam pumping" to carry out archaeological excavations of underwater cultural relics. A total of three phases of excavations unearthed a large number of cultural relics related to the "Great Western Regime" established by Zhang Xianzhong. For example, the staff cleared out a large number of silver ingots engraved with the year number of "Ōnishi" in the silt. In short, these cultural relics are showing that the folk songs passed down by the people on the Western Sichuan Plain are not empty.
However, as early as the 1980s, Yuan Tingdong, a professor of history at Sichuan University, openly insisted in his book "On the Biography of Zhang Xianzhong": "The ruins of Jiangkou Shenyin" are not in Pengshan Minjiang, Sichuan. However, after 2017, many valuable cultural relics have been continuously salvaged from underwater, and it is reasonable to say that Professor Yuan should change his mouth. But Professor Yuan Tingdong has always insisted that there will be these cultural relics at the bottom of the MinJiang River in Pengshan, Sichuan, which is actually not surprising. Because pengshan jiangkou was once the first ferry port in western Sichuan, passing ships will inevitably drop some gold and silver jewelry. The meaning of Professor Yuan's words is already very obvious, and the excavation of a large number of cultural relics of the "Great Western Regime" at the site of "Jiangkou Shenyin" is an accident of history and has little to do with Zhang Xianzhong.
It was not until 2019, when the second phase of the excavation of the "Jiangkou Shenyin" site was completed, that Professor Yuan Tingdong changed his mouth, and he felt that his previous views may have deviated. In January 2019, Professor Yuan Tingdong visited the Sichuan Museum and personally came to the relevant exhibition site of the "Jiangkou Shenyin" site to study, and finally Professor Yuan believed that a large number of cultural relics related to Zhang Xianzhong were unearthed at the Jiangkou Ancient Battlefield Site, which also made people re-understand the legend of "Jiangkou Shenyin". In short, after Professor Yuan Tingdong visited the Sichuan Museum, he also changed his views.
In fact, the author believes that Professor Yuan Tingdong is not a dead-mouthed hard-nosed, this kind of veteran history professor, with a skeptical eye to view historical rumors is very normal. Moreover, in the Twenty-Four Histories, the "History of Ming" should be the most untrustworthy history book, and even some details recorded in the main history need to be worthy of scrutiny. Professor Yuan Tingdong has publicly stated many times: Is there Zhang Xianzhong Shenyin in the end? Concrete archaeological excavations are needed to support this in detail. Therefore, Professor Yuan is not trying to compete for fame and fortune, or to catch up with any trend. It is necessary for an old-school professor of history to be rigorous in dealing with these major unsolved mysteries of history.
In 2018, Professor Yuan Tingdong donated all his life's books to the Chengdu Museum free of charge. And professor Yuan Tingdong is still actively studying Bashu culture even though he is over 80 years old. Perhaps through this "Jiangkou Sinking Silver", Professor Yuan also understood a truth, "live to learn from old age". Sometimes history is so full of charm, such as this time Zhang Xianzhong Shenyin, if it is not through archaeological excavations, perhaps there will not be too many people who believe in it, right?
References: Zhang Xianzhong's Biography, Ming Shi, Suikou Jiluo