Zhang Xianzhong was the leader of the peasant revolt of the Ming Dynasty, and after taking advantage of the chaos, he led his soldiers and civilians to attack the city. After conquering the Wuchang region, he led his troops into Sichuan and established a Great Western regime in the area.
In the process of continuous conquest, Zhang Xianzhong collected a large amount of treasure, but unfortunately he did not use this wealth to win the final victory.
In 1647, when Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to fight against the Qing army, he was shot and killed by the Qing generals. The Oninishi regime he established also disappeared.
However, the wealth that Zhang Xianzhong had accumulated over the years was not taken away by the Qing army. It has always been rumored that Zhang Xianzhong had already sunk his treasure into the Min River. Because of this legend, people often go to the Minjiang area to salvage, hoping to find something valuable.
But no matter how they searched, they did not find the legendary treasure. Therefore, many people believe that the so-called Minjiang treasure may just be a kind of false rumor. So, does Zhang Xianzhong's treasure really exist?
In search of possible treasures, archaeologists use large instruments to drain the river. What do they end up with? The results are quite gratifying.
The Min River is a tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and it is not an easy task to drain part of the river. There are two main reasons why experts are so enthusiastic.
First, there has always been a legend of Zhang Xianzhong's indulgence in treasures, and some documentary materials can support it. According to the "Chronicle of the Shu Difficulties", Zhang Xianzhong had thousands of ships of gold and silver treasures in that year, and when he went out of the river by water, because there were too many treasures, wooden boats could not fit, so he let the craftsmen make some slots.
He had thought of letting these slots containing silver two drift to a relatively small area and then salvage them, but his troops were blocked and there was no chance of salvage. The treasures were also sunk to the bottom of the river and have not been found. Second, before archaeologists salvaged, extremely valuable treasures had already been salvaged in the Minjiang area.
The people who found the treasure did not hand over the treasure in time, but sold the treasure without authorization in the form of gang crime. Among them, there are golden lions, gold seals, gold books, etc., many of which are valuable first-class cultural relics, and the total value is conservatively estimated at hundreds of millions of yuan.
Based on clues, law enforcement officers arrested a total of 25 people suspected of digging up ancient sites without authorization to sell cultural relics. After being arrested, these people confessed to the facts of their crimes and were eventually punished accordingly.
After the case was solved, experts became more and more convinced that there must be treasures left by Zhang Xianzhong in the Minjiang area. Therefore, they applied to the superior leaders and used a lot of manpower and material resources to salvage the Minjiang ruins.
Traditional underwater salvage generally revolves around shipwrecks. However, the shipwrecks in the Minjiang area have long been completely damaged, and even the wreckage has been washed away by the river, and the belongings on the ship have also been washed away by the river. Therefore, salvage is extremely difficult.
To ensure a smooth salvage, archaeologists have used a cofferdam to delineate an area, drain the river, and then carry out protective excavations. Archaeologists hadn't done anything like this before, so they had a lot of trouble during the actual excavations.
However, these difficulties did not stop the archaeologists, everyone paid special attention to the Minjiang site, and they all wanted to know how many treasures there were? The effort paid off, and archaeologists have overcome many technical problems and dusted the treasures that have been hidden under the water for hundreds of years, because of the continuous efforts of the staff to see the light of day.
After the salvage work began, archaeologists only took more than a year to salvage tens of thousands of precious cultural relics from the Minjiang site.
Later, Meizhou City held an important meeting and announced their salvage results. Archaeologists excavated more than 20,000 square meters at the Minjiang site, accumulating more than 30,000 cultural relics.
Among them, there are thousands of cultural relics closely related to the Daxi regime established by Zhang Xianzhong, and the excavation of these treasures can be called world-class archaeological discoveries.
However, the treasures of the Minjiang site have not all been salvaged, and archaeological work is still continuing. There are many historical relics related to the Minjiang site, and we will briefly introduce a few more representative things.
Archaeologists have unearthed a golden seal at the Minjiang site, which is only 12 centimeters long, about 10 centimeters wide, and has a total weight of 730 grams. Regardless of the value of cultural relics and historical research, it is a very precious treasure based on its own material.
There are 29 texts on the golden seal, which has a significance for the historical research of archaeologists that cannot be ignored. Therefore, this golden seal was eventually rated as a national first-class cultural relic.
In addition, archaeologists also found a precious Shu King Jinbao at the Minjiang site, which is the first excavation of the Ming Dynasty King Jinbao in the domestic archaeological community.
It is worth mentioning that although the technology of the feudal period is much behind modern society, their metal smelting technology is very mature.
Archaeologists have found some silver ingots at the Minjiang site, which are engraved with the name of the silver-making craftsman, as well as the date of production of the silver ingots. Its purity is generally above 90%, which is a treasure of great value.
In general, the Minjiang site does have many precious treasures. In order to prevent the site from being destroyed by thieves, the authorities protected the area. The site centered on the treasure of Zhang Xianzhong's shipwreck is extensive, and the state has used a lot of manpower and material resources to protect it from destruction.
However, from the perspective of value, the treasures of the Minjiang ruins really deserve everyone's attention. A professor at Sichuan University once said that compared with the value of cultural relics, this conservation excavation is of greater significance to the historical research of the Sichuan region.
Mr. Mao Peiqi also believes that the excavation of the Minjiang site has found many historical objects, which are closely related to the social customs of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and their excavations have extraordinary value for the follow-up research of the archaeological community.
The treasure of Zhang Xianzhong's shipwreck has been a mystery until it has been excavated. For hundreds of years, the people's discussion and speculation about it has not stopped. The real unearthing of the shipwreck treasure can be regarded as a complete solution to this mystery. The treasures inside have also opened the eyes of countless people.
In fact, in addition to Zhang Xianzhong's shipwreck treasure, there are many unsolved mysteries related to archaeology in China. Under the vast land of China, there are definitely many sleeping treasures waiting for everyone to discover. These things are universally hidden in particularly hidden places, and only by very occasional circumstances will they reappear.
If you have the opportunity to encounter treasure, it is best not to be too greedy, if you are like the criminal gang at the Minjiang ruins, if you sell historical relics privately, you are likely to be arrested and severely punished, and you must take it as a warning.