"Sayings": "The ancient heavenly son is twenty and the crown carries the sword, the princes are thirty and the crown carries the sword, the doctor is forty and the crown carries the sword, the subordinate is not allowed to crown, the common man is not allowed to carry the sword, and the person who has nothing is not allowed to carry the sword." ”
In ancient times, the sword was not only a self-defense weapon, but also a status symbol
Because ordinary people are not qualified to wear swords, and they cannot afford to buy such a weapon as a sword. There is an impressive story in "Water Margin", that is, the blue-faced beast Yang Zhi endured the pain of taking his family heirloom sword to the street to sell. Didn't want to meet a scoundrel who insisted that it was just an ordinary knife. So Yang Zhi performed a performance of cutting iron like mud for him on the spot, in fact, the really capable sword casting craftsman in ancient times was very high-status, which can be said to be difficult to find. This also led many craftsmen to think about the casting process of the sword and improve the technology, and the ancients paid great attention to the sword casting process. so
The ancient forged sword, can it really cut iron like mud? Historians break the truth in one sentence: in fact, it is not iron that is cut, we misunderstand it.
The limits of the sabre
In ancient China, whether it was a slave society or a feudal society, the division of classes was very obvious.
In order to separate the subordinate class from the lower strata, those in the ruling or aristocratic classes will, in addition to dividing the people into three, six, and nine grades in the legal system, they will also restrain the people of the lower classes through legislation. Like what
When the ancient Tianzi reached the age of 20, he could carry a sword with him
, to highlight the status of honor.
The princes were inferior to the Son of Heaven, so they were not qualified to bear swords until they were 30 years old.
Of course, as a prince, it is generally impossible to learn swordplay until the age of 30.
This is not to restrict the use of swords by the princes, but to restrict the decoration of the crown.
After all, in addition to the basic strength value of the sword, it also has a certain decorative effect, which can make men look more powerful, and what kind of sword to wear is an important symbol of status. Besides
The doctor, who was between the commoners and the nobles, was only qualified to wear a sword when he was 40 years old
。 Ordinary people, although they are not qualified to wear swords, can carry swords when they are in war, that is, only when they serve the country
Only then will the common people be able to wield swords. Slaves, on the other hand, were not entitled to bear swords at all times, and they were not even qualified to use a weapon such as a sword. If a slave is found to have secretly learned the art of sword, he is likely to be punished by the master's family, because this is the ruling class, a way of exercising ideological and personal control over the ruled class.
It's not iron that's cut
After understanding the importance that ancient people, especially the princes and nobles, attached importance to swords, it is not difficult to understand why ancient craftsmen attached great importance to forging swords. Back to the unique "iron as mud" skill of the ancient sword,
The 4 metals commonly used by the ancients were gold, silver, copper and iron.
Based on modern Mohs hardness,
The hardness of gold and silver is undoubtedly the weakest, between 2.5 and 3. The hardness of copper is close to that of gold and silver, and the hardness of iron is higher than that of gold, silver and copper
, can reach 4 to 5
。 Therefore, if the ancient sword can really cut iron like mud, it is still very powerful. But in fact, whether it is the iron cutting performance of Yang Zhi in "Water Margin", or the iron cutting power displayed by those heroes in history, the authenticity has yet to be verified, because they are
What was cut with the sword was not iron at all, but copper.
For example, Yang Zhi, in order to prove the strength of his sword to the onlookers, said in front of everyone that his sword cut copper and cut iron blades and did not roll.
And immediately took out a string of copper coins and easily split it in half
And the knife edge was still sharp, causing everyone to clap their hands and applaud.
Here he cut it with his sword, and it was copper.
The ancients only had a very preliminary understanding of metals, and they knew very little about the hardness of various metals.
The sword can split the copper coin, which is not even if it is like cutting iron like mud, because the hardness of copper and the hardness of iron are not comparable
。 Ancient swords are mainly made of a special metal material, mixed with other metals, so it has a certain hardness, at least it is harder than copper, but also very sharp. It is not difficult to split the copper coin, or even cut the metal debris on the copper coin.
If you exchange copper coins for real iron, I am afraid it will not be so easy.
In the cognition of the ancients, gold and silver are indeed relatively soft
Therefore, in order to judge whether it is real money or silver, people often bite their teeth directly, and if there is a tooth mark, it is true. The ancients invented such a unique way to verify the authenticity of gold and silver, because they knew that gold and silver were relatively soft.
Copper, on the other hand, is hard
So in the face of copper coins, they are all weighed in their hands, and they judge whether they are true or false.
In essence, they could not distinguish the difference in the hardness of copper and iron, and it was even more impossible to know that the hardness of copper was actually close to that of gold and silver
。 What the ancients said about "cutting iron like mud" is difficult to establish, and it contains obvious exaggerated elements, whether it can cut iron, and it is also related to the ability of people with swords.
Reference: "Sayings"