Inscriptions on weapons, about the beginning of the Shang Dynasty, the original copper weapon inscriptions, are family emblems or single characters with specific meanings. In the late Shang Dynasty, the names of distinguished owners or users began to be inscribed on weapons, the most famous example is the large bronze pendant of women's good excavated from the tomb of Yin Xu's women's good, which is a symbol of the power of this outstanding female commander of the Shang army, and the word "women's good" is inscribed on it.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, weapons with the name of Wule were gradually more common, such as the "Fengbo" sword unearthed in Pangjiagou in Luoyang, the "Taibao" Ge unearthed in Luoyang North Kiln, the "Hou Wuge of Yan (Yan)" unearthed in Liulihe in Beijing, the "Prince Yuanfu Dragon" unearthed at the Shangcunling Yuguo Base, and so on.
During this period, the name of the army was also engraved on weapons, such as the "Weizi (Division) Yi" copper shield ornament excavated from the Weiguo Cemetery in Xincun, Xun County, and the Western Zhou Bronze Ge with the inscription "Chengzhou" was also excavated, and there are many similar heirlooms, which may be the earliest example of the inscription of copper weapons or the casting of place names. However, this practice was not promoted at that time and for a long time thereafter.
First, the main name of the weapon was more and more popular during the Spring and Autumn Period
The main name of the weapon was more and more popular during the Spring and Autumn Period, and it developed to the extreme in the southern region from the late Spring and Autumn period to the early Warring States period.
At that time, the magnates of the cities of Jianghan and Jianghuai District competed to inscribe their own names on their own weapons, and the monarchs even inscribed their own names on the weapons equipped with their own soldiers and guards, or forged many weapons (such as swords) with their own names engraved on them for gifts and rewards. Moreover, most of the inscriptions of these weapons are richly decorated and beautiful, and the birds and insect books and gold and silver inlays have become a fashion.
For example, Wu "Prince Yu Zhi Zhi Ge" was unearthed in the former village of Wanrong Temple in Shanxi, Chu "Wang Sun Zao's Xingji" was unearthed in The Wanchuan Lower Temple in Henan, and "The Sword used by Cai Hou Production" was unearthed in Cai Jiagang, and the inscriptions were all bird books and wrong gold. There are many examples of this, the most surprising is that more than 80 copper weapons with the inscription "Zeng Houyi" were excavated at one time in the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Suixian County, Hubei Province, as well as the bronze swords of Wuyue Wang Ming that were frequently found in the late Qing Dynasty and frequently found in various places in the north and south over the years. The latter, in particular, are not only elaborate and gorgeous inscriptions, but also often crowned
"Since
make
”
Words, such as the famous Yue Wang's sword unearthed in Wangshan, Jiangling, Hubei Province, with the inscription "Yue Wang's dove is shallow, and he uses a sword from himself".
Similar examples are often found in the weapons of other princely states, such as a piece of early Warring States copper ge excavated from the Changzhi Watershed in Shanxi, inscribed "Kou Gong Zhi Zhi Ge". Such inscriptions obliterate the craftsman's performance and completely obscure the actual production situation, and only the dignitaries exaggerate the significance of themselves. As for the large number of weapons that were widely equipped with the army at that time, almost all of them had no inscriptions.
In the early warring states period, some new signs also began to appear. In 1994, a bronze sword from Yue Wangzhou in Zhejiang province purchased by Taipei's Guyue Pavilion can be interpreted as follows:
Yue Wang Zhou sentence of the only sword Yu Han Gongli
Yu Han (余邗) was later Yu Gan (in present-day Jiangxi); "Yu Han Gong Li" is the name of the craftsman in Yugan place called Li. This is perhaps the earliest example of a craftsman's name inscribed on a weapon.
Second, the name of Wule gradually became customized
By the middle and late Warring States period, the atmosphere changed rapidly, and although the tradition of using utensils to draw the name of the lord continued, it was obviously declining, and the new practice of inscribing the names of places of origin and craftsmen on weapons that were mass-produced and widely equipped with armies became more and more popular.
It is necessary to point out that the ancient Yue Pavilion is still a princely treasure weapon, compared with the inscription of place names of origin and craftsman names on ordinary instruments used by ordinary soldiers, which is undoubtedly a big step forward. Judging from the existing materials, this may have originated in the Qin and Han, Zhao, and Wei states, and it was in these countries that the name of the material was gradually customized, and a complete inscription was developed, including the time and place of making weapons, and the names of personnel at all levels related to production.
Traditional inscriptions are molded and cast, and the engraving work is done on the top of the model, and the engraving is generally rigorous and the font is neat. The new style inscriptions of the middle and late Warring States period are mostly carved directly on the copper body after the artifacts are cast, and the inscriptions have no literary style to speak of, and are generally roughly depicted, without any decorative significance, but only pure practical function, that is, as a basis for checking product quality and production.
The above changes reflect the increasing emphasis of the rulers on the quality of the army's actual combat weapons and the increasingly strict production management under the realistic pressure of the Intensifying Kanjing War. The pragmatic new style inscriptions provide us with a wealth of information about the Warring States military system.
Third, the Qin state weapon inscription and army-making system
According to the Chronicle of History? In the biography of the Shang Emperor, Gongsun Martin was worshipped as zuo shuchang in the sixth year of Qin Xiaogong, and served as the great liangzao from ten to twenty-four years. At first glance, the inscriptions of the Shang martingale are very similar to the traditional wule main name, but in fact there are important differences:
First, the inscriptions are all carved after casting, not very regular, and have no decorative significance.
The second is to indicate the manufacturing time.
The third is that the Shang martingale is attached to the engraved place name "Yong" and the placer "spear", indicating that the hammer is used in Yongcheng and is used on the spear. The two pieces of Martingale are also accompanied by engraved land names "犛郑" and "雍, Proud Mouth". Probably these artifacts are military equipment produced according to the orders of the Daliang merchant martingale, and the later Qin army weapons, the inscription begins with "A certain year Xiangbang A certain manufacturing" or "a certain year county shou a certain manufacturing", which can be considered to originate from the Shang Yang instruments.
If the new form of qin weapon inscription began in the era of Qin Xiaogong, then by the time of King Huiwen of Qin (337-307 BC), a complete style was formed. There are three levels or levels of the military system:
The first level is the "worker", that is, the craftsman, who is the actual manufacturer of the weapon.
The names of the craftsmen seen are Yu, Wu and so on.
The first rank is the "engineer", who is the ruler of the official handicraft production institutions, the direct presiding officer of production, and these weapons are manufactured under his auspices and management.
The names of the engineers I saw were Tian, Ye, etc.
The first level is "Xiang Bang", or "Xiang Xiang", they are The Qin Xiang Zhang Yi ("Righteousness"), Wei Ran ("Ran"), and Shou Zhan ("Touch") during the reign of King Huiwen and King Zhao.
Probably with this in mind, some people refer to this level as "famous writers".
However, this amendment frustrated the inspector's duty and was inconsistent with the purpose of the name of the worker. In fact, according to the Yunmeng Qin Law, the official handicraft production institutions controlled by the engineers are produced in accordance with the annual tasks ("years of merit") and temporary orders ("letters"), and the annual tasks and temporary orders are issued from above, and the "Xiangbang" or "Xiangxiang" in the Qin weapon inscription should be the one who issued the production tasks or production orders. It is clearly stipulated in the Qin Law that the non-years of merit and the book of non-commandment are other instruments, and the engineer and his deputy are subject to punishment. Therefore, the manufacturer must be ordered to engrave on the weapon, indicating that the production is based on evidence, for verification.
Therefore, the above three levels can be named as the Destiny, the Master, and the Creator. The orderer issues a production task or production order, the master presides over the manufacturing and management of production, and the maker specifically undertakes the manufacturing.
At present, the inscription of Qin weapons possessed by the three levels of fate, lord, and manufacturing first appeared in the thirteenth year of King Huiwen's Xiangbang Yige. In contrast, the Shang Martingale instrument inscriptions in the Qin Xiaogong era were only of the first level of the destiny, and the xiangbang of the fourth year of the Huiwen King had only the second level of the life and the creator, which was only one more level of the creator than the Shang martingale instruments. From the Shang martingale instruments to the four-year Xiangbang Gongge and then to the thirteen-year Xiangbang Yige, it constitutes the evolution sequence of the gradually completed qin weapon inscriptions, the essence of which is the increasingly strict management of the official handicraft industry and the increasingly perfect system of material and labor names.