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In the long history of the Chinese nation, there are many literati and celebrities. These literati and celebrities have also made Chinese civilization dazzling, poetry and songs, celestial landscapes, dance instruments... There are also a lot of sabre weapons.
Ancient celebrities often had swords, and their swords were sometimes detached from the use of self-defense, and they were also status symbols, representing an important etiquette.
Ancient famous swords, either recorded in ancient books or recorded in ancient legends, have their own rankings.
Xuanyuan, Zhan Lu, ChiXiao, Tai'a, Qixing Longyuan, Gan general, Mo Xie, Fish Gut, Chun Jun, and Chengying are among the top ten famous swords, and each sword has a story, or can sing and cry, or linger in compassion.
Although this sword unearthed in the Taihang Mountains is not one of the top ten swords, it is also the sword of ancient celebrities, and behind this ancient sword there is a good story of a gentleman and a famous man.
An accidental excavation, the ancient sword reappeared in the sky
Originally, in the records of wu's weapons, the existence of the "Jizi Sword" made experts very confused, "The engraving of the sword body is weak, the meaning is not clear, and the words of the country name are not compatible, which is obviously a forgery." ”
In the face of the vast historical river of the Chinese nation, future generations of experts can only speculate and record the brilliant civilization that belonged to the Chinese nation through recorded historical materials and excavated cultural relics.
The existence of ancient artifacts and forgeries is particularly a headache for historians, which seriously hinders the study of history and culture, and makes the historical real idea that was once about to be released temporarily forced to be shelved.
However, on an ordinary day in Mid-August 1985, an accidental excavation unrelated to archaeological work allowed archaeologists and historians to revive the study of the Jizi Sword, which had long been shelved by archaeologists and historians.
It was a sunny day, there were many brick factories in Yushe County at the foot of the Taihang Mountains, the soil here was very good, and the quality of the bricks and tiles fired was very passable.
The triangle in the northeast of the county town is where brick burners often take soil, and the soil collection team set out to take soil in the hot sun, and the group came to the triangle and began their day-to-day work.
Just as everyone was turning their backs on the scorching sun and working hard, everyone's attention was attracted by an exclamation. "Yikes! Come and see! What is it? I dug up a baby! ”
The workers then gathered around and talked about this long strip of "iron" with a metallic luster, "It's a sword!" "It doesn't look like an iron sword, it's not too long!" It's a dagger. ”
"Iron rust is like this, if it's a dagger, it's too big!" "It shouldn't be a murder weapon, buried so deeply!" Everyone guessed the origin of this unknown object with your words, and also brought it back.
Triangle Ping was a cemetery during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and in the past twenty years, two pieces of the Wu Kingdom's wrong golden bird book "Prince YuZhi" Ge He's Lightsaber have been unearthed in Shanxi.
Therefore, the "iron tools" that were brought back to the brick factory attracted the attention of people of insight in the factory.
Of course, this man of insight was the head of the brick factory, and everyone gathered around to study what this thing was, and the person in charge with the sharp eyes said, "This is not an iron tool, I look like a bronze ware, I read the bronze sword in the newspaper, let's still contact the Cultural Relics Bureau." ”
The ancient sword was handed over to the state, and the real body reappeared in front of the people
The person in charge's proposal was like a thunderclap on the ground, and the workers echoed it. Therefore, the person in charge dialed the telephone of the Yushe County Cultural Relics Bureau, "Hello, we are a brick factory in Chengguan Village, Yushe County, and today we dug up a sword when we took the soil, which looks the same as the bronze sword published in the newspaper, can you come and see it?" ”
The staff of the Cultural Relics Bureau was also pleasantly surprised to receive the call, and they were more able to guess the possible identity of the unearthed bronze sword than the ordinary people.
However, in the spirit of rigorous scientific research, the experts maintained a calm attitude to confirm.
The expert group that rushed to the scene was determined after preliminary cleaning, this is indeed a bronze sword, based on the consideration of the location of the excavation, it is likely to be a bronze sword of the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, which is of great archaeological value.
So the expert group began to talk to the number of brick manufacturers excavated, "According to our preliminary judgment, this is an ancient sword, most likely a bronze sword of the Spring and Autumn And Warring States period, which has great research value, I hope you can hand over the sword to the Cultural Relics Bureau, we will conduct research." ”
The negotiation process was smooth, and before the staff of the Cultural Relics Bureau had finished speaking, the person in charge of the brick factory agreed to hand it in.
"The one who found this sword is one of our workers, Lao Han, just now we summed it up, this thing is useless to stay in us, or hand it over to the state, you can study it as you want, we should contribute to the country!"
The tone of the person in charge was very sincere, and the first person who found out that Lao Han was also smiling and echoing it. The person in charge of the Cultural Relics Bureau was very moved, and decided to buy a cigarette to thank the workers of the brick factory, and the person in charge of the brick factory also handed the whole cigarette directly to Lao Han as a reward.
At that time, everyone was still smoking self-rolling dry cigarettes, and a whole cigarette was a very valuable thank you gift!
The experts of the Anti-Relics Bureau brought the bronze sword back and immediately began to clean it up. When the layers of mottled rust were removed, the true body of the bronze sword slowly appeared in front of people's eyes.
This is indeed an ancient bronze sword, this sword is relatively well preserved, the blade is sharp, and it has not changed much because of the erosion of time.
This made the experts even more excited, because it meant that the owner of the sword and the story behind it could clearly get the answer, and it was indeed a bronze sword from the Spring and Autumn And Warring States period.
After measurement, the total length of the bronze sword is 45.2 cm, the length is 36.2 cm, the head diameter is 3 cm, the sword body is willow leaf-shaped, there is a raised sword ridge in the middle, the section is slightly flattened diamond-shaped, there is a diamond-shaped narrow grid pattern, and the two ends of the hilt are trumpet-shaped, round head. Moreover, in the second half of the sword body, there is an inscription with 2 lines and 24 characters engraved on it.
This is very different from the appearance of the imitation "Jizi Sword" obtained before, and after the expert group summarized the opinions, it came to the conclusion, "This is the real Jizi Sword, from this inscription you can see the origin of this sword, this time can not be wrong!" ”
The ancient sword was originally a famous sword, which led to the story of a celebrity
To say that the question of the ownership of the sword can be confirmed so quickly, this inscription really helped a lot, but the translation of this inscription also made a little mistake.
The experts expanded the inscription on the bronze sword, only to see that the inscriptions were exquisitely carved, the calligraphy was neat and dignified, and the details were well-made.
After careful translation and proofreading by the expert group, it was finally confirmed that the approximate meaning of the inscription was "King Zhufan of Wu fell ill, please tell his younger brother Jizi, pray for his blessings, seek eternal virginity, avoid disaster, perform the ritual of consortship and display the sword, and make this sword, and the Dian people read the prayer and said that this was his yuan sword." ”
Translating the meaning of the inscription, it was determined that it was a Sword of Wu Wang' Strand, cast in the late Spring and Autumn Period.
Everything went smoothly and there were no branches. As for why this Wu Wang's hair sword appeared here, it is also very easy to explain. In 584 BC, Jin and Wu began to communicate and friendship in various forms, including alliances, envoys, teng women, etc., and carried out cultural and economic exchanges;
Moreover, after the destruction of Wu, a large number of Wu people fled into the Jin state, both of which are the best explanations for the flow of Wu weapons into the territory of the Jin state. The seemingly perfect and rapid archaeological work, with the translation of the inscription of the body of the sword as a perfect end, soon the archaeologists found the problem.
After a series of repeated discussions, the experts finally confirmed that the original translation was wrong. Because the original inscription is delicate and has many corrosive damage, the strokes of many characters are invisible in the rubbing, which affects the original integrity of the font strokes.
Moreover, Takumoto was published in the form of photographs, which was not very clear and reversed. This small oversight, one after another, caused the final error in the translation.
The experts responded with a rigorous scientific attitude, did not have any opinions, and finally corrected the translation of the inscription, unveiling the true veil of the bronze sword.
The corrected translation probably means, "Ji Zi, the younger brother of King Zhufan of Wu, accepted a copper offering from his subordinates to make his own 'Yuan Sword'." ”
This is a veritable Jizi sword, which provides an era-breaking standard for experts to study the bronze ware of the State of Wu, and points out a clear direction for solving the problem of the names of Wu and Yue kings in the historical records, and also contributes to the study of the relationship between Jin and Wu.
"What an important historical relic! This has provided us with great help in our research on Wu, Yue and Jin! "The experts were excited.
The allusion to "Jizi hanging sword" shows gentlemanly demeanor
The excavation of the Jizi sword not only made a great contribution to the study of the history of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, but also once again brought the idiom allusion of "Jizi hanging the sword" to the eyes. It's a story of friendship and integrity.
Ji Zha was ordered by King Wu to send envoys to various countries, and when passing through Xu Guo, he was warmly received by Xu Guojun. When the two got along, Xu Guojun always looked at JiZi's sword and his eyes lit up, and the clear-eyed people could see that the monarch was looking at Jizi's sword.
However, out of the restraint of the king of a country and the courtesy of treating him, Xu Guojun did not speak out to ask for Jizi's sword.
Of course, Ji Zi also saw xu Guojun's intentions, felt the understanding of Xu Guojun, and even more out of the etiquette of the sword to send countries, Ji Zi did not break through this layer of window paper.
However, Ji Zi was thinking of Xu Guojun's heart, and wanted to pass by Xu Guojun again on the way back to China and give the sword to Xu Guojun. Unfortunately, shortly after Jizi left xuguo, xu guojun died.
Returning to Xu Guo, Ji Zi only saw the grave of Xu Guojun, and in front of Xu Guojun's tomb, Ji Zi wept bitterly, regretting that he could not meet Xu Guojun's wishes, but he could not make up for it.
Thinking about it, Ji Zi unsheathed his sword and hung it in front of Xu Guojun's tomb to show his condolences and fulfill Xu Guojun's wish.
Treating friendship in this way to the pure and true, Ji Zi who said what he said was deeply loved by Xu Guoren, and also passed on the story of a gentleman's promise to this day. So far, this Jizi sword unearthed in Triangle Ping is in the Yushe Fossil Museum.
Experts have opened up its thousand-year-old secret and made great contributions to the historical research of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
Then, Ji Zijian completed the first phase of its mission and began its next mission, lying quietly in the museum for people to see, so that people can understand the superb skills of bronzes of that era and the moving story hidden behind the sword.
epilogue
The excavation of a cultural relic can always take us back to the era it witnessed, so that those stories are no longer just words in the book, but vividly displayed in front of people.
Those definite, uncertain histories are beginning to take on a temperature, with corroboration of what has happened, and it's very exciting to think about. What a proud thing to be able to dig deep into the thousand-year-old story behind the cultural relics and monuments.
bibliography
Cao Jinyan, Wu Jizijian Inscription Interpretation , Philosophy and Humanities , Archaeology , Southeast Culture , 1990.04, No. 114_115.
Jinhua, Shanxi Yushe unearthed a Wu Wang Stock Hair Sword , Philosophy and Humanities , Archaeology ; Economic and Management Sciences • Tourism ; Cultural Relics " , 1990.02 , No. 79_81.
Sima Qian's "History of the Jin Dynasty".
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