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Text | Shunxuan
Edit | Shunxuan
●—≺ Preface ≻—●
In 2012, a team of well-dressed cultural relics experts came to a small border village in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, with the sole purpose of finding the man named Kong Zhongliang in the photo.
This man looks like his name, very honest and honest. He spent his entire life farming in the village and supporting his family, just like everyone else in the village.
Cultural relics experts traveled thousands of miles from Xi'an to Xianyang to find him, what was the intention?
●—≺ Heavenly Encounters ≻—●
The story also begins with an adventure forty-four years ago, when Kong Zhongliang was thirteen years old and was a young man who was experiencing a small promotion.
One day in the fall of 1968, Kong Zhongliang, who had just entered junior high school, had not yet got used to the teacher's teaching rhythm, and after he sorted out his class notes in the classroom, the classroom was empty, Kong Zhongliang sorted out his schoolbag and prepared to go home.
On the way home, he passed a small stream with small pebbles on both sides, and when Kong Zhongliang passed by, he picked up a few stones with good feelings, which is an indispensable entertainment link on the way home from class every day.
Kong Zhongliang was concentrating on selecting the stone at hand, when a stone that looked like a tiger next to him caught his attention. Children are the most peculiar looking stones like treasures, not to mention that this stone is transparent throughout, crystal clear and moist, and feels great to the touch.
Kong Zhongliang put the stone in his pocket, buried his head and then selected the stone, and after having fun, Kong Zhongliang continued to walk in the direction of home. Back at home, his parents let him eat, and the little ones always have to show off to the adults when they pick up good things. He took out the white stone he had just picked up by the river and shared it with his father, Kong Xiangfa.
Kong Xiangfa took the stone handed over by his son, and he was also surprised in his heart. This stone looks like a seal polished by hand.
He read little, did not read much, and the engraving on the seal was studied for half a sound, and he did not see any fame. But as a native of Shaanxi, Kong Xiangfa grew up listening to the story of treasure pickers, and he had a hunch that his son might really have picked up treasures.
In recent years, Tufuzi in Shaanxi have been rampant, and although it is not clear whether this stone is a cultural relic or not, it is better to be careful so as not to be targeted by thieves.
Kong Xiangfa thought about it, it is better to directly hand over this thing to the local cultural relics bureau, if it is really to let them keep it, the family can also worry less, if it is only an ordinary gadget, it will be used as a toy for his son.
After making up his mind, Kong Xiangfa began to flip through the calendar and find a free day to prepare to take his son into the city.
●—≺ Pick up "treasure" ≻—●
On this day, Kong Xiangfa got up early and took his son to the car to the center of Xi'an. After three hours of bumps, I finally arrived at the Shaanxi History Museum.
Both father and son came to such a big cultural center for the first time, and it was a little cramped to look at the friendly receptionist.
Kong Xiangfa directly explained their intentions to the staff. "You take the children to the reception room to sit down for a while, and I'll inform the curator." The staff saw that the father and son had traveled a long way, led them to rest first, and poured two glasses of water in front of them.
After a while, the curator arrived, and the father and son saw the curator come to get up to greet them, and the curator quickly took the two to sit down again. Kong Xiangfa handed the seal to the curator and told the curator about the process of his son picking up the jade.
The curator had just touched the seal and discovered the mystery in it, which was made of high-grade and jade, which was dense and hard, pure and flawless, even if it was not a cultural relic, it was worth a lot just by the material.
The curator recognized the exotic beast carved on the seal that resembled a tiger and was called a tiger. According to legend, the dragon gave birth to nine sons, and the ninth son, Tiger, was the child of the dragon and the tiger.
There were four big characters under the seal, and the curator couldn't tell what the words were when he touched the mirror pattern, so he thought about asking the staff to bring the printing clay and white paper. When the vermilion words were clearly printed on the paper, the curator read out four words, namely "Seal of the Queen".
Looking at the seal, this should be a queen's jade seal, such a jade seal is very rare, the curator can not directly judge which queen, and then need to be handed over to experts to know the answer.
This jade seal is of great significance to the study of cultural relics history, and the father and son are very happy to listen to the words of the curator, they have been ordinary people in their lives, and it is a great thing for the simple rural father and son to make a little contribution to the country.
The father and son immediately expressed their willingness to hand over the seal to the museum, and the curator was very moved when he knew their attitude, shook Kong Xiangfa's hand hard, and lovingly stroked the child's head.
"Thank you for making such a decision, I will ask my superiors for instructions to get you a bonus!" The curator said excitedly to Kong Xiangfa's father and son.
The father and son immediately rejected the curator: "This is all as it should be, this kind of valuable cultural relics originally belong to the country and all the people, and they are the original owners, and they don't need to go through such a big effort." ”
The curator explained a few more words, seeing that the father and son were still unwilling to accept it, so they had to give up. But as soon as I heard that the father and son had traveled thousands of miles from Xianyang, they said that they would reimburse the father and son for their travel expenses.
Kong Xiangfa was unwilling to accept it at first, and the curator shirked for a while, the curator was very firm, seeing that the father did not accept it, he stuffed the money into his son's pocket, and the child was a little overwhelmed to grab the money. At this point, the father and son had to accept the 20 yuan travel fee.
The curator and staff sent the lovely father and son out of the museum, watched them wave goodbye, and told them to pay attention to safety on the road.
And this part, but left a regret. The father and son were in a hurry, and the staff forgot to ask a very important thing!
●—≺ Commendation Meeting ≻—●
After expert appraisal, this jade seal was confirmed to be the highest known seal of the Empress of Qin and Han in existence, and was listed as a national first-class cultural relic and collected in the Shaanxi Museum.
In 2012, Shaanxi Province established the Cultural Conservation Foundation, and in recognition of those who have made outstanding contributions to the preservation of cultural relics, the foundation began to look for people who donated valuable cultural relics to the museum in their early years.
Among them, the indispensable are Kong Xiangfa and Kong Zhongliang's father and son, who donated the treasure "Queen's Seal" of the town hall forty-four years ago.
When the staff compared the archives of the museum, they were surprised to find that the materials in the museum did not know anything about the father and son except their names, and because of the age, the director and reception staff who had received the father and son had passed away or resigned one after another, and no one could determine whether the father and son were still in Shaanxi.
At that time, the information system was far less developed than it is now, and finding two people in the vast sea of people was like finding a needle in a haystack. After layers of investigation by the staff, they finally found the thirteen-year-old boy in a small village called "Wolf Family Gou" in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province.
When the staff found Kong Zhongliang himself, he was already an old man with white sideburns, and his father Kong Xiangfa had long died.
This old man has been practicing the name given to him by his father all his life, "Zhonghou Chunliang", inheriting the family's cultivated land, logistics and diligent farming, and if the neighbors need it, he will go to help as soon as possible.
Most of the peasants who depended on the sky for food were living on a tight budget, and Kong Zhongliang's life was not prosperous. The staff looked at the honest old man very ashamed, Kong Zhongliang's hearing was a little weak, so he patiently explained the purpose of finding him over and over again.
Kong Zhongliang refused the foundation's commendation and award, giving the same reason that his father refused the curator. He said that the twenty yuan left by the curator to the father and son was already a "huge amount" for rural people, and they no longer needed more rewards from the state.
The staff was also not discouraged, they knew that this was the persistence of the older generation, so they found the village branch secretary, and a few people persuaded Kong Zhongliang with bad words.
Seeing that the old man was finally willing to accept this honor that should have belonged to him a long time ago, the staff was very happy and took the old man on the return journey.
At the commendation meeting, Kong Zhongliang, as a representative of outstanding contributions, was invited to give a speech on stage. The old man told his own story, expressing his responsibility to donate national treasures and his patriotism. The sincerity of the words moved the audience.
Some people may wonder, what kind of value does the "Seal of the Queen" have, which can overwhelm the rest of the rare treasures in the ancient capital of the thirteen dynasties in Shaanxi and sit on the throne of the treasure of the town hall? This has to mention the famous Empress of the Great Han in history, Liu Bangfa's wife - Lü He.
●—≺ Queen's Seal ≻—●
As the first well-documented empress in history, Lü He's name is well-known, but most people only know that she planned to kill Han Xin, was jealous by nature, and used cruel methods. Removing these, Lu Hou is a strategic, far-sighted politician.
During the reign of Lü He, in order to consolidate the Great Han River and Mountain, Empress Lü and the people rested and ruled without doing anything, allowing the Chinese territory that had just experienced the ravages of war to breathe. Faced with the provocations of the Northern Xiongnu and the humiliation of Shan Yu, Empress Lü resisted the desire to raise troops and insisted on adopting a policy of peace and affinity.
The people of the Central Plains were no longer disturbed by the war, and vigorously developed production, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent prosperity of the Han Dynasty and making a good start for the "rule of Wenjing".
Kong Zhongliang found that the stream of this jade seal was very close to the joint burial tomb of Han Gaozu and Empress Lü, and during the reign of Empress Lü, he issued an edict prohibiting the exchange of goods with South Vietnam, and the seal on it was the "Seal of the Empress", and subsequent experts determined that this jade seal was the object of Empress Lü's life after font comparison.
According to research, the tiger pattern on the jade seal can be traced back to the Warring States period. The tiger has been given different images at different times, but no matter how the appearance changes, the meaning of "dragon and tiger spirit" does not change. "Dragon" represents the inviolability of imperial power, "tiger" is a symbol of military power, the ancients will call the dispatch of troops "tiger talisman", which shows the status of the tiger image in the military.
The tiger is a product of the war years, and the "son of the dragon and tiger" shows the honor of the emperor and martial arts. Qin Shi Huang had a "heirloom jade seal", and the sacred beast carved on it was also a tiger. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the core center of gravity of the tiger has gradually begun to shift, and the fierceness has turned more into shelter, and the common people have used the tiger pattern on daily decorations to pray for peace.
From this, it can be said that the tiger of the Warring States Qin and Han is the closest to the meaning of the birth of this image, and even if the subsequent image is exquisite and vivid, it always lacks that "spiritual qi".
Therefore, this "Seal of the Empress" from the early Han Dynasty was regarded by posterity as a treasure among treasures. These cultural relics are the historical evidence of China for thousands of years, and protecting them is the responsibility of every Chinese, and Kong Xiangfa and Kong Zhongliang's father and son are worthy of our praise.