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In the thousands of years of history of China, there is such a treasure, which was created by Qin Shi Huang, and those who won it won the world. The development of Chinese history has been promoted in the dark, but now its whereabouts are unknown. According to legend, follow its clues to find the most mysterious tomb of Genghis Khan. It is known as "China's first national treasure", and experts say that if the treasure appears again, the valuation will exceed 900 billion, and it is the national jade seal. Today we're going to talk about the story behind it.
Warm reminder: The content of this issue is partially based on the history of the wild, the authenticity can not be verified, please watch as appropriate.
In ancient times, the Xia King Dayu divided the world into Kyushu, ordered Kyushu Tomu to contribute bronze, cast Jiuding, carved the famous mountains and rivers and strange things of Kyushu in jiuding, and concentrated jiuding in the capital of the Xia Dynasty. Since then, Jiuding has been regarded as a symbol of national rights, ding is in the country, and ding is lost and the country is lost.
After Shang Tang expelled Xia Jie, Xia died and Shang suffered, and Jiuding was then placed in the Shang capital. There was nearly 1,000 years of inheritance between Xia and Shang, and in the last year of the Shang Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang, and Jiuding followed King Wu of Zhou to Luoyi, which is today's Luoyang. After that, after the turbulent period of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, by the time Qin Shi Huang destroyed the Six Kingdoms and unified the world, Jiuding had disappeared. Some historians believe that Jiuding is not nine, but only one, because it represents Kyushu, also known as Kyushu Ding, referred to as Jiuding for short. Because of this, Luoyang, the last place where Jiuding appeared, has always retained a landmark building, Xiguan Jiulongding.
After the mysterious disappearance of Jiuding, Qin Shi Huang had been pondering what kind of treasure to create to replace the glory of Jiuding. The Northern Wei statesman Cui Hao, who wrote in the Han Ji Yinyi, "Passing on the national seal is the work of Heshi Bi". The Chuanguo Jade Seal is the second generation of "symbols of power" created by the First Emperor after Jiuding.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chu state jade worker Bian He saw a beautiful phoenix perched on a bluestone in the mountains. According to legend, "the phoenix does not fall into the land of no treasure", this bluestone must contain a unique treasure. Bian He once dedicated Qingshi to three generations of Chu kings, but unfortunately King Chu Li and King Chu Wu did not know the goods.
Bian He was also convicted of deception and tortured. Bian He, who had become a wasteman, cried for three days and three nights holding this simple and unpretentious stone, and finally touched King Wen of Chu. King Wen of Chu ordered someone to cut open the stone, and sure enough, he got a beautiful jade, and this jade was Heshi Bi. Later, Zhao Guo's doctor Lin Xiangru fought to the death in front of Qiang Qin for this piece of unparalleled jade in the world, and achieved the famous story of "returning to Zhao after the end of the Bi". After coveting Heshibi for many years, the State of Qin finally obtained Heshibi as desired after unifying the world.
After that, Qin Shi Huang ordered sun shou, a jade worker in Xianyang, to grind the heshi bi flat and carve it into a seal. The eight characters of the Seal Book of Li Si, "Ordained by Heaven, Shou Yongchang", mean: I am appointed by Heaven, so the country ruled by me will inevitably live a long, eternal, and prosperous life. The Chuanguo Jade Seal was born.
Most of the seals in the Qin and Han dynasties were mainly bird and insect seal books, so according to later speculations, the eight characters written by Li Si probably looked like this bird.
Of course, there is also another theory that the material of the Chuanguo Jade Seal is not Heshi Bi, but Lantian Jade. The source is the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Guangwu Emperor Ji" quoted in the "Jade Seal Spectrum", which says: "The Chuanguo Seal was carved by Qin Shi Huang at the beginning of the world, and its jade came out of the Lantian Mountain. ”
However, regardless of the material, the Chuanguo Jade Seal, like Jiuding, is considered a symbol of orthodox power, and with the Chuanguo Jade Seal, it is equivalent to the divine right of the monarch and has been officially recognized. Subsequent emperors have painstakingly competed for the national jade seal, and the jade seal has since been closely intertwined with the changes in Chinese history.
● The ups and downs of the National Jade Seal
Originally, according to Qin Shi Huang's idea, he naturally created this heirloom jade seal in the hope that the royal power would be passed on forever in the hands of the descendants of the Qin people. However, in the previous video, we also said that the feng shui life of the Qin Dynasty had long been defeated by a series of tumultuous operations of Qin Shi Huang. China is not like Japan, which has an imperial system of "one lineage through the ages", and it will always be the emperor and their family as the emperor. The great thinker Dong Zhongshu once said that the rise and fall of dynasties and the replacement of monarchs are not completely controlled by humans. Your emperor is not good, the heavens are angry and resentful, and the heavens will send a new dynasty to replace you.
In 207 BC, Liu Bang led an army to attack Xianyang, and the prince of the Qin Dynasty presented the "Jade Seal of chuanguo" to Liu Bang. Liu Bang jianhan ascended the throne, and the jade seal became the "National Seal of the Han Dynasty" and was treasured in the Changle Palace. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the 2-year-old Liu Infant succeeded to the throne, and Yuxi was taken over by Empress Xiaoyuan. After that, Wang Mang usurped the Han dynasty and established one of the shortest-lived dynasties in history, the New Dynasty.
When Wang Mang sent people to ask Empress Xiaoyuan for the imperial jade seal, the empress dowager angrily rebuked Wang Mang, who went against heaven and reason, and would be punished. Throw the jade seal in front of the steps. Just throwing it away, resulting in the lack of a horn in this heirloom treasure. Wang Mang ordered people to decorate the missing horns with gold. But what he didn't know was that the original fine jade was naturally pure, but the gold was full of worldly tackiness, and the two were incompatible. From then on, the jade seal is like a spirit, seeking power and usurping the throne, and those who want to obtain the jade seal through extraordinary means will be cursed. Wang Mang also died in the rebellion more than ten years later, in a struggle with Liu Xiu.
This history is also jokingly referred to as the "Crosser" vs. "Sons of the Plane". Wang Mang is said to be a crosser because during his administration, many measures ahead of the times were promulgated. For example, the invention of the vernier caliper, the abolition of slavery, the nationalization of land, the introduction of a loan system, and so on. Because Wang Mang's crossing changed the course of history, the "plane management agency" sent Liu Xiu to pull the deviated history back to the normal track. As soon as Liu Xiu appeared on the scene, he was accompanied by the luck of the heavens, and he was called a "big Han koi". Especially in the battle of Kunyang between the Green Forest Army and Wang Mang's army led by him, Liu Xiu even used the "Meteorite Summoning Technique" to establish the status of "Son of the Face". Wang Mang's army had no million but 400,000 to 500,000 horses at that time, while the Green Forest Army led by Liu Xiu only had a pitiful 17,000 men. However, the result of the final battle was that Wang Mang's army was killed by hundreds of thousands, and the foundation of the new dynasty's rule was completely shaken. According to the Book of later Han, just as Wang Mang's hundreds of thousands of troops were preparing to besiege the city, meteorites suddenly fell from the night sky and were full of fire.
Such a scene, let alone ancient times, can also scare people not lightly until modern times. Some of the soldiers crawled to the ground, some fled in all directions, and even had a stampede accident, which in the words of the history books is "lying on the ground for hundreds of miles." The dispute between Wang Mang and Liu Xiu is another story of anger and intestines, and there is a chance to start another chapter to talk to you in detail.
After Liu Xiu defeated Wang Mang, the world returned to the hands of the Liu family. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao led troops into the palace to kill eunuchs, and there was chaos in the palace, and the Han Shao Emperor Liu Wei fled overnight, hastily did not bring the national seal. Later, Sun Jian, who was stationed in the palace of Luoyang City, found the corpse of a palace maid carrying a jade seal in a well in the palace. Yuan Shao once forced Sun Jian to hand over the jade seal, but Sun Jian denied it, saying that he had never seen the jade seal at all, and even swore a poisonous oath, saying, "If my Sun Jian dares to steal the state instrument, he will be pierced by ten thousand arrows in the future!" Sure enough, Yuxi seemed to be psychic again, and Sun Jian died shortly after the Ten Thousand Arrows piercing the heart. Later, Cao Cao blackmailed the Han Emperor and ordered the princes, at this time the Chuanguo Jade Seal was able to return to the Han Room.
In 220 AD, Cao Pi forced The Han Emperor To offer Emperor Chan Rang and proclaimed the Emperor to establish the State of Wei. At this time, the jade seal fell into the hands of the Cao family. I don't know if I was afraid of the curse of the jade seal, it is said that Cao Pi also ordered people to engrave the inscription on the jade seal: "Great Wei was passed on by the Han Dynasty", in order to prove that he was Zen and not usurper.
In 280 AD, Sima Yan unified the three kingdoms and the world returned to Jin. After Sima Yan obtained the Chuanguo Jade Seal, it was stored in the Luoyang Arsenal. Then later, after the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Five Hu Chaos, and the Chuanguo Yuxi experienced the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty, and constantly changed lords before different kings.
In 617 AD, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, raised an army at Jinyang, which is today Taiyuan, Shanxi, and attacked all the way into the Sui capital. Because the time was not ripe, Li Yuan did not immediately claim the title of emperor, but supported Yang You, who was only twelve or thirteen years old at the time, as a puppet emperor and honored the Sui Emperor as the Emperor Taishang. The following year, in 618, the Sui Emperor died in the Jiangdu Mutiny. At this time, Li Yuan forced Yang Youchan to make himself emperor and change the name of the country to Tang, and Li Yuan was also The Emperor gaozu of Tang.
After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, Empress Xiao, the empress dowager of the Sui Dynasty, and crown prince Yuande fled to northern Mobei with the jade seal of chuanguo. This was also the first time that the Chuanguo Jade Seal appeared in nomadic areas and began to circulate within turkic territory.
In 626, Li Shimin staged a coup d'état at Xuanwumen, successfully killing the crown prince Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, and then forcing Li Yuan to relinquish power. Tang Taizong Li Shimin ascended to the throne by killing his brother, and coupled with the fact that he did not have the National Jade Seal at hand, he still had some trepidation in his heart. So he ordered someone to carve several A-goods jade seals such as "Destiny Treasure" and "Destiny Treasure" to talk about masturbation.
Not long after the change of Xuanwumen, when the Tang Dynasty was in the midst of a change of old and new regimes, the Northern Turks took advantage of the fire and robbery, led a 200,000-strong army, drove in, and directly hit the north bank of Weishui, which was only 40 miles away from Chang'an City, killing Li Shimin by surprise. At that time, Li Shimin had just ascended the throne for a few days, and naturally he was not ready to fight this hard battle, so he sent someone with gold and treasure to negotiate peace with the Turkic leader Jieli Khan. In this way, Jieli Khan and Li Shimin signed a peace agreement on the Weishui Bridge on the Weishui River, known in history as the "Weishui Alliance". However, the Turks were not destroyed, and the Tang Dynasty was never able to rest assured, and with the continuous use of troops to the north, the northern territory of the Tang Dynasty was once opened up to the area of today's Lake Baikal. This was also the peak of china's ancient northern territory. Subsequently, the Western Turks and the Eastern Turks collapsed successively, and the Tang Dynasty set up the "Beiting Capital Protectorate" to govern the vast areas in the north.
Many people speculate that in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the reason why Li Shimin continued to expand his territory and deter the four sides was, on the one hand, to wash away the former shame of the "Weishui Alliance", and on the other hand, he always wanted to find the imperial jade seal that was brought to the Turks by Empress Xiao to ensure the legal basis for the thousand-year inheritance. Perhaps this jade seal led the Tang Dynasty to continuously use troops against the north and achieved the feats of the Tang Dynasty. With the fall of the Turks, Empress Xiao returned to her homeland and, of course, brought back the jade seal. Since then, the jade seal has also been in the hands of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. It was not until the Later Tang Dynasty that the jade seal mysteriously disappeared from history for the first time.
• First disappearance
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, in 907 AD, Zhu Wen forced Tang to give way to Emperor Aizong, ending the Tang Dynasty for nearly 300 years, obtaining the Jade Seal of the Chuanguo, establishing the Later Liang, and opening the period of great turmoil in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Zhu Wen is also Liang Taizu. But the rear beam only existed for a short period of 17 years. In 923, Later Liang was destroyed by Later Tang, and Chuanguo Yuxi also entered Later Tang.
However, after only 13 years, the Later Tang's Hedong Jiedu made Shi Jingyao rebel, and with the help of the Khitan in the north, he destroyed the Later Tang and established the Later Jin. In early 937, Li Congke, the last emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, was humiliated on the day of the defeat of the army because he did not want to be captured, and took his whole family and held the jade seal of the country, climbed the Xuanwu Tower, and set himself on fire. Since then, the whereabouts of the Chuanguo Jade Seal are also unknown. This is the first time in history that Yuxi has officially disappeared. Some people say that Yuxi was already buried in the sea of fire when Li Congke set himself on fire. However, later experts examined that the melting point of jade was around 1700 degrees, and it was not possible to burn by fire. Therefore, someone must have secretly protected Yuxi after Li Congke set himself on fire.
After the end of the chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the long river of history slowly flowed to the Song Dynasty. The Chuanguo Jade Seal, which had disappeared for more than 150 years, reappeared.
• Second disappearance
In 1096 AD, during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty, a farmer found a jade seal in the field with the words "Ordained by Heaven, Both Shou Yongchang" and a corner with gold edges.
The farmer could see that it should be something used in the imperial court even if he did not know the goods, so he reported it to the officials. Later, after being examined by 13 important courtiers such as Cai Jing, a scholar of Hanlin, it was believed that this was the treasure of the town and the country handed down from the time of Qin Shi Huang. Although Cai Jing is a traitor, he is also a big calligrapher with a full stomach and a university inquirer, and his appraisal should have some credibility. Moreover, the most important thing is that the appearance and inscription of the jade seal are all secrets of the imperial court, which are only recorded in the historical records, and it is impossible for the peasants who offered the seal to know, let alone forge it. Of course, some people said that all this was just a trick used by Cai Jing to please the emperor. However, whether it is true or not, this national jade seal has been circulated until the first year of the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, in 1126 AD. This year took place the "Jingkang Revolution" that led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, political corruption and peasant uprisings ebbed and flowed. At the same time, in order to seize the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which the Jin Dynasty had ceded to the Liao Dynasty five generations later, Emperor Huizong of Song adopted the strategy of joining forces with Jin to destroy the Liao, and at that time the Jin State was still a newly emerging regime, and at the beginning it was also respectful and respectful to the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was pleasing everywhere. In this way, the Northern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty reached an "alliance on the sea". However, after the destruction of the Liao State, the wolf ambitions of the Golden State were immediately exposed, and the "Alliance on the Sea" became an empty piece of paper. In 1126, Emperor Taizong of Jin attacked the Song Dynasty, and Emperor Huizong of Song, seeing that the situation was in crisis, simply ceded the throne to the crown prince Zhao Huan of Song Qinzong.
However, this move did not protect Emperor Huizong of Song. In 1127, the Jin army attacked the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Fengliang, and in addition to burning and looting, it also captured the father and son of the current emperor Song Qinzong and the Taishang Emperor Song Huizong. A large number of Zhao royalty, harem concubines and courtiers, a total of more than 3,000 people, went north to the Jin Kingdom. The Northern Song Dynasty has since withdrawn from the stage of history. The Chuanguo Jade Seal was also plundered by the Great Golden Kingdom, which was also the second disappearance of the Jade Seal in history, and then disappeared. Although there have been several rumors of the reappearance of the jade seal later, it has been confirmed to be a fake.
From 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang began to build the chuanguo jade seal, and by 1127 AD, the jade seal completely disappeared with the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. This first national treasure of China has been passed down for 1348 years in a well-documented history.
However, since then, successive emperors have not given up searching for the whereabouts of the jade seal.
In 1294 AD, Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, died. According to legend, the "Chuanguo Jade Seal" once appeared in the Yuan Capital and was sold by small traders in the city. But there is no excessive description of the authenticity of this so-called "National Jade Seal". Later, the Yuan Dynasty collapsed, and the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Yuanshun, fled to Northern Mobei. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly sent Xu Da deep into the desert north, on the one hand, to pursue the fleeing Mongol court, on the other hand, to find the whereabouts of the Chuanguo Jade Seal, but eventually returned empty-handed. There was no national jade seal in his hand, zhu Yuanzhang simply and willfully ordered people to carve seventeen treasure seals one after another, and also took different names, what emperor's treasure, emperor's treasure, the treasure of making curses, the treasure of Tianzi's faith, and so on.
In 1636, when the Qing Dynasty was founded, Emperor Taiji obtained a "Chuanguo Seal" from the widow of the 35th Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Lin Dan Khan, and accordingly ascended the throne as emperor and changed the name of the country to "Great Qing". In fact, Emperor Taiji also knew that this jade seal was just a fake made by the Yuan Dynasty, but at that time, he was in urgent need of orthodox symbols, so he half pushed and half used it.
Until the modern period, when Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City, people were still looking for the national seal. Many warlords have asked Puyi about the whereabouts of Yuxi, and Puyi initially said that he had never seen that thing. After becoming a puppet emperor of puppet Manchukuo, Puyi was still constantly questioned, and finally impatiently directly threw down a sentence: To the Japanese!
So where did the Chuanguo Jade Seal, which was really created by Qin Shi Huang, go?
● Jade seal trace
We also mentioned just now that the time when the jade seal finally disappeared was taken away by the Great Golden State during the "Jingkang Revolution". It is likely that it has been circulating in the Mongolian steppe since then. In 1206 AD, Genghis Khan successively attacked the Western Liao, Western Xia, Jin Dynasty and other regimes, unified the Mongol departments, and established the Great Mongolian State. At this time, it is very likely that the Chuanguo Jade Seal fell into the hands of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan, who intended to conquer the world, believed that he did not need the blessing of the jade seal at all, nor did he need to prove his legitimacy, and also considered that the jade seal was like an untime bomb, which could cause a battle for future generations at any time. Therefore, many people speculate that Genghis Khan brought the Chuanguo Jade Seal into the tomb as a trophy.
But it just so happens that the Mongols, as nomadic people, have no place to live, especially when they fight wars, and often travel from place to place. The living can walk, but the tomb of the Great Khan cannot be moved. In order to prevent being dug up by the enemy, since ancient times, the "secret burial method" has been adopted after the death of the Great Khan, leaving no traces on the ground and no records in the books. When digging a tomb, the whole piece of soil is taken and placed together in order. After the coffin is buried, the soil blocks are covered in turn, and the new soil excavated is transported to the distance and thrown away. The grass grew the following year, and on the vast prairie, the burial was in the same location as anywhere else, and no one could see it. Therefore, from the mausoleum of Genghis Khan to the mausoleum of the later Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, no one has been found. Some people say that if you find the tomb of Genghis Khan, you can find the first national treasure worth 900 billion. Or follow the clues of the national treasure to find the tomb of Genghis Khan.
But there is also another theory that Genghis Khan did not bring the national seal into the tomb, and the national seal is still circulating to this day. The day it reappears may herald the beginning of another bloody storm.