Master Archaeologist

Chapter 105 The king protects Huaiyi, and there is Jiangxia!
On the front of Chime No. 1, there are two engraved inscriptions.

They are the gongs on the front, that is, the 20 characters in the center of the front.

And 30 characters are engraved on the left drum part on the front.

The left drum is located at the lower left of the clock face.

According to the traditional Chinese reading order from right to left and top to bottom, Chen Han and the others first translated the above 20 characters.

The words "Weiwang", "First Moon", "Auspicious Day", "Jiawu", "Zuo", "Wenwu" and "Zenghou" are all very easy to translate.

The preceding words have appeared in large quantities on bronze wares that have been unearthed. After all, most of the bronze inscriptions have to introduce the date, month, and so on.

The word "Wenwu" is also easy to translate, after all, these two words are very meaningful in Chinese civilization.

Not only because of King Wen and King Wu, but also because anyone who can cast bronzes is a nobleman.

Who are the nobles of the Eastern and Western Zhou?They are all people who run the country.

Then when they cast bronzes, they must write their own martial arts and martial arts when engraving inscriptions, so the words "wen and martial arts" will be mentioned a lot.

Not to mention "Marquis Zeng". In the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng five kilometers away next door, there are a lot of bronze wares with the inscription "Marquis Zeng".

The only thing that is difficult to read is the two characters "left and right".

But that's where it gets interesting.

Huaxia Chinese characters are developed on the basis of pictographs.

And the seal script has not yet broken away from the scope of pictographs.

The big seal character of "left and right" is "written" like two people, holding "工" and "口" in their hands, looking in opposite directions.

In fact, these two words are still very common, whether it is "left" or "right", they often appear in inscriptions.

However, the word "left and right" that appeared in Chime No. 1 was different from that in the previous seal inscription!
In the word "left and right" appearing on the No. 1 chime, "person" wears a crown.

Therefore, these two characters were not identified by the researchers who took the "Jinwenbian" to compare and identify them.

Chen Han and Professor Li also thought about it for a while, and combined the word "civil and military" in the latter part.

Only then did I understand why the "left and right" on the No. 1 chime is different from the words "left and right" on the bronze wares unearthed before.

Because the "left and right" here does not simply mean the direction.

Why do "people" wear crowns?

Because this person's identity is different.

Wearing a crown is to show that this person is a minister or nobleman.

Then, the "left and right" here is related to Wenwu, and the meaning it wants to express is: "I once followed and assisted two emperors, Wen and Wu."

The meaning of the word has changed from a simple expression of direction to a more abstract "follow the emperor and assist him".

This is the unique charm of Chinese characters as ideographic characters, as well as the unparalleled information carrying capacity!
With a little change of the glyphs, the meaning will be completely different, and the expression is very vivid!
This is something that those rigid phonetic characters can never do!

Although all kinds of fake characters, variant characters, one word with multiple meanings, or multiple words with one meaning, often make people confused.

But this is precisely what makes Chinese characters so fascinating!

After deciphering the meaning of the first paragraph of the inscription, not only did Chen Han and the others not be satisfied, but they were even more eager to get more information about the inscription!

This inscription with only 20 characters is just a start, and it is also a start related to King Wen and King Wu!
It makes people scratch their heads and desperately want to know more!
So, even though it was already 11:30 in the middle of the night, a group of people still didn't plan to go to sleep, and planned to light up the night to fight and take down the inscription on the No. 1 chime.

However, this is a bit taken for granted.

An inscription of more than 100 characters is not so easy to interpret.

I was busy until three o'clock in the morning, and only half of the 30-character inscription in the second paragraph was deciphered.

In the second inscription, there are more uncommon words.

Many words are new inscriptions that have never appeared before. With the strength of Professor Li and Chen Han, it is difficult to decipher them in just a few hours.

"Is this word "护" or "无"! I'm so worried."

Chen Han held the rubbed inscription, frowned, and kept scratching his scalp, feeling like his head was about to explode.

Every word seemed familiar to him, and it seemed that several words could match, but after a while, he felt that none of them seemed to match!
This feeling is very torturous.

"Never mind, try it first."

Collecting the parts that everyone has deciphered, Chen Han put them together, and tried to read them together with guesswork:
"The order of the Yin, governs () the world, the king () orders Nan Gong, camps in the soil, the king shelters the Huaiyi, and there is Jiangxia, the Zhou family is humble."

Not to mention, the magic of Chinese characters has once again appeared.

Even if there are missing words, even if there are so many words in it, Chen Han himself is not sure, it is completely ignorant.

But the amazing thing is that the entire translated words can really piece together a complete meaning without delaying the understanding of the general content of this inscription!
Chinese characters are extensive and profound!

If all the words he can translate are correct, then the amount of information in this passage is huge!

Continuing from the last four characters of the previous paragraph, "left and right civil and military", the meaning of this paragraph is:
"Assisted King Wen and King Wu to end the destiny of the Yin and Shang dynasties and pacify the world. Later, King Wu ordered Nangong to build a house at the confluence of rivers, protect Huaiyi, and own the land of Jiangxia, which is the shield of the Zhou family."

Link the first and second paragraphs together.

It is to introduce a minister named "Bai Kuo" and honored as "Nan Gong", a once brilliant honor.

At the beginning, this "Nan Gong" assisted King Wen and King Wu to conquer the world. Later, with this credit, King Wu sealed him to a place where rivers and rivers converge. Huaiyi, who ruled here, was a barrier for the Zhou royal family.

Good guy!
It is related that tomb No. M1 is the tomb of an aristocrat of the Zeng State. If nothing else, it should be a certain Zeng Hou of the Zeng State.

Doesn't this mean that the "Nan Gong" recorded on this chime should be the founding monarch of Zeng State, and the story recorded is the reason why Zeng State was enfeoffed and born? !

Chen Han himself was stunned by the content he translated.

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the word "Gong" represented the top minister of the Zhou royal family, and it was a kind of respectful title, such as Zhou Gong and Zhao Gong.

Therefore, the meaning of "Nangong" should be a public official whose fiefdom is in the south.

And his name should be "Bai Kuo" mentioned at the beginning.

This Nangong, named Bai Kuo, not only assisted King Wen and King Wu to establish the world, but also established Zeng State in the south under the order of the king.

He is the first Marquis of Zeng Guo!
However, Chen Han quickly went through the general history of the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty in his mind.

He doesn't remember a well-known minister in the Western Zhou Dynasty named Bai Kuo?

Could it be that this is a founding father of the Western Zhou Dynasty who was forgotten by history books?
So Zeng Guocai has never been seen in history books?
After all, the ancestors were not recorded in the history books.
However, this explanation is unreasonable!
It was ordered by King Wu to "shelter the Huaiyi, and there is Jiangxia next to it", which became a barrier for the Zhou royal family in the south.

How could such an important event, such an important vassal state, not be recorded in the history books?

It's like, in the absence of historical records.

In the history books after 2000, in this era, the five permanent members have become the four permanent members, China has disappeared from the history books, and there is no such country.

This is too outrageous, how can such a thing happen!
This Bai Kuo cannot be missed, it is definitely recorded in the history books!
(End of this chapter)