Master Archaeologist

Chapter 106 Four Friends of King Wen and Ten Officials!
"Bai Kuo. Bai Kuo"

Holding the content of the inscription translated by Chen Han, Professor Li frowned and said against his own translated version, "The white characters here should belong to Tong Bo."

"Uncle, the eldest son."

"During the two-week period, the ordering of brothers is generally using the four characters of Bo Zhong Shu Ji, Bo is the eldest son, and Zhong is the second child."

"Although it is not clear whether the sorting method of "Bo Zhong Shu Ji" can be traced back to the early Western Zhou Dynasty, but this chime bell was cast in the late Spring and Autumn Period."

"So the "white" here, in the eyes of people in the Spring and Autumn Period, it should be no problem to use the word "Bo"."

Chen Han nodded in agreement.

This statement is still very reasonable. There are many examples of "Bai" and "Bo" in other inscriptions.

Moreover, the inscriptions of the Zhou Dynasty really like to record in this way, and names such as "Bo X" and "Zhong X" are not uncommon.

The "Bai Kuo" in the inscription here should be the eldest son named Kuo, not his name is Bo Kuo.

The "name" recorded in this kind of inscription is not the real name or full name of the person, which was very common in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.

For example, the kings of Shang often used the "Jiayi Bingding" in Tiangandi to name them, which does not necessarily mean that their real names were Tianyi, Taiding, Taijia, Wuding and the like.

Now some scholars in the academic circles believe that.

The "Jia, B, Bingding" here may be just a sacrificial name. After the death of these emperors, descendants chose a day from the heavenly stems as the sacrificial date for them, similar to the temple name of Zong Zhou later.

Because the sacrificial culture of the Shang Dynasty is very strong, unlike the Zhou Dynasty where only a few generations of ancestors were sacrificed.

This leads to too many ancestors to be sacrificed at the same time. In order to avoid confusion, these ancestors are sacrificed according to ten days.

For example, Cheng Tang, the recorded name is Lu, but it is called "Da Yi" in oracle bone inscriptions, indicating that the merchant priests him on the second day, and the "Da" in front is also a method of calculating the date.

Big Yi, Emperor Yi, Little Yi, and Zu Yi represent different Yi days of each month, so that there will be no confusion.

The same is true of King Zhou. His posthumous title of "Zhou" was given by the Zhou royal family. People don't call themselves King Zhou. Emperor Xin.

However, in the summer before the Shang Dynasty, and the Zhou Dynasty after that, those with heavenly stems in their names might really be famous.

For example, Xiahou Yinjia, Kongjia, Lugui, and later Zenghouyi and the like.

The reason for saying this is that the names of the monarchs of the Xia Dynasty also had Taikang and Shaokang, which shows that Yinjia and Kongjia here are just names.

Only in the Yin and Shang Dynasties, in the unearthed oracle bone inscriptions, the kings mentioned were all recorded in terms of heavenly stems, so scholars believe that this name is a sacrificial name, not a real name.

In the two-week period, such as "Zhou Gong", "Zhao Gong", and "Nan Gong" on this chime are also honorable names, not real real names.

"Bai Kuo" is just a description of "the eldest son Kuo", not the real surname Bai Kuo.

After Professor Li explained this, Chen Han suddenly became enlightened.

The person named Bai Kuo did not appear in the historical materials of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

However, at the beginning, Chen Han guessed that the word was "包".

After talking with Professor Li now, he suddenly thought of another word.

"Professor Li, do you think the word "Kuo" is not "Kuo" but the word "Suitable"?" Chen Han asked excitedly.

"You mean?" Professor Li's eyes lit up, and he said word by word: "Nangong Shi!"

Professor Li immediately grabbed the rubbings of the inscription, and carefully distinguished it in front of him.

The formation of the character "Kuo" is actually relatively late, and no oracle bone inscriptions or bronze inscriptions have been unearthed before.

Therefore, other researchers took the "Jin Wen Bian" and did not find the deciphering of this word.

Chen Han and Professor Li tried to crack it here.

Now that Chen Han mentioned the word "appropriate", he immediately inspired Professor Li.

He carefully identified the complex seal on the inscription, and muttered to himself:

"Well, oracle bone inscriptions are composed of "Emperor" and "Zhi"."

""Zhi" oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, and Xiaozhuan are all in the shape of human toes, and the official script is defined as "Zhi", which originally means feet."

"Later, the bronze inscriptions changed the word "zhi" under the word "fit" to "mouth", and the characters of the Warring States period added the word "彳" on the left side."

"This big seal has "帝" and "口", as well as "Zhi" and a character similar to "彳" and "亻"."

"But there is an extra bamboo prefix!"

After muttering to himself for a while, Professor Li affirmed: "If it's Bo Shi, everything can be explained!"

""The Analects of Confucius Weizi" says: There are eight scholars in Zhou Dynasty, Bo Da, Bo Shi, Zhong Tu, Zhong Hu, Shu Ye, Shu Xia, Ji Sui, and Ji Yi."

"Among the Eight Great Scholars at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, there was a man named Bo Shi."

"And after careful consideration, Bo Shi is regarded as Nangong Shi!"

According to "Historical Records", Nangong Shi was a virtuous official when King Wu prospered Zhou and destroyed Zhou. After King Wu of Zhou destroyed Shang, he ordered Nangong Shi to demolish the deer platform built by King Zhou and open King Zhou's granary to help poor and weak slaves. "

"He, along with Tai Dian, Hong Yao, and San Yisheng, are known as the four friends of King Wen, and he is also one of the ten ministers of King Wu!"

"And he's also one of King Cheng's important ministers!"

"In the past, King Cheng was a child, and when he came out, Zhou Gong, Zhao Gong, and Tai Shi were lost, and when he entered, he was born in Dadian. Peaceful."

"Nangong Shishen lived through King Wen, King Wu, and King Cheng III, and was an important adviser and general during the founding period of the Western Zhou Dynasty."

"If the inscription here is indeed the word "Bo Shi", and it also assists the two kings Wen and Wu, then this Bo Shi can only be Nangong Shi!"

"Besides, since he is revered as "Nangong", it is clear what the inscription on the inscription "Nangong" is for some bronzes recovered from tomb robbers and brought back from overseas!"

Chen Han nodded with a smile on his face: "I think so too!"

Nangong Shi, this is a famous person.

The first time Chen Han knew him was not through those esoteric historical documents, but an interesting classical novel, "Fengshen Yanyi"!
In "Fengshen Yanyi", there is Nangong Shi on the stage.

In the book, Nan Gongshi is as famous as San Yisheng, the elder of Xiqi, and the official worship general.

When Xibohou was under house arrest by King Zhou of Yin, Nan Gongshi visited him and successfully rescued King Wen through tricks.

Afterwards, in the Battle of the Conferred Gods, he participated in the battle many times, but in the novel, Nangong didn't know magic, so Yang Jian, Nezha and others didn't shine.

It's just that he played more in the early stage before King Wen conquered the merchants, and he can be regarded as an important supporting role in the early stage of "Fengshen Yanyi".

In the later stage of the battle between immortals and gods, they were basically forgotten and became background characters.

But in real history, this Nangong Shi was the most important minister of King Wen and King Wu.

His status can be compared to that of Xiao He of the Han Dynasty, Sun Wuji of the Tang Dynasty, and Liu Bowen of the Ming Dynasty. They are all important ministers who founded the country!
It's just that in the history books, there is no record of Nangong Shi's later ending.

Now on the chime of Wenfeng Pagoda Tomb No. M1, this eternal mystery has been revealed.

It turned out that Nangong Shi was entrusted in the southern part of the country and established Zeng Guo!

(End of this chapter)