Master Archaeologist

Chapter 121 The tomb of Zeng Guo, the weapon buried with King Wu? !
Bird seal, although it is said to be a font that originated in Chu State.

However, from the middle and late Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period, this type of font prevailed in Wu, Yue, Chu, Cai and other southern countries.

On the famous Yue King Goujian sword, the inscription "Yue King Goujian used his own sword" was written in bird seal.

However, no traces of bird seals were found in the tombs of Zeng Guo unearthed before.

Whether it is the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng later, or the tomb of Marquis Yu of Zeng, Gongqiu of Zeng, or even the tombs of other noble ministers buried with him.

Most of the unearthed inscriptions are a kind of Central Plains seal script fused with Chu seal script.

The inscription on this bronze halberd can be said to be the first bird seal found in the tomb of Zeng Guo.

And judging from the content, it seems that it has nothing to do with Zeng Guo.

"The use of Prince Wu's light?" Chen Han read it again in doubt.

He can be sure that these words are basically correct.

Although bird seal script is quite unpopular compared to other seal scripts.

However, there are also many bronze wares unearthed so far that use bird seal characters.

Yue, Chu, and Wu all have them, and there are a lot of them. There must be two or three hundred pieces.

Among them, the more famous ones are Yue Wang Goujianjian and Prince Wuding.

Coincidentally, the words "Wu, Wang, Zi, Zhi, Yong," etc. on this bronze halberd exist on the bronze wares unearthed before, and they have been deciphered.

Only the word "Guang" was guessed by Chen Han himself based on the big seal script and the Chu seal script.

Why did he guess that the word is "light"?

Because he has seen the word "light" in the unearthed Chu seal script!

Compared with the inscription of the bird book, the overall shape of the two characters has not changed, but the strokes have been replaced with bird shapes!

More importantly.

The Chuzhuan character for "light" he saw was taught by his teacher when he was in school.

At that time, I was taking an inscription appreciation class. The teacher took an inscription on a Chu Ding and came to talk to the students about the history behind this inscription.

And this inscription tells the story of King Chu Zhao and Wu.

In class, the teacher specifically took out the word "light" in the inscription and explained it.

That's why Chen Han was so impressed!

Why did the teacher do this?

Because, the word "Guang" in the inscription at that time refers to King Helu of Wu!

Before He Lu succeeded to the throne, he was originally called Prince Guang!
This bronze halberd in tomb M21.

If Chen Han's guess is correct, it should be a weapon made by Wu Wang Helu before he succeeded to the throne!
"Prince Wu?" Chen Han murmured, "This should be He Lu's self-proclaimed name."

"In the eyes of non-Wu people, the identity of King Wu is not recognized."

"So in the history books of other countries, He Lu is always called Gongzi Guang."

"But he himself certainly doesn't think so. His grandfather Shou Meng followed the example of Chu State and became king by Chaoyue. He is already the third generation."

"In the country of Wu, he must think of himself as a prince, not a son."

Before He Lu succeeded to the throne, the literature generally called him "Wu Gongzi Guang", but it doesn't mean that he called him that.

This is like when Chu State first became king, the princes of the Central Plains did not recognize it at all, and they all called the monarch of Chu State "Chu Zi".

In the history books of various countries, Chu State is only recorded as the Viscount.

But the state of Chu still closed the door to play its own game, and the posthumous titles of all the monarchs were kings after death, not dukes and lords.

Later, when the national power of Wu became stronger, he also felt that he could do it, so he imitated Chu and became king.

After all, the state of Wu has always been fighting against the state of Chu. The other party is the king, but he is not.

Similarly, other countries do not agree with Wu's own claim to be king, and only the Wu people themselves approve it.

So He Lu called himself "Prince Guang", but in the eyes of people from other countries, he was just "Prince Guang".

The "gong" here does not mean the prince, but the meaning of the clan, that is, the descendants of the clan of the Duke of Wu.

However, even if this halberd belonged to He Lu, why did it appear in the tomb of the nobles of Zeng Guo?
Chen Han asked Lin Ya in confusion, "Where did you find this halberd?"

"This halberd was placed in the coffin as a personal belonging of the owner of the tomb." Lin Ya said in the same doubt.

This made Chen Han's brows furrowed even more.

Unearthed in the coffin, the meaning is even more unusual.

Generally, only items that are very important to the tomb owner and that the tomb owner loves very much will be placed in the coffin.

That is to say, the great-grandson Shao liked this halberd so much that he could not put it down.

I like to be buried by my side even after death.

This is very intriguing.

This halberd from He Lu must have had an unusual history with his great-grandson Shao.

This is a halberd that He Lu had already cast before he became king of Wu.

Could it be that when He Lu was still a prince, he and his great-grandson Shao were good friends?

One is the grandson of Zeng Guo, and the other is the prince of Wu. In terms of status, they are almost equal, and there is indeed the possibility of becoming "friends".

However, between Zeng Guo and Wu State, there is still a Chu State!

Although Wu State and Zeng State belong to the same surname Ji, there is no record in the history books that there was any contact between Zeng (Sui) State and Wu State?

It is also very difficult for the two countries to have opportunities to communicate, because Chu State, which is blocked between them, is definitely unwilling to see Zeng and Wu befriend each other.

In this way, if the two countries come to jointly send troops and attack from left to right, wouldn't Chu be attacked by the enemy!
"It shouldn't be."

Chen Han muttered to himself: "Could it be that this great-grandson Shao was from the period of the Wu-Chu War?"

"He followed Zeng Houyu and participated in the battle to help King Zhao of Chu pacify the land of Chu?"

"During this process, I captured this Prince Wu Guanghalberd. Is this his trophy? So I love it so much, I will keep it with me when I die."

"That doesn't make sense!" Chen Han slapped his forehead: "How could the weapons that King Helu of Wu used himself be captured on the battlefield?"

"At that time in the Spring and Autumn Period, it was impossible for King Wu Helu's weapons to be confiscated by Chu and Zeng as spoils of war."

"This was a war of nobles at the time, with the minimum respect between the high-level officials of both sides."

In the Spring and Autumn Period, unjust wars were not popular yet.

It is also unlikely that the monarchs of various countries will die in battle, or even be captured.

This is also the reason why King Chu Zhao was able to escape swaggeringly after Yingdu was breached.

Because according to the simple rules at that time, except for Wu Wang Helu, no general or soldier of Wu had the right to kill or capture the Chu king.

This gave King Chu Zhao the opportunity and time to escape.

Later, it was He Lu who personally led people to chase to Zeng Guo, intending to capture King Chu Zhao himself, but was blocked by Zeng Houyu.

It is impossible for the weapons of King Helu of Wu to be seized by the nobles of Zeng as spoils of war.

Even if it is a trophy, a trophy of this level cannot be owned by a Gongsun.

Only Marquis Zeng, who is also a monarch, is worthy of this level of spoils.

Unless, it was given to great-grandson Shao by King Helu of Wu, it can reasonably appear in the tomb of great-grandson Shao!

"Send." Thinking of this, Chen Han seemed to have caught some truth.

It's just that more evidence and clues are still missing.

At this moment, an exclamation sounded again.

"Junior Brother Chen! There is still a bronze dagger here!"

(End of this chapter)