Master Archaeologist

Chapter 152
The so-called button refers to the position where the upper end of the print is grasped.

Turtles, chi tigers, sheep, horses, camels and other animal shapes with certain meanings are often taken, which often symbolize the identity of the seal owner.

Some prints use tiger buttons, while others use dragon buttons, cow buttons, chi tiger buttons, turtle buttons, and platform buttons.

Generally speaking, turtle buttons and Chihu buttons were more common in the Han Dynasty, that is, the animals engraved on the seals were tortoises or Chihu buttons.

In the Eastern Han and Wei Jin Dynasties, Taiwan buttons were more common.

And the fish button, handed down rarely.

Although fish and "yu" have the same pronunciation, since ancient times, it has the meaning of attracting wealth, warding off disasters, and avoiding disasters, and entrusts the best wishes of surplus every year.

But in ancient times, if you want to use the meaning related to "fish", you usually prefer to carve chi kisses.

Chi kiss, born of a dragon and a fish, ranks ninth.Since ancient times, it often has the meaning of driving away evil spirits.

And it is more noble, which makes the ancients love it more.

This makes "fish" not favored by India even more.

There are only two fish buttons in existence.

One is the half-pass (half-seal) seal of "Tai Cang" in the early Han Dynasty, which is the official seal of a lower-level official in the Western Han Dynasty.

The other one is a private seal of the Eastern Han Dynasty, with the words "Shi Shaochi" printed on it, which should be the name of the owner of the seal.

In addition, handed down fish buttons are rare.

However, there are 10 official seals of copper fish buttons unearthed in recent decades, and most of them belong to the Qin Dynasty.

It can be seen that the Yuniu official seal has a periodical and obvious regional character.

In the official seal system of the Qin Dynasty, the fish button official seal is the lowest level of button style.

The Han inherited the Qin system, and the only surviving official seals of the early Western Han Dynasty are the "Tai Cang" seal of the lowest official.

The fish button-shaped "Jingxiang Order Seal" unearthed now, in terms of style alone, should also be the seal of a low-level official.

It also shows that in terms of system, Nanyue has indeed inherited more of Qin's system, at least in terms of the official seal system.

After all, this is a group of generals and soldiers from the Southern Expedition of the Qin State, conquering the country.

"Jingxiang Lingyin, what kind of official position is this Jingxiang Ling?" Chen Han frowned, looking back and forth at the four engraved characters on the seal.

In his impression, the Western Han Dynasty should not have the official position of "Jing Xiang Ling".

Professor Li, who was also contemplating deeply, pondered for a moment and said, "It should be an eunuch."

"In the Qin Dynasty, there was the order of Yongxiang and the prime minister. In the early Han Dynasty, it was still established. The eunuchs were in charge of the concubines, concubines, maids and prison affairs in the palace."

"According to historical records, the palace built by Zhao Tuo in Panyu was basically modeled on Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace in Chang'an."

"Even the internal details are almost the same as the Chang'an emperor's residence."

"Since this is the case, the royal palace of Nanyue Kingdom should also have an official position system similar to Chang'an."

"This Jingxiang order should be the Yongxiang order of the Qin and Han Dynasties, in charge of the affairs of the emperor's family."

Chen Han nodded suddenly.

The Yongxiang Order sounds very powerful. It can actually control concubines, concubines, maids and prison affairs in the palace. It is equivalent to being a criminal policeman in the palace.

But in fact, this official rank is only six hundred shi, which is a small official.

Nominally belonging to the Shaofu, in charge of the servants in the palace, but in fact they are doing dirty work.

Normally, I can only deal with the punishment of some court ladies who made mistakes. It is a dream to really want to manage the concubine.

Only when the emperor is dissatisfied with a concubine and locks her into Yongxiang, can Yongxiang Order take care of it.

The so-called Yongxiang is actually a long alley in the imperial palace. It is the concentrated residence of the maids who are not assigned to the palaces, and it is also a place where concubines who have fallen out of power or out of favor are confined.

It is similar to the cold palace that is often said in later novels and film and television dramas.

Regarding Yongxiang, the most famous story is that Empress Lu imprisoned Madam Qi in Yongxiang.

Madam Qi was also made into a pig in Yongxiang.

From then on, throughout the Western Han Dynasty, "the "Yong Lane" of Chang'an Palace was a taboo place for all concubines and court ladies, no one dared to mention it, and no one dared to go there.

Since Zhao Tuo built the palace for himself after imitating the Chang'an Palace, there should also be a place similar to Yongxiang, which is used to punish and imprison concubines and court ladies.

This "Jingxiang Order" is probably for this purpose.

The more Chen Han thought about it, the more reasonable he became, and he echoed, "In Xiaozhuan, Jing Tongying and Yong have the same pronunciation, and they are two characters with the same pronunciation and Tongyi, but the fonts are different."

"Perhaps the king of Nanyue deliberately used the word "Jing" instead of the word "Yong" to distinguish it from the Chang'an court."

After discovering this seal and confirming the identity of the martyr in the front room, everyone immediately understood why he was buried with such an exquisite bronze mirror and a complete set of jade pendants.

Although his status is low, he is only a eunuch with a rank of six hundred stones, but his position is unusual, he is an eunuch, and he can get in touch with the king of Nanyue.

The third-rank officials in front of the prime minister's gate, let alone in front of the princes' king's gate?
These funerary objects that surpassed his own status were probably rewards from the Nanyue king who was lying in the main room.

Even thinking about it in a more tragic direction, maybe this set of jade ornaments and bronze mirrors was not used in front of Jing Xiangling, and he was forced to be buried to get these two funerary objects.

Apart from these two precious funeral objects and the two iron objects, there were no other funeral objects in the coffin of Jing Xiangling.

In addition, five-sixths of the other spaces in the entire front room are scattered all over the place, all of which are accessories for carriages and horses.

It is estimated that in the original front room, there was a complete set of chariot and horse models, and it was more complete than the wooden horse model outside the tomb door.

It took Chen Han and Professor Li three days to clean up all these carriage accessories and mark them one by one.

In the entire front room, a total of just 60 artifacts were unearthed.

Five of them are the copper knockers on the wooden door at the entrance of the aisle in the east and west ear rooms.

It was also the discovery of these door knockers that made Chen Han suddenly realize that the left and right ear chambers are not without doors, but they are not made of stone doors like the doors of the tomb and the main chamber.

Instead, two wooden doors were built!

It's just that the wooden door has gradually decayed through the vicissitudes of time, and only a few copper door knockers on the doorknob are still built.

In addition, there are three pieces of pottery and a bronze tripod, which are the large utensils that Chen Han and Professor Li saw when they first entered the front room.

The locations of these utensils are all near the entrance of the west ear room.

Afterwards, everyone got together to discuss and judge, and felt that these pottery and copper tripods should not have been placed in the front room.

Because these utensils do not match the funerary objects in the front room.

And the numbers don't match up, how can anyone be buried with only one tripod.

These three pieces of pottery and a bronze tripod should have slipped out of the aisle in the west ear room.

Perhaps due to the impact of a certain geological change, a small earthquake caused the funerary objects in the west ear room to overturn and rolled down the aisle into the front room.

Why do you judge like this?
Because Professor Li sneaked into the west ear room while everyone was not paying attention, and saw a mess of bronze ritual vessels and pottery overturned on the ground
The west ear room is the place where the top stone slab was dug when the tomb was excavated at the beginning of the construction site.

At that time, Fu Pu, the director of the Guangzhou Institute of Archeology, used a flashlight to see a corner of the West Ear Room, which was full of bronze wares.

(End of this chapter)