Master Archaeologist

Chapter 164

The world once believed that Guangzhou in the Qin and Han Dynasties was a barren land and a place of restraint.

With the excavation of the tomb of the Nanyue King Han Dynasty, it was clearly slapped in the face.

What kind of wild land is Nanyue Kingdom?

It is completely a distribution center in Southeast Asia!

A high-end painting mirror from the Western Han Dynasty, with three colors of white, turquoise and red, painted a gorgeous picture of fighting swords on the mirror.

The two stepped forward and bent over for a sword fight performance. Five people stood on both sides, standing with caged hands, watching the sword fight.

Moreover, there are several groups of portraits that are not clear after that, and it can be vaguely seen that there are still some people standing with their hands folded.

Between the two groups of missions, wavy patterns are used as fillers, as if these people are playing sword fighting in Tianshang.

This is the largest round mirror of Western Han Dynasty paintings seen in archaeological excavations in China so far, and with good luck, it is also the best preserved.

Its painting style is similar to the silk painting on No. [-] wood in Mawangdui, Changsha. It can be inferred that it should have been made by craftsmen imported from neighboring Changsha by Nanyue Kingdom, or purchased directly.

Artworks from the Western Han Dynasty are not enough.

With the gradual cleaning of the west ear chamber, silver jewelry boxes from the Persian region were also unearthed, which is a typical mixed style of ancient Persia and the Alexander Empire.

The jewelry style in this Persian region is most likely to be precious goods that have traveled from the Indian Ocean through cross-sea trade.

At that time, only the Nanyue Kingdom in the south of the Lingnan area could have access to these Central Asian creations.

Perhaps Chang'an also has them, but they can only be obtained through the Eastern Silk Road that Zhang Qian dug through.

In addition, in the west ear room, some golden flower bubbles were also found!

Jinhuapao is a circular handicraft made of gold, with various patterns and patterns carved on it.

And this thing is an ancient Egyptian craft!

The golden flower bubbles found in the west ear room are all imported products, and the place of origin is Egypt!
Obviously, this can only be obtained through ocean trade, and the Western Han Dynasty was not strong enough to contact Egypt from land.

There is a high probability that these Egyptian crafts were spread from Egypt to the Middle East, then from the Middle East to India, and then from India to Lingnan by boat.

Just like Chinese silk, it was also sold to the Roman Empire through merchants in the Western Regions and the Middle East at that time.

This also shows that the South Vietnamese country at that time had a very developed maritime trade in order to attract maritime merchants from the Indian Ocean!
There is also evidence for this.

After clearing out the group of nine small bronze tripods at the aisle of the west ear room, the Guangzhou Institute of Archeology immediately discovered a bronze drum with boat patterns buried under it.

And on this ship-patterned bronze drum, the scene of the navy going out to fight is depicted.

The majestic large warships and the naval soldiers on the warships all tell us that the South Vietnam has a huge naval fleet!

It's normal to think about it.

Although many ordinary people, when looking at Huaxia, have always thought that China was ancient and did not pay much attention to the ocean.

But in fact this is just an illusion.

It can be said that from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the end of the Ming Dynasty, China's shipping industry developed very well, not inferior to other regions in the world at the same time.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the states of Wu and Yue already used boats extensively for water warfare.

Even Wu Yue once conquered the small country of Sishang across the sea.

Although they cross the sea, they actually only sail along the coastline, using flat-bottomed boats suitable for inland waters.

But this is also an improvement.

In the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, also built a naval training base in Chang'an - Kunming Lake.

Since then, the powerful navy of the Western Han Dynasty has developed step by step and has become an important armed force for unifying the country and defending coastal defense.

According to the "Historical Records. Ping Zhun Shu": In the first year of Yuan Ding (114 years ago), "the Kunming Pool was overhauled, and it was placed around it. The buildings and boats are more than ten feet high, and the flags are added to it, which is very strong."

Volume [-] of "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" also contains: "In Kunming Lake, there are hundreds of Ge boats and Lou boats. Tower boats are built on the tower boats, and Ge spears are built on the Ge boats. The four corners are all hanging down, and the four corners are all hanging down. Gai, it shines brightly."

Volume [-] of "Guangbo Wuzhi" also records: "There are Getan boats in Kunming Lake, and there are Thunderbolt boats in Kunming Lake."

Ge Tan Zhou and Lei Ge are both warships for military use.

From these records, we can know that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the construction of a large number of warships.

There are only hundreds of two types of Ge boats and Lou boats, plus Ge Tan boats, thunder boats and other warships, forming a mighty and majestic navy.

The main building ship is more than ten feet high, and one foot in the Han Dynasty is about 3.3 meters.

In other words, the height of the building ships in the Western Han Dynasty has reached 40 meters.

This is no boat.

As for such ships, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty built hundreds of them, plus Ge Chuan, Ge Tan Zhou, and Lei Ge. It is conservatively estimated that there were thousands of ships in the Western Han Dynasty at that time!
In a vertical comparison, the navy of the Western Han Dynasty was probably the largest in the world in terms of scale.

Why did Emperor Wu of the Han build such a huge fleet?

Wasn't it because at that time the three vassal states in the south, Dongou, Nanyue, and Minyue, who listened to the tune and didn't listen to the announcement, had a huge advantage in boats.

In order to conquer them, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty naturally had to make a big navy.

In fact, the navy of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was really good, and later made great contributions to unification.

First of all, in the third year of Jianyuan, the Kuaiji navy went out of the Yangtze River, marched from the sea, floated southward, landed in Yongjia, and occupied Dongou.

Then a 10-floor ship army was sent to attack Panyu through the Pearl River system and destroy South Vietnam.

In the end, land and sea attacked and Minyue was pacified.

In the pacification of these three vassal states, the Louchuan generals of the Western Han Dynasty all made great contributions.

It can be said that if Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had not trained such a navy fleet, it would have been impossible to calm Mitsukoshi so smoothly.

As for the Nanyue Kingdom, which forced Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to train so many navy troops, the power of their own navy army should not be underestimated.

This ship pattern bronze drum is the most direct evidence.

At that time, the South Vietnamese regime could not trade through the Silk Road, and could obtain crafts from Persia and Egypt.

Obviously there is only one way by sea.

The history of the opening of Guangzhou, a foreign trade port, will also be advanced by nearly a thousand years!
Of course, in addition to these exquisite luxury goods, as nobles in the Qin and Han Dynasties, weapons were absolutely indispensable in the tomb of the Nanyue King.

Before the Han Dynasty, all the nobles were absolutely martial, and they were military nobles.

Those who cannot win on the battlefield cannot become nobles.

Even for strategists like Su Qin and Zhang Yi, their various strategies are to serve the victory of the war and to defeat the enemy!
In this era, scholar-bureaucrats who play with words and ink are not popular yet.

It is not popular that there is a golden house in the book, and there is Yan Ruyu in the book.

In this era, it is still practiced to be a martial artist, a prince to fight a city, or to get fame and fortune immediately, and military merit is everything.

The twentieth-class nobility of the Qin and Han Dynasties can only be obtained on the battlefield, and literati who can only read books cannot obtain the title of Marquis of Guannei and above.

Apart from relatives, if you want to become a Marquis, you must be a Marquis with military merits!

Therefore, all the tombs of nobles before the Han Dynasty must have weapons unearthed in the tombs, and the higher the status, the more weapons were buried in the tombs.

Weapons represent power and conquest!

And in the Nanyue king's tomb, there are countless weapons.

Bronze swords, iron swords, spears, halberds, arrows...

In the west ear room alone, there are more than 100 weapons of various types, the most of which are spears, halberds and arrows, and there are more than [-] arrows alone.
As a descendant of the Qin State's Southern Expedition Army, it is absolutely indispensable to eat the guy...

(End of this chapter)