The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Wang Pingbao suddenly said: "I feel that this kind of archeology is no different from tomb robbing. Is it different from digging treasures underground? It's just that the ones dug in Anyang are not other people's tombs, which is acceptable."

Listening to what his cousin said, Wang Wenlong shook his head helplessly. It takes time to change the minds of ordinary people. Fortunately, most of the oracle bones in Anyang are kept in special oracle bone pits. If the oracle bones were kept in tombs, even the call to protect the oracle bones would not be supported by most people.

"More sophisticated archaeological techniques will be available only after the development of archeology. The current archaeological methods are still too crude."

When Dong Qichang excavated oracle bones in Anyang, he even asked many tomb robbers for guidance. This was all because the concept of archeology had just emerged, and the corresponding technologies and tools had not been invented, so he had to look for the closest type of work as a reference.

Wait, archaeological tools?

Wang Wenlong suddenly thought that more advanced tools could not be invented, but the Luoyang shovel could be made by himself.

Wang Wenlong began to think about getting two Luoyang shovels for Dong Qichang. At this time, everyone also arrived in Kaifeng by boat. Kaifeng was the place where the governor and governor of Henan Province were located in the Ming Dynasty. As soon as Wang Wenlong arrived in Kaifeng, he was warmly received by the Henan officials headed by Fang Damei. , although Henan Province has suffered from many famines in the past two years, the life in Kaifeng Prefecture is still quite comfortable. Fang Damei directly entertained the "Suzhou Xun Bao" visiting group with a full fish feast of Yellow River carp.

There is no baked carp noodles. This dish was not invented until the Qing Dynasty in history. However, the dishes such as fish balls, fish soup, crispy fish, fish floss, etc. are also exquisite enough.

After spending a day strolling in Kaifeng, the group continued north and took a boat to Ji County, Weihui Prefecture. After passing several tributaries of the Wei River, they finally turned into the Huan River and arrived directly at Anyang.

When Wang Wenlong arrived in Anyang, local officials also warmly welcomed him at the port.

The excavation of the Oracle Bone Society in Anyang has always been enthusiastically supported by local officials in Zhangde Prefecture. In this era, wherever celebrities gathered, there was prestige and popularity. Just like being a prefect in Changzhou, it was impossible not to praise the Donglin Party members. Oracle Bones The society had gathered such a large number of famous literati, and the prefect of Zhangde was eager to flatter the Oracle Society so that he could gain popularity in the political arena.

Without the support of local officials in Zhangde Prefecture, Dong Qichang's initial excavation of oracle bones would not have been possible.

The main excavation site of the Oracle Bone Society is in the northwest of Anyang City. Now that this matter has been supported by the court, the Oracle Bone Society plans to conduct larger-scale excavations. The landowners of this place directly sold the land to the Sheli.

Although the excavation sites are mostly flat land, the landowners are not too entangled in the price. After all, the Oracle Bone Society still pays, and when did the imperial tax supervisor pay for mining veins? If someone from the court really comes to say that they want to expropriate the place in two days, they won't receive a penny.

Joining Dong Qichang to greet Wang Wenlong and others were Fan Yunming, who was in charge of the Anyang archaeological site, and Wang Shixing, a famous scholar from Zhejiang.

After Wang Wenlong greeted everyone, he took out two Luoyang shovels from his baggage.

After coming up with the idea of ​​getting a Luoyang shovel, Wang Wenlong originally planned to go to the blacksmith shop to make one when he arrived in Kaifeng Mansion, but he didn't expect that as soon as he arrived at the blacksmith shop, he directly found two formed Luoyang shovels among the many beaten farm tools. .

Wang Wenlong was surprised how this thing appeared so early in history, and was sold openly in the provincial blacksmith shop. No matter how many tomb robbers there were in Henan, they wouldn't be so rampant, right?

When he asked, he found out that the round shovel head was not used by tomb robbers, but was used to penetrate wells.

The Luoyang shovel-shaped round shovel head has long existed in Henan. In the era of manual well drilling, this shovel was used to "dig the ground into a spring". This shovel is very effective in areas with relatively high groundwater levels near river banks. Three shovels can drill a small well several meters deep and as big as a bowl in a few days. This kind of shovel was still in use until the popularity of mechanical well drilling technology in later generations. Wang Shixing stood next to Dong Qichang and listened to Wang Wenlong's explanation of how to use the Luoyang shovel. He understood it instantly and his eyes lit up.

Wang Shixing, courtesy name Uncle Heng, was from Linhai, Taizhou. The Wang family was a family of officials in Taizhou. Wang Shixing was adopted to his uncle Wang Zongmu since he was a child.

His adoptive father Wang Zongmu was a Jinshi for three generations, and Wang Zongmu's sons and Wang Shixing's younger brothers Wang Shihuan, Shiqi, and Shichang were also Jinshi, and they were all mentioned in "History of the Ming Dynasty". Later, "Taizhou Fu Zhi" was compiled, and the content of Wang Shixing's family alone was nearly 5,000 words, equivalent to two chapters of a novel.

After Wang Shixing himself was admitted as a Jinshi, he was sent to other places as an official because he offended Wanli by writing a letter. Throughout his life, he was sent to serve as an official in Sichuan, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

Originally, being sent to these southwestern places as an official in the Ming Dynasty would have done little, but Wang Shixing took a different approach and traveled around the country while serving as an official. His footprints were in almost all provinces across the country, leaving a large number of records, and eventually became a famous figure. The most famous human geographer of the dynasty, in original history, the "Wang Shiyue" whom Xu Xiake often praised in his travel notes forty years later was Wang Shixing.

Many of the places Wang Shixing went to were inaccessible. Xu Xiake often thought that he was the first scholar to arrive at a certain place and make notes about it, but he found that there were already Wang Shixing's inscriptions on the local rocks...

In the original history, Wang Shixing died when he was only in his forties, but in this time and space, his fate was also changed for some reason.

In the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, he resigned from the post of Hongluqing and returned to his hometown to rest and indulge in the mountains and rivers. Then he was invited by Dong Qichang to Anyang, and his main job was to help with exploration.

Wang Shixing was well-informed and a mountain geographer. He also studied Feng Shui and burial scriptures, and even studied tomb robbing.

"Guang Zhi Yi" he wrote a few years ago is the earliest book in history to record people's tomb robbing methods at this time: "Luoyang has deep water and soil resources, and the burials are four or five feet high and cannot reach the spring... However, although the burials are like this, the thieves If you can still dig it in and smell it, if there is gas of gold, silver, copper, or iron, you will find it.”

This soil exploration method is called the iron cone method. A long iron cone with a small hole at the tip is used to penetrate the ground to a depth of several meters. After that, the soil sample is taken out, and the tomb robbers can identify the tombs by smelling the soil directly with their noses. location.

However, the soil sample taken out from a small hole is not as large as the soil taken out by Luoyang shovel. The benefits of this thing will be understood by those in the industry.

Wang Shixing took the Luoyang shovel and tested it a few times and then got rid of it. He called a few men with ruthless eyebrows and thick hands and feet and ordered them to dig holes.

Wang Wenlong asked Wang Shixing: "Mr. Uncle Heng, what method did our Oracle Bone Society use to find ancient relics in the past?"

Wang Shixing replied: "First look at the mountain and water conditions to look for places where oracle bones may be hidden, and then look for oracle bone fragments on the ground, determine the approximate area, and then dig into the iron cone to look for soil samples. If there is burnt white soil, it is probably where the oracle bones were buried.”

"I'm afraid the error in this method is still too large," Wang Wenlong suggested to Dong Qichang and Wang Shixing. "I think most oracle bone pit sites are more than three feet square. It's better to circle the places where oracle bones may be hidden." A large piece, and then draw squares of three feet by three feet on the ground, and drill some holes to collect soil at the intersection of each square. Using this grid method will ensure that nothing is missed. "Oracle Bone Pit."

Dong Qichang nodded and said: "That makes sense. This way everything is foolproof. Jianyang is really smart!" He turned to Wang Shixing and others and smiled: "How come we never thought of such a good idea?"

Wang Shixing held the Luoyang shovel and said with a smile: "This method can only work with the Luoyang shovel, which is convenient for soil extraction. Without this treasure, after laying the grid, you have to dig holes one by one with an iron awl and then use your nose. To smell it would destroy our noses." (End of Chapter)