golden ear

Chapter 345
Bronze smelting techniques, the Xia Dynasty was able to cast a 700-kilogram tripod, which shows that the Xia Dynasty mastered very superb bronze smelting technology and bronze casting technology, and developed the bronze technology to the peak.

The city-state, on the inscription carved on the inner wall of Xia Houji tripod, describes Xia Houji's relocation of the capital from the original east to Laoqiu, which shows one thing, the Xia Dynasty had a capital.

Ji sent people to crusade against Dongyi and extended his rule to the coast of the East China Sea. The Dongyi tribe congratulated Ji Nagong. These events show that the Xia Dynasty has a very large territory and formed a very unified tribal alliance country.

As for religious etiquette, the inscriptions describe that the Xia people held sacrifices for the season, and the tripod was often used as a ritual vessel in ancient times. The existence of the tripod itself shows that there were sacrifices in the Xia Dynasty.

Although Xia Hou Ding can't speak, it tells us a lot of information buried by history.

Since modern times, there has been a lot of controversy over the existence of the Xia Dynasty recorded in "Historical Records". In fact, not only the existence of the Xia Dynasty, but also the Shang Dynasty is also very controversial.

Because the history of the Shang Dynasty can not be investigated, until the unearthed oracle bone inscriptions in the Yin Ruins directly proved the existence of the Shang Dynasty.

The research on the Xia Dynasty mainly relies on historical documents, such as "Historical Records", "Bamboo Book Chronicles", "Shangshu" and so on.

Especially the Erlitou site in Yanshi, which is considered by some scholars to be a Xiaxu.

However, there are still some scholars who have doubts about the 'Xiaxu'. There are four phases of the Erlitou site.Its first-phase and second-phase ruins unearthed mainly pottery, things without civilization signs, bronzes and characters, which have not actually entered the civilization stage.

The following three and four periods entered the stage of civilization, but according to the time, many people think that the early Shang has nothing to do with the Xia Dynasty.Therefore, as to whether the Xia Dynasty existed, there is a lack of archaeological evidence and texts to indicate its existence.Finding evidence for the existence of the Xia Dynasty has become the goal pursued by Chinese scholars for nearly half a century.

The Xia, Shang and Zhou Dating Project launched in 96 is one aspect of Chinese scholars' efforts to find evidence for the existence of the Xia Dynasty.As a national key scientific and technological research project during the 200th Five-Year Plan period, this cultural project lasted for five years, involving history, archaeology, astronomy and other disciplines, directly participating in [-] experts and scholars, and costing a lot of money.

In the end, it is a pity that the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties project failed to pass the national acceptance due to too much controversy over the conclusion of the topic.Until now, whether the Xia Dynasty existed and whether the Xia Dynasty entered the threshold of civilization still has great controversy in the international academic circles.

This time, the Xia Hou Ding that Wu Tianyuan discovered in the ruins of Xia City clearly told the whole world an answer.An answer about ancient Chinese civilization.

Did the Xia Dynasty exist?
it exists!
Did the Xia Dynasty cross the threshold of civilization?
It has civilization!

The history of China is 5000 years!
Seeing Wu Tianyuan's excited look, Fujita knew the great impact on Chinese archaeology, and said with a smile: "The ancestors of the Xia Dynasty made innovations and improvements on the basis of the Neolithic pottery technology, and the pottery technology has achieved great development and innovation. Progress. For example, the pottery of the Xia Dynasty was popular to add pile patterns, scratch patterns, and string patterns on the surface for several weeks. The decoration is exquisite, forming the unique artistic style of the gray pottery of the Xia Dynasty, which is cold, mysterious and solemn."

"This batch of more than 600 bronze wares has a variety of categories, including not only tools and weapons, but also containers such as jue, horns, tripods, and ritual instruments such as copper bells. The discovery of these rich and diverse bronze wares marks the true civilization. start."

"There are also hundreds of pieces of jade wares. The production tools include jade axes, jade shovels, and jade city. The decorations include pipes, beads, tin-shaped vessels, turquoise ornaments, and steel plaques with turquoise-embedded animal faces. Ritual instruments include spears and uranium. , Gui, Dao, Yawan, handle-shaped ornaments, etc."

"However..." Fujita suddenly hesitated to speak, a little uncertain, Wu Tianyuan curiously asked why?
"Actually, apart from the Xia Hou Ding, the Mitsui family also has a few more important Xia Dynasty weapons that are kept secret. This is the information."

Wu Tianyuan was shocked, even the most important weapon of the country, the Xia Hou Ding, was not considered the best?
He ended up with three files, two bronze wares and one jade wares!Bronze wares are bronze plates and bronze swords.

Bronze plate, round, shallow belly, double ears, high ring feet.The belly is decorated with Kui patterns, the circle feet are decorated with animal face patterns, the thunder pattern fills the ground, and the circle feet have folded edges.There are 24 lines of inscriptions and 517 characters cast on the inner bottom.

This is an inscription of praise, praising the achievements of the nine generations of Xia Empresses Yu, Qi, Taikang, Zhongkang, Xiang, Shaokang, Ji, Huai, and Mang.

The inscription mentions Yu's achievements, such as 'controlling floods and stabilizing the world', 'conquering three seedlings', 'making a calendar and guiding agricultural production', and 'dividing the whole country into Kyushu'.

What attracted Wu Tianyuan's attention was that in the inscription praising Yu's achievements, it was mentioned that Dayu cast the gold donated by all the princes into a big tripod. earliest provenance.

The inscriptions on the bronze plate also describe the complete genealogy of the Xia Empresses of the nine dynasties from Yu to Mang, which is of great historical value for the study of the Xia Dynasty, dating, and establishing the chronology of the Xia Empresses.

The bronze plate was cast by a person named Yi who was the Taishi Ling in the Xia Dynasty when Xia Houxie was in power. Later generations named this bronze plate Yipan.

Bronze sword, cast in copper, 132.4 cm long.After washing off the dirt on the sword with water, the bronze sword has been buried in the ground for thousands of years without rust, and it is still dazzling and cold.

The body of the bronze sword is covered with black diamond-shaped geometric dark patterns. The front and back of the sword lattice are inlaid with turquoise, colorful beads and Jiuhua jade respectively to form beautiful patterns. Gold and copper carved ornaments.

The blade is thin and sharp, with a cold light. I once tested the sharpness of the bronze sword with paper, and more than 30 layers of paper were broken with one stroke!

Two lines of inscriptions with eight characters were found on the body of the sword near the hilt.

The inscription said: Inherit the destiny of the world and the Xian Dynasty.

The Japanese researched some information about the bronze swords cast in the Xia Dynasty. According to written records, there were four swords cast in the Xia Dynasty.

Xia's "Famous Sword Record" records: "Xia Yu cast a sword, hidden in Kuaiji Mountain, with 28 constellations engraved on the abdomen, with the back of the text, the text is the sun, the moon and the stars, and the mountains and rivers are recorded on the back."

Qi Jian, Xia Yuzi Emperor Qi, reigned for ten years, in the eighth year of Gengxu, cast a bronze sword, three feet nine inches long.

Taikang sword, Liang. Tao Hongjing's "Ancient and Modern Sword Records": "Qizi Taikang reigned for 29 years, at the age of March Xinmaochun, cast a bronze sword with eight sides, three feet and three inches long, and a square head.

There is also a sword called Jiajian, Kong Jia, who reigned for 31 years, at the age of nine years Jiachen, picked cattle head mountain iron, cast a sword, inscribed Jia, ancient seal script, four feet and one inch long.

Among them, Jiajian is an iron sword. Iron is easy to oxidize and rust. This iron sword has been oxidized and rusted for thousands of years, and the rust has long since disappeared.

First of all, I can be sure that the bronze sword in my hand is not an ordinary bronze sword!
In terms of the complex patterns on the sword body, the decoration with turquoise, Jiuhua jade, and colorful jewel stones, the exquisite casting technology reflected on the bronze sword, and the line engraved on the sword body with the words "inheriting the fate of the world and the Xian Dynasty" The inscription can explain that this is an imperial sword.It is likely to be one of the three bronze swords of Xia Yujian, Qijian and Taikangjian that have been recorded in historical documents.

First of all, Xia Yujian can be ruled out. According to the records in "Famous Sword Records", Xia Yujian's belly is engraved with 28 constellations, and the text has a back side. exclude.

Combined with historical data to speculate, Taikang Sword can also be ruled out.When Dakang was in power, he was obsessed with hunting all day long and ignored political affairs. As a result, he was expelled by Houyi, the leader of the Youqiong tribe, and was not allowed to return to the country.It is impossible for such a person to have the ability and courage engraved on the inscription of "receive the fate of the world and the Xian Dynasty".

In the end, there was only one possibility left, and that was that the bronze sword in Wu Tianyuan's hand was Qi Jian.

(End of this chapter)