"It is said that the first person to obtain Zhang Xianzhong's treasure was Yang Zhan, the general who fought in the battle at Jiangkou. This battle almost wiped out Zhang Xianzhong's entire army, but ended with Yang Zhan's victory." Yang Kun said eloquently,

"Based on this, later generations suspected that the sunken silver at the mouth of the Zhang Xianzhong River was obtained by Yang Zhan. Fei Mi of the Qing Dynasty recorded in "The Book of Desolation" that Yang Zhan did not know what was hidden in the sunken ship at first.

"Later, a fisherman fished it out, and tens of thousands of taels of gold and silver were all owned by Yang Zhan."

According to Yang Kun, the history book "Shu Nan Narrative" written by Shen Xunwei of the Qing Dynasty records that when Zhang Xianzhong was defeated in the Battle of Jiangkou and burned his boat, a surviving boatman defected to Yang Zhan and told the truth.

Yang Zhan took into account the characteristics of the wooden tubes and ordered his subordinates to use long guns to salvage them from the river. Once the wooden tubes were found, they nailed them and dragged them out, thus obtaining the treasures.

Yang Zhan was a native of Leshan in Shu region. When the whole Bashu was suffering from war and famine, only Leshan was prosperous and stable. When people praised Yang Zhan, they also said, "Sichuan depends on it."

Later generations speculated that Yang Zhan was able to achieve this by relying on the windfall he salvaged.

What makes future generations suspicious is that even if Yang Zhan obtained Zhang Xianzhong's treasure, it was impossible to obtain all of it. Because Yang Zhan also died in battle two years after Zhang Xianzhong's death.

How could he spend all of Zhang Xianzhong's tens of millions of taels of gold and silver in just two years? The key point is that there is no historical record that anyone obtained a large amount of treasure from Yang Zhan's mansion and military camp.

According to "Records of Disasters in Shu", Zhang Xianzhong's gold and silver treasures in more than a thousand wooden boats sank into the waters of the Pengshan River Estuary.

"There are hundreds of millions, and there are hundreds of ships." Those sunken ships loaded with gold, silver and jewels blocked the rivers, diverted the water flow, and flooded the fields.

According to this record, treasure-digging events similar to the "Jinjiang Silver Rush" in Chengdu have occurred in Pengshan County, but successive treasure hunters have only found sporadic gold and silver, and there are very few.

So where did Zhang Xianzhong’s gold and silver treasure end up?

"Pengshan_ County Chronicle" records: In the winter of the 59th year of Qianlong's reign, a fisherman found a scabbard in the Jiangkou River. He reported it to Governor Sun Shiyi, who sent people to the Jiangkou to salvage it for several days, and obtained thousands of taels of silver, jewelry, jade and other items.

In fact, shortly after Zhang Xianzhong's fleet sank, the Qing Dynasty organized a large-scale salvage operation, and part of the sunken silver was salvaged to enrich the national treasury.

However, according to various researches by later generations, the gold and silver salvaged by the Qing court were only a very small part of Zhang Xianzhong's treasure.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Taiping Rebellion broke out. In order to solve the financial difficulties of the imperial court, Chen Taichu, editor of the Imperial Academy of the Qing Dynasty, brought up the old story again.

He petitioned to search for this treasure and said that he had witnessed residents of Pengshan, Meishan and other places fishing for abandoned silver.

The strapped Emperor Xianfeng ordered Chengdu General Yu Rui to "investigate carefully, find ways to dig out, and make preparations as appropriate." But in the end he found nothing.

"What you are talking about is that various parties and forces in the Ming and Qing dynasties were searching for treasures, but they have been searching for hundreds of years and still haven't found it. This means nothing to us." Li Ling heard this and interjected,

"What we have to do now is to find three treasure maps. What does this have to do with the historical facts you mentioned about seeing flowers in the mist and looking at the moon in the water?"

"Of course it does matter, because Zhang Xianzhong did hide that huge treasure in one place." Yang Kun replied,

“In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, various forces searched for treasures, often based on some historical records and rumors, but naturally returned without success.

"Because before Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty, although there were widespread rumors that there was a treasure map for Zhang Xianzhong's treasure, no one had ever found it.

"But after Emperor Xianfeng came to the throne, rumors began to spread in the world that the Qing Dynasty had found the treasure map. However, at that time, the various forces in the world naturally did not dare to go against the Manchu Qing Dynasty and go to Dauchi to steal the treasure map.

"However, even though the Qing court obtained the treasure map, they still failed to find the treasure, which baffled treasure hunters all over the world.

"It stands to reason that the Qing court had a treasure map, and with the strength of a dynasty, they would definitely be able to find the treasure. So, rumors began to spread in the world that the treasure map found by the Qing Dynasty was a fake.

"It should be that in the seventh year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, an incident occurred in the Forbidden City that was not recorded in the history books, and this incident involved our Yang family and Liu family.

"At that moment, we knew that there were indeed treasure maps for Zhang Xianzhong's treasure, and there were three of them in total.

"The reason why the Qing Dynasty failed to find the treasure based on the treasure map was because they only found two treasure maps. They could not find the third treasure map, so they failed in their efforts."

Li Ling nodded slightly. According to what the third senior brother said, Liu Ji warned future generations at that time to prevent the Manchu Qing Dynasty from finding Zhang Xianzhong's treasure.

Because if the Qing court finds this treasure, the Qing Dynasty's national power may continue for another two hundred years. In this way, the Han people will have to wait until the first century to take back the mountains and rivers.

The descendants of the Liu family lived up to their expectations and found a treasure map.

Although the Qing Dynasty found two pieces, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's great cause of finding Zhang Xianzhong's treasure ultimately failed because of the lack of the third piece in the hands of the Liu family.

"The seventh year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty should be 1868." Li Ling made some calculations and said, "What happened in the Forbidden City, and what does it have to do with your Yang family and the Liu family?"

Yang Kun gave Li Ling a thumbs up: "If I tell you the seventh year of Tongzhi, Master Li can calculate the AD year. Master Li is indeed an expert!"

"What's the point of flattering me?" Li Ling smiled bitterly, "My great-great-grandfather came to the United States to pan for gold during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. I remember those years quite clearly.

"At that time, the western United States was in the golden age of pioneering, and after the Qing Dynasty experienced two Opium Wars, the Westernization Movement was also in full swing. At that time, there were many Chinese people going to the United States to prospect for gold."

Yang Kun nodded and said: "Let me briefly talk about the origin of this matter. Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty had nine sons in total, but in Emperor Daoguang's later years, he did not have many choices to establish as his successor.

"The two most suitable princes at that time, and also the ones with the fiercest competition, were the fourth prince Yi Chi and the sixth prince Yi Xin. We all know that the last person to succeed to the throne was the fourth prince Yi Chi, also known as Emperor Xianfeng.

"However, whether it is recorded in historical records or unofficial history, everyone in the world at that time believed that the sixth son of the emperor, Yi Xin, was the most suitable candidate for the monarch.

"It's just that the emperor's sixth son, Yi Xin, was talented and well-educated, and had a great reputation as a virtuous man. However, the emperor's fourth son, Yi Chi, had mediocre qualifications and nothing outstanding.

"But history will not change according to people's will. The fourth son of the emperor, Yi Chi, with mediocre qualifications, became the new emperor. He ascended the throne in 1851 and became Emperor Xianfeng.
Chapter completed!