Chapter 242 The mystery of the disappearance of ancient gold
You have to be kind in life, and you have to vote in reading. It’s the last two days, and monthly votes won’t give birth to babies, so you might as well vote!
Han Kongque rummaged through several jewelry boxes and found a lot of good things. He found a red agate anklet, three gold and silver anklets, a black diamond anklet, and a simple bronze anklet.
Among these chains, although the gold, silver and gemstone anklets look luxurious, they are not as dignified and beautiful as the bronze necklace. Although it looks inconspicuous, you will definitely see it among the many gold and silver jewelry.
This anklet was relatively large. At first, Han Peacock thought it was a necklace, but he saw that the pendant of the necklace was a bronze butterfly, but this bronze butterfly was not straight, but curved.
Although the butterfly is more beautiful, it is not comfortable to wear on the chest. It can also be said to be uncomfortable.
Later, Han Peacock thought, isn't the curvature of this bronze butterfly the same as the curvature of a human ankle?
He tried it, and sure enough, the bronze butterfly could be buckled on the ankle. Although Han Peacock's ankle was relatively thick and could not be buckled perfectly, it should not be a problem if it could be buckled on a woman's ankle.
Next to this bronze butterfly anklet, Han Peacock also found a bronze cicada. When he picked it up, he discovered that it turned out to be a ring. Han Peacock put the bronze cicada ring on his middle finger, as if a cicada was lying on it.
on his finger.
After clenching his fist and stretching his fingers, Han Kongque didn't feel any discomfort at all. It seemed like this was a good thing.
Lying on the bed, Han Kongque stroked the bronze cicada ring with a rich patina. Imagining the charm of the catkins with those anklets, he couldn't fall asleep.
It turns out that when I didn't have a woman, I didn't have anything to think about, so I had no hope. Now that I have a woman, I can't hold her, and I feel uncomfortable in my heart.
Unable to sleep, Han Kongque began to harass Liuxu and sent Liuxu several text messages. Finally, he received a reply: I have an emergency here. Contact me when you have time.
Han Peacock lamented. He had no choice but to go to the Internet cafe because he couldn't sleep. Fortunately, he changed his mobile phone. This mobile phone can chat online and play games. Of course, there is no need to think about large-scale games.
As soon as I turned on my phone, I heard a text message, which was the investigation information sent by He Xiangshan.
Han Kongque opened his mailbox and looked at it. It was a record of the legends around the magic city. It was not accurate, it was just a legend. After all, they only had half a day, and no matter how powerful He Xiangshan and the others were, they couldn't do much.
After reading He Xiangshan's investigation report, Han Kongque discovered that there were still many unprocessed emails in his mailbox.
Han Peacock picked out some of the ones he was interested in and read some. They were all investigation reports about the disappeared treasures of the past dynasties. They were all general information and of little use. Of course, if he really encountered clues to these treasures, these investigation reports
It will be useful.
There were more than twenty such reports, and Han Kongque picked out a few that he was interested in reading, but the last one was the most important and was sent by Yue Muling.
This is an investigative report on the mystery of the disappearance of gold in ancient China. The title is huge, but it does have something to say.
Han Peacock didn't know it, and he was really shocked when he saw it. He had never thought that there was so much gold in the country. You know, the domestic gold reserves are now more than a thousand tons. This sounds like a lot, but
Is that a lot for a country?
You must know that today's social productivity is basically the same as that in ancient times. As such, China's gold reserves still occupy the sixth place in the world, while the United States, which ranks first, only has more than 8,000 tons of gold.
In ancient China, one of the important uses of gold was that the emperor used it to reward civil servants and generals. Therefore, the emperor's reward of gold is an angle to examine the changes in the total amount of gold at that time.
The "Book of Han" records that the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 23 AD) rewarded gold more than 100 times, and the "Book of the Later Han" records that the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 - 189 AD) rewarded gold 9 times. The total amount of gold awarded in the two rewards was approximately
920,000 kilograms.
How many tons is 920,000 kilograms? One kilogram in Qin and Han Dynasties is about half a kilogram today, which is about 250 grams to 300 grams. Calculated as half a kilogram, 920,000 kilograms is even the current 460,000 kilograms, 230,000 kilograms, two hundred and thirty
Ton.
Judging from the changes in gold rewards given by the emperors of the Han Dynasty recorded in historical records, the number of gold rewards given by the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty was less than 10% of the number of gold rewards given by the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, and the number of rewards was reduced by 90%; the total number of gold rewards given by the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty, more than 20,000 kilograms, was only equivalent to that of the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty.
About 2% of the total gold reward of 900,000 catties was awarded, and the reward amount was reduced by 98%.
From this point of view, it seems that the time when a large amount of gold disappeared in ancient China was during the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty.
However, when analyzing the situation in the early and late Western Han Dynasty, there are huge differences.
After Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty, the total amount of gold rewarded by emperors was more than 20,000 kilograms, which was only equivalent to 3% of the total amount of more than 870,000 kilograms of gold rewarded by emperors before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (140 BC to 87 BC). The amount of rewards decreased by 97%.
Of course, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty rewarded a huge amount of gold, which was a special case among the emperors of the Han Dynasty.
If we do not consider the situation of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and only compare the amount of gold rewarded by other emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, the total amount of gold rewarded by the six emperors after Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty in 91 years is equivalent to the gold rewarded by the five emperors before Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty (including Empress Lu) in 66 years
39% of the total.
The total amount of gold rewarded by the emperor in the late Western Han Dynasty also dropped significantly compared with the early Western Han Dynasty.
Therefore, it can be inferred that the disappearance of gold in ancient China began during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, not during the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Liu Bang gave Chen Ping 40,000 catties of gold to bribe Xiang Yu's subordinates;
When King Xiao of Liang died, his palace contained 400,000 kilograms of gold;
Wei Qing was rewarded with 200,000 catties of gold for his meritorious service in battle;
Wang Mang paid a betrothal gift of 30,000 kilograms of gold to the queen;
Ten thousand kilograms of gold in Wang Mang's treasury is one cup, making a total of sixty cupboards, etc.
In the Han Dynasty, one kilogram was about two hundred grams, and ten thousand kilograms of gold was about two and a half tons. Therefore, Wang Mang's palace had as much as 150 tons of gold, and a prince's palace had a treasure trove of 100 tons.
Why did Chinese gold begin to disappear in large quantities after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty?
Why did hundreds of thousands of tons of gold in the Han Dynasty suddenly disappear?
Where did the gold of the Han Dynasty go?
Some people say that they were mainly used to gild Buddha statues. This reason seems to be conclusive. It cannot be said that it is unreasonable. After Buddhism was introduced to our country during the period of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 58-75), it was used to paint Buddha statues with gold and write golden scriptures, which was consumed.
A large amount of gold was produced, but this kind of consumption, unlike making utensils, cannot be recycled, so the gold was reduced day by day and gradually became scarce.
The development of Buddhist temples and monasteries in China only took shape in the early Wei and Jin Dynasties, and reached prosperity in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Gold was used in large quantities for Buddhist statues and ritual instruments. It should have been after the development of Buddhist temples and monasteries.
The disappearance of gold in China began in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty before Buddhism was introduced, so the use of gold in Buddhism cannot be the only reason.
As for gold being used to make utensils, it should not be the main reason for the huge decrease in the total amount of gold. Because gold was a weighing currency in ancient China. When there was too much gold and the price was low, people cast gold into utensils. When gold was scarce and the price was expensive,
People destroy utensils and turn them into gold. There should be no reason why gold is expensive and people make large quantities of gold into utensils.
Historical records record that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty started advocating luxury. Will this change make gold more used in luxury utensils, thereby causing a huge decrease in gold?
Therefore, Yue Muling's final conclusion was that the gold was buried underground and rich officials had stored large amounts of gold. Of course, this is also the explanation most acceptable to modern people.
After the huge amount of gold from the Western Han Dynasty entered the Eastern Han Dynasty, it suddenly withdrew from circulation and disappeared. The only answer is that part of the gold was buried as various gold objects or left underground, and the other part was buried with wealthy businessmen and officials at all levels in the form of gold coins.
.
From the Warring States Period to the Western Han Dynasty, merchants concentrated a large amount of gold by buying cheap and selling high, while feudal rulers used state machinery to seize most of the country's gold. People hoarded gold one after another, and a large amount of gold was hoarded by these people.
For example, when King Xiao of Liang Dynasty died, "there were still more than 400,000 jins of gold left in the Tibetan Prefecture." At the end of the Han Dynasty, when Wang Mang, "the gold in the province at that time was only one plaque, and there were still 60 plaques. Huangmen, Hook Shield, Tibetan Prefecture
, Zhongshangshu, there are several plaques everywhere."
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were many people who stored gold in hoards. For example, Dong Zhuo "built a dock in Mei, and there were 20,000 to 30,000 jins of gold and 10,000 jins of silver stored in the dock."
Moreover, judging from the coins unearthed later, the amount of gold and silver treasures hoarded in China's history was truly astonishing.
Why did they store huge amounts of gold and not use it?
First, merchants who had large amounts of gold stored it for later use. Second, a peasant uprising broke out in the late Western Han Dynasty. Rich officials who had hoarded large amounts of gold either died or fled, making their hoards of gold as large as the huge amount hidden in Nazi Germany.
Like gold, there is no way to test it.
Some people say that gold in the Western Han Dynasty was brass, but this reason is untenable. Many people believe that the huge amount of gold in the Western Han Dynasty mentioned in history books is not real gold, but brass. I believe this statement.
There are many people, but just a few simple examples make this statement untenable.
Yue Muling concluded that there was no basis for saying that gold in the Western Han Dynasty was brass.
Because in the Han Dynasty, the difference between gold and copper was very obvious. The Han people never called gold copper, nor did they call it "brass".
Moreover, the weight units and names of gold and copper coins are also different. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, gold was calculated in "jin" and "yi", while copper coins were called "baht" or directly "qian". The distinction between gold and copper in the Western Han Dynasty was
Very clearly, for example, those who manage gold mines are called "Jin Guan", and those who manage copper mines are called "Tong Guan".
With such a clear distinction, if we continue to describe brass as gold, then either the ancients are stupid, or modern people are stupid.
Finally, Yue Muling put forward a detailed argument and analysis. So far, how many ancient tombs have not been discovered in China? How many of them are royal tombs, how many of them are high-ranking officials, and how many of them are wealthy people.
Han Peacock took a look and found that there were too many, even if they could not be counted, it would be fine.
There are reasons for this situation. One is that our history is too long, and the other is that our country has a tradition of generous burials. Although there are tomb robbers, they dig up very little, unless there is a turmoil due to the change of dynasties.
But for those who bury it every year, digging secretly is not as good as burying more.
Although Yue Muling tried his best to prove that the gold hidden in ancient records was real gold, some people still insisted that the hidden gold was not real gold but brass.
The main basis for denying these records is based on the examination of archaeological results.
If a vassal king may have one hundred tons of real gold, then there must be more large-scale real gold objects in his tomb.
In fact, large real gold artifacts (for example, weighing tens or hundreds of kilograms) have never been found in the tombs of Han Dynasty emperors and generals excavated in the Central Plains.
In many Han tombs, jade garments with gold threads, gold-plated Changxin palace lanterns, gold-wrapped Boshan furnaces, gold-wrapped tiger charms, etc. have been found. Although they all contain real gold, the main body of the artifacts is copper, and the amount of real gold used for decoration is only a few hundred.
It’s just a gram, it’s already very precious.
Not to mention hundreds of tons of real gold, even if there is only one ton of real gold, large-scale real gold objects can be cast, which will definitely be much more brilliant than these.
There is no news of large-scale real gold artifacts from the Han Dynasty in museums or private collections.
In other words, there is no information from archeology that may support the records of a certain emperor or general in the Han Dynasty who had several tons or even hundreds of tons of real gold.
This statement is specious and seems to be well founded, but Yue Muling just put forward a point of view. This conclusion ignores tomb robbing.
Let’s talk about the Tomb of King Liang Xiao of the Western Han Dynasty. This mausoleum complex was built in the Western Han Dynasty before the advent of explosives. It was completely carved out by countless migrant workers with hammers. The vastness of the engineering and the superb skills are amazing.
The Han Dynasty murals, jade clothing with gold threads, gilt chariots and horses, cavalry figurines and a large number of exquisite jades are even more rare treasures.
This is a record of the later discovery of the tomb of King Xiao of Liang. From here we can clearly know that, as mentioned above, not much gold and silver was found in the tomb of King Xiao of Liang, but is this correct?
Although it is difficult for us to know some truths that have disappeared in the long river of history, just because we don't know it now doesn't mean that the ancients didn't know it either.
Let’s just say that no royal tomb in the past dynasties buries people secretly, so it’s not a secret.
Just like the tomb of King Xiao of Liang, there are many records in history books.
"Historical Records. Family of King Xiao of Liang" retrieves "Shu Zheng Ji": "There is the tomb of King Xiao of Liang in Dang".
"Shui Jing Zhu. Huoshui" quoted Shao as saying: "There is Dangshan Mountain in the county, and the mountain is in the east. There are wenshi, and Qin established Dangjun County, so it was named after the mountain... There is the tomb of King Xiao of Liang on the mountain, and his tomb is cut into the mountain.
The outline is hidden through the stone."
It is recorded in "Yongcheng County Chronicles. Historic Sites" compiled by Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty: "Xiaowang Cave is at the east foot of Baoan Mountain, where there is a cross street and a horse drinking pool."
"Taiping Huanyu Ji" records: "The tomb of King Xiao of Liang is located fifty miles away from the county (north), four feet high, and one mile around, on the Nanling Mountain of Dangshan Mountain."
So, as long as you are willing, it is very simple to find a royal tomb. Since it is so simple, do you think these royal tombs have ever been stolen?
It’s just the tomb of King Xiao of Liang. The time when this tomb was discovered can be traced back to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cao Cao “led troops to attack the tomb of King Xiao of Liang, broke the coffin and collected tens of thousands of kilograms of gold and treasures.” As a result, “the stone chamber of King Liang was empty after all the gold was exhausted.”
”.
The record here is very clear, breaking the coffin to collect tens of thousands of kilograms of gold and treasure, resulting in "the king's stone chamber was empty after all the gold was exhausted".
What does this mean? There is only one answer. The things we have unearthed now are all things that have been despised by tomb robbers of all ages and are not wanted by others.
We all think that some unwanted things are rare treasures, but what are those that are stolen?
Therefore, it is completely untenable to say that there is no gold in the Han tombs. Obviously, Cao Cao left those copper carts, which is very telling. If the gold at that time was copper, how could Cao Cao put that copper cart in it?
Not there?
Yue Muling's investigation report was very detailed and well-founded, but what stunned Han Kongque the most was the large amount of information she collected about the ancient tombs of the Han Dynasty.
All kinds of dragons and phoenixes, various high-ranking officials and dignitaries, and some legendary businessmen. It can be said that as long as there is a possibility of burying gold and silver in the tomb, they have all become Yue Muling's targets.
"It's a pity that Yue Muling doesn't study archeology!" Han Peacock sighed.
However, her analysis was correct, and some public information she found also clarified the true addresses of many large tomb groups, which made Han Peacock even more confused.
You said that there are so many archeology professors and experts in our country, why do they leave so many ancient tombs without excavation and protection? Isn’t it tempting to commit a crime by leaving them there?
"I really want to dig it up! I have never robbed a tomb once!" Han Kongque thought about how he was almost unjustly accused of tomb robbing a few days ago. He was really unjust.
It turned out that he really had no intention of robbing tombs. Perhaps Yue Muling was affected by this incident and found out the addresses of so many ancient tombs. It seemed that he wanted Han Kongque to get rid of the unjust accusation and let him rob the tombs.
The profession of thief is firmly established.
"I'm sorry, since I can't dig graves, I'll clean up the rivers." Han Peacock said fiercely. It just so happened that he didn't have much to do before the year, so he went to contract a piece of land and clean up the ancient rivers.
In other words, this is also a very promising career. If you can clean up a sunken ship and find a few Yuan blue and white pieces on the sunken ship, that would be even better.
Of course, Han Kongque was just daydreaming. Even if there was such a good thing, it would never be his turn. Therefore, Han Kongque could only find another way.
Han Peacock rummaged through and studied Yue Muling's report, and finally found a report about the Battle of Han Yuan.
Looking at the records about the Battle of Han Yuan, Han Peacock smiled extremely lewdly.
Digging an ancient tomb, whether it is accidental or intentional, and not reporting it is tomb robbing. Now he is going to clean up the ancient river. If he cleans up some scrap copper and iron, it shouldn't be a big deal, right?
Because there are too many such things, and there was a recent case where a pair of brothers approached an expert with a short sword.
This dagger was found accidentally and was used by children to chop firewood at home. However, this dagger turned out to be a bronze dagger from the late Spring and Autumn Period. It was quite valuable, with a market price of about 100,000 yuan.
This sword came from a few years ago when their father was digging sand in the river and accidentally picked up a short sword with a greenish-yellow color.
He didn't care about it at the time. After returning home, he threw it aside and his grandson used it to chop firewood.
Later I heard that this dagger was more than 2,600 years old. It was complete in shape and in good condition. The market price was about 100,000 yuan.
The brothers said they were surprised and had to keep the sword well after returning home.
Since others can take it home and treasure it, he, Han Peacock, can naturally take it home and treasure it. (To be continued...)
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