Chapter three hundred and seventy-third: the heavy equipment of the town, the Kyushu Ding
Chapter 373: The important weapon of the country, the ‘Kiuzhou Cauldron’
...Obviously, the sword Liu Dong is holding in his hand at this moment is not the sword of Xiong Lv, the king of Chuzhuang, but the sword of Yan Jia, the king of the clan who was destroyed by him. However, the sword is still sharp.
The rhombus pattern on the blade and spine, as well as the hilt of the sword with the animal face swallowing its mouth, are not rusty at all. It is hard to imagine that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the swords worn by the king of a small vassal state were so superbly made.
Craftsmanship.
Next, Liu Dong picked up the remaining fifteen swords one by one. Although the rotten scabbard obscured some of the writing, Liu Dong basically recognized the sixteen swords except for three.
Apart from his name, the rest are the swords of the kings of other vassal states.
In addition to these swords, there are also axes, spears and swords next to them. There are probably more than a hundred pieces of the three in total. However, the wooden poles that originally connected them have rotted, and now only the parts made of bronze are left. Of course it is best.
The three best pieces, the axe, the spear and the spear, which are all cast in bronze, are still intact. They should have been used as ceremonial guards for King Zhuang of Chu.
In addition to these weapons, there were bronze-supported armors and lacquer shields nearby, but the number was very small. There were only a few of each. It seems that these things are not easy to preserve. Uncle Li and the others only took away a few of them that were relatively intact.
came out.
In addition, in addition to these weapons and armors, there are also two huge bronze cymbals, each nearly two meters long and with a diameter of more than one meter. Looking at the obvious impact marks left on them, it seems that they were used by King Chuzhuang.
Used for marching and fighting.
Among all the armors and weapons, there are 45 "royal weapons" with inscriptions. The so-called royal weapons are weapons with the inscription of a certain prince, such as "King Chu Xiong Lv Zi Rong Zhu".
In addition to these armors and weapons, there are also some pieces of chariots and horses. Most of them are made of bronze, and there are a small amount of gold and silver chariots and horses. I think this should be the chariot that Uncle Li and the others took from the burial of King Zhuang of Chu.
Stolen from the horse pit. These are the most numerous chariots and horses in this cave. They were piled together and occupied most of the cave. By the time Liu Dong finished cleaning up, he roughly calculated that the number was almost more than 10,000.
"I hope I can piece together a few carriages from it!" Liu Dong secretly looked forward to it.
After cleaning up the entrance of the cave, Liu Dong came to the nearby pile of rocks, and then reached out and pulled it out. Perhaps because he felt that the things inside were the most precious, Uncle Li and the others deliberately blocked the passage with rocks.
This time there were more rocks than when Liu Dong first entered the cave. In the end, in order to save time, Liu Dong moved all the rocks in front of him to the mustard space.
It took about five minutes to load more than 2,000 large and small rocks. Then after opening up a wide rock passage that was three meters wide, three meters high, and more than 20 meters long, a five-meter-high rock passage that was more than the five that Liu Dong had experienced before was opened.
A huge space that was larger than all the caves combined appeared in front of Liu Dong.
In this huge space are placed more than thirty huge bronze vessels.
"It turns out that the best bronzes in the entire tomb of King Chuzhuang are here!" Liu Dong closed his mouth, suppressing the shock in his heart, and then a strong joy surged into his heart.
Needless to say, the twenty-six large tripods made by King Chuzhuang to show off his achievements are the same in size and shape as the Chaoguo tripod and Zongguo tripod that Liu Dong got in the capital before. They are just the inscriptions and reliefs on the tripods.
The decorations are just different.
However, compared to the Zongguoding and Chaoguoding that Liu Dong obtained, the remaining twenty-four large cauldrons all have lids on them, and each lid has a mythical beast made using the lost wax method.
The twenty-four large cauldrons are solemn and luxurious. And under the light of Liu Dong's relics, these large cauldrons are not empty, but filled with bamboo slips. There are also some bronze seals and tiger charms used by ancient emperors to mobilize troops.
.These things that represent the authority of a country do not belong to the Chu State, but to the twenty-six countries that were destroyed by King Zhuang of Chu. However, only these twenty-four bronze tripods now contain these things, and Liu Dong has already
There was nothing in the two big cauldrons that I got, and they didn't even have a top cover. I don't know if they were left in King Zhuang's tomb, or if they were thrown away artificially by Uncle Li and others.
But no matter what, Liu Dong still felt quite sorry for these two shortcomings.
In addition to these twenty-four large tripods, there is also a larger tripod. This large tripod is not the three-legged round tripod that was common in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is the four-legged square tripod from the Xia and Shang Dynasties. Obviously it
It was not cast by King Zhuang of Chu. It was taken from somewhere else. Moreover, the height of this large cauldron was more than two meters. Standing under the cauldron, Liu Dong could not see the inside.
The mouth of this big tripod is also wide enough, reaching about 1.8 meters, which is almost the same height as Liu Dong. The width is also 1.5 meters, and the depth of the big tripod is one meter. The foot of a tripod is almost as thick as Liu Dong's thigh.
Moreover, during the Xia and Shang dynasties, bronzes were used more as ritual vessels than as food vessels. Therefore, bronzes at this time generally used more materials than during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This is reflected in the extraordinarily thick walls of this large tripod.
, nearly twenty centimeters wide.
Standing in front of this huge cauldron, you will feel the majesty and heaviness revealed from it.
This large cauldron, which is several times larger than the Simuwu Dafang Cauldron, has very gorgeous decorations. In addition to the cloud and thunder patterns on the edge of the mouth and the fine thunder patterns at the bottom, the entire four walls of the cauldron are decorated with
A large number of vivid monsters are cast using the technique of relief, many of which are familiar to Liu Dong. There are many descriptions of them in the pre-Qin classic "The Classic of Mountains and Seas".
Liu Dong walked around the cauldron and counted. There were a total of 108 kinds of exotic beasts engraved on this unprecedented huge bronze cauldron.
In addition to these monsters, there are images of mountains, rivers, and cities on the walls. At first glance, the majestic land and endless space seem to be right in front of you.
It is really hard to imagine how people at that time used the Tao Fan method to make a large cauldron so sophisticated. The endless mountains and rivers were condensed on this small cauldron wall.
After Liu Dong sighed deeply, he reached out and touched the cauldron wall. The relics in his mustard space suddenly jumped violently for a few times, and then golden light shone brightly, and then several words appeared above the relics.
"Xia Yu cast one of the nine tripods, the 'Jingzhou tripod'"!!!
After receiving this result, Liu Dong was so shocked that he almost bit off his tongue.
"This...is this really the Jingzhou tripod, one of the nine tripods?" Liu Dong said with great excitement.
In the early years of the Xia Dynasty, Dayu divided the world into Kyushu, and established prefectures in each state. Later in the Xia Dynasty, he ordered the Kyushus to contribute bronzes and cast Jiuding. In advance, he sent people to draw atlases of famous mountains and rivers, scenic spots, and strange objects in all states in the country, and then sent experts
Selected famous craftsmen imitated these paintings on the body of Jiuding, with one tripod symbolizing a state. The engraved graphics also reflect the state's mountains and rivers. The Jiuding symbolizes Jiuzhou, reflecting the unity of the country and the high concentration of royal power.
It shows that the king of Xia has become the co-owner of the world and is in compliance with the "mandate of heaven". As the saying goes: "In the whole world, is it the king's land, and on the shore of the land, is it the king's ministers." From then on, Kyushu became synonymous with China, "Dingding".
, became synonymous with the establishment of national political power.
In China's thousands of years of history, there are only two important artifacts that are truly recognized by all dynasties. One is the Jiuding cast by Xia Yu, and the other is the 'He's Bi' made by the First Emperor Ying Zheng.
It's the 'Jade Seal of the Nation'.
The Jiuding cast by Xia Yu was a national treasure and a symbol of imperial power that was fought over by various countries in the pre-Qin period. The Heshi Bi was a symbol of imperial power in the feudal era.
The Jiuzhou Tripod has been passed down from the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties for nearly two thousand years. Until the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, various vassal states still respected the Zhou royal family who owned the Nine Tripods as their co-owners. After the Nine Tripods were lost, the Zhou royal family was also destroyed by the Qin Dynasty. The jade seal passed down to the country was lost in the Song Dynasty.
After that, the emperors of later generations became "blank slate emperors".
And for thousands of years, countless wars have been triggered around the Kyushu Cauldron and the Imperial Seal.
There are also different opinions on the records of these two important artifacts passed down from the country in history. Let’s not mention He’s Bi, but the explanations of famous historians such as Jiuding, Sima Qian, and Ban Gu are different.
But what Liu Dong didn't expect was that he actually saw one of the nine tripods, the 'Jingzhou tripod', in the tomb of King Chuzhuang. And this result can easily be thought of as the idiom 'aim for the Central Plains', which also represents King Chuzhuang's achievement of hegemony.
.
However, according to the original historical records, in 605 BC, King Zhuang of Chu once led the Chu army northward, taking advantage of the attack on Lu Hun's army, to drive the main army of Chu to the southern suburbs of Luoyang in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and held a grand military parade. King Ding of Zhou
The eloquent Wang Sunman was sent to labor the army. King Chuzhuang asked the Emperor of Zhou about the size and weight of the cauldron, but Wang Sunman finally refused.
But looking at the Jingzhou Ding in front of us, it is obvious that the facts are inconsistent with the historical data. King Chuzhuang did not get the Jiuding, but he did get one of the Nine Dings, the 'Jingzhou Ding', which represents the location of the Chu Kingdom! And he was buried with it in his tomb after his death.
middle.
"This is so unexpected!" Liu Dong couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the rich purple brilliance rising from the cauldron. Although he knew before that this cauldron must be an important weapon of Xia and Shang, he couldn't help but sigh anyway.
Unexpectedly, this is actually the real Jiuding of Xia Yu, an important weapon passed down to the country!
Moreover, there are also a large number of bamboo slips placed inside this Jiuzhou tripod, as well as a bronze phoenix statue representing the totem of Chu State. This bronze statue is two opposing phoenixes, similar to the elephant statue, but with a different image.
That's all.
Surrounding the famous Jiuzhou tripod and the one-meter-high Phoenix statue inside, Liu Dong studied them for nearly an hour before reluctantly taking them into his mustard space.