Chapter 947: The Twelve Golden Men of Qin (Part 1)
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For the sake of his own sense of smell, Liu Dong hurriedly cleaned up all the wooden boxes and rotten straw with the relic Yuanguang. After finally making his nose feel more comfortable, Liu Dong couldn't help but focus on the huge table in front of him that was as big as the Eight Immortals Table.
Bronze head looking away.
The bronze head has clear facial features, a slightly wider face, and a short beard at the corners of the lips and chin. The hair is pulled into a bun and beaten behind the head. The portrait looks straight ahead, with a serious and resolute expression, as if nothing is impossible.
he!
Perhaps due to the passage of time, many parts of the bronze head are already rusty, but it is obvious that it was carefully repaired in the later period, so there are no major defects on this bronze head.
But when Liu Dong saw the obvious tear marks under its neck, he couldn't help but show a look of regret in his eyes. It was obvious that this exquisite work of art had been artificially damaged!
After carefully appreciating this exquisite work of art, Liu Dong did not immediately put it into the mustard space, but once again opened a huge wooden box next to it that was about 5 meters long and nearly three meters wide and high!
Liu Dong, who had already suffered a loss just now, did not let his sense of smell, which is many times more sensitive than ordinary people, be tested again this time. With the mustard space, he easily took out the things he put inside.
Although Yuan Guang had already seen it through the relic, when this bronze torso with a height of nearly 5 meters appeared in front of Liu Dong's eyes, the shock was really indescribable, it was too big!
Moreover, the casting technique is extremely exquisite, the armor and patterns on the torso are all perfectly executed, and more importantly, there are text on them!
The writing is Xiaozhuan. After Qin Shihuang unified China (221 BC), he implemented the policy of "writing with the same text and carts with the same rails" and unifying weights and measures. The prime minister Li Si was responsible for it. Based on the large seal script originally used by the Qin State,
Simplification was carried out. The other Six Kingdoms scripts were cancelled, and a unified writing form of Chinese characters was created. It remained popular in China until the end of the Western Han Dynasty (about 8 AD), and was gradually replaced by official script.
However, due to the beautiful small seal script, it has always been favored by calligraphers. And because its strokes are complex, the form is ancient, and twists and turns can be added at will, it is suitable for seal carving, especially official seals that require anti-counterfeiting. The seal script was always used until the fall of the feudal dynasty.
, the emergence of new anti-counterfeiting technologies in modern times.
Because Liu Dong was proficient in sculpture and calligraphy, he was naturally familiar with the small seal script, so he also recognized the words engraved on the back of the bronze torso. The content was: 'In the twenty-sixth year of the emperor's reign, at the beginning of his reign, he unified the world and changed the princes into prefectures and counties.
One law, one measure. The last four larger seal characters are "Yong Zhen Yu Qin"!
Seeing this, Liu Dong understood the origin of the bronze head and torso!
Qin Shihuang was the founding emperor of the Qin Dynasty, the first unified dynasty in Chinese history. Legendary stories about him are widely circulated among the people. In the legend, he is not only a great hero who has made indispensable contributions, but also the pride of the Chinese nation.
On the other hand, he almost became a tyrant, synonymous with cruelty. In order to enjoy his military exploits forever, Qin Shihuang performed a variety of feats that are still astonishing in the world, leaving a lot of unsolved history for the world.
Mysteries, the casting of 12 golden figures is one of them.
In Xianyang, the capital of Qin, in front of the Afang Hall of the Qin Palace, there stand 12 large bronze figures made of bronze. Because the copper is yellow, they are also called golden figures. They are dressed in foreign clothes, and each one is very huge and heavy.
It is difficult to transport, and they are carved with fine patterns all over their bodies. They are all arrogant, energetic and brave. They guard the palace of the King of Qin day and night. The large shape of the bronze figures and the exquisite craftsmanship are rare in history. In this regard,
, there are many records in history books.
For example, according to "Historical Records. The Chronicles of the First Emperor of Qin": In the twenty-sixth year... he collected the troops from all over the world, gathered them in Xianyang, sold them as bells, and sold the twelve golden men, each weighing a thousand stones, and moved them to the palace. Jia Yi's "On the Passage of Qin" also has
"Selling the Feng and Forging the Iron, Thinking of the Twelve Golden People" records the stories of the 12 golden people.
Of course, the first emperor Yingzheng cast the twelve golden figures in addition to gathering the soldiers of the world to eliminate the hidden dangers of rebellion by the remnants of the Six Kingdoms. The main reason was that Qin Shihuang wanted to inherit King Yu's Nine Tripods representing imperial power from Zong Zhou, making his rule
Reasonable and legal, just like the Xia of the Shang Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty of the Zhou Dynasty, it established the legitimacy of the rule of the Qin Dynasty. But unfortunately, God failed to fulfill his wishes, and King Yu Jiuding was lost!
Therefore, the first emperor Yingzheng created the Twelve Golden Figures as a tool to control the country, replacing the role of King Yu's Nine Tripods and becoming a symbol of the legitimacy of imperial power!
It is recorded in "Zuo Zhuan" and "The Battle of Qin": "It is only the weapon and the name that cannot be used as a fake person. This is the king's office!"
The translated meaning is that the ritual vessels and titles that represent the monarch cannot be lent to others. This is the responsibility of the monarch!
Although this sentence is Confucius' evaluation of the monarchs of the Wei Kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period, it also reflects the etiquette system of the Pre-Qin Dynasty at that time!
Utensils and names are more vivid. Utensils are the imperial edict and official seal of the emperor in the feudal era. For example, if the emperor wants to confer a prince, the imperial edict and official seal of the prince's canonization are the prince's 'instrument', and the 'prince' is the 'name'!
Reflecting on the pre-Qin period, because paper did not exist in the Zongzhou period, bronze inscriptions were popular. The so-called bronze inscriptions are words engraved on bronze vessels. Therefore, when the emperor of Zongzhou conferred princes, he used this kind of canonization title.
Bronze vessels with inscriptions serve as 'vessels' for princes, such as the king of Wei and the king of Qi. This is their 'name'!
If the "vessels and names" are reflected on the emperor, then in the pre-Qin period, the "King Yu Jiuding" that was passed down from Xia to Zhou was the emperor's "vessel". It represented the legitimacy of Zong Zhou's rule over the world, and Zong Zhou's emperor
It's 'name'!
Therefore, both Duke Huan of Qi and King Zhuang of Chu would go to Luoyi, the capital of the Emperor of Zhou, to ask ‘the importance of the tripod’!
The First Emperor who unified the world naturally hoped to inherit King Yu's Jiuding and establish the legitimacy of Qin.
But after King Yu’s Jiuding was lost, the twelve golden men of the Zhenguo came to serve as the ‘ritual vessels’ of the Qin Dynasty!
But what Qin Shihuang didn't expect was that because the history of the Qin Dynasty was too short, the role of the Twelve Golden Men as a tool to control the country was not as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as King Yu's Jiuding.
It replaced the lost Jiuding of King Yu and became the most legitimate weapon of state control for all dynasties!
But no matter what, these twelve golden figures are still representatives of the imperial power of the Qin Dynasty. Whether it is artistic value, difficulty of casting, and complexity of craftsmanship, it has become an unparalleled pinnacle of Chinese art for thousands of years.
National treasure among national treasures!
Things that can represent imperial power throughout the ages are the most precious works of art. Just like people's pursuit of the royal seals of the Qing Dynasty, the Twelve Golden Figures from two thousand years ago are also top-notch works of art that everyone is chasing.
At this moment, Liu Dong was completely immersed in excitement and ecstasy. This excitement and joy even surpassed all previous gains. Even when he got Yan Liben's "Pictures of Emperors of the Past", he didn't want to be so happy now!
The reason for this is mainly that the twelve golden people contain the imperial power of the feudal era, and the pursuit of power is the most primitive desire in any man's heart. Although there are big and small, obvious and secret, this kind of power*
* exists in everyone’s heart, and Liu Dong is certainly no exception!
Therefore, he prefers this kind of thing that represents feudal royal power, even if it is just a symbol!
After a long time, when Liu Dong calmed down a little, he couldn't help but reach out and touch the words on the back of the golden figure, and at the same time thought to himself: "This is probably Meng Tian's only authentic calligraphy handed down from generation to generation!"
Historical data records that the Qin Dynasty cast twelve gold figures: "Inscription on his chest"; "Inscription on his back". This means that there are inscriptions on the chest and back. The inscription was written by Li Si and written by Meng Tian. Li Si was the prime minister and Meng Tian was the general. From
This shows that the inscription document is the second highest.
After Liu Dong carefully turned the huge bronze torso over, he found that there were dense writings on the armor on the chest of his colleagues. The whole body was written in small seal script. The content was a record of the history of Qin and the first emperor Ying Zheng.
The achievements of unifying the six countries and the main political propositions of the Qin Dynasty!
The full text is only 899 words, but ancient Chinese literature has always paid attention to "small words and big meanings". For example, the full text of "The Analects" has only 11,705 words, which is roughly equivalent to the capacity of one page of today's newspaper. But Zhao Pu, the famous prime minister in the early Song Dynasty, used half of the Analects to rule the world!
Li Si was also a famous prime minister in the Qin Dynasty and a famous calligrapher. Although this inscription does not have many words, the amount of information hidden in it is enough to write a doctoral thesis of hundreds of pages!
More importantly, these written information can definitely fill in some historical gaps in the Qin Dynasty, and even in the Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Its historical and cultural value is immeasurable!
Of course Liu Dong knew this, but what he wanted to do most now was to complete the bronze statue! Soon, Liu Dong found the two arms and two legs of the bronze statue from the large wooden box next to it.
, and the bottom bronze base!
After being arranged neatly on the ground, the entire bronze figure appeared in front of Liu Dong!
There are many names for bronze figures in historical materials, including the following: Zhongqi, Jinren, Zhong, Jindiren, Wengzhong, bronze figures, etc. The bronze figure is called "Zhong" because it is hollow.
, looks like a bell. The bronze figure is called "Jin Di people" because the Yi Di people are the original form of the bronze figure. Weng Zhong is the bronze statue.
Chen Zhi's "Sanfu Huangtu Collector's Commentary" quoted from "Sanpu Old Stories" also records: "The people who cast gold Di set up in front of Afang Hall."