Chapter 947: The Twelve Golden Men of Qin (I)

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For the sake of his sense of smell, Liu Dong still hurriedly cleaned up the wooden box and rotten straw with the relics yuanguang, and after finally making his nose more comfortable, Liu Dong couldn't help but look at the huge bronze head the size of the Eight Immortals Table in front of him.

The bronze head has clear facial features, a slightly wider face, short hair at the corners of the lips and jaw, hair pulled into a bun and hammered behind the head, the figures look straight ahead, their expressions are serious and resolute, as if nothing can stop him!

Perhaps because of the long period of time, the bronze skull has rusted in many places, but it can be clearly seen that it has been carefully repaired in the later period, so there is not much damage on this bronze skull.

But when Liu Dong saw the obvious tear marks under its neck, his eyes couldn't help but show a touch of regret, 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 seed space, but opened a huge wooden box next to it again, which 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 was far more sensitive than ordinary people, be tested again this time, and he easily took out the things that were placed in it with mustard seed space.

Although he had already seen it in his eyes through the relics Yuanguang, when this bronze torso with a height of nearly 5 meters appeared in front of Liu Dong's eyes at this moment, the shock was really indescribable, too big!

Moreover, the casting technique is extremely exquisite, and the armor and patterns on the torso are all meticulously expressed. What's more, there's text on it!

The text is a small seal. The small seal was after Qin Shi Huang unified China (221 BC). The implementation of the policy of "the same text for the book, the same track for the car" and the unification of weights and measures, under the responsibility of Prime Minister Li Si, on the basis of the original use of the Great Seal script in the Qin State, simplified, abolished the other six scripts, and created a unified Chinese character writing form. It remained popular in China until the end of the Western Han Dynasty (c. 8 AD). It was gradually replaced by Lishu.

However, due to the beautiful font of the small seal, it has always been favored by calligraphers. And because of its complex strokes, the form is ancient, and can be added at will, the seal engraving, especially the official seal that needs to be anti-counterfeiting, has been using the seal script until the fall of the feudal dynasty, and the emergence of new anti-counterfeiting technology in modern times.

Because Liu Dong is proficient in carving and calligraphy, he is naturally familiar with Xiao Seal. So he also knew the text engraved on the back of this bronze torso, which read: 'The twenty-sixth year of the emperor. At the beginning of the world, the princes were changed to counties, one law, and the same measure. The last four larger seal characters are 'Yongzhen Yu Qin'!

Seeing this, Liu Dong understood the origin of the bronze head and torso!

Qin Shi Huang was the founding emperor of the Qin Dynasty, the first unified dynasty in Chinese history. The legend about him is 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, and on the other hand, he has almost become synonymous with tyrant and cruelty. In order to enjoy his conquest exploits forever, Qin Shi Huang made a variety of feats that are still remembered in the world today, leaving many historical mysteries that cannot be solved for the world, and the casting of the 12 golden people is one of them.

In Xianyang, the capital of Qin, in front of the Afang Hall of the Qin Palace, there are 12 large bronze people cast by bronze, because the copper is yellow, so it is also called the golden man. They were dressed in foreign costumes, each of which was very large and heavy, difficult to transport, and they were all carved with fine patterns, and all of them were proud, energetic, and heroic, guarding the palace of the King of Qin day and night. The size of the bronze man-made shape and the exquisite craftsmanship are rare in history. In this regard, there are many historical books documenting it.

As recorded in the "Historical Records: Qin Shi Huang Benji": 26 years...... Collect the world's soldiers, gather Xianyang, and sell it as Zhong * Jin Ren Twelve, each weighing a thousand stones, and move it to the palace. Jia Yi's "On the Passage of Qin" also has "Pin Feng casts iron, thinking that the twelve golden people" records the stories of 12 golden people.

Of course, in addition to collecting the world's soldiers to eliminate the hidden danger of the rebellion of the remnants of the Six Kingdoms, the first emperor Yingzheng cast twelve golden people, mainly because Qin Shi Huang wanted to inherit Yuwang Jiuding, who represented the imperial power, from Zong Zhou, so that his rule became reasonable and legitimate, just like Shang Dynasty Xia and Zhou Dynasty Shang, to establish the legitimacy of Qin Dynasty rule, but the heavens did not fulfill people's wishes, and Yuwang Jiuding was lost!

Therefore, the first emperor Yingzheng created the twelve golden people as the instrument of the town, replacing the role of Yuwang Jiuding, and becoming a symbol of the legitimacy of imperial power!

"Zuo Biography" - "The Battle of the Sword" recorded: "Only weapons and names, no dummies, Jun Zhisi also!"

Translated into meaning, it is the responsibility of the monarch that the ritual and title representing the monarch cannot be lent to others!

Although this sentence was written by Confucius to evaluate the monarch of the Spring and Autumn Period, it also reflected the etiquette system of the pre-Qin era at that time!

For example, the emperor wants to canonize a prince, and the holy decree and official seal of the canonization prince are the prince's 'instrument', and the 'prince' is the 'name'!

Reflecting the pre-Qin period, because there was no paper in the Zongzhou period, the so-called golden text is the text engraved on the bronze, so at this time, when the Son of Heaven of the Zongzhou Dynasty canonized the princes, he used this kind of bronze with canonization inscriptions as the 'vessel' of the princes, like the monarch of the country of Wei, the monarch of the state of Qi, this is the 'name'!

If the 'instrument and name' are reflected in the emperor, then in the pre-Qin period, the 'Yuwang Jiuding' that has been passed from Xia to Zhou is the 'instrument' of the Son of Heaven, which represents the legitimacy of Zong Zhou's domination of the world, and the Son of Heaven of Zong Zhou is the 'name'!

Therefore, whether it is the Duke of Qi Huan, who has achieved hegemony, or the King of Chuzhuang, they will go to Luoyi, the capital of Zhou Tianzi, to ask 'the weight of the tripod'!

And the first emperor, who ruled the world, naturally hoped to inherit the Jiuding of King Yu and establish the legitimacy of Qin.

But after the loss of Yuwang Jiuding, there were twelve golden people in the town as the 'ritual' of the Qin Dynasty!

It's just that what Qin Shi Huang didn't expect was that because the history of the Qin Dynasty was too short, the role of the twelve golden people as the instrument of the town and the country was not as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as Yuwang Jiuding, but it was the Heshi Bi, that is, the jade seal of the country, which replaced the lost Yuwang Jiuding after the Han Dynasty and became the instrument of the legitimacy of the imperial dynasty in the past dynasties!

But no matter what, these twelve golden figures are still the representatives of the imperial power of the Qin Dynasty, whether it is the artistic value, or the difficulty of casting, and the complexity of the process, it has become the pinnacle of Chinese art for thousands of years, a national treasure among national treasures!

The things that can represent the imperial power throughout the ages are the most precious works of art, just like the pursuit of the royal jade seal of the Qing Dynasty, the twelve golden figures of 2,000 years ago are also the top works of art sought after by everyone.

And at this moment, Liu Dong has completely fallen into the excitement and ecstasy, this excitement and joy even surpassed all the previous gains, even when he got Yan Liben's "Emperor Diagram of the Past Dynasties", he didn't want to be so happy now!

The reason why this is so is mainly because the twelve golden people contain the imperial power of the feudal era, and the pursuit of power is the most primitive ** in the heart of any man, although there are big and small, obvious and hidden, but this kind of power ** exists in everyone's heart, Liu Dong is of course no exception!

Therefore, he prefers this kind of thing that represents the feudal royal power, even if it is just a symbol!

After a long time, after Liu Dong calmed down a little, he couldn't help but reach out and touch the text on the back of the golden man, and at the same time said secretly: "I'm afraid this is the only authentic calligraphy handed down by Meng Tian!"

Historical records record that Qin cast twelve golden people: "the inscription on his chest"; Afterward". It means that there are inscriptions on the chest and back, and the inscriptions are written by Li Si and written by Meng Tian. Li Si is the prime minister, and Meng Tian is the general. It can be seen that the inscription document is second-high.

After Liu Dong carefully turned over the huge bronze torso, he found that there was dense handwriting on the armor on the chest of his colleagues, which was written in small seals, the content of which recorded the history of the Qin State, as well as the exploits of the First Emperor to unify the six countries and the main political propositions of the Qin Dynasty!

The full text is only 899 words, but the ancient text has always paid attention to 'small words and big meanings'. For example, the full text of the Analects is only 11,705 words, which is about the capacity of a page of a folio newspaper today. But Zhao Pu, the famous minister of the early Song Dynasty, ruled the world with half of the Analects!

And Li Si is also a famous minister of the Qin Dynasty, and he is also a famous calligrapher, although the number of words in this inscription is not much, but the amount of hidden information in it is enough to make a doctoral dissertation of hundreds of pages!

What's more important is that these written information will definitely be able to fill some gaps in the history of the Qin Dynasty, and even the historical gaps of the Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and their historical and cultural value is immeasurable!

Of course, Liu Dong also knows this, but what he wants to do most now is to complete this bronze statue! Soon, Liu Dong found out the two arms, two legs, and the bottom bronze base of this bronze statue from the big wooden box next to him!

After being neatly placed on the ground, the image of the entire bronze portrait also appeared in front of Liu Dong completely!

There are many titles related to the bronze people in the historical materials, probably the following types: Zhong Tie, Jin Ren, Zhong, Jin Di Ren, Weng Zhong, Bronze Man, etc. The bronze man is called a "bell" because the bronze man is hollow, like a bell. The bronze man is called "Jindi people", because the Yidi people are the original form of the bronze people. Weng Zhong is a bronze statue.

Chen Zhi's "Sanfu Huangtu Proofreading" also recorded in "Sanpu Old Things": "Cast Jindi people, set up in front of the palace." ”

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… (To be continued......)