Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Ancient Ship Sends the Soul

We came to another burial chamber, this burial chamber is also very large, the burial chamber presents a circle below, which corresponds to the ancient concept of a round heaven and a place. Look at the size of this burial chamber is no less than an American C-17 transport aircraft hangar.

The fat man said: "Innocent, why are you so strange, I feel that this mountain should be called Wangu Mountain, because it is full of caves." ”

I said, "I also found out what you said, even if there is no cemetery here, the stalactites, stone mothers, quartz and other strange stones here are also a scenic spot, and there are not as many Chinese karst cave attractions as there are caves here." ”

Professor Su coughed twice: "Ahem, that is, if this place is developed, it will also be a museum, which is also a big sensation in the geological and archaeological circles." ”

Alice said, "Well, it's a good place to go, but only it doesn't have those traps and creatures. ”

I said, "The organs and zongzi are the most terrible here, and we haven't encountered a single zongzi along the way, so we are lucky." ”

Pan Zi made a gesture and suddenly said, "There's something in front, shhhh ”

Everyone held their breath and looked up, only to see that there was really a big thing in front of them, and it was difficult to see clearly due to the dim light. Sanshui whispered to a guy to send a signal flare, this person has always been Sanshui's subordinates who have not done anything else except to put signal flares, and it feels like he can't do anything except put signal flares.

Under the strong light of the flare, we could see its face clearly, this is a big ship, this big ship, about 30 meters long and about 5 meters wide.

Bob exclaimed: "Oh, the Bashu people can build such a big ship, this kind of big ship is generally only available after the Warring States period." ”

Professor Su said: "I was also surprised, this ship is not small at all, beyond my imagination, I didn't expect this behemoth to be an ancient ship." ”

Alice said, "Well, this old ship is very beautiful, you see. ”

I thought about it, this ship was in the reign of Bashu, this should be around the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, how could there be such a big ancient ship at that time. The boat is tall and long, the hull is strong and beautiful, and there is a divine beast in the bow, and you need to look at it closely.

When we came to the ancient ship, Sanshui said, "Three more flares in a row." ”

This time we saw the whole picture of the ancient ship, this ancient ship is definitely the emperor level, the eyes of the beast at the bow of the ship are made of agate, the teeth of the beast are made of ivory, the head of the beast is made of bronze, and then look at the oars, not long or short, not light and not heavy, the workmanship is exquisite and practical, there is actually a ship building on the ship, this ship building is three meters high and has wooden windows, it seems that there is only one floor, and there is a bird-shaped statue at the stern. The whole ship is still the same wood material color, and it is estimated that the hull has been treated with anti-corrosion. And there are sails on the ship, two sails, this is a sailboat.

I sighed: "This is really a miracle, a miracle that breaks common sense, as far as I know, sailboats are the product of spring and autumn." “

Alice said: "It would be nice to have a romantic like the Titanic on this kind of ship." ”

Bob said, "That's right, sailboats only existed during the Warring States period in China!" How so? “

Professor Su shook his head and said, "You don't know much about history, the earliest sailing ship was really in the Yin Shang period, and the king of Shang had such a sailing ship, but today this one is too big. “

I said: "This ship wants to change people's understanding of history, this ship actually has a shipbuilding, although this building is not big, from my observation is only about ten square meters, but this is an achievement, this is a precedent." “

Bob said: "That's right, I think the treasure ship of the Qin Dynasty is nothing more than that." “

Professor Su said: "The ship of Yingzheng seeking immortals is bigger than this, why don't you cross the sea to Japan." ”

Bob said: "What you are talking about is the story of Xu Fu taking five hundred boys and five hundred virgins to Penglai to ask for the elixir, I only know this matter, they later failed to ask for the pill, and could not return to the court to restore their lives, so they had to continue to drift, according to your Northeast dialect, a little high to meet the Japanese island, from then on, Xu Fu became the first emperor of Japan, he is the creator of the myth later." ”

I said, "We all know about this, you don't need to say it, is Professor Su's big ship recording the shipbuilding technology of Bashu?" “

Professor Su said: "Well, this is only one aspect, and another aspect is funeral. “

The fat man said, "Oh? Funeral? “

Professor Su said: "Well, there were many ship coffins in ancient China, and this big ship may be a ship coffin. “

Professor Su said: "This boat coffin burial is a kind of funeral custom that was popular among the Bashu people in ancient times, and at the same time, it is also a unique funeral custom of some ethnic groups who lived by the water and grew longer than the boat in ancient China. “

In the vast area south of the Yangtze River in China, the river is vertical and horizontal, which is convenient for boating, and the boat is an indispensable means of transportation for the people living there to engage in production and life. People were good at using boats during their lifetimes, and it was only natural that they would be buried in boats after death. However, in the pre-Qin period, there were not many ethnic groups that used ship coffins for burial, but the Bashu region was a very concentrated area of ship coffin burial in ancient China.

Such as Yunnan Guangnan unearthed copper drum, its ornamentation has a feather rowing pattern, the boat per capita naked, some wear a feather crown, the conspicuous part of the cabin has a ** person sitting on the delicately decorated wooden frame, in this regard, the French scholar V. Goloubw believes that this kind of feather rowing pattern expresses the ritual of "sending the soul with a boat".

Bob nodded and said, "Well, that's right, it is similar to the "golden boat" used by the Dayaks in Southeast Asian Borneo to overtake the souls of the dead to heaven, and the "golden boat" used by the Dayaks to "attract souls", the bow and stern of the ship are also ornamented with the head and tail of the hornbill, so as to send the "souls" to the "heaven" in the sea of clouds, and the feathered (bird) people on the ship are the participants in this ceremony. ”

Professor Su went on to say that since the ancient bronze drum was regarded as a sacred object among the ethnic minorities in southwest China, and had the function of communicating between people and gods, it is not difficult to understand that the pattern of "sending souls" with a boat appeared on the copper drum. It can be inferred from this that the purpose of the coffin burial of the Ba people on the boat is also to send the soul. In this regard, Mr. Shi Zhongjian, a senior scholar, has made the following comment: "[The Ba people] use boats as burial utensils for the purpose of using boats and waterways to send people's souls back to their hometowns. "It is difficult to determine where the homeland of the Ba people is due to the lack of archaeological and documentary data. But the idea of sending the soul back to its imaginary homeland is fully reflected in the fact that the ship is used as a burial vessel.

The popular boat coffin burial in Shu is related to the consciousness of the Shu people to send souls along the waterway, which is very reasonable. In addition, the ancient document "Shu King Benji" said that "Wenshan Tianpeng Gate", its geographical location is equivalent to the vicinity of Wenchuan Xuankou in Sichuan today, where the two mountain peaks are facing each other, the Min River flows through, if there is no boat, it is obviously difficult to cross the surging river to return to the hometown and reunite with the ancestral souls. It is worth noting that the tall and towering mountain peaks were often regarded by the ancients as the road to the sky, and the coffin of the Shu people was actually a "soul-carrying boat", and its religious and funeral significance was clearly revealed here.

According to the record of "Shu King Benji": "Li Bing took Qin Shi as Shu Shou, and said that Wenshan was Tianpengque, and Tianpengmen. The cloud dead have known about it, and the ghosts, gods and spirits have seen it.

I said, "It feels like a mythology, but ancient metaphysics was definitely a science, just like science is now." ”

Professor Su nodded: "Hmm." “

In the ancient history and legends recorded in the literature, there are records about the ancestors of Bashu who lived by the water and were good at boating. For example, the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Biography of Nanban Southwest Yi quoted the record in the "Shiben": "Bajun and Nanjunman originally had five surnames: Ba Shi, Fan Shi, Qin Shi, Xiang Shi, and Zheng Shi. All of them are out of Wuluo Zhongli Mountain・・・・・ there is no monarch, and there are ghosts and gods. It is to throw arrows in the stone cave together, and those who can be in the middle are regarded as kings. Babbitt's sons are alone, and everyone sighs. And he commanded every man to ride in an earthen boat, and he who was able to float should be considered king. The surname Yu is sinking, and he is only floating alone. Because of the co-existence, it is for the king. It was by earthen boat, from Yishui to Yanyang.

This legend is not without mythology, but the story of "the earth boat can float" and the story of the "Di Jun" leading his people to migrate along the waterway by the "earth boat" shows that the Ba people are indeed a people who live by the water and grow up in the boat, and the boat occupies a special position in their production and life. Because the Ba people have a special affection for boats, the level of ability to make and drive boats has become the main condition for whether they can serve as kings.

In contrast, the Shu people are also a people who live by the water and migrate along the waterway. According to the records of the Records of Emperor Wu, the Chronicles of Huayang, and the Chronicles of the Thirteen Prefectures, the ancestors of the Shu people were Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor, who moved from the northwest to the south to settle in the Minjiang and Yalong River basins, and then entered the low-lying and swampy Chengdu Plain. If the Shu people were not longer than the boats, it would be extremely difficult to migrate along the waterways or develop the Chengdu Plain.

Therefore, the Bashu boat coffin is undoubtedly the product of the Bashu ancestors under the domination of the concept of "sending souls" to their own people; On the other hand, its emergence and popularity are closely related to the production mode and living environment of the ancient Bashu ancestors. This is also the main reason for the formation of funeral customs and culture of many ethnic groups in the world. ”

Professor Su laughed: "Come and let's take a look on the boat, this is the coffin, and you can see the owner of the tomb in a while, even if it is not, it is not far from the owner of the tomb." ”

I stood on the bow deck of the ship, closed my eyes and imagined the Bashu period, standing on a big boat and floating on the big river leisurely.

The fat man said, "Why is the door of this shipyard locked?" “

I said, "This tomb owner is quite protective." Pan Zi held an AK assault rifle at the bronze lock, and fired a point, the lock was broken, and the door was opened.

There was nothing in the room, except that there were eight bronze figures standing on either side, and a green tong figure standing opposite the doorway.

I said, "Be careful, there's a mechanism here." “

The fat man said: "You can't put it, there is still a mechanism here, naïve you are scared, you are afraid of being bitten by a snake for ten years." “

I said, "It's good to be prepared." “

Professor Su said: "No, but his words are not unreasonable, everyone is ready to go in." “

Everyone entered the house with guns, feeling like a devil entering the village to catch the eight roads, we cautiously entered the house and waited for the mechanism to appear, but the mechanism did not appear.

Bob said, "Okay, it's all right. “

Everyone entered the shipbuilding and didn't see anything, but these nine bronzes were different from what they had seen before, they were half-naked, shirtless and wearing big pants underneath.

Professor Su said: "These are the helmsmen, and the one wearing a hat facing the door is the conductor. “

Frank said, "It's not a matter of being a conductor, I'll go out and see something else." “

I saw that the shipyard was not interesting, so I came out with the fat Alice, and stood on the deck looking ahead, and Alice said, "Let's go to the stern and have a look." “

I said, "Okay, let's take a look." ”

I came to the stern and saw that there were three very thick bronze chains.

I said, "What is this bronze chain for?" ”

The fat man said, "Whatever, I'll take him down and take a look." ”

Saying that, the fat man reached out to take it, and I saw that the bronze chain was fixed on the three bronze pillars at the stern of the boat, and the fat man took off the three bronze chains one by one, and then I saw that on the other side of the bronze chain, there were three huge stone tigers.

Suddenly, the boat began to shake, and the fat man said, "What's the matter?" ”

Alice said, "Your recklessness has brought danger to everyone. “

The fat man also regretted it, and wanted to put the bronze chain back in its place, but the boat actually ran forward, and the stern of the boat was getting farther and farther away from the three stone tigers, and the boat drove faster and faster.

Pan Zi shouted: "Little Third Master, what's the matter, how did the ship move, are you okay?" “

I said, "It's fine. “

The three of us went back to the building boat again.

Professor Su said: "You have dispatched the organ, this should be the beginning of the funeral ceremony, there should be no danger, let's not talk about this, look here." “

As soon as he said that we all went to look, we saw a big "ink" written on the roof of the house. And this ink character is written in the font of the Central Plains people.

I asked, "What does this ink represent?" , so there will be a Zhongyuan character? “

Professor Su said, "You listen to me one by one. “