"What kind of gold is this?" Lao Pi took a look, and saw that the round thing was not very regular, more like a piece of gold lump that had been flattened by a hammer, and there was a very abstract pattern on it that looked like a wolf's head, and there was a concave cross on the back.

Wang Ling didn't know this thing either, and handed it to Sha Kun, as pirates they should be more familiar with it, but Sha Kun also scratched his head and said: "The merchant ships we usually rob are gold bars and cash, and occasionally there are gold coins that are mostly some modern standardized products, this thing has not been seen, I heard that the early Western pirates plundered a lot of gold coins, after all, the age is too old, no one has really seen it." ”

"Show me?" Li Xin asked on the side, Sha Kun handed her the small lump, Li Xin glanced at it and then looked at Zheng Jiuwu with a frown: "Have you found a lot of these gold coins?" ”

"Just this one, the ...... that came out of a guy's mouth"

"What do you mean?" After saying this, everyone immediately felt cold, but he explained like no one else: "There is a dead skeleton there with a knife and axe in his hand, which just blocked my way, and I took it off when I saw it in his mouth." ”

"And then?" Lao Pi said: "You're not afraid of being damned, can you move the dead man's things at will?" ”

"And then he scattered, and scattered into a pile of bones......"

"This thing is famous?" Wang Ling saw that Li Xin's expression was a little solemn.

"It has an alias called the Fallen Gold Coin," Li Xin took the gold coin and observed it repeatedly, saying: "According to ancient Greek legends, it was used to give the boat to the boatman when the soul of the deceased crossed the River Styx, so in ancient times, some people with a little wealth in the West would leave a piece of gold coin for themselves to hold in their mouths after death, but this piece is indeed somewhat famous."

About 900 B.C., in today's Lianghe Valley and there was a dynasty, called the Assyrian Dynasty, which existed for a total of 300 years, and at the same time China was in the Spring and Autumn Period of China, forming a pattern of Jin and Chu competing for hegemony, and the most powerful country in the world at that time was the new Babylonian Empire that ended the Assyrian Dynasty.

Under the leadership of Ashurbanipal, the last powerful king of the Assyrian Empire, there were nine suppression of revolts in various places, and he made all the wealth accumulated by his ancestors into gold coins, which he used as a stamp on the bottom of his scepter to show his supreme authority. Some say that this is the earliest prototype of a gold coin in Western history, so it is also seen as a symbol of arrogance, greed, and lust.

The Chaldeans, who had entered the southern end of the valley around the beginning of the first millennium BC, began to grow stronger, and in 630 BCE, under the leadership of their leader Naboparazar, they conquered Babylon in 626 BC and established the Neo-Babylonian kingdom, soon forming an anti-Assyrian alliance with the Medes. In 612 B.C.E., the Confederates conquered Ashur and then Nineveh, completely destroying the Assyrian army, and the Assyrian Empire was divided between the Medies and Babylon.

As one of the four ancient civilizations in the world, the ancient Babylonian dynasty was the pinnacle of the development of Mesopotamian civilization, and the neo-Babylonian dynasty had the opportunity to inherit the ancient Babylonian civilization, but unfortunately they were also lost in the wealth left by the Assyrian Empire, and they soon enjoyed the life of the previous ruler, and the crisis was born. Wisdom and courage did not prevail over greed and lust, and Neo-Babylon, which ruled the entire fertile Crescent, was destroyed by the Persian Empire less than a hundred years later.

Cyrus the Great, the king of the Persian Empire, had unified the entire Persian Gulf region after completing the conquest of Neo-Babylon, but he died in an unexpected battle in battle with the Massachrets in the Syr Darya Valley. The war was based on the ancient Greek historian Herodotus' Histories, which was his pursuit of gold buried in the desert, a legacy of the Assyrian dynasty and a wealth enamored by the Neo-Babylonians.

Cambyses II, the successor of Cyrus the Great, finally recognized the cause of the frequent wars and changes of kingship in the land over the centuries, so he called the gold coins "degenerate gold coins", believing that anyone who was contaminated with this wealth would be cursed with failure. He ordered that these gold coins should disappear from this world forever, so that it would not reappear and disturb people's hearts, and Cambyses II, who reorganized the empire, expanded his territory to the east to the border with Xinjiang, which is called Khorezm by the Chinese, and to the west occupied all of Egypt, making the Persian Empire truly unprecedentedly powerful, it is the largest country in the world, and the first super empire across three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa. ”

Li Xin continued: "It is ironic that this great emperor was artificially killed in paranoia and rage in the end, he suppressed religious activities in Egypt, and killed his own queen and brother with his own hands to provoke public resentment, which finally broke out in the Gomerda rebellion shortly after, and the Cambyses II died of illness on his way back to Persia.

After his death, it was discovered that Cambyses II still had a depraved gold coin on his body, and historians believe that he carried it with him as an opportunity to remind himself to avoid greed and lust, and that he wanted to be a good monarch. But after all, he didn't expect that he would become the one he didn't want to be, so people believed in the saying of 'Fallen Gold Coins' even more, and since then the world has regarded this thing as a bad omen, which is the true origin of Fallen Gold Coins."

After hearing this, Wang Ling, Lao Pi and the others were completely stunned, and it took a long time for these people to come out of her story, and they didn't know who took the lead in applauding, anyway, every man used his best strength, and even Zheng Jiuwu, who had always been the most distempered, couldn't help but show admiration.

"It's amazing...... "I feel like I've really lived in vain, she's as old as us and yet she can understand so much, it's amazing......"

"Who said that a woman is virtuous if she is not talented?" Wang Ling also rarely laughed at the poet and said, "See? How important is a smart woman, I think you could have poured the eight-strand text you learned into the garbage heap, reading poems and texts that you don't know what to do all day long, learn more from her, this is called knowledge, this is called culture! ”

"Give it back to you!" Li Xin threw the gold coin back to Zheng Jiuwu and said: "This thing should have disappeared in 2,500 years, and the location we are in now is indeed the ruling area of the Persian Empire at that time, according to the description of ancient Greek historians, Cambyses II was the last person to own it, and its whereabouts should only be known by Cambyses II." Now that it is here, it means that this wealth has been rediscovered later. ”

"Maybe the emperor put these gold coins on this island?" As soon as Lao Pi thought of this, he couldn't help but say with his eyes shining: "Then what kind of chicken feather Wang Zhi treasure are we looking for, brothers, think about it with your brains, which of such legendary gold coins is not worth more than those things in the Ming Dynasty?" What's more, it's most likely a whole bunch of it sitting there quietly waiting for us to pick it up......"

Speaking of this, several people laughed a little in unison, Sha Kun's face was about to be deformed with a smile, but with the sound of "pop", they decisively sobered up again, only to see Li Xin say with a gloomy face: "You take a good look at your virtue just now, I should really have a camera to take pictures of your ugliness, sure enough, this thing is a bad thing, your greed and desire are shown on your face at a glance!" Lao Zheng, I think you should throw it into the sea and let it disappear forever and no longer hurt people! ”

Only then did they react a little, one by one, you look at me, I look at you, it seems that their emotions are indeed a little too much just now, but this is also human nature, Wang Ling looked at the serious face and said: "Don't be so nervous, Lao Pi is just joking, in fact, who in this world can not have desire?" The monks are finally pure, but aren't they yearning for the Western Elysium? As long as people will have desires, they will all ask for something, and we will also ask for something when we come out, don't be so angry, your straight face is quite scary. ”

"Really?" Li Xin snorted coldly: "How do I think you used to be a person who had nothing to ask for, today it seems that your attitude has changed, don't forget that you were forced to come, your ultimate goal is not to get rich, but just as a condition for substitution, my words are here, I am afraid that if you say more, it will sweep away everyone's interest, anyway, the fallen gold coin is just a legend." ”

"That's it, it's just a legend," the poet echoed: "In my opinion, these gold coins are not from 2,500 years ago, otherwise 2,500 years have passed, and the skeleton has long since turned to ashes, where can I still stand there and wait for Lao Zheng to poke it?" Besides, in 2,500 years, can the wine he found still be called wine? This was obviously wine, but there was no craftsmanship to make it at the time. ”

"Yes!" Lao Pi cast an approving look at him and said: "You kid has learned to observe the growth of Ha, I guess these gold coins are probably left by future generations, since we are out to hunt for treasure, no matter who he left the treasure, has been on this road and still can't get along with money?" When the time comes, I'll really go back empty-handed," he glanced at Sha Kun and said to everyone: "I'm afraid that the old lady of salted fish is really going to make us into dried salted fish!" ”