After discovering the half tael, Chen Han was even more surprised and excited!

Because, after carefully observing these twenty or thirty unearthed half taels of coins, he can determine that these half taels are all four-baht coins in the early Han Dynasty, also known as Han half taels, not Qin half taels!

The owner of the tomb of Tomb M168, the half tael of the burial was not the Qin half tael, but the rare Han half tael!

Then the meaning of this will be different immediately, and even the importance will skyrocket!

If you are lucky, the unearthing of these Han and a half taels may even solve a problem that has plagued the historiography for 2,000 years and has been unresolved!

As for what question can bother Chinese historians for 2,000 years, it is a long story.

This has to start with the fall of the Qin Dynasty.

In that year, after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, the early Western Han Dynasty still used the Qin system of half a tael coin.

However, due to the fact that private minting was allowed, and Liu Bang and Empress Lu had engaged in some messy currency values, this led to a chaotic money system in the early Western Han Dynasty.

It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne that six monetary reforms were carried out, from three baht coins, half two coins, leather coins, platinum coins, and five baht coins to be tried many times.

In the end, the currency system was unified, private minting was strictly prohibited, and the five-baht coin was legal tender throughout the country.

The five-baht coin has also become the longevity coin with the largest number of minted banks in Chinese history, the longest and the most successful.

From the Western Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and even after the Sui Dynasty unified the world, there were five baht coins minted, which lasted as long as 739 years!

And such a brilliant five-baht coin, at the beginning of its birth, was actually learned by "predecessors".

This predecessor is four baht!

It is also known as four baht and a half tael, and Han and a half tael!

The four-baht coin has a diameter of 2.4-2.6 centimeters and weighs 2.2-2.8 grams, which basically follows the casting method of the Qin half-two outer circle and inner square, but it is a little lighter and smaller than the five-baht coin, and it was also born a little earlier.

But!

For the four baht coin, that is, the birth era of the Han and a half taels, there has always been a very big controversy in the historiography!

It is mainly divided into the Wendi faction that supports Han Banliang and is cast by Emperor Wen of Han, and the Emperor Wu faction that Han Banliang is made by Emperor Wu of Han!

The reason why it is divided into two factions is to blame Ban Gu, a historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, for his inconsistent records in the Book of Han!

Ban Gu said in the "Hanshu Food and Goods Chronicle": "In the fifth year of filial piety, four baht coins were minted, and the text was half a tael. ”

And at the end of the text, he said: "Since Xiaowen made four baht coins, it has been more than 40 years old, so that the county officials have sold half a tael of coins and minted three baht coins." ”

This statement is roughly the same as Sima Qian's statement in the "Historical Records and Pingzhun Book".

According to this statement, the Han half tael was minted during the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, and it was only after about five years after the founding of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that it was eliminated and replaced with three baht coins!

However, the strange thing is that Ban Gu himself said in the later "Hanshu Wudi Ji": "In the spring and February of the first year of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, three baht coins were made, and three baht coins were sold in the spring of the fifth year, and half a tael was made." ”

After that, "Yuan Hunt for five years and half two dollars, five baht money".

If you follow the second set of statements of Bangu, it becomes the three baht money used by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the first year of Jianyuan, and the half tael coin was changed to the fifth year of Jianyuan, and finally the five baht coins were used in the fifth year of Yuan Hunt.

As a result, in Bangu's own mouth, two sets of contradictory currency value sequences appeared.

The first set is the same half-tael-three-baht-five-baht inheritance relationship as recorded in the "Historical Records".

It was Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty who first minted half a tael, and then Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty changed half a tael to three pieces of money in the fifth year of Jianyuan Dynasty, and finally changed three baht coins to five baht coins in the fifth year of Yuan Hunt.

The second set is the inheritance relationship of three baht - half two - five baht.

There is nothing to do with Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, it is Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who minted three baht coins in the first year of Jianyuan, and then changed the three baht coins to half two coins in the fifth year of Jianyuan, and finally the five years of Yuan Hunt and half two coins, and the five baht coins.

Which of these two sets of historical records is correct?

Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, countless historians have been arguing.

Some people support Emperor Wen to make the Han Dynasty and half a tael, and some people support that Emperor Wu made it.

It has been debated for two thousand years, and this question has not been decided!

Even in modern times, this question continues to puzzle historians and archaeologists.

Because although some Han and a half taels can still be found on the market, there is no way to determine when these Han and a half taels were minted.

Carbon 14 dating is not easy to use on inorganic substances such as metals, and even if it can be used, the error will be decades long.

There was not a long time between Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Wu of Han!

Therefore, relying on the existing Han Banliang, there is no way to determine when this thing was cast.

The only way to prove the correctness of that historical record is to rely on archaeological discoveries.

It's just a pity that in the past few decades of Chinese archaeology, various rescue and protective excavations, there are relatively few tombs in the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, and these few tombs of the Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty have not been found in the Han Banliang.

Therefore, when the Han and Half Great Ones were first cast, it is still an unresolved question!

This can understand why when Chen Han determined that the half tael he got in this big "blind box" was Han and a half tael, not Qin and a half, he immediately became excited.

These dozens of Han and a half taels were unearthed in the tomb, and the significance is too important!

You must know that tomb M-168 has a large number of burial goods, among which it is very likely to find something that determines the identity of the tomb owner, or records the life and death of the tomb owner!

Even if there is no funerary goods that accurately record the life of the tomb owner!

With this rich number of burial goods, it is also possible to determine whether the owner of the tomb lived in the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty or the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

After all, during the reign of different emperors, there were more or less differences in the various utensils and systems.

There is a gap between Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Wu of Han!

Once the age of the tomb owner's life is determined, if it is Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it is okay, at most it is to continue to maintain this controversy, and the historians who support the creation of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty can have one more supporting point.

But!

If it is determined that the owner of the tomb lived before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, then this problem, which has plagued Chinese historians for two thousand years, can be solved directly!

The historical record of "filial piety in five years and four baht coins, and its text is half a tael" will become a 100% unquestionable letter history!

Immediately afterwards, a series of issues surrounding Emperor Wu of Han's monetary reform, as well as Emperor Wen of Han's contribution to Wenzhi, will be redefined and changed!

To put it mildly, this is even a big event enough to determine history!

Thinking of this, Chen Han's whole body was immediately full of excitement!

We must find an excavation that proves the age of the tomb owner!

Ten, twenty, thirty......

More and more Han half-taels were taken out of this big bamboo by Chen Han.

Added up, there are a total of 61 Han and a half taels, which are placed in this bamboo stick!

And that's not all!

After taking out half a tael of money, Chen Han found that there was still something in the bamboo pipe!

A long strip of bamboo with a small copper ring on the upper side of the center was pressed under the more than 60 half-taels!