Wenfeng Tower, the excavation site of the tombs of the nobles of the Zeng Kingdom.

After more than half a month of hard work, the cleaning of tombs M1 and M2 has almost been completed.

Compared with the stolen and clean tomb M2, the number of cultural relics unearthed in tomb M1 is still relatively rich.

Although there are only a dozen bronzes.

However, there are 8 chimes among them, and the remaining six are in good condition, except for two that are more seriously damaged.

The six well-preserved chimes add up to more than 200 inscriptions.

On the No. 1 bell alone, there are more than 180 inscriptions.

The exquisiteness of this set of chimes, although not as strong as Zeng Hou Yi's chimes, is not comparable to the number of chimes.

However, this set of Zeng Hou Yu bells, and Zeng Hou Yi bells unearthed in SZ City in 1978, can be said to belong to the same Zhou royal princes in the Zeng country!

The inscription on it, except for a part, boasted that Zeng Hou Yuwen was very good at martial arts and was a virtuous monarch.

The rest of the part, it can be said that every word is a national treasure!

It's not just Professor Li and Han Chen, they're researching.

The rubbings of the inscriptions have long been sent to a group of experts and professors who study paleographies, as well as historians.

Experts from the Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University, Fudan and other universities and scientific research institutions jointly examined and interpreted the inscriptions, which are basically the same as those made by Chen Han and Professor Li.

It can be determined that the inscription is indeed recorded as "the battle of Wu Shi into Ying"!

And these inscriptions can not only serve as favorable evidence to solve the mystery of the past!

And it has restored this dusty Zhou vassal state, Zeng State, which has been sealed in the ground for nearly 3,000 years and is rarely recorded in historical documents!

According to the inscription, Zeng Guo had been sealed in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

It was not until the middle of the Warring States period that the Zeng State was annexed by the Chu State, and the founding time of the country exceeded 600 years, nearly 700 years, and almost coexisted with the Zhou royal family.

In terms of the time of development, it was earlier than the Qin State, which later unified the six countries.

When the ancestors of the Qin State raised horses for the Zhou royal family in the northwest, Zeng Guo was already a hegemon in the eastern Han Dynasty, and ordered the vassal states surnamed Ji of the Han Dynasty to suppress Huaiyi in the east, Jingchu in the south, and guard the southern gate of the Zhou royal family!

Even in the early and mid-Spring and Autumn Period, the Zeng (Sui) State, with its developed production, advanced culture, and strong military strength, was once the main obstacle to the eastward advance of the Chu people.

The vassal states surnamed Ji in Handong were successively annexed by the Chu State.

But only Zeng Guo has been able to stand tall, and even defeated Chu many times, worthy of the name of "Handong Great Power".

After determining the owner of the tomb M1, Zeng Houhe, who saved King Chu Zhao.

In the eyes of the archaeologists of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, it is no longer a speculation and controversy, but a 100% fact.

Chen Han also began to focus on the inscription on the No. 1 bell and prepared his first paper on his participation in the [Wenfeng Tower Tomb Group of the Nobles of the Zeng Kingdom].

"The main harvest of Suizhou Wenfeng Pagoda M1 Zeng Marquis and Tomb!"

In fact, Chen Han already had a clear idea of his doctoral topic at this time.

【Vassals dug out of the ground】

He is ready to surround Zeng Guo.

Around the Wenfeng Pagoda excavation project.

Around this mysterious vassal state, where historical records are scarce and there is no surviving genealogy, all of which have to be found by archaeological excavations.

Come and do research on your PhD project!

The first step is to make sure that it is the same country.

The second step is to supplement and improve the lineage of the monarch of Zeng Guo, as well as the national inheritance!

How many papers to write, how high the gold content of the final integration thesis can be, and whether it can pass the doctoral graduation defense.

It all depends on how many secrets and surprises hidden in the historical records can be brought to him by the 66 tombs of the Wenfeng Pagoda tomb group this time!

Even, not only the Wenfeng Pagoda excavation project, but also the Yejia Mountain West Zhou Cemetery next door, and the Spring and Autumn Noble Cemetery in the Jujube Forest may also supplement his research content!

The excavation of Tomb M1 and Tomb M2 of Wenfeng Pagoda has been lagging behind.

Before the excavation of tombs M2 and M3 officially began, Chen Han took advantage of this gap to go to the West Zhou cemetery of Yejia Mountain next door to inquire about the situation!

......

Saturday, February 12, 2019.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Chen Han drove the work car allocated by the local government to Jiangzhai Village, Xihe Town, Suizhou.

As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the village, Chen Han saw the layers of cordon on the farmland outside the village.

In December last year, the villagers of Yejiashan in Jiangzhai Village found bronze artifacts in the farmland outside the village while leveling the land.

Subsequently, the archaeological team intervened and preliminarily judged that there was a tomb group from the Western Zhou Dynasty here.

This Western Zhou cemetery in Yejiashan is a little farther away from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, 20 kilometers.

However, it is only about a kilometer away from the ruins of Miaotaizi, that is, the ruins of the Neolithic-Shang and Zhou dynasties in Suizhou!

This is also the reason why Chen Han came to the Yejiashan cemetery first, instead of going to the jujube grove to inquire about the situation first!

"Becoming an Immortal"

According to the inscription of the bell unearthed from the M1 tomb of Wenfeng Tower, Nangong Shi, the ancestor of the Zeng Kingdom, came to Suizhou from the Zhou royal family.

According to his guess, the first Marquis of Zeng at that time, after coming to Suizhou with an army, conquered the local Yin Shang Zeng State.

That is, the ancestors of the temple site.

And the Yejiashan cemetery is just one kilometer south of the temple site!

And it is another tomb group of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and even the early Western Zhou Dynasty!

Nine times out of ten, this tomb group is the mausoleum area of the early Marquis Zeng!

If you want to source Zeng Guoshuo, it must be more convenient to check from the source!

It is much easier to find the first, second, and third generations of Zeng Hou first, figure out their names and biographies, and then look down the road, than to find the later ones first!

Moreover, the mausoleum of Marquis Zeng in the early Western Zhou Dynasty is very probable, and some inscriptions about "Sui" can be found!

For example, "On a certain day in a certain year, a certain month, Zeng Hou came to the place, conquered the people here, and in order to celebrate this victory and highlight the martial arts, he specially made this Ding to commemorate" and other bronze inscriptions.

Because the princes and nobles of the Eastern and Western Zhou Dynasty loved to record these things on bronze!

Why did the famous "Rich" record the Battle of Makino?

Isn't it because at that time, he was giving King Wu of Zhou the benefit of having a division (official name) and participated in the battle of Muye, so when King Wu was rewarding his merits, he gave Li a lot of copper, tin and other metals.

In order to commemorate this event, Li used these copper and tin to make this sacrificial vessel for the ancestor Tan Gong, and by the way, told the ancestor that I participated in such a big event, and I was rewarded, and I had a little bit of boasting to my ancestors.

In the same way, if Chen Han's guess is correct, the Marquis of Ji, surnamed Zeng, came to Everywhere as a conqueror.

Then the first, second, and even third generations of Zeng Marquis, when making bronzes, it is possible to record this matter on the bronze in the form of inscriptions to announce to the ancestors!

Just like Marquis Zeng saved King Chu Zhao and helped King Chu Zhao pacify the chaos in Chu State, so he recorded this incident on the bell to show his martial arts and glory!

In the eyes of the Zhou people, national events are only rituals and Rong!

The Zhou royal family and the nobles of the Zhou Dynasty, sacrifice is a very, very important thing, but whenever the country or itself does something big, it must be sacrificed!

As a prince surnamed Ji, he came to Suizhou from the Central Plains and conquered the Zeng Marquis here.

I am sure that this glorious and proud event will also be recorded on the bronze vessel, sacrificed and announced to the ancestors!

Is it what Chen Han thinks?

Yejia Mountain West Zhou Cemetery, maybe be able to give an answer!