In the 1980s, on the Jialing River , a fisherman was casting a net. Suddenly the fishing net seemed to be caught by something. Just when the fisherman thought he could return home with a full load, an iron pillar gradually emerged from the water.
It took the fishermen a long time to slowly lift this heavy iron pillar from the bottom of the river. The sediment on the bottom of the river made the river water near the fishing boat even more turbid.
After seeing that the net was not full of fish, the fishermen were a little disappointed, thinking that the iron pillar they had been holding in the river for a long time was of no use at all.
But after catching everything, the fisherman didn’t want to throw this big guy into the river again. If he did this, wouldn’t his previous efforts have been in vain?
So, after the fisherman finished his work, he docked the fishing boat directly and went straight to the waste recycling station.
The owner of the scrap recycling station rarely saw such a carved iron pillar weighing 90 kilograms, and immediately offered a price of 65 yuan.
In the 1980s, 65 yuan was still a large number, and the fishermen also felt that this time selling waste products was an unexpected gain. The money
made from selling scrap products far exceeded the income that a net of fish brought him. After
obtained this considerable fortune, the news that the fishermen scooped up 90 kilograms of iron from the river and sold it for 65 yuan naturally spread like wildfire.
A piece of scrap iron can be sold for a high price. After the Cultural Relics Bureau learned of this news, members of the Cultural Relics Bureau rushed to the scrap recycling station.
After inspection, the experts did see some extraordinary symbols and words on the iron pillars.
The experts from the Cultural Relics Bureau, who showed their intention to purchase, started bargaining with the owner of the waste recycling station.
In the end, the staff of the Cultural Relics Bureau spent three times the price and spent 200 yuan to redeem the iron pillar.
What secrets does this iron pillar hide in the Jialing River for many years?
Different iron pillars
Experts from the Cultural Relics Bureau cleaned up the iron pillar after bringing it back to the museum. After some of the dirt and stains on the surface of
were removed, the iron pillar slowly revealed its true appearance.
The length of the entire iron pillar is 75 cm and the diameter is about 25 cm.
It is a very heavy iron pillar. Experts can’t guess what other uses it has. It has been soaking in water and is most likely used as a bridge pier.
And after cleaning, the text on the iron pillar became clearly visible.
Some bird seal scripts appeared in front of experts from the Cultural Relics Bureau, and bird seal scripts have an extremely long history.
Bird Seal flourished in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It was a script only used in southern countries such as Wu State and Yue State .
Many of the characters on the sword of Yue King Gou Jian are bird seal scripts with teeth and claws. The characters used by people in the Chu Kingdom are also bird seal characters.
Bird seal script, as a decorative artistic text, shows the prosperity of a country.
After research, experts discovered that the bird seal script on the iron pillars actually originated from the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, what stories were told on this iron pillar in the Yangtze River Basin?
The piers of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
As a famous emperor in history, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended to the supreme position at the age of sixteen, and his martial arts and martial arts are also admired by future generations.
During the period when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in power, he also made many political achievements, including the Daxing Water Conservancy.
Under the order of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, several large-scale water conservancy projects across the country were launched, including Cao Canal, Bai Canal , Longshou Canal , and Liufu Canal.
And the construction of water conservancy is indeed very necessary.
Without these water conservancy projects, farmers' lives will be in dire straits.
China has a large number of farmers and a lot of fertile land, but in ancient times people did not have the ability to build dams or hydropower stations to regulate the flow of rivers.
Farmers who have always looked at God’s face and eat their meals have no idea when the flood will happen.
Flood disasters have troubled farmers and rulers of feudal dynasties since ancient times.
and After the Han Dynasty , Confucianism gradually took over the dominant position, and the emperor also used Confucianism to continuously strengthen centralization.
However, Confucianism also restrained the emperor to a certain extent.
If the luck is bad and a natural disaster occurs, the ministers will inevitably discuss in private whether the emperor has lost his moral character and God will send disasters.
On the one hand, rulers consider the livelihood of the people and ensure the survival of farmers, so that the foundation of their rule will be solid.
On the other hand, the emperors did not want to be labeled as a coward by their ministers. For the sake of their reputation, they had to focus on dealing with disasters across the country.
Among these natural disasters , floods, large and small, occur almost every year.
In the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins, during the summer rainfall period, floods displace countless people.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's water control achievements played an extremely important role in the history of China's water conservancy project development, and its economic and political influence was unprecedented.
This iron pillar weighing 90 kilograms witnessed the important moment when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched the water conservancy project.
This iron pillar was used as an extremely reliable bridge pier at that time, standing in the Jialing River.
It is hard for us to imagine that in ancient times, bridge piers weighing 90 kilograms, large and small, were arranged on the river.
In ancient times, material conditions were very scarce, and the output of metals such as ironware was far less than it is now.
Why did Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty waste so much time and money on so many iron bridge piers?
As a city built on mountains, Chongqing has been surrounded by mountains and rivers since ancient times and has many rivers.
In ancient times, land transportation in Chongqing was not convenient. There were mountains everywhere, and it was obviously more convenient to travel by water.
Therefore, in order to facilitate travel, people have a strong demand to build roads and bridges on the Jialing River.
The Jialing River originates from the Qinling Mountains and is the river with the largest drainage area among the tributaries of the Yangtze River.
Its length ranks second among the many tributaries of the Yangtze River, second only to the Yalong River , and its flow rate also ranks second, second only to the Minjiang .
The large basin area means that during the rainy season, the water storage area is also large.
Precipitation along the eastern coast of China and most of the south is affected by the southeast monsoon .
In areas affected by the southeast monsoon, the climate is characterized by high temperatures and rainy days in summer and drought and little rain in winter.
The seasonal differences in precipitation vary greatly. As soon as summer comes, the river water begins to rise.
Therefore, when building a bridge over the Jialing River, which has the largest drainage area, the project must not be careless, and the strongest materials at the time must be used.
In an era of low productivity, it is extremely difficult to build a strong bridge.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered to recruit skilled craftsmen from all over the country to brainstorm ideas.
Therefore, the ancients came up with the idea of using iron pillars to fix the bridge and act as piers.
The bridge built in this way is naturally very stable. I believe that this bridge has indeed benefited the people of the area.
But we can also infer from this iron pillar that the consequences of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's water control actually had both gains and losses. Why does
say this?
Looking at Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a talented and strategic emperor, due to his achievements in life, most of his descendants evaluated him as a wise king.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he ordered the construction of more than ten large-scale water conservancy projects across the country.
In the 1980s, on the Jialing River , a fisherman was casting a net. Suddenly the fishing net seemed to be caught by something. Just when the fisherman thought he could return home with a full load, an iron pillar gradually emerged from the water.
It took the fishermen a long time to slowly lift this heavy iron pillar from the bottom of the river. The sediment on the bottom of the river made the river water near the fishing boat even more turbid.
After seeing that the net was not full of fish, the fishermen were a little disappointed, thinking that the iron pillar they had been holding in the river for a long time was of no use at all.
But after catching everything, the fisherman didn’t want to throw this big guy into the river again. If he did this, wouldn’t his previous efforts have been in vain?
So, after the fisherman finished his work, he docked the fishing boat directly and went straight to the waste recycling station.
The owner of the scrap recycling station rarely saw such a carved iron pillar weighing 90 kilograms, and immediately offered a price of 65 yuan.
In the 1980s, 65 yuan was still a large number, and the fishermen also felt that this time selling waste products was an unexpected gain. The money
made from selling scrap products far exceeded the income that a net of fish brought him. After
obtained this considerable fortune, the news that the fishermen scooped up 90 kilograms of iron from the river and sold it for 65 yuan naturally spread like wildfire.
A piece of scrap iron can be sold for a high price. After the Cultural Relics Bureau learned of this news, members of the Cultural Relics Bureau rushed to the scrap recycling station.
After inspection, the experts did see some extraordinary symbols and words on the iron pillars.
The experts from the Cultural Relics Bureau, who showed their intention to purchase, started bargaining with the owner of the waste recycling station.
In the end, the staff of the Cultural Relics Bureau spent three times the price and spent 200 yuan to redeem the iron pillar.
What secrets does this iron pillar hide in the Jialing River for many years?
Different iron pillars
Experts from the Cultural Relics Bureau cleaned up the iron pillar after bringing it back to the museum. After some of the dirt and stains on the surface of
were removed, the iron pillar slowly revealed its true appearance.
The length of the entire iron pillar is 75 cm and the diameter is about 25 cm.
It is a very heavy iron pillar. Experts can’t guess what other uses it has. It has been soaking in water and is most likely used as a bridge pier.
And after cleaning, the text on the iron pillar became clearly visible.
Some bird seal scripts appeared in front of experts from the Cultural Relics Bureau, and bird seal scripts have an extremely long history.
Bird Seal flourished in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It was a script only used in southern countries such as Wu State and Yue State .
Many of the characters on the sword of Yue King Gou Jian are bird seal scripts with teeth and claws. The characters used by people in the Chu Kingdom are also bird seal characters.
Bird seal script, as a decorative artistic text, shows the prosperity of a country.
After research, experts discovered that the bird seal script on the iron pillars actually originated from the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, what stories were told on this iron pillar in the Yangtze River Basin?
The piers of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
As a famous emperor in history, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended to the supreme position at the age of sixteen, and his martial arts and martial arts are also admired by future generations.
During the period when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in power, he also made many political achievements, including the Daxing Water Conservancy.
Under the order of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, several large-scale water conservancy projects across the country were launched, including Cao Canal, Bai Canal , Longshou Canal , and Liufu Canal.
And the construction of water conservancy is indeed very necessary.
Without these water conservancy projects, farmers' lives will be in dire straits.
China has a large number of farmers and a lot of fertile land, but in ancient times people did not have the ability to build dams or hydropower stations to regulate the flow of rivers.
Farmers who have always looked at God’s face and eat their meals have no idea when the flood will happen.
Flood disasters have troubled farmers and rulers of feudal dynasties since ancient times.
and After the Han Dynasty , Confucianism gradually took over the dominant position, and the emperor also used Confucianism to continuously strengthen centralization.
However, Confucianism also restrained the emperor to a certain extent.
If the luck is bad and a natural disaster occurs, the ministers will inevitably discuss in private whether the emperor has lost his moral character and God will send disasters.
On the one hand, rulers consider the livelihood of the people and ensure the survival of farmers, so that the foundation of their rule will be solid.
On the other hand, the emperors did not want to be labeled as a coward by their ministers. For the sake of their reputation, they had to focus on dealing with disasters across the country.
Among these natural disasters , floods, large and small, occur almost every year.
In the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins, during the summer rainfall period, floods displace countless people.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's water control achievements played an extremely important role in the history of China's water conservancy project development, and its economic and political influence was unprecedented.
This iron pillar weighing 90 kilograms witnessed the important moment when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched the water conservancy project.
This iron pillar was used as an extremely reliable bridge pier at that time, standing in the Jialing River.
It is hard for us to imagine that in ancient times, bridge piers weighing 90 kilograms, large and small, were arranged on the river.
In ancient times, material conditions were very scarce, and the output of metals such as ironware was far less than it is now.
Why did Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty waste so much time and money on so many iron bridge piers?
As a city built on mountains, Chongqing has been surrounded by mountains and rivers since ancient times and has many rivers.
In ancient times, land transportation in Chongqing was not convenient. There were mountains everywhere, and it was obviously more convenient to travel by water.
Therefore, in order to facilitate travel, people have a strong demand to build roads and bridges on the Jialing River.
The Jialing River originates from the Qinling Mountains and is the river with the largest drainage area among the tributaries of the Yangtze River.
Its length ranks second among the many tributaries of the Yangtze River, second only to the Yalong River , and its flow rate also ranks second, second only to the Minjiang .
The large basin area means that during the rainy season, the water storage area is also large.
Precipitation along the eastern coast of China and most of the south is affected by the southeast monsoon .
In areas affected by the southeast monsoon, the climate is characterized by high temperatures and rainy days in summer and drought and little rain in winter.
The seasonal differences in precipitation vary greatly. As soon as summer comes, the river water begins to rise.
Therefore, when building a bridge over the Jialing River, which has the largest drainage area, the project must not be careless, and the strongest materials at the time must be used.
In an era of low productivity, it is extremely difficult to build a strong bridge.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered to recruit skilled craftsmen from all over the country to brainstorm ideas.
Therefore, the ancients came up with the idea of using iron pillars to fix the bridge and act as piers.
The bridge built in this way is naturally very stable. I believe that this bridge has indeed benefited the people of the area.
But we can also infer from this iron pillar that the consequences of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's water control actually had both gains and losses. Why does
say this?
Looking at Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a talented and strategic emperor, due to his achievements in life, most of his descendants evaluated him as a wise king.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he ordered the construction of more than ten large-scale water conservancy projects across the country.
Similar to the method of using 90 kilograms of iron pillars to strengthen bridges, it pales in comparison to these water conservancy projects.
The number of small projects like bridges will only be larger, and hundreds of iron pillars will be used.
These projects have indeed played a very positive role in irrigating farmland and regulating climate.
Qin Shihuang called his rule the "beginning of water virtue" and built Ling Canal , but the Qin Dynasty was short-lived.
Compared with the Han Dynasty that lasted for hundreds of years, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's water virtue was obviously longer-lived.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also created the second peak period of great water conservancy development in Chinese history after the Warring States Period .
We have only seen those successful water conservancy projects that turned vast areas into fertile farmland, but we have ignored many failed projects.
Water conservancy projects such as Hedong Qutian, Baoxie Road , and Shuofang Canal are facing problems of various sizes to varying degrees.
Due to unreasonable design, the operation of these failed water conservancy projects was far from achieving the expected results.
From the use of 90 kilograms of iron columns to strengthen the bridge, we can also infer that a small project at that time had already cost a lot of money.
Water conservancy project is not a project that can see immediate results. Its initial investment is very huge.
Even in today's era of relatively developed productivity, the initial investment required for a large hydropower station is in the hundreds of millions, and it will take several years to get a return.
What's more, in the Han Dynasty two thousand years ago, people did not have advanced technology and could only rely on manpower to complete everything.
Although during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty's economy had slowly recovered from recuperation and the people's lives were getting better and better, but to deal with the floods in the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, building water conservancy projects was still a big expense.
These measures have consumed a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources.
Therefore, the rulers of later generations kept silent about these large-scale projects that wasted money and people, and tried to avoid them if they could not build them.
After putting huge financial pressure on the central government , the rulers had to increase taxes in order to pass on the pressure.
In this way, pressure will come on the majority of farmers, and increasing taxes will intensify the contradiction between the landlord class and the peasant class to a certain extent.
Farmers in ancient times had a difficult life. If they were not careful, they would change from free farmers to tenant farmers of landlords.
The wool comes from the sheep, and the early investment in these water conservancy projects also comes from the vast number of poor people.
And this iron pillar, which has been soaked in the river for more than two thousand years, also witnessed the hard days of ancient farmers.
High value
Experts were also extremely shocked by this historic iron pillar. It has been soaked in water for two thousand years and is still well preserved.
According to common sense, the iron smelting technology during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was not mature. The Western Han Dynasty period only used iron tools in the military field.
Therefore, both in terms of output and quality, ironware is far from meeting the standard of not being corroded after being stored for two thousand years.
Iron smelting technology truly matured during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when people had gradually mastered the steel filling method.
Before this, people generally used wrought iron low-temperature smelting method to forge steel, and steel could not be integrated into it quickly.
Steel produced before the Southern and Northern Dynasties generally had more impurities, and the content of residues in the steel was higher.
This also led to the fact that the strength, toughness, and durability of steel during the Han Dynasty were far inferior to those after the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
After the Southern and Northern Dynasties, people gradually fused wrought iron and pig iron to smelt, and the resulting steel completely surpassed the steel of the Han Dynasty in all aspects.
Therefore, it is indeed a miracle that the iron pillars from the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty can be preserved to this day without being completely rusted by running water.
The other iron pillars that reinforced the bridge seemed to have failed to escape the fate of being rusted and turned into ashes in the long river of history.
The reason why this iron pillar is precious is that so far China has only discovered this only iron pillar from the Han Dynasty that was used as a bridge pier.
There are also several text decorations on the iron pillars. This cultural relic with a long history has extremely high historical and cultural value and collection value.
Things are rare and valuable. Because of its uniqueness, experts estimated the price at 300 million yuan in the 1980s.
Experts marveled at the well-preserved iron pillar and were also very curious about its material.
But experts were unable to carefully examine the composition of the iron pillar without destroying it. If you want to completely understand
, you must take samples. This approach will undoubtedly destroy cultural relics and is not advisable.
The iron pillar has great cultural value for exploring the water conservancy projects during the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It also reflects the real life of people at that time.
This iron pillar was properly preserved by the Cultural Relics Bureau for a period of time, and was later sent to the Sichuan Provincial Museum for placement.
has gone from scrap metal worth only 65 yuan to a unique cultural relic worth 300 million yuan in China. The process has been full of twists and turns.
These iron pillars have also become the treasures of the Sichuan Museum. Experts are also lucky that they took action in time, otherwise this treasure will have to be hidden in the waste recycling station for who knows how many years.
Without the members of the Cultural Relics Bureau, the cultural relics covered by stains might really become a pile of junk.
The phenomenon of damaging cultural relics due to ignorance was also common in the 1980s and 1990s.
Many people take cultural relics as their own without authorization for their own selfish purposes. They are also unable to properly preserve some cultural relics and refuse to hand them over to the Cultural Relics Bureau.
In the process of economic development, we can sometimes see that some developers demolish some historical cultural buildings without permission for their own interests.
The fate of these cultural relics awaits, either changing hands and flowing into the black market, or turning into ashes due to human factors.
But now, we have gradually understood the spiritual civilization value carried by these historical relics, and no longer develop the economy at the expense of destroying ancient buildings.
Finally, I also hope that we can treat cultural relics well and respect history.
-End-
editor | Don’t miss the little star
The other iron pillars that reinforced the bridge seemed to have failed to escape the fate of being rusted and turned into ashes in the long river of history.
The reason why this iron pillar is precious is that so far China has only discovered this only iron pillar from the Han Dynasty that was used as a bridge pier.
There are also several text decorations on the iron pillars. This cultural relic with a long history has extremely high historical and cultural value and collection value.
Things are rare and valuable. Because of its uniqueness, experts estimated the price at 300 million yuan in the 1980s.
Experts marveled at the well-preserved iron pillar and were also very curious about its material.
But experts were unable to carefully examine the composition of the iron pillar without destroying it. If you want to completely understand
, you must take samples. This approach will undoubtedly destroy cultural relics and is not advisable.
The iron pillar has great cultural value for exploring the water conservancy projects during the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It also reflects the real life of people at that time.
This iron pillar was properly preserved by the Cultural Relics Bureau for a period of time, and was later sent to the Sichuan Provincial Museum for placement.
has gone from scrap metal worth only 65 yuan to a unique cultural relic worth 300 million yuan in China. The process has been full of twists and turns.
These iron pillars have also become the treasures of the Sichuan Museum. Experts are also lucky that they took action in time, otherwise this treasure will have to be hidden in the waste recycling station for who knows how many years.
Without the members of the Cultural Relics Bureau, the cultural relics covered by stains might really become a pile of junk.
The phenomenon of damaging cultural relics due to ignorance was also common in the 1980s and 1990s.
Many people take cultural relics as their own without authorization for their own selfish purposes. They are also unable to properly preserve some cultural relics and refuse to hand them over to the Cultural Relics Bureau.
In the process of economic development, we can sometimes see that some developers demolish some historical cultural buildings without permission for their own interests.
The fate of these cultural relics awaits, either changing hands and flowing into the black market, or turning into ashes due to human factors.
But now, we have gradually understood the spiritual civilization value carried by these historical relics, and no longer develop the economy at the expense of destroying ancient buildings.
Finally, I also hope that we can treat cultural relics well and respect history.
-End-
editor | Don’t miss the little star
