Chapter 26 Chapter 1 The Strange Book of the Western Han Dynasty

My name is Chen Jinwei. My parents disappeared since childhood and I was adopted by Zou Yu.Three years ago, Zou Yu disappeared, but unexpectedly he died in a forest in Tianshan Mountain.In order to find out the cause of Zou Yu's death, I came to Tianshan Mountain with Zou Yu's son Zou Xinhong, but found an ancient temple on Tianshan Mountain.In the meantime, there were many hardships and dangers, but he finally escaped safely, but the cause of Zou Yu's death has always been confusing. After the Tianshan trip, we returned to Hebei Province, which is our hometown, but after graduating from university, we never went back.It's not that he doesn't want to go back, it's just that Uncle Zou keeps saying he's busy and has no time to talk to anyone, so he keeps refusing us to come back.On the way back, I didn't tell Xinhong about seeing Bauer's big dog and the driver at that time, because it was all too weird and I didn't know how to bring it up.The driver was very mysterious. The scene of him waving to me and laughing at me from the car window is still clearly reflected in my mind.

Because Beijing is still on vacation, we can go back in a few days. Let’s deal with some things first. By the way, I will ask the museum in my hometown to see if the curator has any clues. After all, Uncle Zou and my parents belong to this old man. old museum.This museum has a history of several decades and existed before the founding of the People's Republic of China. The curator is an old man named Cha Donglin. Xinhong said that he would go to the old curator Zha with me. He wanted to know what Uncle Zou had studied before he died, and why he went to Tianshan.On the night when I returned to my hometown, I had another dream, a dream I had had for more than ten years.In the dream, mom and dad came and went, went and came again, and I couldn't catch up with them.Finally, they ran into the darkness, and at the end of the darkness, there was a beautiful big bird flying.

Perhaps one day, like Xinhong, I should try my best to find out the reason for the disappearance of my parents.It's just that I don't have that kind of courage now, not because of cowardice, but because I'm afraid that the final result will be unacceptable to me.If I don't look for them, at least they are still in my memory, still living somewhere in the world.Someday I'll look for it, but definitely not now. The next morning, the sun was shining brightly, and Xinhong got up early. When I walked out of the room, Xinhong was sitting on the sofa looking at a notebook.I walked over and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"I just dug it out of Dad's closet, look at what's written on it." After Xinhong finished speaking, he handed the notebook to me. I took the notebook nervously. I went directly to Xinjiang and didn't go back to my hometown to find out. Only now did I realize that there should be many clues at home.I flipped through the notebook, and the records on it were very strange. Except for the first page, all the historical materials of Tianshan were written on the back.We have already been to Tianshan Mountain, and we have seen most of the above with our own eyes. Only the first page is a bit strange. He wrote: "In 2003, near Xishui Village, Jincheng City, Shanxi, in autumn. Now I came to this place, finally found this place. I’m going to have a look at that place tonight, if I’m lucky, maybe I can find that thing on the mountain, I don’t know if the information I have is accurate?”

"What does this mean? It's hard to see." I said dejectedly. "That's right, I've read these few sentences many times, but I just can't understand them." Xinhong looked more depressed than me. "But at least we know that uncle has been to a certain place in Shanxi. It's better than not knowing anything, right?" I saw Xinhong's dejected look, so I tried to choose the best aspects to say. "You're right, but Dad went to Shanxi to find something, which reminded me of what happened in the Temple of Tianshan, and I always feel that I can't calm down." Xinhong said with a half-smile.

"Let's ask the old curator Zha. They sent people to do research, and there will definitely be relevant records in the library. Let's go to Uncle's library and ask about it." "Then we have to hurry up. We will leave here the day after tomorrow and return to our unit to report. The half-month vacation is about to expire." Xinhong got up and said. We washed up, had a quick breakfast, and headed out.As soon as we walked out of the street, a man who looked like a peddler stopped us. This man even set up a street stall on the street. Isn't this hindering traffic?However, I understand that life for these people is not easy, and I always turn a blind eye when encountering such things, because I am not an urban management officer after all.But, why does this person ask us to do nothing? Could it be that he wants to buy and sell by force? I am not so easy to deceive. This person is too underestimating me, but I decided to listen to what he can say first. Articles come.

"Boss, you guys should buy this book, it's a top-quality product!" the man said in a low voice, as if afraid of being overheard. When I heard him call us the boss, the vanity in my heart was revived immediately, so I pretended to be arrogant and replied: "What to buy, don't dangle a few broken books in front of us, we have drunk ink! " "Boss, I know that you have drunk ink, so I sold it to you," the sly-eyed man approached me and said in a low voice, "This is not an ordinary book. Take a look, this is a book from the Western Han Dynasty, and it is an antique. !"

When I heard him say that, I was a little excited.You know, from the archaeological discoveries so far, the invention of papermaking was no later than the early Western Han Dynasty.The earliest unearthed ancient paper of the Western Han Dynasty was discovered in the ancient beacon pavilion in Lop Nur, Xinjiang in 1933, and the date was no later than 49 BC; the ancient paper unearthed in Baqiao, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province in May 1958 was scientifically analyzed and identified as Western Han hemp paper, dated no later than 118 BC; two pieces of hemp paper no later than 52 BC were discovered in Shuijinguan, Juyanjian, Gansu in 973.

Afterwards, some ancient papers from the Western Han Dynasty were successively discovered in various parts of China. However, there are very few historical documents on the papermaking technology of the Han Dynasty, so it is difficult to understand its complete and detailed technological process.Although later generations have speculated, it can only be used as a reference.I have studied history for so long, and I have never seen a book made of paper before I have seen the Western Han Dynasty. However, I remembered that liars are rampant these days. There is no such thing as a trick. I am afraid that his trick is almost out of date.So, without even reading it, I said mockingly to him: "Don't bully me, if it's really an antique, you can still sell it here! Books from the Western Han Dynasty? I also have books on aliens!"

"I'm sorry for you saying that. Didn't I find a buyer? I heard that you work in a museum and can identify goods, so you came here!" The man looked wronged. look. At this time, Xinhong pushed me, meaning to let me go to the old curator Zha quickly, don't waste time here, or the museum will be off work.I looked at my watch, the time passed really quickly, and the old curator Zha would really get off work in a while.So, I impatiently said to the peddler who was still pestering: "Okay, okay! We don't know the goods, you can find someone else. We don't have the spare money to buy any books from the Western Han Dynasty, you keep it for yourself use!"

Xinhong and I finally got rid of the peddler, but he said a lot of things behind our backs in an unknown dialect, most likely scolding us.These days, strange things happen every day, and they cannot be avoided. When we arrived at the museum, the old curator Zha was still in the museum, so the visit was not in vain.Or we have to wait until we have a holiday to come, the workload of the museum is scary.We explained the purpose of our visit to the old curator Zha, and of course we also concealed some things. We just told him that we wanted to know whether Uncle Zou had ever been to Shanxi, what research he did, and whether any cultural relics were unearthed there. The old curator Zha was getting old, and it took him a long time to understand what we meant.Director Zha took us to the archives room and reviewed Uncle Zou’s records of work and business trips in 2003, but none of them said he went to Shanxi, but between September and October of that year, Uncle Zou took sick leave for a month.It happened to be autumn at that time, wasn't it the time when Uncle Zou went to Shuidong Village, Jincheng City, Shanxi?Uncle originally went to Shanxi secretly. He is an archaeologist. If he wants to study some cultural relics or historical sites, is it necessary to go so secretly? "Old curator, do you know about Xishui Village, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province?" Xinhong didn't seem to give up, he still wanted to get some useful information from old curator Zha. "I seem to have some impressions of that place." Mr. Zha seemed to be struggling to remember. "Just tell us if you have any impressions." As soon as I thought that I could find some useful information, I immediately became excited. "I have an impression of that place because history has no impression of that place!" Director Zha said slowly. "What do you keep talking about, what impressions do you have, what is that place like?" I asked impatiently.This old man always likes to say things that we don't understand. Almost all educated people like to say such things. Could it be that speaking like this makes them more learned. "I don't know how to tell you, you come with me. I'll show you the county chronicles of Jincheng City, Shanxi. These were brought back by your father before!" said the old director Zha in a hoarse voice. He took us to a room dedicated to storing ancient books, and then pulled out a few yellowed books from a bookshelf.I took a look at the cover, and it was nothing more than the county annals of some places in Jincheng City, Shanxi Province in the past dynasties.Xinhong excitedly flipped through the pages, but his excitement was justified. County annals generally recorded all the events of that place in the past dynasties, and it would be much more convenient to find out things after having them. However, Xinhong flipped through a few books, but said disappointedly: "Why is there no book that mentions Xishui Village?" "You understand what I mean, I have an impression of this place because history has no impression of it!" Old curator Zha said with a smile, like an old urchin. I picked up a copy of "Zezhou Fuzhi", flipped through it casually, and guessed: "Why is this happening? Could it be that Xishui Village was not called Xishui Village before?" "No. Xinhong's father has studied this place before, and I remember it very clearly. That village has always been called this name. Xinhong's father once called Jincheng City to inquire. The history of that village is older than that of several surrounding villages The history of Xishui Village is still long, and according to the people there, the name of the village has never been changed. Later, Xiao Zou asked the people there, and they also had no records of Xishui Village in the past. I don’t know whether it was intentional or unintentional. The county annals of all dynasties have omitted this place, but the records of the surrounding villages are very detailed." The old curator Zha said unhurriedly. "How could this be?" I looked at these county chronicles very puzzled. "I don't know either. Now that I'm off work, I'm going back first, so you can go back to work in your unit." The old curator Zha patted me on the shoulder and walked away. We rushed all the way to the museum nervously, but came back disappointed all the way.When I returned home, the peddler at the entrance of the street was still there.He pestered us to buy his ancient book again. I was annoyed, so I snatched the book from his hand, wanting to see if there was gold hidden in it. When I picked up the book, I couldn’t help but be surprised by the feeling in my hand. Most of the paper in the Western Han Dynasty was made of hemp, so it definitely feels different from the paper of all dynasties. It feels really similar. The feeling of touching the sackcloth.I opened it and looked at it. The paper quality of this book is very worn out. I held it very carefully, as if it would break if I touched it. The paper of this book is probably made of hemp.Although paper did appear in the Western Han Dynasty, I have never heard of a book, and this is the first time I have seen it.There are not many pages in this book, but because the paper is too thick and rough, the whole book is also thick. I have also done some research on the characters of previous dynasties. Although there has been a debate about whether there is official script in the Western Han Dynasty, since the unearthed in 1973 in the Han Tomb No. The statement is self-defeating. The silk script unearthed there was produced in the late Qin Dynasty and the early Western Han Dynasty, including ink script handwriting of the late Qin Dynasty and early Western Han Dynasty, including "Zhan Guo Ce Zong Heng Jia Shu", "Laozi" A and B, etc. It is a study of calligraphy in the Western Han Dynasty. first-hand information.In the history of the evolution of Chinese characters, a topic that has been debated by the predecessors is: Is there any official script in the Western Han Dynasty?The fonts on the Mawangdui silk script in Changsha are unique. They are different from Xiaozhuan and not a mature official script, which reflects the character characteristics of the official transition stage from seal script to official script. The text in this book in my hand is exactly the same as the text on the silk script unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb No. 3!Is this really an ancient book from the Western Han Dynasty?However, the content in this book seems to be of little value. It is all about useless things, and it is some messy history. To put it bluntly, it is an unofficial history. When I was thinking, I turned to a page in the book, and there were three words written on it: Xishui Village!