Chapter 86 The Tiger Tally, Imperial Seal of Dian, and Silk Painting (1/2)
Granpa Shu gave a gasp and said, ”The ancient King of Dian crowned the twelve families of these ranis, royal brothers, and fellow courtiers as the Twelve Treasure-guardian Families accoding to the twelve zodiac signs. My family stands for the Mouse, and, Xiaolongnv, your family is the Dragon Family.”
Long Xi curiously asked, ”And the Twelve Treasure-guardian Families refer to the families of Mouse, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Is that right?”
”Princess” said, ”Exactly. I guess you find it strange that I dress up in this way, right? But I have to. My late great grandfather, my grandfather's grandfather, was the last prince of the Ming Dynasty. He left a behest that all his progeny should never forget their own country and should always dress in the costumes of Ming Dynasty. That is why I am always wearing them except when on the way of escape.”
Quick-tempered Niu Xi found her off the point again and said rushedly, ”In Z Country, the earliest record of the Kingdom of Dian was found in Records of the Historian- Collected Biographies of the Southwest Tribes. From the late period of the Warring States to the early period of the Western Han Dynasty, the ancient Kingdom of Dina reached its peak. During the middle period of the Western Han Dynasty, it began to decline. Due to the continuous decline of its national power, the ancient Kingdom of Dian was replaced by the county system of the Central Plains Dynasty during the time from the late period of Western Han Dynasty to the early period of Eastern Han Dynasty, coming to an end of its life eventually.”
Long Xi said, ”I once watched a documentary called 'the Lost Ancient King of Dian' so I know that some archaeologists excavated the Imperial Seal of Dian and a great deal of exquisite bronzeware in the late twentieth century, which thus attracted more attention poured to the ancient Kingdom of Dian that was once extremely brilliant.”
Granpa Shu nodded and said, ”I have heard about it before. In 109 BC, the second year of Yuanfeng in Western Han Dynasty, Martial Emperor of Han sent troops to attack Dian. The King of Dian could not resist the invasion and then surrendered and asked the Martial Emperor of Han to send officials to govern in Dian. Martial Emperor of Han bestowed upon the King of Dian with the Imperial Seal of Dian which was made completely out of gold and let him continue to reign over his country. Later on, the King of Dian made some artisans to model another one after the seal with pure gold. But one of the characters was changed. What my family guard is the one that had been changed. There is a clue of the treasure on it. Let me show it to you.”
Long Xi could not help to feel a little excited— she could see the Imperial Seal of Dian so closely!
Niu Xi led them to the stone wall in the east of the third cave in cave. Behind a prominent stone on the wall, there was a hidden golden recession which seemingly shaped in a half of the tiger tally as what Long Xi once saw in TV.
Niu Xi took a silver necklace off himself.
Long Xi caught sight of the golden pendant going with the silver necklace. It was in the shape of a tiger. She asked curiously, ”Is this a half of the golden tiger tally?”
Niu Xi said with a smile, ”You are indeed the descendant of Long Futian who was reputed as 'the mastermind of the ancient Kingdom of Dian'. Very well spotted! This is the last tiger tally that was used by the ancient King of Dian. The left half is in my hand and the right is on the wall. It was bestowed on my ancestor by the king because my ancestor was a local keeper, deploying forces and establishing himself in the war.”
Long Xi said, ”There seems to be inscriptions on it.”
Niu Xi handed the golden tiger tally to her and said with a smile, ”You can see it yourselves. Most of the inscriptions are in small seal script.”
Long Xi took it over and viewed it closely. It was about 5 cm high, 10 cm long and 7 mm thick with a groove on the back and a small hole on the neck. The image of the tiger was a strong one leaping with its mouth widely open. The golden-inlaid inscriptions ran nine lines with 40 characters in total, mostly written in small seal script.
Long Xi said with a smile, ”The tiger tallies I have seen are commonly in shape of tiger lying or standing. The leaping ones are quite rare!”
She scrutinized it for a while and barely recognized the few characters in the beginning. It seemingly read, ”Tally of the forces, the right with King, the left with Niu.”
Niu Xi said, ”My grandfather told me that it meant the right half of the tiger tally was in the hand of the King of Dian and that the left half was in the hand of the General Niu Song. Only when the half of the king and the half of Niu were combined together, could a troop with above 50 soldier be mobilized. But in case of emergency, Niu could kindle the war fire and did not need to find the match. General Niu Song was my ancestor.”
As he put the the half in his hand onto the wall, making it combined with the other half, the stone wall rised smoothly. It turned out that it was a stone door and there was another room hidden in the cave in cave.
Zhu Junyao said to Long Xi, ”The operating mechanism of the stone wall was made and modified by Feng Zihao according to Lu Ban Ancient Manuscripts. If someone doesn't have the tally and pull down the wall forcibly, it will trigger off a poisonous-water-spraying reaction. We are not blowing our own trumpet, but Hao is quite clever!”
Since Feng Zihao entered the cave, he had never spoken to anyone, walking alone, and seemingly kept himself away from the others. But as he heard Zhu Junyao's words, his ears turned faintly red. He glanced at Long Xi and turned around.
Mo Kun frowned. ”Why does the 'princess' always throw in a good word for Feng Zihao in front of Long Xi? And, Feng Zihao, he behaves so unnaturally!” He thought.
He made eye contact with Xiaolu. Xiaolu shrugged his shoulders, blinking, and whispered to Mo Kun, ”I have a sense of foreboding.”
Mo Kun nodded to show that he felt the same.
As they walked in, they found a stone table with jade pots and cups on it, a few stone chairs and two stone beds in this room.
A large iron locker was pushed against the stone wall. It looked like a wooden cabinet in a Chinese Medicine Clinic with visually at least 200 drawers. It would take a long time to find through them one by one.