A bronze sword was unearthed from the Chu Tomb in Shazhong, Wangshan, Hubei. When the sword was unearthed, it was placed on the left side of the human skeleton in the coffin, and it was inserted into a wooden sheath painted with ink. It was drawn out of the sheath, dazzling in cold light, without corrosion, and its blade was thin and sharp. It was tried to be broken with more than 2 layers of paper. The total length of the sword is 55.6 cm, the length of the sword body is 45.6 cm, and the width of the sword case is 5 cm. The sword body is decorated with black diamond geometric dark patterns, and the front and back of the sword case are inlaid with beautiful patterns of blue glass and turquoise respectively. The hilt of the sword is bound with silk thread, and the head of the sword is turned outwards into a hoop shape, and 11 extremely fine concentric circles are cast inside. There are two lines of bird seal inscriptions on the side of the sword body near the grid. According to expert research, the inscription is "Gou Jian, the King of Yue, acted as a sword by himself".
Why did the sword of the monarch of the State of Yue, located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, come out of the tombs of the State of Chu located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River? Some people think it is Yue Nv's dowry when he married Chu, because the daughter of Gou Jian, the king of Yue in history, is the favorite of King Zhao of Chu. Some people think that this sword is a trophy captured by Chu, because the State of Yue was later destroyed by Chu.
As for the relationship between Chu and Yue, according to Records of the Historian, Zuo Zhuan, Wu Yue Chun Qiu and other books, it was very close before Chu Weiwang, and then it gradually alienated and attacked each other, and finally Chu Ba Yue perished. According to a large number of bamboo slips unearthed from Tomb No.1 in Wangshan, it is known that the tomb was buried in Chu Weiwang or the early period of Chu Huaiwang. Therefore, it is possible that the bronze sword of Gou Jian, the King of Yue, was introduced to Chu from Vietnam as a gift. Since the sword of Gou Jian, the King of Yue, was a gift, how did it flow into the State of Chu? According to historical records, King Zhao of Chu married the daughter of Gou Jian, the king of Yue, and it is not unreasonable for Gou Jian to use his precious bronze sword as his daughter's dowry and flow into Chu.
At present, the sword of the King of Yue handed down from ancient times has been found in archaeology, although some of them were presented to Chu. However, some of them must have flowed into Chu as trophies of Chu's destruction of Vietnam. There is no definite answer as to how the unearthed sword flowed into Chu.
The bronze sword of Gou Jian, the King of Yue, is not only cast with exquisite workmanship and beautiful patterns, but also buried in the ground for more than 2,4 years without rust, and still maintains a dazzling luster. The causes are really intriguing.
According to historical records, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, the bronze casting in China had mastered the metallurgical process of casting the body and accessories separately and then welding them with alloy. At that time, the new technology of skin blast heating was adopted in the smelting furnace. Then, how are these precious bronze swords made and rusted?
In p>1977 and 1978, Hubei Provincial Museum, in cooperation with relevant units, made a non-destructive measurement and research on Gou Jianjian, the King of Yue, on the electrostatic accelerator of Fudan University, using the testing equipment provided by the Institute of Nuclear Research, and finally solved the mystery of the Millennium.
According to the determination results, the composition of Gou Jian's blade and body shows that the tin content is 16% ~ 17%, which is the highest strength component of cast tin bronze and keeps a certain elongation. No matter how high the tin content is, although the strength is improved, the tensile strength and ductility decrease rapidly. As a weapon for stabbing, the strength should be ensured to avoid bending, and the hardness or toughness of the slasher is not needed. The sword of Gou Jian, King of Yue, and the rhombic sword unearthed from the same tomb all use reasonable tin content, which reflects the superb level of wuyue's sword casting. The body of Gou Jian's sword is low in lead and iron, which should be impurity elements of tin and copper. When casting, the lead and iron impurities are either well selected or removed by refining. The sword lattice is made of alloy with high lead content, which has good fluidity and is easy to make surface decoration. The surface of the sword lattice has been artificially oxidized, and the sulfur content in the pattern is high. Copper sulfide can prevent corrosion to keep the pattern gorgeous. Gou Jian's sword is engraved with eight-character inscriptions, and the notch marks are clearly identifiable, so it is certain that the inscriptions are engraved after casting. The inscription has a rounded stroke with a width of only .3 ~ .4 mm, which shows the high level of lettering.
The role of different parts of Gou Jian's sword is different, and the ratio of copper to tin is also different. The sword ridge contains more copper, which can make the sword tough and not easy to break; The blade has high tin content and high hardness, which makes the sword very sharp. But how are the proportions of different components cast on the same sword? After research, experts believe that the composite metal process is adopted, that is, it is compounded into a whole by twice casting. This composite metal technology was not used until modern times in other countries in the world, but was adopted by the working people in ancient China more than 2, years ago.