"Huayang Guozhi" records: "The Zhou Dynasty lost its rules and regulations, and Shu was first called king. There was a Shuhou Cancong, whose eyes were vertical, and he was first called king."

The meaning of this passage is that when the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty was in vain, Cancong, the Marquis of Shu, took the lead in claiming the throne. This person's appearance has a very obvious feature: "his eyes are vertical", that is, his eyeballs are obviously protruding outward.

Based on this record, many scholars believe that the prototype of the Zongmu mask is Silkworm Cong.

In Yang Xiong's "The Chronicles of the King of Shu", Cancong was also the founder of the ancient Shu kingdom and the first person to become king.

The people in the Bashu area regard Cancong as the "first silkworm", saying that he taught the people how to raise silkworms and reel silk, and call him the "Qing Yi God". It is possible that the name "Silkworm Cong" came from this.

The ancients believed that the ancient Shu Kingdom existed. Yang Xiong of the Western Han Dynasty wrote "The Chronicles of the King of Shu", and Chang Cu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty wrote "The Chronicles of the Kingdom of Huayang". Both have records of the ancient Shu Kingdom. Although the words are bizarre, they are also rare historical materials.

The gold foil scepter was unearthed from Sanxingdui Sacrificial Pit No. 1, with a total length of 1.42 meters and a diameter of 2.3 centimeters. The upper end of the scepter is engraved with three groups of pictures. The upper two groups of pictures are the same, with two fishes at the top and two fish in the middle.

A bird, and an arrow pierced the fish and the bird.

The last group of pictures is a human head, wearing a high five-tooth crown.

This image is obviously also a symbol of the king.

Who is the king who owns this golden sword?

Some scholars believe that the fish and birds on the scepter are fish and falcon, and the falcon refers to the osprey-type raptor.

In the legend of the ancient Shu Kingdom, there was a king named "Yufu", and the owner of this scepter is likely to be this person.

Although, this explanation is somewhat far-fetched.

But this is the most reliable explanation that can be put forward, and it can connect the written records of the ancient Shu Kingdom left by the Chinese civilization with the cultural relics unearthed from the Sanxingdui site.

What era are Cancong and Yufu from?

How long is the history of ancient Shu?

This has been a mystery that has puzzled modern scholars.

More than a thousand years ago, the poet Li Bai once wrote: "There are silkworms and yufu, how confused the founding of the country is! You are 48,000 years old, and you are not inhabited by Qin Sai."

The "historical" basis for these lines of Li Bai's poems is based on the records in Yang Xiong's "The Book of the Kings of Shu": "Before Shu, the kings were Cancong, Baiguan, Yufu, Du Yu, Kaiming... From Kaiming...

From above to the silkworm bush, it is thirty-four thousand years old."

Based on this, Li Bai said "You are forty-eight thousand years old", which was an exaggerated statement to express the long history of the ancient Shu Kingdom.

Of course, he would not believe that Cancong and Yufu were people from tens of thousands of years ago.

Therefore, the sentence "How confused was the founding of the country" expresses his doubts about the founding history of the ancient Shu Kingdom and his desire for the truth.

"The Chronicles of the Kings of Shu" also says: "These three generations (referring to the three generations of Shu kings, Cancong, Baiguan, and Yufu) are each hundreds of years old. They are all deified and immortal, and their people also follow the king." It even compares the ancient Shu kingdom.

What the founder said is amazing.

This is obviously a bit too fantasy.

According to "Huayang Guozhi", Cancong became king during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

After Cancong died, Baiguan and Yufu became kings one after another.

Later, Du Yu and Kaiming both became emperors.

On the contrary, this statement is more in line with realistic logic.

At present, academic circles also generally believe that the statement in "Huayang Guozhi" is closer to the true history of ancient Shu.

Moreover, in "Huayang Guozhi", Cancong is not considered to be the founder of the ancient Shu Kingdom, only that he is the first person to be king of the ancient Shu Kingdom.

Before he was crowned king, there was already the ancient Shu Kingdom and its princes.

Who was the founder of the ancient Shu Kingdom?

"Huayang Guozhi·Shu Zhi" also said:

"The establishment of Shu as a country began with the Human Emperor, who lived in the same confinement as Ba. By the time of the Yellow Emperor, his son Changyi married a daughter of the Shushan clan and gave birth to a son named Gaoyang, who was named Emperor Ku. He granted his subordinates to Shu and was known as Hou Bo.

During the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, King Wu conquered Zhou, and Shu and Yan."

What does it mean?

That is to say, Shu was the first country to become a country and was the first to be sealed off by the Human Emperor.

The Human Emperor here, combined with the "Zhihuang Emperor" below, indicates that it should be the Shennong family who was earlier than the Yellow Emperor.

In this way, according to the statement in "Huayang Guozhi" that "Shu became a country because of the emperor", the ancient Shu country has a history of at least about 5,000 years.

Later, Huangdi married a daughter of the Shushan clan for his son Changyi, and gave birth to Gaoyang, Zhuanxu, one of the "Five Emperors".

Zhuanxu enfeoffed his tribe to Shu, and he was a Hou Bo for generations, and he went through several dynasties including Xia, Shang and Zhou.

When King Wu attacked Zhou, Shu also sent troops to participate.

In ancient times, the Shu Kingdom sent troops to participate in King Wu's attack on Zhou, which is recorded in "Shang Shu·Mu Shi".

The word "Shu" first appeared in oracle bone inscriptions.

Because there are records of Shang's conquest of Shu in oracle bone inscriptions, some scholars believe that the ancient Shu Kingdom existed in the Shang Dynasty at the latest.

The cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui also confirm this.

The Sanxingdui sacrificial pit that has been excavated dates from about 3300 to 3000 years ago, which is equivalent to the middle and late Shang Dynasty.

The records about the relationship between Huangdi, Zhuanxu and Shu can actually be corroborated with the actual archaeological discoveries of Sanxingdui Civilization.

First of all, through the cultural stratification of the four phases of the Sanxingdui Civilization, it can be determined that the earliest phase of the Sanxingdui Civilization did begin in 3000 BC.

It can even go as far back as the late Neolithic Age!

This undoubtedly corresponds to the time when Shennong existed.

Later, Huangdi married the daughter of the Shushan clan and gave birth to the Gaoyang clan. In other words, Zhuanxu, one of the Five Emperors, had maternal ancestors from Shu.

And later he also enfeoffed his subordinates and concubines to Shu.

This is also corroborated by the archaeological discoveries at the Sanxingdui site.

Sanxingdui has always been influenced by the culture of the Central Plains and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and has introduced advanced technologies from the Central Plains and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and absorbed advanced artifacts from these cultures.

The Sanxingdui civilization has never been isolated from other countries and developed independently. Instead, it has always had exchanges with the culture of the Central Plains.

Obviously, the reason for such frequent exchanges is because the Sanxingdui civilization is Zhuanxu's mother clan and a member of the Central Plains cultural circle. Of course, there will be close exchanges!

In the oracle bone inscriptions, the place "Shu" is indeed recorded, and there are even records related to Shang's conquest of Shu.

This also shows that Shu culture still existed during the Shang Dynasty.

Not to mention the period when King Wu conquered Zhou.

Several sacrificial pits currently excavated in Sanxingdui are all from the late Shang Dynasty, which proves that the Sanxingdui civilization was already a highly developed civilization in the late Shang Dynasty, and its bronze craftsmanship was not inferior to that of merchants.

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Then of course they have the strength to participate in this large-scale battle that swept the entire East Asia three thousand years ago: King Wu defeated Zhou!

If based on the mutual verification of "Huayang Guozhi", oracle bone inscriptions and "Shang Shu Mu Oath".

It seems that the origin and inheritance of Sanxingdui civilization can be clarified.

However, things did not go so smoothly.

If the Sanxingdui Civilization was the later ancient Shu Kingdom.

The prototype of these longitudinal masks is Cancong, and Cancong, as the victim, is the ancestor of the "Sanxingdui people".

Then his era is earlier than the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit, not the Spring and Autumn Period mentioned in "Huayang Guozhi"!

All of a sudden, the timeline doesn’t match up again!

Sanxingdui has had the habit of worshiping the "King of Zongmu" since at least the late Shang Dynasty.

Is the silkworm bush earlier than the longitudinal order, or is the longitudinal order earlier than the silkworm bush?

When scholars thought they had solved the mystery of Sanxingdui, an even bigger mystery followed!
Chapter completed!