Chapter 515 - 515: The Imperial Jade Seal Resurfaces! Zhuge Liang’s Extraordinary Military Tactics! (2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“How can this be? If this seal truly is the Imperial Seal, does that mean the one we have in our museum is fake?”
Long Jianfei dared not continue that line of thought.
Not only would it mean losing face.
But also, the Cultural Relics Bureau would be the subject of ridicule.
After all, they were the ones who authenticated it, and now a serious error had occurred. Who would dare to view them as an authoritative institution in the future?
In other words, any artifact confirmed by the Cultural Relics Bureau in the past, with its given price and age, everyone used to trust without question.
But this time, after the error with this Imperial Seal, would people still believe in their authority?
“This gold-inlaid jade, I know the story. Wang Mang desired to usurp the Han
Dynasty and sent people to the palace to ask the Empress Dowager for the
Imperial Seal. The Empress Dowager was infuriated and threw the Imperial Seal down, intending to smash it rather than give it to him. However, it did not break, only a corner was chipped off. Wang Mang then sent people to replace the broken corner with gold.”
“Indeed, this is explicitly recorded in the Book of Later Han!”
“That’s right, this is the true Imperial Seal!”
“Last time, that artifact that sold for 10 billion, turns out it was fake!” “So many people said it was the real Qin Shi Huang’s Imperial Seal!” “We’re finished, Old Luo has sold a fake! Is this going to lead to legal trouble?”
This news spread on the internet immediately.
It caused quite an uproar.
Real and fake Imperial Seals appeared at the same time.
And one of them had a missing corner, which corroborates the record in the
BOOK or Later Han.
“I came because of its fame, I just want to ask, among the two Imperial Seals, which one is real and which one is fake?”
“Is this the Imperial Seal?”
“That corner is indeed inlaid with gold. I think this time’s Imperial Seal must be Qin Shi Huang’s, right?”
“Hahaha, I really sympathize with the people at the Palace Museum, they’ve collected a fake!”
Luo Feng gave a chuckle, “This so-called Qin Shi Huang’s Imperial Seal is definitely fake! Of course, the reason I say ‘Qin Shi Huang’s’ is because while it is a fake Qin Shi Huang’s Imperial Seal, it is in fact the real Imperial Seal of the Han Dynasty that lasted four hundred years! Well, it might not be exactly four hundred years.”
“Luo Feng, after hearing your explanation, I’m confused,” Qin Rubing asked curiously, utterly perplexed.
“Firstly, whether Qin Shi Huang’s Imperial Seal was lost during his reign is questionable. Not to mention the one in the hands of Qin Er Shi, or Qin Zying. After all, this is an emperor’s seal, an object, and particularly a precious one losing it is quite common. If it was lost, they could always make a new one.”
“Even though Sima Qian recorded that Liu Bang had entered Xianyang and Qin
Zying surrendered, offering up the Imperial Seal, I don’t believe this to be true!
Because the Imperial Seal is the symbol of the royal orthodoxy. Even Sima Qian, no matter how daring, would not dare to say that Liu Bang had obtained a fake Imperial Seal, or that Liu Bang did not receive the Imperial Seal at all!”
Upon observing this, Qin Rubing inquired, “But the issue now is, the Imperial
Jade Seal excavated from the tomb of Zhao Gao has been called into question!”
“Ah, that’s simple,” Luo Feng responded, “The Jade Seal from Zhao Gao’s tomb was crafted in the Qin Dynasty.”
“And this Imperial Jade Seal should be from the time of Emperor Wu of the Han
Dynasty.”
“How so?” Qin Rubing grew even more confused.
“My interpretation is that the Han Dynasty never received Qin Shi Huang’s Imperial Jade Seal. Instead, Liu Bang likely crafted one himself. After it was created, it was likely lost once again. Emperor Wu of Han made a new one, and it is uncertain whether the one from before Emperor Wu’s time was lost or not. ”
“Regardless, this seal is from the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty until Wang Mang’s rebellion. The Dowager Empress had smashed off one corner, which was then repaired with gold.”
“The craft of jade-making underwent a paradigm shift from the Qin Dynasty to the time of Emperor Wu of Han. You can tell just by examining the techniques used!”
“And back then, Zhao Gao was the de facto ruler. He had no need to place a fake Imperial Jade Seal in his own tomb. If he wanted a real one, he could definitely have obtained it!”
“There’s no need to say more. Carbon-14 dating can determine the exact age of this seal.”
Luo Feng said these words and then placed the seal far away.
Everyone should be clear by now.
What about the Imperial Jade Seal from the Three Kingdoms period obtained by Yuan Shu? What about those from the Tang and Song dynasties?
Who knows where these seals came from?
Perhaps they were crafted by a rebel king, or they might have made them themselves, claiming they had found Qin Shi Huang’s Imperial Jade Seal to declare themselves emperor.
The seal is just an emperor’s stamp of approval.
Historically, there might have been hundreds of Imperial Jade Seals. Everyone claimed theirs to be that of Qin Shi Huang.
But as long as there was stability, would the common folk care whether you had Qin Shi Huang’s Imperial Jade Seal or not?
However, now Luo Feng seemed to understand why Sima Yi was buried here after he died.
No burial mound was raised, no trees were planted, and he did not even share a grave with his wife.
And yet, he placed the Han Dynasty’s Jade Seal here.
If he survived, he could take out the seal and become an emperor. If he died, he could be an emperor after death.
Luo Feng suspected that even Sima Yi’s son did not know about this tomb.
Otherwise, Sima Yi’s son would have certainly removed this Imperial Jade Seal.
After all, why craft a fake when the real one is at hand?
Would this not count as stealing his father’s burial artifacts?
Because this was the Imperial Jade Seal, all Sima Yi’s son needed to say was that he was sorry to his father but had to stabilize the country.
For the sake of the entire nation, everyone would understand that Sima Yi’s son was not being disrespectful.
Soon, Luo Feng walked over to a stone platform where a delicate piece of bronze was displayed.
The third stone held a golden artifact.
The fourth one displayed a jade artifact.
The fifth one held a bamboo slip.
“Seeing and hearing, these are the policies…” Luo Feng looked over and laughed, “This must be a military manuscript!”
Then his eyes sparkled as if he had found a treasure.
“A military manuscript? What’s so good about that? Why is the host so happy?”
“In times of peace, what use does a military manuscript have?”
“As a shareholder, its value is immense!”
Luo Feng smiled and said, “This is the ‘Parallel Prose of Twenty-four Essays’ compiled by Zhuge Liang.. It’s incredibly precious!”
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