Breaking news from 2080: Just now, the Haihunhou Kingdom was abolished!

This is a message from the third year of Shenjue (2080 years ago).

Breaking News

(Note: The third year of the Shenque era is 59 BC)

Just now, Emperor Xuan of Han agreed

Ministers' Request for the Extinction of the State of Haihun

The clerk in charge of delivering the letter broke several post horses.

Finally, this edict

From Chang'an City to Haihunhou State in Yuzhang County

It was less than two months since Lord Liu He passed away.

The Haihun bamboo slips research team recently unearthed a series of bamboo slips from the tomb.

Interpreting an imperial edict - the imperial edict to abolish the state

According to the compiler, Yang Bo, associate researcher at the Institute of Ancient History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

The imperial edict records the history of the Haihunhou Kingdom being abolished after Liu He's death

It is also the first physical edict of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed so far.

The shape of the wooden slip of imperial edict is one foot

(equivalent to about 23 cm today)

The writing format is two (vertical) lines

Written in Lishu script

It is a standard "pardon" edict

There is a piece of wood tablet that reveals very important information

"I hope the ministers and doctors will discuss

The decree says: "The Prime Minister and the Doctor are among the two thousand stone ministers, the minister of good fortune, the minister of prosperity..."

(Note: “=” indicates a repeated document number)

Among them, "制" represents the emperor.

"Edict to a certain official" is a procedure for the emperor to approve an order

The "Prime Minister and Doctor" is the person to whom the emperor issues instructions.

The general meaning of the wooden slip is

Emperor Xuan of Han issued an edict to the prime minister, doctors and other high-ranking officials of the 2,000-stone and 2,000-stone levels.

Request for a meeting of ministers

Discussing the abolition of the Haihunhou Kingdom

Zhong Er Qian Shi, a rank of an official in the Han Dynasty

The rank of officials in the Qin and Han dynasties was often calculated based on the amount of their salaries.

From 2,000 shi to 100 shi

The nine ministers of the Han Dynasty were all ranked between 2,000 and 1,000 dan.

The words "Ji", "Wang Zhi" and "Chang" after "Zhong Er Qian Shi"

These are the names of some of the officials attending the meeting.

It can be seen that the standard of this meeting is quite high

During the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, there were the famous "Eleven Meritorious Officials of the Qilin Pavilion"

Researchers believe that "Chen Ji" and "Chen Wang Zhi"

It may correspond to Bingji and Xiao Wangzhi among these 11 people.

The political attitudes of these important officials

It also represents Emperor Xuan of Han's attitude towards the Haihunhou Kingdom.

During the Han Dynasty, counties and kingdoms coexisted and there were many vassal states.

Many of them were expelled from the country for various reasons.

For example, in September of the fifth year of Yuanding

"One hundred and six marquises were stripped of their titles for not following the rules when offering gold and wine to the ancestral temple."

Emperor Wu of Han issued an edict to expel more than a hundred princes from their states without the need for a petition.

But the abolition of the Haihunhou Kingdom is obviously very different

Not only did the ministers have to discuss it, but all officials also had to list their names.

Combined with the records in the Book of Han

Researchers discover imperial edict

Related to the two ministerial meetings during the Zhaoxuan period

The topics discussed at the meeting were:

The dethronement of Liu He and the abolition of the Haihunhou State

The imperial edict not only involved most of the high-ranking officials of the court at that time

It also implies the political conspiracy of Emperor Xuan of Han

It is a real-life reflection of the political ecology during Emperor Xuan's reign.

Some unknown history was also revealed for the first time

The imperial edict provides historical facts about Liu He and his family

The Basic Situation of Changyi Kingdom and Haihunhou Kingdom

Liu He died on September Yisi, and Changyi Kingdom merged six counties into one country.

Haihunhou State suffered from "many floods, droughts, and disasters"

All of them are not recorded in history

It can make up for the missing records in the "Book of Han"

The researchers inferred

Liu He died on September Yi Si

That is, the eighth day of the ninth month in 59 B.C.

The calendar used at that time was the "Taichu Calendar" newly created by Emperor Wu.

The edict clearly states that after Liu He's death

A memorial from Liao, the governor of Yuzhang, on the fate of the Haihun Marquisate

"The Grand Herald first presented the report to Zi Chong = Guo = died of illness and then presented the report again

"If a son obeys his parents and then dies of illness, it is the will of heaven."

On the 17th day of October,

The imperial edict has been issued to Yuzhang County

Calculating the death of Liu He and his two sons Liu Chongguo and Liu Fengqin

The time interval from the time when Haihunhou State was abolished

Less than forty days

What is more worth mentioning is

More than 5,200 bamboo slips were unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Haihun

When the bamboo slips were unearthed, they were not only missing

The order is also disrupted

The picture shows some of the newly unearthed fragments. Photo courtesy of Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

The picture shows an infrared scan of some of the fragments after preliminary cleaning and restoration. Photo courtesy of Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology

The process of researchers restoring the bamboo slips

It's like a difficult puzzle game.

After countless failures

Just to make the history of Chinese civilization more complete

Let us pay tribute together

These people who silently contribute

Source: Xinhua News Agency Jiangxi Branch, Nanchang Han Dynasty Haihunhou State Ruins Management Bureau jointly produced

Author: Xinhua News Agency reporter Yuan Huijing

Map: Yang Taiyang

Producer: Lu Gang

Editor: Wang Ruochen

Proofreading: Zhang Hui