"Brother Youcai, if you put it this way, wouldn't it be true that copper of this purity you mentioned can only appear after the Xia Dynasty? Isn't it a monument related to Jiuli Kingdom as we previously inferred?"

Zhuge Liang listened to their conversation on the sidelines, and finally couldn't help but stepped forward and asked the questions in his heart.

"But the pottery fragments previously found in the Tiankeng are obviously ancient products from the early Xia Dynasty. What's more, the Tiankeng is above this ruins, so it must have appeared later than this ruins."

Wu Liang pondered and said, "What's more, we also saw Yinglong's skeleton here, and the Chinese divine doctor proved that it was Yinglong after traveling. This can also prove that this ruins and Yinglong should be from the same period, and these things should be taken seriously."

How to explain?”

"Well……"

Zhuge Liang was stunned for a moment, scratched the back of his head and said, "Brother Youcai still thought carefully, but I forgot to include these things together."

"In other words, Young Master thinks that the copper-smelting technology mastered by the Jiuli Kingdom was even more advanced than that of the Xia Dynasty?"

Yu Ji then asked again.

"If this place is truly a relic of the Jiuli Kingdom, and this bronze was indeed forged by the Jiuli Kingdom, then the copper-smelting technology mastered by the Jiuli Kingdom at that time would probably be at least as good as that of the Shang Dynasty."

Wu Liang said seriously.

The Shang Dynasty was the dynasty recognized by later archaeological circles as the dynasty in which copper smelting skills reached maturity. However, there was not much progress in this aspect after that. It was not until the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period that the emergence of iron tools gradually replaced copper ware. The skills of copper smelting continued for a long time.

Over a period of time, the momentum for progress has been lost, and development has become slower.

"this……"

Everyone looked shocked.

From the ancient times to the Tang and Yu dynasties, to the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty, thousands of years passed in between. The Jiuli Kingdom actually mastered skills that were thousands of years ahead of others. How could this not be shocking?

But apart from being shocked, everyone also began to wonder why Chi You and the Jiuli Kingdom were defeated by the alliance of Huang Emperor and Yan Emperor.

Historical records record that at that time, the weapons of the Huangdi and Yandi alliances were mainly wood and stone tools. How could they be the opponents of the Jiuli Kingdom?

It is a pity that the details of that war were not recorded in detail. Even some documents summarized by later generations are all extremely exaggerated scenes of gods fighting, and there is no mention of the relevant details of the confrontation between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age.

However, it did mention the Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor alliance being repeatedly defeated by Chi You and the Jiuli Kingdom in the early stages of the war...

This also shows from the side that Chi You and Jiuli Kingdom did have a great advantage in the war with the help of advanced weapons.

In the myths and legends, the Yellow Emperor finally became the final winner. Not only did he invite gods from all walks of life, but he also received a military talisman called the "Yin Fu Jing" sent by the Nine Heavens Xuannv in his sleep. After getting this book, the Yellow Emperor

After that, he continued to train his troops according to the military tactics in the book, and relied on the power of the Kui Niu drum and the help of various gods to defeat the Jiuli Kingdom in the final decisive battle, and captured and killed Chi You and his brothers.

This military talisman called "Yin Fu Jing" is worthy of scrutiny. It should be the earliest book on the art of war in the history of the Celestial Dynasty.

About the art of war.

The person with the most say in the Hu army was Zhuge Liang.

As the saying goes, soldiers are deceitful.

To put it nicely, it’s called strategy, to put it ugly, it can be called sneaking and cheating. In short, it’s deception. If you can’t win head-on, you’ll resort to conspiracy, deception, sneak attacks, and no martial ethics...

If you say so.

If Chi You had been the kind of simple-minded person with well-developed limbs, or had relied on his advantage in weapons to underestimate the enemy, or had some obvious character flaws, it would not have been impossible for him to ruin his advantage and finally achieve that huge advantage.

More than men.

Just like Boss Cao and Yuan Shao today, before the Battle of Guandu, few people dared to believe that Yuan Shao would be defeated.

even.

Historically, it is not uncommon for a country to have a huge advantage, but be captured without bloodshed by the enemy using cunning tactics.

The so-called history is usually written by the victors.

Since Huangdi is the ultimate winner, history will naturally be written in his favor and his achievements will be magnified as much as possible.

If he had strong martial virtue, he would have recorded many details of the war.

If he was proficient in the art of war, then the details of his clever strategies would be recorded one by one for future generations to admire.

However, there are almost no detailed records in this regard in the history books. Instead, they constantly emphasize how powerful Chi You and the Jiuli Kingdom were. From this, it can be inferred that the Yellow Emperor's defeat of Chi You and the Jiuli Kingdom should not be based on force.

In addition, there are no relevant detailed records on the details of the art of war.

Therefore, Wu Liang has reason to suspect that the method used by Huangdi to defeat Chiyou and Jiuli was most likely not that glorious. If recorded in history books and made public, it might even affect Huangdi's reputation and prestige, so it was selectively ignored.

However, these issues are currently outside the scope of Wu Liang’s investigation.

What Wu Liang wants to find out most now is whether this place is a relic of the Jiuli Kingdom. If it is indeed a relic of the Jiuli Kingdom, then where did the copper smelting technology of the Jiuli Kingdom, which may have been ahead of an entire era, come from?

Although it has now reached the Iron Age, Jiuli Kingdom’s copper-smelting skills are no longer leading...

…

In everyone's shock.

Wu Liang continued to clean the copperware carefully, and the soldiers of the Hu army were not idle either. They continued to expand and dig the hole deeper, hoping to help Wu Liang find more valuable things.

After such an hour.

The sky was gradually getting dark, and the Hu army had to light a bonfire in the pit to provide light.

Wu Liangze finally completed the cleaning work of this bronze vessel.

This is actually a portrait!

This figure maintains an upright standing posture. It is about two meters high including the platform under its feet. It looks like it is a male, and its whole body is covered with a layer of green patina.

Compared with the bronze figures unearthed in Sanxingdui that were later discovered, the body proportions of this figure are obviously more realistic.

The same is true for the facial features. The facial features of the bronze statue in front of you are not much different from the real person. It is not like the bronze mask found in Sanxingdui with protruding eyes, wide mouth and big ears, nor is it like the bronze masks unearthed in other places.

The mask generally has upright ears, a protruding nose, and open-cut fangs.

This is a normal human face, with a square face and realistic facial features, without any exaggeration or modification.

The two sharp corners that Wu Liang saw before were naturally part of the figure, but they were part of the helmet of the figure.

There is a semicircular helmet clearly designed on the head of this figure. The shape of this helmet seems to be relatively close to that of later generations of helmets. When worn on the head, it does not cover the ears, but only covers part of the back of the head.

The two sharp horns are separated from the top and sides of the helmet like horns, making it look very similar to the more common Viking helmets in Western mythology, and it looks very majestic.

But this helmet cannot be taken off.

It is just the shape of a figure's head. It is actually integrated with the figure and does not exist independently.

In addition, the figure is also covered with an armor that hangs down from the shoulders to the knees. This armor is composed of pieces of armor ten centimeters long and wide connected together. It seems that the protective effect should be good.

However, like the helmet, it is only a surface shape of the portrait and cannot be removed.

"Is this... this bronze statue made entirely of pure copper?"

When he saw the whole bronze statue clearly, Wu Liang couldn't help but have such a question in his mind.

Wu Liang knew clearly how soft the texture of pure copper was.

Although this bronze statue looks stronger than him, it only uses two legs to support the weight of the whole body, which is unscientific in the first place.

If all pure elements are used.

Unless the upper body of this bronze statue is an empty shell, the two legs will not be able to support the statue and will definitely deform under the pressure of the weight.

And if the upper body of this bronze statue is an empty shell, then it will be difficult to maintain the image of the upper body, especially if it is buried underground and needs to withstand the pressure from the soil and root growth.

With such doubts.

Wu Liang first carefully cut open a small piece of patina on the bronze statue's torso to examine it.

As a result, under the patina, he actually saw a purple-red color, which showed that the copper used in this figure was indeed the single substance copper that he thought was impossible.

"How could this be?"

Wu Liang was puzzled.

It is impossible for simple copper to have such strength and hardness, unless there is another mystery inside the bronze statue, or it is actually a special kind of copper, which is completely different from the simple copper he knows.

But how to explain the sharp corners on the portrait's helmet that deform when gently moved?

so……

Wu Liang is more inclined to speculate that there is another mystery inside the bronze statue.

So he raised his hand and tapped the chest of the bronze statue twice with his knuckles.

"Boom!"

The sound transmitted back was extremely dull, and it was obvious that the inside of the bronze statue was not hollow.

"It's solid."

Bai Jingjing confirmed at the right time.

"Solid..."

Wu Liang frowned, expressing that he really could not understand the structure and material of this bronze statue.

So he had to continue to look around the bronze statue more carefully, from top to bottom, front to back, not missing any detail, and finally he found a small long gap in the waist.

Because this gap has been buried underground for many years, it has been filled with a mixture of red soil and rotten roots. In addition, the patina has expanded to a certain extent when it was formed, covering it even smaller, making it really difficult to find.
To be continued...