The Pentium Era - South to North

Meng Ping had a good impression of Lao Cha, not because he came from the Z office and had a strong background, but because he felt that this man's behavior was very suitable for him. He was polite but not self-reliant, humble but a little arrogant.

Lao Cha asked Meng Ping: "Have you ever heard of national assets?"

Meng Ping said no.

Lao Cha was a little surprised and said: "Lao Meng, you haven't even heard of this. It seems that your contact with society is not extensive. Regarding 'national assets', there has been a lot of discussion since 8586. It’s a scam.”

Meng Ping smiled and said: "I have never dealt with this kind of people."

Lao Cha also smiled: "You have dealt with it today, or I am just one of many scams, nothing special."

Meng Ping said: "Okay, then I'll see how you lied to me."

"True is true, false is false, false is true, true is false, false is true, that's fine." Lao Cha seemed to be saying to Meng Ping, or to himself.

"What's going on with this 'national asset'?" Meng Ping said.

"Let me tell you first, what kind of scams are there about 'national assets' now." Lao Cha said.

Meng Ping said yes, I will learn a lot.

"Those who talk about the tombs of Emperor Qin Shihuang and Emperor Wu of Han are all nonsense and not worth talking about. These are only suitable for deceiving the old ladies in the vegetable market." Lao Zha said, "It is quite serious. Lao Zhu knows that there is also a certain historical source. There are mainly these. The most widely spread one is of course Zhang Xianzhong’s Shen Yin.

"It should be said that the sinking of silver at the mouth of Zhang Xianzhong is true. There are many historical records of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The most reliable one is "Records of the Disaster in Shu" written by Yang Hongji, who followed Zhang Xianzhong. It is said that Zhang Xianzhong brought thousands of ships of gold, silver and jewelry from Going south along the river from Chengdu, there were too many gold and silver jewels for the wooden boat to carry, so Zhang Xianzhong ordered the craftsmen to make many wooden troughs, put the gold and silver jewels in them, and let them drift down, intending to salvage them in the narrow section of the river. Come up.

"But unexpectedly, they were raided by Yang Zhan, a bureaucrat in Western Sichuan, near Jiangkou Town, Pengshan District, Meishan City, Sichuan, and most of the thousands of ships of gold, silver and jewelry sank into the river.

"Later, these gold and silver jewels were indeed found sporadically along the river in that area. During the Republic of China, Sichuan warlord Liu Xiang once organized a salvage operation, but it was unsuccessful. In recent years, the local government and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage have also conducted salvage operations. This is the plan to excavate.”

Lao Zhu nodded at the side and said to Meng Ping: "Zhang Xianzhong's sinking of silver is recorded in "The Rogue Zhang Xianzhong's Harm on Shu" written by Yu Zhongliang, the official of the Jianchang Guard in the Southern Ming Dynasty, and in "Shu Bi" written by Peng Zunsi of the Qing Dynasty. Of course The most reliable one is "Records of the Sichuan Disaster" written by Yang Hongji that Lao Zha said. After all, it was written by someone who experienced it, and the time and place are correct."

Meng Ping nodded, and Lao Cha said:

"The second one is Wang Mang's gold. In 8 AD, Wang Mang, a relative of the Western Han Dynasty, usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and changed the name of the country to 'Xin'. When Wang Mang was in power, he began to implement the so-called currency reform.

"On the one hand, he imitated the Zhou system to mint coins, and on the other hand, he used harsh means to confiscate a large amount of gold circulating among the people, trying to maintain the value of what we later commonly called Wang Mang's coins. By the end of Wang Mang's reign, the amount of gold collected in the imperial treasury had already exceeded It reaches more than sixty ku.

"This is a very large amount of gold. One kilogram was the measurement unit of ten thousand kilograms at that time. When converted, the total amount of gold is equivalent to more than 170 tons today.

"In February of 23 AD, the Green Forest Army proclaimed Liu Xuan, a descendant of the Han Dynasty, as emperor, announced the restoration of the Han Dynasty, and named it Gengshi. In March of the same year, the rebel army defeated Wang Mang's main force in the Battle of Kunyang and defeated Wang Mang's main force in one fell swoop. On the first day of October, they took advantage of the situation to attack Chang'an.

"The dignitaries in Chang'an City rushed to flee. At the same time, there was a mutiny in the city. Many citizens gathered outside Wang Mang's palace, set fire to it and attacked the palace gate. Wang Mang saw that the situation was not good, and led hundreds of officials to flee to Jiantai, where they were uprising. Legions surrounded him.

"The two sides first exchanged bows and arrows, and then engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The officials and soldiers guarding Wang Mang died in battle. Wang Mang himself was also killed by Du Wu, a rebel soldier who was a businessman. The school captain beheaded Wang Mang and hung it in Wan City. , dozens of soldiers scrambled to cut Wang Mang's body apart. The common people heard that Wang Mang's head was in Wan City, and they "collectively attacked him or cut off his tongue."

"Wang Mang and his new dynasty only lasted for more than ten years before perishing. However, this dynasty left historians with an eternal mystery - that is, what was stored in the treasury of the new dynasty and what was looted from the people. More than 170 tons of gold disappeared in subsequent historical records.

"If the gold in the treasury was divided up by the rebels, there must have been many witnesses at that time. Even if it was divided, it would be impossible for such a large amount of gold to not appear on the market, and it would be impossible for the information to be kept secret. However, there is no record of this in the "Book of Han" and other historical materials, and gold is not seen in the market transactions of the Eastern Han Dynasty and later court rewards.

"China has also entered an era of "gold shortage" and can only rely on copper and iron to make up for the lack of precious metal currency.

"A relatively reasonable explanation for Wang Mang's gold is that the gold of the New Dynasty had been secretly moved to a hidden place before the fall of Chang'an.

"More than one hundred and seventy tons of gold, although it sounds like a lot, is not large in volume. It can be hidden in a secret room, cave, or basement of about ten square meters. If the gold is hidden, people who know about it happen to He and Wang Mang died in the rebellion, so this gold may indeed be isolated from the world and may be discovered at any time."

Meng Ping smiled and said, it seems that it is really possible that something like Raiders of the Lost Ark will happen.

"Yes." Lao Cha said, "The weird stories may be made up, but things cannot disappear out of thin air. They do still exist somewhere, but they have not been discovered, so it is also a scam of these treasure hunts. It can be Get a reason for people to believe.”

"What else is there?" Meng Ping became interested and asked, "What else is there about this disappearing wealth?"

Lao Cha smiled and said: "You use the word well, 'disappeared wealth'. They are indeed disappearing wealth. Perhaps, they are prepared for a prosperous age. As the saying goes, when the saint comes out, the Yellow River becomes clear, and the Yellow River becomes clear." It's not that there is no time to clear up, it's just that there are no saints yet. It's not that this 'disappeared wealth' will never reappear, it's just that the time has not come yet.

"What, Lao Meng, do you still want to hear it?"

"Yes, I think it's very interesting." Meng Ping said.

"There are also those so-called peasant uprising leaders like Zhang Xianzhong. What is the ideal of the peasants? They are the local landlords. Don't listen to the nonsense in the books. No peasant uprising leader's ideal has ever been to save the peasants. Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, The peasant uprisings were all successful. Would the peasants have had a better life in the Han Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty?

“The ideal of peasants is to be a local landlord, and the ideal of these peasant uprising leaders is to be a big landlord, and the biggest landlord is the emperor.

"There are also several 'disappeared fortunes' related to several peasant uprising leaders. One is Huang Chao. Huang Chao revolted. He led his rebel army to cover most of the Chinese territory of the Tang Dynasty, many of which were prosperous places. Everywhere he went, it could be said that he robbed all the local gold and silver treasures.

"He also captured Guangzhou, the largest overseas trade city in the Tang Dynasty, and looted it as well. Among them, tens of thousands of Hu merchants who came to Guangzhou to do business were killed. He finally entered Chang'an and proclaimed himself emperor. Later, he was driven out of Chang'an by the Tang army. The treasures he looted along the way disappeared without a trace after Huang Chao's defeat.

"The second one is Li Zicheng. In March of the 17th year of Chongzhen, the Dashun Army led by Li Zicheng conquered Beijing. Zhu Youjian, Emperor Sizong of the Ming Dynasty, committed suicide and hanged himself in Meishan.

"After taking control of Beijing, Li Zicheng began to extort gold and silver from the officials of the previous dynasty in the city in the name of salary assistance. He stipulated that 'the central hall will be 100,000 yuan, the ministries and imperial robes will be 70,000 or 53,000, and the Dao, Ke, and Li departments will be 50,000 or 30,000. , Hanlin has thirty-two thousand and ten thousand, and when deployed, there are thousands each.'

"Their methods of forcing donations can be said to be all-out. More than 800 officials and wealthy businessmen from the previous dynasty were sent to the military camp of Li Zicheng's general Liu Zongmin to force donations. The Dashun army used various torture methods such as clamping sticks and cannons. , many people were tortured to death, and there are accurate records. They extorted a total of 70 million taels of silver.

"On April 21, 1644 AD, Li Zicheng led his army eastward to conquer Wu Sangui. As a result, he was defeated by Wu Sangui in the Battle of Yishi. After Li Zicheng fled back to Beijing, he only had more than 30,000 men left. Knowing that he could no longer hold Beijing, he prepared to withdraw to Guanzhong.

"Before setting off, he ordered his men to melt the gold and silver forced to donate from officials of the previous dynasty into cakes. Each cake cost tens of thousands of gold, and transported it back to Xi'an on a mule cart.

"From the time he abandoned Beijing in April 1644 to the time he died on Jiugong Mountain in May 1645, Li Zicheng only spent more than a year.

"In such a short period of time, it was impossible for him to spend all the 70 million taels of silver on hand, and the 70 million taels of silver weighed more than 2,000 tons, and Li Zicheng, who was eager to escape, could not transport it with the army.

"If he wants to keep this money as much as possible, his only way is to bury most of it somewhere where others can't easily find it, and then take it back when he makes a comeback. This may be a milestone in Chinese history. The largest piece of 'disappeared wealth' in the world should be hidden somewhere on Li Zicheng's escape from Beijing to Xiangyang.

"The final touch is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The troops of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led by Hong Xiuquan, Lao Meng, you also know that wherever they go, they burn, kill and loot as hard as Huang Chao, and even women and children are packed into the military camps. , women went to the women's camp, children went to the Boy Scouts, and all the looted property was turned over to the public treasury.

"After arriving in Nanjing, Hong Xiuquan's level of debauchery and the wealth he accumulated were no less than those of the emperors of the past dynasties. However, after the fall of Tianjing, this huge wealth also disappeared. At that time, some people said that this wealth was Zeng Guofan's younger brother Zeng Guoquan was smuggled back to Hunan, but this statement is very suspicious.

"Firstly, it is unlikely that Zeng Guofan would condone this, and secondly, even in the Zeng family, such a large fortune did not appear later, so this is another mystery.

"Lao Meng, aren't these interesting?"

Meng Ping nodded and said, "Indeed, this is the first time I have heard that there really is so much wealth scattered in the wilderness."

"These are 'national assets,' and our responsibility is to find these assets, what you call 'lost wealth,'" Lao Zha said.

"So, this is a treasure hunt?" Meng Ping said.

"This is not a game, this is a very serious cause. Think about it, how much contribution each piece of wealth will make to the country as long as it comes to light again?" Lao Cha asked.

"That's right, Lao Cha, what can I do?" Meng Ping said.

"Can I ask you to pay for it?" Lao Cha asked, "We need funds to search for these 'lost wealth'."

"Okay, how much do you need?" Meng Ping said.

Lao Zhan looked at Lao Zhu, and both of them laughed. Lao Zhu said, "Have you seen it? I'll tell you, this guy is easy to deceive."

Lao Cha laughed: "Indeed."

"Screw you, Lao Zhu brought it. Even if I know he is a liar, I will still give him the money!" Meng Ping looked at Lao Zhu and cursed.

Lao Cha continued to laugh and said: "If I ask for money, then I am really a liar. It is one of the countless 'national asset' scams. Remember Lao Meng, they all trick you into paying and then tell you how much you will get." Don’t believe anything in return.”

Thank you to Doll Tin Soldier and Ri Ri Shu Shu for the reward! Thank you, guest ~ for your monthly pass! Thanks for all the votes and reading! I wish you all good health!