Liye Qin bamboo slips were excavated from an ancient well in Liye ancient city, Longshan County, western Hunan. The contents of Liye Qin bamboo slips are mostly official archives, involving social politics, economy, military, law, nationality, postal service, trade and other levels at that time. It is the only chronicle of Daqin Empire in China.
Liye, located in the hinterland of Wuling Mountain in Hunan Province, is a remote town at the junction of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou provinces, belonging to Longshan County in western Hunan, 124 kilometers south of Longshan County.
There are military castles built by Chu State during the Warring States Period, which were used to open up the territory and defend against the attack of Qin State. At the end of the Warring States Period, the army of Qin invaded the Youshui River Basin from Wujiang River Basin, and the Chu army was forced to move eastward, so the ancient city was abandoned.
during the reign of Kangxi in the Qing dynasty, Liye built streets and docks, and during the reign of Yongzheng, Liye pond was set up, which gradually became a market. With its superior traffic location, profound cultural accumulation and once very prosperous trade, it is also known as the four ancient towns in western Hunan with Wangcun, Pushi and Chadong.
The ancient city of Liye was built near the river, close to Youshui, and the scale of the site was about 2, square meters. Three ancient wells were found in this area. The first ancient well was made of wood, and there were 17 layers of deposits in the well. Bamboo and wood bamboo slips were found from the fifth floor, and there were nearly 3, bamboo and wood slips in the first ancient well, with clear characters.
the discovery of the ancient city has filled the gap in the archaeology of the ancient cities in the Qin and Han dynasties in western Hunan and even in the whole country, especially in the Qin dynasty. Because the Qin Dynasty has only a short history of 15 years, there are not many documents and few preserved sites, the discovery of the ancient city of Liye is very precious.
The content recorded in each bamboo slip is a precious history of the Qin Dynasty. As the bamboo slips are translated page by page, the history of the Qin Dynasty will be rewritten, and the mysteries of the ages will be solved, so Liye began to be known to the world.
in Chinese literature, there are very few documents and cultural relics about the Qin dynasty, which brings great inconvenience to people's understanding of the Qin dynasty and its previous history.
There are a great number of Qin Dynasty bamboo slips discovered by Li Ye, which cover all aspects. They are a series of political, economic and cultural exchanges between Chu, Ba, Qin and ethnic minorities during the Qin Dynasty, revealing many unsolved mysteries and are the most critical materials for studying the history of Qin.
These Qin Dynasty bamboo slips, which have been buried for more than 2,2 years, date from 222 BC to 28 BC, which is quite a year. The details of the notes go to the month, the day and the last ten years.
Including complete bamboo slips and incomplete bamboo slips, the number of words on Liye Qin bamboo slips is between 2, and 3,, the font belongs to ancient Li, and most of the contents are official files.
The content covers politics, military affairs, agriculture, mulberry, baigong, Huo Zhi, taxation, corvee, law, finance, postal service, geography, transportation, nationality, culture, official, calendar and other levels in the Qin Dynasty, including postal service, armament, arithmetic, notes, administrative setup, official and nationality.
There are dozens of place names mentioned in Qin bamboo slips, such as Qianling, Linyuan, Dongting, Yiyang, Youyang, Yuanling, Yangling, etc. The official positions are Sikong, Sima Cheng, Shou Cheng, Ling Shou, etc., and many of them are accompanied by names, such as "Qianling Shoucheng Teng".
In Xiangxi, a kind of plant called reed grass can be seen everywhere, and its stem can be used as the core of candles. Before 22, under the light of candles made of reed stalks, official documents were copied in this way, and then sent to other places along the Youshui River by special messengers.
The Youshui River was the main passage for letters and materials in those years. It took a day to walk down the Youshui River and reach Yuanshui. The rugged mountain road on the mountain is steep and bumpy, but in the Qin Dynasty, this path was the only way from moving the tomb to Sichuan. Reed grass and wild fruit, which grew here all the year round, once enjoyed the dust raised by the postman running on the post road ...
There is such a letter in the bamboo slips, which was written one day in 215 BC. A county magistrate named Se humbly reported to his superiors that your letter had been received. The word "dare to speak" in the letter is a polite expression; "Hurry" means to let the postman deliver the letter as quickly as possible; "Xin hand" is the name of the secretary who copied the official document. All these reflect the language style of Qin Dynasty.
"postman", that is, the postman, was a national public official in the Qin Dynasty and could enjoy the treatment of tax reduction and exemption. Therefore, although this position is hard, it is also a dream position for many people.
what is recorded on a bamboo slip is a report from the head of Qiling Township asking his superiors to appoint a man named Cheng as a postman. Perhaps the superior officials saw the township head's attempt to sponsor his relatives, or the postman had a candidate in the mind of the superior officials, and the request for instructions was refuted.
A brief note on another slip says that Shou Chengse, who moved the tomb, told another official that the money and cloth you asked for had already started to be shipped according to your order. That is to say, the postman at that time not only had to shoulder the task of delivering letters, but also undertook the work of delivering parcels.
in the Qin bamboo slips, there is a fine bill for moving to Lingxian County, in which "one shield" and "one armor" refer to the amount, which means that the wrongdoer should pay a shield or a pair of armor.
"Be patient" means shaving off the beard and sideburns. This kind of punishment is to write mistakes on your face and let others know that he is a punished person. Many bronze razors in Liye site are still sharp. I wonder how many people's beards and sideburns they shaved off that year.
It is intolerable for officials to make mistakes. According to Qin bamboo slips, in one year, the county magistrate of Qianling County changed from "color" to "capital".
The stock of crossbows in the armory of Qianling County was recorded in detail on an inventory document of the armory of Qianling County, and the number of crossbows sent to Yiyang and Yuanling and the remaining stock were recorded in great detail.
The crossbow was the most advanced weapon in the war at that time, with a range of 3 meters. Judging from the exquisite blood groove on the bronze arrowhead in the site, its lethality was quite strong.
One day in 215 BC, the guards who moved the mausoleum asked their superiors whether the number of slaves they bought was legal. This passage shows that after Qin Shihuang unified China, there were still slave trading activities here.
The complete "99 formula table", postal documents sent to Dongting County, the monthly consumption of rations, and the implementation of laws are also recorded in the Qin bamboo slips in Liye ... These written records vividly revived the history of the Qin Dynasty and provided a broad and informative understanding for the society of the Qin Dynasty.
In addition, Liye Qin bamboo slips occupy an important position in the history of Chinese calligraphy, which is a valuable calligraphy heritage and will surely become a treasure house for Chinese calligraphers to study and learn.
There are a large number of bamboo slips found in Liye Qin Bamboo Slips, including ancient seal script, ancient official script, official script with regular script in the middle of the official script, etc. Most of the characters and fonts belong to the official script of Qin Dynasty, which evolved from the small seal script and are similar to those of the Qin Bamboo Slips in Shuihudi, Longgang, Hubei.
such a large number of bamboo slips are of great significance for studying the history of Chinese calligraphy, especially the evolution of Qin dynasty characters and Qin dynasty calligraphy, as well as Xiao zhuan and Li Shu.
In addition, the Qin bamboo slips in Liye are "living fossils" of the world postal system. On a Qin bamboo slip like an arrow, there is the words "The tomb has been moved to Dongting by post". This is also the earliest known letter object in China. Liye Qin bamboo slips confirmed that as early as the Qin Dynasty, China had a strict postal book system.