From June 5438 to February 2007, Nanhai No.1 was successfully salvaged from the sea near Hailing Island in Yangjiang City and successfully entered the Crystal Palace. This news has attracted the attention of many experts and scholars, and has become the exciting point of all China people and major media. The origin and destination of this ancient sunken ship, its rich cultural relics and its important archaeological value have aroused heated discussions and debates from all walks of life. Most people think that Nanhai No.1 was a cargo ship sailing on the Maritime Silk Road from China to India and even the Middle East more than 800 years ago in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, but some people speculate that Nanhai No.1 may be the last trench ship of the Southern Song Dynasty who fled to Yamen Haikou, Xinhui District, Jiangmen City more than 720 years ago to avoid the pursuit of the Yuan Army. This view attracted the attention of the author, so I investigated the relevant historical materials and thought that this possibility could not be ruled out. I try to put forward the following conjectures and questions for the reference of people of insight. Does "Nanhai No.1" coincide with the sinking age and sinking sea area of the trench ship sailing in the Southern Song Dynasty?
At present, "Nanhai No.1" has produced more than 1000 pieces of ancient copper coins, and the latest one is "Jianyan" copper coins from Zhao Gou, Song Gaozong. Many scholars believe that Nanhai No.1 was an export merchant ship more than 800 years ago in the early Southern Song Dynasty (A.D.1127-11), but some scholars think that it is not reliable to date Nanhai No.1 with the latest copper coins because it is well known. It continued until the early Yuan Dynasty, when the export of copper coins and silver was forbidden in the Song Dynasty. However, Nanhai No.1 only has tens of thousands of ancient copper coins and a large number of gold and silver ornaments in a broken warehouse, and there may be coins of other dates in the Southern Song Dynasty in the unbroken cabin of the ship, so it is too early to date Nanhai No.1 now. After all the relics of Nanhai No.1 have been cleared, its age is the most accurate, but judging from the current situation, Nanhai No.1 was a shipwreck in the Southern Song Dynasty. Whether it has something to do with the last trip to Korea in the Southern Song Dynasty remains to be seen.
There is a message worthy of attention, that is, the sea area near Hailing Island in Yangjiang, where the Nanhai No.1 shipwreck is located, is highly consistent with the sea area carried out by North Korea in the late Southern Song Dynasty. According to historical records, such as The History of Song Dynasty, Zi Zhi Tong Jian, Ya Shan Lu, Three Generations of Politicians in Song Dynasty, Preface to Shi Jing's Grand Ceremony, Conquering Two Kings, etc. 1276, Yang and Chen, Lu Xiufu, Zhang Shijie and other ministers of civil and military affairs of Southern Song Dynasty established Zhao Chang in Fuzhou. Subsequently, under the escort of more than 1000 warships and trench ships, a voyage to the DPRK was set up, and it went south to Guangdong along the coast. It has been stationed in Nan 'ao Island in Shantou, Jiazimen in Huizhou, Kowloon in Hong Kong, Guanfuchang in Zhuhai, etc., and then passed Yamen in Xinhui and Hailing Island in Yangjiang, and arrived at Weizhou Island on the leizhou bay in Zhanjiang, ready to move to Zhancheng, which now belongs to Vietnam. During this period, due to the typhoon raid, Emperor Jing Yan fell into the sea and died. Empress Dowager Yang and others had to make his half-brother Zhao Min Emperor Xiangxing. After Song Jun failed to attack Leizhou, the Yuan Army occupied Hainan Island and cut off the sea route to Zhancheng in the Song Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty had to sail back to the cliff mountain on the coast of Xinhui Cliff Sea through the sea area of Hailing Island in Yangjiang, and established the palace (dynasty) of the Southern Song Dynasty, which finally fought hard with the Yuan Army Cliff Sea, during which it passed through the sea area where Nanhai No.1 sank.
The decisive battle between Cliff and Sea ended with the annihilation of the whole army in the Southern Song Dynasty and the death of Prime Minister Lu Xiufu. Song Shuai Zhang Shijie led down archers to drive 16 warships to break through the encirclement of the Yuan Army. After the Yuan Army withdrew from the yamen gate, he found and escorted Queen Yang back to the cliff mountain. Queen Yang did know that after Mindi, she threw herself into the sea and died. Zhang Shijie and others hastily built an oyster shell mausoleum to bury the Empress Dowager, and then led the remaining warships and trench ships to the waters near Hailing Island in Yangjiang (namely Nanhai No.1 shipwreck), which was finally destroyed by a typhoon.
Judging from the above historical facts, Nanhai I and the defeated army in the Southern Song Dynasty sank into the sea three times and were hit by typhoons many times. After a long voyage, this ship with a heavy load is likely to sink here. Does the sunken ship match?
How did Nanhai No.1 sink? Is it a natural disaster or a man-made disaster? According to relevant reports, the situation in the sea area where the "Nanhai No.1" shipwreck is located is relatively simple. There are no reefs underwater, the seabed is flat and the route is close to the coastline. Andy, director of the Center for Underwater Archaeology of the National Museum and the main person in charge of the underwater archaeology of Nanhai No.1 (who twice led a team to Yamen, Xinhui, to conduct underwater archaeological investigations of the Asian-Sea War in the Song and Yuan Dynasties), thinks that it can basically be judged that Nanhai No.1 did not sink rapidly, but inclined. So many things on the ship rolled down the side of the sunken ship. These conditions are consistent with the characteristics of heavy loads being sunk by typhoons.
Looking up historical records, the author confirmed that there were many typhoons during the exile in the Southern Song Dynasty and when Nanhai No.1 sank. What is even more fascinating is that no ancient bones have been found in Nanhai No.1 and its surrounding areas so far. Experts said that "Nanhai No.1" was a wooden ship, which sank slowly at that time, with a total length of about 30.5 meters and a width of 9.8 meters. The hull is not big, and the doors and windows are not high. When a shipwreck occurs, the crew on board can escape, but it is doubtful how to escape to the farther shore after the shipwreck (see the report of Southern Metropolis Daily on February 26, 2007, 1). To be sure, it is impossible without the rescue of the peer fleet, so some scholars speculate that it is precisely because "Nanhai No.1" may be the last trench ship in the Southern Song Dynasty that its crew may be rescued by the peer fleet when it sinks. A large number of porcelain treasures produced by Nanhai No.1 are consistent with the palace supplies of the Southern Song Dynasty?
According to domestic media reports, Nanhai No.1 has initially recovered more than 6,000 pieces of gold, silver, copper, iron and porcelain. It is estimated that these cultural relics are only a very small part of the total amount carried by the whole ship, but this alone is enough to leave a huge imagination space for professional researchers and folk enthusiasts. Many of them think that only commercial export ships can have such a large load, and infer that Nanhai No.1 is a China merchant ship bound for India or Arabia according to the characteristics of the western regions of individual water artifacts.
However, some people have made a bolder guess that the ship owners may be Yang, the last queen of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Zhao Min and Zhao Min, the last two emperors.
According to historical records, as early as 1275, before Queen Xie led Xian Di to lower the Yuan in Lin 'an (now Hangzhou), Yang left Lin 'an with his son Zhao Min, Ji Wang and his other son Zhao Min, and all his belongings. It can be seen that Yang and the two kings still retain most of the palace supplies and treasures. After Empress Xie and Xian Di reduced the yuan, Chen, Lu Xiufu, Zhang Shijie and other guards, Yang and Erwang boarded the boat and went out to sea from Zhoushan. All belongings and palace supplies should be loaded on the trench boat and set out with the team. It can be seen from thousands of pieces of porcelain from Nanhai No.1 that there are more than 30 kinds of fine ceramics from famous kilns in Song Dynasty, such as Dehua kiln, Cizao kiln, Jingdezhen kiln and Longquan kiln. According to experts' research, most of these rare porcelains can be classified as national first-and second-class cultural relics. If it is not an advanced merchant ship, it can only be owned and collected by the royal family.
Coincidentally, in 1996, in a place called "Emperor's Bowl and Dish Mountain" in Gujingguanchong, which is very close to the grass market in the Southern Song Dynasty, cultural relics experts in Guangdong Province and Xinhui City discovered more than 4,000 ancient porcelain bottles in rows and stacked in just two places (see "Ancient Kiln Site in Guanchong, Xinhui City, Guangdong Province" by Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Xinhui City Museum). Like some porcelains of Nanhai No.1, the bottom of these porcelains also has some words engraved with suspected names (see Guangzhou Daily 2007+02.23a3). In addition, the types of ceramics unearthed in the two places are mostly plates, cans, bowls, lamps and saucers. Whether they are related or disprove that Xinhui coastal area may also be a small port in the Maritime Silk Road needs further study and textual research. Are the gold and silver ornaments and women's cosmetics produced by Nanhai No.1 consistent with those of the royal family such as Empress Dowager Yang in the Southern Song Dynasty?
Surprisingly, Nanhai I had so many gold, silver, jewelry and women's cosmetics. First of all, gold wares are the most striking and imposing objects, including a gold belt with a length of 1.7 m woven with four strands of eight gold wires and decorated with garlands on the surface, a gold bracelet with a thumb thickness of more than four ounces and a dragon pattern, and other gold ornaments. These jewels are enough to prove that the owner is either rich or expensive, which is very prominent. Some people suspect that Nanhai No.1' s employer is an unusually tall and rich foreigner, but others question why Nanhai No.1 has not found any foreign loans and other foreign daily necessities so far. It is impossible for foreign businessmen to trade in the sea without their own currency and daily necessities, so some scholars and enthusiasts point out that the dragon pattern is a symbol of the supremacy of the royal family. In the hierarchical feudal society, even the wealthy businessmen and dignitaries in North Korea dared not dive or decorate their bracelets with dragon patterns. Judging from the information reflected in the above gold ornaments, these ornaments do not exclude Queen Yang or Di Min, belonging to the late Southern Song Dynasty.
What is even more surprising is that Nanhai No.1 also produces female cosmetics such as bronze mirrors, colored silks, rouge boxes, Song Dynasty combs and cinnabar. Ms. Du, former deputy director of Ningxia Institute of Archaeology and an expert on the Maritime Silk Road, pointed out that in the coastal areas of China, there has been a concept that women should not be taken out to sea since ancient times, so women are generally not allowed to accompany China civilian ships. If there are no women in Nanhai No.1 Middle School, why are there so many articles about women? Some people speculate that it is the wife of a foreign businessman, and some even speculate that the last trip to the Western Ocean in the Southern Song Dynasty included not only Queen Yang and accompanying ladies-in-waiting, but also a large number of wives of civil and military ministers. It is not surprising that there are so many women's articles on board, which seems to add speculation to people's imagination. Nanhai No.1 may be the last trench ship in the Southern Song Dynasty. Do the copper coins in the water match the ancient coins unearthed in Xinhui?
As we all know, Xinhui, Guangdong Province was the site of the Yamen naval battle in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, which eventually led to the complete demise of the Song Dynasty and the rise of the Yuan Dynasty. 1On February 25th, 995, several tons of ancient copper coins were unearthed at the site of Nanxing Road in Xinhui County (see the front page of Xinhui Daily on February 28th, 2005 and Yangcheng Evening News on February 3rd, 2006). This archaeological discovery stirred up a thousand waves at one time. There are 49 kinds of ancient copper coins, besides Shaoxing and Trunk Road coins in Song Dynasty, there are more than 10000 copper coins from Nanhai No.1 this time. They have not only Yan's copper coins, but also five baht in Han Dynasty, Kaiyuan in Tang Dynasty and Bao Tong in Gan Yuan. At that time, some scholars suggested that the ancient copper coins were unearthed in Xinhui more than 700 years ago, on the bank of Yinzhou Lake connected with Yahai. This batch of copper coins may have been evacuated to Xinhui yamen by the last dynasty of the Southern Song Dynasty, and hastily buried in this beach not far from Yamen when defeated.
If the two batches of copper coins come from the same source, then the origin of Nanhai No.1 is really puzzling.
The above five guesses may be far-fetched or purely coincidental, and they are specially proposed for reference by people of insight to help the study of Nanhai No.1.