Witchcraft

  The above story took place between March and April 1979, which was thirty years ago, the prelude and cause of the Yunnan investigation. According to Duan Yuwen's account, later Qin Guiren and two others, after witnessing a young woman walking out of the bronze coffin, due to being unable to get a reasonable explanation, the three people quietly left that Miao village in a state of panic and astonishment.

  Qin Guiren understood in his heart that this series of events was absolutely not trivial, and if things went wrong, it might become a major discovery at home, so when they withdrew from the mountain forest, the three of them secretly made detailed marks.

  Later, the three people went north along the Lancang River and soon found their way back home. After returning to their unit, they underwent a round of interrogation because the military wanted to make sure they had not deserted during the war. After a series of complex interrogations, Qin Guiren and his companions were awarded medals of different levels.

  After that, another year passed, and the three people retired from the army one after another, starting their own lives, but the strange experiences they had in Yunnan borderlands were never forgotten by any of them.

  Qin Guiren had tried to tell these things to relevant professionals, but because many of the plots in the story seemed too absurd, many people did not believe their experiences. However, there is one thing that can serve as evidence of this series of strange experiences - that is, the bronze vase that Qin Guiren secretly took out from the village.

  He had tried to send photos of the bronze drums to some famous historians at that time, but all the photos and letters were sent in vain. Until one day, a man named Wang Chengbao wrote him a long letter.

  Wang Chengbao first expressed his attitude in the letter - he completely believed in Qin Guiren's experiences in Yunnan and hoped that Qin Guiren could take him to the Miao village for a visit and make a detailed investigation.

  In this narrative, Duan Yiweng's account is somewhat vague because, according to Qin Guiren's own recollection, he did not remember sending a letter to someone named Wang Chengbao. So how did Wang Chengbao know about Qin Guiren's experience? This was also something that my father and Duan Yiweng found very puzzling, but I didn't care about this, I just wanted to know what had happened during that inspection tour in Yunnan, so Duan Yiweng continued to tell the story:

  Under the planning of Wang Chengbao, a five-person inspection team completed their first meeting in a very short period of time.

  That was in a teahouse in Chengdu, Sichuan, where the Qin brothers showed the bronze vase to Wang Chengbao.

  Wang Chengbao picked up the bronze vase and put it in his hand, first weighing it, then looking at the pattern carved on the vessel, and handed it to my father, saying: "Fan Ge, take a look."

  Wang Chengbao's knowledge is broad and specialized. Although he mainly studied history, he also has a certain understanding of archaeology and cultural relic identification, which is similar to my father.

  My father picked up the bronze vase, he looked at it more carefully than Wang Chengbao, and finally nodded: "Old Wang, you are right, this bronze has a history of at least two thousand years."

  The Qin brothers, who were standing by, heard this and their eyes lit up. They asked, "You two are professionals, we're just rough men who don't understand anything. What do you think this thing is worth?"

  Wang Chengbao and my father looked at each other and smiled, responding: "Although this thing is from a distant era, its shape is mediocre and there's nothing special about it. Moreover, with the current domestic archaeological activities in full swing, such bronze artifacts are actually quite common. If you want to sell it, you can naturally sell it, but it won't be worth much money."

  The Qin brothers seemed a bit disheartened upon hearing this. Their inquiry, although somewhat worldly, was a normal reaction that ordinary people should have.

  My father returned the bronze vessel to Qin Guiren and said: "Judging from its age, it should be a relic of the ancient Dian Kingdom."

  The Qin brothers looked at each other in dismay, they could recite the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Jin, Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties that had once unified the Central Plains of China, but as for what the ancient Dian Kingdom was, they didn't have a clear understanding.

  Then my father gave them a detailed explanation:

  More than two thousand years ago, along the shores of Dianchi Lake, there was an ancient slave kingdom established by many ethnic minorities in Yunnan. Sima Qian referred to it as "Dian" in his book "Records of the Grand Historian".

  The territory of the ancient Dian Kingdom was not as vast as that of the Western Han Dynasty at that time, but it was also a vast kingdom at that time. Its territory roughly included the entire Kunming City, most of Qujing and Yuxi, and parts of Honghe Prefecture, Chuxiong Prefecture and Wenshan Prefecture.

  The history of the ancient Dian Kingdom originated in the early Warring States period and disappeared in the early Eastern Han Dynasty. The reason why the ancient Dian Kingdom is said to have disappeared in the early Eastern Han Dynasty is that from the 1st century AD, the mysterious and ancient Dian Kingdom suddenly disappeared without a trace. People do not know why it disappeared, nor do they know where the people of the ancient Dian Kingdom went. In short, the entire Dian Kingdom disappeared into the long river of history.

  It is worth mentioning that in the entire history of ancient Dian, the first unified dynasty was actually established by a Han Chinese. From 300 BC to 280 BC, Chu general Zhuang Qiao led his troops to attack the Dianchi area on behalf of the King of Chu. Unexpectedly, Qin general Sima Cuo seized the Qianzhong Prefecture from Chu and cut off Zhuang Qiao's retreat route, causing him to lose contact with Chu. The enraged Zhuang Qiao defeated Sima Cuo's troops and decided to change his allegiance, introducing Central Plains culture on a large scale to the Dian area. Soon, ancient Dian flourished rapidly, and Zhuang Qiao naturally became the king of Dian with the support of the people.

  Of course, it is a bit far-fetched to draw such a conclusion solely from the age of a bronze vessel. However, there is another historical fact that can serve as strong evidence, which is that the bronze culture in the southwestern region has almost become a calling card for the ancient Dian Kingdom. The people of the ancient Dian Kingdom had an almost fanatical reverence for bronze, and they not only produced bronze tripods with obvious Central Plains cultural characteristics, but also other bronze vessels, bronze weapons, and many of their handicrafts were also made of bronze, such as bronze drums and bronze mirrors, whose production techniques were impeccable.

  Many people think that it was Zhuang Qiao who brought Central Plains culture into southern Yunnan, making Dian Kingdom prosperous rapidly. However, the actual situation is that before Zhuang Qiao entered Yunnan, ethnic minorities in central Yunnan had already entered the Bronze Age civilization. In 1955, an accidental archaeological activity in China made ancient Dian Kingdom reappear, and even found the famous "Seal of the King of Dian".

  However, the "Seal of the King of Dian" was not something to be proud of for the subjects of the ancient Dian Kingdom, as it represented their subjugation to Emperor Wu of Han at that time.

  The Qin brothers listened to my father and Wang Chengbao talking endlessly about the history of Yunnan, for a time, it was cloudy and foggy, listening with wide eyes and mouth agape. Finally, Qin Guiren interrupted: "You two are experts, don't need to tell me too much detail, I just want to know what kind of people those villagers are, that's all."

  Of course, neither my father nor Wang Chengbao was the kind of person who liked to show off his knowledge. They had their own reasons for telling the history of Yunnan Province. Neither of them was interested in studying some established historical events, especially Wang Chengbao, who had an extraordinary passion for those historical mysteries. When he persuaded my father to come to Yunnan with him, he made a bold conjecture in front of my father.

  "My father said: 'As we just discussed, the ancient Dian Kingdom was a slave kingdom composed of different ethnic groups. The first king was even an outsider from the Han ethnic group. Although Zhuang Qiao was later elected as the king of Dian by the people, it cannot be ruled out that some minority ethnic groups in the central region of Dian did not obey Zhuang Qiao's orders. In a kingdom with so many ethnic groups, it is impossible to say there were no ethnic conflicts.'"

  Wang Chengbao continued my father's words and said: "So, at the time of the founding of Dian, it is very likely that a group of Dian people left the central region of Dian due to dissatisfaction."

  Qin Guiren took a sip of tea, seemingly still not understanding Wang Chengbao's meaning.

  Wang Chengbao, who always had a bit of a temper, couldn't help but get impatient and said: "Oh dear, you soldiers really are blockheads. We've already explained it to you, how can you still not understand? To put it simply, Fan Ge and I both think that the village you found is very likely to be the remnants of the ancient Dian Kingdom."