Riding the wind of rebirth

In fact, Zhou Zhi is not that worried about this. What he is doing is more like product development than academic research.

If we use science and engineering as an example, what he does is actually more similar to the work of engineering in the liberal arts, which is to apply theoretical knowledge to production and life practice. For example, Hanwen Large Font Library is the most typical example.

However, the old men's reminders are worth taking seriously. It is not a big deal to embarrass oneself, but it will affect the reputation of the Gu family, which Zhou Zhi cannot accept.

"The study of oracle bone inscriptions is a good thing." Old Master Wang nodded. "It fits the idea of ​​Chinese characters very well. I heard that it helped us figure out the meanings of many characters?"

"Yes." Zhou Zhi was quite proud when he talked about this. "For example, the upper part of the word 'he' in 'gouhe' is a variant of the word 'jing' in 'trap'. How did this word come about? The character 'you' on the right is actually the root of 'hand' in seal script, and the upper part of the character 'rui' on the left is actually a wooden or bone farm tool similar to '臿', and the lower part 'kou' is actually a pictograph of a pit."

"So the original meaning of this word is holding a digging tool in your hand and digging a hole in the ground."

"In oracle bone script, the writing of 坑 is similar to this, but there is no root for hand, so people initially interpreted the 臿, which represents farm tools, as a pictograph of a person, and the 坑 in 坑 was interpreted as a pictograph of a person falling into a pit."

"After we handed the root analysis over to Xiaozhi, he first searched for the seal script of the character 'he' in the Shuowen Jiezi Jijie, and then searched the oracle bone script database based on this seal script. He found several characters for 井 that we thought were variants in the past, and believed that those characters with the hand root were the true original characters for 井."

"We previously understood 臿 as a person and thought it was the original character, but it is actually a variant character, an abbreviation."

"The removal of the hands did not affect people's understanding of the meaning of the character at the time, but the meaning was misinterpreted during its later circulation."

"After deciphering this character, we also understood the origin of the character 坑. The right part of it also came from the corruption of the early oracle bone script 坑, but this time the tool was lost and it became an image of a person digging a pit with his hands."

"This explanation is obviously more scientific, and it is also a surprise to introduce neural network algorithms into the Oracle matching project. Xiao Miao has made an indelible contribution to this process."

"We have currently deciphered more than 300 oracle bone characters through root analysis, of which more than 100 are variants and more than 200 are single characters. If it were a few years ago, I would throw out a few every year. I'm afraid that Master will not give me a doctorate degree?"

"What you said before was quite pleasing, but the last sentence is outrageous!" Grandpa Qi has studied epigraphy for a lifetime, so he naturally knows the significance of the achievement of deciphering more than 300 ancient characters.

Especially for single-character words, the deciphering of each single-character word means that a large amount of information contained in the ancient characters has been deciphered. At the same time, it forms a network connection with the surrounding words and sentences, which is a force that cannot be underestimated in promoting the work of oracle bone inscriptions.

Cracking more than 300 characters at once can be regarded as another milestone in the history of oracle bone inscriptions.

"This is a short-term explosive growth brought about by the introduction of new technologies and new tools. It is not sustainable." Seeing the two elders' eyes begin to light up, Zhou Zhi quickly gave them a shot of prevention.

“Hahaha,” Mr. Wang patted Zhou Zhi on the back happily. “Thank you, Xiao Miao. If someone uses this or that to slander you in the future, this will be a shield. More than 300 words! Knowing computers makes a difference!”

"Xiao Miao has always been a sweetheart!" Zhou Zhi smiled and rubbed Mai Xiaomiao's hair: "It's just that I couldn't play well with her this time."

"There are plenty of opportunities! Come again next time!" Old Master Wang took out a copper coin and handed it to Mai Xiaomiao: "Take this and play with it. It's a perfect match with the elbow!" "Oh, I can't use this!" Zhou Zhi quickly stood up: "This is too precious."

"This is from Emperor Xianfeng, and it's far inferior to your one knife equal to five thousand coins. Don't take it seriously!"

"This is Bao Gongdang Qiandiaomu!"

It seems that there is always such a rule in ancient Chinese coins. Whenever there is inflation, the country will choose to issue large coins. The large coin policy is painful for the people, but it is a blessing for later ancient coin collectors.

During the reign of Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty, the Taiping Rebellion developed rapidly and established its capital in Nanjing. The Qing government minted mainly Yunnan copper, and the Taiping Army blocked traffic, which hindered the transportation of Yunnan copper.

In order to make up for the shortage of copper and the large military expenditure, the Qing government began to issue paper money and mint large coins in the third year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign to solve the financial problem. At one time, all regions minted large coins of the Xianfeng era. Not only did the coin types emerge one after another, but the size was reversed. It was not uncommon for a 100-yuan coin to be smaller than a 50-yuan coin. The chaotic currency system hindered the development of the social economy.

These large coins were issued in very small quantities, and before being issued, copper plates needed to be carved into coin samples for recasting. These coin samples are called "mother carvings". The number of surviving mother carvings is even smaller than that of copper coins.

The "big copper plate" in Mai Xiaomiao's hand now is such a carving master. There are basically no signs of use. The patina is an extremely fine passivation film without any rust. The whole body is glowing with copper, which is dazzling under the light.

The carving technique is exquisite, and the turning points and strokes of the characters are vividly expressed. On the front is the four characters "Xianfeng Yuanbao" in regular script, and on the back is the Manchu characters "Dangqian" above and below, and "Baogong" on the left and right."

The surface finish of the money meat is as smooth as modern polishing. Anyone who takes a look at this exquisite carving can tell that it is a good thing.

This mother coin certainly cannot be compared with the value of Zhouzhi's Han Dynasty Yidaoping Wuqian coin mother coin, but it is also one of the big coins that frequently appears in coin collection magazines. Everyone thinks that this is the most exquisite big coin mother coin known to the world so far.

"It's not for you, it's for Xiao Miao, why are you so upset?" Old Man Wang looked like an old man who gives children New Year's money and tries to stop parents from accepting it.

"Thank you, Xiao Miao, for finding us a snuff bottle." Grandpa Qi also took out a small seal made of Shoushan stone and said, "I don't have anything useful at the moment. Xiao Miao, you don't have your own seal, right? Take this and play with it."

"What is this?" Zhou Zhi took out a piece of paper and printed it down, and found that the two words "Chun Ya" were written in seal script on it.

Mr. Qi himself was the president of the Xiling Seal Society, but he had a habit of never making seals himself. The seals he used for calligraphy and painting were all gifts from friends and his own collection of ancient seals.

"Deng Shiru, you're familiar with me, right?"

"No, there are several of his seal scripts in the Shu University Museum. I also have a couplet of his: Autumn water of Nanhua on the seat; Spring mountain of Beiyuan between the screens." (End of this chapter)