In fact, we only look at the owner of Mawangdui Han Tomb, that is, Li Cang, his wife and son. Li Cang lived in the early Han Dynasty and cooperated with Liu Bang to conquer the world. But in the early Western Han Dynasty, there were many heroes, many of whom were capable ministers. Li Cang is really not an important person and has not made much contribution. If you open the historical records, you can hardly see any records about Li Cang, but it is such a person whose family tomb was excavated for more than 2 100 years and caused a sensation.
After all, he was the prime minister of a vassal state. Even though his position was not very high in the early Western Han Dynasty, his cemetery specifications were still relatively high, and there were many funerary objects. It is also a tomb in the early Han Dynasty, with high natural value. But what really makes Mawangdui Han Tomb famous in the world is not how high the specifications of this family tomb are, but because of a female corpse.
There are three tombs in Mawangdui Han Tomb, among which the well-preserved female corpse in Tomb No.1 is the most important discovery in Mawangdui Han Tomb. This woman is the wife of Li Cang, the owner of Tomb No.2, and her name is Mrs. Xin Zhui. Tomb No.3 is their son. When Mrs. Xin Zhui was alive, she not only caused a sensation at home, but also had great influence internationally.
Mrs Xin Zhui died around 165 BC, and her coffin was unearthed at the beginning of 1972, with an interval of 2 137 years. Arguably, a person who has been dead for more than 2,000 years has already rotted, but Mrs. Xin Zhui's body is still intact, her internal organs are also intact, her whole body is moist, her blood vessels are clearly visible, some joints can move, and some tissues are elastic, just like a dead body.
And completely different from mummies, such a body, if not her identity has been confirmed, it is really hard to imagine a body more than 2000 years ago.
Therefore, Mrs. Xin Zhui caused a sensation at home and abroad. Scientists at home and abroad want to study this Mrs. Xin Zhui to see what caused the corpse not to rot, and such a complete corpse more than 2,000 years ago is very valuable for people to study that era, such as medical research.
According to pathological anatomy, Mrs. Xin Zhui suffered from various diseases before her death, such as coronary heart disease, gallstones and atherosclerosis, right upper pulmonary tuberculosis, trichuris eggs in rectum and liver, pinworm eggs and schistosomiasis eggs, congenital gallbladder malformation and fracture. These findings are of great significance for studying the history of ancient diseases and the development of pathology.
Of course, in addition, Mrs. Xin Zhui's body has many other values, which is priceless. So this institution is very interested at home and abroad. Japan had hoped to get a hair of the new wife for research, but it was rejected, and Kissinger, who is in the United States, was also very interested in this body.
Mrs Xin Zhui's body was excavated at the beginning of 1972, which coincided with Kissinger's visit to China. He learned that a wet corpse that didn't rot more than 2,000 years ago was unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, and made a general understanding of the excavation situation. Then he demanded that the lunar soil brought from the moon by the United States be replaced with charcoal outside the coffin of Mawangdui tomb, and that the lunar soil be replaced with charcoal. In Kissinger's view, we can't refuse such an exchange.
Moon soil is really precious. At that time, the American Apollo program was in progress, and American astronauts landed on the moon and brought it back from the moon. Lunar soil is of great significance for studying the soil on the surface of the moon and whether it is suitable for human survival. And at that time, only the United States achieved this feat, and other countries, including China, could not.
We naturally want moon soil, but if we compare the moon soil with the charcoal in Mawangdui Han Tomb, the value of the former is far less than that of the latter. It is only a matter of time before we get the lunar soil, but we will get it in the future.
The charcoal in Mawangdui Han Tomb is only available in China, and it was owned by the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. Other countries can't have it. There was no charcoal at that time, and there will be no charcoal in the future. In this case, the exchange is actually very unequal, so Kissinger was rejected.
So, what is the function of charcoal in Mawangdui Han Tomb, and why does Kissinger want it so much? And why do we choose to protect the charcoal of Mawangdui under the temptation of lunar soil?
In fact, this is not ordinary charcoal, nor is it a common charcoal in our lives. Charcoal in Mawangdui Han Tomb played a great role. Let's look at Mrs Xin Zhui's tomb. The top of Tomb No.1 is wide and the bottom is narrow, and the tomb is filled and sealed. Mrs. Xin Zhui's coffin is in the center of the tomb, surrounded by charcoal with a thickness of 40 cm to 50 cm, which can absorb water and prevent moisture to keep the tomb dry, and has other functions.
On the other hand, charcoal is covered with more than one meter thick white mud paste. Because of its own characteristics, white mud paste can maintain the tightness of tombs to the greatest extent. The white mud paste is covered with rammed earth, which is more than ten meters deep, so that the coffins wrapped in layers can reach a closed environment with constant temperature, hypoxia and sterility.
The coffin is a four-story coffin with Mrs. Xin Zhui's body in the middle. Its body is soaked in about 80 liters of colorless and transparent liquid. As far as the body is concerned, Mrs. Xin Zhui wore 20 layers of silk and linen clothes after her death, which were covered with two silk robes. It can be said that Mrs. Xin Zhui's body was wrapped and preserved one by one, and the anti-corrosion work was well done, which ensured that the body more than 2,000 years ago would not rot.
Charcoal plays a very important role in anti-corrosion work, so it is worth studying, their internal structure, chemical properties, specific functions and so on. It should be studied well, which is of great significance to the development of anti-corrosion technology now. So Kissinger really wants to get some charcoal and bring it back to China for scientists to study and apply it to the current anti-corrosion project to maximize the anti-corrosion performance and anti-corrosion time.
Of course, Kissinger knows the goods, and we are not stupid. Since charcoal can be used outside the coffin, the body in the coffin will not rot for more than 2000 years, and its importance is self-evident. This is the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors. Naturally, we should pay attention to it and study it well, and we should not let such good things flow abroad. It is based on this consideration that even if Kissinger exchanges lunar soil, we will not change.