After turning it over with a shovel, the worker noticed a hole underneath the log. A few strangely shaped rocks fell out. They also emit sparkling light in the sunlight. Therefore, the worker immediately took them to a place with clean water. Who would have thought that these rocks were actually silver coins. One of them can still see the inscription above: “The 10th year of Sung Trinh, silver direction fifty-two, silversmith Khuong Quoc Khanh” . There are 10 silver coins in total.

Some of the silver coins were found inside the log. (Photo: Sohu).

Immediately, he informed the manager, who contacted the cultural relics management agency of Banh Son district. Through preliminary assessment, experts believe that this is a money mandarin of the Ming Dynasty . News that the irrigation construction team recovered the silver spread throughout the town. Many people brave the danger of diving to the bottom of the river to find treasure. The Sichuan provincial government had to dispatch police to guard 24/7 the area where the antiques were found.

According to Mr. Ngo Thien Van, Director of the Banh Son Cultural Relics Management Department, the piece of wood found is Thanh Cuong Trong . In many historical records, Thanh Cuong Thuong was a tool to hide treasures of Truong Hien Trung  – the leader of the peasant uprising movement at the end of the Ming Dynasty. This tool is a hollow piece of wood, both ends are covered with iron, in the middle is used to insert silver bars. Thus, these diamonds and silver plates are all valuable cultural relics of the late Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty.

This piece of wood is the diamond – an item to hide Truong Hien Trung’s treasures. (Photo: Sohu).

In fact, in the 1980s, the Wuhan Institute of Geological Exploration conducted a survey of Jiangkou town and the Min River area, and they discovered that there were many metals scattered below the river bottom. However, partly because of financial and technical limitations, experts were unable to carry out the excavation. It wasn’t until the silver coins were accidentally found that archaeological experts had clues to finding Truong Hien Trung’s treasure.

Follow the clues to the treasure

Truong Hien Trung was a leader of the peasant uprising during the late Ming Dynasty. He once proclaimed himself King of the Great Tay after capturing Wuchang. According to the book “Thuc Khau Giam” , in 1644, Truong Hien Trung led his army into Sichuan, killed all the rich merchants here and took away their property. The amount of money he robbed from them amounted to tens of thousands of gold taels. Truong Hien Trung also organized a Bao Fighting Congress in Chengdu to show off his wealth. According to the description of many historical records, he had up to 24 rooms filled with gold and silver bars. Experts estimate that Truong Hien Trung’s assets are up to 3 billion yuan. In 1646, Truong Hien Trung was killed by Qing troops on Phoenix Mountain. Since then, news about his huge treasure disappeared.

Two rocks shaped like a dragon and a tiger are mentioned in the rhyme about Truong Hien Trung’s treasure. (Photo: Sohu)

“Ming History” once recorded that, before leaving Chengdu, Truong Hien Trung hired a team of workers to do many strange jobs. He asked them to build an embankment on the Man River, drain the water and dig many holes up to 3 meters deep, then put all his treasure in there and then cover it with soil and release the water to cover the people’s eyes. But there are also records saying that Truong Hien Trung was blocked by the Qing army on land, so he had to go by water when escaping from Chengdu. However, while they were at the mouth of the river, they were ambushed by the Qing army, so the ships carrying gold and silver sank underwater.

Folk legend also spread a rhyme about Truong Hien Trung’s treasure. The content of that rhyme is: ” Stone dragons against stone tigers, the amount of silver is ten thousand five. If you want to know that clearly, buy the entire Chengdu government” . These sentences mean that someone who wants to find this treasure needs to find the river section with dragon-shaped stones versus tiger-shaped stones.

Based on the rhyme, the archaeological team of the Sichuan Cultural Relics Bureau was divided into two groups, one was to explore the topography of the Min River, and the other was to investigate the area adjacent to the river. Unexpectedly, the second group found a stone tiger and a stone dragon in the area near the river. After assembling the details, they believed that the Man River area actually contained Truong Hien Trung’s treasure.

Over the years, archaeologists from the Sichuan Cultural Relics Bureau have held many excavations. In 2011, they found tens of thousands of antiques, of which a gold book and many gold and silver bars were considered the most valuable. By 2017, more than 20,000 artifacts were found, mainly utensils and weapons. However, the archaeological team said that the remaining relics are even piled up at the bottom of the river. In January 2020, the archaeological team announced another 10,000 artifacts. This time, an extremely rare pure gold seal was found.

Other cultural relics were found during excavations by the archaeological team. (Photo: Sohu)

This seal weighs up to 8kg and is made of 95% pure gold. The seal was meticulously engraved with a size of 10 x 10cm, the handle was made of pure gold, had a turtle shape with the words “Treasure of King Thuc” , unfortunately it was split into 4 pieces. To date, more than 52,000 artifacts have been excavated. According to estimates by archaeologists, the value of the cultural relics collected has now reached 500 million USD