Disclaimer: The content of this article is written with authoritative information combined with personal opinions, and the source of the literature and screenshots have been marked at the end of the article, please be aware.
In 260 B.C., Changping, which is now Gaoping City, Shanxi Province, took place in the territory of a famous major battle in history - the Battle of Changping. This battle was also the largest in the history of the Warring States period. The two countries that participated in the war were the two most powerful of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States: Qin and Zhao.
One of these two countries rose because of the Shang Dynasty's reforms, and the other was powerful with Hufu cavalry and archery. After this battle, the Qin army captured more than 400,000 Zhao troops, and the Zhao state did not return to its former glory. Among them, Bai Qi, the general of the Qin State, also left the name of "human slaughter" in history because of this battle.
According to historical records, only 240 underage Zhao soldiers were released back to their own country, and the remaining 450,000 Zhao soldiers were all killed. Sima Qian's "Historical Records" recorded: "It was blackmail and killed, leaving 240 of his youngest to return to Zhao." 450,000 captives were beheaded before and after. Zhao people were shocked. ”
But in 1995, an unexpected archaeological event showed signs of change in this historical fact.
白骨再见天日
In 1995, Li Zhuzi took her son into her orchard. Father and son plan to plant pear trees here. The two of them kept waving shovels, and the originally flat land had one more tree pit after another. However, suddenly I heard a "bang", and the shovel seemed to have shoveled into a hard object.
"I used to hear people say that the older generation had the habit of sealing money in crockpots and burying it in the ground, so they won't be lucky today."
Li Zhuzi thought so, so he hurriedly urged his son Li Youjin to dig out the things in the soil.
The two of them put down their shovels, and the sound of touching hard objects was incessant, and Li Zhuzi concluded that something must be buried underneath. After a dusty look, Li Zhu's father and son dug out the things buried in the soil and took a closer look, which instantly startled the father and son. Where are the clay pots in them, and they are clearly the bones of dead people. Not one, but a bunch!
The father and son were stunned and suddenly remembered that the bones of these dead people were some years old, and they did not look like the victims of some kind of homicide. I used to hear the old people in the village talk about Bai Qi's massacre of Zhao soldiers back then, so this should be Bai Qi's "mass grave".
Li Zhu's father and son settled their minds, and they already had a tacit understanding, and began to dig along the bones of these dead people, but after a while, they really dug up something similar to a weapon, and when they saw this situation, the father and son immediately called the police.
When the police arrived, they were shocked to see what was happening at the scene. The matter was reported to the relevant cultural relics department, and after the experts arrived at the scene, they gasped after some research and confirmed that this was indeed the site of the ancient battlefield of the Battle of Changping. Then why did the Battle of Changping break out?
Battle of Changping
This war between Qin and Zhao is not only in the history of the Warring States period, but also in the history of ancient China. The Battle of Changping lasted only five months, but the process was extremely tragic. After this battle, Zhao can be said to be completely defeated and lost its original throne of power. And although the Qin State won, it was also a big loss of vitality.
In the 47th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Qin and Zhao launched a battle in Shangdang. At the beginning, the Qin State won consecutive battles and had the advantage. Seeing this situation, Zhao Guo replaced the veteran Lian Po.
Lian Po changed his tactics and adopted a stubborn strategy, taking advantage of the geographical advantage to fight a war of attrition with Qin. Lian Po's tactics were very effective, and the Qin State fought for many years, with a lot of consumption, and the army line was stretched too long, and there was a risk of losing the whole game if he was not careful.
But Qin Guo is not easy to mess with, and if he can't beat it, he can think of other ways. So the state of Qin sent a large number of spies to spread rumors everywhere and say bad things about Lian Po. said that Lian Po supported the army and respected himself, and had the intention of rebellion. Hearing the rumors, the monarch of Zhao quickly became suspicious of Lian Po, and changed generals before the battle, allowing Zhao Kuo to take over Lian Po's responsibilities.
This Zhao Kuo is the son of Zhao Hao, a famous general of Zhao State, who once defeated the Qin army. Zhao Guoren thought that since Zhao Hao was so powerful, his son must be very powerful. What's more, this Zhao Kuo is familiar with the art of war at a young age, and he will definitely be able to defeat the troops of the Qin State.
It's a pity that the ideal is beautiful, and there are many things that need to be taken into account in practice. This Zhao Kuo can only memorize the art of war, and his kung fu is very powerful, and he will only be played by others in reality.
The Qin State also changed its own generals, and it was famous for nothing. Bai Qi knew that Zhao Kuo was young and vigorous, and he was in a hurry. Adopt the tactic of luring the enemy into depth, feign defeat and retreat, and lure the white army to the prepared ambush point.
In this way, the 450,000 soldiers of the Zhao State lacked water and food, and had no support. Outside, there were Qin soldiers who were killing the sky, they couldn't see any way out, and surrender seemed to be the only option to survive. But after the surrender, an even more tragic end awaited them.
Qin won, and another question was in front of Qin General Bai Qi: what to do with the 450,000 surrendered Zhao soldiers. 450,000 is not a small amount, in case these people suddenly have an accident, how to deal with it? Bai Qi and the other Qin soldiers fought repeatedly, and at this moment it was a time of exhaustion, unable to cope with the sudden outbreak of the Zhao army.
And keeping them, food is also a big problem. At this time, someone suggested to Bai Qi that it was better to release these soldiers, and also give Qin Guo and Bai Qibo a good reputation.
Bai Qi sneered and let these people go, not to mention whether they would be grateful to him and Qin Guo. How do you explain to those Qin soldiers who died on the battlefield. The Qin State implements the military merit system, killing the enemy on the battlefield is the only way for these Qin soldiers to soar, Bai Qi already has military merits, but his soldiers do not, and those who die on the battlefield do not.
So Bai Qi made a decision that was quite cold in the eyes of modern people, and in fact this decision was also cruel in the eyes of the people of the other six countries.
He wanted to kill all these surrendered soldiers, and put back those young Zhao soldiers just so that they could go back and report a message and show the national prestige of Qin. Bai Qi knew very well in his heart that what the Qin State wanted was not to occupy a few cities, what the Qin State wanted was the whole world, and what he wanted was for the Warring States to end the world and leave only one country, Great Qin.
For this purpose, the other six countries cannot stay. There is no need to think about leaving a good reputation at all, and there is no need for these Zhao soldiers to live, so a bloody massacre began.
The suspicious "mass grave"
With the progress of archaeological work, this bloody massacre thousands of years ago has reappeared in front of the public's eyes, but more and more evidence proves that for thousands of years, we seem to have misunderstood this "human slaughter", and the pit killing incident seems to have another hidden meaning.
The ancient and modern meanings of words, pit killing does not seem to be a living burial as we modern people understand. So what does it mean exactly?
As the work progressed, archaeologists discovered that the owners of the bones were not buried alive, but were mostly dumped. Archaeologists have sorted out multiple corpses, which were either detached from their heads or stoned to death after being hit hard. It can be presumed that these people were first killed in various ways and then dumped in this place.
Moreover, if it is really buried alive, the corpse will definitely be covered with a layer of soil, and these layers of soil will become thicker and thicker after two thousand years of natural sedimentation, and they will not be dug up so easily by the Li family father and son.
Geologists also found that this was originally a natural valley. At that time, the Qin army probably used this place as a place to dump corpses, and because there were so many people killed, the Qin army only covered it with a layer of soil and left.
And not only that, archaeologists have also found several other bone pits nearby. The bones of these pits were also dumped. In addition to these bones, archaeologists also found some clay pots, pottery bowls and other daily necessities in these pits.
However, weapons such as swords and halberds are very rare. It can be seen that these Zhao soldiers were disarmed before they died. It can also be inferred that these soldiers did surrender and did not expect to be killed.
Such mass killings of prisoners were rare, but in light of the Qin system, such an approach became reasonable. The military merit system was the result of the Shang Dynasty reform during the Qin Xiaogong period, and this system did greatly increase the military strength of the Qin State and attracted a large number of talents to the Qin State. However, the impact of its evil deeds should not be underestimated.
In order to make more contributions on the battlefield, the army of the Qin State frantically killed the enemy. Created many murderers like Bai Qi, the troops of the Qin State were like hurtful tigers and wolves in the hearts of the people of the other six countries. This also indirectly led to the disappearance of the exploits of Yu Lie of the Sixth Dynasty before the Second Generation. It's a pity!
The killing of prisoners is still inconclusive, and the killing of prisoners has come to an end
Although the archaeological discovery in 1995 unraveled the mystery of the killing of prisoners in the Battle of Changping, it only changed the way those soldiers died. They were not buried alive, but killed outright, but so what? It's just a different way of dying, and it doesn't change the conclusion that Bai Qi killed the prisoners.
General Zhao has a thousand years of hatred, why does the Qin soldiers mean to die again? Unexpectedly, he worships Yulao, and he doesn't believe that skeletons also have kings.
Yu Dazhen once saw this bone-covered scene when passing by Gao Ping, and sighed. In the face of such a mountain of corpses, I recall the change of dynasties. The scene of that year was inevitably shocking, but after years of baptism and precipitation, everything has long disappeared.
summary
We cannot judge the rights and wrongs of historical figures, such as Bai Qi, who killed countless people and surrendered for the sake of merit. It should be heinous, but from his standpoint, it seems to be a no-brainer. The generals of the Qin State should do things from the standpoint of the Qin State, but in the hearts of the people of the other six countries is another matter.
There are many mysteries in history, not only the Battle of Changping, the unknown language in the history books leaves a lot of imagination space for future generations, we study history not only to find the truth, but also to learn from history and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
Resources:
CNKI - Sun Jimin - "Archaeology Confirms that "Pit Killing" is Not Buried Alive"