It may be, but there is no conclusive evidence, or it may not, and there is also no conclusive evidence, so it can only be said that Xiang Yu is the most suspicious.
"Historical Records of Xiang Yu Benji": After living for a few days, Xiang Yu led troops to the west to slaughter Xianyang, killed the prince of Qin, burned the Qin palace, and the fire was not extinguished for three months; Collect its goods treasure women and east.
The "Historical Records" said that Xiang Yu burned the palace of the Qin Dynasty, and the fire did not go out for three months.
Therefore, many people say that Xiang Yu burned it, but here it is only said that Xiang Yu burned the palace of the Qin Dynasty, which one was burned, and it is not clear that there are so many palaces of the Qin Dynasty, it is impossible to burn them all.
Restoration of Afang Palace
This is just a "trumped-up" crime, and there is no conclusive evidence that Afang Palace was burned by Xiang Yu.
Tang Dynasty Du Mu "A Fang Gong Fu": Shushan Wu, A Fang out. Covering more than 300 miles, isolated from the sky. Lishan is constructed in the north and folds in the west, and goes straight to Xianyang. The two rivers dissolve and flow into the palace wall. Five steps on the first floor, ten steps on the first floor; The corridor waist is back, and the eaves teeth are pecked high; Each hugs the terrain and fights with each other...... The Chu people burned, pitiful scorched earth.
The Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu mentioned in "A Fang Gong Fu":
Afang Palace was built, it covered more than 300 miles from Weinan to Xianyang, and the palace was towering, covering the sky and the sun. It was built from the north side of Lishan Mountain, turned westward, and led to Xianyang. Weishui and Fanchuan were mighty and flowed into the palace wall. Five steps to a building, ten steps to a pavilion, the corridor is long and tortuous, and the protruding eaves are like a bird's beak protruding upwards. Each of them depends on the terrain, and the core of the four directions converges, and they compete with each other.
Chu Bing caught fire, but unfortunately Afang Palace turned into a scorched earth.
Du Mu clearly said that the Afang Palace was destroyed by a fire by the Chu soldiers, which seems to correspond to Xiang Yu's burning of the Qin Palace in the historical records.
Ruins of Afang Palace
However, Du Mu's "A Fang Gong Fu" is only a work, that is, it is not a historical record, nor is it archaeological evidence, and it cannot be used as a historical fact, at most it is just a reference.
There is still not enough evidence to say that Xiang Yu burned Afang Palace.
Some people also say that Afang Palace does not exist, does Afang Palace exist?
"Historical Records of Qin Shi Huang Benji": First make the front hall of the house, five hundred steps from east to west, fifty zhang from north to south, ten thousand people can sit on it, and five zhang flags can be built below. "Historical Records of Li Silie": It is also the palace of Afang, which is straight, galloping, and the more important the endowment is, and the more refuge. "Hanshu Dongfang Shuo Biography": The Spirit King started the platform of Zhanghua and the people of Chu dispersed, and the palace of Qin Xing Afang caused chaos in the world.
Afang Palace definitely exists, and Afang Palace is mentioned many times in the history books, and Afang Palace is also mentioned, as for whether it is Afang Palace or Afang Palace, there is no clear explanation.
To be precise: the Afang Palace was not built and was not burned down.
"Historical Records of Qin Shi Huang Benji": Thirty-five years...... For the resumption of the road, from Afang to Wei, belonging to Xianyang, to like the Tianji Pavilion Road to the Han to arrive at the camp room. Afang Palace was not completed; become, and want to change the name of the order. As a palace house, so the world is called a palace of a house. There are more than 700,000 prisoners in the hidden palace, and they are divided into Afang Palace, or Lishan.
A road was erected in the air, crossing the Weishui River from Afang Palace, and connecting with Xianyang, so as to symbolize the Tianxia Pavilion Road crossing the Tianhe River to the barracks. The palace has not yet been completed.
Map of the ruins of Afang Palace
When it's done, I want to choose a good name to call it. A palace was built in Afang, so the world called it Afang Palace. More than 700,000 people were convicted of hidden officials, and they were divided into several batches to build Afang Palace or build Lishan Project.
In terms of time, Qin Shi Huang began to build the Afang Palace in the 35th year, that is, in 212 BC, but Qin Shi Huang died in the 37th year, that is, in 210 BC.
In just two years, the Afang Palace could not be built, and the historical records also clearly stated that the Afang Palace was not built, and Qin Shi Huang also sent several groups of people from the 750,000 prisoners in Lishan to build the Afang Palace.
After the death of Qin Shi Huang, 750,000 prisoners went to build the Lishan Mausoleum, which is the most important thing, and after a year of construction, Qin Shi Huang was hastily buried.
Soon, the peasant uprising broke out, and Qin II did not have the time or financial resources to build the Afang Palace, which is also recorded in historical records.
"Historical Records of Qin Shi Huang Benji": The right prime minister went to the disease, the left prime minister, and the general Feng Zaijin admonished: "The Kwantung bandits rose together, and Qin sent troops to attack, and many people were killed, but they still stopped. There are many thieves, all of whom are hard to do, and they pay a lot of taxes. Please stop the author of Afang Palace, and reduce the four sides of the war. ”
Afang Palace was not built
The right prime minister went to the disease, the left prime minister, and the general Feng Zai advised Qin II: request to stop the construction of Afang Palace and reduce the garrison and transshipment of the Quartet.
"Hanshu Five Elements Chronicles": Resurrected Ah Fang, died before it was completed.
This clearly shows that the Afang Palace was not built.
Archaeologically speaking, evidence has also been found that the Afang Palace was not built, and evidence that the ruins of the Afang Palace were not burned by fire.
According to the current archaeological data, the site range of Afang Palace has been determined in:
13 kilometers west of Xi'an City, Sanqiao Town, the west bank of the Gusoo River, east to the east of the Fenghui Branch Canal of Xi'an City Third Ring Road, west to the west of Jiyangzhai Village, Wangsi Street, Chang'an District, south to the south of Wangsi and Heping Village in the south of Hongguang Road, north to the east and west line of Jiudou Canal to the north of the large playground of the Armed Police Academy 100 meters.
Archaeological map of Afang Palace
Its ruins include the front hall of Afang Palace, "Upper Roof", "Peak Fire Platform" and other related buildings under construction, although its scale is not as "more than 300 li" as said in "Afang Palace Fu", but it is also very huge.
Afang Palace is connected to the former site of Feng Hao, the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty emperor in the south, the ruins of Chang'an City of Han Dynasty in the northeast, the ancient city of Chang'an City of Tang Dynasty in the east, and the Xianyang Palace of Qindu across the Weishui in the north.
From 2022 to 2004, the archaeological team of Afang Palace did not find any traces of fire in the archaeological investigation and excavation of the front hall, and also took soil samples for testing, and finally found that the front hall was indeed not burned.
After archaeological exploration and excavation, other sites within the scope of Afang Palace have been determined not to be buildings of the same period as Afang Palace, and do not belong to the Afang Palace complex.
However, there are some other buildings in the area of the Afang Palace site that have traces of being burned by fire, such as the archaeological team found traces of fire on the site of the upper roof annex.
Located in the west of the ruins of the front hall of Afang Palace, the ruins of Jiyangzhai also have a large amount of red clay and the accumulation layer formed by the collapse of the building, and the individual cylinder tiles mixed in the burned soil were burned to deformation by the fire, and most of the tiles were also burned red, and there were also red-burned grass mud wall fragments in the ruins.
The ruins of the front hall of Afang Palace
There are also many sites that have been burned like this, but whether they belong to the Afang Palace complex is still controversial.
Xiang Yu set fire to the palace of the Qin Dynasty, this fire burned for three months, at that time the buildings were all connected together, the city gate was on fire, and the pond fish were affected, Xiang Yu burned a building, and it was difficult to guarantee that it would not burn other buildings, such as Afang Palace.
The fire is uncontrollable, and it will spread everywhere, this fire was set by Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu doesn't care about Xianyang Palace or Afang Palace, he only knows that he set fire everywhere, and then walks away, can you say that it has nothing to do with Xiang Yu?
Therefore, it is possible that Afang Palace was burned by Xiang Yu, or it may not be, it is impossible to determine.