Only a few places in the world have prospered for more than 3000 years, and Xi 'an is one of them. People who grew up here may not know that the land under their feet was once the most magnificent palace in the history of China. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Epang Palace Archaeological Team, which was jointly established by the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology of Xi 'an, came to the ancient city of Xi 'an. This time, the task force composed of authoritative archaeologists is looking for Epang Palace, which has been dusty by loess for more than two thousand years. ...
"Six kings, the world never put off till tomorrow what you can, the world out. Lushan stands tall, and one side comes out ... The Chu people are on fire, and the poor people are on fire. " This is a sentence that many people in China are familiar with. Therefore, the intention of the archaeological team to go west this time is very clear, that is, to find the remains of the palace destroyed by the fire. According to the records of historical documents and the suggestions of archaeologists in Shaanxi Province, the archaeological team successfully found the legendary site of the front hall of Epang Palace, but later, the excavation result was unexpected. ...
Did Xiang Yu burn Epang Palace?
Could it be that more than 2,000 years have passed, and countless wind, frost, rain and snow have invaded, erasing the traces left by the fire?
In order to know exactly what the burned site looks like, the archaeological team of Epang Palace came to the site of Changle Palace in Han Dynasty, which was once one of the most beautiful palaces in Chang 'an, the capital of Han Dynasty, and the residence of Emperor Wu's mother. It is said that more than 2,000 years ago, Gillian, who is good at dancing, met Liu Che, the young Emperor of the Han Dynasty, which made such an affair spread for thousands of years. However, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Changle Palace, like other palaces in the Han Dynasty, could not escape the fate of being burned down. More than two thousand years have passed, and the traces of burning are still vivid.
Zhang Jianfeng, a member of the Epang Palace Archaeological Team, became more and more uneasy after carefully comparing the two sites, because in his view, Epang Palace didn't look like it had experienced a fire at all.
If it is also burned down, why do the two buildings with similar ages look so different? Zhang Qingfeng was wandering in the palace of the Han Dynasty. He had a bold guess in his heart, but he was afraid to say it.
Epang Palace was burned by Xiang Yu. This story has been circulated in China for 2000 years, and it has been cited as an allusion by countless literati. It seems to be an established thing in the archaeological community, so although almost every member of the Epang Palace archaeological team had the same idea at that time-Epang Palace was not burned down! But no one dares to say.
Did you dig too small and miss the burnt part?
Did you just miss the burned part of Epang Palace because there were too few places to dig? Hundreds of days have passed without a trace of burning. Team leader Li Yufang began to worry, just like the fire that burned in her heart more than 2,000 years ago.
After repeated consideration, Li Yufang decided to improve the method and use a large area of probes to confirm whether this land has suffered from fire, because this method can quickly detect the situation of dozens of centimeters below the ground. In order to find the fire more than 2000 years ago, the archaeological team of Epanggong drilled five detection holes per square meter in the site, but the result still disappointed them. At this time, Li Yufang strengthened her confidence. She thinks it's time to solve the mystery and tell the truth.
Epang Palace has never been burned. The legend that people believed in 2000 is actually a misunderstanding. As soon as this argument was put forward, it triggered a debate in the domestic archaeological community. Someone pointed out rudely: did you make a mistake in the location and dig for a long time, which is not Epang Palace at all?
Could it be that the records in Historical Records are wrong?
Sun Hongfu, an archaeologist, believes that according to historical records, Qin Shihuang invited countless wizards to look for a treasure trove of geomantic omen near Xianyang, and finally he thought that the place between the two capitals of the Zhou Dynasty was the most suitable. According to the work done by predecessors and the personal experience of the Epanggong archaeological team, the archaeological team believes that the current excavation site is the only possibility.
Although the archaeological team thinks the evidence is conclusive, they are still under great pressure. The reason is very simple, because some scholars believe that if we admit that Epang Palace has not been burned down, then the historical record is wrong. For thousands of years, Historical Records has been regarded as the best book to study ancient history. Some people even think that overthrowing Historical Records is tantamount to shaking the ancient history of China. In this regard, Sun Hongfu thinks it is necessary to move.
Sun Hongfu recalled that when people deciphered the history of Yin and Shang dynasties more than ten years ago, they also encountered similar situations. According to Records of the Historian, the brutal Shang Dynasty ruled for nearly a thousand years, making it the longest-lived dynasty in history. However, according to people's archaeological findings, the era of the demise of the Shang Dynasty was much earlier than that described by Sima Qian, which is a fallacy of more than 500 years. Will Historical Records make mistakes in Epang Palace this time?
Like other history books, Sima Qian also hopes to satirize the present by using the ancient to achieve the effect of satirizing the present. For this reason, will he invent fire before 2000?
After careful analysis of historical materials, Sun Hongfu found a reasonable explanation for the sentence "Fire Qin Gong will not come out in March" in Historical Records. In order to verify Sun Hongfu's statement, Zhang Jianfeng made a special trip to Xianyang, and he clearly saw the traces of the fire in the deposits cleared by Xianyang.
Seeing that the fire mentioned by Sima Qian in historical records really happened in Xianyang, who set the fire to Epang Palace? Or have there been two fires in more than 2,000 years?
It is clearly pointed out that the Epang Palace was burned, and the most famous person was Du Mu, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty. Until today, some scholars still insist that Li Yufang's conclusion based on his Epang Palace Fu is wrong.
But just because Du Mu is a writer is not enough to deny the view of the archaeological team.
Did the villagers dig up the burnt Epang Palace?
At the end of 2003, the archaeological team of Epang Palace found a large number of broken tiles on the north wall of Epang Palace, which made Li Yufang quite excited. Where did a large number of Han dynasty tiles come from? Why did it appear on the architecture of the Qin Dynasty?
Has Epang Palace been used in the Han Dynasty? This may excite experts.
Experts from China Academy of Social Sciences and Xi 'an Institute of Archaeology said that Epang Palace was not burned down and information spread. The villagers in Shiliba village have a new interest in Epang Palace. Why did Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, let Epang Palace go? There must be something fishy in this. For a time, the Epanggong area was more lively than it was more than 2,000 years ago.
What is puzzling is why Xiang Yu let Epang Palace go. Even the experts of the archaeological team are puzzled. Since he burned the treasures of the Qin Dynasty such as Xianyang Palace and Terracotta Warriors, why did he condescend to come to Epang Palace? When Li Yufang was racking her brains for this ancient man more than 2,000 years ago, the farmers who came to watch the fun provided her with a clue. Yang, 865,438+0 years old, recalled that he remembered that in the 1970s, several nearby villages had transported earth near this site. Could it be that they accidentally dug up the charred layer of Epang Palace?
What Yang Man Hu Aishan Sr. said was called "General Assembly War" locally. At that time, villagers from several villages and even several townships got together to dig and fill Zhuangzi. If the ruins of the front hall of Epang Palace were dug more than 2 meters deep, then everything would be gone. But from the exposed wall of Epang Palace, the archaeological team can clearly see the strata of different times. How can farmers bypass the upper layer and only dig a large area of loess of about 200,000 square meters in the lower layer?
Li Yufang, the team leader, put forward an explosive view that Epang Palace was not built until the beginning of 2004, and "Epang Palace was not burned down" finally became a conclusion of the archaeological community. At this time, almost every day, groups of fellow villagers came to the scene to see it. Everyone asked, have you dug up any treasure? Because many scholars in history have described the treasures hidden in Epang Palace. According to legend, after Qin destroyed the six countries and unified the Central Plains, all the treasures collected by the six countries were moved to Epang Palace. For a time, when the treasure of Epang Palace was unearthed became a topic that local people talked about. At this time, Li Yufang, the leader of the archaeological team, threw an explosive view that Epang Palace was not built at all. This disappointed the villagers waiting to see the treasure and surprised the whole archaeological community.
When we are arguing endlessly about whether Xiang Yu burned Epang Palace or not, we actually ignore a fundamental question-does the poetic Epang Palace really exist? Epang Palace has been legendary for two thousand years. Why should we judge its existence?
The hard evidence of the existence of Epang Palace can only be written records or physical objects at that time. However, Li Yufang, the captain of the Epang Palace archaeological team, admitted that no such historical evidence has been found so far. If a palace is built, no matter how it is burned, it should leave more than one meter of rubble like the site of Xianyang Palace in Qin Dynasty, but the site of Epang Palace does not.
Liu Qingzhu, director of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: If the palace is built, the treasure will be looted, but why can't you see a broken bowl?
Sun Fuxi, director of xi Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology: It is clearly recorded in the history books that when Qin Ershi ascended the throne, Epang Palace was shut down because the first emperor collapsed, and all 700,000 laborers rushed to repair the Qin Mausoleum. In April this year, Epang Palace was rebuilt, and in July, Chen Sheng and Guangwu rebelled. With so little time before and after, Epang Palace obviously can't be built.
Historically, Epang Palace has never been built, let alone burned down. That's just an unfinished dream of Qin Shihuang. Its excessive beauty and luxury aggravated the bad luck of the Qin Dynasty, making it a notorious palace. After the Qin Dynasty, China has never seen a similar concept in nearly two thousand years.