Legend has it that Qin Shihuang fell in love with a beautiful folk woman named Fang, but this beautiful love did not get a happy ending after all. In memory of this woman he loved deeply, Qin Shihuang spared no expense to build the extremely luxurious Epang Palace. Decades later, Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, entered the customs to overthrow the tyranny of Qin Dynasty. When he heard that his concubine was captured, he was very angry and set fire to Epang Palace. The fire burned for three months, and Fiona Fang was reduced to ashes.
"Six kings, the world never put off till tomorrow what you can, the world out. Lushan is upright, Afang is out ... The Chu people are on fire, poor and burnt. " Du Mu's famous poem "Epang Palace Fu" in Tang Dynasty became the evidence that Xiang Yu set fire to Epang Palace. "Historical Records" seems to say very clearly: "Xiang Yu led troops to slaughter Xianyang in the west and killed Wang Ziying; Burning Qin Gong, the fire will not go out in March. " However, did Xiang Yu really burn down the magnificent Epang Palace? Or is it just the wishful thinking of historians? This well-known history of burning Epang Palace did not reach a reversible conclusion until two thousand years later.
Amazing archaeological discoveries
Epang Palace was built in the thirty-fifth year of the First Emperor (2 12 BC) and is located in Shanglinyuan, south of Weihe River. It is located in the west of Xi, Shaanxi 13 km, facing Xianyang and Qin Dou across the Weihe River. Epang Palace is a huge project. When Qin Shihuang was in power, only one front hall was built. According to Records of the Historical Records of Qin Shihuang, the size of this front hall alone is staggering. "The front hall and the room are 500 paces from east to west and 50 feet from north to south. Ten thousand people can sit on the top and a five-foot flag can be erected on the bottom." After the death of Qin Shihuang, Qin Ershi continued to build Hu Hai. Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in A Fu: "Shu and A Fang went out for more than 300 miles, isolated from the sun." It serves to show the grandeur of Epang Palace.
According to today's measurement, Epang Palace covers an area of 80,000 square meters, which is more than enough to accommodate 1 10,000 people. According to legend, Epang Palace has more than 700 large and small halls. During the day, the climate in each hall is different. There are mountains of treasures in the palace and thousands of beautiful women. Today, in the south of Sanqiao Town in the western suburb of Xi, Shaanxi Province, there is still a site of Epang Palace with an area of about 600,000 square meters. It can be seen that Epang Palace is an unparalleled palace building in the history of world architecture, with a large number of palaces, a wide construction area and a grand scale.
In 2002, archaeologists in China set up the Epang Palace Archaeological Task Force, trying to find the palace destroyed by fire from this loess relic that has been dusty for more than two thousand years. However, the result of the excavation was unexpected-Epang Palace was not burned!
Could it be that more than 2,000 years have passed, and countless wind, frost, rain and snow attacks have erased the traces left by the fire? No, there are examples for reference. Changle Palace in the Han Dynasty was once one of the most beautiful palaces in Chang 'an, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, and was the residence of Emperor Wu's mother. According to legend, more than two thousand years ago, young Gillian met Liu Che, the same young emperor of the Han Dynasty, here, which made the story of "Golden House hides Jiao" an eternal story. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Changle Palace was burned down, and the traces of the fire are still vivid. The architectural age difference between Epang Palace and Changle Palace in Han Dynasty is not far. If they were burned, why do they look so different? There is only one possibility: Afang Palace was not burned by Xiang Yu.
"Epang Palace has never been burned at all", which has caused a debate in the domestic archaeological community. Someone pointed out: did the archaeological team make a mistake in the location? The archaeological team thinks there is nothing wrong. According to historical records, in order to build Epang Palace, Qin Shihuang invited many magicians to look for a treasure trove of geomantic omen near Xianyang. Finally, he thought that the place between the two capitals of Zhou Dynasty was the most suitable. The location excavated by the archaeological team is within this range, and this location is also generally recognized by predecessors.
Historical records are wrong?
If we admit that Epang Palace was not burned, is there anything wrong with Historical Records, which has been regarded as the best historical classic for thousands of years? This possibility is there. People have encountered similar situations when deciphering the history of Yin and Shang Dynasties. According to Records of the Historian, the Shang Dynasty was ruled for nearly a thousand years and was 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.
This time, on the question of Epang Palace, will there be mistakes in Historical Records?
After careful analysis of historical materials, it is found that the Records of the Historian did not record that Xiang Yu set fire to Epang Palace, but said that Xiang Yu set fire to the palace buildings in Xianyang, Qin Dou. Historical Records of Xiang Yu's Biography says: "(Xiang Yu) then slaughtered Xianyang and burned its palace ..." and "set fire to Qin Gong, but the fire will not go out in March". This record has been confirmed in archaeological excavations. That is to say, the "palace" mentioned in historical records refers to the burnt-out palaces such as Xianyang Palace in Qin Dou in the Qin Dynasty, rather than Epang Palace in Shanglinyuan, south of Weihe River. It is a misunderstanding of later generations, called Epang Palace.
It is clearly pointed out that Du Mu, a great poet in Tang Dynasty, was the most famous person who burned Epang Palace. Today, people insist that the archaeological team's statement is wrong, mostly based on his Epang Palace Fu. Some people think that Du Mu is a writer, and he invented the incident of burning Epang Palace, perhaps to satirize the present with the ancient. But just because Du Mu is a writer, it is obviously not enough to confirm the view of the archaeological team. Therefore, whether Xiang Yu burned Epang Palace remains to be verified.
Although the debate still exists, by the beginning of 2004, the archaeological community basically agreed that "Epang Palace was not burned down".
Since it is said that Epang Palace was not burned, it is puzzling that since Xiang Yu burned the treasures of Qin State such as Xianyang Palace and Terracotta Warriors, why did he let Epang Palace go alone? The archaeological team threw out an explosive view-Epang Palace was not built at all! Because archaeology has found three doubts.
Doubt 1: At the end of 2003, the archaeological team of Epang Palace found a large number of Han dynasty tiles on the north wall of Epang Palace site. Why did things from the Han Dynasty appear in the architecture of the Qin Dynasty? Has Epang Palace been used until the Han Dynasty? Are these tiles made during decoration?
Doubt 2: The site of the front hall of Epang Palace is the largest rammed earth platform site in the ancient history of China and even the world. Judging from the platform of 540,000 square meters in Qian Dian, it was impossible to complete a building of this scale under the conditions at that time. In addition, from the late Qin Shihuang to Qin Ershi, and then to Zi Ying, the king of Qin, all political activities were held in Xianyang Palace or Wangyi Palace, and Epang Palace was never mentioned.
Doubt 3: The irrefutable evidence of the existence of Afang Palace can only be a written description or physical object at that time. However, no physical examples have 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. Moreover, if the palace is built, the gold and silver treasures will be looted. How can there not be a broken bowl left?
At the same time, the literature also reveals that Epang Palace was not built. According to historical records, Epang Palace was "absent" when Qin Ershi ascended the throne. Due to the collapse of the first emperor, Epang Palace was forced to stop work, and all 700,000 laborers were rushed to repair the Qin tomb. By April of this year, Epang Palace was restored, and in July, Chen Guang revolted. Epang Palace obviously can't be built in such a short time.
As for Du Mu's lyrical "Epang Palace Fu", the archaeological team thinks that it may be imagined according to the palaces he saw in his life. The map of Epang Palace that appeared after the Ming Dynasty was based on Du Mu's imagination.
In fact, it has long been pointed out in history that the front hall of Epang Palace was not built, and its scale was described on drawings rather than in fact. Cheng Dachang in the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in Lu Yong: "Those who can seat 10,000 people in the world and set up a flag of 50 feet below will be a model and will make this happen." The last two sentences mean: that's a designed model, hoping to realize this, but it's not actually put into practice. Unfortunately, this kind of voice has not attracted people's attention for a long time. At this point, we can boldly conclude that Epang Palace has not been built in history, let alone burned down. It's just an unfinished dream of Qin Shihuang. Although it has never been built in history, its unprecedented beauty and luxurious design dream make it the first palace in the world, and at the same time make it a notorious palace. Epang Palace, as a historical concept, has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts.
If Epang Palace does not exist, then later generations will give Xiang Yu an unwarranted charge of "burning Epang Palace", which really wronged this generation's prestigious overlord in history!