However, the newly established Qin people are facing an extremely difficult situation. At that time, the northwest plateau was dominated by nomadic tribes, and the people on horseback were extremely fierce. They often attack and slaughter Qin people. According to historical records, several generations of kings of Qin people died in battle, and the newborn Qin Jun was even more bloody. However, this tenacious army began to grow in adversity. After more than 200 years of bloody fighting, Qin Jun completely conquered the wild nomads and unified the northwest plateau.
In 356 BC, a man named Shang Yang began to carry out reforms in the State of Qin. After Shang Yang's political reform, Qin Jun began to push eastward rapidly.
Wei was the first overlord in the Warring States period. According to historical records, Wei Jun is famous for its heavy armor and tenacity. However, in 293 BC, Wei Jun was beheaded with 240,000 yuan, and Wei declined.
Chu has always been a big country in the south with great strength, and the bronze swords made by Chu people are famous until today. In 278 BC, Qin Jun captured Ying, the capital of Chu, which had been in operation for hundreds of years, and Chu was never recovered.
Zhao is located in the north. Due to the long-term confrontation with nomadic people, the people of Zhao are fierce and very good at fighting. However, in 260 BC, Qin Jun wiped out a total of 450,000 Zhao elites in Changping. Zhao was seriously injured.
Since Shang Yang's political reform, Qin Jun, a powerful country, has consumed the military power of the eastern powers through years of wars. In 130 years, Qin Jun wiped out1600,000 troops from six countries. By 230 BC, no rival could compete with Qin Jun, and the king of Qin won the political power and launched a large-scale unified war.
During the ten-year unified war, the total casualties of the six countries' armed forces exceeded 2 million. This is a shocking number. In 22 1 year BC, the last Qi state surrendered without fighting, and Qin Jun advanced into Linzi, the largest city in the world at that time. At this point, the Warring States ended and the Qin Empire was born.
What kind of army is this almost invincible Qin Jun?
After the establishment of the Qin Empire 100 years, the great historian Sima Qian was born. His classic "Historical Records" recorded the wars waged by Qin Jun for hundreds of years, but Sima Qian rarely mentioned the detailed process and details of the war. A war involving hundreds of thousands of troops and lasting for several months is often only a few dozen words or even a few words. Sima Qian doesn't seem to pay attention to what weapons Qin Jun uses, how to equip and how to attack his opponents.
The battle of Changping is the only battle recorded in detail in Historical Records. In 260 BC, Qin Jun and his most powerful opponent, Zhao Jun, fought a decisive battle in Changping, which lasted for two years. Sima Qian wrote that when the two sides were deadlocked and could not attack for a long time, they sent 25 thousand "magic soldiers" to split the Zhao army in two. Sima Qian did not explain how this surprise army fought.
When Zhao was separated, he sent 5000 cavalry to cut off Zhao's route for providing foodstuff. What are the cavalry of Qin State?
After camping, he immediately sent a light soldier to attack Zhao. This inexplicable "light soldier" should have extraordinary attack power. How to explain the word "light"?
1974, drought hit Xiyang Village, Lintong County, Shaanxi Province. Anxious villagers hope that underground water can save their withered crops. Several villagers chose the location of drilling wells in a pomegranate forest. One evening in March, I didn't see the well water, but I dug a lifelike mud head from five or six meters underground. The news of the discovery of pottery figurines spread quickly, and archaeologists replaced local farmers. It was in this well-drilling place that professional excavation began.
The small wellhead was dug into a huge pit, but the lifelike pottery figurines still appeared in the soil. Yuan, an archaeologist at the scene, and his colleagues concluded that it was an ancient tomb pit, but no one expected that their excavation for dozens of days was only the tip of the iceberg.
The final detection results show that this is an unprecedented huge burial pit. Its area is completely beyond people's imagination. From 65438 to 0974, the most spectacular archaeological discovery in the 20th century began with several farmers digging wells.
These samurai statues in the burial pit were originally upright. Obviously, they suffered serious damage. 1974, what is presented to archaeologists is a collapsed body. In this huge pit of terracotta warriors and horses, there are broken heads and broken arms everywhere. In the whole archaeological history, so many terracotta figures have never been found.
The broken terracotta warriors and horses began to be carefully repaired and restored to their original appearance. One, two, three, a clay figurine stood up again. They are as big as real people. They are all soldiers' costumes, dressed in armor and robes, neatly arranged in an army, standing between the walls.
There are still hundreds of war horses standing upright in the burial pit, and their neighing state is easily reminiscent of a thunderous battlefield. On the edge of the war horse, the traces of ancient chariots are clearly discernible. The wooden chariot has completely rotted, but the outline of the car body remains.
Dozens of chariots, hundreds of war horses and thousands of soldiers, as a complete underground army, stood in front of archaeologists in the 1970s. There is no record about the existence of this pit in the history books, and no legend reveals a clue. Whose army are they and who owns this burial pit? Guanzhong Plain is the imperial valley from Qin and Han Dynasties to Tang Dynasty. On the horizon to the west of Terracotta Warriors Pit, you can see a huge mound, which is the tomb of Qin Shihuang, the founder of the Qin Empire.
Such a spectacular burial pit seems to be only possible for the first emperor with extraordinary bearing. For archaeologists, more direct evidence is needed to infer whether it is finally established. Excavation is going on, and archaeologists have found a large number of bronze weapons from the soil. After careful cleaning, some words appeared on the surface of the weapon.
The words carved on this spear are very similar to today's Chinese characters, which are pronounced as "temple workers". According to historical records, temple workers were the state institutions responsible for weapons production established by Qin Shihuang. In this regard, experts have found more conclusive evidence. The text on Ge's right is: "Made in Lv Buwei in five years." Lv Buwei was the prime minister of Qin Shihuang, and one of his duties was to be responsible for the weapons production of Qin State.
These dates on the weapons indicate their exact production dates. There is no doubt that these weapons were cast during the Qin Shihuang period, and they were buried underground as funerary objects after Qin Shihuang's death. Standing in front of Yuan and his colleagues, it turned out to be the invincible army that was shrouded in the fog of history and disappeared for more than two thousand years. Suddenly, the vague image of Qin Jun in Sima Qian's works became concrete and clear, and the shock of the Terracotta Warriors could not be described in words.
1975, the world focused on the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shihuang. Many media put the news of the discovery of Terracotta Warriors on the front page. Heads of state and politicians have come to Shaanxi to witness the face of the ancient China army. Without exception, every one of them was deeply shocked.
These soldiers not only look alike, but also their clothes are obviously different. Some soldiers wear hats, while others just wear a bun. What does this difference mean? These men in hats seem to be officers, but what rank do they belong to? Before 2000, did the Qin army have a strict hierarchy?
Observing the whole pit, six thousand soldiers are in good order. Is their arrangement random or what's the point? Can these terracotta figures reveal the mysterious array and tactics in ancient China? A series of questions have no answers.
After the first statue pit, archaeologists discovered a huge burial pit, which was still covered with thick loess. The researchers made a top view patched together by thousands of photos. Through computer simulation, we can see a spectacular underground scene.
The northeast corner of the pit is a crossbowman. The crossbow is the most accurate weapon in the ancient battlefield. In the battle of Changping, Commander Zhao was killed by Qin crossbowman.
In the pit of Terracotta Warriors and Horses, the most unearthed bronze weapon is the arrow. Since no bow was found in the pit, archaeologists believe that these bronze arrows are all equipped with crossbows.
During the Warring States period, there were many kinds of arrows, and the barbs and blood grooves on these arrows made people murderous. The arrow found in the pit of terracotta warriors and horses is almost triangular. Why did Qin Jun choose the arrow of this triangle?
A triangular arrow has three sharp edges and corners. At the moment of hitting the target, the sharp edge of the blade will form a cutting force, and the arrow can penetrate the armor and reach the human body directly.
Winged arrows have fierce barbs, but the wing surface is easily affected by the wind, which makes the arrow deviate from the target.
Qin Jun's triangle arrow cancels the wing surface, which should make the shooting more accurate. Experts made a careful analysis of these arrows. When the test data was finally put on the desktop, the researchers really felt incredible.
The test results show that the three cambered surfaces of the arrow are almost identical, and it is a nearly perfect streamlined arrow.
The outline of this arrow is almost the same as the shape of a bullet. The shape of the bullet is to reduce the air resistance during flight. We have reason to speculate that the Qin people designed this triangular arrow for the same purpose.
Qin people approached the modern aerodynamic law by experience. This ancient arrow is a model of early airplanes, and it is in the same strain as today's bullets. Qin crossbow, together with its crossbow, was probably the most technologically advanced weapon at that time, which greatly improved Qin Jun's attack power.
To the south of the pit is an independent chariot unit, an unknown unit. Could Qin Jun's mysterious light soldiers be these chariots on the Changping battlefield?
The chariots are followed by cavalry, which are arranged in groups of four. Is this the Qin Jun cavalry who snatched the route for providing foodstuff from the Zhao army under Sima Qian's pen?
The actions of these soldiers show that they hold on to their weapons. Due to the age, the wooden part of the weapon has rotted, but the metal part has been well preserved so far. More than 40,000 bronze weapons were unearthed from the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit.
According to common sense, the lethality of iron weapons is far greater than that of bronze weapons. How can backward bronze weapons make Qin Jun invincible?
According to Sima Qian's records, Qin Jun once invested about 600,000 troops in this valley. Changping is nearly 500 kilometers away from Xianyang, the capital of Qin State. More than 2,000 years ago, a 600,000-strong army of the State of Qin was far away from home and fought for two years in a row! This is a place that puzzles today's military experts. With the conditions at that time, the logistics supply in Qin Jun was almost impossible!
/kloc-in the winter of 0/948, the Huaihai Campaign broke out, which was the largest campaign during the War of Liberation. In the vast battlefield, the people's liberation army is followed by a convoy of farmers, who use their cars and cattle to continuously transport food and ammunition to the front. In the whole campaign, the PLA invested 600,000 troops, roughly equivalent to Qin Jun's troops in the Changping campaign. However, behind the 600,000 people's liberation army, there are 5.43 million farmers providing them with logistical support. On average, 9 farmers provide one soldier! More than 2,000 years ago, the total population of Qin was only 5 million. How is the logistics support of 600,000 Qin Jun realized?
In the era when iron farm tools were just used, what did Qin support this 600,000-strong army to fight for years? For this large-scale army, the consumption of grain, grass and weapons and equipment is amazing. How can Qin's national strength support such a huge consumption?
Where is the source of Qin Jun's strength? What did it build an unprecedented great cause? Sima Qian did not provide answers to all these questions in Historical Records, which also left a permanent puzzle for future generations.