More than 2000 years ago, 200000 Qin soldiers were killed overnight by Xiang Yu’s army. It is said that the place where the pit was killed was in the area of Shilipu, Yima today. In 1912, the workers who built the Longhai Railway dug out countless bones here. The existing site is a pit 400 meters long from east to west and 250 meters wide from north to south. Wind erosion and rain, gradually decayed, surrounded by green crops and poplar. However, there is no official record of this site on the map of cultural relics distribution in Henan. More than 2000 years ago, did this land really have a terrible massacre?
Brutal killing
In 206 BC, Xiang Yu recovered the old land of the six countries and led 600000 troops to the Qin land. In this army that attacked the headquarters of the Qin Dynasty, 200000 Qin soldiers who had just surrendered were recruited. When the troops arrived at the ancient city of Xin’an and camped, the “hearsay” spread in the barracks triggered a rare massacre.
Professor xuweimin of the History Department of Northwestern University told reporters that the shocking tragedy staged in Xin’an ancient city was only 54 years after Qin Bai killed 400000 Zhao Jun hundreds of miles away.
But this time, the perpetrators were soldiers of the six countries who had been enslaved by the Qin soldiers. In the same way, they returned the tyranny of the Qin army back to the Qin army.
According to historical records, the surrendered Qin army was arbitrarily abused on the road. We can’t guess the mentality of the surrender at that time. In order to protect their lives, they may have to endure humiliation. However, when the team came to Xin’an ancient city and saw that it was about to leave Hangu pass in the west, the mood of the Qin soldiers must be very complicated.
When describing this period of history in the book of historical records, Xiang Yu said that Qin officials and soldiers often stole words and said, “General Zhang and others cheated my family to surrender to the princes. Now they can enter the customs and break through Qin, which is great kindness; that is, if they can’t, the princes will take my family and East, and Qin will kill my parents and wife as much as possible.”
These surrendered Qin troops were worried about Xiang Yu’s victory, and they themselves became Qin traitors who led wolves into the house; Also worried about Xiang Yu’s failure, the Qin Dynasty would kill all their parents, wives and children. Therefore, it is inevitable to complain about your master. But these whispered comments did not escape the ears and eyes of the Chu army.
“Historical records Xiangyu Benji” said: “the princes heard their plans slightly to inform Xiangyu.”
After receiving the report, Xiang Yu asked general Ying Bu and general PU for consultation. Finally, the three people came up with their opinions, saying that “there are many Qin soldiers in the army. If they don’t listen to the command after entering the pass, or turn over in front of the battle, it will be very difficult to win. It’s better to kill them as soon as possible to avoid future trouble”. Therefore, “Chu army suddenly killed more than 200000 Qin soldiers in the south of Xin’an city at night. Except for general Zhang Han, Sima Xin and Dong Yi, all the other soldiers were buried alive.”
There is no detailed record of this brutal killing in historical books.
However, it is difficult to kill 200000 soldiers with weapons. If the surrendered Qin soldiers knew in advance that the great disaster was coming, I’m afraid no one would be willing to be caught without a hand. Therefore, Xiang Yu should have designed a set of tricks to deceive the soldiers before killing Qin soldiers in the pit. Historical researchers speculate that the troop surrender must first be concentrated to do one thing, which may be digging a hole. In the vast countryside southwest of Xin’an ancient city, Qin soldiers were expelled by soldiers of the six countries to dig pits. Of course, maybe they didn’t realize the coming of danger. The Qin army, who was used to being bullied by the victory army and was obedient, swallowed it and dug a big pit according to the orders of the Chu army. When the pit was excavated to a height that soldiers could not climb, the soldiers of the six countries who had supervised their work suddenly became ferocious. Countless spears and iron guns were aimed at the bodies in the pit, and they were frantically assassinated. Blood and soil, wailing and lamenting, begging for mercy and scolding were intertwined, and a terrible bloody scene spread out where our eyes could not reach.
A lot of human bones were dug out of the pit
Today’s “chukeng” site is locally known as “mass graves”. To the south of the pit is the Jianhe river that originates in Shaanxi county, and to the north of the pit is Tuling and lixingwan village, with flat land from east to west. Reporters read the Yima and Mianchi County annals and found that there was a white dragon temple and an octagonal green stone well on the right side of the “mass graves” site. When the Longhai railway was built in 1912, all of them were destroyed and their original appearance no longer existed.
However, historical discoveries and coincidences are often generated in such destruction and reconstruction. When the workers who built the Longhai railway were working in lixingwan village, the iron picks that went deep underground dug out countless bones from the soil. According to the local chronicles, this is the site where Xiangyu pit killed 200000 Qin soldiers in history, but at this time, the warlords fought in a scuffle, and the site has not been excavated or preserved.
Experts from the school of history of Henan University said that until the 1970s, when farmers leveled the land in the pit, they often dug out a large number of human bones.
Now many years have passed. Although chukeng has been eroded and drenched by wind and rain, its potential has declined, but its scale is still clear and identifiable. It is completely hidden in the tall poplars and lush wheat fields. Like several scattered farmyards in the distance, it is waiting for a fresh pastoral scenery. No one can imagine how to connect it with the burial place of 200000 Qin soldiers, splicing the era of killing with bones, iron spears and howls.
However, history has come after all. Just, does it really happen in this place called “mass grave”?
According to historical records, the place where xiangyukeng killed 200000 Qin troops was Qianqiu Town, an ancient city of Xin’an, and the main traffic route from the Central Plains to the northwest. Chukeng, which is located in the south of Xin’an, is also referred to here. “Kuodi Zhi” said: “Han Xin’an County, that is, where the pit Qin died.” The same statement is also recorded in the historical records of Xiang Yu, saying that “the Chu army attacked the pit at night, and 200000 Qin soldiers died in the south of Xin’an city”. Xin’an ancient city is today the West lixingwan village of Shilipu village in Yima.
However, the reporter learned from the local chronicles office that Xin’an at that time was not the Xin’an County rebuilt since the Sui Dynasty, but the county government established here by Emperor Qinshihuang in 221 BC. Xin’an ancient city is located in the northeast of the new city, in the area of xiashihe in Shilipu village, 13 kilometers away from Mianchi in the West. The eastern edge of the ancient city site, which exists in a rectangle, is mostly submerged by streams. Archaeologists have found that the compacted soil layer of the city wall under the ground exists at the same time, which is the exposed “Chu pit” that has experienced several storms.
The stars change, time and space change, and history has already experienced several reincarnations. The site, which is 400 meters long from east to west and 250 meters wide from north to south, is called “Chu pit”. In the eyes of residents near Shilipu, it is only a “mass grave” with countless wandering souls. Few people consider whether it really witnessed a brutal massacre more than 2000 years ago?
History cannot be forgotten
However, history should not be forgotten.
Xiang Yu, a murderous man, always has a burning desire to conquer in his bones. In the face of unconvinced troop surrender, he can no longer give his weapons to fight with his army again. The only way is to let them completely perish. Those soldiers who surrendered were doomed to be exiled, but they didn’t expect to end up in the pit from home to home. Among them, some people may think that if they go a little further, they can cross the ancient road of Guhan and return to their hometown. Unfortunately, no one can escape the catastrophe.
After the Qin soldiers, who were covered with blood and tears and piled with bones, were buried in the dust, those continuous howls also disappeared in an instant. As time goes by for thousands of years, Xiang Yu and the Chu pit he “made”, as well as the killing and blood hidden inside, have formed historical scars for historians to search and track endlessly.
The old lament is vague and boundless, and today’s Hefeng flows quietly.
On the “mass graves” site, which is quietly hidden in the countryside, it is said that the only frightening thing is the occasional flash of phosphorous fire at night. The gas decomposed from rotten bones is always inadvertently suspended on the ground and gently drifts with the air flow. In 759 A.D., the great poet Du Fu passed by here, leaving a poem “how cruel the Xiang family is, the Qin soldiers are here in the pit. The sad clouds are always there, and the ghost can is still bright…”.
Today, few people go there to watch the phosphorous fire at night. This place, which has long been calm, has grown bright peach flowers, green wheat seedlings, tall poplar and golden rape flowers in the coming spring. Villages far and near are shrouded in oil painting like colors. For a moment, it was almost forgotten that there was a frightening history buried here.