China News Service Client, Beijing, July 16th (Reporter Song Yusheng) In the battle of Changping, blood flowed.

　　In the Chinese history book, the battle of Qin Zhao Changping, because Qin bailed Bai Qi to kill Zhao hundreds of thousands of soldiers, is impressive.

　　Recently, some media reported that the corpse of suspected Changping War was discovered in Gaoping City, Shanxi. The war in the Warring States Period once again attracted public attention.

Gaoping, Shanxi, discovered a bone pit suspected of fighting in Changping. Photo by Guo Zhonghai

The bloody ending of the battle of Changping

　　According to Shanxi media reports, a band-shaped corpse layer with a thickness of about 0.6 meters and a length of more than 20 meters was discovered by local farmers in Gaoping City. The local scholars who studied the war of Changping and people in the cultural relics site surveyed that this band-shaped corpse layer may be related to the war of Changping that occurred 2200 years ago.

　　Time back to 260 BC.

　　In the Changping battlefield this summer, Zhao Guoxin’s new leader Zhao Kuo was cut off by Qin Jun after he hurriedly attacked. He was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Zhao Jun.

　　By September, the soldiers who had been steadfastly waiting for assistance had not been able to wait for Zhao's reinforcements. At the same time, they have not been able to get food supplies for 46 days, and there has even been a cannibalism in the army. Zhao Kuo decided to fight hard and lead the army to break through.

The topographic map in the documentary "Bleeding Blood". Video screenshot

　　The situation at this time can no longer be changed. Eventually, Zhao Kuo died in the breakout. According to the "Historical Records", Zhao Kuo was "shot" by the Qin Army, after which 400,000 Zhao Jun surrendered to the Qin Army.

　　But Qin Jun’s general Bai Qi believes, “Zhao Zu repeats it. If you don’t try to kill it, you’ll fear it.

　　As a result, the battle of Changping ended in a very bloody way-"Historical Records" stated that Qin Jun "came to blackmail and try his best to kill". In other words, Qin Jun almost killed all Zhao Jun who had surrendered, and "beheaded 450,000 people before and after".

The ruins of the corpse layer reported by the media are located in a corn field in Nanwangzhuang Village, Beicheng Street Sub-district Office, Gaoping City. Photo by Li Jiyi

Doubts about war

　　This is the battle of Changping in historical records.

　　While killing Zhao Jun and killing him, Bai Qi unexpectedly released 240 Zhao Jun back home. The news reached Zhao Guo and the whole country was shaken.

　　However, later generations of historians also raised many questions accordingly. One of the big problems is the number of Zhao Jun killed.

　　Although in the historical documents available today, the number of people killed by Zhao Jun is basically not less than 400,000, but historians believe that under the conditions of that year, Bai Qi "killed" more than 400,000 and died with exaggerated elements.

　　Some researchers estimate that the total population of Zhao at that time was about 1.7 million or 2.23 million, and about 400,000 or 500,000-600,000 adult men. In fact, Zhao Guo is unlikely to throw all adult men into the battle of Changping. After all, the rest of the army still needs to guard Zhao Du Handan and defend the border.

　　Historian Zhang Guangzhi once wrote that this 400,000 is likely to be exaggerated. He also mentioned in the text that many of the killing figures in historical wars are exaggerated. "Three Kingdoms" records, "Broken thief documents, the old one is ten." Cao Cao was also surprised when someone reported the number of beheadings.

　　In addition, there are also questions about Bai Qi's method of killing people—“smashing”. Does the word "kill" here really mean buried alive?

Bone pit. Photo by Li Jiyi

The truth in Yonglu 1's corpse pit

　　Such problems have been partially resolved in an excavation in the last century.

　　In fact, as early as 1995, Gao Ping had discovered the bone pits of the Warring States Period.

　　In April 1995, the villagers of Gaoping Yonglu Village dug a lot of human bones while repairing the field, and found 17 knife coins and 1 copper cluster. In October of the same year, archaeologists carried out rescue excavations, and archaeologists called the corpse pit the Yongping No. 1 corpse pit at the Changping Battle Site. This is also considered to be the first official archaeological excavation of the Changping Battle Site.

　　The reporter consulted the excavation briefing that year and found that archaeologists based on a comprehensive analysis of unearthed cultural relics and remains, determined that the age of No. 1 corpse pit was the late Warring States period, that is, the corpse pit where Zhao Guo died in the battle of Changping in 260 BC. There are still more than ten corpse pits found around Yonglu Village.

　　Archaeologists have discovered that there are "almost no complete bones" in the No. 1 body pit, and it is estimated that there are more than 130 individuals buried in it. Among them, the corpses are "disorganized and overlapping".

　　The human bones in the pit are all male, and the most are around 30 years old. According to the arrangement of bones and trauma observation, most of the dead were buried in mass after being killed, and there was no evidence of a large number of being buried alive.

　　Such empirical evidence provides a new explanation for the killing at the end of the Changping war. It's just that the bones in the corpse pits excavated in the last century are limited. After all, the interpretation of the "slaughter" in "Historical Records" still needs further verification.

Bone pit. Photo by Li Jiyi

　　In the three years after the battle of Changping, Bai Qi and Qin Xiangfan Ju lost their peace, and they were also suspected by Qin Zhaoxiang. In 257 BC, Bai Qi came to the end of his life, and King Qin Zhaoxiang gave him a sword.

　　"Historical Records" contains, before dying, Bai Qi sighed, "Why am I guilty of the sky and here?" For a long time, he asked himself: "I will die. The battle of Changping, hundreds of thousands of Zhao died , I cheated and tried my best to die."

　　Today, there are still many questions to be answered about the battle of Changping. The recently discovered corpse pit may be able to further reveal the truth of that war for us in the future. (Finish)

　　Reference materials: "Historical Records", "Warring States Strategy", "Breaking Excavation of No. 1 Corpse Bone Pit at the Site of Changping Battle", "Several Issues Concerning the Battle of Qin Zhao Changping", "Blood Changping"