At the beginning of the new year of 2020, the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute reported an exciting archaeological discovery, in the xixian new district, Qinhan New Town Yaodian town dengjia village south of the discovery of a large Qin Dynasty road network project, width of 50 meters, but different from the previously thought of straight and chi road.
As we all know, after unifying the Six Kingdoms, Qin Shi Huang built the Chi Dao of "Eastern Poor Yanqi and Antarctic Wuchu" in 220 BC, and in 212 BC built a straight road from Xianyang to Jiuyuan, and excavated a five-foot road from Sichuan to Yungui. The construction of these roads opened up transportation channels for the Qin Dynasty to launch campaigns against baiyue and xiongnu.
After pacifying Baiyue, Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of a new road to Lingnan. The Book of Han once recorded: "Qin wei chi dao in the world, the eastern poor Yan Qi, the antarctic Wu Chu, above the rivers and lakes, the coastal view of the end." Fifty steps of Daoguang, three feet and trees, thick outside, hidden with golden vertebrae, trees with green pines."
The "one step" of the Qin Dynasty was a two-step left and right, about 1.3 meters today, that is to say, the width of the chi road ordered by Qin Shi Huang exceeded 50 meters, leading from the Qin capital Xianyang to the counties and counties.
The straight road leading to the front line against the Xiongnu was north-south, and the width was comparable to that of the Chi Road, and the remaining width of the straight road site found in Haizi Bay, Inner Mongolia, also reached 22 meters, which showed the high standard of the road network during the Qin Dynasty.
So what is the difference between this newly discovered road network project and the straight road and the chi road?
The first is its direction, this ancient road to the north is facing the Qin capital Xianyang City No. 6 Gaotai Palace building site, respectively, with the straight road and Chi Dao, if the Chi Dao and the straight road are compared to the Qin Dynasty "highway", this ancient road is equivalent to a ramp, which can be used by Qin Shi Huang to quickly run through Xianyang from the palace to the whole country. Therefore, this newly discovered ancient road has been jokingly called "Imperial Avenue" by archaeologists.
In addition, unlike the surviving width recorded and discovered in the historical records, the existing width of the "Imperial Avenue" was indeed more than 50 meters, which confirmed that when the Qin Dynasty built the national road network, the construction standard was "fifty steps" (more than 50 meters), not just the standard of chi road.
What is the concept of 50 meters? China's "Highway Engineering Technical Standards" stipulates: "The width of highway lanes with a design speed of 120 km/h is 3.75 m, and the width of emergency stop belts is 3.5 m". Even the German highway, which is known for its unlimited speed, has a 4-car road foundation width standard of only 29 meters, and the qin dynasty highway construction standard is 1.7 times that of Germany.
Not only that, the Qin Dynasty's "Imperial Avenue" subgrade soil was deliberately mixed with fine sand and tightly rammed, a design structure that can quickly penetrate the water during the rainy season and become harder during the dry season. The broken pottery pieces doped in the road surface play a role in dispersing the load on the vehicle, and the design is very exquisite.
So what was the main purpose of Qin Shi Huang building a road from the palace to the whole country with such a high standard?
If we follow the standards of interpretation of Qin Shi Huang's cultivation of chi dao in order to facilitate his own parade, then the construction of a road from the palace to chi dao undoubtedly proves this.
However, it has to be said that later generations, especially the Han Dynasty, out of the need to maintain the legitimacy of their rule, often carried out intentional or unintentional "blackening" of the Qin Dynasty and Qin Shi Huang. For example, the interpretation of Qin Shi Huang's cutting down of the trees of Xiangshan Mountain in the "Records of History" is that Qin Shi Huang was dissatisfied with Xiang Jun's retaliatory measures of using divine power to block him from crossing the river.
But in fact, the Xiangjiang River is close to Lingnan, and Qin Shi Huang's "making 3,000 prisoners cut down Xiangshan trees" is only the combat readiness of logging and shipbuilding to attack Lingnan from the waterway, not out of his personal "brutal heart".
Similarly, the purpose of Qin Shi Huang's construction of the "Imperial Avenue" was by no means for amusement.
The palaces of the Qin Shi Huang era were not simply the living places of the emperor, but also the Ganquan Palace, Wangyi Palace, Lin Guang Palace, and Taniguchi Palace of the Qin Dynasty all had the nature of military defense. If we look at the "Imperial Avenue" through the palace and the straight and chi roads as a whole, we will find that Qin Shi Huang is determined to build a military defense system that can command at any time and reach the whole country.
In May 177 BC, the Xiongnu invaded the south, and only a month later, Emperor Wen of Han arrived at Ganquan Palace (the Ganquan Palace of the Han Dynasty was originally the Lin Guang Palace of the Qin Dynasty), "sent the border officials to ride 85,000 high slaves, and sent the Marquis of Yingyin to attack the Xiongnu", the rapid movement of the Han army and the emperor's personal command on the front line were the actual application of Qin Shi Huang's military conception.
This also confirms the concept of "the emperor's merits, hard work; compassion for the head of the qian, unremitting day and night; meticulous efforts, do not dare to slack off" mentioned by Qin Shi Huang in the Langya stone carvings, reflecting the strong enterprising spirit of the Qin people.
Unfortunately, Qin Shi Huang's military concept collapsed with the death of the second and third emperors of the Qin Dynasty, and after the Han Dynasty followed part of the military road network of the Qin Dynasty era, it gradually disappeared due to the long-term need to divide the princes and reclaim the cultivated land, resulting in the gradual disappearance of the "highway" of the Qin Dynasty in all directions, leaving us with only the fragmentary records of the history books and the remaining road relics.