On May 12, 1995, in Yonglu Village, Yonglu Township, northwest of Gaoping City, Shanxi Province, Li Zhubao, a 60-year-old farmer, and his son Li Youjin came to work in the contracted land of Yangjiashan under the General Ridge as usual. However, in the process of ploughing the ground, the two accidentally found a large number of Sensen white bones, and the more they dug, the more white bones they had.
The sharp-eyed Li Youjin also found a string of coins covered with patina in the pile of bones, and what was even more strange was that many bones had arrows on them. The two were frightened and immediately reported it, and soon the Shanxi Archaeological Institute organized experts to come to the scene to investigate. The expedition was a terrible one, and a shocking news spread.
Archaeologists unanimously determined that "the white bones of General Ridge were captured by the Zhao army in the Battle of Changping." Archaeologists also believe that "the General Ridge Bone Pit is the most original, the best-preserved and largest-scale, and it is also the most valuable site of the Battle of Changping." ”
Through the study of the burial of white bones at the site, historians have finally figured out a controversial question of more than two thousand, "How Did Bai Qi kill 400,000 Zhao troops?" "As we all know, the Battle of Changping ended in a crushing victory for the Qin State, and 40 years after this battle, the Qin State unified the six kingdoms.
The total population of China in the middle and late Warring States period was about 40 million, the Zhao state was about 3 million people, the Qin state was about 5 million people, and 400,000 people were slaughtered in a war, and they were still young and middle-aged, which was really appalling. However, looking through authoritative historical books such as the "Records of History" and the "Zizhi Tongjian", there are few descriptions of the Battle of Changping. Further searching for various historical materials, the ending of the Zhao army's captives was basically mentioned as "white pit Zhao".
This will inevitably cause various doubts from future generations, until the discovery of the ancient battlefield site of the Battle of Changping in 1995. Through archaeological excavations of the site discovered by Li Zhubao and Li Youjin' father and son, archaeologists removed more than 130 remains from the pit (Pit No. 1), of which 60 had skulls without a torso, or the skull was separated from the torso; 14 were smashed to death by blunt objects (possibly stones); and only one was buried alive.
In addition, archaeologists also found traces of slashing and shooting on the remains. That is to say, most of the 400,000 Zhao troops had already been killed and then buried. The author consulted the original archaeological data of that year, "Briefing on the Excavation of Yonglu No. 1 Bone Pit at the Battle site of Changping", and excerpted some important contents:
"The human bones in the pit are disposable mass burial pits, from the gender is all male, the age combination is mainly green, middle-aged and accompanied by weapons excavation, the bones of the pit found in many places and other factors, it should be the product of war, the remains are unnatural deaths." "Combined with the analysis of the excavated relics, we believe that the remains in the Yonglu No. 1 bone pit should be the dead soldiers of the Zhao Army."
What we now call "pit killing" is not recorded in the Shuowen Jiezi, only "阬", which means the place where the word goes down, and by extension means to deceive the enemy or the enemy into ambushing and killing the urn city. If it was used in the Battle of Changping, it was to kill the captives separately and then bury them.
Today, more than 2,000 years later, we look back at the Battle of Changping, which can be described as the pinnacle of the Warring States era, with the total number of qin and Zhao participating troops approaching one million. This great war greatly accelerated the pace of the first great unification in China's history. On the other hand, Bai Qi, this battle made him a god, but his heart was also tormented.
Before Du You committed suicide, Bai Qi once asked Cang Tian what he was guilty of when he deserved to die, and finally he sighed and said, "I should die, the Battle of Changping, Zhao Pawns descended hundreds of thousands, I cheated and pit it, it is enough to die." ”
References: Briefing on the Excavation of Yonglu No. 1 Bone Pit at the Battle of Changping Site, History