"Six kings Bi, four seas and one sea, Shushan Wu, A Fang out."
Du Mu's poem "Afang Palace Endowment" made Afang Palace well known to everyone, and the mysteries it left behind have also become the topic of people's talk after tea and dinner: Where was Afang Palace built? Did Xiang Yu really set fire to Afang Palace? How grand is the planning of Afang Palace... With the continuous archaeological exploration and excavation, the fog about the Afang Palace is gradually dissipating, revealing the truest appearance of this magnificent building.
Afang Palace was discovered in archaeology
In the spring of 1933, the Institute of History of the "National Beiping Research Institute" began archaeological work in the Shaanxi region, and the work of that year was concentrated on both sides of the Wei River, and the regional archaeological survey was carried out for the purpose of exploring the "culture of the Zhou and Qin nationalities", which was led by Xu Bingxu and Chang Hui. In October, Xu Bingxu and Chang Hui published the "Shaanxi Investigation Of Historical Sites Report", which mentioned the process of investigating the former site of Afang Palace.
After 1949, the investigation and protection of the ruins of Afang Palace gradually began. In 1994, the Xi'an Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics carried out a large-scale exploration survey of Afang Palace, which was the first large-scale archaeological exploration since the Afang Palace was burned down. This exploration provided a scientific basis and physical data for the study of the basic layout of the Afang Palace and the architectural design and planning of the palace for future generations.
From 2002 to 2004, the Afanggong Archaeological Team, composed of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology, conducted a comprehensive drilling of the ruins of the qiandian of Qin'afangGong. After a comprehensive and in-depth archaeological exploration and excavation, no signs of red-burnt earth were found on the front hall, but a wide rammed earth wall was found on the north edge of the platform foundation, and after a series of comprehensive analysis, "the scope of the front hall of the Afang Palace and the distribution of the ruins to which it belonged" were basically clarified, and it was confirmed that "the rammed earth platform foundation of the front hall site of the front hall of the Qin Afang Palace was found", and it was determined that "the ruins of the front hall of the Afang Palace were not burned by fire". At the same time, it was confirmed that "the antechamber of Afang Palace was not finally built, only the rammed earth platform and its north, east and west walls (there are buildings on top of the walls)".
From 2004 to 2007, after determining the preservation of the remains and the nature of the ruins of the Qiandian Temple, in order to further search for and determine the scope of the ruins of the Afang Palace in a larger space, the Afanggong Archaeological Team conducted a large-scale archaeological survey and trial excavation of the existing rammed earth platform within 135 square kilometers of the Feng River in the west, the Wei River in the north, the Soap River in the east, and the north bank of the Han kunming pond in the south, and successively discovered the buildings from Shanglinyuan No. 1 to No. 6, and in Shanglinyuan No. 4, Well-preserved underground drainage pipes and other remnants were found in buildings such as No. 5, and the harvest was very rich.
In 2011, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Xi'an Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology formed the archaeological team of Afanggong and Shanglinyuan on the basis of the Afanggong Archaeological Task Force, and continuously achieved new results.
Afang Palace was built by choosing water
Site selection and layout are two key issues closely related to the study of Afanggong.
Sima Qian recorded in the "History of Qin Shi Huang Benji" that Qin Shi Huang chose to build the imperial palace in the Shanglin Garden, "between the fenghao, the capital of the emperor". The "between Fenghao" here does not mean that the Afang Palace should be built in the Feng river valley between Fengjing and Hojing, but that the imperial palace should be built between Xianyang Palace and Fenghao. Therefore, in the view of Qin Shi Huang, the space in the Shanglin Garden between the Xianyang Palace on the north side of the Wei River and the Fenghao Erjing on the south side of the Wei River was the "capital of the emperors".
However, why the imperial palace of the unified Qin Empire was built in the "Afang" area of the Shanglin Garden between the Xianyang Palace and the Fenghao Palace is not recorded in the literature. Because the Afang Palace was not built, it is recorded in the "Records of History" that "the first is the front hall of the Afang, five hundred steps from east to west, fifty zhang from north to south, and can sit ten thousand people on the top and five banners on the bottom." Zhou Chi is the Pavilion Road, from His Highness to Nanshan. The top of the table South Mountain is thought to be que. For the purpose of fudo, from Afang Duwei, belonging to Xianyang, to the elephant heavenly pole, the Pavilion Road to the Han to the camp room also" content, it is generally judged to be the layout of the Afang Palace designed by Qin Shi Huang.
According to modern contour map observations, Afang Palace is the tallest building in the line of sight of the WeiHe River looking south, and the terrain on the north side is lower than that of Afang Palace. On a larger scale, there is a wide and flat "square" on the south side of Afang Palace that is about 2500 meters wide from east to west and about 4000 meters long from north to south. Further south to Nanshan, there is a visual corridor about 1,000 meters wide and unobstructed. That is to say, the line of sight from the Afang Palace to the south is very open. Such data reminds people of Sima Qian's mention in the "History of the First Emperor of Qin" that "the peak of the Table South Mountain is considered que". Therefore, archaeologists speculate that the layout of the Afang Palace may have a south-facing axis.
"The top of the Nanshan Mountain is thought to be Que" - Qin Shi Huang Xianyang axis indication Yiyuan visual redrawn
In order to further determine the landform before the construction of AfangGong and solve the site selection and related problems of Afanggong, in 2016, the archaeological team conducted a penetrating deep hole exploration on the platform of Afanggong at a distance of 15-20 meters. It is this measure that makes us completely change the understanding of the previous Afang Palace built on the high ground.
Judging from the completed exploration of the deep hole of Afanggong, the modern topography trend is high in the north and low in the south, but before the construction of Afanggong, the original terrain of the southwest part was higher, gradually tilting to the east and north, and there was a silt accumulation of 1-3 meters thick underneath it. This indicates that the area was wet with water and water on the river side before the construction of the Afang Palace. This brings archaeologists a more worthy of consideration: if the Afang Palace is built by choosing water, then before it is built, the river needs to be diverted, and then the river dredging, ramming and other foundation treatments are carried out, and the amount of work is much greater than that of ordinary palace construction. Therefore, the location of Afang Palace here is a strong artificial choice, why not here?
"Heart of empire"
We revisit the question of why the Afang Palace was built here, and judge that the construction here may be related to the axis of the Afang Palace. It extends northward from the southern end of the axis, Nanshan-Fengyukou, through the central axis of the north wall of Afanggong, and finds that the northern end of the axis is facing the main peak of Sagayama (1422.7 meters above sea level), the highest peak on the northern edge of the Guanzhong Plain. According to measurements, the axis that runs through the center point of the north wall of AfangGong from the north and south peaks is about 79.3 kilometers long.
But is that all? More evidence is needed to solve why the Afang Palace was built in a "watering hole". The "History of Justice" quotes the "Three Auxiliary Old Things" Yun: "The First Emperor Thought it was Qin Dongmen, and The Table Wang thought it was Qin Ximen." "There are east-west gates, which means that the Qin people may have an east-west axis."
According to the measurements, the north-south axis of the "Nanshan-Afanggong-Sagasan" axis, the westward to the western end of the axis of the "Weihe River into the Weikou - Weihe into the Yellow Mouth" Axis, the Wanghe River into the Weikou, about 137 kilometers, to the eastern end of the Weihe River into the Huangkou about 135.6 kilometers, the two are almost equal. That is to say, Afang Palace is located in the widest part of the Guanzhong Plain.
At the same time, this east-west axis and the Afang Palace will be almost three points of the north-south axis! From these almost coincidental figures, we seem to see the grand ideal of the layout design of the capital Xianyang after the unification of Qin Shi Huang.
Therefore, the reason why Qin Shi Huang chose a wet environment of rivers, wetlands, lakes, etc., and built a palace here is because this is the only "heart of the empire". Horizontal east and west are in Guanzhong, and vertical north and south are almost golden divisions.
It is no accident that Du Mu wrote "A Fang Gong Fu"
Du Mu's "Afang Palace Endowment" is well known to women and children, and it vividly expresses the grandeur of Afang Palace, and also makes posterity believe in Xiang Yu's burning of Afang Palace. Archaeological excavations have shown that the Afang Palace was not actually built, and there are no traces of fire. The "History of Xiang Yu Benji" records that Xiang Yu "burned the Qin Palace Room, and the fire was not extinguished in March" should be the Qin Xianyang Palace. Then, why did Du Mu write "Afang Palace Fu" and mention the burning of Afang Palace by Xiang Yu?
In the nineteenth year (803) of The reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang, when Du Mu was born, his grandfather Du You entered the imperial court from the post of envoy of Huainan Jiedushi, and then became the third dynasty of xiang, and his power was tilted for a while. Now it seems that Du Mu can also be regarded as the third generation of officials. Du Mu's home, located in Anrenli in Tang Chang'an City, is located on the east first street of Zhuquemen Street, from north to south, the third place, that is, the lifang where the Little Wild Goose Pagoda is located, 12.3 kilometers away from the Afang Palace. His family's family temple is located in Yanfufang, which is the lifang where today's Taibai Road and Keji Road are located, 10.5 kilometers away from the Afang Palace. In addition, the Afang Palace and the western wall of Tang Chang'an City are 6.9 kilometers apart in a straight line. Therefore, no matter where you start calculating, the distance from Du Mu to Afang Palace is very close, is it not like many people think, Du Mu's description of Afang Palace in "Afang Palace Endowment" must be true and reliable?
In fact, Du Mu's writing of "A Fang Gong Fu" is not accidental. In the fourth year of Changqing (824), Tang Jingzong, who was only 15 years old, took the throne, Jingzong was good at playing games, overhauling the palace, and greedy for good voice, so Du Mu, who was 21 years old, made "Afang Palace Fu", using Qin to satirize Jingzong. As for the original intention of writing this article, he later clearly pointed out in his own "Shangzhi Zhi Zhi Article Qi", "Bao Li has a large palace room, a wide voice, and pretends to be "A Fang Gong Fu"" ". Therefore, this shows that Du Mu's "A Fang Gong Fu" actually has a clear political purpose, that is, to remind the emperor to be diligent and love the people by ridiculing the past and the present. As for what the real situation of Afang Palace was, that was not a question he was considering. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to understand why there is a problem with the Afang Palace recorded by Du Mu.
Liu Rui (The author of this article is the leader of the archaeological team of AfangGong and Shanglinyuan)
"Archaeology in China - 15 Archaeologists Say 5,000 Years"
CITIC Publishing Group Dafang published in January 2022
[This article is part of the chapter of the book "Archaeology in China - 15 Archaeologists Say Five Thousand Years", reprinted with permission.] 】
Proofread by Xu Heng
Source: Purple Cow News