The ugly custom of human martyrdom can be traced back to primitive society, mostly in feudal dynasties.
Human martyrdom refers to the burial of clan chiefs, patriarchs, and feudal lords who have died as living people. Most of the people who were martyred were close relatives, close subjects, close attendants, and prisoners of war. In an era of class differentiation, human martyrdom became a widely popular ancient funerary ritual.
It can be said that the main reason for this phenomenon was due to the increase in productive forces at that time, the development of commodity exchange and the emergence of private property, and this series of changes caused class differentiation within the clan. Therefore, the emergence of this primitive religious activity is closely related to the emergence of private property.
At the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Site of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang in Xi'an, we can see various kinds of figurines buried for Qin Shi Huang. As everyone knows, the 7300 ceramic figurines that we can see are not all of the burial items of Qin Shi Huang.
After all, soldiers were the most important military force of the country at any time, so it was impossible for Qin Shi Huang to be martyred as soldiers, and these terracotta warriors were just a substitute for martyred soldiers. However, in addition to the soldiers, others (mainly unproductive palace concubines or slaves) are less important, so in the unexcavated Qin Tombs, there are bound to be many martyred remains.
You must know that since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Qindi has had the custom of martyrdom. As early as the death of Duke Wu of Qin, sixty-six martyrs were used. By the time of Qin Mugong, the number of martyrs had soared to one hundred and eighty. Qin Shi Huang's ancestors had not yet become emperors of the Unification and Liuhe, and they had already used so many people to be martyred, so since Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor in Chinese history, how many poor people were buried for him?
Regarding the number of people who were martyred for Yingzheng, the records in the historical materials are relatively vague, and there are many opinions in the historical circles. Some scholars say there are tens of thousands of people, and some scholars say that there are at least 700,000 people. Because the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang has not yet been excavated, and there is no historical data to give detailed data, this number is still in the speculation stage. However, just from the number of terracotta warriors, we can roughly estimate that there are not a few living people who are buried with Qin Shi Huang.
Although the historical data does not give an accurate number, we can basically determine that there were at least four types of people in the burial pit.
The first category is the generals who fought for Qin Shi Huang.
After all, in the terracotta pits excavated today, we have not found any military generals of the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, these warriors were most likely in the dungeon closer to Yingzheng.
As for why these clay figurines are called "a type of person", there is also a reason. With the original intention of Winning Zheng, he hoped that these warriors who helped him seize the world would be buried. However, this idea is very unrealistic, and if thousands of soldiers are allowed to accompany the burial of Qin Shi Huang, it is bound to bring great panic to the country.
For this reason, the conscription had to retreat to the second place, allowing the craftsmen to use clay to create the image of the Qin soldiers and complete the martyrdom instead of them. You know, in all the terracotta warrior images, no two faces are repeated, which is enough to show that each soldier's terracotta figurine is tailored by the craftsman according to the prototype.
As an aside, it is said that when carving clay figurines for soldiers, craftsmen need to carve their names on the soles of the figurines. If a part of the figurine is not carved, then the corresponding body tissue of the craftsman must be cut off. Therefore, when craftsmen carve clay figurines, they are bound to strive for excellence, after all, no one wants to joke about their own body organs.
In addition, according to the research of archaeologists, these figurines have been colored before entering the soil, but because the color of the surface of the clay figurines has faded over time, the clay figurines we see today are the same earth yellow.
The second category is the craftsmen who have participated in the construction of the imperial tomb, and perhaps also include the craftsmen responsible for carving the clay figurines mentioned above.
When Yingzheng succeeded to the throne at the age of thirteen, he had already begun to prepare for the construction of the imperial tomb. During his reign, a total of about 700,000 people were recruited, except for those who died at the construction site, all of whom became martyrs of Qin Shi Huang.
The answer to making these people martyrs is self-evident. Yin Zheng was worried that his descendants would disturb his eternal sleep, so he had to hide the location of the imperial tomb. Therefore, it is the safest thing to do to kill all those in the know, and these unlucky craftsmen have become victims.
The third category is the concubines of Yingzheng.
Of course, most of the concubines who accompanied the funeral were women who failed to give birth to heirs for Yingzheng. Yingzheng unified the whole country, so the palace concubines of the six kingdoms of the former dynasty became his private forbidden. These women, Yingzheng can not be "all-encompassing", even if there are palace women who are fortunate enough to get Yingzheng Linxing, they may not be able to give birth to heirs. Therefore, there were at least a thousand women who were buried for Qin Shi Huang, which is beyond doubt.
The last category of people is the children of Yingzheng.
Although "tiger poison does not eat children", even if the emperors of successive dynasties find someone to be martyred, they will not extend their claws to their flesh and bones. However, Yingzheng was very cruel to let his children bury himself. According to the records of the literature, Qin Shi Huang had more than twenty sons, but after the death of Yingzheng, only Hu Hai was left as a "single seedling".
Some scholars also say that the martyrdom of these children was not the intention of Qin Shi Huang, but the idea of the second Hu Hai. Hu Hai's throne did not come from the right way, so he was afraid that other brothers would stand up and seize power. In order to never have any trouble, Hu Hai killed all his brothers and sisters and made himself the only heir.
Of course, at present, the identity of the martyrs in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is still in the speculation stage, and the truth will not be revealed until archaeologists open the Qin Mausoleum.
Resources:
【History", "Analysis of Human Martyrdom and Its Legal Culture"]