In 1974, an underground building and ceramic figurines were found in Xiyang Village, Lintong County, Shaanxi Province, which is located one kilometer east of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, so it is called the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang, and the excavated cultural relics shocked the world and were called "the eighth wonder of the world". According to the current information, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses have unearthed more than 7,000 pieces of pottery warriors, more than 100 chariots, more than 400 pottery horses and hundreds of thousands of weapons. Terracotta warriors exist as the burial objects of Qin Shi Huang, and it is strange why Qin Shi Huang, who is known as a "tyrant", used samurai clay figurines for burial instead of using living people to bury them?
The system of human martyrdom has a long history in human history, thousands of years. In the beginning, the productivity of human society was low, and many people could not be fed, so after the death of young adults, some young and old people committed suicide to martyrdom to reduce the survival pressure of the clan. Later, this tradition continued to evolve, becoming a burial of slaves or close attendants after the death of the nobility, and the meaning of human martyrdom at this time was not for the better living of the ethnic group, but for the means of manifesting identity. After the death of the master or monarch, the servant or courtier commits suicide and is martyred, and the meaning of human martyrdom becomes a way of expressing loyalty to the master or monarch.
Human martyrdom and human sacrifice have existed at the same time for a long time, and human sacrifice is to sacrifice living people to heaven and earth ghosts or ancestors. In ancient times, people were very superstitious, and in matters of all sizes, they had to sacrifice the ghosts and ancestors of heaven and earth to seek the blessing of the gods and ancestors. Sacrifice to the gods and ancestors, in addition to reading the sacrifice text, the most important thing is to prepare sacrifices, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, people, grains are important sacrifices, and people are the most valuable sacrifices. The more important the sacrifice activities, the more people were used for sacrifice, and the Shang Dynasty was too frequent in arresting people from the princely states for sacrificing gods and ancestors, which led to the rebellion of the princes.
The use of people as sacrifices was basically extinct after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, one because the Zhou Dynasty promoted farming required more people to cultivate land, and the other was that the culture of the Zhou Dynasty did not allow people to sacrifice people to the gods and ancestors of heaven and earth. However, the system of human martyrdom was preserved, after all, the demise of a system always required a process. As a Noble Family of the Shang Dynasty, the Qin people retained a more perfect martyrdom system, and the rituals were more frequent, plus the Qin people lived with Xi Rong for a long time, and the customs were different from those of the Shandong states, so the Qin State was ridiculed by the Six Kingdoms as Xi Rong!
In fact, during the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, the human martyrdom system existed in all countries, and the scale was not small, after all, this was the result of the ritual system of the Zhou Dynasty. For example, the State of Lu, known as the beacon of civilization, has also existed for a long time, and Confucius has repeatedly publicly opposed the system of human martyrdom, and shouted out "The initiator, there is no follow-up?" Questioning. Confucius believed that the system of human martyrdom harmed nature and harmed reason, and ruined human lives, and such a system and things should not exist. Confucius further believed that not only should people be buried, but even humanoid figurines should not be buried. The nobles have slaves to be buried, and the poor have no slaves to use for burial, so they take the humanoid pottery figurines for burial, so Confucius issued a conscience question of "the initiator, who has no consequences"?
Qin Mugong was an important monarch in the history of the Qin state, and there were two martyrdom systems related to him, both of which are clearly recorded in the history books. One thing was that Qin Mugong intended to make Jin Huigong into a sacrifice to sacrifice the ancestors of heaven and earth; the second thing was that after his death, he used the three brothers of the Ziche clan for martyrdom. Jin Huigong's sister was the wife of Qin Mugong, and she did not want her half-brother to be made to sacrifice the ancestors of the Qin State, so she went to Qin Mugong every day to make trouble, crying twice and hanging three times, making Qin Mugong uneasy. Zhou Tianzi also sent a letter of state, saying that the State of Jin had the same surname as the Zhou royal family, and that the Duke hui of Jin could not be sacrificed to the ancestors of the State of Qin.
Historia. Qin Benji", so Mu Gongyu Jin Jun returned, ordered Yu Guo, Qi Su, I will worship God with Jin Jun. Zhou Tianzi heard it, and said, "Jin I have the same surname", in order to please Jin Jun. Yi Wu's sister was also The Duke of Mu, and when the lady heard of it, she was in decline and decay, saying: "Concubines and brothers cannot save each other, so as to insult the king's life." Mu Gongyue: "I have to be promoted to the king as a merit, today's son is please, the lady is worried." It is an alliance with the Jin Dynasty, and Xu Guizhi, and he gives up the upper house and gives it to the seven prisons. In November, yiwu, the king of The Jin Dynasty, sacrificed his land west of Hexi and made the crown prince hostage to Qin.
Jin Huigong originally wanted to take advantage of the famine in the Qin state to send troops to seize part of the Qin land, but he did not want to be captured by the Qin army, and he was almost made to sacrifice to God. After Hukou survived, Jin Huigong ceded the eight cities of Hexi to the Qin state, first, to fulfill his original promise to Qin Mugong, and second, to repay Qin Mugong for not killing.
The reason why Qin Mugong intended to make Jin Huigong sacrifice to God was also according to the sacrifice tradition of the Qin State, in the year of famine, he always had to sacrifice to the Heavenly Emperor in order to make the wind and rain smooth, and the higher the status of the people to sacrifice heaven and earth, the better the effect, so Jin Huigong became the object of sacrifice. Of course, Qin Mugong was an understanding man, and he knew that even if he sacrificed God to Jin Huigong, the great famine in Qin would not necessarily disappear, so he released Jin Huigong after receiving a promise from Jin Huigong to cede the eight cities of Hexi.
After Qin Mugong gained hegemonic status, he celebrated his merits in the court, and in order to express his loyalty to Qin Mugong, the Three Sages of the Ziche clan said that they would bury Him after Qin Mugong's death. For this matter, Qin Mugong did not comment on whether it was possible, of course, there must be martyrdom, but it was still inappropriate to use three virtuous ministers to be buried. As a result, after Qin Mugongxue was deposed, the chancellor buried the three brothers of the Ziche clan, and the reason was naturally that the three brothers of the Ziche clan did not die, and the status of the chancellor was not guaranteed.
After the Duke of Qin, the State of Qin fell into a state of chaos for the fourth dynasty, and Yi Shixi, who was supposed to be the monarch of the country, was exiled by his uncle to the land of Hexi. Later, Yin Shixi went to the State of Wei to study, and had many contacts with Wei Wenhou, Li Wu, Ximen Leopard and other Legal figures. The Wei state was the first to change the law, and it was the first to abolish the system of human martyrdom, after all, the agricultural development of the Wei state required more people to work. Influenced by the Wei State Reform Law, and wandering in Hexi when he was a teenager, Heshi xi came into contact with many low-level people and became more aware of the people's sufferings.
With the support of Marquis Wu of Wei, Yingshi Xi returned to the State of Qin to succeed him as monarch, and was known as the Duke of Qin. In order to develop national strength, Qin Xiangong announced the abolition of the system of human martyrdom in the Qin state and followed the example of the State of Wei to carry out appropriate changes. After the dedication of Gong Xue, Xiao Gong succeeded to the throne, and Qin Xiao took charge of the gongmartin, and completely changed the law in the Qin state. The core of the Martingale Transformation Law is agricultural warfare, whether it is to develop agriculture or build an army, it needs people! Therefore, after the Shang martingale changed the law, the Qin state not only abolished the system of human martyrdom, but also abolished the slave system, and no one in the Qin state was martyred at the legal level.
Before Empress Xuan died, she wanted to bury her favorite Wei ugly husband, but the use of people to be buried was against the new law of the Qin State, and Empress Xuan did not dare to break the law. Qin Chenyongrui advised Empress Xuan not to use Wei to be buried, and Empress Xuan agreed. However, Empress Xuan used the image of Wei Ugly Fu to make pottery figurines to accompany the burial, which is the beginning of the terracotta warriors. Qin Shi Huang ruled the country according to law all his life, and he used the image of the elite soldiers of Great Qin to make terracotta warriors to bury himself, which was also a precedent!