In 1974, in China, near the city of Xi'an, the ancient Chinese capital, peasants drilled an artesian well east of Mount Lishan, but instead of water they discovered something mysterious and even terrifying. Armed men in armor stood underground.
Archaeological excavations were carried out in three stages. The first stage of excavation took place from 1978 to 1984. The second - from 1985 to 1986. June 13, 2009 began the third stage of excavations.
An army of clay warriors rests in a battle formation, in parallel crypts 1.5 km east of the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The emperor who unified China wanted to lead a comfortable afterlife even after death. An army of clay soldiers was supposed to guard his peace. It took 38 years to build the tomb. It took the efforts of 700 thousand workers and artisans to create this crypt. The outer perimeter wall is 6 km.
Contrary to tradition, clay soldiers were buried with the emperor. But 48 of his concubines were buried alive. He preferred living women to those of clay. Workers and their families are also buried in the tomb - 70 thousand people according to various estimates.
Emperor Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne at the age of 13. Despite his young age, he was distinguished by ambition, lust for power and cruelty. Qin united China, destroying all previous kingdoms, and united the Chinese wall.
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The company for the unification of the Celestial Empire was a huge one. The emperor's reforms were wise: a single currency, standards for the measure of weight and length, for construction and even for the width of the axis of carts were introduced, so that the emperor's army could safely get to the right place. All previous history was declared irrelevant, the annals of all the conquered kingdoms were burned. By order of the emperor, 460 scientists who disagreed with the regime were buried alive in the ground.
Qin Shi Huang's cruelty makes you shudder even now. For any violation in his kingdom, there was one punishment - death. At what it was lucky for the one whose death was easy, it was considered a special favor. Common executions were chariot tearing, quartering, chopping in two, boiling in a cauldron, and breaking ribs. The heads of the convicts were displayed on a pole in the square. Those whom the emperor considered especially dangerous were executed along with relatives in three generations. And since the families of the Chinese were very large, then the bill went into the thousands.
To defend China from the attacks of the nomadic Huns, the unification of the Chinese wall began. Prior to this, the walls were scattered defensive structures and the boundaries of the scattered Chinese kingdoms, which Qin Shi Huang united into a single empire. The Great Wall of China was supposed to stretch for 4 thousand kilometers. It was built for 10 years by more than 2 million people - soldiers and slaves from prisoners of war and criminals. Those who died from overwork were walled up in a wall. The wall was erected in the bare steppe, reflecting the raids of nomads, the builders were almost not fed. The watchers' legs were cut off so that they could not escape when the Huns attacked.
The construction of the mausoleum continued along with the wall.
The tomb was built without skimping on funds. But Qin Shi Huang himself did not seek to become its inhabitant. Having reached the age of 40, which is a considerable age for that time, he began to look for a way to immortality. He spent a lot of time and money in search of the elixir of immortality. He equipped expeditions in search of the magic herb that bestowed immortality, studied ancient manuscripts, interrogated sages and sorcerers.
And in the end the emperor issued an order that he would live forever. After death, the body continued to be in the throne room, ceremonies were carried out as if he were alive.
The emperor died on September 10, 210 BC. If you believe the written sources, the reason was the pills, which were supposed to make the dragon emperor immortal. The pills contained mercury.
But there are many versions of his death. None of them have been proven.
They say that one of his concubines stabbed him in a dream. According to another version, he was killed by an influential official and friend of Zhao Gao. The goal was to put on the throne one of the 20 sons of the emperor - the most daring of all. The names in different sources are different: Fu Su or Hu Hai.
Be that as it may - the death of the emperor was sudden and mysterious. Qin Shi Huang believed that his descendants would rule for another 10 thousand years after him. But the empire fell, torn apart by uprisings and wars.
It should be noted that the burial of the emperor himself has not been excavated until now. It is known for certain that the emperor lies in a sarcophagus of pure gold, surrounded by rivers of poisonous mercury.
It is strange that no one touched the tomb until 1974. The marauders did not dare to destroy the graves. The terrible and influential figure of the first emperor of the united China frightened lovers of antiquities.
There are a lot of unique and rare things in this truly grandiose structure. In addition to the terracotta army, the tomb contains jewels of rare beauty, bronze figures of acrobats, armor and helmets, a small "zoo" with figures of rare animals.
There is no doubt that Qin Shi Huang had thoroughly prepared for the afterlife.
It remains to hope that the emperor still did not reveal the secret of eternal life and does not wait for him to be raised from a long sleep for the further rule of the Celestial Empire.
