Original A strange injustice through the ages, Xiang Yu actually did not massacre 200,000 Qin soldiers in Xin'an

After Zhang Han led the Qin army's last 200,000 main force to surrender to Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu led the 300,000-plus coalition forces from Anyang to the west to seize territory, hoping to enter the pass and destroy Qin. Four months later, in November 207 BC, when the army arrived at Xin'an (the area of ​​Ershilipu, Yima City, Henan Province), more than 200 kilometers away from Hangu Pass, an extremely cruel and inhumane incident occurred among the princes' troops. atrocities.

At that time, Qin Shihuang carried out large-scale construction projects, such as building the Great Wall, building roads, building imperial mausoleums, and building palaces. Most of these huge projects required conscripting corvettes from the Guandong region to do hard work. The Qin people bullied him, so he rose up and joined the army to fight against Qin. Now that the situation has changed, the Qin army has become a surrendered pawn after the defeat, and the officers and soldiers of the princes' armies are still using their own methods to take revenge! The Qin army could not bear the humiliation of surrendering their soldiers. When they arrived at Xin'an, they finally complained secretly and discussed privately: "General Zhang tricked us into surrendering to the princes. Now he can enter the pass and defeat Qin. If he can't, the princes will kidnap us and return eastward. Qin will I will kill my parents and my wife." In fact, the Qin State had been destroyed by Liu Bang a month ago, but apparently the news had not yet reached the princes and armies.

These complaints were all reported to the coalition headquarters, and the generals asked Xiang Yu to make a decisive decision. Xiang Yu summoned two generals, Yingbu and General Pu, and discussed with them: "The Qin officials are dissatisfied with the generals, and will not listen to orders in the pass. Things will be in danger. It is better to kill them and fight with Zhang Han alone." , Chang Shixin, and Du Wei entered Qin, and there was no danger. "

So, that night, Yingbu and General Pu led their troops to attack the Qin camp and killed all the 200,000 Qin soldiers. Trap and kill in the south of Xin'an City, leaving no one alive!

But in fact, this record has many flaws.

First of all, the number of people is incomprehensible. According to the Hanshu "Hanshu·Chen Shengxiang Ji Biography": "The Yu generals led more than 300,000 soldiers from the princes and marched to Henan, then west to Xin'an." This shows that this multinational force had more than 300,000 people when it arrived in Xin'an. But after they entered the pass, the number of them increased instead of being small (according to "Hanshu Gaodi Ji": "At that time, there were 400,000 Yu soldiers, numbered one million. Pei Gong had 100,000 soldiers, numbered 200,000, and they were outnumbered.") From Xin'an to Hongmen, the princes' army received at most tens of thousands and hundreds of Vietnamese soldiers from Wu Rui. If all the Qin army were encircled and killed, the princes' army would be able to number more than 200,000 after entering the pass, and it would be impossible to reach 400,000.

In addition, these 200,000 Qin soldiers were all surrendered troops, not prisoners of war. They still had weapons in their hands. The other princes' armies only numbered 100,000 people. How could they be defeated overnight? All the traps and killings are incomprehensible.

Some people say that the princes' army forced or tricked the Qin army into the valley, and then condescended to massacre them all with bows, arrows and huge rocks from the valley, just like Bai Qi killed 400,000 Zhao soldiers in a trap.

This is impossible. The Zhao soldiers that Bai Qi killed were prisoners of war who had been starved for more than forty days and had their weapons confiscated. They were no different from lambs waiting to be slaughtered; while these hundreds of thousands of Qin soldiers were The surrendered troops have been received and reorganized for four months. Not only have their weapons not been confiscated, but they are also well-organized. They are led by Qin General Sima Xin and are the vanguard of the princes' armies. They are the authentic "party that leads the way to destroy Qin" (according to "Historical Records" "The Chronicles of Xiang Yu" "Xiang Yu established Zhang Han as King Yong and placed the Chu army in the center. The envoy commander Shi Xin became the general and led the Qin army forward."); So the question is, the 200,000 fully armed Qin army was reorganized. How could they just sit back and wait for death? Wouldn't they resist? Even if the Qin army was completely wiped out after a great battle, the princes' army would have to lose at least tens of thousands of troops. This account would not be worth it at all, and other princes such as Yingbu would not agree at all.

In addition, where could the Chu army find so many valleys to accommodate a full 200,000 Qin soldiers? Bai Qi killed 400,000 Zhao soldiers in a trap because there were many large valleys in the Changping area. He could deceive the Zhao soldiers into many batches and send them into various valleys for massacre, but Xin'an did not have such a landform.

In 1912, workers building the Longhai Railway discovered a pit 400 meters long from east to west and 250 meters wide from north to south in the Xin'an area, and excavated numerous bones from it. Historians have verified that this is the place where Xiang Yu killed Qin soldiers.

Here comes the problem. A pit that is 400 meters long from east to west and 250 meters wide from north to south cannot accommodate 200,000 people to stand, let alone carry out an indiscriminate massacre, not to mention that the Chu army has to find a way to kill them. All these 200,000 Qin soldiers were lured into the valley? When Bai Qi killed Zhao soldiers in a trap, many corpse pits were found in the Changping area. Xin'an only found this one.

Picture: The mass grave site is where people are surrounded, also known as "Chu Keng"

The last point: After Xiang Yu entered the Pass, he and the princes still sent Zhang Han and Dong Yi and Sima Xin were named kings and guarded the land of Sanqin. Just imagine, if all the soldiers of the Qin army were trapped and killed, how could Zhang Han, the three polished commanders, be able to defend the land of the Three Qin Dynasties and fight bloody battles with Liu Bang and Han Xin for several months in the future? Even if we have to recruit soldiers again, we must have the support of the original armed forces to capture strong men, otherwise who will listen to these three "leading parties".

Xiang Yu, the Prime Minister of Xianyang, made a mistake by letting these three defeated generals stay in Sanqin; but if they kill all their soldiers and let them stay in Sanqin, that would be ***.

In fact, at least two of the 200,000 Qin soldiers surrendered and still left their traces in the history books. One is Zhao Bi, the general of the Qin State who fought with Liu Bang in Kaifeng and Luoyang. Zhao Bi once forced Liu Bang to go south to Wuguan and join the Qin Dynasty. He was powerful, but in the face of Xiang Yu's army of more than 300,000 princes, he finally chose to surrender; Xiang Yu Later, he was asked to guard Xianyang and belonged to Yongwang Zhanghan. The other one was Zhang Han's lieutenant Qi Lu Ma Tong. This person was still friends with Xiang Yu before his death in Wujiang, which shows that the Qin army's descendants had a good relationship with Xiang Yu.

All this shows that not all of the 200,000 Qin soldiers were killed. In other words, Xiang Yu did kill Qin soldiers, but he probably only killed a part of them. To be precise, he was killed by a trap. The purpose of killing those Qin soldiers who planned to cause rebellion was to act as a deterrent to other soldiers who surrendered. Because under the background of the time, the surrendered troops usually had a timid mentality and lacked the courage to fight. When some people face killing, others will never stand up to help resist in order to save their lives. In this way, Xiang Yu can break up the remaining surrendered soldiers and integrate them into the armies of various princes to effectively prevent the Qin army from mutiny again without having to kill all the 200,000 Qin soldiers.

In any case, Xiang Yu should have killed tens of thousands of Qin soldiers. This inhumane massacre policy was exaggerated and publicized by the Liu Bang regime, which made Xiang Yu even more unpopular with the Qin people. This is This laid the foundation for his future defeat. However, in Xiang Yu's heart, he didn't think so, because he only regarded the Qin people as enemies and aliens from the beginning to the end. He wished that all the Qin people would die, so that the world would be completely peaceful, and then he could return to his hometown in glory. Peng Cheng and Yu Ji Ma went to Nanshan and lived a comfortable life where he only envied mandarin ducks but not immortals.

Xiang Yu had a beautiful idea. However, it is impossible for all the people of Qin to die, and it is impossible for the world to be peaceful so quickly. Using violence to fight violence will only make the world more chaotic.

Unfortunately, Xiang Yu would have never understood this originally simple truth until his death if it had not been for a thirteen-year-old child in Waihuang City later.