Thrilling mysteries inside Qin Shi Huang's tomb

Qin Shi Huang was the 36th king of Qin, and the first Emperor to unify China after destroying six vassal states, ending the Warring States period.


Location of Qin Shi Huang's tomb
In 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang traveled to the East with his prime minister Ly Tu, the royal commander Trieu Cao and his 18th son, son Ho Hoi. When he reached the Sa Khau section, he immediately fell seriously ill and died. Knowing that he could not survive, when he returned to the capital Ham Duong, he ordered Trieu Cao to command his eldest son, Phu To, to mourn and ascend the throne. The letter and seal were both at Trieu Cao's place

However, Trieu Cao and Ly Tu conspired to destroy Thuy Hoang's will, forged another decree to appoint son Ho Hoi as his successor, and forged a letter to send to Thuong District to send to Phu To. Phu To saw the emperor's seal, thinking it was a letter from his father, so he committed suicide

Ho Hoi ascended the throne, that is, King Tan Nhi The. Nearly a year later, in 209 BC, Tran Thang and Ngo Quang in the land of So raised an army against the Qin Dynasty, spreading the news that Phu To was still alive, and in the name of helping Phu To fight against the unjust Ho Hoi, they waved the flag of rebellion. against the Qin Dynasty. The movement launched by Tran Thang and Ngo Quang eventually caused the Qin Dynasty to collapse three years later.

After his death, Qin Shi Huang's tomb was located in the north of Ly Son mountain range, Shaanxi, China. To prepare for death, Emperor Qin Shi Huang began building the mausoleum in 246 BC. After 38 years of construction with more than 700,000 workers and skilled craftsmen, this tomb was completed.

Recent surveys show that Qin Shi Huang's underground tomb is 260m long from East to West and 160m wide from North to South. The total area is 41,600 m2, this is the largest mausoleum in the Qin and Han dynasties, its size is equivalent to 5 international football fields.
The central mausoleum area is considered the palace of Qin Shi Huang when he was alive. This place accounts for 2/3 of the total area. This mausoleum also has a burial place for the king's concubines with 48 small tombs found. In addition, archaeologists also discovered 98 rooms designed like horse stables right next to the terracotta statue area.
The outside of the mausoleum was built extremely solidly, the walls surrounding the mausoleum were made from white ash, sandy soil, loess and added sticky rice and iron nails, which had a very good effect against wind and rain. Even normal explosives would have difficulty shaking this wall.

Traps inside the tomb

Emperor Qin Shi Huang was buried with a lot of precious gold, silver and jewels. To protect the tomb from invasion by tomb robbers, Emperor Qin designed many deadly traps inside his own tomb.
According to many thrilling anecdotes, Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb is surrounded by a river of mercury and a series of deadly traps. It is believed that inside the tomb there are automatic arrow shooting machines, in addition to air traps containing extremely toxic mercury.

During excavations, archaeologists found that the amount of mercury in the tomb was 280 times higher than normal. This is quite consistent with the records in the historical record Sima Qian about the mercury river inside the tomb.

The mystery of the terracotta warrior's curse

The terracotta army with about 8,000 statues is a special part of Qin Shi Huang's tomb, this army is the size of a real person. Human statues include infantrymen, archers, generals in an upright or crouching position holding bows, halberds, spears, spears, bronze-clad swords... these are weapons used in China during the period. there.
In addition, 130 chariots and 670 horses were found. Each statue is mostly different in gestures and facial expressions, and some statues even have different colors. It is said that the first tomb has a statue of 6,000 soldiers and horses, the main army of Qin Shi Huang.

The first crypt is located on the west side of the Mausoleum. The second crypt contains about 1,400 statues of cavalry and infantry accompanying chariots, this is considered a police team, on an area of ​​19,659 m2. The third crypt has command teams at different levels and a four-horse chariot on an area of ​​1524 m2 with 68 statues.

Treasure in the tomb

In the records of historians of the Han Dynasty, a room of the mausoleum contained many rare treasures collected from many places. There are many warships, precious stones and many other treasures buried.
The two chariots are cast in bronze, the entire white horse's body is made from white powder mixed with special glue. The size of the carriage is only half the size of the real one, but these two carriages are made in extremely detailed, very realistic and sophisticated manner.

The bronze swords unearthed along with warrior statues have an average length of about 80cm. These bronze swords have a dense, bright and smooth structure. Even though these swords have been buried underground for more than 2,000 years, they are still as bright as new and extremely sharp.
In addition, crossbows were also found in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. These crossbows not only shoot farther than bows and arrows, have stronger damage, but also have a higher hit rate. This shot cord is elastic and strong.

A large number of arrows were found in the tomb. According to archaeologists, these arrows not only easily penetrated the enemy's armor, but their structure was also very complex.