In 2002, Chinese archaeologists formed the Afanggong archaeological team. They tried to find the palace that was destroyed by the fire from the ruins that had been covered with loess dust for more than two thousand years. However, the results of the excavation were beyond people's expectations-the Afang Palace was not burned by the fire! Will it be because more than two thousand years have passed, countless wind, frost, rain and snow have wiped out the traces of the fire? Is it?
According to legend, more than two thousand years ago, the Changle Palace in the Han Dynasty was once one of the most beautiful palaces in the capital city of Chang'an in the Western Han Dynasty. It was the residence of Emperor Wudi’s mother. The young Gillian met here the same young Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty. "Golden House Cangjiao" this time-honored story. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Changle Palace was burned down, and the traces of the fire are still vivid. The construction age of the Afang Palace and the Changle Palace in the Han Dynasty is not far away. If it was also burned down, there should be traces of being burned. However, the Afang Palace did not leave traces of being burned! Then there is only one possibility: Xiang Yu did not burn Afang palace.
Xiang Yu burning Afang Palace is generally believed to be that after Emperor Xiang Yu, king of the Chu, led his army into the barrier, he transferred his hatred to things and set the Afang Palace and all its annex buildings on fire, turning them into ashes. However, in "Historical Records · The Benji of Xiang Yu", it only said that "the palace of Qin was burned, and the fire would not go out in March", and it did not mention Afang Palace. The archaeological discovery that the so-called "Xiang Yu fire burns Afang Palace" is a historical misrepresentation. In contemporary archaeological excavations on the Afang Palace site, archaeologists also found no trace of burning. In recent years, archaeologists have spent more than a year surveying the Afang Palace, surveying more than 200,000 square meters, only a few pieces of burned clods were found. If according to historical data, Afang Palace should have a lot of vegetation and ash all over the place. The archaeologists infer that Xiang Yu burned the Qin Xianyang Palace, because a large area of burned remains was found at the site of the Xianyang Palace.
According to contemporary archaeological evidence, Afang Palace has not been built!
Later generations believed that the Afang Palace was destroyed by the fire, which can only be seen from the famous Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu's "A Fang Gong Fu", and most people today are based on the "A Fang Gong Fu". Some people think that Du Mu is a writer. He made up the incident of burning Afang Palace, perhaps for the purpose of satirizing the past with the present. However, it is obviously not enough to prove that the Afang Palace was not destroyed by the fire just on the grounds that Du Mu is a writer. Therefore, whether Xiang Yu really burned Afang Palace remains to be verified. This is because:
1. The site of the front hall of the Afang Palace is the largest rammed earth platform foundation site in the ancient history of China and the world. Looking at the base of the front hall of more than 540,000 square meters, a building of this scale was impossible to complete under the conditions at the time. In addition, all political activities from the late Qin Shihuang to Qin II, and then to Prince Ying of Qin were held in Xianyang Palace or Wangyi Palace, and Afang Palace was never mentioned.
2. The iron proof of the existence of Afang Palace can only be written descriptions or objects at the time. However, no physical examples have been found so far. If the palace is built, no matter how it is burnt down, it should be like the ruins of the Qin Xianyang Palace, with a pile of rubble more than one meter thick, but the Afang Palace site does not. Moreover, if the palace is built, the gold and silver treasures will be looted, how can it be possible that there is not even a broken bowl left?
3. "Historical Records" contains: When Qin II came to the throne, the Afang Palace was "unsuccessful". Due to the collapse of the First Emperor, Afang Palace was forced to suspend work and drove all 700,000 laborers to repair the Qin Mausoleum. In April of this year, "returned to Afang Palace", in July Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled. Obviously, Afang Palace cannot be built in such a short period of time.
As for Du Mu's "A Fang Gong Fu", it is based on the poet's imagination. In fact, it has long been pointed out in history that the front hall of Afang Palace was not built, and the description of its scale is on drawings rather than actual. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Cheng Dachang wrote in his "Yong Lu": "Those who can sit on top of thousands of people, and build a five-zhangqi flag underneath, are their models. The last two sentences mean that they are designed. The model hopes to be like this, but in fact it has not been implemented. If the Afang Palace had never existed, then Xiang Yu's "burning of the Afang Palace" was unjustified, and indeed he was wronged.
