Chapter 31 Section 9 Further Development of the Capitals of the Nations

In the above-mentioned bronze culture of the Spring and Autumn Period, we have already introduced the capitals of Qi and Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Now here is a brief introduction to Xianyang, the capital of Qin, Handan, the capital of Zhao, Xinzheng, the capital of Han, and Yanxia Capital. In the twelfth year of Qin Xiaogong (350 BC), the capital was moved to Xianyang.After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, here is the political, economic and cultural center of the country, and occupies an important position in the history of ancient Chinese capitals.Since 1959, archaeologists have investigated and excavated the site of Xianyang, the capital of Qin Dynasty.The site is located on the north bank of the Weihe River in Yaodian, 15 kilometers east of today's Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province. It is about 6 kilometers long from north to south and about 4 kilometers wide from east to west. The southern part has been washed away by the Weihe River.A slightly rectangular rammed earth wall foundation was found in the north-central part of the city, about 870 meters long from east to west and about 500 meters wide from north to south, which may be the location of Miyagi.More than 20 rammed earth building foundations have been discovered inside and outside the palace city.Among them, the foundation site of Palace No. 1, which was excavated from 1974 to 1975, is 177 meters long from east to west, 45 meters wide from north to south, and 6 meters high now.Built of rammed earth, it is in the shape of concave steps.On it, wooden houses are built layer by layer according to the platform, forming a multi-storey tall building.The middle of the upper floor of the western half is the main hall, the surrounding and lower floors are bedrooms, washrooms, etc., and the bottom floor is the corridor.A large number of hollow bricks with dragon pattern, phoenix pattern and geometric pattern, floor tiles with square pattern, rice character pattern and sun pattern, a large number of plate tiles, tube tiles, cloud pattern, animal pattern, deformed Kui pattern and other round tiles and pottery drainage pipes were unearthed. Wait.The indoor ground and walls are painted with grass and mud in layers, and the surface is painted white or red.Notably, polychrome frescoes were found on the walls.There are bright red, vermilion, yellow, ocher, azurite, stone green, black and other colors. The pigments are minerals, which are still very vivid.Mural paintings were also found in the nearby No. 3 palace ruins, including chariots and horses, guards of honor, buildings, figures and ears of wheat.These palace ruins all have obvious fire remains, which is consistent with the records in "Historical Records Xiang Yu Benji" that Xiang Yu burned the palace in Xianyang, the capital of Qin Dynasty, and the fire lasted for three months.In addition, in the west of Miyagi and in the southwest outside the city, there are handicraft workshops such as cast iron, copper and pottery.

Handan, the capital of Zhao State, is located in the urban area and southwest of Handan, Hebei Province.Zhao Zijinghou first year (386 BC) moved his capital from Zhongmu (now Tangyin, Henan) to Handan, until he was destroyed by Qin Shihuang in 222 BC, and remained in Handan.Handan, the capital of Zhao, is composed of Miyagi (commonly known as Zhaowangcheng) in the southwest and Dacheng (Kuocheng) in the northeast.The distance between the two is only 60 meters.Miyagi is composed of three small cities in the east, west and north, and the plane is in the shape of a character.The city walls were rammed.The total area is 5.05 million square meters.The remaining height of the city wall is eight meters, and pottery drainage channels were found.There are more than ten rammed earth foundations in the city, including Longtai, Nanjiangtai and Beijiangtai, which are the foundations of palace buildings.Among them, the Longtai in the south-central part of Xicheng is the largest, with a length of 296 meters from north to south, a width of 265 meters from east to west, and a residual height of 16 meters. It is the largest rammed earth platform known in the Warring States Period.A large number of tiles and round tiles with plain surface, Sanlu pattern and vortex cloud pattern were unearthed at the base of the platform.Dacheng is a residential area, the west wall is about 6,000 meters long, and the south wall is about 4,000 meters long. In 1995, the east city wall and the north city wall were drilled out, with an estimated total area of ​​8 million square meters.Ruins of handicraft workshops such as iron smelting, pottery making, and bone making were found in the city.In the northwest corner of the city, there are rammed earth foundations such as Jianjian Ridge, Jianjian Furnace, Dressing House and Lingshan.

In the third year of Han Aihou (375 BC), after South Korea annexed Zheng State, it moved its capital to Xinzheng (formerly the capital of Zheng State), in Xinzheng County, Henan Province and its surrounding areas, Wei[weiwei]shui (Shuangji[jiji] River) and Qin (zhenzhen) water (Yellow River) confluence.The city is built along the river, with an irregular plan, with a maximum length of 4,500 meters from north to south and a maximum width of about 5,000 meters from east to west. The central part is divided into two cities, east and west, by a north-south partition wall.The west city, also known as the inner city, has a Miyagi ruins in the middle, which is 320 meters long from north to south and 500 meters wide from east to west.Many rammed earth building foundations were found in Miyagi and to the north.For example, the base of the dressing table is 135 meters long from north to south, 80 meters wide from east to west, and 8 meters high.An underground building foundation for refrigerated food was found in the north of Gelaofen Village in the northwest of the inner city. It is a rectangular vertical hole with a mouth slightly larger than the bottom. It is 8.7 meters long from north to south, 2.8-3 meters wide from east to west, and 2.4-3.35 meters deep.There are five pottery wells underground, about 2.5 meters deep, which are cold storage cellars for storing livestock and poultry meat.Dongcheng, also known as the Outer City, has found sites of handicraft workshops such as copper casting, iron smelting, pottery making, and bone making.In 1923, in Lijialou Village in the southeast of the west city, a tomb of aristocrats in the middle and late Spring and Autumn period was found, and a large number of large bronze ritual vessels were unearthed. The aforementioned exquisite lotus crane square pot was unearthed in this.In addition, in 1971, a pit of bronze weapons was discovered in Baimiaofan Village in the southeast of Dongcheng, and 180 pieces of spears, spears, and swords were unearthed, of which more than 170 pieces had inscriptions, which was a major discovery of weapons in the late Warring States period.

According to literature records, the capitals of the Yan State during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods included Ji, the upper capital, and Wuyang, the lower capital.According to archaeological findings, Jicheng is located in the northwest of the outer city of Beijing today. There are semicircular tiles with animal face patterns, pottery well rings, and bright knives, the currency of Yan State, unearthed.The date of the founding of Wuyang City, the capital of Yanxia, ​​is currently being discussed, but it was already very prosperous in the late Warring States period when King Yanzhao was the king.The city site is 2.5 kilometers southeast of Yixian County, Hebei Province, between Beiyishui and Zhongyishui.Archaeologists have conducted many investigations and excavations since 1930.The plane of the city site is roughly rectangular, about eight kilometers long from east to west, and about 416 kilometers wide from north to south. It is the largest of the Warring States capital ruins.There is a partition wall in the middle that divides it into east and west cities.The east city is also called the inner city, and there is an east-west partition wall in the north.In the north of Dongcheng, there are large-scale rammed-earth building foundations such as Wuyang Terrace and Zhanggongtai, and in the north of the city, there are also rammed-earth building foundations such as Laomutai. These are the places where the palace area was located at that time.Among them, Wutai is the largest, with a length of about 140 meters from east to west, a width of about 110 meters from north to south, and a residual height of 11 meters. It is divided into upper and lower floors. In 1966, a 74.5-centimeter-high bronze shop title ring was found in the city, which can imagine the majesty of the building at that time.Also unearthed in the city are semicircular tiles with animal face patterns, double bird patterns, double dragon patterns, and mountain cloud patterns, as well as triangular cicada wing patterns, ridge tiles and vertical ridge tiles with Fu Fu (fu Fu) patterns, and large cylindrical tiger head-shaped tiles. Outlet drain pipes, etc.In the city, there are also handicraft workshop sites such as iron smelting, casting bronze mirrors, coins and weapons.There are many stamped inscriptions on the pottery unearthed in the city, most of which are "Tao Gong (worker)", some have more characters, and the content is the year and month, left (or right) Tao Yin, left (or right) Tao Yu 〔Chui vertical〕XX, 敀〔POPO〕XX, left (or right) potter XX, etc., are the marks of government handicraft workshops.In addition, many large row tombs were found in Xuliang Tomb and Jiunv Terrace in the northwest corner of the inner city. There are tall mounds on the ground. Some of them have been excavated and are the tombs of King Yan and senior nobles.There are few cultural relics in the west city, which may be a Kuocheng for military defense.