On the Authenticity of the Description of the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang in Historical Records

It should be more realistic: the population of the Qin Dynasty was more than 10 million, millions of people built the Great Wall, and there were no fewer than one million people in the tomb of Mount Li. There is indeed a lot of quicksand in the organs, and mercury is a bit exaggerated. In ancient times, there was a kind of oil that could burn for decades. It was an ever-burning lamp, which was found in many ancient tombs, but because the lack of oxygen quickly went out, it left grease. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty built a mausoleum, and one third of the national fiscal revenue was invested in the mausoleum every year. Emperors of all ages have done this, and the tyrant's tomb has invested a lot.

To tell the truth, in his time, the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor had been destroyed. The setting in the mausoleum must be false, hearsay, because the people who built the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang are basically dead. But the external basic structure should be true for two reasons:

1, Sima Qian's time is only one hundred years away from Qin Shihuang. The archives of the Central Committee of the Han Dynasty inherited many official documents and materials of the Qin Dynasty. It is entirely possible that the original materials of the Qin Dynasty recorded the specifications of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor for future emperors to refer to when building the mausoleum. As an official in charge of these materials, Sima Qian was able to read these files left over from the Qin Dynasty.

2. Sima Qian's academic spirit is rigorous. For uncertain legends, he will explain them in historical records or simply omit them, and never speculate (such as the deeds of the ancient five emperors, the chronology of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties). The description of Qin Shihuang's tomb is so clear that he saw absolutely authoritative and reliable information, which is why he spoke in such detail. Words, should be true.