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Part Two
But there is a revolution coming that will change all that. First, here in Qin, and ultimately the whole of China.
The revolution will be led by a young scholar named Li Si. Just months after Ying Zheng becomes King, Li Si arrives at his court, looking for a job. But the man who hires and fires here is the Queen’s lover Lv Buwei, now Prime Minister.
Impressed by Li Si’s obvious ambition, he is quick to take him onto his staff. It’s an impulsive decision he will come to regret. Prime Minister Lv Buwei allows Li Si an audience with the young king without taking care to be present himself.
We are the strongest state within the seas. By taking advantage of our own strength and the weaknesses of our enemies, surely with the power Qin has at its disposal it will be possible to completely wipe out the feudal lords, uniting the whole world under one rule. This kind of opportunity, Sire, only comes once in ten thousand years. Yet destiny rarely ever creates a man great enough to take advantage, but I believe the great ruler is you, Majesty, and the time is now.
Li Si awakens in Ying Zheng a realization that real power is his. He just needs the courage and the vision to use it. And over the next decade, he will do just that.
In the ten years since he came to the throne in 247 BC, King Ying Zheng has strengthened his power through war. He fights for his life, and for a dream--to forge a new nation, China. Many great kings have tried before him, and all have failed. But this time will be different, because Ying Zheng is different. The youngest king to lead his nation into war, he is its greatest warrior. A visionary leader, burning with ambition, if anyone can unify China, it is him.
Ancient China is made up of seven warring states. Six of the seven have been weakened by endless warfare, while one continues to grow at their expense--the state of Chin.
Well, you've won.
In its campaign against the state of Zhao, the Chin army takes over 10,000 prisoners. The rules of war are explicit. Prisoners must be cared for.
And the day is yours, and this is yours.
However, looking after captives would slow down his campaign.
You want to know what to do with that?
There is only one way to treat weakness and that is to exploit it. There is only one way for Chin to survive. And that is through conquer.
All 10,000 Zhao prisoners will be executed. And Ying Zheng defines his quest for empire, bloody, utterly ruthless and totally dependent on the army. For 2000 years, no one had any idea what that army was really like, but now it can be seen frozen in time. For Jeffery Riegel, this is an opportunity to answer his first great question about the emperor's meteoric rise to power. Militarily, how did he do it?
Joining Riegel is Dr. Yuan who has devoted his entire career to understanding these mysterious figures and the military power of the first emperor. To date, they have unearthed over 7,500 individual warriors. In all respects, except living flesh and blood, these were real soldiers.
The people who made these figures and arranged, and arranged them were following real military procedures. So this really represents what the Chin army looked like. This gives us an idea of Chin military formation and the way in which the Chin army was actually put into the field.
The big surprise was that the front three lines were highly mobile infantry. It appears these were the emperor's sharp troops. Behind them came the heavy infantry who in turn were supported by columns of chariots, and sweeping up behind - a fast moving cavalry. But it's not just the procession of the army's formation that has astonished the researchers. It's the weapons they carried.
Only the metal parts have survived. But they are the finest quality bronze weapons found anywhere in the world. One of the most incredible finds is a sword, perfectly preserved after 2,000 years in the ground.
This, um, this notch here in the sword shows us that this is a sword that was actually used. This was a sword that was wielded by an actual soldier. Professor Yuan has explained to me that this remarkable weapon is longer than any sword that existed before the Chin started, the Chin Dynasty started to make these, um, um, significantly longer.
Chin armorers managed to perfect the art of bronze making to give their soldiers 30% extra reach and cutting power in close quarter combat. And there is new evidence that shows quite how seriously the Chin took their ability to wage war.
Oh, a Chin halberd, part of the bronze assembly at the top of the halberd.
The sharpened bronze head was placed on the end of a ten-foot long staff, making a powerful weapon.
This has an inscription.
