When the Qin Dynasty fell, where was the mighty army that Qin Shi Huang was so proud of?

Qin Shi Huang was the 36th king of the Qin state and the first emperor to unify China after destroying the six vassal states, ending the Warring States period. However, just 3 years after his death, the Qin dynasty fell into ruin.

Qin Shi Huang was very proud of his invincible force. Photo: Sohu

As the first feudal dynasty in ancient Chinese history, the Qin Dynasty, although it did not last long, had a great influence. Even Qin Shi Huang was famous for thousands of years and became one of the greatest emperors. It can be said that the Qin Dynasty was at its peak at that time, whether it was in the political economy or the military and culture. However, due to the tyranny of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang and the incompetence of the second emperor Hu Hai, the Qin Dynasty only lasted for a short period of 15 years, and then disappeared.

In fact, there have always been different opinions about the cause of the Qin Dynasty's demise. Some say that the Qin Dynasty was destroyed by fate, while others believe that the Qin Dynasty was destroyed by human hands. Although Qin Shi Huang was extremely autocratic and arbitrary, as the lord of a country, his ability and governing policies were extremely correct, and the King of Qin could be considered a model warlord. Under his leadership, the Qin Dynasty's army was invincible, just like the warriors and terracotta horses in Qin Shi Huang's tomb, they were enough to shake the world.

However, in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, Zhang Han was defeated by Xiang Yu and sent a letter asking for reinforcements. Unexpectedly, Zhao Gao was jealous and wanted to punish Zhang Han, which angered him and led him to surrender to Xiang Yu. This action caused Qin to have no soldiers, which was also the most direct cause of the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. However, could it be that the imperial army was so small? Where had the Qin soldiers who had once swept away the six states and unified China gone? In fact, by the end of the Qin Dynasty, there were still 500,000 Qin soldiers who remained inactive, because they were only following the orders of Qin Shi Huang! What happened?

After the death of Qin Shi Huang, the Qin Dynasty quickly declined and was destroyed in just 3 years. Photo: Sohu

It turned out that in 214 BC, Qin Shi Huang left only 100,000 troops in the north and sent more than 500,000 troops to the south to expand the territory. The terrain here was full of mountains and rugged forests. Although they lost the first campaigns, the Qin army gradually succeeded in building a canal system, helping to transport a lot of food to strengthen their forces in the second attack on the south. After that, the Qin army continued to attack the lands of the provinces of Fuzhou, Guangdong, and Guilin. The war was endless, Qin Shi Huang seemed to know the importance of this land, so he gave orders to the 500,000 troops to defend to the death, no matter what happened, they were not allowed to leave this land.

It was for this reason that at that time, even though the Qin Dynasty had no soldiers left and was about to perish, the 500,000 troops still did not appear and continued to station in the south. Perhaps if Qin Shi Huang had not given the order to defend to the death, this army would have most likely returned to the north to join the battle, and by then, the fate of the Qin Dynasty would have taken a different direction!