147 Afang Palace

A6.39

In the thirty-fifth year, clean up the roads, a new road was built from Jiuyuan to Yunyang, and mountains were dug through and valleys were filled to make the road accessible. The Emperor thought there were too many people in Xianyang, and the palaces of the previous kings were too small. And he heard that King Wen of Zhou had his capital in Feng, and King Wu of Zhou had his capital in Hao. Then the area between Feng and Hao should be the capital of the emperor. So he built the imperial palace in Shanglin Garden in Weinan. First, he built a grand hall up in front, Afang, which was 500 steps from east to west and more than 500 ft from north to south. It could accommodate 10,000 people on the top and a Wuzhang Banner with 50 ft tall pole on the bottom. A gallery corridor was built around it, from the bottom of the hall to Nanshan. The top of Nanshan was marked as a gate. A double-story road was built, crossing the Wei River from Afang and connecting to Xianyang, to symbolize the sky pole, with a gallery road across the Han River and reaching the camp. Afang Palace was not completed yet; when it was completed, he wanted to choose a name more famous. The palace was built in Afang, so the world called it Afang Palace. There were more than 700,000 prisoners in the hidden palace, so they were divided into Afang Palace or Lishan. Stone coffins were taken from the northern mountains, and materials from Shu and Jing were all brought in. There were 300 palaces in Guanzhong and more than 400 outside the pass. So a stone in the middle of Qujie on the east sea was built to serve as the east gate of Qin. 30,000 households were moved to Liyi and 50,000 households were moved to Yunyang, and they would all get ten years of tax relief.

三十五年，除道，道九原抵云阳，堑山堙谷，直通之。于是始皇以为咸阳人多，先王之宫廷小，吾闻周文王都丰，武王都镐，丰镐之间，帝王之都也。乃营作朝宫渭南上林苑中。先作前殿阿房，东西五百步，南北五十丈，上可以坐万人，下可以建五丈旗。周驰为阁道，自殿下直抵南山。表南山之颠以为阙。为复道，自阿房渡渭，属之咸阳，以象天极阁道绝汉抵营室也。阿房宫未成；成，欲更择令名名之。作宫阿房，故天下谓之阿房宫。隐宫徒刑者七十余万人，乃分作阿房宫，或作丽山。发北山石椁，乃写蜀、荆地材皆至。关中计宫三百，关外四百余。于是立石东海上朐界中，以为秦东门。因徙三万家丽邑，五万家云阳，皆复不事十岁。