The Great GeneralMeng Tian
3 min readMeng Tian used to be a prison warder，responsible for the documents.Later he was appointed to be a general and made outstanding military exploit.After Meng Tian led the army and conquered the State of Qi，Emperor Qin Shihuang appointed him as a Neishi（responsible for drafting imperial edicts and participating in policy decisions），and relied on his service very much.
After Emperor Qin Shihuang unified the six ducal states，in order to remove the threats from Xiongnu to the northern prefectures of the Qin dynasty（221BC-206 BC），the emperor ordered Meng Tian to lead 300，000 soldiers to drive out the Xiongnu troops and reoccupy the vast land in the south of the Yellow River.He also ordered Meng Tian to build a Great Wall extending for 10，000 li and astraight road from Jiuyuan to Yuanyang of 900 kilometers long.These measures contributed a lot to preventing the harassing of Xiongnu.In addition，Meng Tian led the troops to station in Shangjun Prefecture for over 10 years，overawing the Xiongnu people. Besides the special trust of and confidence in Meng Tian, Emperor Qin Shihuang also treated his younger brother Meng Yi very well, often asking him to accompany the emperor and appointing him asShangqing(Superior Official). Therefore, the Meng brothers had great power and influence in the imperial court and the whole country, and the other high officials all dared not to defy them. However, shortly after that, in the 34th year of Shihuang reign(in 213 BC), the crown prince Fu Su was demoted to Shangjun Prefecture to supervise Meng Tian’s troops because he attempted to persuade Emperor Qin Shihuang not to burn books and bury scholars. In the 37th year of Shihuang reign(in 210 BC), Emperor Qin Shihuang went to the south to inspect Kuaiji, and died from disease on his way back in Shaqiu. At that time Meng Yi hadn’t returned yet from his pray of the society under the order of the emperor.
Zhao Gao, Chengxiang(Grand Councilor) Li Si and the prince Hu Hai intrigued to juggle theimperial edict to es-tablish Hu Hai as the crown prince, and · The great general Meng Tian of sent the emissary to Qin dynasty “grant death”(used when the emperor ordered somebody to commit suicide) to Fu Su and Meng Tian. As a result, Fu Su committed suicide, while Meng Tian suspected that the imperial edict was fake and was unwilling to give in, thus he was imprisoned in Yangzhou(in the south of Suide in the present-day Shaanxi province). Hu Hai wanted to release Meng Tian, but Zhao Gao had some personal grudge towards Meng Yi, worrying that it would be unfavorable to him if the Meng brothers were put in very important position again by the new emperor, therefore he made up charges against them. After Hu Hai was enthroned, believing the false accusation of Zhao Gao, he forced Meng Tian to commit suicide with poison.
The tomb of Meng Tian was just on the north bank of Dali River in the southwest of Suide county in Shaanxi province. It is said that after Meng Tian’s death, the officials and soldiers under him, in tears, used their bare hands to scoop earth to stack a large tomb for him. The tomb was like a hummock, with a height of about over 20 meters, and now there is a gravestone inscribed “The Tomb of the General Meng Tian of Qin”wrote by the Prefect of Suide in the 28th year of Daoguang reign (1848) in the Qing dynasty(1616-1911). Till now, in the areas passed by the Great Wall in Gansu province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Shaanxi province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, there are still many legends and stories about General Meng Tian, especially in Suide county, where the legends are richer, more attractive and more touching.
