Why didn’t the common people have weapons during the Qin Dynasty?
In the 26th year of King Zheng's reign (221 BC), the state of Qin conquered the last remaining state, Qi, and unified China, establishing the Qin Dynasty. After unification, Qin gained a large number of iron weapons from the eastern regions and acquired ironworking technology from the central plains, which accelerated the transition to iron weapons. An order to destroy all weapons throughout the country, what was the reason behind it? According to the "Records of the Grand Historian" in the chapter "Basic Annals of Emperor Qin Shi Huang," in the same year that the six states were unified, Emperor Qin Shi Huang issued an order to destroy weapons: "Collect all the weapons in the country and gather them in Xianyang. Melt them down to make bells and make twelve gold men, each weighing several hundred catties." This was…