Photo credit: arstechnica.com
Everything took a dramatic turn when the Fire Nation—or more accurately, the Han Empire—launched an attack.
The Han Dynasty emerged after the fall of the Qin Empire, following a brief conflict with the Chu dynasty, and for the next century, they referred to Nanyue as a subordinate state, frequently enforcing tribute demands. Initially, the leaders of Nanyue acquiesced to these demands, but tensions escalated around 111 BCE amidst a backdrop of political turmoil characterized by a failed coup and a series of political murders. In response, the Han Emperor dispatched a formidable military force, numbering between 100,000 and 200,000 troops, to invade Nanyue under the command of General Lu Bode.
The military campaign advanced across the region from multiple fronts, culminating outside the capital city of Panyou, located in the Pearl River Delta near present-day Guangzhou. A company commander named Yang Pu devised a disastrous plan to set Panyou ablaze, resulting in catastrophic consequences.
“The fire not only eradicated the city but also spiraled out of control, engulfing the nearby forests,” as described by Wang and his collaborators. The cypress trees were consumed by flames, leaving only submerged stumps where they once stood.
The brown dots on the map indicate locations of buried ancient forests, while the orange diamonds mark those that have been verified as ancient sites. The two yellow diamonds represent the research locations identified by Wang and his team.
From Destruction to Recovery
Before the invasion, the landscape surrounding Panyou was primarily swampy and rich with cypress forests. Inhabitants had settled there for millennia, cultivating rice for around 2,000 years. Samples taken from peat layers by Wang and his team contain charcoal residues, indicating that local communities practiced small-scale slash-and-burn agriculture. They routinely rotated their agricultural plots, allowing the cypress forests to regenerate after a season or two.
These minor burnings were starkly different from the catastrophic fire unleashed by Yang Pu, as well as the widespread transformation of the landscape that followed.
As the charred remains of cypress trees gradually succumbed to layers of peat, an ecological shift occurred above these buried remains. The fauna that once roamed the area—tigers, elephants, rhinos, and green peafowl—vanished. In their place, the pollen analysis from the upper clay layers indicated a sudden proliferation of plants from the Poaceae family, which includes essential crops such as rice, wheat, and barley.
Source
arstechnica.com