Excavations near the mausoleum of the First Emperor in Shaanxi have revealed a massive underground imperial armoury containing thousands of pieces of military equipment. The facility features a modular storage system for iron crossbow triggers, bronze arrowheads, and lacquered leather armor plates. This find provides the most detailed evidence to date of the standardized mass production of weaponry that allowed the Qin Dynasty to unify China.
Unlike the terracotta warriors, which were ceremonial, these artifacts were functional weapons intended for state defense. Archaeologists also found official inscriptions on the triggers detailing the artisans' names and the dates of production, reflecting a strict system of quality control. The sheer scale of the armoury suggests that the Qin state maintained a permanent strategic reserve of equipment to equip hundreds of thousands of soldiers at short notice.