How was the Great Wall built?

The completion of the Great Wall experienced a process from establishment to continuous improvement, and finally formed the present Great Wall of Wan Li. Specific construction details and historical development are as follows:

origin

The Great Wall was built in the Zhou Dynasty. Zhou Youwang's bonfire drama The Prince is the earliest allusions to the Great Wall. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period in the 7th century BC, in order to resist foreign invasion, the State of Chu first built the "Chu Fangcheng", which started the construction of the Great Wall in Wan Li recorded in the history of China. During the Warring States Period, the Great Wall was also built in Qi, Wei, Zhao, Qin, Yan, Zhongshan and other countries. Among them, Qin, Zhao and Yan are adjacent to Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people in the north. While building the Great Wall to jointly defend the vassals, they also built the "Anti-Hu Great Wall" in the north. Since then, almost all kings have strengthened and built the Great Wall. After the reunification of Qin, the Great Wall separating countries was abandoned, and the Great Wall on the northern border of Qin, Zhao and Yan was connected, expanded and repaired. For the first time, the Great Wall stretching from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east was formed, and the Great Wall of Wan Li surfaced. According to records, Qin Shihuang used nearly one million laborers to build the Great Wall, accounting for one twentieth of the country's total population at that time. The Han Dynasty continued to build the Great Wall to resist the invasion of Xiongnu in the north. From Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty to Xuan Di, a Great Wall with a total length of nearly 10,000 kilometers was built, starting from Dawaner Shicheng in the west and reaching the north bank of Yalu River in the east. At that time, there was no machinery, all the labor was done by manpower, and the working environment was very difficult, with mountains and cliffs. The Great Wall was built in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period with a history of more than 2,000 years. Today's Wan Li Great Wall refers to the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the "outer" Great Wall, the "inner" Great Wall and the "inner three passes" Great Wall were also built. The "interior wall" starts from Pianguan at the junction of Inner Mongolia and Shanxi in the west, enters Hebei at Yanmenguan and Xing Ping in the east, then goes to the northeast, passes through Yuanyuan, Fangshan and Changping counties, reaches Juyongguan, and then reaches Huairou No.4 Pass from north to east, and is connected with the "Outer" Great Wall, with Zijingguan as the center, generally showing a north-south trend. The "Neisanguan" Great Wall is parallel to the "Inner" Great Wall in many places. In some places, the two cities are only tens of miles apart. In addition, a large number of "heavy cities" have been built. There are as many as 24 "heavy cities" around Yanmenguan.

According to historical documents, more than 20 vassal states and feudal dynasties built the Great Wall. If you add up the Great Wall built in past dynasties, it is 10 Wan Li. The length of the Great Wall in Qin, Han and Ming Dynasties exceeded 1 Wan Li. China, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan and other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions all have the remains of the ancient Great Wall and beacon towers.

Why did Qin Zhaoyan build the Great Wall in the north? This should start from the situation in the Warring States period. During the Warring States Period, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River in China changed from a slave society to a feudal society, and the exchanges and integration with the cultures of Qin, Chu and Wu and Yue became increasingly strong. After the seven countries of Wei, Zhao, Han, Chu, Qi, Qin and Yan, which were carrying out feudal reforms at that time, became powerful, they waged a war of annexation and sought to unify the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River by force. At this time, the ethnic minorities in the grasslands of northern Shaanxi, northern Shanxi, northern Hebei and Inner Mongolia, mainly Huns, gradually became stronger and plundered the northern borders of Qin, Zhao and Yan. There are Yiqu and Xiongnu in northern Qin; There are loufan in the northwest of Zhao, and Huan and Xiongnu in the north. There is East Lake in the northern boundary of Yan State. Since the mid-Warring States period, they have been plundering Qin, Zhao and Yan in the northern region. Because they are good at riding and shooting, are good at fighting, take sudden attacks, come and go freely, haunt, and show strong combat effectiveness. In the middle of the Warring States period, the fighting troops of Qin, Zhao and Yan were mainly infantry and chariots, wearing big sleeves that took off their coats and moving slowly for 30 to 50 miles a day. Nature can't stop the attack and plunder of Xiongnu and Donghu people. This not only seriously threatened the lives and property of the people in the northern part of the three countries, but also seriously damaged their production and greatly affected the cause of reunification of the three countries. In response to this passive situation, the three countries successively carried out military reforms and built the Great Wall in the north.

Starting from Shang Yang, the State of Qin began to reform and promote Qiang Bing to become a rich country. The army gradually changed into infantry and cavalry, and was rewarded and promoted with military merit, so the combat effectiveness of the army increased and it was invincible. In six years (the first 332 years) and ten years, King Huiwen defeated Wei and seized Weixi County (now Luohe Valley in Shaanxi Province) and Shangjun County (now northeast Shaanxi Province). In order to prevent the Huns from plundering the south, Zhao Haoqi ordered the Great Wall to be built on the northern border of Longxi, Beidi and Shang Jun, and sent troops to station it.

Zhao Wuling began to reform the military system in the nineteenth year (the first 307 years) and was riding and shooting. Since then, the troops have become more powerful. In twenty years, King Wuling traveled west to the lakeside and arrived in Yuzhong. King Hu Lin surrendered his horse before returning home. In the twenty-sixth year (the first three hundred years), Zhongshan was broken, and the prosperous place reached Yan and Dai in the north (now northwest of Shanxi), and then extended to Yunzhong and Jiuyuan in the northwest (now from Helinger County to Wujiahe in Inner Mongolia). So he ordered the construction of the Great Wall, merged with Yinshan Mountain (now Daqing Mountain and Wulate Mountain in Inner Mongolia), and went west to reach the Dahe River (now Wujiahe River in Inner Mongolia). At the same time, Daijun County, Yanmen County and Yunzhong County were set up to prevent the Huns from plundering south. In order to specialize in Northwest China, the following year, he gave way to his son, Wang Huiwen He, who was named the main father. In the second year of King Huiwen (297 BC), his father went to Xihe (the Yellow River between Shanxi and Inner Mongolia), and the ruined building angered the king and sent troops.

Yan State is the weakest of the Seven Heroes in the Warring States Period, bordering Qiangqi and the newly established Zhao State in the south and East Lake in the north. It was not until he ascended the throne (the first 3 1 1) that Yan became strong, recruited talents and carried out reforms. At that time, Donghu was powerful and often plundered the northern part of Yan. In order to maintain the peace in the north, the Yan army was forced to make peace with King Donghu and held the general hostage. Zhao Shi was born in East Lake. He is clever and brave, and King Donghu trusts him very much. Therefore, he is free to move, and he can understand the dangers and obstacles, protection and laws of military activities in the south of East Lake. After returning home, he led an army to attack East Lake, which was broken, but it was thousands of miles away. And "crossing Liaodong to attack Korea" was extended to Tanshui (now Qingchuan River in North Korea). So, "Yan also built the Great Wall to make Yang (now kangbao county, Hebei, Taibus Banner, Inner Mongolia) go to Xiangping; Put it in Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi and Liaodong counties to refuse Hu. "

To sum up, the reason why Qin, Zhao and Yan built the Great Wall in the north during the Warring States Period was to prevent the Xiongnu, Donghu and other ethnic groups from looting and killing.

South Great Wall

The Great Wall of the South, represented by Chu, Qi, Wei, Han and Zhongshan countries, gradually faded out of our memory with the passage of time.

1. Chu Great Wall

30 years ago, the Great Wall of Chu was built in Chu Huaiwang, and it was called "Fangcheng" at that time. Its location should be Biyang, Henan, to Yexian in the north, and to Zhushan County, Hubei Province through the northeast of Neixiang, in order to defend against the attacks of neighboring countries.

2. Great Wall of Qi State

The Great Wall of Qi is extended by connecting mountains with dams. Located in the south of Qi, it starts from the northeast of Pingyin County, Shandong Province in the west and enters the sea in Dazhu Shandong, south of jiaozhou city. Its structure is mainly soil and stone.

3. Sun Yat-sen's Great Wall

The Great Wall of Zhongshan was built to resist the invasion of Zhao and Jin in southwest China. It was built in Zhao Chenghou for six years (369 BC). Its location is in the area where Hebei and Shanxi meet today.

4. Wei Changcheng

Wei has two Great Walls: one is the Northwest Great Wall against Qin and Rong (Hexi Great Wall), and the other is the South Great Wall (Henan Great Wall). When Wei Huiwang was in power, it started from Xiangyuan Cave at the northern foot of Huashan Mountain in hua county, Shaanxi Province in the west, and went to Guyang, Inner Mongolia in the south, expanding the Luoshui levee in the west and building the Great Wall in Hexi. In his later years, Wei Huiwang built the South Great Wall to protect the girders of the capital, passing through Yuanyang County, Henan Province, and turning to Xinmi City in the southeast and west.

5. The Great Wall of Korea

The Great Wall was originally built by Zheng, but was destroyed by North Korea, and continues to be built and used.

To sum up, Chu, Qi, Wei, Han and Zhongshan built the Great Wall in the south to resist the attacks of other vassal states.

Han Dynasty

In the early Han Dynasty, Huns crossed the Great Wall built by Qin and Meng Tian in the Central Plains War, and the Great Wall of Qin, Zhao and Yan in the Warring States was the boundary with Han. Due to the disrepair of the Great Wall and the scarcity of defenders in the north, the powerful Xiongnu continued to plunder the Great Wall and went deep into Daigu, Taiyuan, Xihe, Shang Jun and Beidi counties. Emperor Gaozu, Hui Di, Wendi and Jingdi were forced to adopt a pro-Xiongnu policy. Marry a princess to be E Shi (queen) for Khan and give him a lot of wealth. However, even this dilapidated Great Wall has played a role in military defense to a certain extent. If it weren't for the Xiongnu army, it would be impossible to enter the Great Wall and plunder. Secondly, if the defenders are effective, even with the Xiongnu army, they can't enter the Great Wall. Like Li Guang, Cheng Wu is also a famous Great Wall Guardian. He was very strict in running the army and was always on guard against the Huns' surprise attack, which also showed that the Great Wall of the Warring States period played a certain role. Later, Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, GongSunHe, Gong and others attacked the Huns, all of which were based on Zhao and Qin Changcheng. This shows that until the early Western Han Dynasty, the Great Wall of Qin, Zhao and Yan in the Warring States period was still playing a military defense role, although its defense ability was much worse than that in the Warring States period. It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty drove the Huns to Mobei, restored the Qin Changcheng built by Meng Tian and built the Outer Great Wall that the Great Wall of Qin, Zhao and Yan in the Warring States was abandoned and the military defense function ended.

The Great Wall restored in Ming Dynasty was supervised by Zhang's subordinate Qi Jiguang, and the Great Wall in Qin Dynasty was in ruins. However, the Great Wall built in Qi Jiguang was also built by Nanshanling Great Wall and Badaling Great Wall (to implement Zhang's whipping method)

Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty ordered that the Great Wall should never be built. Up to now, few emperors have built the Great Wall on a large scale.