Detailed historical background of the Great Wall;
The Great Wall in northern China began in Qin, Zhao and Yan during the Warring States Period. The Warring States period is a period of transition from slave society to feudal society in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River in China. With the strengthening of political and economic ties between countries, the exchange and integration between Zhu Xia culture and Qin, Chu and Wu-Yue cultures has become increasingly strong. After the seven countries of Wei, Zhao, Han, Chu, Qi, Qin and Yan, which were undergoing feudal reforms at that time, became strong, they also became strong and plundered the northern borders of Qin, Zhao and Yan. In the north of Qin, there are Yiqu and Xiongnu in the north; There are loufan in the northwest of Zhao, and Huan and Xiongnu in the north. Donghu, the northern boundary of Yan State. These northern minority regimes, except Yiqu engaged in agriculture, all made a living by nomadic and hunting.
Yiqu is a powerful country on the Loess Plateau in the northwest of China. It fought with Qin for more than one hundred years from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period. Xiongnu, Donghu and other nomadic peoples have high military quality and strong combat capability. According to the history book Biography of Huns, Huns lived by nomadic and hunting, and horses, cattle and sheep were the most livestock, followed by camels, donkeys and mules. They "migrate by water plants and don't have to live in the city to farm." However, there are also points. "Men learned to ride horses and shoot at an early age." Children can ride sheep and shoot birds and mice with bows; If it grows less, it will shoot foxes and rabbits; Use it to make food. Therefore, once you are an adult, you will become a "rider". "
During the Warring States period, the Huns had entered the slave society and had state power institutions. The king is called Khan, and there are left and right sages, left and right kings, left and right generals, left and right commanders, left and right leaders, and left and right leaders. Except for the right and left ministers, all the other ministers are hereditary. Donghu, Hu Lin, Huaneng and Loufan are basically the same as Xiongnu. ?
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 mid-Warring States period, the combat 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. ?
In the 19th year of Zhao Wuling (307 BC), he began to reform the military system and carried out 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 country among 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 defend against Xiongnu and Donghu from the south. The Great Wall developed from cities and castles. As a military defense project, cities and fortresses began as early as the end of the primitive commune. Because it can play an effective defensive role, it has developed in general since it entered the class society. The Great Wall first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period, such as Fangcheng of Chu State (in the present Nanyang area of Henan Province). During the Warring States Period, there were the Great Wall of Weixi County, the Great Wall of Zhangzhao Water, the Great Wall of Zhongshan West, the Great Wall of Yanyi Water and the Great Wall of Taishan Mountain. These Great Walls once played a great role in the war. The swift cavalry of nomadic people in the north is unpredictable, and no country can stop their attack and plunder, whether it is infantry or cavalry. Only by building the Great Wall and garrison defense can they be prevented from plundering south. Only by building the Great Wall in the north can we deploy the main forces in the annexation and defense war between countries and complete the great cause of reunification.
Introduction to the Great Wall:
The Great Wall is a long-wall defensive building, or a defensive building with similar form and the same defensive nature as the city wall. The name of the Great Wall began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. "Historical Records of Chu Family" contains: "Qi Xuanwang rides a mountain to build the Great Wall, east to the sea, and west to Jeju to prepare for Chu." The Great Wall is an ancient defense project with the longest construction time and the largest engineering quantity in China and even in the world. Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, it has been built continuously for more than 2,000 years, distributed in the vast land in northern and central China, with a total length of more than 50,000 kilometers.
After Qin Shihuang, almost all dynasties that ruled the Central Plains built the Great Wall. There are more than ten dynasties such as Han, Jin, Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing, all of which have built the Great Wall of different scales. Judging from the ruling nationalities who built the Great Wall, besides the Han nationality, many dynasties in which ethnic minorities ruled China also built the Great Wall, more than those ruled by the Han nationality. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, although the construction of the Great Wall was stopped on a large scale, it was later built in some places. It can be said that from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Qing Dynasty, the construction of the Great Wall has never stopped for more than two thousand years. 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 each era, it is more than 10 Wan Li, and the length of the Great Wall built in Qin, Han and Ming dynasties is more than 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.
The defense engineering system of the Great Wall;
In the era of cold weapons, the military role of the Great Wall defense system is fruitful. During the Qin Dynasty, "the Great Wall was built in the north to guard the fence. The Huns were more than 700 miles away, and the Hu people dared not go south to herd horses." ("New Book Crossing Qin") When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "build fortresses, pavilions, outer cities, set up garrison and guard them, and then use less border security." King Wuling of Zhao, who built the Great Wall from generation to generation, went down the dark mountain, and the highest gate was blocked. He was a world-famous politician who changed customs and learned to ride and shoot (Biography of Xiongnu in Historical Records). In fact, the Great Wall was built by Qin Huang and Wu Han, including in the early Ming Dynasty, when they took the initiative to attack and gained overwhelming military superiority. It can be seen that building the Great Wall is not only an active defense, but also a strategy of accumulating strength and continuing to forge ahead. If you recruit a teacher, you will run and hide, and if you fail to recruit, you will be punished; When the teacher came back, the money went up again; It doesn't cost you a penny to keep one soldier and one pawn, and you have to build the Great Wall defense. ""However, the Great Wall was built, so we should also protect the garrison, prevent bandits and banknotes, and stop the soldiers and the people. " (Chapter 3 of the History of Lv Simian and China)) Moreover, it should be emphasized that the defensive function of the Great Wall is not reflected in what most people think of as "not being captured"; Its real use lies in that the invaders may be able to concentrate on breaking through one or two passes and occasionally break into the mainland, but as long as the whole section of the Great Wall is still stationed with a strong army, the invaders will always face the danger of being blocked and ambushed and unable to go home; In particular, the Great Wall has seized the traffic arteries of Yanshan Mountain and the northern branch of Taihang Mountain. Even if the nomadic cavalry broke through the customs, they could only harass the mainland, and their logistics could not be transported through the customs and could not stand on the mainland, thus shaking the foundation of the Chinese empire. No matter how serious scabies are, they can't be invaded, which is the fundamental significance of the existence of the Great Wall.
The role of the Great Wall:
With the Great Wall of Wan Li as the intermediary, the Great Wall Belt, which is composed of vast northern and southern regions, runs through a considerable part of Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Qinghai, Xinjiang and other provinces (cities, autonomous regions), including parts of the Mongolian People's Republic and the Korean Peninsula in historical period. Its range is hundreds or even thousands of kilometers wide from north to south and thousands of kilometers long from east to west. The Great Wall Belt has been inhabited by many ethnic groups since ancient times, and the development of ethnic groups and their relations is the key to observing and understanding everything in the Great Wall Belt. In the course of historical development, some ancient ethnic groups in the Great Wall Belt disappeared, and some new ethnic groups merged and formed, all of which are closely related to more than 20 ethnic groups distributed in the Great Wall Belt today. All ethnic groups, whether they have disappeared or continue to develop today, have made important contributions to the historical development of China. The Great Wall of Wan Li is the product of the development of ethnic relations in ancient China, but at present, the research on the internal development law of ethnic relations between the north and the south of the Great Wall is not sufficient. Summarizing the existing research results, broadening the research fields and revealing the internal relationship between the Great Wall and the development of ethnic relations in China are of great practical significance and theoretical research value for the study of the Great Wall, ethnology and the development of the history of ethnic relations in China.
The legend of the Great Wall:
Meng Jiangnv Great Wall cried:
In the Qin Dynasty, there was a kind and beautiful woman named Meng Jiangnv. One day, when she was doing housework in her yard, she suddenly found a man hiding under the grape trellis, which startled her and was about to shout. I saw the man waving his hand again and again, pleading, "Don't shout, don't shout, help me!" " My name is Fan Xiliang, and I'm here to escape. "It turned out that Qin Shihuang arrested people everywhere to do coolies in order to repair the Great Wall. I don't know how many people died of starvation! Meng Jiangnv saved Fan Xiliang. When she saw that he was sensible and had fine features, she fell in love with him, and Fan Xiliang fell in love with Meng Jiangnv. They like each other and are ready to get married with the consent of their parents.
On the wedding day, Meng's family was decorated with lanterns and decorations, beaming with joy. Seeing that it was getting dark, the people who drank the wedding banquet gradually dispersed. The bride and groom were about to enter the bridal chamber when they suddenly heard chickens flying and dogs barking. Then, a group of vicious officers and men broke in. It's hard to say. They chained Fan Xiliang and took him to work in the Great Wall. This trip is obviously the opposite. Meng Jiangnv cries all day. Hope! But I have been eagerly looking forward to it for a year. Not only did people not expect it, but no news came. Don't worry, Yu Jiang rushed to make warm clothes for her husband for several nights in a row and went to the Great Wall to find her husband himself. Meng Jiangnv packed her bags, bid farewell to her parents and embarked on a journey. Meng jiangnu went all the way to the north and waded through mountains and rivers. Finally, I went through hardships to reach the Great Wall.
At this time, the Great Wall is already a long wall composed of construction sites. Meng Jiangnv looked everywhere from one construction site to another, but never saw her husband. Finally, she summoned up her courage and asked a group of migrant workers who were about to go to work: "Brothers, do you have Fan Xiliang here?" The migrant worker said, "There is such a person." Meng Jiangnv was very happy when she heard the news! She quickly asked again, "Where is he?" Migrant workers said, "I'm starving, and the bodies are all filled at the foot of the city!" " "
Suddenly hearing the bad news was like a bolt from the blue. Meng Jiangnv only felt black at the moment and burst into tears. I cried for three days and nights, and I cried so dark that even the sky was moved. It's getting dark and the wind is getting stronger and stronger. Only with a crash, a section of the Great Wall cried down, revealing piles of human bones. So many bones, which one is her husband? She suddenly remembered the story told by her mother when she was a child: the bones of relatives can penetrate into their blood. She bit her middle finger, bleeding to recognize the body. She carefully identified the tattered buttons and recognized her husband's bones. The ginger woman in the jar kept her husband's bones and cried her eyes out. Then Meng Jiangnv threw herself into the sea.
Goat brick:
When Jiayuguan Tower was built a long time ago, the wall of the tower was more than 9 meters high, and it took a lot of effort to build dozens of pavilions of different sizes and countless battlements on the wall. At that time, the construction conditions were very poor, there was no lifting equipment, and it was all carried by hand. At that time, the bricks used to repair Guancheng were all burned 40 miles away. After the brick is burned, it will be pulled to the bottom of Guancheng by ox cart, and then carried up manually.
Because of the height of the city, the only way to get up and down is steep and it is difficult to get up and down. Although many people were sent to carry the bricks on the wall, all of them were tired to death, but the bricks on their backs were still in short supply, which seriously affected the progress of the project. One day, a shepherd boy came here to play with sheep. Seeing this scene, he had a brainwave. He took off his belt, tied a brick at both ends and put it on the goat. Then he patted the goat on the back with his hand. The little goat trotted up the wall with a brick on its back. People were surprised and happy after seeing it, and they followed suit. A large number of bricks were quickly transported to the city wall.