The wasteland on both sides of the road could be seen from the degree of abandonment that it had been abandoned for decades. Even the most basic weeds and the remains of crops could not be found. Only occasionally exposed ridges could be seen. From this, it could be determined that this used to be farmland, the soil that the people relied on to survive.
The change in the environment made the climate here become drier and drier. There was almost no moisture in the air. Breathing the air here felt a little uncomfortable. From time to time, the sand and dust would easily enter people's mouths and noses, making them feel quite uncomfortable. Fortunately, Ang Lee was sitting in the car, so he could effectively avoid being disturbed by the sand and dust.
It was only a distance of more than ten miles. Just a moment ago, it was covered with green trees. In the blink of an eye, it had become a barren desert. The huge change in the environment was too great, making it difficult for people to adapt to it.
However, after a while, trees appeared on both sides of the road again, which meant that Dejing County was not far away. There must be a water source around the county. Otherwise, this county could not exist.
Sure enough, soon there was more and more vegetation on the roadside, and even farmland began to appear. In the distance, a tall city could be faintly seen. Dejing County was close at hand.
"Assistant Minister Li, we are almost at Dejing County. Shall we enter the city first?"
The guard asked.
Ang Lee shook his head and said, "Forget it. This time we are here to see the ruins of the Great Wall. We will not enter the city. We will go directly to the ruins of the Great Wall of Qin two miles west of Dejing County."
"Yes, I understand."
When they came, they did not inform anyone, so no one would go out of the city to welcome them. This was in line with Ang Lee's intention. He did not want the officials of the county to welcome him. It was really troublesome.
The convoy went straight to the ruins of the Great Wall of Qin two miles west of the city and soon arrived there.
However, Ang Lee was a little disappointed. He imagined that the Great Wall should be very tall and majestic, but the Great Wall in front of him was a little short and very dilapidated.
"This is the ruins of the Great Wall of Qin? It looks a little too dilapidated. "
Ang Lee said disappointedly.
"It is the abandoned Great Wall. It is not bad to have this."
Li Hanlu replied.
Ang Lee nodded and let the guards enjoy the scenery. Then, he pulled Li Hanlu up the dilapidated city wall.
"Madam, be careful. Watch your step. Don't fall."
Ang Lee was very considerate as he helped Li Hanlu walk up the Great Wall ruins.
Although the ruins of the Great Wall were a little dilapidated, the quality of the construction was relatively reliable. Therefore, even if it was already dilapidated, the quality was enough to support humans walking on it without collapsing.
Like Tong Wan City, the Great Wall here was also built with loess. This was very different from the stone city walls in Ang Lee's impression. After all, the loess resources in the Summer Province were more abundant, while the stone resources were relatively scarce. In order to save costs as much as possible, it was necessary to use loess to build the city. Therefore, whether it was the tall city walls or the Great Wall, they were all built with loess materials that could be seen everywhere in the area.
The sturdiness of the loess material was naturally inferior to that of the stone, especially in the aspect of resisting the sun and rain. The advantage of the stone was too great, while the loess material could not withstand the erosion of the rain. It was also unable to resist the sun and wind, so it was easier for it to be weathered. If it was not repaired in time, the entire wall would slowly be ruined and become a deserted section of the city wall.
The section of the wall that Ang Lee and Li Hanlu climbed was only three meters high, and its original height should have been more than that. It was the long-term sun, rain, and weathering that reduced the height of the wall step by step.
"Look! This is the former Great Wall of the Great Qin Empire. Although it is now dilapidated, it was still very tall when it was first built. "
Ang Lee looked to the north and said.
The Great Wall of Qin was a treasure of the Chinese nation and a miracle of the world's architecture. It was called a miracle because the scale of the Great Wall was too large. The people of Hua Xia could actually use primitive technology to build such a huge building. This naturally made the future generations sigh.
"It's just a wall. How can there be enough troops to defend such a long wall? Isn't it a waste to build such a large wall?"
Li Hanlu was not very optimistic about the Great Wall. She felt that the construction of the Great Wall was a waste of resources and manpower. She felt that a wall of such length would not be able to stop the Northern Army from marching south. And the facts seemed to prove this point.
However, the Great Wall was not completely useless. It still had some uses. Its existence could strengthen the defense of the Central Plains Dynasty. As long as the northern nomads were not too strong, they would not pose a threat to the Great Wall.
In addition, the governing structure of the northern nomads was relatively lax. There were many times when the northern nomad leaders were unable to effectively manage all the tribes under their command. Some tribes were very likely to disobey the orders of their leaders and wantonly invade the south.
For example, small groups of nomadic cavalry of tens or hundreds of people would occasionally invade the counties of the Central Plains to plunder large amounts of people and treasures before returning to the grasslands in satisfaction. Such a large group of small scale invasions to the south was very detrimental to the people of the Central Plains. However, after the construction of the Great Wall, these small groups of nomadic cavalry were powerless. They were too few in number. Even if they wanted to tear down a section of the wall, it was not something that could be done in a short period of time. Moreover, after they finished plundering, they had to return through this opening. If this opening was blocked, it was very likely that they would not be able to return. As such, they naturally did not dare to casually invade the south.
As for the large scale nomad cavalry invading the south, the Great Wall was also very strong in defense. It was not easy to build the Great Wall. Similarly, it would not be easy to tear it down. After the nomad army tore down a few sections of the wall, they would have to return through those sections when they returned. They could not return to the north from any direction as they pleased. Moreover, it would take a lot of time and effort to tear down the wall. It would definitely not be too wide. If the opening was too small, the speed at which the army could pass through would be greatly restricted. Once the opening was blocked and the Central Plains Dynasty's army pressed in, the nomad cavalry would be in danger.
Therefore, no matter what, the existence of the Great Wall was definitely very useful. Its defensive role was obvious. No one could ignore the important defensive role of the Great Wall.
The construction of the Great Wall definitely did not start in the Qin Dynasty. The construction of the Great Wall had already started in the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period.
At that time, the countries that were most active in building the Great Wall were the Qin, Zhao, and Yan countries. These three countries were all strong countries near the north. They were greatly harassed by the nomads in the north. The north of the Qin had Yiqu and Xiongnu; the northwest of the Zhao had Linhu and Loufan; the north of the Yan had Donghu.
Since the middle of the Warring States Period, they had constantly pillaged the northern regions of the Qin, Zhao, and Yan countries. Because they were good at horseback archery and fighting in the field, they used sudden attacks. They came and went quickly, and it was hard to predict their movements. The fighting forces of the Qin, Zhao, and Yan countries in the middle of the Warring States Period were mainly infantry and chariots. They wore wide-sleeved clothing and moved slowly, traveling thirty to fifty miles a day. Naturally, they could not stop the Xiongnu and Donghu from raiding and pillaging.
This not only caused the lives and wealth of the people in the north of the three countries to be seriously threatened, but it also greatly affected the three countries' struggle for hegemony. As a last resort, the three countries could only use the Great Wall to defend against the nomadic cavalry. They used the Great Wall to restrict the mobility of the nomadic cavalry. Once the mobility of the cavalry was restricted, their power was also greatly restricted, and they could no longer do as they pleased.
Of course, facing the threat of the nomads, just building the Great Wall was not enough. They also needed to change the military system and create a new powerful military to deter the Xiongnu in the north. At the same time, they could also deter their rivals.
For example, after Shang Yang's reforms, the Qin Kingdom had started to implement a strategy of making the country stronger. The army had undergone a deep reform, changing the main force from chariots to cavalry and infantry. They had paid special attention to the development of cavalry, and they had gradually created a powerful Great Qin armored cavalry.
The Zhao Kingdom's Zhao Wu Spirit King also reformed the military system. He made the soldiers wear Hu's clothes and undergo strict cavalry training. Through this strategy, the Zhao Kingdom soon had an extremely powerful cavalry. Zhao Wu Spirit King relied on this super strong cavalry to attack the north. He beat the nomadic Lin Hu King until he was looking for his teeth on the ground. Lin Hu King offered his horse and begged for surrender. Then, this cavalry army broke through the Zhongshan Kingdom and expanded the Zhao Kingdom's territory. Then, step by step, they conquered the Zhao Kingdom and conquered a large territory for the Zhao Kingdom.
The Yan Kingdom was the weakest of the Seven Kingdoms of the Warring States Period. To the south was the powerful Qi Kingdom, to the west was the powerful Zhao Kingdom, and to the north was a nomadic regime like Donghu. In order to change this situation and allow themselves to survive, the Yan Kingdom first bowed and curried favor with Donghu in the north. They had sent their generals to Donghu as hostages to learn about Donghu's terrain, defenses, and military activities. After returning, they led their army to attack Donghu and defeated them. Then, in order to defend against Donghu's revenge, they built a Great Wall on the northern border to protect the Yan Kingdom.
Of course, the Great Wall of the Warring States Period was not only built by the Qin Kingdom, the Zhao Kingdom, and the Yan Kingdom. Many countries in the south and east had built Great Walls.
For example, the Chu Kingdom, a big country in the south, built a huge Great Wall to defend against its neighbors. The Qi Kingdom also built a long Great Wall to defend against its neighbors in the Central Plains. The Wei Kingdom's Great Wall was even more powerful. There were as many as two of them, and the route was very long. After all, the Wei Kingdom was located in the Central Plains and had to defend against many countries, so it had a great need for a Great Wall.
However, the scale and fame of these Great Walls were far less than that of the Qin Kingdom, the Zhao Kingdom, and the Yan Kingdom. The main reason for this was that after the Qin Kingdom unified the world, it mobilized a large number of people to connect the Great Walls of the Qin Kingdom, Zhao Kingdom, and Yan Kingdom together, making it the northern border of the Zhongyuan Dynasty, so it could continue to be repaired and maintained. As for the other Great Walls, because they were in the territory of the unified Zhongyuan Dynasty, they were not important and did not receive any repair funds. Slowly, they were destroyed. Some were demolished by the nearby officials and people to use the materials to build their own buildings. Therefore, almost no one was preserved in later generations. Only the Great Walls of the Qin Kingdom, Zhao Kingdom, and Wei Kingdom remained, because they were used to defend against the nomads in the south. Naturally, their fame grew. People would think of the Qin Kingdom, Wei Kingdom, and Zhao Kingdom whenever they saw the Great Wall on the northern border.
In the early days of the Han Dynasty, because the Central Plains was full of war, there was no one to maintain the Great Wall, and there were not enough soldiers to guard it. However, the Xiongnu suddenly became strong, so they easily crossed the Great Wall built by Meng Tian and entered the Hetao area. Since then, the Central Plains Dynasty was constantly harassed and invaded by the Xiongnu cavalry, and the border people suffered unspeakably.
In order to deal with the Xiongnu people's southward invasion, Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, personally led an army to attack the Xiongnu people. As a result, he was besieged at Baideng. If it were not for the strategy of his officials, he would have died there.
After that, it was the marriage policy that everyone knew about. Under the situation where the Great Wall in the north was conquered by the Xiongnu, the Great Han Dynasty could only rely on the old Great Wall of Qin, Zhao, and Yan that was slightly to the south. These Great Walls were very old, but even so, they were still very useful. At the very least, the Xiongnu people that were less than a thousand in size were basically stopped from going south. This was because a small number of troops going south meant that they would not be able to return and would be beaten to a pulp.
After that, the Great Han Dynasty sent out Li Guang, Cheng Bushi, and other famous generals to defend the Great Wall. They were in charge of defending against the sudden attacks of the Xiongnu people. Small groups of Xiongnu people did not have a chance to go south, and even if the main force of the Xiongnu people went south, they would sometimes be stopped. Without these old Great Walls, even a famous general like Li Guang would not be able to stop the Xiongnu cavalry from going south.
After that, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing attacked the Xiongnu people from the north and used these Great Walls as their main points of attack and defense. With these strong Great Walls, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing did not have to worry about the Xiongnu people from the north. They defeated the Xiongnu people and forced them to flee to the north. From there, they recovered the Hetao area that was lost at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, repaired the Great Qin Wall built by Meng Tian, and even built an outer Great Wall, causing the name of the Great Han Dynasty to spread throughout the world.
After the Great Han Dynasty, the various dynasties paid a lot of attention to the maintenance and expansion of the Great Wall. Among them, the dynasty that expanded the Great Wall more was the Ming Dynasty. This was probably because the Ming Dynasty faced a greater threat from the north.
The Tang Dynasty's imperial court was naturally not very enthusiastic about the construction of the Great Wall. After all, the Tang Dynasty's territory extended all the way to the north, and the Great Wall became the internal wall of the Tang Dynasty and not the border wall to defend against external enemies. Under such circumstances, it was not very possible for the ruler to pay attention to such an internal wall.
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