The Great Wall was mainly used for defense, not for viewing. Therefore, when there was a need for defense, the ruler would be very enthusiastic about building the Great Wall. When there was no need for defense, the ruler would not spend a lot of manpower and material resources to build the Great Wall. This was the simplest reason.
In the early days of the Tang Empire's establishment, because its territory was relatively small and there were a lot of hostile forces around, especially Liu Wuzhou from the north, Liu Wuzhou, who relied on the support of the Turks to conquer Jinyang, the birthplace of the Tang Dynasty, and most of the places east of the river, forming a threatening momentum in Guanzhong. The Tang Dynasty immediately took tough measures. On the one hand, it naturally sent Li Shimin, the King of Qin, to lead elite troops to resist Liu Wuzhou. On the other hand, it quickly built a defense facility, which was a Great Wall, to resist the threat of Liu Wuzhou. It could even block the Turk cavalry that might come south at any time to protect the new Tang Dynasty.
This Great Wall, which started from Ping City and continued to Lukou, was the only Great Wall built by the Tang Empire. After that, the Tang Empire's territory had been expanding. Finally, after defeating the strong enemy, the Turks, its territory expanded to far north. All the Great Walls in its territory became internal defense structures and lost their military defense function. Therefore, the Great Wall became less important.
In this case, the Tang Dynasty did not continue to build the Great Wall. Even the maintenance of the original Great Wall was canceled. In some cities near the Great Wall, in order to build the walls, they even removed the stones on the Great Wall and used the stones to build the cities and buildings in the cities.
In the Tang Dynasty, there was a Great Wall but it was not used. In the Song Dynasty, there was no Great Wall at all. The Northern Song Dynasty could rely on a little Great Wall. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the territory had moved to the Huai River, which was very far from the Great Wall. There was no problem of building a Great Wall. Using a natural river like the Huai River for defense seemed to be quite effective.
Although the Song Dynasty did not have a Great Wall to build, the Liao Kingdom and the Jin Kingdom, which occupied the Central Plains, continued to build the Great Wall. They also spent a lot of effort. Even the Mongols, who lived on horseback, started to build the Great Wall after the Great Yuan Dynasty was established.
When it came to the Ming Dynasty, because they needed to defend against the Mongol cavalry, the Great Ming Dynasty once again carried out a large-scale plan to build the Great Wall. Many of the tall and majestic Great Walls that were left in the future were built during the Great Ming Dynasty. The Great Wall built during this period was much better and longer. It could even be said that the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was the dynasty that built the most walls.
After all, the time of the Qin Dynasty was very short, only a few decades. The length of the Great Wall that could be built was definitely not as long as the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty. This was because the Great Ming Dynasty had been building the Great Wall for more than two hundred years and had never stopped.
This was also related to the threat that the Great Ming Dynasty faced. After driving away the Mongol forces, the Mongol nobles, Vara and Tartar, who were unwilling to give up, often led their troops to the south to harass the Great Ming Dynasty, causing great harm to the border of the Great Ming Dynasty. In addition, the newly risen Nuzhen tribe in the northeast was becoming more and more powerful. These forces were relatively powerful and had powerful cavalry. In order to deal with them, the Great Ming Dynasty had to spend a lot of manpower and resources to build the Great Wall on the border and use the Great Wall to resist the threat of these nomadic tribes in the north.
By the time of the Qing Dynasty, due to the increase of the territory again, the northern border extended to the uninhabited area, and there were no enemies in the north that could threaten the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the Great Wall was naturally ignored again. At least, the inherited Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was enough. There was no need to continue to spend a lot of manpower and resources to build a new Great Wall. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the main enemies of the Great Qing Dynasty were from the sea, and building a Great Wall on land was even more meaningless. Moreover, with the increasing power of firearms, the Great Wall made of stone and yellow soil was no longer of much practical use. Powerful cannons could easily blast a big hole in the thick stone city wall. In this way, it was meaningless to continue to spend a lot of manpower and resources to build a Great Wall.
According to the historical records of later generations, only the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty built a Great Wall that was more than ten thousand miles long. The Qin Dynasty built a Great Wall from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east. The Han Dynasty built a Great Wall from the Hexi Corridor in the west to Liaodong in the east. The Ming Dynasty built a Great Wall from the Jiayu Pass in the west to the Yalu River in the east.
The Great Wall that the people of later generations could see and know was the Great Wall built by the Great Ming Dynasty. For example, the famous Badaling Great Wall was the essence of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty.
Li An casually bent down and gently pinched a large piece of the yellow soil on the Great Wall of Qin City. After all, the city wall had been in disrepair for a long time. Under the intense sunlight, the yellow soil had become very loose. At least, the surface of the yellow soil that was exposed to the outside was indeed very loose. As long as he pinched it lightly, it would break.
"Look! The Great Wall here was originally able to withstand the attacks of swords and sabers, but now, it shatters with a light pinch of the hand. No wonder. It's been almost a thousand years, and the yellow soil has long since eroded. "
Ang Lee sighed.
"In the last few years, at Big Sister's request, I've read many history books of the Central Plains. The Qin Dynasty unified the world and made a great contribution to the prosperity of the world. The Great Wall was built to protect the people of the Central Plains. It was a good thing that would last for generations, but the Qin Emperor had to bear too much infamy."
Li Hanlu sighed.
"That's right! The Qin Emperor did bear too much infamy, but he didn't bear it unjustly at all. After all, he rejoiced in grandiose achievements and left no room for error. He forced millions of people to build the Great Wall, and many people died from exhaustion. The harsh policies he enacted made future generations tremble in fear, so it was normal for him to be scolded. "
Ang Lee said.
Qin Shihuang unified the six states, built the Great Wall, and made great contributions to the development of the Chinese civilization. However, he was too impatient in doing things. He was eager to finish everything in a short period of time. This situation naturally increased the burden of the common people, making them suffer unspeakably. This caused them to cry out that the world had suffered for a long time.
"That's right! The Qin Emperor was too impatient. Many people died in order to build the Great Wall. I heard that as long as the people died from exhaustion, their bodies would be buried in the Great Wall. Is this true? If it's true, then it's too terrible. "
Li Hanlu said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Of course it's true. Why don't we start digging now? Maybe we can find some corpses in the ruins of this section of the Great Wall."
"Forget it! Let's not dig. "
Li Hanlu was not timid and was not afraid of seeing dead people, but digging the Great Wall to find corpses was not something fun. She was not willing to do such a boring thing.
"By the way, I heard that there was a woman called Meng Jiangnu who cried the Great Wall down. I don't know if it's true. If it's true, then it's too strange."
Li Hanlu continued to ask.
Ang Lee did not know how to answer her question. This kind of thing was obviously not true. How could the Great Wall collapse because of a woman's tears? Unless there was an earthquake or there was a problem with the quality of the construction, it would collapse.
However, the story of Meng Jiangnu crying at the Great Wall was quite interesting.
According to legend, in ancient times, Old Man Meng and Old Man Jiang were neighbors, only separated by a wall. One spring, Old Man Meng planted a gourd seed in his courtyard. After careful watering and fertilizing, the seedling of the gourd grew fat and tall. It climbed over the wall and into Old Man Jiang's courtyard, growing into a huge gourd that weighed dozens of pounds. After the gourd was cooked, Old Man Jiang used a knife to cut it open. Suddenly, he saw a white, fat, and very cute girl lying inside. Old Man Jiang was overjoyed and hurried to spread the news. After the villagers heard about this, they all came to see this new thing. However, Old Man Meng and Old Man Jiang had a conflict and quarreled fiercely. Old Man Meng said very firmly, "This gourd was planted by me personally. The fat girl should be mine." Old Man Jiang said stubbornly, "This gourd was planted in my courtyard. The girl should be mine." They quarreled for three days and three nights, unable to resolve the dispute. In the end, the villagers mediated and agreed that the girl belonged to the two families. They would take turns to raise her and give her the name "Meng Jiangnu".
Time flew like an arrow, and in the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed. Meng Jiangnu had grown up. One day, when Meng Jiangnu was picking the gourd, she found a person hiding behind the gourd rack. Meng Jiangnu wanted to call out for help, but that person covered her mouth. Later, that person told Meng Jiangnu that his name was Fan Xiliang. He hid behind the gourd rack to avoid being caught by the soldiers to build the Great Wall. After that, Fan Xiliang moved into Meng Jiangnu's house. As the saying goes, love grows with time. Fan Xiliang married Meng Jiangnu with the consent of the elders of the Meng and Jiang families. On the day of the wedding, the groom was caught by several bailiffs. Fan Xiliang was sent to work as a laborer to build the Great Wall. In the blink of an eye, a year had passed. There was no news of Fan Xiliang. Meng Jiangnu was so anxious that she couldn't eat or sleep. She didn't know what to do. After discussing with the elders of the two families, she decided to look for her husband. She swore that she wouldn't go home until she found her husband.
She took some dry food and special cold clothes for her husband and set out on the road. Along the way, she was exposed to wind, rain, sun, and cold. She was hungry and cold, and it was difficult to walk. After trekking for thousands of miles, she finally found the place where the Great Wall was being built. After asking around, she found out that many people had died to build the Great Wall. Her husband, Fan Xiliang, had died of exhaustion and was buried under the Great Wall. Even his bones couldn't be found. This news was like a bolt from the blue. Meng Jiangnu immediately cried bitterly. Her tears were like spring water, and her voice was like thunder. Her crying was earth-shattering, and the sky darkened. She watched as the Great Wall collapsed bit by bit. Wherever she cried, it collapsed. This made the engineering director very anxious. He hurriedly went to report to Qin Shihuang, who was inspecting the progress of the project. Qin Shihuang hurriedly went to see Meng Jiangnu to ask for the reason. After seeing her, he was mesmerized by her beauty and insisted on making her the "Empress of the Palace". Although Meng Jiangnu was full of anger, she suppressed the hatred in her heart. She had an idea and beat Qin Shihuang at his own game. She wanted Qin Shihuang to agree to three conditions before she could become the "Empress of the Palace". First, she wanted to find the corpse of her husband, Fan Xiliang. Second, she wanted to hold a state funeral for her husband. Third, she wanted Qin Shihuang to wear mourning clothes for Fan Xiliang. After hearing Meng Jiangnu's three conditions, Qin Shihuang thought for a moment. In order to obtain the beautiful Meng Jiangnu, he braced himself and agreed. After Meng Jiangnu paid her respects to Fan Xiliang, who had died to build the Great Wall, she had fulfilled her long-cherished wish. Facing the rolling Bohai Sea, she jumped and committed suicide.
Although this story was very fake, it also reflected the anger and resistance of the common people at that time towards Qin Shihuang's forceful recruitment of millions of laborers to build the Great Wall. The person who made this story was also someone who opposed Qin Shihuang's tyranny and sympathized with the common people.
This story was very popular for the common people at the bottom. It reflected the thoughts of the common people at the bottom. When they thought of the Great Wall that Qin Shihuang had spent a lot of manpower and resources to build collapsing instantly and Qin Shihuang being played by Meng Jiangnu, the common people who heard this story would feel very refreshed and comfortable.
As for the Great Wall itself, it was unlikely that it would collapse. This was because the Great Wall was very thick. It was five to six meters thick. Among them, the narrowest at the top was 5.8 meters, and the widest at the bottom was 6.5 meters. With a total height of about ten meters, such a wide wall could be said to be very stable. As long as there was not a strong earthquake, it would not collapse easily.
The surface of the wall was wide enough for two heavy carriages to pass through. The wall was made up of an outer wall and an inner wall filled with soil and gravel. The outer wall referred to the outer wall that faced the outside of the city. During the construction, there was an obvious retraction. The retraction was usually 125% of the wall height. The retraction of the wall could increase the width of the lower part of the wall, enhance the stability of the wall, strengthen its defensive performance, and make the outer wall magnificent. The inner wall referred to the inner wall of the outer wall. There was no obvious retraction during the construction. It was a vertical wall. As for the thickness of the outer wall, it was usually based on the thickness of the wall at the "battlements". The thickness here was usually one and a half bricks wide. According to the ratio of retraction, it would get thicker as it went down. The method of laying bricks was mainly flat.
"Meng Jiangnu crying at the Great Wall is a story. Of course, it can't be true. Why would Madam believe such a small story? Do you still need to ask?"
Ang Lee still opened his mouth to explain.
"That's true. The person who made up this story is really interesting."
Li Hanlu said.
"Look, the beacon tower here is still here."
Li An and Li Hanlu walked a few steps and arrived at the location of the beacon tower. This location was relatively spacious and the ground was flatter.
"This beacon tower is well preserved. The traces of the parapet are still there."
Li Hanlu said.
"Madam, do you know the function of the beacon tower?"
Ang Lee asked.
Li Hanlu replied, "Yes, of course I know. The beacon tower is designed to transmit information about the enemy. When encountering the enemy, it releases smoke during the day and fires at night."
:. :.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
