First, let's explain the origin of the Great Wall in Wan Li. It is said that the Great Wall was not originally built by Qin Shihuang, but existed earlier in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Where is the city? It refers to the early state of the Great Wall, but it is not that big. There are also some descriptions in the General History of China, saying that the Great Wall at that time included Yan Great Wall, Zhao Great Wall, Wei Great Wall, Chu Great Wall, Qi Great Wall and Qin Changcheng. These records show that the Great Wall existed in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. After Qin Shihuang unified the world, Qin became the Qin Dynasty. At this time, Qin Changcheng was not the earliest origin of the Great Wall in Wan Li, but the earlier Great Wall originated from the Qilu border.
In addition, it is reported that the earliest place to build the Great Wall was Ningxia Zhongwei, which belonged to the northern line of the Silk Road and was an important transportation hub at that time. Therefore, a section of the ancient Great Wall adjacent to Guyuan was built by Zhou Xuanwang in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it is called the Shuofang Great Wall, with a time span of more than 2,800 years.
Later, the Western Zhou Dynasty fell apart and developed into the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the 7th century BC. As a result, wars have been going on all the year round, and there are frequent shows of smoke. In order to defend against enemy troops who often cross the border suddenly, the vassals had the idea of building a defensive wall on the border and built many beacon towers on the long wall of the border. When the enemy invaded from the outside, these beacon towers were filled with wolves, grass, camel grass, firewood and so on. Column? With the continuous development and improvement, the vassal States built a thicker and more spacious high wall between the original beacon tower and Liecheng, which is also an earlier model of the Great Wall.
After the Qin dynasty unified the six countries, the princes built it? Column? No longer used to defend neighboring vassal States. After all, the Qin dynasty was unified, and these original Chu, Wei, Qi and Zhao were divided into counties. Therefore, what Qin Shihuang needs to guard against is the ethnic minorities in the northern border, mainly to defend the Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people. The advantage lies in cavalry. Perhaps Qin Shihuang was inspired by this and ordered the construction of a longer and stronger border defense wall to connect these walls.
The main purpose of Qin Shihuang's construction of the Great Wall lies in two points:
1, in order to provide logistics supply for the defensive advantage, let Chi stand on the high wall against tarkan, thus effectively reducing the impact brought by tarquin and avoiding the formation being washed away.
After Qin Shihuang ruled the Qin empire, he may be afraid of people's dissatisfaction, so he chose to flee to other places to make a living. After the construction of the long Great Wall in Wan Li, it can form a symbolic meaning, as if no matter how far you move, you will never escape from the range surrounded by the Great Wall in Wan Li, and let people all over the world know that you will always be their son.
So what difficulties did Qin Shihuang encounter in the process of building such a huge Great Wall in Wan Li?
It is said that the Qin Dynasty requisitioned more than 300,000 people to participate in the construction of the Great Wall. In 2 14 BC, General Meng Tian led a team to start construction in Min County, Gansu Province, and it meandered eastward to Liaodong, reaching more than 10,000 miles, so it was called the Great Wall of Wan Li. In addition, it is said that there were more than 300,000 laborers to build the Great Wall, but 654.38+0,000, accounting for 654.38+0/20 of the total population of the Qin Dynasty at that time. Because there was no advanced construction machinery at that time, everything mainly depended on manpower, so it was extremely difficult to build.
In order to solve the difficulties brought by steep mountains, cliffs and rivers, a large number of migrant workers moved from severe drought to cold winter, and countless people died of illness and fatigue halfway, and some suffered great work injuries during construction. Due to the backwardness of medical technology in Qin dynasty, many people died on the road of construction without effective treatment. These requisitioned migrant workers are generally strong and have wives and children at home, so the Qin Dynasty also encountered many difficulties in requisitioning migrant workers, and even some women and children were neat.
Judging from the difficulty of building Qin Changcheng and the wisdom and culture of the ancients, it was difficult to build the Great Wall in the Qin Dynasty. The main reason is the reduction of national grain production. At that time, the whole Qin Dynasty was requisitioning110 young people and adults, leaving the fields at home uncultivated, and naturally there was no food output. In addition, because it is located in the north, it snows in winter and the wind is biting. Many workers don't have thick clothes to keep warm, so they have to catch up in the wild, so countless people freeze to death. In addition, there is the difficulty of harassment by foreign enemies. At that time, the Huns knew that Qin Shihuang spent so much effort to repair the Great Wall to defend himself, so in the process of construction, they often sent troops to attack the team that repaired the Great Wall and tried to destroy the project by this method.
In addition to solving the harassment of foreign enemies and coping with the dissatisfaction of the people, Qin Shihuang also encountered many difficulties in building fortifications. Because most of the places where the Great Wall is built are located on the mountains, it takes a lot of labor to dig up the sharp peaks, and then it begins to lay stone slabs. Sometimes when you meet a rocky mountain peak, you have to smash it flat before you can proceed to the next step.
It is also a major difficulty in transportation. Because there is no road, many materials such as stones, bricks and tools need ants to carry. Sometimes because the hillside is too steep, the horse can't climb it, so it can only be carried by labor bit by bit. Especially in the construction of beacon tower, the flat slab Shi Zhuan pile is required to be high, so relatively primitive methods such as hanging, pulling, lifting and pole can only be used for construction.
During the long and arduous years of building the Great Wall in the Qin Dynasty, there is a story handed down that can tell us the difficulty and misery at that time. It is said that since the Great Wall Project began, Qin Shihuang has requisitioned countless people, and one of them, Fan Xiliang, has also been recruited into a huge construction team. So after he packed his bags, he said goodbye to his wife Meng Jiangnv affectionately. They are reluctant to part, but the emperor's life is hard to break, and he can only live far apart. After Fan Xiliang left Meng Jiangnv, he was sent to the northern border to build the Great Wall. As a result, he lost any news from now on. Meng Jiangnu, who stayed at home, was in a state of anxious hope for the return of the army all day, unable to eat or sleep. Soon after, the winter came and the fields were yellow. Because Meng Jiangnv was anxious for her husband, she quickly mended some thick cotton-padded clothes, and then took them to the north to find Fan Xiliang alone.
However, when Meng Jiangnv came to the construction site to repair the Great Wall, she asked many workers that her husband was nowhere to be found, but most people thought that Fan Xiliang was either exhausted or frozen to death. Hearing this, Meng Jiangnv was so sad that she suddenly lost control and began to cry in the newly built Great Wall. Her pitiful cry resounded through the heavens and the earth in the cold wind, causing the sand on the wall to fall one after another. Suddenly, the Great Wall began to collapse, and the remains of people buried under it finally appeared.
Although this is an ancient sad story, there are historical materials worthy of textual research. The prototype of Meng Jiangnv is actually the wife of Qi Liang, a general of the State of Qi in Zuo Zhuan. According to Zuo Zhuan, after Qi Liang died for Qi State, the King of Qi only paid homage to him outside Liecheng. His wife felt wronged and stayed beside Qi Liang's coffin, crying for three or four days under the city wall, shaking the world. Later, Cao Zhi of the Three Kingdoms mentioned in the Six-year Order of Huang Chu:? Qi wife cries, the mountain collapses? Things. Therefore, the story of Meng Jiangnv crying in the Great Wall just illustrates the difficulties and solutions of repairing the Great Wall in Qin Dynasty.
References: General History of China, Zuo Zhuan, Six-year Order of Huang Chu.