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China ancient military defense engineering system consists of continuous city walls, passes, watchtowers, beacon towers and castles. From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Ming Dynasty for more than 2,000 years, the Great Wall was built by 8 vassal states and more than 0/0 dynasties. Among them, the Qin, Han and Ming Great Wall, which runs through the north of China, is more than 5,000 kilometers long, commonly known as the Great Wall of Wan Li.

A Brief History of the Great Wall is the product of the military struggle of China's ancient vassal states, feudal dynasties and ethnic ruling groups. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the vassal states went their own way, conquering each other and fighting frequently. For each other's defense, they built hundreds to thousands of miles of the Great Wall in the border areas. In the 7th century BC, Chu took the lead in building Fangcheng (the Great Wall of Chu) in the northeast of Fangcheng (now Henan). Subsequently, Qi, Wei, Han, Yan, Zhao, Qin and Zhongshan were successively built. Since then, the Great Wall has been built in Qin, Han, Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui, Liao, Jin, Ming and other dynasties, the largest of which is Qin, Han and Ming.

In the 26th year of Qin Shihuang (22 1 BC), after Qin unified the six countries, the Great Wall between the original six countries was demolished to prevent the restoration of vassal forces. In order to resist the threat of Xiongnu in the north, Meng Tian was ordered to lead hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and the Great Wall in the north of the former Qin, Zhao and Yan countries was trimmed into a whole, which was called Qin Changcheng, stretching for more than 10,000 miles from Lintao (now Minxian County, Gansu Province) in the west to Yinshan Mountain in the north and Liaodong in the east. (see color map)

At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, Xiongnu in the north committed many crimes in the south. High-impedance Liu Bang led an army to fight back and was once surrounded by Xiongnu Khan in Deng Bai (now Northeast Datong). At the time of Emperor Wendi, Xiongnu once approached Gyeonggi and threatened Chang 'an. In order to eliminate the border troubles in the north, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took the initiative to attack the Xiongnu and rebuilt the Great Wall on a large scale, including: restoring Qin Changcheng and adding the Great Wall in Hexi (the first line starts from the Yellow River in the west to Jiuquan and Yumen, and ends in Yanze; Jiuquan north to Juyan) and Liecheng outside the Great Wall. The total length of the Han Great Wall is about 6,543,800 kilometers, which is the longest Great Wall in ancient China.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the descendants of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty waited for an opportunity to return to the south. In the middle period, the Wara Department of Mongolia rose and committed crimes in the south many times. Later, she was threatened by the Nuzhen nationality in Northeast China. Therefore, the Great Wall was built many times in the Ming Dynasty and lasted for more than 200 years. It starts from Jiayuguan in Gansu in the west and extends eastward to Yalu River through Ningxia Wei, Yulin Wei and Shanhaiwei, with a total length of more than 6,300 kilometers. Commonly known as the Great Wall, it starts from Jiayuguan in the west and ends at Shanhaiguan in the east. It is the main part of the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty (see color map).

In addition, there are two Great Walls built during the Northern Wei Dynasty, starting from Chicheng in the east, Wuyuan in the west, Juyongguan in the east and Hequ in the west, totaling more than 1.500 kilometers. The Great Wall was built in the Northern Qi Dynasty, starting from Qin Shu in the west (now near Datong, Shanxi) and ending in the Bohai Sea in the east, with a total length of 1500 kilometers. The old and new Great Walls were built in the Jin Dynasty. The new Great Wall starts from Xigaze Town in the east of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the east and ends near Baotou in the west, with a length of about 2,500 kilometers. The old Great Wall is located in the north of the new Great Wall, spanning the eastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic, with a total length of about 700 kilometers.

In military history, in view of the fact that the slave owners and nobles of the northern ethnic minorities often commit crimes in the south, it is impossible to prevent them. If "the garrison guards, few people are difficult to meet the enemy, and many people are trapped in losing", some politicians advocate building the Great Wall to resist. During the Western Han Dynasty, Chao Cuo put forward the ideas of "the city is high and the ditch is deep" and "killing soldiers to control traffic jams". Sang Hongyang of the Western Han Dynasty believed that "you can't resist rape without a castle" and "you can control people if you are prepared, and you can control people if you are not prepared". In the Northern Wei Dynasty, Gao Lv offered a plan to Emperor Xiaowen: "The Northern Emperor ... was good at fighting in the field, fighting hand-to-hand and attacking the city slightly. If virtue is short, although many people can't suffer, they can't be forced from the inside. " We advocate that "the Great Wall should be built to the north of Liuzhen to defend Beilu. Although there is a temporary labor, there are permanent benefits, such as 10% of it, which will benefit forever. " It can be seen that the ancients relied heavily on the Great Wall.

The layout of the Great Wall mainly depends on the military situation, geographical situation and topography. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Xianyang and Chang 'an (now Xianyang and Xi 'an in Shaanxi) were established as capitals respectively. At that time, the Huns occupied Henan (now the Hetao area south of the Yellow River), and according to Hexi (now the Hexi Corridor area of Gansu Province), both threatened Gyeonggi, so "the northwest was anxious", so Qin "accepted Henan and built the Great Wall"; Hanbei attacked Xiongnu. Build the Hexi Great Wall and other cities other than the Great Wall. After the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, the Mongolian Walla Department invaded first, then the Jurchen advanced, Dongsheng (now Tuoketuo County, Inner Mongolia) abandoned its defense, Daning (now Ningchengxi, Inner Mongolia) fell, Datong, Fu Xuan and Jizhou were exposed, and the Battle of Civil Fort led to the capture of Yingzong, endangering the capital, so it was "an emergency in the Northeast". Northeast China includes Liaodong, Jizhou, Fu Xuan and Datong. The customs in the west of Liaodong Town is connected with Jizhou. The capital has something to do, but it needs help. Jizhou Town and Yanshan Mountains run through the whole territory, and the terrain is dangerous, which is the natural barrier of Beijing. Fu Xuannan's Wangjing division controlled the northern desert, and the attackers were the first to commit crimes in Beijing. Datong is the only place to invade the capital in the east and Shanxi in the south. Therefore, the Great Wall in the northeast of Ming Dynasty passed through Datong and Fu Xuan along Yanshan Mountain, then along the west side of Liaoxi Corridor, and then reached the Yalu River from the northeast town.

Shanxi is located in the left wing of Gyeonggi, and is closely related to Yanji. The eastern foot of Taihang Mountain winds around, the Yellow River bends westward, and Datong is sheltered in the north. The inland mountains are undulating, with few passages and many dangers. Yanmen, Ningwu and Piantou are particularly important. The ancients said: "All Jin 'an is in danger to see the three customs", and the three customs are safe, so all Jin 'an is safe; "If everyone is in Jin 'an, the capital will be safe". Therefore, the Great Wall was built on the first line of Sanguan, passing through Xing Ping, Daoma, Bauhinia and Juyongguan to the east. In order to strengthen the defense of the three passes, four city walls, three large stone walls and 25 small stone walls were built outside Piantou Pass. And in the south of Lingqiu, along Taihang Mountain, through Laiyuan and Jingxing to Huangzeling, west of Xingtai, a North-South Great Wall was built, which was regarded as the flank barrier of Gyeonggi.

The site selection of the Great Wall is "blocked due to dangerous terrain". Whenever there is danger, it will cut mountains and build cities, break down valleys and barriers, and make natural terrain and man-made cities complement each other. The Great Wall is a complete defense engineering system that focuses on the pass and the enemy platform, with the beacon tower as the outpost, the city wall as the support, the combination of points and lines, and the protection line. The city wall is the main part of the Great Wall, which was built with the terrain. In mountainous areas, most of them are built on ridges or steep cliffs, which makes the city walls steeper and more difficult to climb. On the flat land, it is usually built along the river, forming a double obstacle between the river and the city wall. Pass, the key part of the Great Wall, is the focus of defense. Most of them are located in the dangerous areas of high mountains and valleys, or where river valleys meet and turn, or the only road that must pass through Pingchuan. Guarding with fewer soldiers can achieve the effect of "one person guarding, ten thousand people can't force". The enemy platform is built on the wall and integrated with the wall, which is an important combat engineering facility to guard the Great Wall. Beacon tower, also known as smoke pier or beacon tower, is mostly built on the top of the mountain and in the open area of Gaofu. In case of enemy situation, it burns smoke during the day and fires at night, which is specially used to transmit military information. In addition, independent castles have been built in places with convenient transportation inside and outside important passes, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack, as places for garrison and grain storage, as well as for cover and support. The Great Wall has its own characteristics, but in the Ming Dynasty, because the army was equipped with firearms, many castles, enemy platforms and smoke mounds were built in the north and south of important sections of the Great Wall, and Luocheng and Yicheng were also built in important castles to increase armor class and depth. There are Dusi and Weishi along the Great Wall, and the configuration system and construction technology are more complete.

Since the Qin and Han dynasties, dynasties have often set up heavy troops along the Great Wall. Qin Shihuang stationed troops in 12 counties in Longxi, Beidi, Shang Jun, Jiuyuan, Yunzhong, Yanmen, Dai Jun, Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi and Liaodong. Han set up four counties in Hexi, Wuwei, Jiuquan, Zhangye and Dunhuang, and built Shuofang City in Hetao area, where immigrants were stationed. Liaodong, Jizhou, Fu Xuan, Datong, Yulin, Ningxia, Gansu, Taiyuan and Guyuan. Every town has jurisdiction over some medical centers, research institutes, customs, ports, villages, camps and forts. According to the Records of Reading Historical Records and related historical records, Liaodong Town has a jurisdiction over the Great Wall of 975 kilometers, with 25 guards, 1 1, 2 passes and 100 battalions, with 99,875 troops; Jizhou Town, which governs 600 kilometers of the Great Wall, has 1 13, Zhai 72, Ying 43, Cheng 1 1, Bao 6 1 and 78,620 troops. Fu Xuan Town, 606 kilometers under the Great Wall, has 10 guards (12), 1 stations, 28 Guan Bao stations and 126395 garrison troops. Datong Town under the jurisdiction of the Great Wall is 347 kilometers long, with 8 guards, 7 research institutes, 583 fortresses and 54 150 troops. There are more than 400 checkpoints, villages, camps and forts along the Great Wall, with more than 600,000 troops stationed, sometimes reaching about 1 10,000 people.

The Great Wall is the crystallization of the high creativity and wisdom of the working people of all ethnic groups in China. In ancient times when knives, spears, bows and arrows were the main combat weapons, the tall and sturdy Great Wall played an important role in defending stray cavalry, protecting the economic and cultural development of the Central Plains, ensuring the stability of people's lives, developing agricultural production in remote areas, and protecting the "Silk Road" leading to the western regions. However, the construction of the Great Wall cost a lot, which once brought heavy labor and burden to the working people at that time, and even caused death. Today, although the Great Wall has lost its original military value, it is still a precious historical and cultural heritage of mankind and a symbol of the history of the Chinese nation.