Qin's strategy of rejecting Xiongnu: immigrants expand the border, build roads and consolidate the border

Attacking Xiongnu in the north consists of four sub-strategies: 1. Expel the Huns and recover Zhao's hometown; 2. Build the Great Wall to prevent Huns from going south; 3. Immigrating to the real border and developing the frontier; 4. Open roads, facilitate traffic and consolidate border defense.

The first two strategies in the strategy of attacking Xiongnu in the north have been described before. Let's talk about the latter two strategies first.

In the history of China, no matter which generation, they are faced with frontier problems, and the rulers have also formulated frontier policies and launched frontier strategies to consolidate their rule. Frontier strategy is the development and management of frontier areas by successive dynasties. Frontier policy is the guiding principle and concrete measure to implement frontier strategy, and the concept of border management is one of the important prerequisites to formulate frontier policy. Whether the frontier policy is correct or not, whether the frontier strategy is successful or not, and whether the idea of governing the frontier conforms to the trend of the times not only directly affects the rise and fall of a dynasty, but also has a great influence on the overall formation and development of China, a unified multi-ethnic country.

After beating away the Huns, Ying Zheng ordered Meng Tian to preside over the construction of the Great Wall, add pavilions and pavilions, connect the old Great Wall of Yan, Zhao and Qin, stretch for thousands of miles, and build a straight road, heavily stationed. Immigrants actually think this is a barrier to the north. At the same time, large-scale immigration enriched border counties and played a positive role in the development and defense of border areas.

In 22 1 year BC, Qin Shihuang unified the whole country and completed the great cause of centralized feudal country unification, and its influence extended to Liujiaxia area. Qin Shihuang emigrated when the river was blocked, and encouraged civilians to migrate to the frontier at the level of sacrifice in order to develop and build new counties. Since then, a large number of people have moved from all parts of the Central Plains to the enemy-occupied areas in the northwest, living with all ethnic groups in Xiqiang. Qin Shihuang's pioneering work of immigrating to the true frontier was used by all previous dynasties, which had a far-reaching impact on later generations and played a positive role in developing the frontier.

According to Records of Historical Records of Qin Shihuang, in 2 15 BC, Qin Shihuang toured the north, and after returning to Xianyang from Shang Jun, he sent general Meng Tian to attack the Xiongnu with a rate of 300,000 troops in the north, occupied the vast area south of Hetao, and built 44 counties in Jiuyuan County under the shady mountain. Thus, the original southern territory of Xiongnu was brought into the effective rule of Qin State. In order to develop agriculture here, Qin Shihuang vigorously promoted the policy of immigration and border consolidation. For example, in 2 14 BC, large-scale immigration to Yuzhong; In 2 1 1 year BC, he moved to 30,000 homes in Beihe and Yuzhong and became a nobleman. According to the Records of Huayang National Records, 200 miles southwest of Lin Qiong, the original Qiongshi and Qin Shihuang moved their capital to Shang Jun. These three large-scale immigrants from the mainland to Shang Jun and Jiuyuan counties, the Han army and civilians brought advanced agricultural production technology and advanced production tools in the Central Plains, such as shovel, plow, iron-cracked soil, furrow-digging coupling farming, etc., which turned the nomadic old places in Shang Jun and Jiuyuan counties into fertile fields. Due to the development of agricultural irrigation areas here, three major irrigation areas were formed with Guanzhong Plain and Chengdu Plain, and a new crop variety, Panicum miliaceum, soon became famous throughout the country. Lv Chunqiu, an encyclopedia of Qin Dynasty two thousand years ago, recorded that the sum of Yangshan Mountain in Hetao and Xiaomi in Ren Xuan were as famous as the beauty of rice at that time. .

Although the Huns retreated more than 700 miles to the north after defeat, their strength was not fundamentally lost, but people, livestock and tribes migrated to the north. Once given the chance, they can always make a comeback. In view of the migration and impermanence of Xiongnu, in order to consolidate the northern frontier defense, Qin Shihuang adopted the following series of fortification measures after the war:

Continue to station heavy troops to guard the border. After repelling the Huns, Meng Tian's 300,000 troops remained in the north. On the one hand, he is ready to fight again when the Huns attack, on the other hand, he continues to carry out the task of repairing the Great Wall and the straight road. This unit has been living in harmony with the Qin Dynasty, which has made great contributions to the consolidation of frontier defense in the Qin Dynasty. It was not until the peasant uprising broke out at the end of Qin Dynasty that Qin Ershi transferred the main force of this army because of the critical situation.

Set up counties and counties, and immigrate to the real border. Henan is not only a warm climate and rich in aquatic plants, which is beneficial to nomadic and farming, but also a key place to shield the Yellow River in Guanzhong in the north, which is of great strategic significance. Qin Shihuang was determined to develop this land to strengthen the strength base of the northern border defense.

Overhaul cities, traffic jams, pavilions and barriers, and further strengthen border defense. After repelling the Huns, Qin Shihuang ordered the addition of two frontier defense lines: First, a fortress was built along the river because of danger, and the river was guarded by the fortress to better shield Henan and Guanzhong. The other is to rebuild the North Great Wall built by King Wuling of Zhao in the areas of Gaoque, Yangshan and Beifake, that is, along the whole Yinshan Mountain, to cover the siltation built along the Yellow River. In this way, the northern frontier of the Qin Dynasty moved northward for more than 700 miles, and the security of Guanzhong area was fully guaranteed.

Open a straight road to further facilitate military traffic in the northern border defense. After the establishment of Jiuyuan County, Henan became a base for fighting against Xiongnu. It is of great strategic significance to strengthen the military, political and economic ties between Jiuyuan and Xianyang, Qin Dou. The original equatorial west leads to the north and Longxi, and the north leads to Shang Jun and the clouds, which is quite inconvenient to control Henan. So, in thirty-five years, Qin Shihuang ordered the construction of a straight road from Yunyang near the capital Xianyang to Jiuyuan. At that time, the total length of this road was 65,438+0,800 Li. With this road, once the border guards call the police, Qin Jun's strategic mobile forces can reach Jiuyuan County from Xianyang. Coupled with the construction of Wuchi Road in the southwest frontier and the newly built roads between Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi, a road network extending in all directions with Xianyang as the center has been formed, and there are post stations for people who send official documents to rest and change horses. At the same time, Qin also stipulated that the wheel spacing was 6 feet, which facilitated traffic, promoted economic and cultural exchanges at that time, and was also conducive to the access of government decrees and the maintenance of national unified military deployment.

Throughout Qin Shihuang's war against Xiongnu in the north, it was mainly a battle to consolidate and build the northern frontier defense. The time really used for combat is very short, less than two years before and after. The fighting process is also relatively simple, and there is almost no large-scale fierce fighting. The strategic goal is very clear and limited, that is, to recover Henan, expel the Xiongnu to the north of Yinshan Mountain, lift the border invasion in the north, and safeguard the security of Guanzhong and the Central Plains. However, before and after the war, time, manpower, material resources, financial resources and so on. The cost of building the northern frontier defense far exceeds the consumption of the war itself, almost at all costs! The fundamental strategic guiding ideology of Qin Shihuang's painstaking management of the northern frontier defense lies not in attack, but in defense; Not to conquer or destroy the Huns, but to ensure the security, unity and development of the Qin Dynasty. These conditions show that attacking Xiongnu in the north has distinct nature and characteristics of active defense. In the Qin dynasty, it really played a role in consolidating the frontier defense, but also played a role in opening up the frontier.