As the first emperor in history to unify the world and be called emperor, although in the later period of his reign, because of his single-minded pursuit of immortality and the oppression of the people with tyranny, the Qin Dynasty was only short-lived in history. But these can not be denied, Qin Shi Huang was a very good emperor, in the early period of his reign, made a very great contribution to future generations, these can not be ignored. In addition to the contribution of the construction of the Great Wall against foreign tribes and the unification of writing, currency, and weights and measures, the two roads ordered by Qin Shi Huang also had a great impact on future generations.
The first road is centered on Xianyang and runs through the main traffic routes throughout the country, and is the earliest national highway in Chinese history, Qinchi Road. This road has played a tremendous role in promoting not only the economic and cultural development of that time, but also the economic and cultural development of the next thousand years, as well as the development and progress of human civilization. The second road is the Qin straight road, which is an ultra-long traffic artery running through Yunyang and Jiuyuan Counties, with a total length of nearly 800 kilometers, the maximum width reaching 60 meters, and the ordinary width reaching more than 20 meters. The eight-lane road built today is only about 30 meters wide, so this road was called by later historians: the first highway in human history.
However, the most amazing place of these two roads is not the development of QinChi Road, nor the length and width of Qin Zhi Dao. After the completion of the Qin Straight Road, it was widely used for nearly two thousand years, until it was gradually abandoned during the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, in the territory of Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Shaanxi, many relics of the QinZhiDao have been found, and they have now been listed as key cultural protection units in the country. But judging from the current situation of these ruins, even if thousands of years have passed and a hundred years have been abandoned, a large part of these sections are still barren. Why does this path have such a magical side?
In the "Chronicle of History and Biography of Mengtian Lie", it is recorded: "The First Emperor wanted to travel the world, and the Dao Jiuyuan, straight to Ganquan, was to make the Mengtian Passage, from Jiuyuan to Ganquan, the Valley of the Mountains, and 1800 miles." The road is not enough. From this sentence, we can see that the reason why Qin Shi Huang wanted to build this road at that time was mainly for him to travel the world in the future and make it more convenient to tour the world. On the other hand, although Qin Shi Huang unified the whole country at that time, he was still facing the threat of foreign tribes in the north at all times. Although the Great Wall has been built to resist foreign attacks, the Great Wall is too long, which is very unfavorable to the movement of soldiers and the subsequent transportation of grain and grass. After a long time, there will be a big problem. But with a traffic route that matches the Great Wall, these problems will no longer be a problem. Therefore, the construction of the Qin Straight Road at that time played a very big role in many aspects. Moreover, in Qin Shi Huang's view, since the road was to be built, it was necessary to build the best one, so he ordered the great general Meng Tian to be fully responsible for the construction of the Qin Straight Road.
Meng Tian was indeed the best candidate to build this road, because in the long-term defense of the northern town to resist the Xiongnu, in the face of war that could occur at any time, a good general must know the local terrain well, so that he could be in a favorable position in the long war, protect his homeland, and protect the people from infringement. At the same time, he himself is a very upright and careful person, and it is very reassuring to entrust him with this task. Therefore, Qin Shi Huang proposed that the quality of the road must be high, except for the fact that it cannot grow grass, other aspects are left to Beng Tian to play on its own.
In order to fulfill the emperor's requirements, Meng Tian made the desert section and the loess section the primary choice in the choice of roads, which could avoid long grass to the greatest extent. Moreover, the soil for road construction must also be repeatedly compacted, and its hardness must meet the standard. Later, some experts conducted a special survey of the soil used on the Qin Straight Road and found that these soils were made after being stir-fried with salt and alkali. This not only improves the hardness of the soil, but also maximizes the removal of plant seeds doped in the soil, and the saline substances can also inhibit the germination of seeds. Even if the seed falls to the road, it is difficult to take root and sprout.
Secondly, the labor force that built the roads at that time and the people were very hardworking. In addition to the hatred for the invasion of the Xiongnu; but also because the laws of the Qin Dynasty at that time were very strict, if someone was found to be lazy, their fate was often very tragic, not only to be punished, but also directly sold as labor. In addition, the most important reason why the road does not grow grass is that this road has been in use since it was built, and people and cars and horses have been walking all year round, and there is no opportunity to grow grass on the road. It is precisely for these reasons that although the Qin Straight Road has a history of more than two thousand years, it is still difficult to grow.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!