The history of the construction of the Great Wall can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, and the famous allusion "Beacon Theatre Princes" that occurred in the capital Hojing originated from this. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the nations competed for hegemony and defended each other, and the construction of the Great Wall entered the first climax, but the length of the construction at this time was relatively short. After Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms and unified the world, Qin Shi Huang connected and repaired the Warring States Great Wall, which was first known as the Great Wall.
Later dynasties and generations built the Great Wall. Among them, the length of the great wall built by the qin, Han and Ming dynasties exceeded 10,000 miles.
The greatest threat in the early Ming Dynasty was the Mongols in the north, so the Ming rulers poured all the people's strength into the country and built the Great Wall at the northern junction. However, when it comes to the northern border defense of the Ming Dynasty, we have to mention Qi Jiguang, who made outstanding contributions to the northern defense of the Ming Dynasty, especially in the reinforcement of the Great Wall of Jizhen, Qi Jiguang can be said to be the greatest contribution.
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the country, he sent Xu Da and others to build twenty-nine Great Wall passes, including the Great Wall of Jizhou. Although several rulers after Zhu Yuanzhang have also been building the Great Wall, the scale of its projects is not large, and the real large-scale construction of the Great Wall must be completed by Qi Jiguang during the Longqing period. The Great Wall built by Qi Jiguang is very complex, from the city wall, the platform, the beacon tower, etc., basically meeting all the conditions for resisting enemies and communication.
Before the construction of the Great Wall, Qi Jiguang came to Saiwai for field investigation.
After the inspection, he felt that the Great Wall built by the Ming Dynasty was not high enough, the thickness was not enough, and with the disrepair of many parts have been destroyed, there is no effect of resisting the invasion at all. In addition, although there are some "small platforms" in the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, the role of these "small platforms" is really limited, neither can soldiers hide in them, but also can not reserve a large amount of armaments, and there is no direct means of contact between each "small platform", if the Mongols invade, as long as ten thousand arrows are fired, the defenders on the Great Wall cannot resist, and there is no meaning to assist in combat.
After learning about the shortcomings of the Jizhen Great Wall, Qi Jiguang played: "The Jizhen Great Wall is two thousand miles long, due to the disrepair and many damages, instead of renovating it every year without any benefit, it is better to raise the city wall and build a three-story beacon tower with a height of five zhang, each beacon tower can accommodate a hundred people, standing on the platform with a wide field of view, the beacon tower can reserve sufficient military food and weapons." Longqing approved Qi Jiguang's project, and after three years in Longqing, Qi Jiguang came to Jizhen with soldiers and soldiers to start construction.
According to expert appraisal, the Jinshanling Great Wall is the essence of the Great Wall of China, with barrier walls, text bricks, and retaining walls, known as the "three musts" of the Jinshanling Great Wall. It is dangerous according to the mountains, plugged by the water, and the xiongcheng is rugged like a steel wall and an iron wall. There are many carved buildings, such as armor guards, "one husband when passing, ten thousand people can not open", and, with its open field of vision, enemy towers are full of unique functions, known for its unique function of building protection systems, it is the most flawless section of the Ming Great Wall that has been preserved, and even foreigners are amazed after they come to see it.
Qi Jiguang personally acted as a supervisor, extremely strict, and strived to be perfect for every part of the project. Qi Jiguang ordered the types of walls to be divided into three classes, with bricks on both sides called first-class walls, one-sided bricks called second-class walls, and unincaved stone walls called third-class walls. Moreover, the walls of all strategic locations were built of first-class walls, and workers who cut corners were severely punished. Moreover, in addition to the city wall, Qi Jiguang also supervised the construction of a number of hollow enemy platforms.
So, what is a hollow enemy? In fact, it is the hollow beacon platform of the five zhangs and three floors we mentioned above, and in Qi Jiguang's "Miscellaneous Records of Military Training", there is a description of the hollow enemy platform:
"Now build a hollow enemy platform, and block the passage of people and horses." Its system: the height of three or four zhang is not equal, the surrounding width is twelve zhang, there are seventeen or eight zhang. Where there are tens of steps or a hundred steps at the punch, there is one unit at the slow place or forty or fifty steps, or two hundred steps. The two correspond, left and right to save each other, riding the wall and standing. The method of building a platform: the lower foundation is flat with the border wall, the outside is more than four or five feet, the middle is empty, the arrow windows on all four sides, the upper building is built, the ring is stacked, the internal guard pawn, the artillery is issued, and the enemy is attacked outside. ”
Later, after five years of arduous construction, the Jizhen Great Wall was finally completed. In the process of acceptance inspection, Qi Jiguang found that there were great problems in the defenders of the Great Wall, because war was not common, and border guards were often in a state of idleness, so it was inevitable that fatigue would occur. In order to solve this problem, Qi Jiguang, with the approval of the imperial court, transferred thousands of elite soldiers with high combat effectiveness from Zhejiang and arranged them in the Great Wall Army in various places, so that these soldiers could become models and models in the army.
These Elite Soldiers of Zhejiang were all Qi Jiajun who had fought together with Qi Jiguang against the Wokou, and they had not only received strict military training, but also underwent the baptism of war. In the process of training the defenders of the Great Wall, Qi Jiguang's requirements for the defenders are no different from those for the Qi family's troops: first, daily training cannot be sloppy, and second, when training, we must pay attention to step by step. When Qi Jiguang commanded at the school grounds, he ordered every soldier to treat training as war, from being familiar with each command of the commander to distinguishing various flags, golden drum orders, and then to the drill of various weapons, and finally, becoming a qualified defender of the Great Wall.
In addition to the ability of individual combat, Qi Jiguang's training also attaches great importance to tactical training.
As early as the fight against the Wokou, Qi Jiguang often formulated different coping strategies according to the different terrain of the battlefield, and it was by no means the same. Qi Jiguang roughly divided Jizhen into three strategic terrains: first, it is the inland Baili Plain; second, it is a "half-dangerous and half-easy" place close to the border; and third, it is a complex and rugged valley outside the border. Moreover, Qi Jiguang also formulated three tactics of horse, car and foot, dealing with three completely different terrains.
The three types of troops cooperated with each other, such as the formation of chariots, the interspersed by the horse army, and the infantry setting up horses in front of the line, which could effectively stop the Mongols who were good at horse standing. It can be said that throughout the ages, posterity has praised Qi Jiguang's outstanding military talent, but few people know that Qi Jiguang also made great contributions to border defense during the non-war period, and the great achievements of Qi Jiguang are still circulated along the Great Wall today.