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 took place in the capital Hojing (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi) 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.
The resources of the Great Wall are mainly distributed in 15 provinces, autonomous regions and cities such as Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Henan, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang. Among them, the length of Hebei Province is more than 2000 kilometers, and the length of Shaanxi Province is 1838 kilometers. Most historical records say that the Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty to build a great wall, and most of the Great Wall seen today was built at this time.
So, is this really the case?
In other words, the means used by the Qing Dynasty to unify the local clans were mainly: led by virtue and enwei.
Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty's territory was further expanded, so that the territory of the Qing Dynasty not only covered the northern grasslands, but also extended to the western region in the west, Tubo, and Taiwan in the south. However, the expansion of the frontier of the Qing Dynasty has achieved the territory of today's new China. By the Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty had achieved great unification, and the situation of "nine border towns and border police" in the Ming Dynasty had long disappeared.
Because of this, when the Qing Dynasty's frontier policy was mentioned, most people held the view that the Qing Dynasty did not build the Great Wall. For a long time, the Great Wall was used as a fortification for the nomads. However, in many historical records, we still found evidence of the Qing Dynasty's maintenance of the Great Wall. The Qing Dynasty did not build the Great Wall on a large scale, and one of the very important reasons was that the Ming Dynasty had already built a large number of civil engineering and built the Great Wall.
Moreover, the total collapse of the Great Wall will not happen overnight, so the Qing Dynasty does not need to make a major renovation of the Great Wall.
However, during the Qing Dynasty, repairs to the Great Wall proved to exist, and even, in some periods, new repairs were carried out.
In ancient times, the Great Wall had many titles, such as: border wall and saiyuan, while the Ming Dynasty mainly called the border wall. As for the origin of the title of the Great Wall, it was born very early. However, the Ming Dynasty monarchs were very taboo about the construction of the Great Wall in this dynasty, and this reason can be seen from the lessons of Qin Shi Huang's great construction and the people's unhappiness.
However, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty did not want to repeat the mistakes of the past to cause public indignation, and there was a story that the people of the Ming and Qing dynasties were familiar with: the Mengjiang women cried on the Great Wall. Previously, there were already operas adapted from this, and the script could not help but make the Ming rulers more jealous.
In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor was even more taboo to make the construction of the Great Wall public:
On the one hand, the Qing Emperor constantly emphasized that the Ming Dynasty's construction of the Great Wall was a useless act of snatching up the people's fat and people's ointment and consuming the fruits of the people's labor, and it was a manifestation of the "short vision" of the Ming Dynasty monarchs (no morality);
On the other hand, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty repeatedly preached that he did not build the Great Wall, but instead regarded the clan as a policy of the Ping Domain, and praised his achievements in governing the frontier, which not only far exceeded the Ming Dynasty, but even comparable to the Han and Tang Dynasties.
For example, in the thirtieth year of The Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi patrolled the outside of the city, and he mentioned: "In the past Qin Dynasty, the earth and stone work was built to build the Great Wall, and I gave grace to Khalkha to make it guard against Shuofang, and the longer city was stronger." This passage of Kangxi's words is obviously not exaggerated, and the annexation of Northern Mongolia to the Qing Dynasty just shows Kangxi's "virtue". However, it is doubtful that relying solely on "morality" is probably far from being able to subdue all the clans.
Therefore, some scholars hold the view that the degree of control of the Qing Dynasty over the frontier areas ultimately depends on the political and economic power of the state. Indeed, without strong national strength and strong military strength, it is very difficult to rely solely on virtue to complete reunification. Therefore, taking morality as the mainstay and enmity and power at the same time were the main characteristics of the Qing Dynasty's border rule.
Specifically, it is "the obedient obey with virtue, and the contrarian with the soldiers."
On the one hand, through marriage, annual shifts, and rewards, they co-opted the tribes outside the territory that actively surrendered, so as to establish their subordinate relationship with the Qing Dynasty. For example, the Shunzhi Emperor once said: "My country has been the Son of Heaven in the world, and Er and so on have been kings in the world, enjoying wealth and wealth in infinity, and cherishing the name of immortality. ”
On the other hand, the Qing Dynasty dealt a tough blow to the external fall of the Qing Dynasty, and organized the eight banners, Mongolia, and green camps as a sharp blade to maintain the absolute prestige of the Qing court. As the Qianlong Emperor said, "The Fu Heavenly Dynasty is to the outside world, the obedience is to be merciful, and the Thrush is destroyed." ”
In the Qing Dynasty, before the annexation of the clans, the emperor had also found that it was impossible to complete the unification by relying on "virtue" alone, and even to free the direct provinces from the intrusion of the clans. If it were not for the Qing rulers who decisively punished the clans for harassing the provinces, they would only be able to adopt a relatively conservative strategy, put themselves on the defensive, and be more passive.
In the thirty-sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Qinghai Mongols submitted, and before that, the attitude of the Qinghai Mongols to the Gansu region of the Qing Dynasty was, in fact, not friendly. During the Shunzhi Dynasty, the number one trouble on the northwest border of the Qing Dynasty was not the Ming Dynasty's Walla, nor the Qing Dynasty's Moxi Mongolia, but precisely the Mongolian departments located in the Qinghai region.
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Gansu region was continuously invaded by the Qinghai Mongols. At that time, the degree of stability in the Gansu region was even worse than that of the end of the Ming Dynasty. For example, in the thirteenth year of Shunzhi, the Qing Dynasty issued an edict to Baturu Taiji, Tushetu Baturu Daiqing, and others of the Erut tribe, mentioning: "For several years, Er and others have frequently invaded the interior, robbed horses and cattle, resisted enemy officers and soldiers, led Fanyi, threatened to rob the governor according to repeated reports, that is, dispatched officials to inform the company, and Er finally did not hesitate. ”
In addition, for example, during the Rebellion of San Francisco and the Rebellion of Wang Fuchen, the Qinghai Mongols "attacked Hongya Fort in front of the border, and now they are taking our troops into Hedong, demolishing the Pass, attacking the officials, fighting with officers and soldiers, and the deputy general chen Da of Yonggucheng was killed..." It can be confirmed that the Gansu region has indeed become a "sore spot" for the Qing Dynasty to suffer from time to time. Because of this, the Qing Dynasty had to continue to use and repair the Ming Great Wall to defend the Qinghai Mongols.
In the fifth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, "all the qinghai tribes in qilian mountains, adjoined large grassy beaches in the interior, and declared that they would enter the lands of Weihe Prefecture, Lintao, Gongchang, Xining, and Liangzhou, and the viceroy Daniel Zhang and asked them to build border walls from Xishuiguan to Jiayuguan at Biandukou to limit the interior and exterior." "This section of the Great Wall is in the southwest direction of Gansu, while the Great Wall of Gansu in the Ming Dynasty is mainly in the northeast direction.
During the Yongzheng period, the Luobuzang Tenjin Rebellion occurred in the Qinghai region. This man was a descendant of Gushi Khan, and he had always wanted to emulate his grandfather Gushi Khan and sit in the chair of the joint leader of the Qinghai Mongol and Tibetan provinces. At that time, Qinghai Mongolia had already submitted to the Qing Dynasty, not to mention, the people in power did not want him to sit in the top position of Qinghai Mongolia.
Since then, Mongolia in Qinghai has single-handedly covered the sky and has no one to control.
Therefore, Lobzang Tenzin gritted his teeth and decided to completely break with the Qing Dynasty, "luring the people to the side", and took the initiative to attack Xining and other places in Gansu. However, the prestige of Lobzang Tenzin was not enough to appeal to the Mongol tribes in Qinghai, so in the end, he was defeated by the Qing Dynasty and fled all the way to the desert western Mongolia.
Although the Qing Dynasty won this battle, it also knew the strategic reasons for the Qinghai Mongols to attack the Gansu border. The most urgent task at the moment is that if we do not actively build fortifications, it will be difficult to ensure that the next time there is a war, the enemy's re-attack on the Gansu region will not cause turmoil. Through this, the great general Nian Qianyao requested that the Beichuan River in Xining, the place where the White Pagoda was going up and down outside the frontier, be repaired and even newly repaired and even newly built in the area around the Biandukou, from the Balto Sea to the area around Biandukou.
Later, the Yongzheng Emperor approved Nian Qianyao's proposal.
The word "Chuangxiu" proves that the Qing Dynasty at that time not only repaired the border defense city wall, but also rebuilt the city wall according to the situation. The construction of the Great Wall (border wall) not only served as a barrier - the domain and the province, but also had a military role - wartime defense.
It is not only the Qinghai Mongols who intend to threaten Gansu, but also the ambitions of the Western Mongols.
Taking advantage of the san francisco rebellion when the Qing Dynasty was stretched to the limit and difficult to take care of, the leader of the Dzungar tribe, Kaldan, completed the unification of the interior of western Mongolia and conquered the surrounding Hami and other places. For a time, Western Mongolia had become a climate under kaldan's rule, and began to have the momentum of the Ming Dynasty's Wallachians.
At this time, because of the close distance between Hami and Gansu, coupled with the defeat of the Western Mongolian tribes, they had gradually migrated to the border areas along Gansu, such as the current Alxa region, resulting in the Qing Dynasty having to go to the rescue of these tribes that had left their homes and were in danger. For a time, the Gansu region not only had to defend against the invasion of the Qinghai Mongols, but also had to manage the Mongol tribes in the Alxa region to prevent its rebellion, and the Western Mongolian army invaded Hami in the east and tried to continue the eastward advance. Therefore, the Kangxi Emperor could not help but feel great pressure.
At that time, although western Mongolia was ostensibly at peace with the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi knew that western Mongolia under the leadership of Kaldan continued to grow stronger and most likely developed into a threat to the Qing Dynasty. In the sixteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Daniel Zhang, the viceroy of Gansu, wrote: "The ministers and other thieves are the chiefs of northern Erut, and there are many soldiers and horses, and if there are troops, that is, the interior, it is also advisable to strictly guard the flood officers and soldiers for protection." ”
In the "QinBian Chronicle", Gardan is compared to the Western Han Xiongnu Mao Dun Shan yu such a tyrant, and records the deeds of Gardan gradually unifying the tribes in the western region, "Hundreds of thousands of people who control strings, the wrong and the chaotic Yi, the rate is the first to be subordinate, the wind obeys the fate, and the whining is also fearful!" If there is a misfortune in the far side, and there is a court nearby, and if there is nothing to do with the emperor, and if there is no way to avoid the thorny door and the unceremoniousness of the ba shang, then the worries of the western world are already there. ”
However, it was not that the Kangxi Emperor did not feel a strong threat from Kaldan, but that he had to first quell the Rebellion of the Three Domains with all his might. In the 20th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Kunming in Yunnan was finally conquered under the siege of Qing dynasty officers and soldiers, and the San Fan Rebellion basically ended. At this time, the Kangxi Emperor breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention to the northern frontier of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, since the unification of Western Mongolia, Kaldan had gradually coveted the wider eastern lands.
These two powerful regimes watched each other silently, ready to attack. Kaldan was not satisfied with the position of the leader of the desert western Mongolia, so in the twenty-seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, taking advantage of the civil unrest in the northern Mongolia, he brazenly sent troops to invade the eastern border and occupy the northern Mongolia, single-handedly contributing to the chaotic situation in the northern Mongolia. At that time, China and Russia were coordinating the demarcation of the border, but the Chinese envoys could not leave the country through northern Mongolia, so in the end, Nebuchu was designated as the place of negotiation.
The origin of the name of the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar is also very interesting. Kaldan invaded the east, not only occupying northern Mongolia and expanding its territory, but also forcing the Qing Dynasty to fall into passivity in negotiations with Russia.
Therefore, the Qing Dynasty could not make any concessions to Russia in the treaty.
However, after the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchu, the Qing Dynasty was able to concentrate on Dealing with Kaldan with its bare hands.
At this time, Russia, limited by its own interests, did not dare to rush to support Kaldan, otherwise, the results of the negotiations would be completely invalidated. In the twenty-ninth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the southern Mongolia was invaded, and the Gardan army could directly reach the Ulanbutong of the southern Mongolia, only four or five hundred miles from Beijing, and it was already like a man's back to the Qing Dynasty, like a fish in the throat. At that time, the Kangxi Emperor was also unbearable- "lying on the side of the bed, do not allow others to snore." Therefore, I planned to march on the royal conquest.
Later, the Qing Dynasty cannons broke through Kaldan's camel array, and he was defeated in Ulanbutong and fled. However, in the following years, it was still active in the northern frontier of the Qing Dynasty, which became a major problem for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty and posed a serious threat to the northern Mongolia and Gansu regions. Therefore, in the thirty-third year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the imperial court agreed to repair the border wall in Shaanxi and Gansu on a large scale.
In that year, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Froen, received an order to inspect the border walls on three sides of Shaanxi, and reflected the current situation of the border walls to Kangxi, and submitted a construction plan:
"The subject was instructed to consult the three sides, to check the north of Jiayuguan in The town of Zisu in Shaanxi, and even to the beginning of Helan Mountain in Ningxia, and to build a border wall of earth; from the victory of Helan Mountain to the Pingluo Camp at the end of Helan Mountain, the original boundless wall, bounded by mountains... The three-sided wall has been destroyed for many years, and if it is not repaired urgently, it will be destroyed. But the three sides are far away, can not be repaired, limited to completion, please gradually repair next year... From there. ”
At that time, the Qing Dynasty repaired the three-sided border wall of Shaanxi precisely to resist the invasion of Kaldan. It was not until the thirty-sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty that Gardan fell ill and died, and the war came to a temporary end.
After the Yongzheng Emperor succeeded to the throne, the northwestern frontier of the Qing Dynasty was still in trouble, and he adhered to his father's legacy of unification, and decided to march west to Western Mongolia and divide the army into two, divided into two armies, the north and the west. At this time, western Mongolia was strong in military strength and the people's hearts were on the same page, which could be described as unity and courage. In April of the ninth year of Yongzheng, Fu Erdan led the elite of the Northern Route Army, but at Hetongnur's plan against the Western Mongols, he was deeply surrounded by enemy troops.
After that, although Fu Erdan led a small part of the remaining forces to fight to the death, rushed out of the siege, and returned to Kobdo, the losses could not be described as heavy, "two thousand people who had to return Kobdo". However, when the Yongzheng Emperor issued the edict of the Western Expedition, he could be said to be strategizing, holding the victory, and even having the courage and confidence to destroy it in one fell swoop. However, when he learned that the Qing Dynasty Northern Route Army's Manchu and Mongolian iron horse elite had failed miserably, his heart was undoubtedly very depressed.
Because the West Road Army is far away from the sky, and it is mainly the Green Battalion soldiers, it is difficult to rely on in terms of distance and strength. The land of Gyeonggi and the elite of the Eight Banners stationed in the north also hurt their bones in this battle. During the Kangxi Dynasty, when defeating Gardan, the Shanxi Right Guard Eight Banners, which had made meritorious contributions, in the Battle of Tongnur, "566 officers and men of the Right Guard garrison were killed, and 526 were killed in the battle, totaling more than 1,000 people."
Therefore, compared with the previous spirit and confidence, the Yongzheng Emperor already felt that he could not get off the stage at this time, and even had some panic.
In order to prevent the western Mongolian desert from moving south, it marched against the western Mongolia and the Central Plains. In October of the ninth year of Yongzheng, the Yongzheng Emperor ordered the strengthening of the defense of Gubeikou and Datong, and mentioned: "As for the border wall, those who have fallen down in a long time and are in a critical position should also build it at their discretion to eliminate the border." Yushi Shuxi, the commander-in-chief of Tianjin, went to investigate with Lu Zhenyang, the admiral of Gubeikou. ”
From the situation at that time, it can be seen that the construction of the border wall was obviously to deal with the threat from western Mongolia. From the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", it can also be found: "In the ninth year of Yongzheng, he ordered the directly subordinate Ministers to repair the border wall, and its three places of Gubei, Xuanhua and Datong were recruited to increase defense. From the west of Dushikou to the key passes around the Killing Tiger's Mouth, it is also appropriate to increase the number of soldiers" evaluation.
Among them, the word "increase defense" clearly confirms that the imperial court at that time was in a passive defensive position for Dzungar, and the purpose of repairing the border wall was also for defense. What's more, the Qing Dynasty also fortified along the Great Wall, adding pier troops to look at the dynamics of western Mongolia and defend at any time. The empirical evidence is that in the twelfth year of Qianlong, the Inspector of Shanxi requested: "In the past, because of the tight border, there were one or two soldiers per pier, and now each pier is in the belly, and it should be adapted to local conditions, and the discretion should be retained, except for the sixteen piers such as Shicheng managed by the Louzi battalion, all of which are located near the border wall or near the border wall..."
It can be seen that the Qing Dynasty not only used the fortification of the border wall to resist foreign enemies, but also set up pier troops with reference to the Ming Dynasty, which played a warning role.
In short, on the one hand, we should affirm the great achievements of the Qing Dynasty in unifying the frontier areas. However, at the same time, it should be known that the road to the unification of the Qing Dynasty was not smooth, and once there was a disagreement in the fanbu area, the Qing Dynasty also had to learn from the Ming Dynasty and defend against foreign enemies by repairing the border wall. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty, on the other hand, were always ashamed to build their own border walls to defend the orthodox dynasty of the Central Plains, and they were even more reluctant to publicize it.
Resources:
[Qinbian Jiluo", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "Pro-Zheng Pingding Shuo Desert Strategy", "History of China's Management of the Western Regions"]