How much did Qin Shi Huang spend on building the Great Wall? The data is beyond your imagination. The project is huge and expensive, what kind of huge price did Qin Shi Huang pay for the construction of the Great Wall? This number will surprise you. How much manpower and material resources did the Great Wall project cost? How much did the Qin Dynasty really spend? Let's find out.
The historical origin of the construction of the Great Wall
If you want to talk about the historical origin of the Great Wall, you have to start from the Western Zhou Dynasty. At that time, the Western Zhou Dynasty was at its peak, and in order to prevent foreign invasions, the Zhou Dynasty pioneered the practice of building city walls with earthen walls as materials. This was the earliest prototype of the Great Wall.
Later, in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Seven Kingdoms were constantly in dispute, and in order to meet the needs of the war, the vassal states also followed the example of the Zhou people and built earthen walls on their own borders as fortifications. In the late Warring States period, Zhao developed the defense system to a new level. Zhao Xian was an expert in building fortifications at that time, and after he invited the Xiongnu to surrender, he was well aware of the threat of nomads and decided to concentrate his efforts on building a strong Great Wall on the northern border of Zhao.
Zhao Xian personally led tens of thousands of people to build from the west of today's Beijing to the east to the shore of the Bohai Sea, a total length of thousands of miles. The reason why the Great Wall of Dazhao was able to stand tall in the war-torn era was largely due to Zhao Xian's scientific design and meticulous construction. For example, in order to increase the defensive power, Zhao Xian dug a trench on the outside of the wall along the trend of the terrain, so that a natural trench could be formed when the wall was impacted; Watchtowers were set up at intervals, so that the sentinels could overlook from the rooftops and immediately raise the alarm if they spotted the enemy. Although the construction technology of the Great Wall of Zhao was advanced, it was only a state and a country after all, and it was obviously far from enough in the face of the great cause of the unification of the Warring States period.
After Qin Shi Huang swept through the six countries, he unified the world, but what he saw was a national territory that was separated and lacked unity. In order to consolidate the dominance he had won in the war, Qin Shi Huang was determined to build a strong national defense. At this time, he thought of the defense system of the "Great Wall", which already had a prototype. Therefore, after compiling survey data from various places, Qin Shi Huang decided to renovate and continue to extend the existing Great Wall to both ends. The purpose of building the Great Wall was not only to block foreign invasions, but more importantly, to connect the military facilities system throughout the country, so as to strengthen the centralization of power and completely eliminate dissident forces. In this way, under the personal supervision of Qin Shi Huang, the Great Wall of Defense, which stretched for thousands of miles, finally formed a complete outline in that year.
Qin Shi Huang's brutal oppression of the people
Although the Great Wall project was necessary to consolidate the rule of the Qin Dynasty and secure the border, the construction process was a period of blood and tears for the working people at the bottom.
According to the regulations of the time, each county had to send enough labor to the central government to use the Great Wall construction site. At first, most of the recruits were criminals and prisoners of war, but due to the sheer size of the project, these people were soon stretched thin. In order to speed up the construction period, Qin Shi Huang ordered the recruitment of people, young and old, and dragged all those who were old enough to work to the construction site.
According to historical records, at the peak of the construction of the Great Wall, as many as 800,000 people camped on construction sites across the country. They work from early morning to moonrise, but their daily workload far exceeds the normal labor intensity. The quality of the food on the site was very poor, with only light salt water and bran, and the nutrition was extremely poor. The sleeping conditions were also quite harsh, with the men huddled in damp and filthy shacks, often surrounded by the corpses of their dead companions. Such a poor living environment, coupled with long-term overwork, a large number of people fall down every day, die of illness or work-related injuries.
What's even more terrifying is that the officials are extremely cruel to the management of the people. There was an official named Jing Qing who was known for his homicidal maniac. He fought at the workers, killing them with a casual disdain for their lives, even women and children. As soon as a worker violated discipline or was inefficient, he tied them up, hit them with heavy objects, and sometimes even beat them to death in public. In order to give others a warning, Jing Qing also hung the body of the deceased for several days. Under such deliberate killings and raging, many workers are riddled with nightmares and trance, and their enthusiasm and efficiency in work are naturally even lower.
However, it is worth mentioning that there have been some benevolent and compassionate officials in history. Han Changhou, for example, repeatedly tried to stop the atrocities and personally inspected the living conditions of the laborers on the construction site. Unfortunately, the legal principles at that time were not yet perfect, and although he was in charge of Qin Shi Huang, he was ultimately unable to prevent these atrocities.
In general, the people who built the Great Wall back then can be said to have eaten up the warmth and coldness of the world, and endured worse treatment than the slaves who died in the country. Many died under such torture, and many more died of malnutrition and physical and mental exhaustion after the project was completed. History has taught us too many cruel lessons, and today we should remember and cherish the hard-won peaceful life.
The cost of materials for building the Great Wall is staggering
To complete such a huge project, the consumption of materials is unprecedented. According to historical records, the total length of the Great Wall in the Qin period was about 10,000 li, and although a large part of it was extended and strengthened on the basis of the existing one, the newly built part of Qin Shi Huang also reached more than 14,000 li.
The construction of the Great Wall was naturally inseparable from a large number of building materials, and the main materials used in the Qin Dynasty at that time were green bricks and gray mortar. These two materials are characterized by a wide range of raw materials, easy transportation, and robustness, making them ideal for building a military facility of this scale.
Experts estimate that based on the amount of more than 6,000 green bricks and 7 cubic meters of lime mortar needed per meter of the Great Wall, the newly built part of the Qin Dynasty alone will use 84 billion green bricks and 9.8 million cubic meters of lime mortar. This is already an astronomical amount.
At that time, the main material for making green bricks was high-quality loess, coupled with a large number of manpower, firewood and other auxiliary materials and transportation costs, even in the Qin Dynasty, the manufacturing cost of each green brick was considerable. According to the available records, each green brick cost at least four cents back then, which was definitely a huge amount of money at the income level of ancient farmers.
As for the main material of lime mortar, lime and gravel, due to the lack of advanced means of transportation, it was laborious, time-consuming and expensive to transport tons of raw materials back to the construction site from dozens or even hundreds of miles away. According to expert estimates, the cost of each cubic meter of lime mortar was more than 400 yuan at that time, plus the cost of production and transportation, the cost was immeasurable.
In addition to the main materials, the construction of the Great Wall also requires a large number of auxiliary materials, such as labor tools, transportation tools, firewood, and so on. The manufacturing and circulation costs of these similar products need to be paid by the central government of the Qin Dynasty one by one. What's more, the entire project will require continuous investment for many years, and the related human and financial resources are a bottomless pit.
Qin Shi Huang's ambition and determination
Throughout history, to complete such a huge project, in addition to the huge investment of financial and material resources, but also need a firm and persistent leader. Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng is just such a person.
Since Qin Shi Huang was a child, he was deeply threatened and troubled by war and Xiongnu infestation. According to records, when he was still the prince of Yingguo, he witnessed the brutal massacre of the Hun cavalry, and saw how the enemy washed a village with blood, killed people and cut land, and acted extremely cruelly. This tragedy left a deep impression on Ying Zheng and prompted him to make up his mind that once he ascended to the throne one day, he would completely eradicate the insecurity on the border.
Sure enough, as soon as Qin Shi Huang came to power, he ignited his ambition to unify the Central Plains and resist the nomads. After a difficult war campaign, he finally unified the Central Plains, but the dark clouds of foreign invasion loomed over the region again. Ying Zheng is well aware that even if the former Qihuang difficulty has been resolved, as long as there is no impregnable line of defense, the foreign race will still threaten everyone's safety at all times.
Just when Ying Zheng was worried about this, the idea of building the Great Wall came up spontaneously again. But this time, what he wanted was no longer a simple defensive wall, but a great wall of steel that surrounded the Central Plains and stretched for thousands of miles, which could completely block the invasion of foreign tribes and ensure the long-term peace and stability of the country.
In the face of such a huge project, ordinary people may be timid and retreat, but Qin Shi Huang was not afraid of difficulties. He personally organized surveys, studied topographical routes, and drew a map of the basic direction of the Great Wall extending from Lianyungang to Gansu. During the construction process, he visited the construction site from time to time to inspect the progress and sometimes taught the workers how to build the construction. In order to ensure the quality of the project, he selected a group of royal craftsmen who were most proficient in construction and had them supervise the work.
Although the Great Wall project brought great suffering to the people, from Qin Shi Huang's personal point of view, he did not intend to do so. He was just too eager to truly unify the Central Plains and realize the true "great unification" that he did not hesitate to spend such a huge price. Although the Great Wall brought unnecessary sacrifices to the people's power and people's lives, it also did resist countless foreign invasions for future generations, avoided the spread of more wars, and preserved the foundation of the Central Plains civilization. Such a difficult and tortuous road is precisely the result of Qin Shi Huang's determination not to give up until he reaches his goal.
The strategic significance of the Great Wall of Qin
Throughout history, although the construction of the Great Wall of Qin paid a huge price of manpower and material resources, its strategic significance is self-evident. It was not only a strong Great Wall to defend the frontier, but also an important cornerstone of the Qin Dynasty's regime to unify the world and consolidate centralized power.
The main purpose of building the Great Wall was to curb the invasion and plundering of the Central Plains by the Xiongnu and other nomadic peoples. Before the construction of the Great Wall, nomadic tribes on the steppes often harassed the borders, plundering the wealth and population of the Central Plains, and brought great losses to agricultural and animal husbandry production. With the barrier of the Great Wall, the Central Plains is finally no longer threatened by the moment, and the border areas have gradually regained peace.
More importantly, the presence of the Great Wall cemented the dominance of the young regime of the Qin Dynasty. During the Warring States Period, due to the lack of a unified defense system, coupled with the division of princes and the competition between the princes, the entire Central Plains has been in a long-term turmoil. However, after the Qin Dynasty unified the world, it built a defense line of the Great Wall that stretched for thousands of miles, enclosing the entire Central Plains.
The Great Wall not only cut off the connection between the local separatist forces internally, but also greatly improved the military strength of the Qin Dynasty externally. Along the topography of the Great Wall, Qin Shi Huang laid out a large number of military installations, turning the Great Wall itself into a huge military fortress. Once the enemy invades, the interior can quickly deploy troops and use the grain and grass reserves and guard towers along the route, thus forming a complete defense system. With this impregnable wall, the Qin Dynasty could highly concentrate its forces on conquest of foreign tribes, and it also greatly reduced the pressure on the defense of the border.
In addition to this, the construction of the Great Wall also accelerated the process of economic integration of the Qin Dynasty. In order to continuously supply materials to the construction site, the imperial court built a grand canal and land transportation arteries along the Great Wall, which efficiently concentrated the resources of mountains, rivers, lakes and seas, and promoted the smooth circulation of materials throughout the country, thereby promoting the development of productive forces. To a large extent, these infrastructures have reduced local silos and laid the foundation for a unified economic system for the entire country.
In short, as a strategic project, the Great Wall played a fundamental role in the establishment and consolidation of the Qin Dynasty. Although it comes at a huge human and material cost, in the long run, it has a strategic significance and historical impact that cannot be compared with any short-term sacrifice. It was precisely its existence that enabled the young centralized power of the Qin Dynasty to stand firm in turbulent times, and thus laid the foundation for the sustainable development of Chinese civilization.