Author: Captain Hardergen
Image/Typography/Proofreading: Follow the Trail
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In ancient Chinese society, the central plains agrarian civilization regime was long threatened by the northern nomads.
In 771 BC, the Western Zhou Dynasty died at the hands of Inuyasha, and the unfortunate King You of Zhou died and the country was destroyed, and history entered the Spring and Autumn Warring States Era. For more than 500 years, several nomadic peoples have been at risk for the security of the princely states.
The Western Zhou Dynasty divided the vassal states and the surrounding nomadic fishing and hunting tribes
The State of Yan was almost destroyed by nomadic peoples in the Spring and Autumn Period, and in the end it was the Duke of Qi Huan who helped the State of Yan tide over the difficulties; the State of Zhao, because of its geographical location, was long invaded by the Xiongnu, Lou Fu and other ethnic groups; even if it was the Qiangqin who eventually unified the world, the country was also invaded by the Yiqu and other ethnic groups for a long time.
In the face of these opponents who came and went like the wind, the Seven Heroes of the Warring States fought back, and the Zhao generals Li Mu and the Yan general Qin Kai were all famous heroes who fought against the nomads, especially Li Mu, who was recorded in history as "killing more than 100,000 Xiongnu horses in a big way".
Map of the situation in the late Warring States period
However, the nomadic cavalry is extremely mobile, they can attack at will on the long border line, in the face of this dilemma, Yan Zhao and other countries came up with a method - to build the Great Wall. With the Great Wall, nomads could no longer go south at will.
Of course, the Great Wall is not a novelty, and some princely states built the Great Wall in the Spring and Autumn Period, but the threat of nomadic peoples has undoubtedly allowed more countries to carry it forward.
From the Warring States to the Ming Dynasty, mark the direction of the Great Wall in different eras with different colors (click on the above picture to enlarge it)
In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang destroyed the Six Kingdoms and unified the world, and while using various measures to strengthen the centralization of power, he tried to solve the Xiongnu problem. The famous Qin general Meng Tian led 300,000 Qin troops to the North to conquer the Xiongnu, recovered all the land south of the Yellow River, and then crossed the river to occupy Yangshan, the Xiongnu were defeated and retreated, and Qin Shi Huang was very satisfied.
However, Qin Shi Huang was also unable to completely eliminate the nomadic people, so the Qin Dynasty began to build a Great Wall of unprecedented scale, building the Great Wall from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east on the basis of the original Great Wall of the Six Kingdoms. Since then, from the Han to the Ming, successive dynasties have built large sections of the Great Wall, even if the Zhao and Song Dynasties that lost the Yanyun region, in recent years, some scholars have found that the Northern Song Dynasty once built the Great Wall in Hebei through archaeological excavations.
The Qing Dynasty saint Zu Xuanye once ridiculed the Great Wall for laboring the people and hurting their wealth, but when his descendants surrounded and suppressed the Twister Army's Lai Wenguang Department, they also had to use the repair of walls and the digging of trenches to compress the space for the Twister Army's activities, and the late Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Anding directly ridiculed "the construction of the Great Wall of the Qing Dynasty, the continuation of the strategy of building the Great Wall of the Qing Dynasty, the construction of the Three Jins, Yan, Qi, and even the Qin Dynasty to limit the use of the Enemy's strategy of restricting Hu Riding".
So, can the Great Wall really make the emperors sit back and relax?
In Asia in 1170, the mighty Jurchen Jin Dynasty was undoubtedly the hegemon of East Asia. 44 years ago, the Jurchen warriors quickly eliminated the rich Northern Song Dynasty, a large number of Song Dynasty royal families were plundered north, only the Kang King Zhao Shuo who luckily fled south continued the Song Dynasty incense in Jiangnan, the Jin army once chased Zhao Cuo to the sea, but the Southern Song Dynasty regime was still under the protection of Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Wu Jiu and other famous generals, the two countries could not eliminate each other in the end, in 1142 signed the Shaoxing Treaty, the Jin Dynasty became the suzerainty of the Southern Song Dynasty.
At this time, the monarch of the Jin Dynasty was Sejong Complete Yan Yong, and later historians praised him as "Xiao Yao Shun".
Kim Sejong finishes Yan Yong
On the first day of March of that year, the birthday of "Xiao Yao Shun", at the birthday banquet, the Song Jin envoys engaged in archery competitions, and the result was that the carefully selected Jurchen warriors were defeated by the Southern Song envoys "Song Envoys in fifty, and the hosts were only seven." ”
Kim Sejong was furious, and since he ascended the throne, he had always stressed the need to maintain the martial style of the Jurchen clan and prevent the army's combat effectiveness from decreasing. However, Sejong's personal efforts could not stop the tide of history, and the gradual Sinicization of the nomadic peoples after entering the Central Plains was an inevitable result.
Although the Jin army with increasing combat effectiveness could suppress the development of the Southern Song Dynasty, it could not suppress the development of the emerging ethnic group in the steppe outside the Saiwai, the Mongols. In the face of this emerging ethnic group, Sejong ordered that "every three years old, troops should be sent north to kill", attacking as a defense, and reducing the number of Mongols.
However, the result of this was that the Mongol power became more and more exuberant.
Jin Zhangzong finished Yan Jing
In 1189, Emperor Sejong's grandson Emperor Zhangzong succeeded Tonmei chang to Yuan Mingchang, a monarch who was very fond of Han culture and whose calligraphy was mistaken for the authentic work of Emperor Huizong of Song. Faced with the threat of the Mongols, in 1194, Zhangzong once again took out the traditional art of the Central Plains Dynasty - the repair of the Great Wall.
Excerpted from Xie Dan's paper "Research on the Military Defense System of the Golden Great Wall and Its Spatial Planning and Layout"
A complete schematic diagram of the boundary trench project
The main trench of the Golden Great Wall is 4-5m deep and 5-6m wide. The main wall is 6-8m high and 8-10m wide. Most of them use loess rammed buildings, a few do soil and stone mixed construction or earth-clad stones, and the main wall also has a section of enemy platform every 130-15m.
Ruins of the Golden Trench
In important areas, the Jin army also built auxiliary walls and sub-trenches, and used long trenches to defend against enemy attacks through the front and rear grid patterns of the main line branch lines. This combination of double barriers and defense greatly increased the difficulty of the Mongol cavalry to attack.
Schematic diagram of the horse face, female wall and trench of the Golden Great Wall, excerpted from the same paper
The Great Wall (boundary trench) of the Jin Dynasty has two lines, north and south.
The South Great Wall is located in the southern foothills of the Daxing'an Mountains, east from the inner Mongolia Molidavanilgi town about 8 kilometers north of the west bank of the Nen River, west to the DaqingShan near today's Wuchuan County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, this Great Wall has undergone four periods of Dading, Mingchang, Cheng'an, Taihe to complete, and is built in three sections, although the sections are not connected, but not far apart, can still be regarded as a whole.
The North Great Wall stretches from the south bank of the Hulunbuir Menggen River in the northeast of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China in the east, to the east bank of the Ergun River in the west, to the north of Manzhouli in the south, in a section of Russia and Mongolia, between the Ulji River and the Krullen River, and to the southeast foothills of Kent Mountain, with a length of about 700 kilometers. Together with a number of branch lines, the Golden Great Wall became the second Great Wall.
Schematic map of the Great Wall of the Jin Dynasty
Satellite photo of the Golden Great Wall
The Great Wall of the Jin Dynasty was under the responsibility of the Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest Three Roads Recruitment Division, and in the face of the rising "Great Mongolia" on the northern steppe, the Jin army could only hide behind the Great Wall to prepare for "autumn prevention". Even the Southern Song dynasty regime, which was far to the south of Jianghuai, knew that their neighbors faced new threats.
In 1206, Temujin unified Mongolia, called "Genghis Khan", when the Jin army killed his great-grandfather and uncle, and at the beginning of the reign, Temujin began to plan a crusade against the Jin Dynasty. In 1207, Genghis Khan sent his eldest son Shu chi to conquer the people in the forest, and it was the Nian Mongol army that attacked Western Xia, but was repelled by the Xia army. In 1209, the Mongols were annexed by the Wu'er people, and in the same year Genghis Khan personally invaded the Western Xia, and the army surrounded the western Xia capital Zhongxing Province, diverting the Yellow River to flood the city, but the Mongolian army collapsed, the Western Xia survived, the Xia lord Li An'an paid tribute to the Mongols, and the Western Xia was reduced from an independent state to a Mongol vassal.
In 1210, Genghis Khan broke off diplomatic relations with the Jin Dynasty, and in order to strengthen the border defenses, the Jin army built a 300 km long Great Wall in addition to Cyprus.
In February 1211, Genghis Khan took an oath at the Tilulian River (present-day Krullen River), prayed to heaven, asked for divine help, and vowed to avenge the ancestors killed by the Jin people. He ordered 2,000 horsemen to stay in the north of the town and lead an army of 60,000 to the south to cut gold.
Genghis Khan, along with his 4 sons, as well as the vanguard Tetsubetsu and the left-wing Wanhu official Mu Huali and other generals, raised an army from the Dahuo Erduo on the banks of the Timid Green Lian River and crossed the desert to reach the border of the Jin Dynasty.
Under the guidance of the enthusiastic leader of the Wanggu tribe, the Mongolian army bypassed the boundary trenches, conquered Dashuiluo, Fengli and other places in one fell swoop, and also occupied the Jin army's border fort Wusha Fort, and the Great Wall painstakingly built by Jin Zhangzong became a decoration.
Boundary trench, satellite image of the trench fort
Another site of a golden trench
After the initial victory, the Mongolian army temporarily withdrew.
At this time, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty was The King of Weishao, The Uncle of Zhangzong, Zhangzong's 8 sons died prematurely, and in 1208, when he was seriously ill, he had two concubines who were pregnant with the dragon breed again, and Zhangzong passed the throne to his uncle Yongji, his idea was that if the two concubines were pregnant with girls, then the throne would belong to Yongji; if there were boys, then the uncle would have to return the throne.
King Wei Shao finished Yan Yongji and died in a coup d'état in 1213
As a result, as soon as his uncle took the throne, he immediately took action against his two concubines, and the two concubines died and left the house.
In the face of the menacing Mongol cavalry, the Jin lord sent Pingzhang's political affairs Duji Sizhong and The Governor Yan Chengyu to lead troops to reinforce the fronts of Fuzhou, Changzhou, and Huanzhou in the northwest of Zhongdu, and then sent Hu Shahu to guard The western capital datong.
In August, the Jin army was assembled at the border, with 150,000 cavalry and 300,000 infantry, a total of 450,000 troops, and Duji Sizhong recruited 750,000 civilians along the border to strengthen the Great Wall.
In the face of the 450,000 troops of the Jin Dynasty, Genghis Khan was not afraid, he led 100,000 cavalry to the south this time in two ways, Shuchi, Chagatai, and Wokoutai led the west road (30,000) to attack the northwest defense line of the Jin Dynasty, and Genghis Khan personally led the main force to the south.
Schematic diagram of the deployment of the two sides of The Montkin, excerpted from the video of the main pheromone of the B station.
Crossing the Golden Wall, with Tetsubetsu as the vanguard, he raided and seized the Uyue camp of the Jin army's Shu fort, and then captured the Usha Fort again, and the defensive line of the Great Wall reinforced by the Jin Dynasty was once again torn open by Temujin.
After the fall of Wusha Fort, the Jin lord dismissed Duji Sizhong, and the new commander-in-chief, Yan Chengyu, feared Meng Ruhu, and he led his army to retreat south, handing over the three prefectures of Fu, Chang, and Huan to people, and gathering the main force at Yeguling, and the Mongolian army captured millions of military horses at the Jin Dynasty ranch in Huanzhou, and the morale of the army was greatly encouraged.
The northern part of the North China Plain is used as a barrier by the Taihang and Yanshan Mountains, but there are also some holes in the mountains, of which Juyongguan, Gubeikou, Xifengkou, shanhaiguan and so on are the most important ones. The most convenient and fast way for the nomadic forces to go south from the Mongolian plateau is to pass through Zhangjiakou and take Juyongguan. The Battle of Wild Fox Ridge, which determined the fate of Mongolia and the Jin Dynasty, was in the territory of Zhangbei County, northwest of Zhangjiakou, about 200 kilometers from Beijing, connecting the north of the desert to the north, the western region to the west, and the Central Plains to the south, which was a place where soldiers and families had to fight. The map is derived from the map emperor
Wild Fox Ridge is an antenna that straddles the natural dividing line between agriculture and animal husbandry in the north and south, and after Wild Fox Ridge is a horse Flat River that is conducive to cavalry galloping. Concluding that the Mongol cavalry could not play an advantage in the mountains, Yan Chengyu divided his 450,000 troops into garrisons.
After arriving at Wild Fox Ridge, the Mongolian army preemptively captured the badger mouth of the Lingbei Mountain Pass, and the two armies fought fiercely for nearly a day.
At dusk, the Jin army prepared to defend the village and rest. However, the Mongolian general Mu Huali requested Genghis Khan to launch an attack, and Genghis Khan focused on the breakthrough of the troops, Mu Huali led the elite troops to charge in the front and fought, and there was also a Mongolian army that coordinated the frontal raid.
In the face of the Mongolian army's elite attack back and forth, Yan Chengyu's army was directly dispersed, the Jin army fled to Huihe Fort, the Mongolian army chased all the way over the Wild Fox Ridge, the corpses of the Jin army spread all over the field "the dead covered the wild Saichuan", and finally the main force of the Jin army was annihilated at Huihe Fort, the 450,000 troops no longer existed, the commander Yan Chengyu was only spared, and the elite of the Jin army in the field was almost gone.
Excerpt from the video of the main pheromone of station B.
In September, the vanguard of the Mongolian army, Zhebei Lianke Zhuolu and Juyongguan, and his troops and horses reached the capital of Jinzhong, and because the capital was heavily defended, Zhebei could only lead his army to plunder nearby prefectures and counties.
Soon after, the main force led by Genghis Khan arrived at the capital city, and the Mongolian army tried to break the city again, but it was helplessly defeated by the complete city defense, so Genghis Khan withdrew the siege and led his army to plunder the North China Plain, and the North China Plain was exposed to the wild, there was no chicken chirping, and the people did not have a good life.
Schematic of the mongolian army's first offensive
In October, the Xilu Army of Shuchi, Chagatai, and Wokoutai crossed the Great Wall northwest of the Jin Dynasty, and the Western Road Mongolian army first occupied Yunnei Prefecture, where there was also a Jin Dynasty state pasture, the Mongolian army once again captured a large number of high-quality military horses, the Xijing Datong general Hu Shahu abandoned the city and fled, the Mongolian army plundered the northern part of Shanxi all the way north, and the two Mongolian armies withdrew their troops north to return to the Mongolian steppe after obtaining a large number of people, military horses, and livestock, behind them were countless people who had lost their loved ones and displaced, and countless cities and pools that had been turned into scorched earth.
The Mongol armies of Shuchi and Zhebei entered the Jin Dynasty and carried out a plundering route
After the Battle of 1211, the Mongol-Jin War was a battle of national fortunes between the two sides, and after this battle, the Jin Dynasty became a Cash Machine for the Mongols, and almost every year the Mongol cavalry had to go south to plunder. And the Great Wall of the Jin Dynasty, every time is a decoration.
In 1213, the Jin lord Yongji died in a coup d'état, and Emperor Xuanzong succeeded to the throne after Yan Xun. Soon after, this grandfather moved south to Beijing, causing the people in the north to be scattered, and the Mongolian army took the opportunity to capture Zhongdu. Later, he also engaged in the lack of the north and the south to make up for the Southern Song Dynasty, completely cut off the possibility of the Jin-Song alliance (the Southern Song Dynasty Minister Shi Miyuan was inclined to unite with the Jin Dynasty to defend Mongolia), and dug a big pit for the Jin Emperor to complete Yan Shouxu. Emperor Aizong exerted great efforts to use his power to restore the strength of the Jin army, relying on the Tongguan-Yellow River defense line to resist the Mongols for 10 years, and finally the Jin Dynasty died at the hands of the Song and Mongol forces in 1234. Emperor Lizong of Song used the bones and other relics of Emperor Aizong in Lin'an to pay tribute to Emperor Hui Qin, announcing to the world that the Song Dynasty had washed away the shame of Jing Kang.
The Jin Dynasty became the great wall of decoration, and the Great Wall of the Sui Dynasty did not block the Turkic cavalry, and the Ming Great Wall, which was built with improved materials, did not stop the Emperor Taiji from entering the Central Plains.
So, can we conclude that the Great Wall is useless?
The above example of the Great Wall being breached does not mean useless, the Great Wall has brought huge defensive dividends to the Central Plains Dynasty, without the Great Wall, the Central Plains Dynasty will only be more passive.
The weather is not as good as the location, and the location is not as good as the people. Whether the Great Wall can play a role is closely related to the national strength and military strength of the regime, when a dynasty is strong, the Great Wall is the barrier that guards the country; when a dynasty decays, any defense line can only become an embroidered pillow, such as the million-strong army of the Northern Song Dynasty, which is vulnerable in front of tens of thousands of golden troops.
The nature of ancient Chinese society determines that an imperial dynasty cannot be strong forever, and the process of the weakening of the dynasty's national strength is also the process of the decline of the army's combat strength, and when the army's combat strength is vulnerable, the Great Wall can only become a decoration.
And the dynasty that pins its hopes on a line of defense is bound to perish.