The great man will live forever

Chapter 102 The people of the Great Wall have not yet returned

About seven days later, Liu Han came to Jixian County. The farther north he went, the colder he became.

"It's snowing."

Snow starts to fall from time to time in the sky. It is early spring now, and it is already the first day of February in 119 BC.

When the cold wind blows through the city, the entire Ji County is covered in silver, like a cluster of flowers.

On days when heavy snow falls, everything is covered with snow, and houses, streets, and trees are all covered with a layer of white gauze.

In this season, snowflakes are like petals falling from the sky. Sometimes they fall light and soft, sometimes they are tumbling fiercely.

The snowflakes intertwined with the frozen air, creating a magnificent and quiet scene.

The lakes, ponds and rivers in Jixian County have all turned into solid ice, and the ice is covered with crystal clear snowflakes.

In the early morning after snow, the entire Ji County is like an ink painting, quiet and peaceful.

"It doesn't look like the future at all. This snow, this snow is pretty good."

Liu Han looked at the flying snow in the sky and Jixian County, which was only one-twentieth the size of the latter, and felt a little emotional.

"Would you like to have a snowball fight?"

Shu Yuzhu was a little moved, but she still refused, "It's easy to catch a cold, and if you don't catch it, you'll catch a cold. In this era, there are no antibiotics, and if you catch a cold badly, you'll die."

"Yes, but it's a pity that it's not late autumn, otherwise we would go to Xiangshan to see the red leaves."

"Xiangshan should not have existed at this time. It was a royal garden. The earliest records about it can only be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. According to the "Wanshu Miscellaneous Notes" written in the Ming Dynasty: 'Miaigaotang (a building in Xiangshan Temple), in Wanping County Forty miles to the west, to the right of Xiangshan Temple, it has existed since the Tang Dynasty.'"

"Then you can only go outside the city to see other mountains, and there is no such thing as the Forbidden City."

Helpless, Liu Han stayed in Jixian for a few days, looked at the snow, and then went to see Baishi Mountain.

Baishi Mountain has magnificent scenery and is famous for its peak forest landform.The marble peak forest at its core is the only marble peak forest landform in China, and it is also a new type of peak forest landform in China.

It consists of more than 100 relatively independent peaks with scattered heights.At the northernmost end of the 81-mile Taihang Mountains, the mountain is tall and has "three tops, six platforms, nine valleys and [-] peaks".

Maybe it's snowing, which makes it even more beautiful.

The vast white snow covers the mountains, like a white velvet blanket, adding a sense of purity and silence to the entire mountains.

The branches are covered with crystal clear snowflakes, which shine faintly like countless pearls scattered in the mountains.

"Crack!"

"chirp"

Occasionally, birds fly through it, leaving a series of clear footprints under their feet, adding a touch of vitality to the ice and snow world.

The cold wind blows, blowing the snowflakes flying all over the sky, shining with colorful colors in the sun, just like a fairyland in a dream.

Standing on the top of the mountain and looking down, the distant peaks are pale and covered with snow. The blue sky and white snow complement each other, making people sigh at the magic and magnificence of nature.

The snow scene in this mountain is a beautiful and peaceful picture, which makes people feel relaxed and happy, as if they are in a fairy tale world.

After seeing the mountains, Liu Han went to see a building that will forever be recorded in history, the Great Wall, which is only more than 100 miles away from Jixian County.

It was not built in the Qin Dynasty. Its construction history can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, which took place in the capital Haojing (Chang'an).

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when various countries competed for hegemony and defended each other, the construction of the Great Wall entered its first climax, but at this time the length of the construction was relatively short.

The Great Wall is an important military fortification in ancient China. It looks like a tall, strong and continuous wall, used to limit the movement of enemy cavalry.

It is not a simple and isolated city wall, but a defense system with the city wall as the main body and combined with a large number of cities, barriers, pavilions and signs.

In the 33rd year of Qin Shihuang, which was 214 BC, he sent General Meng Tian to drive the Huns north and built a Great Wall of more than [-] miles to prevent the Huns from advancing southward.

The Great Wall of Qin was actually built on the basis of the Great Wall of Qin, Great Wall of Zhao, and Great Wall of Yan during the Warring States Period.

It started from Lintao (now Minxian County, Gansu Province) in the west to Liaodong (the eastern and southern parts of today's Liaoning Province and the southeastern region of Jilin Province) in the east, and built a total of more than [-] miles, so it was called the "Great Wall" in history.

Back then, Qin Shihuang used millions of people to build the Great Wall, creating a miracle in the history of human architecture.The construction of the Great Wall objectively played a positive role in preventing the Xiongnu from invading southward and protecting the economic and cultural development of the Central Plains.

Construction of the Great Wall continued during the Han Dynasty.From Emperor Wen to Emperor Xuan, a Great Wall was built starting from Dayuan Ershi City in the west to the north bank of Heilongjiang in the east, with a total length of nearly [-] kilometers. Half of the ancient Silk Road ran along this Great Wall, making it the longest Great Wall in history. .

Later dynasties basically repaired and reinforced the Great Wall.

The main project of the Great Wall is a tall city wall that stretches for thousands of miles. Most of them are built at the highest points of the mountains. Along the ridges, the endless winding mountains are outlined with clear outlines, creating a galloping and majestic dragon, thus becoming the symbol of the Chinese nation. symbol of.On the thousands-mile city wall, there are hundreds of great passes and passes, thousands of enemy towers and beacon towers, which break the monotony of the city wall and make the undulating terrain even more majestic and steep, full of great artistic charm.

Liu Han came to the Badaling Great Wall, which was far less majestic than those of later generations.

The Badaling Great Wall seen by later generations was built in the 18th year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, that is, 1505 AD. It took more than 1300 years to build the Badaling Great Wall, totaling more than [-] miles.

He also transferred the famous anti-Japanese general Qi Jiguang to the north to command the defense of the Great Wall, which was part of the Great Wall, a great defense project in ancient China.

Of course, there was one in Liu Han's era now, but it was not as magnificent and broad as the Ming Dynasty. It was built during the Qin, Han, Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

According to the records of "Historical Records" and the census of cultural relics workers, it is proved that the Great Wall was built in the Badaling area during the Warring States Period, and the remains of the walls and piers are still seen today. There are two gates in the city.

Society is progressing and science and technology are developing. The Great Wall built during the Warring States and Qin and Han Dynasties is definitely not as wide and high as it was during the Ming Dynasty. After all, they were separated by more than 1500 years, but it was enough to shock Liu Han.

He stroked the stones of the Great Wall. There were still Han troops standing on it, but they were far apart. There were only one or two for many kilometers, and most of them were next to the beacon tower.

Since the victory in the Battle of Mobei, the Han Dynasty has become completely overwhelming against the Xiongnu, and there is no need to defend as tightly as before.

"How much manpower and material resources did this cost? How many people's bones were buried underneath? Even in later generations, this will be an unimaginably large project."

At this moment, Liu Han suddenly felt distressed. He felt that what he was touching was not a stone, but bones, blood, screams, and the souls of innocent people who died tragically.

Shu Yuzhu was also a little sentimental for a moment, "If we count from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were millions of people. The construction of the Great Wall was the result of the joint construction of all dynasties in China.

Therefore, there is no historical record of how many workers will be exhausted.

However, according to records, Qin Shihuang used nearly one million laborers to build the Great Wall, accounting for one-twentieth of the country's population.The Northern Qi Dynasty conscripted 180 million civilians to build the Great Wall.

There are also records in the history of the Sui Dynasty that tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of civilians were recruited to build the Great Wall on many occasions.

For a large project like this, the mortality rate may be as high as one-third.

Therefore, the number of people who starved to death, died of exhaustion, or even were beaten to death in order to build the Great Wall is at least several million, and possibly even more. There is no way to make specific statistics..."

"So, is it worth it?"

Shu Yuzhu did not answer this question, which was very controversial.

From a historical and economic perspective, whether the construction of the Great Wall by the Central Plains Dynasty was a cost-effective economic decision is a question worth exploring and difficult to answer. No matter how you say it, it is correct.

A cultural and psychological view holds that the Great Wall represents closedness, conservatism, and lack of progress. The farming people have not responded to the problems of the nomads in a positive way. Therefore, it is not cost-effective to build the Great Wall. Moreover, building the Great Wall consumes too much manpower and material resources. financial resources.

It is absolutely possible to fight them out, just like Liu Han and Huo Qubing, who have been keeping the wolf in Xu, fight to the vast sea, and completely defeat the Xiongnu. If the invaders can go, I can go too!

Moreover, can the Great Wall really protect against nomads?How the Yuan Dynasty was established, so was the Qing Dynasty, and the Great Wall seemed of no use to them.

You must know that there was no Great Wall in the Song Dynasty, but it still persisted for so many years. If it had been reformed, emphasized culture over military affairs, and replaced it with a few powerful emperors, it might have been the one to unify the world.

Another opposing view is that in history, whenever there was a famine in the grasslands, the nomads went south to plunder due to the pressure of survival, and the nomads were not good at attacking cities.

In addition, the Great Wall is conducive to the mobilization and assembly of the defenders, which increases the cost of the nomads going south to plunder, thereby reducing the benefits of plunder. Therefore, the Great Wall effectively inhibits the nomads' motivation to plunder. Building the Great Wall is Cost-effective.

If Qin Shihuang did not build the Great Wall, the Han nation would not be able to recuperate, accumulate strength, and then fight back against the Huns, and would only lose their vitality in the Huns' repeated plunders.

It's a pity that history has no ifs or assumptions. Even Liu Han and Shu Yuzhu, who are time travellers, cannot be counted on this account.

After a moment of silence, Shu Yuzhu said: "There is a saying that where trade stops, that is where war begins. Because without trade, we can only rely on robbery. War can be replaced by trade.

The Great Wall does not need to be repaired. If trade with the nomads is strengthened from now on, then the nomads will develop well economically, have savings, and have more ways to save themselves when encountering disasters and famines, which will reduce wars.

Of course, the premise is to conquer them, like the Ming Dynasty's mutual market.

The northern grasslands encountered natural disasters in winter, and they often ran out of food. The Mongolians migrated and drove their cattle and sheep again and again, just to fill their stomachs. It was precisely because of their wild nature that the Yuan Dynasty came into being.

However, every time there was a natural or man-made disaster, the Oara people at that time would invade the Central Plains just to rob food and clothing.

The opening of the mutual trade protected a large part of the Mongolian people from wind and snow disasters in winter, and also provided a large part of the Central Plains people with rare medicinal materials. The court also had usable horses and military medicinal materials.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the big man has enough force to scare them, otherwise they will still have to be robbed. "

Liu Han's eyes lit up, "With a knife in one hand and candy in the other, are you trying to promote national integration in advance?"

Immediately, he dimmed again, "But this is the era of cold weapons. The nomadic people have too great an advantage over the farming people. It's difficult. It's very difficult. In the end, it's still productivity. If they don't have enough to eat, they can only come and rob us."

After he finished speaking, both of them were silent. The development of productivity takes hundreds or even thousands of years, and the two of them can improve it casually.

(End of this chapter)