Why did Qin Shi Huang build the Great Wall?

After Qin Shi Huang unified the Central Plains, in order to consolidate his rule and strengthen the defense of the north, he built the Great Wall of Qin that traversed the entire northern frontier of the Qin Dynasty on the basis of the original northern Great Wall of Yan, Zhao and Qin.

Qin Shi Huang, as the first unified emperor of multiple clans, wanted to show his extraordinary temperament, and the symbol of the king.

The previous vassal states had more or less built the Great Wall to resist invasions from the north, and Qin Shi Huang had a good foundation to learn from the Great Wall of a dynasty.

When people talk about the construction of the Great Wall, they are often associated with Qin Shi Huang, thinking that it was Qin Shi Huang who built the Great Wall, and I think there are two factors here, one is that the Great Wall began with Qin Shi Huang. The second factor is widely spread among our people, that is, the story of "Meng Jiangnu crying the Great Wall", these stories are well-known, then the construction of the Great Wall in China has a history of about 2,600 years, from the historical documents, the earliest Great Wall should be built in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period of Chu, then the Great Wall of Qi was built earlier, then the Great Wall of Qi was built from the Bohai Sea to Pingyin, we can look at this picture, then the Great Wall of Qi is later than the Great Wall of Chu, But this Great Wall is also very famous in the history of the Great Wall of the vassal states, it extends from the East China Sea to Mount Tai, to Pingyin, this Great Wall is longer than the Great Wall of Chu, about more than 1,000 miles, then in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Great Wall is very common among the vassal states, like Qin, Chu, Qi, Wei, Zhao, Yan, South Korea, these seven countries have built the Great Wall, but in their construction of the Great Wall, there is a very important phenomenon, that is, in the three countries of Qin, Zhao and Yan, In addition to repairing the defensive Great Wall between the vassal states, they also built the northern Great Wall on the northern border of the country to prevent the Xiongnu from plundering in the south, so the Great Wall in the north of the three countries of Yan, Zhao, and Qin laid the foundation for the construction of the Great Wall.

At the same time, when Qin Shi Huang was busy with the Six Kingdoms War, the Xiongnu in the north quickly became strong and continued to move south, especially in the process of Qin Shi Huang's annexation of Zhao and Yan, there was no time to take care of the Xiongnu in the north, so the Xiongnu in the north continued to go south. After Qin Shi Huang unified China, he sent the general Meng Tian to lead 300,000 people to war with the Xiongnu, so soon drove the Xiongnu further north, and then began to strengthen the Great Wall in the north of Yan, Zhao and Qin, which was the first Great Wall built in China, so it is generally said that the Great Wall is related to Qin Shi Huang, which is indeed true, that is, the Great Wall began with Qin Shi Huang.

Defend against the Xiongnu and protect the territory, from a historical point of view, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States began to build the Great Wall, for example, the King of Zhao Wuling, who implemented the 'Hufu Cavalry Shooting', built the 'Zhao Great Wall'.

The main purpose was to defend against the invasion and plunder of the Xiongnu, a nomadic people in the north.

It played a positive role in resisting the attack of the Xiongnu and became the elephant of the Chinese nation. Attack;

After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, why did he send Meng Tian to lead 300,000 people to build the Great Wall?

The Great Wall was built to resist the invasion of ethnic minorities such as the Xiongnu, Linhu, Donghu, and Loufu in the north.

During the Warring States Period, in order to resist the invasion of ethnic minorities such as the Xiongnu, Linhu, Donghu, and Loufu in the north, the vassal states of Qin, Yan, and Zhao had already begun to build Changzhong Hengcheng. However, while the Warring States states built the Great Wall against the northern nomads, they also built the Great Wall on the border between them.

After Qin Shi Huang unified the whole country, on the one hand, the Great Wall in the north of the countries was repaired and connected into one; On the other hand, the Great Wall between the Central Plains states was destroyed, so that the local separatist forces could no longer rely on it, so that true domestic unification could be achieved.

In the 30th year of Qin Shi Huang (217 BC), Pai Mengtian led an army of 300,000 to drive the Xiongnu north, and then because of the terrain, it took 9 years and countless manpower to build the Great Wall, starting from Lintao in the west and going to Liaodong in the east.

Because of the terrain, use danger to control the blockage", which very concisely summarizes the basic principles of designing the Great Wall route, because in this way, the best defense effect can be achieved with the least amount of manpower, capital and materials. This principle has been well implemented in the construction of later dynasties.