The Central Plains Dynasty built the Great Wall originally not to defend against foreign enemies? ｜Secrets of the Great Wall that textbooks won't tell you｜The other side of the Great Wall｜Let's talk about Marley

Due to the epidemic in Shanghai, many people on Weibo posted the national anthem to express their protests some time ago, and even Weibo once used the dictation of the national anthem as the object of harmony. Such a magical operation made the world stunned. The songs of anti-slavery and the Great Wall of flesh and blood in the songs we were taught since childhood have also been propaganda for the passion and resilience of the Chinese nation. In particular, the Great Wall, as a spiritual symbol, is China's iconic historical and cultural business card. In addition to being majestic, ingenious, world heritage, and the crystallization of the wisdom and sweat of the ancients, the Great Wall gives the Chinese people a strong sense of national pride. And the sense of identity is beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Is that really the case? Is the Great Wall really as great as we imagined it to be? Do you know what the real role of the Great Wall is? Today we are going to talk about this topic.

Hello everyone, I'm Marley, this is a small channel that advocates thinking and tearing fifty cents by hand. In each issue, we will combine a political and economic case to discuss the reasons behind it and different thinking dimensions.

Speaking of the Great Wall in a general sense, it generally refers to the construction of the Great Wall from the Qin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. It was a major project in ancient Chinese history that spanned more than 20 centuries. The landmark fortification of civilization to resist the invasion of foreign enemies is also an ancient project with the longest construction time and the largest amount of engineering in the world. Today, we might as well analyze the Great Wall in depth from another aspect, which may bring you more inspiration and reflection on China.

Before talking about this topic, let's lay down a basic geographic knowledge.

In 1935, the famous geographer Hu Huanyong proposed a 45-degree inclined line from Heihe, Heilongjiang to Tengchong, Yunnan, based on the 1933 China population distribution map and population density map. This line divides China into two and is called the "Hu Huanyong Line" or "Heihe-Tengchong Line". The southeastern part accounts for 44% of the country's area, but the population is over 90%. The terrain is characterized by plains, water networks, Hills, karsts and Danxia landforms are the main landforms, and farming has been the economic basis since ancient times; while the population density in the northwest is extremely low, and the terrain is mainly grassland, desert and snow-covered plateau, which has been the world of nomads since ancient times. It has formed the economic distribution of China since ancient times. To a certain extent, this line has been the dividing line of the level of urbanization. Most of the areas in the southeast of the line have a relatively high level of urbanization and developed economies; while the provinces in the northwest of this line are Districts are mostly below the national average.

In addition to this line, in 1981, Chinese-American historian Huang Renyu also proposed a concept called the 400 mm isoprecipitation line or the 15-inch isorain line , which refers to a precipitation line from northeast China to southwest China, roughly in the direction of It extends from the Daxinganling, Yinshan, Helan Mountains, Bayankala Mountains to Gangdise Mountains. This line also divides China into two major regions. The southeastern part of the line has a monsoon climate with an average annual rainfall of more than 400 mm and is dominated by agriculture; the northwestern part of the line has a temperate continental climate with an annual average rainfall of 400 mm. Below millimeters, animal husbandry is the main line. This line is also considered to be the dividing line between farming civilization and nomadic civilization.

Geographically, these two lines are basically the same. In terms of climate, they are the dividing line between semi-arid and semi-humid areas in China. Historically, they are the dividing line between farming civilization and nomadic civilization. It is said to be the dividing line between densely populated and sparsely populated.

Why waste so many words talking about these two lines is because the basic context of the ancient Great Wall is highly overlapping with these two lines. ** That is to say, due to the factors of geographical and natural conditions, the borders of most dynasties before the Qing Dynasty were defined and divided by the Great Wall. The world outside the Great Wall (outside the customs) is the grassland tribes or empires represented by nomads, and the world inside the Great Wall (within the customs) is the Central Plains Empire represented by the farming civilization. Relatively speaking, the economic model of the Central Plains empire of farming civilization is more abundant and stable, while the economic model of the grassland empire of nomadic civilization is relatively simple and uncertain. If there is trade between the two sides, a natural trade gap will be formed, so these two different societies. There are inevitable conflicts and contradictions in terms of politics, economy, culture, etc. The deficit party will definitely find a way to launch plunder and war through extraordinary means. In order to prevent this kind of invasion, all dynasties spared no effort, even if they lost their lives and money. The continuous improvement and construction of the Great Wall in a relay-like manner does have its rationality. This is also the value and so-called greatness of the Great Wall in the general sense. Of course we are not trying to justify that today, according to the urination of this channel, another side of things we are looking at.

First of all, from the perspective of the political structure of the Central Plains Empire and the Prairie Empire, they are worlds apart. Since Qin unified the Central Plains, all dynasties and dynasties have been centralized and unified management mode represented by the county system. Feudal society is similar to the mode of self-control of aristocratic territories in medieval Europe), and China has been a purely centralized mode since Qin and Han dynasties (this historian has clarified this many times, I will repeat it a little). Therefore, the maintenance of such a huge unified Chinese empire is very expensive, and the main financial source of the expenditure is taxation, and the main cornerstone of taxation is the continuous growth and stability of the population. As a society based on farming civilization, people and land are bound together, and there is not much mobility of personnel. This small-scale peasant economy with men farming and women weaving can also provide the government with stable tax revenue under normal circumstances. and ensure social stability. Of course, the premise of this is to meet a prosperous world or a holy monarch, so the interests of the common people depend to a large extent on the management ability of those in power, so the reason why the Chinese people have a kind of holy monarch or pure official complex since ancient times is this (I am in I have done a program that analyzes the plot of the Chinese sage, if you are interested, you can read it). But in many cases, due to the various system ills of the unified model, the people at the bottom often have a very hard life. After handing in the imperial food every year, there is not much left. A poor life made things worse.

Sometimes, in order to survive, many ordinary people have no choice but to leave their homes to flee, including fleeing outside the Great Wall. But for a centralized government, if people run away, it means that there will be no tax. This is very unacceptable. Therefore, from the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the role of the Great Wall has been reflected, preventing invasion from outside and preventing people from illegally internally. When leaving the country, it is clearly pointed out in "The Book of the Han Dynasty: The Biography of the Huns" that the role of the Great Wall defense system at that time was "not only for the Huns", which is actually the same as the Berlin Wall and the checkpoints of various countries now. a truth. According to the official documents of the Han Dynasty unearthed in Dunhuang by archaeologists, they found that the frontier soldiers of that year were recorded in these documents. people" fled to the Huns. The so-called "dead people" are refugees who escaped. There are also detailed records in the "Historical Records", saying that at that time, many people from the Central Plains said that the Huns were a happy paradise. Much labor. Presumably many people will say that the Xiongnu, where the weather is cold and the birds don't poop, how can anyone get there? We don't know whether the Xiongnu at that time was a happy paradise, but for those who couldn't get along in the Central Plains, it might not be a way out. Moreover, these common people are often border residents living south of the Great Wall. They are no strangers to the northern grasslands, and they often deal with these nomadic people. Some of them even have relatives in the north. Once the situation in the Central Plains is unstable, they will Immigration will be considered.

In addition to ordinary people, there is another group of smugglers that is guarding the border. Many border defense officers and soldiers were even exploited by their superiors because of their low pay, heavy tasks, and the prairie empire often offered generous offers to lure them, so it was not uncommon for soldiers to defect. There are many such examples in the history books. It is not that people at that time were disloyal to the state, but that there was no concept of nation and nation-state. The common people and soldiers living in the border areas also played a positive role in the blending of the two cultures. They spread the advanced material culture and production methods of the Central Plains to the Xiongnu and became one of the important sources of population in the Xiongnu area. Many cultural creations of Han "dead people" can be seen in the remains of the Xiongnu culture in Mobei. This is very similar to the current special skill immigration, which is not very harmful, but it is extremely insulting to the Celestial Empire. Therefore, under the dual pressure of public opinion and economics, the Central Plains Empire "chased and searched" the "dead people" who were "over the border".

In addition to the above needs to prevent people from fleeing, we began to talk about the difference in economic models, which made the grassland empire have a large demand for tea, grain, textiles and other necessities of life, although the Central Plains Empire also needed livestock, leather products and other materials on the grassland. Due to the trade deficit caused by the difference in the industrial chain between the grassland empire and the Central Plains Empire, the Central Plains Empire is particularly important for the strategic view of trade. Although there are frequent trade exchanges and even prosperous markets around the Great Wall, it is important for some strategic Materials are strictly prohibited from being exported. For the exported goods, the customs clearance documents must be strictly checked. Those who do not have the documents are strictly prohibited from leaving the customs; if they smuggle, they will be severely punished. The cost of smuggling. When the border war is tense, the city gate is directly closed, no one is allowed to enter or exit, and an economic blockade is implemented. It seems that the closure of the city and the country is an ancient inheritance of the Central Plains culture.

To sum up, since the Qin and Han dynasties, although the Great Wall has been used as an external defense system and more of a deterrent, it also reflects the rulers’ worries about internal worries. However, it has played a major role. If it is not prevented, it will likely cause a chain reaction and affect the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty. It is precisely such a policy of seclusion and isolation that stimulates the constant invasion of foreigners. However, due to the limited function of the fortification itself, if the enemy really attacks, it can only have the effect of delaying the war. The key to defending is to see. People's hearts, the Central Plains Dynasty has more than once been invaded by foreigners, and even established a new empire.

We can understand the historical reasons for the existence of the Great Wall due to the natural contradiction between nomadic civilization and farming civilization. We can't help thinking that in the 21st century, when the whole world hopes that information, logistics, and human resources can be exchanged smoothly, there is still a wall of ideas and information in front of us, using the achievements of scientific and technological civilization outside the wall, In the name of protecting the people, it stands in front of 1.4 billion people, preventing people from yearning for exploring the outside world. When we sigh about the wisdom, sweat and majesty of the ancestors' construction of the wall over the past 2,000 years, should we reconsider what the spiritual heritage of the Great Wall brings us?