As a very important military defense project in ancient times, the Great Wall has been connected by the Qin Dynasty since it was built in the Warring States period, which has a great influence on later generations. Later, all dynasties basically built the Great Wall to resist the foreigners in the north, but why didn't the Qing Dynasty build the Great Wall? What is the reason why the Great Wall was not repaired in the Qing Dynasty? Do you think it is unnecessary or don't want to repair it?
The Great Wall appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At first, it was not only the northern border, but also many buildings in the Central Plains during the Warring States Period, such as Qi Great Wall in Shandong, Zhao Great Wall in southern Handan and Chu Great Wall in Nanyang, Henan. However, with the reunification of the Central Plains, these military defense facilities lost their value and disappeared in the long river of history. However, since 2000, the nomadic people in the north have brought great pressure to the farming civilization in the Central Plains, making the Great Wall in the north not only exist for a long time, but also constantly improve and develop, reaching its peak in the Ming Dynasty.
In the Qing Dynasty, the construction of the Great Wall was stopped. This super project, which was costly but vital to the security of the Central Plains Dynasty, finally became history. Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty even said such an "exciting" famous saying: "Since the Great Wall was built in the Qin Dynasty, the Han, Tang and Song San dynasties have often repaired it. Was there no danger then? At the end of the Ming Dynasty, my princelings marched straight into China, and the road collapsed, which was beyond our control. Obviously, the way to save this country is to let Xiu De people settle down. People will feel comfortable, the country will have its own interests, and the border will consolidate itself. The so-called "unity of purpose and strength" is also a fact. The direct meaning of this sentence is that it is useless to build the Great Wall or anything else. Man is the foundation and man is the world. Since then, many people in the world have praised Kangxi and touted him as a "monarch." However, what is the truth of history? Today, the author will use historical facts to talk about this issue. The real reason why the Great Wall was not built in Qing Dynasty was not self-confidence, but guilt.
First, you must have a question. Why did the Qin, Han and Ming dynasties build the Great Wall on a large scale, but the Manchu did not? This is related to the fundamental nature of these dynasties. Qin and Han Dynasties were a unified empire established by the Han people. The core of its rule is even the agricultural area of the Central Plains. These dynasties represented the interests of farming civilization in the Central Plains. At that time, nomadic people in the Mongolian plateau plundered south continuously, which caused great loss of life and property and national defense pressure to the Central Plains. Even when the Central Plains dynasty was strong, the high mobility of nomadic people made it impossible for the Central Plains army to be strong, and even if it cost a lot, it could not completely solve the northern border problem. However, if the Great Wall is built along the mountain and it is dangerous, nomadic people can be isolated. It can be said that "defending" the Great Wall is much more cost-effective than "attacking" hundreds of thousands of troops. This is the practical wisdom of the Han people in the Central Plains.
However, Manchu is different. They were founded by Manchu, an ethnic minority in the northeast of China. They established an empire through the massacre and conquest of the Central Plains. The nature of this dynasty is completely different from that of previous dynasties. It represents the ruling interests of Manchu nobles, while Han people are only ruled. Due to the particularity of Manchu ruling class, the Qing Empire has a unique nature: it is a dual empire, that is, it has the dual characteristics of farming civilization in the Central Plains and nomadic fishing and hunting civilization in the Manchu, Mongolian and Tibetan grasslands.
Because the number of enslaved Han people in the Central Plains is hundreds of millions, and the culture is highly developed, while the number of Manchu as the ruling group is small and the civilization is extremely backward, which makes Manchu people have great uncertainty about the stability of their ruling position. In order to maintain their own rule, nomadic people in Mongolia and Tibet were attracted by the necessary means of the Qing rulers. The Mongols across the Great Wall were originally used to resist the nomadic people in the north, but now they have become important allies of the Manchu people. Naturally, the Qing Dynasty did not need to build the Great Wall. The Great Wall is used to "prevent Hu", and the rulers of the Qing Dynasty are themselves "Hu". How can it be reasonable to hit yourself in the foot with a stone!
In Kangxi's words, we can see the contempt for the construction of the Great Wall in the Han Dynasty. The author feels a little "it's easy to stand and talk." Kangxi had a subjective arrogance because of the settlement of the northern border issue in the Qing Dynasty, which made him despise the Great Wall in words. However, if he faces the same challenge, he will not be stronger than those before him.
Why does the author say so? This reminds us of another policy of the Qing dynasty: coastal immigration. In short, in order to deal with Zheng faction in Taiwan Province province, Kangxi evacuated all the residents within dozens of kilometers along the coast, cut off the material resources of Taiwan Province province and killed Zheng faction in Taiwan Province province. According to historical records, the Qing Dynasty ordered coastal residents to evacuate within three days. All the uncooperative people were brutally killed, which brought great suffering to the coastal people. Even trees along the coast were cut down and houses were burned down.
In essence, the border of coastal relocation is the same as the Great Wall, and the effect of opposing hostile forces is achieved through the "isolation" of air and space. So Kangxi is not qualified to despise the Great Wall.
In all fairness, after Kangxi recovered Taiwan Province Province, it was worthy of recognition that he ended the policy of banning the sea and reopened the sea. But we will also look at another measure of the Qing dynasty: six sides.
"Six Faces" was established in 1638 and completed in 168 1. It took 43 years for Huang Taiji, Shunzhi and Kangxi Dynasties to basically complete. This dam is 1 m wide and 1300 km long. Outside the dam is a ditch 8 feet wide, 5 feet wide and 8 feet deep. Its cross section is inverted trapezoid. The dam is herringbone, spanning the northeast plain. In fact, to put it bluntly, this is a "pocket version" of the Great Wall. Only the Great Wall protects the nomadic people outside the customs, and the wicker border guards the customs.
It is said that the Qing dynasty unified the whole world, and both Manchu and Han nationality were in this area. Kangxi also advocated people-oriented. Then why do you spend a lot of manpower and material resources to repair wicker? Facts have proved that in the minds of Qing rulers, they lacked confidence in whether they could rule the Central Plains from generation to generation. After all, the precedent of the Yuan Dynasty is vivid. But the northeast is its own "land of dragons" and its own hometown. If the Central Plains really changes in the future, they must be prepared to retreat. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty painstakingly built six border crossings to isolate the Northeast from the Central Plains and prevent the Han people from infiltrating into the Northeast.