The Great Wall is very long, but if you think about it carefully, there are not many passes on the Great Wall. Are they open here casually? How many steps do I need to open a pass on the Great Wall?
3Bauhinia Pass Great Wall Photo by Yang Zenghong
First of all, what we must consider and need to focus on is Geographical factors . Looking at the passes of the Great Wall today, its geographical location is very dangerous.
shanhaiguan
south to Bohai , and north to Yanshan .
Bauhinia Pass
is located in the seventh pass of " Taihang Eight Passes ", with straight walls and shaped like a screen.
3 down Maguan
leans against the cliff, beside the deep ravine, half in the valley, and half in the mountains.
But even if you have the critical geographical location, if the foreign enemy does not attack from this direction when invading, wouldn’t it be useless? Of course, there is no need to worry about this. Take the famous Shanhaiguan as an example, and you will understand why the pass is built here.
Shanhaiguan is known as the " First level in the world ". It is not just a saying. Its geographical location is located in Yanshan in the north and Bohai in the south. The main defense targets of the Ming Dynasty during were the Mongols and Jurchens attacked from the Liaoning area. The towering Yanshan Mountain is really difficult for grassland peoples, mainly cavalry-based, only this narrow plain between Yanshan Mountain and the Bohai Sea is suitable for their attack.
And Shanhaiguan is on such a throat. There is information to prove that in the 14th year of Hongwu, Xu Da, ", Yanshan and other guards stationed 15,100 troops, built the Great Wall based on the mountains and blocked the sea, and repaired the 32 passes including Yongping and Jieling. This refers to the construction of Shanhaiguan.
Since Shanhaiguan has such a good geographical location, why is there old head ? This is inseparable from the environment and climate where Shanhaiguan is located.
shanhaiguan is located in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, which is the coastal city that relies on the northeast direction of Hebei Province. Every winter, the sea surface of Qinhuangdao will form thick sea ice . In ancient times, the attacking Mongols and Jurchens would use these sea ice to bypass Shanhaiguan’s guards and sneak attacks on coastal areas. In order to prevent such a thing from happening, a unique Great Wall by the sea such as Lao Longtou was born.
Now we know where to set up a pass. However, the pass cannot be without defensive effect. Building a city with with defensive function is also an important part of a pass.
Take Shanhaiguan as an example. This is actually not a barrier that people imagine, but A complete ancient military building complex . Shanhaiguan has military facilities such as Wengcheng , Fort , arch tower and other military facilities. In addition, there are several small cities pools around. They form an "iron lock" with the mountains and the sea, firmly controlling this heavy dung together.
In addition to Shanhaiguan, Bauhinia Pass , one of the "three inner gates", also preserves a basic complete defense system. Zijing Pass is a structure of , a small city, and a small city, , which is also unique among the Great Walls in the country. At the same time, Zijing Pass has Sandaomen , and has many defense facilities such as Yingcheng , beacon tower , Wengcheng , Water Pass and other defense facilities.
In fact, in addition to the above points, there is another important factor in the birth of a pass: defends the capital ."The emperor guards the country's gates, and the king dies in the country." Since the relocation of capital to Beijing by Zhu Di, the Great Wall Pass in Hebei has become an important gateway to defend Beijing.
Since the Ming Dynasty, countless wars have occurred on these Great Wall passes. In the 14th year of Zhengtong of the Ming Dynasty, the " Civil Engineering Change " and the "Jiashen" Shihe War... so in modern times, warlord wars, war against Japan, and war of liberation, these barriers on the Great Wall have been playing an important role in military .
Now you should also have a rough understanding of how to open a pass on the Great Wall and get another knowledge point ~
