The
Han dynasty rose after 3 years of civil war. The first Emperor of the
dynasty was Gui Di. Gui Di
tried to befriend the Xiongnu with trade and gifts (however the Xiongnu were not always peaceful).
Finally, the
Han launched a huge attack against the Xiongnu and forced them to retreat
out of China.
Due to threat from enemies, the Han dynasty set out
to strengthen and lengthen the Great Wall. They went to build in the barren deserts in the west and they
had to come up with new wall building techniques
to do so. The
new wall here was made of sand and stone. The
Wall was built in the Gobi Desert where summers were very hot and winters could reach
–30 degrees Fahrenheit.
In
the desert the Red Willow was one of the only plants that grew. The
Willow played a big part in the building of The
Wall. The Wall was built layer by layer. The Red
Willow was on the bottom, then there was a frame held in place by pegs.
Grit and water were mixed and placed on top of the layers.
The edges were hammered in, the top was tapped until the Wall became stable and the frame
was then removed (it took one hour to make a layer).
Oil
and clay were put on the outer layer so that the wall was more difficult to
scale and would protect against erosion.
To protect the Chinese from invaders new war tactics again had to be
established. Due to these great new tactics by
the 6th Emperor (66 years later) the Xiongnu were crushed and the
Wall was extended 600 miles into the Gobi Desert.
Small
“towns” were established inside the boundaries of the Wall and they became
centers of commerce (there was a wall around the market and then an outside wall
that connected to the Great Wall to provide protection). In these
"towns" 700
soldiers would protect 8,000 people. The
Chinese stored weapon
s, horses etc. in these towns. Emperor
Wu di had great trade with the outside world and needed to protect his trade
routes so thousands of soldiers were sent
to guard the Silk Road, China's main trade route (which also went through one of
these towns).
In addition, The
Han Wall was vital for communication.
There
was a beacon tower every 15 to 30 miles and the people would use smoke by day (wood
and straw mixed in with wolf dung made the smoke) and torch by night to send
signals to other towers. The system worked by the number of columns
sent up. One
column of smoke signaled that there was an attacking force of less than 500
advancing on The Wall. Two
columns meant that there was an attacking force of less than 3,000
advancing on The Wall and four
columns meant that there was an attacking force of less than 10,000
attacking. However, eventually the Han dynasty died out and a new dynasty
came to power in China, the Ming Dynasty.
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