The story behind the Great Wall of China.

great-wall-of-china During the Qin dynasty under the rule of Emperor Qin who is better known as Qin Shi Huang, his kingdom was attacked by the Huns. The Huns employed a strategy of skirmishing at one location, and quickly moving on to their next location. To prevent the constant harassment by the Huns, Emperor Qin decided to build the great wall. The idea of building a wall to prevent attacks by the enemy was an old military tactic hence it was not a pioneering idea by Emperor Qin. However, this tactic was stretched to the limit by Emperor Qin and affected future dynasties.


Emperor Qin was an emperor who had a strong sense of crisis and the awareness of unexpected hardship. When he was made Emperor he did not indulge in the pleasures at hand, but was constantly worried about his kingdom. This was because the Qin Empire was birth from war, and although voices that opposed him were few and far between, large scale violence has never stopped.  His desire was to see his kingdom in peace and have long term stability, so much so this matter troubled him constantly. The desire for long term peace came after his visit to The Kingdom of Qi, where there were whispers about a method for him to never grow old. Although he was still a young man at the point of time, he was greatly concern on the matter of life and death.


The emperor exhausted all options in his quest to find the elixir of life but was unsuccessful, and there was an increase threat on his life. In 218 BCE, while he was out of his kingdom incognito, there was an assassination attempt on his life which he managed to escape unharmed. 2 years on, there was another assassination attempt in his own capital city. Emperor Qin realized that even the security in his capital was not dependable, and his fear and feeling of helplessness was magnified even bigger.


And so due to these events, he was determined to find out who was threatening his country and his life. Officer Lu Sheng was sent to ask the deities regarding the future of the kingdom. Lu Sheng was unsuccessful on his first trip but on his second trip, he came back with a book titled “录图书” which when translated loosely means book of record. The books contained a shocking secret which states that the death of the Qin Kingdom was to be caused by Hu, which were known as the Huns in today’s term.


Emperor Qin finally who had been yearning to find out his enemy finally had a target he can set his sights on, his worry and anxiousness was finally let loose. All this based on a book that was brought back by Lu Sheng, who in many previous expeditions was unable to produce the goods. 300,000 soldiers were immediately sent to the north to fight the Huns, and were able to chase them all the way to the northern point of his kingdom. Despite this, Emperor Qin was not at ease and decided to build defenses to prevent further attacks and the destruction of his kingdom by the Huns. With no concern towards money and human life, he summoned 700,000 laborers and used many years to build the Great Wall.


Thus, the Great Wall.