Defend against the Iron Rider with a strange move

Xingshi mobilized the cultivators to cultivate the trenches

This inexorable force is the savage and tough Mongols.

Fan Zuliang learned from the Jin population that for many years, the northern and western borders of Jin have not been peaceful, and the Western Xia has become the end of the strong crossbow, so there is no need to worry, but the Tatars of the Mobei grassland, after fighting and fighting, gradually became stronger.

After the founding of the Jin Dynasty, its eyes were first fixed on the rich Central Plains. He then sent heavy troops to exterminate the Northern Song Dynasty and pushed the border south to the Huai River area. At the same time, the northern tribes were not far behind, and often sent troops and horses to break into the gold realm and loot property.

Now, let's set our sights on the vast northern prairies.

The ancestor of the Mongolian tribe, "Mongwu" Murwei, originally lived in the northern mountainous area of the Daxing'an Mountains, east of the middle and lower reaches of the present-day Ergun River. Later, most of the tribe migrated westward and gradually merged with the Turkic-speaking inhabitants who remained on the Mongolian plateau, and the language was influenced by the Turkic language, and the economic life was also influenced by the Turkic language group, and the transition to a predominantly nomadic one.

In the twelfth century, the descendants of this part of the people multiplied, and the clan expenditure gradually distributed in the upper source of the three rivers of the present-day Onen, Krulun and Tula rivers and the east of the Kent Mountains, forming tribal groups, among which the more famous ones are the Qiyan, Zataran, Taichiwu, Hongjira, Wulianghe and other ethnic groups and tribes. At that time, on the Mongolian Plateau, there were also the Tatar tribe around Lake Baikal, the Murbeg tribe on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal and the Selenga River basin, and the Ryira tribe on the western shore of Lake Baikal and the upper source of the Yenisei River. All three speak Mongolian languages. In addition, there were three Turkic tribes that embraced the Mongolization of Nestorian religion: the Kereh tribe that occupied the vicinity of the Uighur Khan's court, the Naiban tribe to the west, and the Wangu tribe near the Yinshan region.

These tribes are broadly divided into two categories: "steppe nomads" and "forest hunters" according to their lifestyles and levels of development. The first category includes the Turkic tribes that lived in the same place for a long time and lived a nomadic life, and the Mongol tribes who later moved in to accept the Turkic influence and completed the transition to a nomadic life; The second category is the tribes that live in the forest area and are mainly engaged in hunting.

The Mongols are just a few tribes of the Murwei people. Among them, the Qiyan tribe later grew stronger and stronger, and unified all the tribes on the grassland.

At first, the most powerful of the Murowei people were the Tatar and Hongjira tribes. They continued to harass the northern frontier of the Jin State, and the Jin Ting sent the general Wanyan Zongwang to lead troops to suppress it. The first time the troops were sent to attack, the Jin army's team was quite large, and 80,000 divine arm archers were called, which could be described as huge, and the Murwei people with less than 10,000 people quickly retreated, so that the Jin soldiers could not catch up.

Wanyan Zongwang soon discovered that this northern tribe is different from the Song, they are nomadic people, with fast horses, come and go without a trace, fight if they win, run if they can't win, it is difficult to defeat him, and it is impossible to cut the grass and eradicate the roots.

Compared with the south, the grasslands in the north are a piece of chicken ribs. After some struggle, the Jurchens realized the fierceness of the Tatars, so they decided to give in and negotiate peace with the Tatars, ceding the land and seventy-two bunkers in the lower reaches of the Krenlu River to them as pasture and allowing them to graze their horses. The border line retreated from the Mongolian plateau to the Great Khingan Mountains.

The Northeast was the nest of the Jurchens, and had to be protected, so the imperial court moved the Northeast Road Recruitment Division to the north, from Taizhou to Jinshan (now northwest of Baicheng City, Jilin), and added two deputy recruiters, and the garrison increased from 5,000 to 10,000 to strengthen the border palace.

As for the northern steppes and the desert Gobi region, Jin Shizong thought about it and decided to learn from the practice of the Great Wall of Qin -- to build boundary trenches, mobilize 200,000 laborers, and build a trench of thousands of miles in the grasslands and hills to defend against the southward movement of the nomadic cavalry.

Therefore, the boundary moat is also called the Golden Great Wall, the Wushu Great Wall, about the beginning of the Jin Taizong Tianhui (AD 1123) period, to the Jin Zhangzong Cheng'an three years (AD 1198) around the completion, lasted more than 70 years. It is 5,500 kilometers long, of which about 4,600 kilometers are in the territory of our country.

The whole boundary trench starts from the Hulunbuir Molidawa Daur Autonomous Banner in the east, passes through Suolun, Tuquan, Keshiketeng Banner Gongger Grassland in the southwest, and the Blue Banner of Xilin Gol League, until the Yinshan Hetao Plain. Along the Xing'an Ridge through the Horqin Right Wing Front Banner and Tuquan County to the west into Mobei, to the Xilin Gol League, and then to the southwest along the Yinshan Mountain, to the north bank of the East Yellow River in Baotou City. In addition, the outer line and the double line were built, and the outer line ran from the north bank of the Ergun River to Mongolia through Manchuria to the north; The double line runs from Keqi Tianheyuan Township to Guangxingyuan Township. It is mainly distributed in the territory of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, and a small part in Russia and Mongolia. In terms of direction, it can be divided into Lingbei line, north line and south line.

The Mongolian language of the boundary trench is called "Heri Wood", which means "wall". Including trenches, boundary embankments, trenches, side forts and other facilities. The trench is 8-10 meters wide and 4-5 meters deep. The boundary embankment is divided into the main embankment and the auxiliary embankment, the main embankment is 6-8 meters high and 8-10 meters wide. The materials for embankment construction are all taken on the spot, the earthwork is excavated and rammed on the flat ground, and the stone is used to build the mountain. There is a pheasant moat at the top of the main embankment; A horse face was built every 150 meters or so, with bunks for the defenders to rest. There is also a small gate on the main embankment for easy access. There is an urn city built outside the city gate, and the appearance is similar to the horse's face, which increases the concealment and defense ability of the small city gate. From the bottom of the trench to the top of the main embankment, a defensive wall with a height of 10-13 meters is built, which approximates the function of a city wall. In order to enhance the defense capability of the main embankment, auxiliary embankments and auxiliary moats were built in front of the main embankment and the moats. The secondary embankment is about 4 meters high and 5 meters wide; The depth, length and width of the secondary trench are all 4-5 meters. The structure of the moat is square, the side of the moat wall is about 100 meters long, and the height and width are about the same as the main embankment. The trenches were built on the inner side of the main embankment and housed houses and barracks to house a small number of defenders and reserve weapons. There are gates and stairways between the moat and the main embankment. The distance between each trench is usually 3-7 kilometers, and the location is often selected in a place that is conducive to observing the enemy situation and the terrain conditions are superior. A border fort is a small frontier town with a certain size and facilities, built in a dangerous place behind a moat, a boundary embankment and a trench. The border fort is equipped with complete military facilities and surrounded by a moat, forming a castle that can fight independently. The border fort is integrated with the trench, the boundary embankment and the trench, and the army can attack when entering and retreating, and it can be defended when retreating, and the degree and scale of solidity and scale are greater than those of the trench.

Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers were mobilized across the country, and a large amount of financial resources were exhausted to build boundary trenches. After the completion of the construction, less than a year, the problem appeared, as soon as the wind and sand came, the trench several meters deep was easily filled, and the Mongolian iron cavalry wanted to cross the trench to assault, only a small amount of firewood, grass and sand and soil could be buried in a section of the boundary trench, and the cavalry could drive straight in; In addition, the trench front was too long to be prevented.

The Jin court is quite troubled by this, is there a better way to do it, no, at least not for the time being. If you don't repair, all your efforts will be wasted, which is equivalent to opening the door, and if you repair it, it's good to play the role of an alarm. I had to fill in and dig again, and then rebuild when it was broken, and it was originally built in a relatively gentle grassland area, and then continued to build on the gentle slope and flat land at the foot of the mountain, and if you need to pass through the mountain beam, you will also pass through the lower mountain pass. So it became a huge and long-term project.

For the greedy and ferocious beast, its nature is to possess and hunt, and it will not give up attacking because of the weakness and concession of its opponent or prey, on the contrary, the weaker you are, the more domineering it will become, mercilessly knocking you to the ground, tearing you apart, and eating you all your flesh and bones.

Legend has it that the ancestors of the Mongols were the blue wolf and the white deer.