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-- construction continued --
Design for the Fortifications
The Great Wall had three major components: passes, signal towers
(beacons), and walls.
Passes
As major strongholds along the wall, passes usually located at such
key positions as intersections with trade routes. The ramparts of
many passes were faced with huge bricks and stones, with dirt and
crushed stones as filler. The bastions measured some 30 feet
(10 meters) high and 13 to 16 feet (4 to 5 meters) wide at the top.
Within each pass were access ramps for horses and ladders for soldiers.
The outside parapet was crenelated, and the inside
parapet, or yu-qiang (nu-qiang), was a low wall about 3 feet
(1 meter) high that prevented people and horses from falling off
the top. In addition to serving as an access point for merchants
and other civilians, the gate within the pass was used as an exit
for the garrison to counterattack raiders or to send out patrols.
Under the gate arch there was typically a huge double door of wood.
Bolts and locker rings were set in the inner panel of each door.
On top of each gate there was a gate tower that served as a watchtower
and command post. Usually it stood one to three stories (levels)
high and was constructed either of wood or of bricks and wood. Built
outside the gate, where an enemy was most likely to attack, was
a weng-cheng, a semicircular or polygonal parapet that shielded
the gate from direct assault. Extending beyond the most strategic
weng-chengs was an additional line of protection, the luo-cheng,
which was often topped by a tower used to watch those beyond the
wall and to direct troop movements in battles waged there. Around
the gate entrance there was often a moat that was formed in the
process of digging earth to build the fortifications.
Single Towers
Signal towers, also called beacons, beacon terraces, smoke mounds
(because various substances, including wolves' dung, were burnt),
mounds, or kiosks. They were used to send military communications
by beacon (fires or lanterns) during the night or by smoke signals
in the daytime at the sign of an enemy invasion; other methods such
as raising banners, beating clappers, or firing guns often accompanied
during the Ming period. For example, one column of smoke plus one
gunshot indicated the coming of 100 enemy; two columns plus two
gunshots meant 500 enemy and 3,000 or mote, by three of each. The
lower levels contained rooms for soldiers, as well as stables, sheepfolds,
and storage areas
Continued...........
 
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