The Great Wall

After I was approached by the assistant, he eventually told me his name was Ying Bei.  He offered me a job after I explained my most recent use of my time.  He said I work as a builder.  A builder of what was is now the Great Wall of China.  The Great Wall of China was built in 220 BCE by the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi of the Qin Dynasty.  The purpose of this masterpiece was to keep Barbarians and invaders out, as well as keeping the Chinese people in.  It was built on the border of China by one fifth of China’s workforce.  One fourth of the laborers died while working on the wall and were buried inside of it.  This was the reasoning for the Great Walls other name, the long graveyard.  I’m pretty glad that I turned down the offer now knowing the reality and brutality of the position.  The wall was constructed by placing wood panels on the sides and then filling the middle with earth, stone and sticks.  When the clay dried the panels were removed and there was a large block of cement-like wall.  Later, in 206 the Han Dynasty extended the wall to the west.  Codes and signals were devised to defend and protect the wall.  There were smoke towers at different intervals where there was a constant supply of fuel to burn in case of an invasion.  When an invader was spotted or there was trouble, a smoke tower would be ignited and then when the watchmen saw a lit tower they would ignite the next smoke tower letting the whole wall know there was a problem that needed to be attended to.  The codes were kept a secret from the public so only the government knew what was going on.  The reason I know all of this information is because after I turned down the position as builder, I moved on to learn and help architect parts of the wall.