The two men involved were champion wall builder, Yu Zizhun, born in Sichuan in 1429, and [I 002 / Wang Yue], who was one of the Ming Dynasty's best generals. Wang, with his offensive victory over the [G 12 / Mongols], created the opportunity necessary to erect the wall.
Initially, Yu came up against resistance to construct a wall mainly because it was expensive and its reputation was bad. But he persisted, arguing constantly against the offensive strategy being promoted in some Ming quarters. Wang's wall stretched for 129 miles. Yu's was a longer 556 miles.
The wall had 800 strong points, posts and [P 003 / towers]. It took 40,000 men a few months to complete and cost more than a million silver [G 23 / taels]. Not only did it serve as a barrier against the nomads, it also sheltered the farms that sprung up under the Ming to deploy combined military and agricultural services when needed.
Wang's wall, which had eroded somewhat, was repaired in 1531 and 1537. By then the system had passed its first major test. In 1482, Mongol raiders were trapped between the walls and suffered a crushing defeat. Thus Yu's wall-building policy was justified - even if it was not considered a long term policy at the time - and was followed up by the building of further walls which eventually became known as the Great Wall.
Although Yu's wall stopped raids in southern [M 004 / Shanxi and Shaanxi], the capital Beijing was more or less vulnerable to attack. Yu proposed a wall there. When he took over the military affairs portfolio, he proposed improving fortifications by extending his wall into northern Shanxi. This wall would run from Sihaiyeh to the Yellow River - some 433 miles. There would also be 440 additional signal towers, each 36 feet high.
The project needed 86,000 men for several months. The scheme was approved and work began in 1485. But the wall was never built because Yu crossed some powerful men in court, and when reports came in that the wall was way over budget, work was halted. Not long afterwards Yu retired. It was 50 years before any major wall building was resumed.
