Chinese city wall defense system

Timeline

1. 1351–1355Jianghuai region · JianghuaiAfter Han Shantong and Liu Futong launched the Red Turban Rebellion in 1351, cities across the Jianghuai region became focal points of attack and defense. Local strongmen and rebel armies alike reinforced walls, dredged moats, and added barbicans and drawbridges. The typical layout was a square or rectangular walled enclosure with gates on all four sides, a semicircular barbican outside each gate to kill attackers at the gate, crenellations with loopholes atop the walls, and protruding horse-faced towers for flanking fire along the wall base.
2. 1356–1360Jiqing Circuit (Nanjing) · JiangsuAfter Zhu Yuanzhang captured Jiqing Circuit (Nanjing) in 1356, he carried out large-scale expansion on the foundations of the old Yuan-era walls. The Nanjing city wall followed the terrain in an irregular shape, with foundations of cut stone, rammed-earth cores faced in brick, and brick joints filled with a slurry of glutinous-rice water and lime. By around 1360 the circuit exceeded thirty li, with thirteen gates, each with a barbican and gate tower, forming a model of early Ming capital defense and setting the standard for the later Ming wall system.