Abstract
Ancient Chinese military castles were equipped with rapid transportation routes for mutual aid, and this was an essential indicator of regional defense capability. However, since the sites of these transportation routes have mostly disappeared, it is not easy to examine the actual distribution of these routes. It is necessary to speculate the trend and position of military routes on the basis of the castle locations. In this study, the geographic features of each castle location were extracted as factors affecting the efficiency of the intercastle transportation system using the ArcGIS cost path function. By analyzing the fit of each factor for screening and weight assignment, a time cost path was established, and a model was generated for calculating the efficiency of this transportation system. The Weihai area, a typical representation of sea defense during the Chinese Ming Dynasty, was taken as an example for simulation. Overall, five ancient military transportation routes were restored. The establishment of the Ming Dynasty Wendengying transformed the linear defense layout of the Weihai region into a longitudinal network layout, and its site selection was of great benefit to the overall defense of the coastal citadel of Weihai. This model breaks the traditional limitations of relying on subjective speculation for ancient road restoration and dramatically improves its accuracy and credibility. Moreover, it makes a significant contribution to judging the road systems of ancient cities in different regions and provides a new idea to quantify the efficiency of ancient castle defenses.
Highlights
China built top-down defensive cities in seven coastal defense zones during the Ming Dynasty, gradually building a coastal defense net [1]. e coastal city defense system had to be fortified along the entire coastline to ensure comprehensive monitoring of the coastal area
It had to be fortified at the mouths of rivers or seas, so that it was always ready to defend against invasion. erefore, throughout the evolution of the Ming Dynasty, the city gradually formed a deep layout from the coast inward, establishing a defense net system with the interior region supporting the troops [2]
E pattern of ancient military road selection in the Weihai area was obtained by validating the route simulation tool for the simulation of major military roads in the same area
Summary
China built top-down defensive cities in seven coastal defense zones during the Ming Dynasty, gradually building a coastal defense net [1]. e coastal city defense system had to be fortified along the entire coastline to ensure comprehensive monitoring of the coastal area. Erefore, throughout the evolution of the Ming Dynasty, the city gradually formed a deep layout from the coast inward, establishing a defense net system with the interior region supporting the troops [2]. In this system, the time cost of mutual assistance and coordination between different castles was a critical factor affecting the overall defensive efficiency, as determined by two core variables: distance and speed. Some scholars used ArcGIS to recover ancient roads, based on the function of the time cost path, superimposing the cost weights on the influence factors to generate the final path [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
