After travelling 116 miles we arrive at the start of a great wall situated in present day China, but no it isn’t the great wall of China! This lesser known wall was built in 631AD by Governor Yong-Gae and is known as the “Cheolli Jangseong”, or Thousand Unit Wall, being a thousand “Li” (Chinese miles) long. The Li has varied over time but 1 Li is now known to be roughly 0.5km.
The wall took 16 years to build and had numerous military garrisons posted along it. It was built by Governor Yong-Gae in response to a Tang invasion of Goguryo where a small number of troops were sent to destroy a monument built to celebrate Goguryo‘s military victories over the Tang Dynasty‘s predecessors, the short-lived Sui Dynasty. Yong-Gae believed that the wall would protect Goguryo against any future invasions from the Tang Dynasty.
However, King Yeong-Nyu of Goguryo along with some of his court officials became nervous of General Yong-Gae and his military presence along the border, fearing that he had become too powerful, and so planned to have him killed. News of this was leaked to Yong-Gae who decided to invite 100 opposing court officials to a banquet celebrating his new position of Governor of the Eastern Province of Goguryo. These officials were ambushed and killed by Yong-Gae‘s troops whilst Yong-Gae attacked the King’s palace, defeating the guards and beheading the King.
To signify our arrival here we will be performing a bonus exercise of 116 leg raises before we continue 314 miles along the wall to one of it’s major garrisons.
Newman Martial Arts 