From the second defense wall of Hengling Village it's only a short hike to reach the wild Great Wall. A friendly smile from the local apple farmer will set us of for a 4 to 5 hour hiking on the wild Great Wall. Small in the beginning, majestic at the end. Halfway the hike we go cross country passing a 700 years old Ming Dynasty village where we have a small lunch. Desert will be a beautiful, up hill hike until we reach an amazingly well preserved great wall. There no better place than this Yangbian Great wall to set up your tent and enjoy dinner with a bottle wine. The sound of nature will wake us up next day and after breakfast we will hike down for about 1.5 hour where our car will pick us up again.

Northwest of Beijing, between Yan and Taihang Mountain, lays Hengling Valley. In ancient times this was the main path Mongolians took to attack the Central Plains. They crossed the Inner Mongolia prairie west to east, passed Xuanhua, Huailai, Yanqing, Nankou, uyongguan, and attacked Beijing. Only a few passes are leading to Beijing, Hengling is one among these.
During a war with Mongolians, emperor Yingzong of the Ming dynasty came out of his way and led the army. Unexpectedly, he was captured by a M...

Northwest of Beijing, between Yan and Taihang Mountain, lays Hengling Valley. In ancient times this was the main path Mongolians took to attack the Central Plains. They crossed the Inner Mongolia prairie west to east, passed Xuanhua, Huailai, Yanqing, Nankou, uyongguan, and attacked Beijing. Only a few passes are leading to Beijing, Hengling is one among these.
During a war with Mongolians, emperor Yingzong of the Ming dynasty came out of his way and led the army. Unexpectedly, he was captured by a Mongolian chief. For 18 years the emperor had been trapped in the remote Mongolian prairie. During the captivity the Mongolians fiercely attacked Beijing at loss of hundreds of thousands deaths or wounds.
Before they occupied Juyongguan, a Mongolian detachment crossed Baiyangkou and Henglingkou west of Juyongguan, and threatened Beijing at her moat. Captain Yuqian, who was assigned at this turning point of history, successfully launched a counterattack to defend Beijing and so rescued Ming Dynasty.
Intending to build defensive lines for Central Plains, Ming Dynasty constructed fortresses, towers and studs along the existing great wall and inside the valleys,. Lots of these castles rarely being known today were hidden in mountains and so have been well preserved, Hengling city is one of those.

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