u10.
Sources report that, of the million labourers conscripted to build the Great Wall, over half died. See Raymond Dawson (1972), Imperial China, p 62. Regarding “men with spades”, a system in which Editor’s note: David Fleming’s former colleague Judith Thornton highly recommends Steven Mithen (2012), Thirst: Water and Power in the Ancient World, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, as a valuable supplementary resource on this topic, published after Fleming’s death. there is a very high death rate would quickly collapse if women were included in it to any significant extent.