| The top of the Xi'an City wall is about 40 feet wide, easily wide enough for a parade of cavalry riding eight abreast. The top was paved with three layers of brick laid on rammed earth. Gutters and downspouts were built all along the wall and poured into the moat. Good drainage is one of the reasons that the wall survived so well through the centuries.
The ramparts jutted out from the wall every 400 feet giving archers the ability to fire down on attackers trying to scale or bludgeon the wall. Cannon fire changed strategies completely. Cannon were used during the Yuan Dynasty but not widely. During the early Ming Dynasty, cannons made of iron and bamboo were used. Some of them fired pointed projectiles with fins. the idea was to pierce defending walls. Ming forces laid siege to Shaoxing in 1358 - 1359 AD and used gunpowder cannon to do so. They attacked from three sides and were able to decimate the city.
Western cannon were introduced to China during the middle of the Ming Dynasty. They were made of iron and shot balls. Their range and accuracy were superior and advanced the art of war. They were called "红夷炮" (hóngyí pào), cannon of the red barbarian. They were trade goods from Holland and Portugal and formed the foundation for the growth of trade in Macao. The West had little to offer the xenophobic Chinese court, but exceptions were made for cannon.
Below, there is a view from one rampart to the next. With the normal siege weapons and infantry attacking with arrows and ladders the distance between the ramparts was gauged to allow coverage of the entire area by soldiers firing from both directions. The introduction of the modern cannon greatly increased the distance that attackers could maintain while bombarding the wall with balls and explosives. The Japanese made short work of the city wall in Nanjing during World War II, but had to bring in heavy artillary and bombers to do so. The width and structure of the walls of the Ming Dynasty stood up well to cannon fire until the modern age.
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