Abstract: Using the methods of historical sociology, archaeology and architecture, based on the background of war and defense, this paper studies the relationship between the militarized society and the rural defense settlements in the Central Plains, the long-term evolution and construction of the rural defense settlement from different perspectives. The phenomenon of village fortress in the Central Plains reappears periodically with the war, and defensive is one of the regional characteristics solidified in the Central Plains. In the long period from prehistory to the end of feudalism, the Central Plains settlement defense system experienced a process from scratch, from simple to complex, from single to rich. It is found that all kinds of rural defense settlements in the Central Plains from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the Republic of China are similar in defense ideas and facilities types, but they show different patterns due to their differences in social background, ideology, construction motivation, financial resources and material resources, and personnel quality.