During the Warring States Period, Wuguan Road was the main transportation route connecting the Guanzhong Plain and the Nanyang Basin of . Wuguan, one of the four major passes of Guanzhong, is not only the boundary between Qin, Chu and Han, but also the most important pass in the southeast of Qin . Zhang Yi once told the King of Chu: If Qin raises his troops out of Wu Pass and conquers south, the northern part of Chu State will be cut off traffic. It can be seen how important it is to control Wuguan Road, the Wuguan Road, which is eastbound. But for the State of Chu, it is crucial to build a city against Qin in Wuguan, and this important military center is Xiyi .
Wuguan Road is an important transportation route connecting the Guanzhong Plain and the Nanyang Basin. Wuguan is not only the border between Qin, Chu and Han, but also the most important pass in the southeast of Qin.
Xiyi is located in the area of Neixiang to Xixia County, Henan Province. It was built as early as 524 BC. This incident was far earlier than the time when Qin State built Wu Pass. It should be noted that Qin State got the Shangyu place where Wu Pass was located in 506 BC. Wu Zixu and Sun Wu led the Wu army to capture the capital of Chu Ying. Chu Duke Shen Baoxu borrowed troops from Qin State for help. After Qin State helped Chu restore the country, Chu State ceded to Qin State in repaid. Therefore, Xiyi's earliest function was not to target the threat of Qin State's exit from Wu Pass to Chu State, but to other reasons.
"Guodizhi·Dengzhou·Nexiang County": "Dengzhou Neixiang County is originally Chuxiyi..." Its land is in the area from Neixiang to Xixia County, Henan.
It is crucial to build a city to defend the Qin State in Wuguan, and this important military city is Xiyi.
Let's talk about Chu Liguo here. Yuxiong, the chief of the Jilian tribe of Mi surname, judged the situation during the decline of Shang and Zhou, led his clan to surrender to the King of Zhou Wen and was named viscount by the Zhou royal family. Later, he was squeezed and moved south to the Danxi basin at the junction of Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi. By the time of King Cheng of Zhou (reigned from 1042-1021 BC), Yuxiong's great-grandson Xiong Yi was "seniored from Chuman and resided in Danyang ". So Danyang became the first capital after the founding of the Chu people. The location of Danyang is verified as "Danxi Meeting" where Xishui (now Laoguan River) and Danshui (Danjiang River), which is now the south of Xichuan County, Henan Province. However, due to the water storage of Danjiangkou Reservoir, most of it has been flooded.
As the Danjiangkou Reservoir area surrounded by Hubei and Henan, it is an important birthplace of Chu culture.
cloud-patterned copper ban was unearthed in the tomb No. 2 of Xia Temple in Xichuan. Its patterns are complicated and beautiful and elegant. It is the earliest known Chu bronze ware that was cast by the lost wax method in my country. As the Danjiangkou reservoir area surrounded by Hubei and Henan, it is an important birthplace of Chu culture. In terms of the reservoir area that has been discovered and the surrounding Chu cultural relics, Hubei has many points, but Henan is large in scale; Hubei has many Warring States Period Chu tombs, and Henan has many Spring and Autumn Chu tombs. For example, in 1977, a group of Chu tombs of Xia Temple aristocrats in Xichuan, Henan Province, discovered 449 precious cultural relics including bronze and jade were unearthed in Tomb No. 1 of Xia Temple alone.
In the early Spring and Autumn Period, the Chu people who were insulted and bullied began to migrate south along the Danshui and Han River. However, these relics belonged to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, and at the beginning of the founding of the State of Chu, it was poor and weak, and even wanted to "steal the cattle sacrifice in the country of Zheng". " Mandarin " also records that "the king of Cheng joined the princes in Qiyang, and Chu was appointed as the Jingman , and set up a watch list to guard Liao with the Xianbei , so he did not join the alliance." That is, the Chu State was considered a barbarian in Jing and was not qualified to participate in the alliance of princes. In addition, when King Zhao of Zhou was , he repeatedly sent troops to fight south, forcing the Chu people to move down the Danjiang River Valley. The Chu people who felt insulted and bullied began to move south along the Danshui and Han River.
Chu people first started their hard work in Jingshan with "struggle" and seized the Jianghan Plain as the foundation in the game with Yong, Ba and other countries.
map quotation Bukharin
first started a hard business in Jingshan. In the game with Yong, Ba and other countries, they seized the Jianghan Plain as the foundation, and then confronted the vassal states of the surname Tang, Deng, Lu, and Sui, who were enfeoffed by the Zhou royal family. In terms of the geographical pattern, the Nanyang Basin and the northern part of the Jianghan Plain were basically the sphere of influence of the Zhou king. Later, with the decline of the Zhou royal family, Xiong Tong was dissatisfied with his small title and asked for a high-ranking title from the Zhou emperor and failed to get it. He became the king in 704 BC, which was the King of Wu of Chu.
Pictures Bukharin
Thereafter, after th generation to the time of King Zhuang of Chu, the Chu State ushered in its heyday, and the surrounding Ji Kingdoms were successively destroyed. Throughout the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou emperor enfeoffed more than 140 vassal states, and the Chu State destroyed a total of 45, including Song State , Cai State , Yue State , Lu State , etc. During the reign of King Zhuang of Chu, 36 small vassal states were annexed, which can be called "Thanos of the Spring and Autumn Period", so the allusion of King Zhuang of Chu "competing for the Central Plains", which also made the historical status of Chu State Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons . By the time of the Warring States Period, the Nanyang Basin and the Jianghan Plain had become the core areas of the Chu State.
map quotation Bukharin
And it was more than sixty years after King Zhuang of Chu that Jin State has always been a strong opponent in the Chu State's battle for the Central Plains. He was defeated by Jin State in Yanling and Zhanban Battle. Finally, in 546 BC, Jin and Chu divided the hegemony of the Central Plains equally through Stop Alliance . Since then, in order to prevent Jin State and Qin State, Xisi is located on the shore of Xishui at the exit of Wuguan Channel. Since then, Xiyi has established a system and has begun to undertake the defense of the checkpoint. Not only that, the later King of Chu also ordered the construction of a road from Zhushan County, Hubei in the west, crossing the Hanshui to Dengzhou, Henan, going north through Neixiang County, , then northeast through Lushan County, Pingdingshan, Ye County, , and crossing the Shahe River to the south to directly reach the Great Wall of Chu in Biyang County.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, heroes stood together and continued to fight, so the vassal states built the Great Wall on their borders to defend themselves. Picture quotation National Geographic
In Henan, broken walls, either stone or mounds of soil, stand in the uninhabited mountains and fields, let the years polish them, these are the ruins of the Great Wall of Chu.
From a geographical perspective, the Great Wall of Chu was located in the northwest and northeast of Yingdu, the capital of Chu at that time, and was completely used to defend against the attacks of Qin, Jin, and later Han and Wei and other vassals and neighboring countries. Not only that, according to research, the Chu Great Wall is likely to be the oldest Great Wall in China, with a total length of nearly a thousand miles. Among them, there are three parts in Henan, the West Line, the North Line and the East Line. The distribution of the North Line and the East Line is relatively clear, and the main body extends in Ye County, Fangcheng , Wugang to Biyang County, with a total length of about 300 kilometers, and the construction era is no later than the Warring States Period. The distribution route of the Western Front is unknown. Judging from the excavated sites, the earliest construction period was between the Spring and Autumn Period and the early Warring States Period.
Henan From the archaeology of the Chu Great Wall from 2008 to 2010, for the first time, scientific means were used to determine the distribution status, architectural structure, characteristics, and era of the Chu Great Wall in Henan. It is a military defense project based on Leh and connected to the mountains.
However, Chu Great Wall is different from the Ming Great Wall that we remember that it has blue brick walls, towering enemy towers, and majestic passes. It is a military defense project based on Leh, focusing on ancient roads and passes, and connected to mountains. The so-called Leh is a series of defensive small cities arranged according to the terrain. It is considered as a place for garrisons and guards, and looks like small villages. In fact, it was not only Chu that built the Great Wall. From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the 7th BC to the 3rd century BC, heroes stood together and continued to fight, so countries built Great Walls on their borders to defend themselves.
Nanyang Tanghe Longquan Temple Chu Great Wall site1
only after 221 BC Qin Shihuang After unifying the six kingdoms, in order to resist the "Rong Di" in the north, the Qin Great Wall was ordered to be built. At the same time, for the sake of national unity, Qin Shihuang also ordered the demolition of the mutually defending Great Wall built by Qi, Chu, Wei, Zhao, Yan and other countries on their respective borders. However, since the places where the Chu Great Wall are built are mostly in dangerous places, it is a defensive barrier composed of artificial walls and dangerous mountains, so it can be preserved.
Moreover, the junction of Shaanxi, Henan and Hubei where Danyang was located was not a relatively remote place like it is now. According to the "Han Shu Geography" and other materials, Western Han Dynasty In the second year of Yuanshi (2 AD), the population per square kilometer of the Danjiang-Hanjiang River Basin had reached 17.26 people. Although it cannot be compared with the Guanzhong Plain, the population density is much higher than that of Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake Basins, and it is also in a leading position in the entire Yangtze River Basin. After that, the population in the region has generally been on a downward trend, and it was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China that it reached the population level of the Qin and Han Dynasties. It can be seen that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, since the Yangtze River Basin had not been vigorously developed, the relationship between the Nanyang Basin and the Han River Plain in the Chu State was similar to that of Shanghai and Beijing today.
You should know that in the early years, Qin and Chu were bounded by the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains. Qin had Lan Pass and Chu had Wu Pass. However, after Wu Zixu led the Wu army to capture the capital of Chu, in order to thank Qin for sending troops to restore the country, he ceded the Shangyu land where Wu Pass was located to Qin, and Qin was able to monopolize the danger of Wu Pass. At the same time, the Shangyu area east of Wu Pass also became an important base for attacking Chu. Such a geographical location made Qin form a favorable situation for Chu. If you retreat, you can defend yourself by relying on Wuguan. If you advance, you can act as a springboard, go down along the Danjiang and Hanjiang Rivers, and attack the Nanyang Basin of Chu.
You can imagine what kind of mentality we will be when "Shanghai" faces this threat. Therefore, when Zhang Yi exchanged the ceasing of the six hundred miles of Shangyu for the cession of Chu and the state of Qi, the king of Chu Huai was in his heart. The background of the times was the first "Gianluo attack on Qin" that the Qin State had just defeated Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei through the Hangu Pass Battle, and Chu State was the leader of this Gianluo. In order to teach Chu a lesson, Qin threatened the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Wei with military strength, forcing Han and Wei to form an alliance with Qin and join forces to fight against Chu. The State of Chu then formed an alliance with Qi to fight against the alliance between Qin, Han and Wei.
In order to break up the Qi Chu Alliance, Zhang Yisheng Shang cheated King Huai of Chu for 600 miles. So the King of Chu was furious and gathered 100,000 troops to attack Qin. As a result, Qin's troops left Wuguan, bypassed the Great Wall of Chu, took the initiative, and fought fiercely with Chu in Danyang. In the end, Chuliji and Wei Zhang led the Qin army to annihilate 80,000 Chu troops, captured more than 70 head coaches and deputy generals of the Chu army, and won a complete victory. However, since the Qin army was fighting abroad and bypassing the important town of Xiyi on the border of Chu, the attack on Danyang in the hinterland could not transform tactical victory into actual territory, so it retreated back to Wuguan after the war.
However, the Qin army (led by Wei Zhang ) attacked from Hanzhong Basin to capture the Ankang Basin, turning the important western town of Chu into the "Xicheng County" of Qin, and included it under the jurisdiction of Hanzhong County of Qin. However, in terms of overall geographical situation and strength, the State of Chu was not seriously injured, so in 312 BC the following year, King Huai of Chu gathered troops from all over the country to launch a larger battle of Lantian. In this battle, the Chu army was well prepared and broke through Wu Pass and Shangjun in one fell swoop, approaching Lantian (or Lan Pass). Lan Pass was the last line of defense of Qin on Qinling . After breaking through Lan Pass, the Guanzhong Plain was right in front of him, so Qin could only defend by relying on the walls of Wei River and Xianyang .
Fortunately, Xianyang is located north of the Wei River, not like later generations, Chang'an , there is still a slight buffering place. But this situation is enough to make King Huiwen of Qin pass, so that he wants to sacrifice to heaven and pray to the gods for blessing "Keji Chu Shi" (from "The Curse of Chu Wen" unearthed in the Northern Song Dynasty 2 years).At the critical moment, the Han and Wei coalition forces took advantage of the emptiness of Nanyang of Chu and captured Zhaoling, the northern part of Chu (now in Luohe, Henan), and approached the Nanyang Basin. At this time, Qi State was defeated by the Qin and Han coalition forces in Pu Shang because of the alliance with Song to attack Wei, and were unable to support the Chu State (taken after the Battle of Danyang and before the Battle of Lantian).
In 316 BC, Qin destroyed Bashu
After the Danyang-Lantian War in 312 BC, Chu almost lost its portal on the west side, which also led to a vicious cycle of Chu's defeat in Qin afterwards.
So Chu State had to choose to withdraw its troops under the condition of being restrained from both sides. The Qin army took the opportunity to follow and pursue, re-occupied Shangyu land and Ankang Basin, making Guanzhong, Hanzhong and Bashu connected, completely eliminating the threat of Chu State to the Guanzhong Plain and Bashu, and winning the initiative in the war against Chu State. After Chu State lost the Ankang Basin, only Shangyong Land was left isolated, almost losing the gateway to the west, which also led to a vicious cycle of Chu State's defeat in Qin State.
Guanzhong Plain and surrounding geographic plate situation chart, the map points to the Earth Knowledge Bureau.
After this Qin-Chu battle, in order to prevent Chu from reuniting with the princes of Shandong and putting itself in a situation of fighting on two fronts (i.e., Hangu Pass on the eastern front and Wuguan on the southeast), Qin took the initiative to exchange the Ankang Basin for peace with Chu at the cost of the Ankang Basin. In the TV series ": The Great Qin Empire: The Zongheng ", this scene is a scene where Zhang Yi wanted to exchange Ying Hua's life for peace with Chu, and all the ministers in the court opposed it. However, King Huai of Chu, who was deceived by Zhang Yi, said that the State of Chu could not avoid the Ankang Basin and only asked Zhang Yi to enter Chu.
In 311 BC, King Huiwen of Qin died a few months after the Battle of Lantian, at the age of 46.
Another reason for Qin's "cede land for peace" was that King Huiwen of Qin, who led the battle between Danyang and Lantian, died a few months after the war. He was only forty-six years old at the time. The successor King Wu of Qin did not like Zhang Yi. Of course that's another story.
Review of the previous issue: Wuguan Road: The eastward passage from Guanzhong Plain to Nanyang Basin, the place where the national destiny of Qin and Chu in the Warring States Period
Note: This article is only one's words, welcome to correct and forward. The accompanying pictures in the article are also cited from Bukharin. If you have any copyrights, please delete them.
