"When talking about the general trend of the world, long-term separation will lead to unity, long-term harmony will lead to unity" , this is a sentence at the beginning of the famous work "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" .
This sentence not only describes the general trend of the world before the Eastern Han Dynasty, but also describes the general trend of the world with a history of 5,000 years in China.
In the breaking and reunification, there were a total of nine unified dynasties in ancient China.
are the Qin Dynasty, Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty respectively.
, all of these nine unified dynasties were established after the troubled times, and after the establishment, it would take a lot of time to eliminate the troubled times.
In fact, from the perspective of the concept of great unification, only the Qin Dynasty was considered to be worthy of its name in the early days of the establishment of the nine great unification dynasties.
Because Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng changed Qin to the Qin Dynasty and changed the title of King to the Emperor after he destroyed all the forces of the six countries and officially merged the territory of the six countries into Qin.
Qin Dynasty was unified first and then established the dynasty.
After the establishment of the other unified dynasties, in order to truly unify, they had to go through a long war to form the final territory. At least in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, they all failed to deserve their name.
The other eight unified dynasties were to establish the dynasty first and then unify it.
This article will give an inventory and a brief overview of this.
1: Han Dynasty
The Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty Liu Bang officially established the dynasty in 202 BC and became emperor, and the Han Dynasty was officially launched as a unified dynasty.
But in fact, the Han Dynasty at this time only nominally unified the country, and the existence of a large number of princes and kings of different surnames made the situation in the early days of the establishment of the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty before the unification of the country.
At that time, there were quite a few areas in the country that were controlled by kings of different surnames. They were King Han Xin of Chu, Han Xin of Han (the Han royal family of the six old countries, with the national name as the surname), King Zang Tu of Yan (after Zang Tu's death, Lu Wan was the King of Yan), King Yingbu of Huainan, King Peng Yue of Liang, King Zhang Er of Zhao, and King Wu Rui of Changsha.
Liu Bang died in 195 BC. He served as the emperor for less than eight years, and most of his time was spent on the battle to fight against kings of different surnames.
If it weren't for the real battle of unification, Liu Bang might have lived longer.
It was not until Liu Bang's death that these kings of different surnames were incorporated and killed, and the formation and integration of the actual control of the Han Dynasty was initially completed.
It took nearly eight years from the establishment of the Han Dynasty to the realization of administrative unity.
2: Jin Dynasty
Jin Wudi Sima Yan officially established the dynasty in 266 AD and became emperor.
Sima Yan used his father Sima Zhao's merits to destroy Shu Han to threaten Emperor Cao Huan of Wei, but there was still a Wu Kingdom at that time, and the Jin Dynasty was only two of the three parts of the world.
After the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan did not rush to destroy the Wu Kingdom and complete unification, but was busy integrating the internal situation and cultivating the country, and continuing to accumulate national strength.
Thirteen years after the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, that is, at the end of 279 AD, Sima Yan ordered his troops to attack Wu. The following year, the Emperor of Wu, Sun Hao, surrendered, and the world was truly unified again.
It took nearly fourteen years from the establishment of the Jin Dynasty to the realization of administrative unity.
3: Sui Dynasty
In 581 AD, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, accepted the abdication of Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou, Yu Wenchang, and established the Sui Dynasty.
The Sui Dynasty was established on the basis of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The inherited Northern Zhou dynasty was only half of the country. There were two regimes in the south, namely the Chen Dynasty and the Western Liang.
Seven years after the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian basically completed internal integration and began the battle to unify the world.
In 587 AD, Xiao Cong, the last emperor of the Western Liang Dynasty and Emperor Jing of Liang, took the initiative to surrender to the Sui Dynasty and came to Daxing, the capital of the Sui Dynasty. Yang Jian took the opportunity to remove the name of the Western Liang Dynasty and the Western Liang Dynasty was destroyed.
In 589 AD, the Sui army, led by Yang Jian's second son and King Yang Guang of Jin, captured Chen Shubao and a large number of Chen Dynasty royal families, and the Chen Dynasty was destroyed.
In 590 AD, the Sui Dynasty sent envoys to Lingnan. Lady Xian, the actual controller of the Lingnan region, and her husband's Feng family, accepted the enthronement of the Sui Dynasty.
At this point, the Sui Dynasty completed the national administrative unification. It took ten years for to go from founding the dynasty to unification.
4: Tang Dynasty
In 618 AD, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty Li Yuan established the dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, and the Tang Dynasty was born.
At this time, the Tang Dynasty was established on a ruin at the end of the Sui Dynasty. In the year when the Tang Dynasty was established, the actual control of the Tang Dynasty was only related to the areas south of Taiyuan in Zhong, Bashu, and Bingzhou.
Subsequently, the Tang Dynasty began the war to unify the whole country, and the future Emperor Taizong of Tang Li Shimin played a huge role in it. Except for Li Xiaogong and Li Jing, the northern half of the Tang Dynasty, almost half of the country was defeated by Li Shimin.
Li Yuan, the founding emperor, served as the founding emperor for nine years. During this period, the Tang Dynasty eliminated many anti-kings at the end of the Sui Dynasty, but until "The Change of Xuanwu Gate" , he gave up the throne, and the Tang Dynasty did not complete the true unification.
Because, in today's northern Shaanxi region, there was a Liang State established by the Liang Shidu supported by the Turks.
In the second year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, in 628 AD, Liang Shidu was killed by his cousin Liang Luoren, and then Liang Luoren surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. The separatist forces were truly extinct at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty completed national unification.
It took ten years for the Tang Dynasty to establish and achieve national administrative unity.
5: In the Song Dynasty
In 960 AD, a major event occurred on the territory of the Later Zhou Dynasty, namely "Chenqiao Mutiny" .
At that time, Zhao Kuangyin, who was the chief inspector of the palace in front of the Houzhou Palace, was put on a yellow robe by his subordinates. He then returned to Kaifeng and forced Chai Zongxun, the seven-year-old Emperor Gong of the Houzhou, to abdicate. Zhao Kuangyin then officially ascended the throne and established the Song Dynasty, which was the Emperor Taizu of Song.
The period of the establishment of the Song Dynasty was called "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" period. From this we can see that there were many separatist regimes at that time.
After Zhao Kuangyin founded the dynasty, he actively began to prepare for the war of unification. During his lifetime, the Song Dynasty successively eliminated separatist regimes such as Nanping, Chu, Houshu, Southern Han, and Southern Tang, and accepted the surrender of the Qian regime of Wu and Yue.
However, until Zhao Kuangyin died in 976 AD, he could not complete national unification during his 16 years of reign. There was also a Northern Han regime in the north, as well as the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun occupied by the Liao Kingdom, the real enemy of the Song Dynasty.
In 979 AD, Emperor Taizong of Song launched an army to fight in the north, and the Northern Han Dynasty was finally destroyed by the Song Dynasty.
But the war of unity in the Song Dynasty ended here. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, the war to send troops twice to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun was all failed.
When the Northern Han Dynasty perished, the Song Dynasty completed the administrative unification of all territory except the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which took nineteen years.
Of course, shortly after that, Li Jiqian, who controlled the five prefectures of Dingnan in the northwest, broke up with the Song Dynasty and actually separated from the Song Dynasty. These places later became the foundation of the founding of the Western Xia.
The Song Dynasty was also the only dynasty that was criticized among all the unified dynasties. Because the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were not in the territory, the Song Dynasty was considered not to be a unified dynasty by many people.
In 1123 AD, that is, in the fifth year of Xuanhe, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty 163 years after the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty took over the jurisdiction of some of the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun from the Jin Dynasty, which was one of the symbols of the Song Dynasty's completion of the unification.
But only four years later, in 1127 AD, the Song Dynasty even the capital was defeated by the Jin Dynasty, and only half of the country was left since then.
6: Yuan Dynasty
In 1271 AD, Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, changed the name of the Great Mongolian Kingdom to "Da Yuan" , officially establishing the Yuan Dynasty. At the same time, the Southern Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty coexisted on the land of China.
In 1276 AD, the Yuan army entered Lin'an, and the five-year-old Song Gongzong went out of the city to surrender.
In 1279 AD, the Battle of Yashan ended, and the last emperor of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Bing, jumped into the sea with Lu Xiufu to die for his country. The Song Dynasty officially perished, and the Yuan Dynasty completed the unification of the land of China. At this time, eight years had passed since the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty.
The time of the above-mentioned unified war began from the official establishment of the Yuan Dynasty. In fact, the war between the Yuan Dynasty and the Song Dynasty fought for more than 40 years. Before that, the Yuan Dynasty was still a great Mongolian country, so the previous war time was not calculated in the article.
7: Ming Dynasty
In 1368 AD, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang established the dynasty in Nanjing and proclaimed himself emperor. The Ming Dynasty was launched. At this time, 250,000 Ming troops were in the northern expedition under the leadership of Xu Da and Chang Yuchun.
When the Ming Dynasty was established, Xu Da led his troops to capture the Yuan Dadu. The last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Yuan Shun, fled back to the desert. The Yuan Dynasty's rule on the land of China officially ended.
Although the Yuan Dynasty retreated, national unification was not completed. Under the will of Zhu Yuanzhang, the generals of the Ming army then began the national unification war.
In 1382 AD, Fu Youde and Lan Yu captured Yunnan, and the inner city was basically unified.
In 1387 AD, the Ming army wiped out Liaodong. At this point, the Ming Dynasty basically completed the administrative unity of the national controllable territory.
At this time, nearly twenty years have passed since the Ming Dynasty was officially established.
8: Qing Dynasty
In 1636 AD, Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty officially established the dynasty and became emperor, changing the country's name "Dajin" to "Daqing" , which was launched in the Qing Dynasty.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty was only located in a corner of Liaodong, and could only be regarded as a small country.
In 1644 AD, under the leadership of the Regent Dorgon, the Qing army cooperated with the surrendered Wu Sangui tribe to defeat Li Zicheng of the Ming Dynasty, and entered the capital of the Ming Dynasty in May.
In October of that year, Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, who had already ascended the throne in Shengjing (Shenyang), came to the capital of the Ming Dynasty and held another throne ceremony here to declare himself the emperor of the Central Plains dynasty.
After that, the Qing Dynasty began the war to unify the whole country.
In 1662 AD, Emperor Yongli of the Southern Ming Dynasty was killed by Wu Sangui, who was already the King of Pingxi of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1664 AD, the thirteen Kuidong families, which were originally composed of the remnants of Li Zicheng's Dashun Army, were destroyed by the Qing army.
In 1681 AD, the Qing Dynasty quelled the Three Feudal Rebellion.
In 1683 AD, the Zheng family in Taiwan surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty basically completed the administrative unity of the national controllable territory.
At this time, forty-seven years have passed since the Qing Dynasty was officially established, and thirty-nine years have passed since Shunzhi ascended the throne in the pass.
9: Conclusion
or above is a basic overview of the other eight unified dynasties except the Qin Dynasty from the establishment of the dynasty to the completion of unification. The unity described in the article
is not the current broad sense, but the unity of the controllable territory of the dynasties at that time.
For example, before the Yuan Dynasty, Yunnan was only a vassal state of the Central Plains dynasty, and before the Qing Dynasty, some territory was not under the jurisdiction of the Central Plains dynasty, etc.
In order to prevent the article from appearing too long, the writing is very simple. Readers are welcome to add in the comment area if there are any omissions.
