Mr. Sun Yat-sen discussed the issue of China's future capital with Chapter 1 Taiyan . For Nanjing, he said, "Although Jinling is entrenched, it is in the southeast and has no way to control the inland." For Wuhan, he said, "The city of capital is South is nothing better than Wuchang "; for Xi'an, he said, "If you plan to build a headquarters in China, you will be Wuchang, and if you plan to support the world, you will be Xi'an"; for Yili , he said, "If you plan to become Asia, you will be Yili. If you want to be the co-lord of Asia, you should move the capital to Yili." I didn’t expect that Yili was incomplete after all. Not to mention becoming the capital of China, even the qualification to be a provincial capital in Xinjiang has been lost. So why?
Changes in the historical and political center of Xinjiang
Xinjiang is the largest provincial administrative region in China. It has been established in China since ,000 years ago. Emperor Wu of Han era Zhang Qian digs the air Western Regions and makes China famous. In the era of Emperor Xuan of Han, the "Western Region Protectorate" was officially set up to govern the vast Western Regions, and cast cities and garrisons were established locally. During the Han Dynasty, the political and military center of Xinjiang was Wulei City, which is the current Luntai County in China. Emperor Wu of Han dismissed military affairs in his later years and restored the countryside and sent a crime to the round of Taiwan.
After that, The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties era followed the management methods of the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty , or set up The Protectorate Office for direct management, or set up the Changshi service for indirect rule. By the time of , the areas of the Western Regions were developed far surpassed those of the Han Dynasty. Because the Tang Dynasty was known as the Great Tang Dynasty, its borders were unprecedentedly vast, and the scope of the Western Regions once reached the Aral Sea. Therefore, it was insufficient to set up a management agency in the Western Regions during the Tang Dynasty, so Tang Dynasty divided the Western Regions into three, namely Anxi Protectorate , Beiting Protectorate , and further away, it was Persian Protectorate.
The political and military center of the Tang Dynasty was Anxi four towns , using this as Kucha , shattered leaves, Khotan , Shule . But the Anxi Protectorate in the entire Western Regions is Kucha, while the Beiting Protectorate is today's Jimusar County . Anshi Rebellion The decline of the Tang Dynasty in the later Tang Dynasty, and all the elite troops in Anxi fought to combat the rebellion in the mainland, and the Western Regions were empty, thus allowing the Tubo and Arab countries to see a gap. After more than 50 years of invasion, the entire Anxi Protectorate and Beiting Protectorate fell in 1807.
757 Emperor Qianlong recaptured the Western Regions in full swing. At that time, the political, economic and military center of the Western Regions was "Yili City". From then on to the mid-19th century, the political, military center of Xinjiang had not changed. But after the founding of New China , why was the capital city of Xinjiang determined to be Urumqi City, rather than the former Yili City?
Transfer of Xinjiang's political and military center
html The world was in chaos in the 119th century, and the Opium War storms were rampant. The coastal areas of mainland China were still in danger. Xinjiang is even more mixed with forces from all sides. During the Tongzhi period of Xianfeng, the Russians came from the north. In 1871, the Russian army captured Yili, abolished the various rules and regulations set up by China, and replaced the colonial system. Since then, although the old Mr. Zuo Zongtang has recovered Xinjiang, Yili is no longer complete. So what areas did Yili lose back then?
is mainly: the Sino-Russian Treaty on the Northwest Division will ced the outer northwest land. Yili City once had a complete Ili River Valley . The entire Ili River originated in Xinjiang and flowed all the way to Balkash Lake . The Sino-Russian War broke out in 11862, which made the complete Ili River Valley no longer owned by China, and the middle and lower reaches were occupied by Tsarist Russia. The Chinese people fought desperately to resist and could only maintain the upper reaches. Because the loss of the Ili River Valley and the vast area outside the northwest made the city of Yili City instantly become a front-line city in the Sino-Russian border from the center of Xinjiang in the past.
Whether from a strategic and tactical perspective or from a political and economic perspective, Yili City at this time is actually not enough to become the center of Xinjiang. The center of a region cannot be set up at the most border without strong force and natural security. If this happens, once a war breaks out, will the essence of Xinjiang region be immediately facing the threat of war, and will the essence and economy and people's livelihood be destroyed after being destroyed by war?
Yili has changed from a city in the heart of Xinjiang to a border city, and has directly lost the ability to control the entire Xinjiang. Its geographical location is no longer as good as Urumqi behind. After Zuo Zongtang recovered Xinjiang , his subordinate wise general Liu Jintang once proposed that Urumqi is the new provincial capital of Xinjiang. The loss of the northwest outside the northwest greatly reduced the area of Xinjiang, and the geographical situation between cities has also undergone major changes. At this moment, Urumqi should have become the transportation center of the north and south from a geographical location. In Liu Jintang's words, "Dihua City is enough to control the north and south."
The provincial capital construction of Urumqi
Since Zuo Zongtang recovered Xinjiang, Yili has been unable to continue to exist as the provincial capital of Xinjiang. Urumqi should have become the provincial capital of Xinjiang. Hunan Army General Liu Jintang was ordered to build Xinjiang and open a government office in Urumqi. In the last few years of the Qing Dynasty, after Xinjiang was established, the role of General Ili became smaller and smaller, mainly used to prevent Russia in the north. The construction of Urumqi can be said to be the highest in Central Asia in the 119th century. When Central Asia was in a wilderness in 1893, Urumqi had already started to build a telegraph bureau. The military and political role of the Telegram Bureau is greater than that of people's livelihood. It is divided into two lines, north and south, and connects important Xinjiang cities such as Yili, Tacheng , Turpan , Kuche, Kashgar, and Aksu . In terms of geographical location, if the Qing Dynasty did not lose the outer Northeast, then Yili is of course the first choice for the best provincial capital city. This is not only the historical result of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties for thousands of years, but also determined by the reality. The Yili River Valley is the essence of the entire Xinjiang region. If it is successfully grasped in the hands of the Chinese nation, once the farming characteristics of the Chinese nation are exerted, it will directly feed millions of people.
One Yili River Valley can feed millions of people. This estimate is still the agricultural era in the late Qing Dynasty, and it was even more amazing in the industrial era. Therefore, the Yili River Valley in the Qing Dynasty was the ballast for the entire Xinjiang region. The Chinese with the Yili River Valley in hand were never afraid of anyone splitting Xinjiang. However, the outbreak of the Sino-Russian War caused us to lose this place permanently. After that, the Qing Dynasty and even the New China began to shift their construction goals, using Urumqi as the capital of Xinjiang, and trying to reconstruct the ballast for Xinjiang with manpower.
The true face of history has never been the peaceful years. The modernization of the frontiers and coastal areas has truly experienced the tempering of blood and fire to achieve today's results. Urumqi has been developing rapidly since Xinjiang was established in the late Qing Dynasty. With the strategic plan for opening up the western region formulated by New China, countless passionate young people in the southeast Central Plains of China used their lives to build this land. Today, there are still Xinjiang Construction Corps troughs to stay here. The city of Yili, once the center of Xinjiang, was renamed "Yining" in the beautiful expectations of the Chinese to seek peace in the border.
Conclusion
Speaking of The famous generals in the history of in the late Qing Dynasty, the author thinks that the only one that deserves our unconditional worship and cannot find any fault is Zuo Zongtang. When Manchu general Chonghou rushed to St. Petersburg, Russia to negotiate and was fooled to ced large areas of northwest land such as the Yili River Valley, Zuo Zongtang ordered that 100,000 Hunan troops head north to Yili. He also made a harsh remark to Russia: "Don't renegotiate, or die together." It was not until this time that Tsarist Russia finally understood that the old man in Hunan in front of him had never thought of leaving Xinjiang alive from the beginning.
