Wang Changling's frontier poem "Leaving the fortress" has two very classic lines: "But let the dragon city fly, and don't teach Huma to fight the Yinshan Mountain." This means that if there is a Dragon City Flying Commander, the Xiongnu dare not cross the Yin Mountain.
I believe that when you read this poem, apart from feeling the heroic and helplessness of the poet, you must have a question: Where is the Yin Mountain? What makes it so famous?
Map-Location of Yinshan Mountain Range
Yinshan Mountain, to be precise, is called Yinshan Mountain Range, which is located in the middle of Inner Mongolia of our country. From the map, it is just above the big "ji" on the Yellow River. It is composed of a series of east-west peaks, starting from Ala in the west. Shan Plateau, east to the upper reaches of the Luan River valley to the west of Duolun, from west to east includes Langshan, Wula, Seerteng, Daqingshan, Dama Mountains, etc., stretching more than 1,200 kilometers from east to west.
map-topographic map of the Yinshan Mountains
The average elevation of the Yinshan Mountains is between 1,400 meters and more than 2,300 meters. The main peak is the Huhe Bashige at an altitude of 2,364 meters in the west of Langshan Mountain. The Yinshan Mountains have a very significant feature. The north and south slopes are very asymmetrical. The north slope slides slowly to the Inner Mongolia Plateau, while the south slope descends steeply to the Hetao Plain, with a drop of about kilometer. my country's famous rare earth mine-Baiyun Obo mining area is located to the north of Yinshan Mountain.
map-map of the Yinshan Mountains and Hetao Plains
The Yinshan Mountains are an important geographic boundary in my country, a transition zone between temperate semi-arid and arid climates, and historically the boundary between agriculture and pasture. The climate difference between the north and the south of Yinshan Mountain is relatively large. The north of Yinshan Mountain has little precipitation and is dominated by animal husbandry; the southern part of Yinshan Mountain is relatively humid, and there is water from the Yellow River, which is suitable for agriculture and animal husbandry. To the south of Yinshan Mountain is the Hetao Plain of "Nine Bends of the Yellow River, Only Rich". It is by no means an empty name. Now it is an important agricultural area and grain production base in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia.
map-location map of the Hexi Corridor
Yinshan is so famous because of its important strategic position in history. In the long history, the Yinshan Mountains have been the forefront of the battle between the farming peoples of the Central Plains and the nomadic peoples of the Mongolian plateau for a long time. For the nomads, its significance is extraordinary, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is their lifeline.
If the farming people occupy the Yinshan area, the nomads will be forced to retreat to Mobei; if the nomads once occupy the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains and have a fertile Hetao plain, their strength will be greatly increased, and the Chinese principle will lose its barrier and open its doors. The threat posed by the farming nation is also very great.
Picture-Han Dynasty Wei Qinghuo went to the sick and hit the Huns in the north
In the minds of nomads, Yin Mountain is not just a mountain, but a "sacred mountain" in their hearts, as a guarantee of survival and a spiritual sustenance. During the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu Maodun Shanyu took the Yinshan area as its core base, which shows its importance. Later, the Xiongnu lost the Yinshan Mountain, "it's not a bad idea to cry".
Picture-The Qin Dynasty counterattacked the Xiongnu. During the Qin Dynasty, Meng Tian led his army to defeat the Xiongnu and seized the land of Henan south of Yinshan Mountain to build Shuofang City and set up Shuofang, Yunzhong and Jiuyuan counties. In the chaos of the end of Qin Dynasty, Chu and Han were fighting, the Huns took the opportunity to regain the Yinshan Mountain, and their strength greatly increased. The newly established Han Dynasty could only avoid its edge and care for each other.
At the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, two war-god generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing came out, attacked Dragon City and sealed the wolf to live in Xu, and finally regained Yinshan completely and firmly grasped the Hetao Plain at the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain. The Xiongnu could only Fleeing, there is no royal court in Monan (south of Yinshan Mountain).
-A schematic diagram of Weiqing and Huo Qubing's several northern strikes against the Huns in the Han Dynasty.
In the past dynasties, whenever the Central Plains farming peoples own the Yin Mountains, they must set up important towns and guard them. In the "Nine Frontiers", the importance of Yinshan Mountain is also very clear: "If China gets Yinshan Mountain, you can take a high look. You can see the infestation and disappearance of the bandits. They must pass the big moraine and live in the north. Going to China is far away, so Yinshan Mountain For the imperial border, the south of Yinshan Mountain is Monan. If he gets Yinshan, he will easily commit crimes with his strength. The Qin, Han, and Tang are all Guanzhong, and they must pass the river and guard Yinshan to the north."
