What was special about Jiangxia County during the Three Kingdoms period that allowed Sun Ce and Sun Quan to attack three times on a large scale?

In the spring of the thirteenth year of Emperor Xian'an (208 AD), at the suggestion of Gan Ning, Sun Quan led an army to attack Huang Zu who was stationed in Jiangxia. In this battle, Sun Quan led the Dongwu generals like a broken bamboo, and soon defeated the defending army. Huang Zu was also beheaded by Wu general Feng Ze on the way to escape. So far, Sun Quan won the battle this time and achieved the goal of beheading Huang Zu and capturing Jiangxia County. In fact, in addition to this Jiangxia battle, Sun Ce and Sun Quan also launched three large-scale attacks on Jiangxia.

Xiandi Jian’an four years (AD 199), Sun Ce personally launched the first Jiangxia battle. In this battle, Sun Ce led Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, Huang Gai and others to kill Huang Zu's generals Liu Hu, Han Li and more than 20,000 soldiers, and seized more than 6,000 warships. In the eighth year of Emperor Xian'an (203 AD), Sun Quan personally led his troops to attack Jiangxia County. However, due to the chaos in the mountains and mountains in the Soochow, Sun Quan had to give up the action halfway and the whole army retreated; in the 12th year of Emperor Xian'an (207 AD) (Year), Sun Quan sent troops to Jiangxia County for the second time and achieved certain results, but General Ling Cao was killed in this battle. It was not until this battle in the thirteenth year of Emperor Xian'an (208 AD) that Sun Quan won the final victory.

So, what is so special about Jiangxia County in the Three Kingdoms Period at the end of the Han Dynasty that caused the Sun brothers to attack here four times? To answer this question, we must first start with the geographical evolution and development of Jiangxia County.

Jiangxia Jun was established in the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty. In the second year of Yuanshou in the Western Han Dynasty (121 BC), after the King of Hengshan Liu Ci failed in his rebellion, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the abolition of the Hengshan Kingdom and the establishment of two counties, Hengshan and Jiangxia, and Jiangxia County appeared in history. Geographically, Jiangxia County is located in the center of the Hanjiang Plain, with dense water networks and staggered roads. The Hanshui River, the largest tributary of the Yangtze River, intersects with the Yangtze River (now Wuhan) and is a transportation hub for the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. This place was also at the intersection of Jing, Yu, and Yang. In the period of the separatist rule in the late Han Dynasty, its important strategic position became more prominent.

This importance is first manifested in the two big groups, Soochow and Jingzhou Liubiao, which are divided into Jiangdong. Huang Zu's defense of Jiangxia can not only protect the central southern county of Jingzhou, but also can fly down the river at the right time to carry out military attacks on the entire territory of Soochow, and vice versa. For the Soochow Group, the capture of Jiangxia County was also the first battle to establish the northwest river defense overlooking the entire territory of Jingzhou, and to target the Yizhou area in the west.

Therefore, since the Jian'an period at the end of Han Dynasty, Jiangxia has become the focus of competition between Jingzhou Liubiao Group and Dongwu Jintuan. In the spring of the thirteenth year of Emperor Xian'an (208 AD), after Sun Quan annihilated Huang Zu, he controlled most of Jiangxia County. However, in the seventh year of the same year, Cao Cao swung his army south to invade Jingzhou. Liu Cong, Liu Biao's son, led the crowd to surrender, and the rest of Jiangxia County fell into Cao Cao's hands. At this time, Jiangxia County was divided into two, under the control of Cao Wei and Dongwu. Among them, the guard responsible for guarding the Jiangxia County occupied by Cao Wei will be a famous general.

After the end of the Battle of Chibi, there have been many fierce battles in the area, the most famous of which were two battles. The first was the Battle of Seeking Mouth in the 14th year of Jian’an (AD 209). . In this battle, Cao Wei's famous generals Le Jin and Wenpin took the initiative to attack Guan Yu, smashing Guan Yu's attempt to attack Cao Wei's town of Xiangyang.

Picture-the intersection of the Han River and the Yangtze River

The second war in Jiangxia County occurred in the seventh year of Cao Wei Huangchu (AD 226). At that time, Wei Wendi Cao Pi died of illness and Wei Mingdi Cao Rui succeeded. Sun Quan personally led an army of fifty thousand to attack Jiangxia County and encircled the guard's diploma in Shiyang County, Jiangxia County. At this time, Wenpin had only a few thousand soldiers, far less than the Soochow army. At this critical moment, Wen Pin was calm and calm, and ordered the soldiers in the city to die, while he deliberately lay in the mansion. This "empty city plan" really confused Sun Quan. Sun Quan believed that Wenpin's actions had other intentions. He was worried that Wenpin would be attacked, so he gave up the offensive and the whole army withdrew, and Jiangxia County was saved.

In the late Three Kingdoms period, Jiangxia County once again became a battlefield. In the fifth year of Xianning (279 AD), Sima Yan's battle against Wu was officially launched. The beginning of the second year, General Long Xiang, Yizhou Governor Wang Jun, Yuzhou Governor and General Jianwei Wang Rong led their troops to attack Xiakou and Wuchang under the jurisdiction of Jiangxia County. After more than a month of fierce fighting, the Soochow Governor Yu Bing, generals Yang Yong, Sun Shu, Jiang Xia prefect Liu Lang, tooth goalkeeper Meng Tai and others surrendered, and Wu Jun was wiped out in Jiangxia County.

In the first year of Jin Taikang (AD 280), after Emperor Wudi Simayan unified the three kingdoms, Nanjiangxia County in Wudi was renamed Wuchang County. Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jiangxia County has undergone several changes in the later period. During this period, it was abolished and reinstated many times, until the county system of Jiangxia County in the Tang Dynasty was completely abolished and replaced by Jiangxia County, which was named in the Sui Dynasty. This name continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Jiangxia County was renamed Wuchang County. Jiangxia, a place name that has lasted for thousands of years, completely withdrew from the stage of history.

Reference books: "Western Han Dynasty Political Region Geography", "Three Kingdoms", "Han Book", "Eastern Han Dynasty Political Region Geography", "General History of Chinese Administrative Divisions"