Longshan (data photo)
On the Loess Plateau in central Gansu, there is a place called Longxi . This is a place name that has lasted for more than two thousand years and is also a place that witnesses the development of the Chinese nation to the west. Over the past thousand years, the weather has changed and the past is like the wind. What happened under the name "Longxi"? Today, we will explore the thousand-year past of "Longxi".
Longxi County Establishment and evolution
Today, Longxi County on the Loess Plateau in Longzhong, Gansu Province is Longxi in history books? The answer is: Yes, not yes.
The name "Longxi" comes from Qin people , and Qin people come from the east. Mr. Li Xueqin believes that about 3,000 years ago, King Wu of Zhou took advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the Shang army and the capital Chaoge was empty, and led his people to easily defeat the temporary armed slaves of King Zhou of Shang in Muye and overthrew the rule of the Shang Dynasty. However, the power of the merchants was still strong. In order to appease the merchants, King Wu of Zhou sealed the son of King Zhou of Shang in Qufu, Shandong. In order to prevent Wu Geng, King Wu of Zhou sent Shu Guan and three others to supervise Wu Geng. But Wu Geng was very eloquent and insisted on instigating Uncle Guan to rebel with him. This is the Wu Geng Rebellion in the early Western Zhou Dynasty .
Fortunately, Zhou Dynasty has very strong power and easily defeated Wu Geng's rebellion. After the rebellion was quelled, some of the rebels were moved westward to guard the border for the Zhou Dynasty. They came to the Weishui River in Gangu, Gansu and chose a red cliff as their place to settle down. These people are called Zhu in historical records, meaning slaves grazing under the red cliff. Their destination is in the area of Zhushan in Gangu today.
During this large migration, the Qin ancestor Fei Lian and his father played a certain role. Fei Lian, also known as Fei Lian, was the son of Zhong Yan. He was a very visionary tribal leader and once held important positions under the King Zhou of Shang . After investigation, Fei Lian's surname is Ying, and he was the father of evil. He was the ancestor of the monarchs of Qin and Zhao during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This is also the reason why historical books say that "Qin and Zhao are a family." The Ying Qin tribe who moved westward united with the Ying Qin clan, who originally lived here, and its power increased greatly. The Qin people thus developed livestock and breed horses with the river valleys in Gangu, Lixian and other places as the center, and gradually became a big country.
From the Xia Dynasty to the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Gansu-Qinghai region was complex, with local tribes and inconsistent countries. Even Longdong, controlled by the Zhou people, was divided by Rongdi. Many countries refused to give in, and it was not until the rise of the Qin people gradually changed. After the Qin people were powerful, they were recognized and enfeoffed by the Zhou royal family. The Qin people were determined to advance eastward to fight for dominance of the world, but they carried out a Western Expedition before advancing eastward. Looking at the Qin people's path of fighting for dominance in the world, they basically followed the strategic thinking of moving west first and then east later.
In 659 BC, Duke Mu of Qin ascended the throne. He adhered to the usual expansion ideas of the Qin people, and first joined forces with the Eastern Wei State and Jin State, expanding the territory of Qin State to the shore of the Yellow River . However, Jin State was powerful and the Qin people were defeated several times, so they had to shift their target to the West. So he used Yu Yu's plan to conquer the Western Rong. This is Qin Ba Xirong. In the 18th year of King An of Zhou (384 BC), Duke Xian of Qin established Didao County. In the 27th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (280 BC), the Ganquan Palace Incident broke out. Queen Mother Xuan of Qin killed King Yiqurong, and the Qin people completely solved the Yiqurong problem. Before and after this, Longxi County and Beidi County were established, and the Great Wall of Qin in the Warring States Period was built.
Longxi County is named after it is located west of Longshan Mountain. Itadao (now Lintao). From the Warring States Period to the Qin and Han dynasties, Longxi County governed the area from Longshan Mountain in the east (now between Gansu and Shaanxi) and west to the Great Wall of Qin in the Warring States Period (later to the east of the Yellow River and Daxia River). During the reign of Qin Shihuang, Longxi County had 14 county roads, including Didao County, Lintao County, Shangqi County, Yuzhong County, Xixian County, , Mianzhudao, Qinghan County, Ji County, Xiabian Road, Chuan Road, Chengji County, and Lueyang Road. It is roughly equivalent to the Wei River in Gansu and east of the Yellow River, including all or part of today's Lanzhou, Dingxi, Tianshui, Longnan, Linxia, and Gannan.It can be said that the establishment of Longxi County by Qin State was the earliest "great development of the west".
Since Qin Dynasty, Longxi County has become smaller and smaller. During the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang inherited the Qin people's legacy, and the territory of Longxi County had not changed for more than a hundred years. It did not change until Emperor Wu of Han opened up the Hexi Corridor.
In 206 BC, the Han army attacked Longxi. At this time, Zhang Ping, the younger brother of Qin general Zhang Han, led his army to garrison Longxi. In order to capture Longxi, the Han army's cavalry commander Jin She led his army to fight with Zhang Ping's troops. Zhang Ping's morale was depressed and was defeated by Jin Xu, the cavalry commander. In November 205 BC, the Han army captured Longxi and Zhangping fled to Beidijun. After that, Qin Longxi County returned to the Han Dynasty. At this time, the area of Longxi County was comparable to that of the Qin Dynasty. By the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, Longxi County became the base for Huo Qubing to expedition to the Hexi Corridor of the Huns.
In the spring and summer of the second year of Yuanshou (121 BC), Emperor Wu of Han appointed the nineteen-year-old Huo Qubing as General of the Cavalry twice to attack the Huns. Huo Qubing left Longxi and fought against the five Hexi countries, winning a great victory. In the following two thousand years, the ancient Longxi County of became the base and barrier for the central dynasty to manage the Western Regions and guard Chang'an. If Dunhuang is the first base for managing the Western Regions, then Longxi and Jincheng are the second base for managing the Western Regions.
Didao, the capital of Longxi County, during the Western Han Dynasty. In the third year of Yuanding of Emperor Wu of Han (114 BC), a part of Longxi County was divided into Tianshui County. Later, , Jinchengjun, was set in part. Since then, the territory of Longxi County has gradually decreased. During the Three Kingdoms period, there were only six counties in Longxi County, and the county was in Xiangwu, including Xiangwu County (now southeast of Longxi County), Shouyang County (now northeast of Weiyuan County northeast of Weishui), Lintao County (now Minxian County ), Didao County (now Lintao County), Jun County (now southwest of Zhangxian County ), and Angu County (now Yujingtai, Nanlintao). Today, Longxi County was established during the Sui Dynasty. Xiangwu County was established in the early Han Dynasty, and it was established. It was changed to Longxi County in the Sui Dynasty. The county name has been used to this day. It can be seen that Longxi County was born in the Sui Dynasty.
pottery li , pottery gui, and saddle-shaped pottery jar unearthed from the Liya site in Qingshui County. (Data photo)
Longxi County: the intersection of three ancient roads
Why is ancient Longxi County important? Because it not only has rich products, but also has developed transportation, it is at the intersection of three ancient roads.
The first one is Silk Road . The Silk Road is divided into the Oasis Silk Road, the Grassland Silk Road, and the Maritime Silk Road. Longxi County is an important area on the Oasis Silk Road. The Oasis Silk Road starts in Chang'an and can reach Central Asia and West Asia through Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang. This road is roughly divided into three routes in the northwest of my country: north, central and southern routes. Among them, the central and southern lines meet at Longxi County. People set out from Chang'an, passed Tianshui to Lintao, Gansu, and then divided into two routes. One route entered Lanzhou, crossed the Yellow River, crossed the Wushaoling , and entered the Hexi Corridor; the other route started from Lintao, entered the Hehuang Valley , and then entered the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau , which was also the road to the Tang and Tibet later.
The second is the road to Tang and Tibet. This route has been around for a long time, and this ancient road was opened when Dayu controlled floods at . According to records, Dayu opened the road of "Xixi Qing, Zhu Yuan, Bird and Rat to Taihua". Xiqingshan is located in the southwest of Gansu Province and the eastern part of Qinghai Province. It is located at the edge of the southeastern Qinghai Plateau. It belongs to the branch of the Bayankala Mountains of the Kunlun Mountains. It is a watershed between the Yellow River system of Tao River and the Yangtze River system of Bailong River. Xiqingshan is divided into three branches, extending farthest to Zhang County, and it borders many places with Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture and Dingxi region. Zhushan is next to Gangu County, birds and rats are in , Weiyuan , and Taihua is in Shaanxi. It can be seen that the ancient road opened by Dayu was one of the earliest roads to enter the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Guanzhong, Shaanxi.
The third one is the Hookah Road, which is part of the Tea-Horse Road , and is also the route for Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition . Lintao produces a lot of hookah. In Lintao, along the Tao River, extending from Dazhuang, Longjiazhuang, Panjiazhuang to Sunliangjia, Kangjiaya, Xindian, Shuiquan and other places, there is a 100-kilometer-long hookah planting belt. At that time, there were more than 70 hookah workshops in Lintao.Most of these hookahs went south and were shipped to Sichuan for sale.
The Way of Hookah, famous for selling hookah. It starts with Lintao Yawan and ends with Zhongba, Sichuan. It is about 1,000 kilometers long and passes through 10 counties and about 30 stations along the way. Along the way, cross mountains and ridges, walk on the plank road, pass through the canyon, climb mountains, and go down steep cliffs. The larger rivers along the way include Tao River, Manba River, Zhang River, , Diazang River, Minjiang , Bailong River, Jialing River, etc. The mountains include Mali Mountain, Lianhua Mountain, Guiqing Mountain, Minshan, Daba Mountain, etc. When in the Tang Dynasty, most of the tea used for tea-horse trading came from Sichuan and Hanzhong, and it also arrived at the Hehuang Valley through this road.
Longxi County produces war horses and salt
Ancient Longxi County controls a large area of land in the central and southern part of Gansu. The terrain is complex, easy to defend and difficult to attack. This is also where Wei River originates and flows through.
Wei River, known as the Wei River in ancient times, was the largest tributary of the Yellow River. It originates from Niaoshun Mountain, Weiyuan County, Dingxi City, Gansu Province, flows through Tianshui, Gansu Province, Baoji, Shaanxi, Xianyang, , Xi'an, Weinan and other places, and merges into the Yellow River in Tongguan County, Weinan City. The Zhou people developed advanced farming culture based on the Weishui River Valley; the Qin people relied on the Weishui River Valley to establish a country, from the west to the east, and finally captured the world. After Qin, the three dynasties of Han, Sui and Tang emerged and then established empires. Their development was based on the Wei River and was inseparable from the nourishment of the Wei River Basin.
in the Weishui River Basin, it has advanced farming technology and culture. The Qin people established their country by farming and fighting, and started their own family with horses. They raised a large number of war horses, and there are still mountain horse farms in Longshan. There is the most advanced metallurgy , and the northwest was the origin of early Chinese metallurgy; there is salt, Yanguan Town, Li County, Gansu and Yanchuan Town, Zhang County, Gansu are famous for their abundant salt production. Qin tyrannized the Western Rong to seize the salt production area.
The battle between Wei and Shu and Longxi County
In history, Zhuge Liang launched five wars against Wei, and only two people could truly go out of Qishan. Zhuge Liang attacked Wei five times, went to Qishan twice, and once in the other three times, Chencang (Baoji), once in Wudu and Yinping (south of Qishan), and once in Wuzhangyuan (now the south bank of the Wei River near Baoji, Shaanxi Province).
In the war of Zhuge Liang's attack on Wei, five battles were launched, namely the Battle of Jieting, the Battle of Jianwei, the Battle of Shouyang, the Battle of Qishan, and the Battle of Weishui.
The first time was the Battle of Jieting in 228 AD. Jieting is located in Longcheng Town, 45 kilometers northeast of Qin'an County. It is a strategic point to Guanzhong and a western stronghold leading to Guanzhong's key pass. Whoever occupys Jieting can attack Guanzhong along Longshan Road. After the Anshi Rebellion in Tang Dynasty, Longyou fell into Tubo , and the west entrance of Longshan Road was lost. Tangdu Chang'an was unbearable. This also became a major reason for the turmoil in the late Tang Dynasty, which shows the importance of the location of Jieting.
At the beginning of the war, Zhuge Liang adopted the tactic of a sudden attack, heading northwest of the Jialing River from Lueyang, Shaanxi, passing through Xujiaping, passing through Qingnihe, to Ningping and Changfeng Rivers, Feilong Gorge (both small place names), and to Xiabian (now west of Chengxian, Gansu at that time). Then, after passing through the Xisaka Plank Road to Qishan, the troops were divided into three groups, besieging Shangji , occupying Tianshui and Nan'an, and conquering Longxi. At that time, Tianshui, Nan'an and Anding counties "rebeled from Wei Yingliang". As a result, Guanzhong vibrated because Longxi has always been the gateway and barrier to protect Guanzhong. This time, Zhuge Liang led the victorious army to pacify the Southern Barbarians and conquer Meng Huo , and arrived at Anding as far as the farthest (Zhi Linjing , now south of Zhenyuan County, Gansu). Most of these places are the locations of ancient Longxi County.
Soon Wei State responded, and Emperor Ming of Wei personally went to Chang'an to take charge. At the same time, he sent the right general Zhang He to lead 50,000 infantry and cavalry to advance west from Chang'an, and sent the Grand Commander-in-chief Cao Zhen to guard Jigu to prevent the Shu army from attacking. As the Wei army Zhang He's troops marched quickly, they went straight to Jieting. At the same time, Wei generals Guo Huai sent troops from Ji County to cooperate and attack Jieting.
Zhuge Liang carefully organized the Jieting blocking battle. Although he sent 10,000 elite troops with Ma Su as the vanguard and Wang Ping, Gao Xiang, Li Sheng, Zhang Xiu, Huang Xi and others as generals to guard the army. As a result, Ma Su's self-righteousness violated Zhuge Liang's requirement to go to the camp, resulting in the defeat of the entire army. In fact, even if Ma Su followed Zhuge Liang's deployment, he could not win because the Wei army had strong troops, with 50,000 or 60,000 people, while Shu Han had only 10,000 people. The troops of the two sides were very different, so it would be a matter of time before Jieting was lost. After Jieting was lost, Zhuge Liang advanced and retreated without any basis, and the opportunity to seize Longyou was lost. Moreover, the flanks of the entire army were exposed before the Wei army. Zhuge Liang had to kill Ma Su, Zhang Xiu and Huang Xi, captured more than a thousand mouths in Xixian, and returned to Hanzhong.
It seems today that it is not necessary to take the Qishan Mountains to capture Chang'an. Even in the Han Dynasty, there were roads such as Xieyudao that could reach Chang'an. Why did Zhuge Liang have to go to Qishan?
There are two reasons: First, the Qishan Mountains are on the boundary of Xixian County, which is the southernmost part of Tianshui County under the jurisdiction of Wei, and it is also the dividing line between Wei and Shu. Going to Qishan means attacking Wei and maintaining and restoring the orthodox rule of the Han Dynasty. In addition, if you can gain strategic initiative when you go out to Qishan, you can seize strategic materials from Longxi. Strategically speaking, here you can attack Yongqi, go to the south to Cheng, you can take Liangyi and the west to Lanhui, and you can occupy Hehuang. There are three strategic benefits of occupying Longyou from the north of Qishan Mountain: First, expand the territory, connect Qiangyi, and seize materials; second, cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Hexi; third, strategically surround Guanzhong. Zhuge Liang's purpose of going to Qishan was to break the barriers in Guanzhong and form a strategic siege of Guanzhong.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Longyou was a major transportation site on the Silk Road, which was very rich. There are Liangdang River, Yongning River, Niyang River, Xiabian River, Western Han River, etc., which not only produce grain, but also military horses and salt. Li County, where Qishan Fort is located, is the birthplace of the Qin people, and the Qin people are famous for raising horses. At the same time, the Yanguan Town (that is, Lucheng) in Li County produces salt, and salt is still produced here. In ancient times, grain, horses and salt were rare military supplies. Moreover, Longyou has a high terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Especially in the Longxi and Qishan areas, there are all high mountains and deep valleys, with mountains and ridges, and the people's customs are strong. Martial spirit, and can be recruited as mountain infantry.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan with the goal of seizing Longyou's population resources, war horses and salt, and recruiting mountain people to fight as soldiers. At the same time, he used the influence of the Ma Chao family in Longxi to recruit Qiang and Hu cavalry who were proficient in cavalry and shooting. So although Shu general Wei Yan also proposed a way to conquer Chang'an, Zhuge Liang finally chose the path of "going to Qishan". After all, the Shu Han regime had a weak foundation and few family responsibilities, and could not withstand the troubles. It must be safe. He wants to trade the smallest cost for the best benefit. However, Cao Wei had long expected the plan of Shu Han. The famous minister Zhang saw through Zhuge Liang's plan and gave Zhuge Liang a real " empty city plan ". Before Liu Bei occupied Hanzhong, Zhang suggested that Cao Cao move the population of Hanzhong and move 30,000 households to Guanzhong. As a result, although Cao Cao lost Hanzhong, he obtained sufficient human resources, and although Zhuge Liang obtained Hanzhong, he lost human resources. Since Zhang defeated Zhuge Liang's strategic goal with a real empty city plan, Zhuge Liang could only "capture more than a thousand mouths in Xi County" and return to Hanzhong.
During the Three Kingdoms, Wei and Shu must compete for Longxi. Because this involves the gains and losses of Guanzhong, it affects the whole body with one blow. Therefore, Longxi became a must-fight place for Wei and Shu. (Text/Gansu Daily Special Contributor Wang Wenyuan)
(Source: Gansu Daily)
