Chapter 14 2. The political situation after Yu Liang left the capital

After the rebellion of Su Jun subsided in the fourth year of Xianhe Emperor Cheng of Jin Dynasty (329), Yu Liang took the blame and went out of the capital, and stationed in Wuhu as the governor of Yuzhou, in an attempt to control the government nearby and confront Wang Dao.This is the first time that Yuzhou and Yangzhou have faced each other in a non-war state since the founding of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.At that time, Jiangzhou in the upper reaches belonged to Wenqiao, and Jingzhou belonged to Taokan.Both Wen and Tao were heroes of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and they had an alliance with Yu when they were in Pingsu Jun. At this time, the three of them lived in peace for the time being.Yu Liang knew that Wen Qiao originally came to Jiankang as Liu Kun's envoy. He was isolated and helpless in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and lived in Jiangzhou without much strength; The offspring can inherit their karma.Therefore, as long as there is no abnormal situation that is unfavorable to Yu Liang, it is entirely possible for Yu Liang to gradually expand the territory, acquire Jiang and Jing, unify the upper reaches, and then use the established momentum to threaten Jiankang and replace Wang Dao's rule.In the following ten years, the upstream situation and the relationship between upstream and downstream have indeed developed in this direction, and the power of the Yu family has become stronger and stronger.

Yu Liang came out to live in Wuhu, and he only gave way to Director Wang, and it was only temporary.Yu and Yang are in a stalemate, geographically close to each other, there is no room for buffering, which is not conducive to maintaining the balance of each other.Once they face each other, whether it is Yu or Yang, they may suddenly be in a tense and critical position.Wang Dun was in Gushu, Su Jun was in Liyang, and he fought hand-to-hand with Jiankang. Yu Liang and Director Wang will never forget this lesson.Yu Liang has neither intention nor ability to break up with Wang Dao, so he can only wait and see temporarily in Wuhu. Once possible, he will develop upstream, gather strength upstream, and Xu Tu will move later. This is an inevitable reason.

We have seen that the situation of the struggle between the upper and lower reaches of the Jiangzuo, at the time of Wang Dun, can also be said to be due to the historical conditions of "the Chu River is constantly fighting, Fangcheng is against the enemy, and the generals have to be honest, and the generals are the generals." Caused.But since there was the fact that Wang Duncheng raised troops at the right time and dominated the subordinates, it has become a historical experience, which is used and emulated by those who are in the upper reaches, regardless of the needs of Chujiang and Fangcheng.Yu Liang took advantage of this experience to intentionally create a situation where the superior ruled the subordinates, in order to benefit the Yu clan's family.

We can also see that at this time, Jiankang not only has to deal with the downstream troops who may be promoted by Jing and Jiang upstream, but also always beware of surprise attacks from Yuzhou, which is close at the elbow.Jiankang is in an extremely unsafe state, which is an objective reason for the timely rise of the important town of Jingkou on which Jiankang relies.It was under such conditions that Xi Jian, the governor of Xuzhou, played the role of Jingkou.In this way, the so-called dispute between upstream and downstream is not a simple dispute between Jing and Yang, but has evolved into a much more complicated dispute between bulls.The real Jingzhou, Jiangzhou, and Yangzhou, plus the overseas Chinese Yuzhou and Xuzhou, all occupy their respective positions in this repeated struggle.This is a further geographical and military manifestation of Eastern Jin clan politics.

"Tong Jian" said in the first year of Liu Song Xiaojian (454): "At the beginning, the Jin family moved south, took Yangzhou as the capital, and all the capital of Gubo came from Yan; with Jing and Jiang as the important towns, all the armored soldiers gathered in Yan, often The generals live there. The household registration of the three states occupies half of the south of the Yangtze River." This is in terms of Jiang Zuoshi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.The state capitals and military palaces of the three states are all along the Yangtze River.The three states plus Yuzhou and Xuzhou, which were owned by the overseas Chinese, roughly formed a north-south line of defense that drew the river and defended it.During this period, although the forces of the North and the South fluctuated from time to time, they were generally balanced.Therefore, painting the river and guarding it gradually became the national policy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to deal with the threat from the north. "Book of Jin" Volume Five and Six "Biography of Sun Chuo": "Zhongzong Longfei is not only trusting and cooperating with heaven and man, but actually depends on the Yangtze River for thousands of miles, painting and keeping ears." The reason why I set up danger to resist the invaders is to use the Yangtze River as the ear." At that time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty deployed troops between the Jianghuai and Jianghan, and advanced and retreated according to the change in the balance of power between the north and the south.When the strength is not enough to control the area and the line of defense has to be shifted, the limit of retreat is the Yangtze River.Of course, if Jiangbei abandons its defense and the Yangtze River is exposed to the enemy, Jiangnan will enter a state of crisis.Therefore, the national policy of drawing the river and defending it requires that, in addition to the requirement that Jing, Jiang, Yu, Yang, and Xu prefectures or military offices must be located along the Yangtze River and not move southward, it also requires that a certain amount of land be controlled in the north of the river as much as possible, so that the north and the south must be controlled. buffer.If possible, even a part of the land north of Huai and Han should be mastered.Precisely because of the important strategic value of the Yangtze River, conflicts among Eastern Jin gentry clans often unfolded along the Yangtze River, and changes in the power structure in clan politics often occurred along the Yangtze River.The geographical downstream advantage of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River can be transformed into military and political advantages.Coupled with the conditions of Jing and Jiang's "gathering of armored soldiers", the gentry seeking family power often seized the upper reaches.This is the historical background for the further development of the dispute between the upper and lower reaches of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Draw the river and guard, the situation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty is basically the same as that of Sun Wu. "Three Kingdoms · Wu Zhi · Sun Quan Biography" Chiwu Thirteenth Year Annotation cited Yu explained "Yangdu Fu · Annotation" said: "The beacon fire is a torch, and it is placed on the top of a lonely mountain. They all face each other by the river, or a hundred miles, or fifty, thirty. Kou Zhi told each other that he could travel thousands of miles in one night. Sun Quan raised fire in Xiling at dusk, and reached Nansha in Wujun on the third day of the drum. Zhi envoy Wei, Wei asked Wu's garrison and how strong it was, Zhi said to him: "From Xiling to Jiangdu is five thousand and seven hundred miles... Although the frontier is far away, there are only four dangerous places to fight for." Wu placed a military governor in the Binjiang River, and the most powerful one was the governor, and the place was located in the dangerous and contested area mentioned by Ji She.Hong Yisun's "Three Kingdoms Official List" compiled the governor or governor of Wu Yanjiang, from Xiling in the west to Jingkou in the east, there are about 20 places, which is similar to the distribution of troops in Jing, Jiang, Yu, Yang, and Xu states in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The situation is largely the same. "Three Kingdoms · Wu Zhi · Sun Jing Biography" attached to "Sun Huan Biography" quotes "Jiang Biao Biography": "At the beginning, [Sun] Quan was in Wuchang, and he wanted to return the capital to build a business, but he was worried that the waterway would go back two thousand miles. Once there were police, If you don't go to meet each other, you will be suspicious." Gather a hundred officials to discuss it.The generals either Chen Yi erected a fence at Xiakou, or said that it is appropriate to reset the iron locks.This is passive defense.The young general Zhang Liang advocated sending generals into Mian to compete with the enemy for profit, and set up elite troops in Wuchang to cope with them, which was adopted by Sun Quan.This is aggressive defense.The Yangtze River is originally like a long snake, and the painting of the river should focus on the beginning and the end.Sun Quan returned to Jianye and used Wuchang as an intermediary to control Mian Han, so it was appropriate to match the beginning and the end.Therefore, in the end of the Wu Dynasty, Jing and Yang were under the firm control of the Sun Wu court, and the capital city of Wu State could still be moved between Jianye and Wuchang without frequent upstream and downstream disputes, which was very different from the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

The person who lived in the upper reaches of Fangzhen when Sun Wu was also a nobleman.Lu Xun of Wujun was the shepherd of Jingzhou for more than 20 years. After he died in the eighth year of Chiwu (245), Zi Lukang led his father's soldiers to the town of Chaisang, and also supervised Xiling and other places.Lu Kang died in the third year of Fenghuang (274), and his sons Yan, Jing, Xuan, Ji, and Yun led their father's soldiers to occupy the upper reaches.At the end of the Sun Wu Dynasty, the three generations of the Lu family were ministers of the western border of Wu, towns upstream, resisting the strong Wei, and were relied on by the court, but did not cause the dispute between Jing and Yang within Wu, like what happened in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

The relationship between upstream and downstream was so different in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Sun Wu. I think one of the reasons is that the power of the Eastern Jin gentry far exceeded that of the Sun Wu gentry, and the power of the Eastern Jin imperial power was far weaker than that of the Sun Wu imperial power.This situation is obvious at a glance and needs no further discussion.The second reason is that the development level of Jiangzhou in the Eastern Jin Dynasty greatly exceeded that of Sun Wu, and it was basically able to support Jingzhou and maintain the relatively independent needs of the upper reaches; and Liangzhou was basically in the hands of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was enough to shield the upper reaches from the north.This must be briefly explained as follows.

Jiangzhou in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was important in many aspects.According to "Liu Yin's Biography" in Volume 81 of "Book of Jin": "From Jiangling to Jiankang, there are more than three thousand miles, and thousands of people are exiled, and they are distributed in Jiangzhou." Propagate wealth and sell millions of goods." Jiangzhou has a vast territory, including today's Jiangxi and Fujian, where agriculture is gradually developed and grain is abundant. "Sui Shu" Volume 24 "Shi Huo Zhi" said when it comes to storage in the Eastern Jin Dynasty: "Its warehouses... There are Yuzhang warehouses outside (the case is in Nanchang, Jiangxi), Diaoji warehouse (the case is in Duchang, Jiangxi), The Qiantang Warehouse (the case is in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province) is also a place for large reserves." "Tongjian" Hu's note in January of the first year of Song Xiaojian: "Gouqi (the case is immediately fishing for rocks) rice, and the transportation of Nanjiang (the case is Ganjiang) The accumulation is also." The Yuzhang and Diaoji two warehouses are comparable to the Qiantang warehouse in the area rich in grain, which shows that Jiangzhou is rich in grain storage.After Su Jun's rebellion, Liu Yin said that "the imperial court was empty, and there was no salary for hundreds of officials, but Jiangzhou was used to transport water." According to the "Book of Jin" Volume 75 "Wang Shu Zhuan", Wang Shu advised Yu Yi to move the town of Le Township. Discussion, also said: If a large army is stationed in Lexiang, "Jiangzhou should flow thousands of times back to supply the army's mansion." .Looking back at the Sun Wu period, when Sun Hao moved his capital to Wuchang from Jianye in the first year of Ganlu (265), and the local people went back to supply them, thinking that they were suffering from hardships, we can see that Jiangzhou in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was very different.

There are many refugees in Jiangzhou, abundant grain and grain, and it is located in the military hub between Jing and Yang, so its status is very important.Therefore, "Tongjian" said in the first year of Song Xiaojian that the place was "gathered by armored soldiers", "Huan Chong Biography" said it was "the key of a term", and "Liu Yin Biography" said it was "the southern domain of the country, the key place".If Jiangzhou merges with Jingzhou, the upstream will be more independent, and the advantage over the downstream will also increase, and Jiankang will feel threatened.If Jiangzhou is controlled by the Jiankang court, it will be difficult for Jingzhou Fangzhen to be independent, and it may be subject to Jiankang.Therefore, when Yu Liang moved from Yuzhou to Jingzhou, the struggle between him and Wang Dao for control of Jiangzhou became the focus of the political situation.The battle for Jiangzhou must have been going on fiercely but quietly, and there is no clear record in the historical records.We can only get a glimpse of the outline of Yu and Wang's struggle for Jiangzhou from various signs.