Chapter 9 Chapter 3 The Expansion and Stability of the Central Plains Dynastic Territory: Qin and Han Dynasties

In 221 BC, Qin Shihuang wiped out the other six countries and established a unified country on this basis.In the process of destroying the six countries, he was not satisfied with obtaining the land of these countries, but further expanded to the surrounding areas. Between 222 BC and 221 BC, that is, after Qin’s general Wang Jian pacified the Jiangnan area of ​​Chu State and the old land of Yue State, Qin State crossed the rugged mountains and dense forests and entered the southern part of Zhejiang Province. And Fujian, conquered the local Yue people regime.The Qin Dynasty set up Minzhong County in this area, with Ye County (now Fuzhou City) as the county government.

In the thirty-second year of Qin Shihuang (215 BC), he sent Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to drive away the Huns in the Hetao area, and regained the old land of Zhao State during the Warring States Period.In the second year, Jiuyuan County (where the government is located in the northwest of Baotou City, Inner Mongolia) was established in the south of Yinshan Mountain and east of the Yellow River, governing the newly established 44 counties (34 counties in some cases).In order to consolidate the defense line in the north, the original Great Wall of Qin State, Zhao State, and Yan State was connected, repaired and rebuilt, and a road was built from Lintao (now Minxian County, Gansu Province) in the west, along the Yellow River, near Yinshan Mountain in the east, and to the east. The Great Wall of Liaodong (now Northwest Coast of Pyongyang, North Korea).

Around the twenty-ninth year of Qin Shihuang (218 BC), Wei Tusui of the Qin Dynasty led an army of 500,000 troops across Nanling in five routes.However, after five years of military service, he had not won the victory of conquering the Yue people, but Wei Tusui was attacked and killed at night.Thirty-three years (214 BC), Qin Shihuang sent Shi Lu to dig a canal connecting the Xiangjiang River and the Lijiang River - Lingqu, opening up a waterway leading to Lingnan.The Qin army went south again, captured the present-day Guangdong, Guangxi, and northeast Vietnam, and set up three counties in Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiangjun.Then a group of garrison soldiers and criminals were placed in Lingnan, and they were mixed with the local Yue people to speed up national assimilation and expand the ruling base.

In the southwest, based on the Chengdu Plain, the Qin Dynasty expanded westward and northward to the north of the present-day Dadu River and the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, occupying Qiong (now east of Yingjing County, Sichuan), Ruo (now Ebian County, Sichuan) In the areas of the tribes such as the eastern area), Ran (in today's Songpan County, Sichuan), and 〔mang〕 (in the northern area of ​​Maowen County, Sichuan), a "five-foot road" was opened to the south (it is said to be five feet wide, It is said that "Wuchi" is the name of the local tribe), extending from Yibin, Sichuan today to Qujing, Yunnan, and controlled many strongholds along the line, and set up some administrative agencies.

In this way, by the time of Qin Shihuang’s death in 210 BC, the Qin Dynasty already had Hetao, the Yinshan Mountains and the lower reaches of the Liao River in the north, the northeastern part of Vietnam and the mainland of Guangdong in the south, the Longshan Mountains, the Western Sichuan Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the west, and the Korean Peninsula in the east. The vast territory of the north.Moreover, the Qin Dynasty generally implemented the system of prefectures and counties throughout the country, and the central government administered the magistrates (or magistrates) of each county through the chief executive of the prefecture.In 221 BC, 36 counties were established across the country. Later, with the expansion of the territory and local adjustments, there were about 48 counties in the country by the end of the Qin Dynasty, with nearly a thousand counties under its jurisdiction.It is the first time in Chinese history that a unified country can be established on such a large scale.

Of course, within this range, especially in the newly occupied areas in the south, the Qin Dynasty has not yet achieved complete control. In today’s southern Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan, and Guizhou, they often only control the lines of communication and strongholds along the lines. The local tribes, For example, some "monarchs" (tribal leaders) in Qiong, Ruo, Yelang, Kunming, and Dian on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau still remain.However, due to the small population and backward production methods of these tribes, they did not form a strong political entity and could no longer confront the Qin Dynasty.More importantly, the territory opened up by the Qin Dynasty constituted the main body of the territory of the Central Plains dynasties in the following dynasties, and became the geographical basis for the unification of China.

Outside the territory of the Qin Dynasty, the Xiongnu had risen on the Mongolian plateau north of the Yinshan Mountains, began to expand east and west, and were ready to go south at any time.The Hexi Corridor is inhabited by Wusun (later moved to the Yili River Basin in Xinjiang) and Yueshi (originally in the area between Dunhuang and Qilian, Gansu Province, and later moved to the Yili River Basin and Yixi area in Xinjiang. During the Han Dynasty, they were attacked by Wusun , and moved westward to Daxia, which is now the upper reaches of the Amu Darya River in Central Asia).Today in Xinjiang and its west regions (called the Western Regions after the Western Han Dynasty, the narrow sense of the Western Regions only refers to the east of the Pamirs, and the broad sense includes the west of the Pamirs). Small country.There are some Qiang tribes in the west of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.