Chapter 39 Section 2 The Development of Productive Forces Promotes Unification

The most basic requirement of any regime or tribe for territory is to ensure its own survival.Therefore, after a certain production mode has been formed, each production need is used as the criterion for selection.The Han nationality has long been a single agricultural nation, and all the regimes established by the Han nationality in the Central Plains are based on agriculture, and the country is founded on agriculture, that is, whether it can adapt to agricultural production is the prerequisite for expanding the territory.The main part of the Central Plains Dynasty mentioned above is an optimal agricultural area.Outside of this area, under the condition of relatively backward production level, it is generally difficult to develop.For example, the northern boundary of this region has no obvious geographical barriers, but the cold and arid climate restricts the development of agriculture. Therefore, even when the northern nomads retreated, the official administrative regions of the Central Plains Dynasty rarely crossed this area. limit.The main flow of Han immigrants was to the south. It was not until the population in the south was relatively saturated that they had to turn to the northeast, Taiwan and other places and overseas.

Herding peoples have low requirements on the natural environment and are often satisfied with nomadic life. As long as they can obtain necessities such as tea, textiles, and metal tools from the Central Plains, they will "live by water and grass" year after year (along with water sources and pastures). place to relocate).Even if they entered the agricultural area, the herding people would not voluntarily change their mode of production, which is why some people suggested to the emperor in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty to drive away all the Han people and turn all their arable land into pasture land.

Population size is also an important constraint on territorial size.If the population is too small, it is unnecessary and impossible to expand the territory.Even if it expands for a while, it cannot be sustained.The population in the Western Han Dynasty was about 60 million, and the population density in its official administrative area (excluding the area under the jurisdiction of the Western Regions Protectorate) was less than 14 people per square kilometer.When there are still large tracts of virgin land in one's own territory, expanding agricultural production or obtaining economic benefits cannot be a normal reason for using troops abroad.After the non-Han regimes entered the Central Plains, they could not avoid the contradiction of the small population of their own ethnic groups.After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the whole family moved inward, and the Northeast almost became a no-man's land.Since the tribe does not have a minimum population to operate, and the Han people are not allowed to cultivate, they can only adopt the stupid policy of marking it as a forbidden area. As a result, the Russian invaders easily seized a large area of ​​land.However, the growth of population must be based on the development of production. In a self-sufficient region such as China in history, if sufficient food and daily necessities cannot be produced, the population cannot be maintained, let alone increase. In the middle of the 19th century, China's population of more than 400 million was fully supported by food and daily necessities produced within its own borders.

With the development of production and the continuous increase of population, traditional agricultural areas can no longer meet the needs of reclamation.On the other hand, due to the advancement of technology, the range suitable for agriculture is also increasing, extending from plains and river valleys to hilly and mountainous areas, and advancing from temperate zones to cold temperate and tropical zones.For people who have enough food and clothing, there is a greater demand for fur, medicinal materials, and local specialties produced in frontier areas.After the rise of modern industry, the interior has become more and more dependent on timber, fuel, minerals and other resources in the frontier.In the process of developing production, people in pastoral areas and frontiers are also aware of their own limitations, and gradually develop suitable local agriculture and sidelines.Their demand for the mainland is no longer just tea and cloth, but a wider range of production and daily necessities, technology, knowledge and culture.In short, the inland cannot be separated from the frontier, the frontier cannot be separated from the inland, and a relationship of mutual support and mutual dependence has been formed between the Han nationality and the minority nationalities.If in ancient times, the boundary between farming and animal husbandry and inland frontiers could only be temporarily broken by force, then in modern times, the development of production and the resulting economic cooperation and cultural exchanges have been sufficient to replace and surpass the role of force.

The development of production has improved people's ability to overcome geographical barriers, so that rivers, mountains, jungles, deserts, and oceans that were previously regarded as dreadful routes can no longer restrict people's travel, let alone become a natural moat for dividing territories; The land becomes people's home.The excavation of the Lingqu Canal facilitated the development of Lingnan, and the appearance of the Silk Road promoted the connection between the Western Regions and the mainland. Navigation technology enabled the Western Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BC to set up an administrative region on Hainan Island, and the Sun Wu regime in the 3rd century AD to sail far to Taiwan. , The introduction and promotion of new crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, peanuts, and potatoes have greatly increased the attractiveness of the mountains and frontiers to immigrants. The Qing Dynasty in the mid-19th century was able to establish a unified country with such a vast territory, which was the result of overcoming geographical obstacles to a certain extent within this range.