Chapter 11 Section 2 The Kingdom, Marquis, States, Dao and the Western Regions of the Western Han Dynasty

The rulers of the Han Dynasty thought that Qin's rapid demise was due to the abolition of feudalization and reform of prefectures and counties, leaving the royal family alone and ending in isolation and helplessness.Therefore, after the founding of the country, in addition to inheriting the system of prefectures and counties, some kingdoms parallel to the prefectures were established. Of course, some kings were uneasy after receiving the title.Therefore, after the suppression of the chaos, many restrictions were imposed on the royal power of the princes. Later, the real power of the kingdom was in the hands of the prime minister appointed by the central government, so the county was similar to the state, which consolidated the centralization system.According to statistics in the second year of Emperor Ping of the Western Han Dynasty (AD 2), there were 83 prefectures and 20 states, which are the so-called "hundred and three prefectures".Parallel to the county level, according to the records in "Han Shu Baiguan Biao", there is also Hou Guo, which is the fiefdom of Liehou.Hou only eats rent and tax, and does not manage civil affairs. His chief is Hou Xiang, who is also appointed by the court.So it is not much different from the county.

In addition, counties with "barbarians" are called "Dao", and they are mostly distributed in the northwest and southwest regions.For example, Di Dao in Longxi County (north of today’s Lixian County, Gansu), Qiang Dao (near Zhouqu, Gansu today), Yuezhi (zhizhi) Dao in Anding County (southwest of Guyuan, Gansu today), and Yidao in Beidi County (now near Zhouqu, Gansu) Heshui West), Gangdi Road in Guanghan County (now Pingwu County, Sichuan), Diandi Road (now west of Wenxian County, Gansu Province), and Bobo Road in Qianwei County (now Yibin County, Sichuan Province), etc.There are also those without ethnic names, such as Yinping Road in Guanghan County (now Wenxian County, Gansu Province), Diaoying Road in Shangjun County (now Ganquan, Shaanxi Province), and Lingguan Road in Yuexi (Xixi) County (now south of Ebian Yi Autonomous County, Sichuan) Wait.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions, so that the residents of the city walls and nearby herdsmen on some oases (water grass fields) south of Tianshan Mountain strengthened their connection with the Central Plains and became part of the subjects of the Han Dynasty.It is under the jurisdiction of the Protectorate of the Western Regions, and the seat of the government is Wulei City (located in today's Luntai East). This area was the main road of the world's Silk Road at that time. Many agricultural, sideline and handicraft products were exchanged here, which enriched the material and cultural life of the people. Spiritual life; many place names named in ancient languages ​​that have been lost have been preserved to this day, which brings some difficulties for us to explore place names in Xinjiang.

In the Western Han Dynasty, the county had the name of the state again. "Han Shu Geography" said: "Jiaozhi was set up in the south, and the state of Shuofang was set up in the north, and Xu, Liang, You, and Xia and Zhou were combined. Liang Yueyi, all the thirteen departments are set up as governors." The 13 departments are the 13 states, and the state names are taken from "Yu Gong" and "Zhi Fang", and only two state names have been changed, that is, Yu, Jiyan, Xu, Qing, Yang, Jing, Yi, Liang, Bing, and You 11 states, plus Shuofang and Jiaozhi added in the Han Dynasty.These 13 prefectures are not the administrative districts of the county, but the supervision area of ​​the county. The governors were ordered by the King of Han to inspect several counties on a regular basis, report the results back to Beijing, and the King of Han decided how to deal with them.The governor's salary is lower than that of the county chief and the prefect.The state as a county-level administrative district is a later matter.