Chapter 20 Section 3 The Confusion of Place Names in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Sixteen Kingdoms Period

It was not until Wei destroyed Shu in 263 A.D., Sima Yan abolished Emperor Wei and Yuan in 265 A.D. and established the Jin Dynasty, and destroyed Wu in 280 AD.After a brief period of stability and peace, the corruption of the ruling group in the Western Jin Dynasty led to a fierce civil war for the ruling power, which was known as the "Eight Kings Rebellion" in history.Soon there was a turmoil among the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, and the last two emperors of the Western Jin Dynasty were killed by Liu Cong, the ruler of the Xiongnu.At that time, the south was relatively stable, and the nobles who fled south supported Sima Rui (ruirui), the general of Zhendong who guarded Jianye (renamed Jianye, the former capital of Wu), as emperor, which was called the Eastern Jin Dynasty in history.

At that time, the north was still in a situation where the five barbarians were fighting each other and fighting each other.The so-called Wuhu refers to the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie (jiejie), Di, and Qiang five ethnic groups. They have successively established 16 countries (including Cheng (Han) in present-day Sichuan). One summer, two Zhaos, three Qins, four Yans, five cools.In fact, there are also countries established by the Han people, such as Qianliang and Beiyan. The number of countries is more than 16, and it should also include Dai, Ranwei and Xiyan. The duration of these countries varies, and the scope of their control is also different in size and often changes. Before the Battle of Feishui in 383 AD, the former Qin not only unified the north, but also occupied present-day Sichuan and controlled the Western Regions.Thinking that the Yangtze River is not difficult to cross, "throwing a whip can cut off the flow", so brazenly launched a war to destroy Jin, but ended up defeated, and the north was divided again.The Eastern Jin regained some places, but some were lost later.

"Book of Jin Geography" lacks the numbers of counties and counties in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. According to the "Atlas of Chinese History", there are Yang, Xu, Yu, Jing, Jiang, Guang, Jiao, Ning, etc. in the seventh year of Taiyuan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 382) states, and later added states such as Yi and Liang. Because of the tug-of-war between the north and the south, the boundaries often changed, and it was difficult to calculate them in detail.The former Qin territory in the north was divided into 22 states before the Battle of Feishui (according to Hong Liangji's statistics in Qing Dynasty).Nanyan Kingdom, whose area is still smaller than today's Shandong Province, was also divided into five prefectures: Qing, Bing, Yan, Xu, and You in its heyday.The indiscriminate establishment of states and counties is the same in some other countries.Some state names in Kyushu, such as Xuzhou and Yanzhou, can be cited in many places, and the confusion of place names is rare before.