The capital is very important for a country, and the royal family and the imperial court are concentrated here, often forming the most prosperous city in the country. On the other hand, the orders of the imperial court needed to be sent from here to every corner of the country. Therefore, the ancients usually chose the most economically developed or the most convenient transportation area as the capital.
There are six ancient capitals in Chinese history, from Xi'an and Luoyang to Nanjing and Hangzhou, which can be seen in the process of china's political and economic center, from west to east, from north to south. The geographical location of the capital also had a great influence on the survival of dynasties.
Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty was in a plain area with no danger to defend, and the Jin army drove straight in and accidentally destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty. Nanjing, on the other hand, has the natural danger of the Yangtze River, and in the face of the strong cavalry in the north, although the progress is insufficient, there is more than enough self-protection. In history, most of the successful cases of the Southern Expedition were to first capture the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and then sandwich the river down, so that the natural danger of the Yangtze River would lose its effect.
Successive dynasties have attached great importance to the construction of the capital, and even after the change of dynasties, the country has changed, but the original capital will still maintain a certain degree of prosperity. Therefore, all cities that have been used as capitals many times have continued into modern times, and are generally still large cities, at least regional centers. Only one capital city was the exception, yecheng established by Cao Cao.
The history of Yecheng dates back more than 4,000 years, before the Xia Dynasty. Qi Huangong, the first overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, officially built this place into a standardized city. During the Warring States period, the State of Wei used Yicheng as a companion capital, that is, the spare tire of the capital.
The first person to make Yecheng the capital of the country was Cao Cao, the city originally belonged to Yuan Shao, and after Cao Cao captured it, he felt that it was very good, so he moved the center of his rule here. He carried out a large-scale expansion on the basis of the old city, forming an area of seven miles from east to west, five miles from north to south, and about eight or nine square kilometers. During the Han Dynasty, it was already a relatively prosperous big city.
Strictly speaking, Yicheng could not be regarded as the capital of the state at that time, because Cao Cao did not claim the title of emperor, and Yicheng was only the seat of the King of Wei. Cao Cao was created King of Wei, also because the area around Yecheng originally belonged to the State of Wei. From then on, Yecheng and the State of Wei formed an indissoluble relationship.
After Cao Pi usurped the throne, he made Luoyang the capital of the country, and Yicheng became one of the five capitals, and its status dropped a lot. During the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Shi changed the name of Yicheng to Linzhang, which is still used today.
Cao Cao's influence on the Hu people in the north was very large, and many regimes in the Northern Dynasty established capitals in Yecheng and regarded themselves as the State of Wei. The first to make Yecheng the capital was the Later Zhao Emperor Shi Hu, a famous tyrant in history.
It was Ran Min who re-branded the Wei national flag in Yicheng, and later Zhao's brutality provoked the rebellion of the people of all ethnic groups in the hu and Han dynasties in the north, and Ran Min took advantage of the situation to destroy Later Zhao and establish a Han regime. However, Murong Xianbei took advantage of the Central Plains bandang to rise in Liaodong, attacked Ran Wei, and established the Former Yan regime at Yecheng.
After the Northern Wei regime unified the north, The city of Yecheng fell silent for a while. The chancellor Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai divided Northern Wei and established Eastern Wei at Yecheng. Gao Huan's son Gao Yang usurped the throne and established Northern Qi, still with the capital at Yecheng. This was the last time Yecheng was served as the capital.
After Northern Zhou destroyed Northern Qi, Wei Chi raised an army from Yecheng to attack the powerful minister Yang Jian, but unfortunately did not succeed. Yang Jian was a ruthless man, in order to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the remnants of Northern Qi against him, he ordered the violent demolition of Yecheng (burning), Yecheng fell into ruins, all the people moved to Anyang City, and the craftsmen who built Yecheng were also sent to build Chang'an City, opening up the glory of Chang'an.
Since then, Yecheng has disappeared from history, and the prosperity of the past has been completely annihilated. Later generations can only excavate a large number of Buddhist statues in the ruins of Yecheng (present-day Anyang City and Linzhang County), which proves that Buddhism had a very prosperous stage from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
None of the regimes in Dingdu Yecheng were national, and they experienced frequent wars and population declines during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and their status as political and economic centers declined significantly. Even in Henan, Luoyang's prosperity has surpassed that of Yecheng. The decline of Yecheng was inevitable, and coupled with Yang Jian's anger, it ended the glorious history of Yecheng.
For hundreds of years, Luoyang was the central city of Henan, more suitable as the capital than Chang'an. The Tang emperors often had to take the imperial court to Luoyang to live for a period of time, because the food in Chang'an was not enough for them to eat for a whole year. Wu Zetian even made Luoyang the capital of god and abandoned Chang'an.
Yecheng is also an ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, but its influence on Chinese civilization is not as great as that of several other ancient capitals. However, when Cao Cao built Yecheng, the central axis layout and the neat and symmetrical structure of the city had an important impact on the urban construction of Chang'an, Luoyang, and Beijing, and spread to Japan and other countries.
Later, Yicheng was renamed Linzhang County and belonged to Anyang City. Because of the excavation of the Yin Ruins, it became famous again. It seems that Cao Cao's vision of choosing the capital city is very close to that of the Shang Dynasty, and they all regard this place as a treasure trove of style.