Henan, referred to as Yu, is located in the central part of China, bordering Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui and Hubei, and Henan is named because most of the historical area is located south of the Yellow River. In the history of our country, there is also a very important place name --- Henan, friends who are not familiar with history, at first glance to see this place name, will definitely be associated with Henan. In fact, the historical Henan and Henan are far apart, and there is basically not much relationship between the two except for the similarity of names.
Friends familiar with geography are familiar with the Yinshan Mountains, which stretch in the middle of Inner Mongolia in China, located above the Yellow River in the shape of "several". The Yinshan Mountains stretch from the Alxa Plateau in the west to the upper Luan River valley west of Duolun in the east, including a series of east-west peaks such as Wolf Mountain, Ula Mountain, Serten Mountain, Daqingshan Mountain, and Dama Mountains. The Yinshan Mountains are about 1,200 kilometers long from east to west, and the main peak is Huhe Bashig in the western part of Wolf Mountain, with an altitude of 2364 meters.
The average altitude of the Yinshan Mountains is between 1400 meters and more than 2300 meters, which is not too high, but the southern slope of the Yin Mountains descends steeply, directly on the Hetao Plain, with a drop of up to 1,000 meters. This special terrain makes the climate difference between the north and south of the Yin Mountains relatively large. The north of the Yin Mountains is dry and rainy, and the temperature is low; the south of the Yin Mountains is slightly warmer and rainier. In addition, the Yellow River here is relatively gentle, the river is easy to irrigate, and the Hetao Plain south of the Yin Mountains is suitable for agriculture and animal husbandry, and there is a saying that "the Yellow River is nine curves, only one set of rich". This is the frontier of the competition between the agricultural civilization of the Central Plains and the nomadic forces of the Mongolian plateau, and they all want to win it.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes competed for hegemony, yu Lie of the Sixth Qin Dynasty of Qin, and in 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang swept through the Six Kingdoms to unify the world, opening the first unified dynasty in Chinese history--- the Qin Dynasty. However, the majestic Qin Shi Huang was not satisfied with this, and continued to expand his territory, attacking Baiyue in the south and the Xiongnu in the north. In 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang sent the general Meng Tian to lead a 300,000-strong army to attack the Xiongnu in the north and seize Henan, and in 214 BC, Meng Tian crossed the river to seize the Gaoque, Yinshan, and northern false middle areas north of the Yellow River. The Xiongnu head Mandan Yu led the people to flee north, and the history books recorded that "the Xiongnu were intimidated and did not dare to look south for more than ten years." The Qin Dynasty established more than thirty counties in henan, and the area south of the Yin Mountains was brought under the control of the Great Qin Empire. In order to resist the Xiongnu and consolidate its rule in Henan, the Qin Dynasty built the Great Wall and the Qin Straight Road in the north.
Because the history books record Henan land is too brief, the extent of Henan land is unknown, but we can make analysis and general judgment from the description of bits and pieces. Under normal circumstances, we will roughly think that Henan is the area south of the Yellow River in the Hetao Plain. In fact, this is not accurate. On the one hand, this is too general, only the northern border, and it is impossible to determine the extent of Henan. Then there is the statement that the Yellow River is the northern boundary, which is not accurate.
The Loop Plain consists of three parts, the front set, the rear set and the west set. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the main stream of the Yellow River in the Houtao Plain was somewhat different from today, when the main stream of the Yellow River was in the North River, that is, the Wujia River, a tributary of the Yellow River, and the southern boundary of the Qin Dynasty Henan In the northern boundary of the Houtao Plain was this Yellow River Ancient Road. Later, with the alluvial accumulation of sediment and wolf mountain flash floods, the riverbed was raised and the main stream of the Yellow River moved south. As for the former Plain, it was formerly the territory of the Zhao State, Jiuyuan County and Yunzhong County, and after the fall of the Zhao State, the territory was inherited by Qin. That is to say, during the Qin Dynasty, the former set was not the extent of Henan.
Before Mengtian attacked the Xiongnu in the north, the northern boundary between Qin and Xiongnu was roughly along the Great Wall built during the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, and the southern and eastern boundaries of Henan were roughly bounded by the Great Wall of Qin Zhaowang, starting from Min County in present-day Dingxi City, Gansu Province in the west, passing through Guyuan, Huan County, Yulin and other places, and east to the Zunger Banner point of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia.
The western boundary of Henan is relatively clear, roughly starting from the area of Yuzhong County in Lanzhou, Gansu, and the northern section of the Yellow River flowing through Gansu and Ningxia to the Yinshan Mountains in Inner Mongolia is the western boundary.
Taken together, the approximate extent of Henan is the area east of the north section of the Yellow River from Lanzhou, north and west of the Great Wall of King Qin Zhao, and west of Jiuyuan County of the Zhao Kingdom south of the Yin Mountains.
After Qin Shi Huang took Henan Province, he moved about 300,000 people from the interior twice to the Hetao Plain. However, after the death of Qin Shi Huang, Meng Tian who guarded the northern frontier was also killed by Qin II Hu Hai, and the layout of Qin Shi Huang in northern Xinjiang was disrupted, and eventually the Xiongnu took advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains at the end of Qin to retake Henan, and the border between the two sides basically returned to before the Northern Expedition of Mengtian, and everything Qin Shi Huang and Meng Tian did was in vain.
In the early days of the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, the strength was not enough to regain the lost land from the Xiongnu, and Henan was temporarily controlled by the Xiongnu. Until the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Wei Qing led his army to a long-distance attack, detoured to the rear and then went south, launched an unexpected attack, and took the land of Henan such as the Xiongnu Loufu and Baiyangbu in one fell swoop.
After that, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty spent blood to build Shuofang City in the Houtao Plain, which was a poor and white place at that time, set up Shuofang County, and relocated more than 700,000 poor people from Shandong to reclaim the border, and from then on Henan was incorporated into the territory of the Han Empire. Although the cost was high, it showed the far-reaching strategic vision of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, because Henan, including the Yin Mountains, was too important to the Central Plains civilization. It is also said in the Nine-Sided Examination: "... Therefore, Yin Mountain is the key land of the Royal Border, and the south of Yin Mountain is the southern part of the desert, and if he (Xiongnu) gets the Yin Mountain, it is easy to commit crimes within with his strength, and this Qin, Han, and Tang capital Guanzhong will cross the river and guard the Yin Mountain in the north. ”
Henan land as a general name for a certain range of areas, some similar to "Guanzhong", "Hedong", etc., in the area covered by Henan land slowly from raw land to mature land, and divided into Shuofang County, Shang county, Beidi County and other counties management, Henan land in this specific period of the title gradually withdrew from the historical stage.