In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei, who was ridiculed as a "mat weaver and a thief", knew that he was from a humble background, and everyone said: "In the next is the Han Jing Emperor Xuansun and The King of Zhongshan Jing." The Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Book of Shu - Biography of the Ancestor clearly records that Liu Bei was after Liu Sheng, the King of Jing in Zhongshan, but there are still people who suspect that Liu Bei pretended to be Liu Sheng. However, some people say: Liu Bei may really be after Liu Sheng, but Liu Sheng's sons have more than a hundred people...
Liu Bei often mentioned the King of Zhongshan Jing, which made this early prince of the Western Han Dynasty very well-known. In addition, we all know that a Han tomb was excavated in Mancheng, Hebei Province, and a golden jade robe was found in the tomb, that is, Liu Sheng's. Why was Liu Sheng crowned king of Zhongshan Jing, and what is the status of Zhongshan in history?
Emperor Jing of Han had a total of 14 sons, and the most famous of course was Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, nicknamed "Little Pig". Emperor Jing of Han had a Jia Ji and had two sons, Liu Pengzu the eldest, who was the King of Zhao, and Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan. There is a famous story: The Han Jing Emperor took Jia Ji to hunt in Shanglin, and Jia Ji had just entered the toilet, and a wild boar followed him. Emperor Jingdi of Han went to save Jia Ji, but was stopped by the "cool official" Zhi Du. Zhi Du said that His Majesty had one less concubine, and the next one was that the Son of Heaven could not take this risk. Fortunately, the wild boar will leave automatically after a while, and it is just a false alarm. This Jia Ji, who was almost killed by a wild boar, was Liu Sheng's mother, Liu Bei's grandmother. Emperor Jingdi of Han liked Jia Ji very much and naturally looked up to her two sons. You see that one of the brothers' fiefdoms was in Zhao and the other was in Zhongshan, both of which were large counties at that time, almost equivalent to the current sub-provincial cities.
Zhongshan was in the Han Jing Emperor, changing from a county to a "country", which was the fiefdom of Wang Ye. The location of Zhongshan State is roughly northeast of Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, and southwest of Beijing. The jurisdiction area is almost north of Wuji County, east of Xinle City, west of Baoding City, and south of Yi County in Hebei Province. The seat of government is In Lunu County (Dingzhou, Hebei).
Zhongshan Country is closely adjacent to the eastern foothills of the Taihang Mountains, the northern part of Zhongshan Country is now Mancheng District, and there is a mountain in the northwest, and there is almost no one in our country who is unaware. The name of this mountain is called Wolf's Tooth Mountain. The strategic location of Zhongshan is important because of Youzhou (present-day Beijing) to the north, Jizhou to the south, and Qingzhou to the east. According to the geographical concept of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty people evaluated the Zhongshan State as "the shoulder of Zhongshan Zhenzhou (Zhengding, Hebei), the shoulder of Jizhou, and the elbow that controls the Youyan Prefectures." To the west, Zhongshan Shouyun Prefecture (Datong, Shanxi) is the throat artery. To the east, there is the confluence of land and water in Yingzhou (Hebei Hejian) and Henghai (Cangzhou, Hebei), which is Xiong County, Hebei. ”
Because the geographical location of zhongshan was too important, in the late period of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, Murong Chui established Later Yan, and the capital was set in Zhongshan. In the north at that time, Later Yan occupied Hebei and Shandong, Shanxi was occupied by Murong Chui's Tongzong Western Yan, and north of Shanxi was the Northern Wei of Chuxing. West of Western Yan, across the Yellow River is Later Qin. Murong Chui fixed the capital zhongshan, and could attack Western Yan to the west, and northern Wei, which was still fledgling. From a defensive point of view, Zhongshan is at the foot of the Taihang Mountains, and if Zhongshan is defended, Houyan can protect the plains of Hebei and Shandong. Zhongshan is equivalent to the gateway of the plain, and if the zhongshan is lost, the plain area of Later Yan will be in no danger.
When Later Yan was first established, the most dangerous enemies were not Northern Wei and Later Qin, but Western Yan. Between the two Yans, the hatred is very deep, and they often attack each other. Western Yan occupied the situation of Hedong (formerly known as Shanxi Province) and had a commanding advantage over the plains east of the Taihang Mountains. Therefore, Murong Chui "the son of heaven guarded the gate of the country", the capital was Zhongshan, and the retreat could hold the plain area out of the Houyan qianliang, and the advance could take Hedong, and the advance and retreat were two.
However, "the Son of Heaven guards the gate of the country" has a hard requirement - the ability of the "Son of Heaven" must be excellent. Murong Chui's most talented son, Murong Ling, was killed in his early years by former Qin Emperor Cheng with a golden sword. Murong Bao's crown prince Murong Bao was mediocre, and the elite Yan army he led was annihilated by Northern Wei at Sanhepi. In August of the first year of the Later Yan Dynasty (396 AD), the Wei army launched a major attack on Zhongshan. Soon after, Murong Shi escaped from Zhongshan, which was owned by Northern Wei. After the Northern Wei dynasty occupied Zhongshan, the plains of Later Yan could be described as the gates open, allowing the Northern Wei cavalry to run through. Not long after, the plains of Later Yan were occupied by Northern Wei, and Yan fell to Wei Xing.
The Northern Wei Dynasty did not have a capital at Zhongshan, but regarded Zhongshan as an important place for troops to assemble. The Northern Wei Dynasty saw the strategic advantage of Zhongshan over the plains, and as long as the Northern Wei army went south, it would first pull the army to Zhongshan. The reason is very simple: heavy troops are gathered in Zhongshan, and in terms of attack, Zhongshan is condescending to the plain. On the defensive side, north of Zhongshan was the Northern Wei capital Pingcheng (Datong, Shanxi). Holding Zhongshan, even if you can't keep the newly acquired Yandi, you can at least defend Pingcheng.
After the Northern Wei Dynasty, Zhongshan, although renamed several times, remained an important military town in Hebei.