People used to refer to the Sichuan region as "Bashu" because during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Cubans established the State of Ba centered on Chongqing in the eastern part of the Sichuan Basin, and the ancient Shu people established the State of Shu in the Chengdu Plain centered on Chengdu. Some believe that the two ethnic groups originate from the Ancient Qiang, but many more believe that the Ba are an indigenous people of the Wuba Mountains. The two countries have close relations and are of equal strength. They were wartime and dependent on each other, and they perished in the same year. They were all powerful princely powers in the world, just where these two powers stood side by side, it is reasonable to say that there should be no grass under the big tree, and the surrounding small countries will not survive, but the fact is that there are indeed several small countries, entangled with the two big countries, stubbornly surviving in the cracks for hundreds of years, and also deducing a series of sad and happy clutch stories with Bashu. Here, we will talk about the ins and outs of these small countries, and their enmity with Bashu.
(General Ji Xin, a famous general of the Western Han Dynasty who was descended from the ancient Chong Kingdom)
Chongguo, located in the area of present-day Nanchong, with its capital in Langzhong, was divided from baguo. In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, a Ba king captured a Chu woman in the war against the Chu state, and seeing her beauty, she was very fond of her, so she took her back to Jiangzhou (present-day Chongqing) and made her a concubine. Concubine Chu gave birth to a clever and cute little prince for King Ba, and King Ba had the intention of abolishing concubines, which was jealous of Queen Ba. After the death of Ba Wang and Chu Concubine, the little prince had to plan to flee the country in order to escape the trap of Ba Queen.
The little prince found an opportunity, led a group of soldiers and civilians who supported him to the north, fought and retreated along the way, successfully escaped the pursuit of the Pakistani army, overcame natural disasters such as floods and cold winters, experienced all kinds of difficulties and dangers, died nine times, and finally reached a small plain in the upper reaches of the Jialing River, so he settled here. The little prince let the people live and work here in peace and contentment, and the land was sown, and after a year the grain was in full production and the warehouse was full. Around 588 BC, the little prince ordered the state to be named "Chong", and the capital was Langzhou (阆州, in modern Langzhong), formally establishing the state of Chong. However, the existence of Chongguo made Pakistan feel very disgraceful, and often sent troops to fight. The young and immature Chongguo had to ally with the Shu state to jointly defend against the Pakistani state. The enemy of the enemy is the friend, and the alliance with Shu and The Resistance to Pakistan is the way to survive in the country. By 318 BC, it was destroyed by the kingdom of Ba, and the kingdom lasted for about 270 years, with fourteen generations of kings. Its territory covered the whole territory of present-day Nanchong City, southwest of Bazhong City, west of Guang'an City, and parts of southeastern Mianyang City.
(Pingzhou Ancient Tomb)
Around 4400 BC to 3300 BC, a group of Qiang ancestors who migrated from the Hanshui Si River Valley in Yunyang (present-day Shiyan, Hubei) survived in the area of the present-day Jialing River East River Basin and the Song River Valley, and established a patrilineal clan society tribe. In the first year of the reign of King Ji of Zhou, that is, in 1046 BC, they took advantage of the uncertainties of the world to establish two Marquisates of the Xi Clan (jí) and Pingzhou, and a Qiang Hou State of "Feng". The capital of xi'an was located in the area of Present-day Shipan Village, Zhaohua District, Guangyuan City, and its jurisdiction was roughly in the area of present-day Zitong County, Guangyuan Jiange County, Qingchuan County, Lizhou District, and Zhaohua District. The capital of Pingzhou was located in Donghe Town, Wangcang County, and its jurisdiction was in the area of present-day Wangcang County and Cangxi County in Guangyuan. The capital of Feng was located in Qiping Town, Cangxi County, and governed the area from the town of Qiping in present-day Cangxi County in Guangyuan to the Enyang District in Bazhong. In the sixth year of Ji Xi (370 BC), king Ji Xi of Zhou Lie, the kingdom of Feng was destroyed by the state of Ba.
In the history of the ancient Shu Kingdom, Du Shang, the ninth king of the Enlightened Shu Clan, was a more accomplished king. He saw that the eastern state of Pakistan was busy attacking the small southern states, so in 368 BC, he decisively sent troops to destroy the xi and ping states in a very short period of time, and controlled the northern part of the Sichuan Basin to curb the westward expansion of the pakistani state. After the destruction of the states of Xi'an and Pingzhou, Du Shang, the king of Shu, made his brother Du Yemeng the Marquis of Hanzhong , which was located in the present-day Village of Shipan in Zhaohua District , and administered the territories of the former Xi'an and Pingzhou states , namely Chuzhong (the upper reaches of the Han River) and Ye Mengdi. Because the name of the first generation of Tho Marquis of Tho was Du Yemeng. Therefore, it is also called The Kingdom of Ye Meng.
(Ye Mengguan)
Why did the King of Shu set aside the kingdom of Tho? This is also based on a variety of considerations. Qin and Shu often fought wars for the land of Hanzhong, and for the Shu state, how to hold the territory without wasting military expenditure to weaken the national strength, avoid direct confrontation with the increasingly prosperous Qin state, and set up a buffer zone in the middle zone is a good choice. At the same time, you can also appease your capable younger brother, lead his brother's eyes to the north, to help himself resist Qiang Qin and defend Hanzhong, there is no more energy and opportunity to spy on his throne, it is really the best of both worlds, why not enjoy it? As everyone knows, this move is to leave behind troubles and sow the root cause for the demise of ShuBa, which is the last word.
Brother Shu's calculations, Brother Tho Marquis naturally knew it, but it was still very glorious. At that time, he had his own piece of land, and Du Yemeng, the Marquis of Tho, was still very willing to take up his post. By the time of the Enlightened Eleventh Dynasty, the jurisdiction of the state of Tho roughly covered Zitong County in present-day Mianyang, Guangyuan, Qingchuan County, Lizhou District, Zhaohua District, Chaotian District, Wangcang County, Cangxi County, Kang County in Longnan, Gansu, Ningqiang County, Luoyang County, and Nanzheng County in Hanzhong, Shaanxi.
(Location map of Shu Chong Tho in Cuba)
Although the state of Tho grew, the tribute tax that was required to be paid to the state of Shu was also increasingly heavy. Tho Hou felt unwilling, so he joined forces with Pakistan to resist Shu many times under the tutelage of the Pakistani state. However, due to the importance of the existence of the Tho state and the fact that the Marquis of Tho was a member of the same clan, the Eleventh King of Shu only sent someone to pass on a sentence: "In the future, if there are Qin soldiers arriving, retreat from them." This means that in the future, if the Qin army comes to attack your Tho country, you will retreat on your own ideas, and I will not be able to take care of it. Since then, the state of Tho has interrupted contact with the suzerainty of the Shu state.
In 316 BC, Ba and Tho conspired to conquer Shu and Chong alliances, Ba destroyed Chong and lost to Shu, Tho asked for help from Qin and opened the door of the Qin army to the south, King Huiwen of Qin took the opportunity to send a large army into Sichuan, and destroyed all these countries. The inner volume of Bashu, coupled with the introduction of wolves from the state of Tho, made Ba, Shu, Chong, Tho and other places returned to Qin, and Qin placed Ba and Shu Er County in the Sichuan Basin, and Placed Yemeng County in Tho Land, which was under the jurisdiction of Shu County.
At this point, Yemeng Pass (present-day Zhaohua) became the only way for transportation in Sichuan and Shaanxi. When the author visited the ancient town of Zhaohua, he saw a couplet written on the door of an old inn: "There are many old Shaanxi people in the day, and many Qin people stay overnight." "Isn't it interesting to explain the grand situation in which the Qin people and Bashu have close contacts with Bashu after qin unification?!"
(To be continued)