introduction
From ancient times to the present, due to the vast territory of China, some relatively remote areas are far from the Central Plains regime, and in ancient history, there have been a large number of regimes that have divided one side, such as the Yunnan-Guizhou region, the Liangguang region, and the northeast region. But in fact, since the Qin Dynasty unified the world, in ancient history, Sichuan Province was the most rebellious region.
According to historical records, the total number of political divisions in Sichuan was as many as fourteen times, which can be called the province with the largest number of political divisions in ancient times. As the "Shu Police Record" said: "The world is not chaotic before Shu is chaotic, and the world has been ruled after Shu." But interestingly, after the ruler of the dynasty ordered that a city that originally belonged to Sichuan be transferred to the jurisdiction of other provinces, there has been no unrest in Sichuan since then.
▲Geographical location of ancient Sichuan
01
Since ancient times, the folk customs in the Sichuan and Shu regions have been relatively fierce, because the ancient transportation is extremely inconvenient, coupled with its relatively special geographical location, the Central Plains regime has not been very good at governing this area. Although as a large province in southwest China, sichuan province today ranks fifth in the area of all provinces and cities in China, the historical land of Sichuan and Shu is far larger than the combined land of Sichuan and Chongqing today. The so-called "Emperor Yuan of Heavenly Heights" in almost every dynasty in Sichuan Province will rebel against the separatist regime.
▲ Shu lord Liu Bei stills
According to historical records, the local military generals or officials responsible for managing the Sichuan region led hundreds of rebellions, and the more famous ones are Liu Bei's establishment of shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, the former Shu regime built by Wang Jian during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi regime. So why did these people choose the Sichuan region to establish their own empire or independent regime? In fact, this has to start from the geographical environment of the Sichuan and Shu regions.
▲Scenery at the Hengduan Mountains
02
The Sichuan region is known as the "Country of Heavenly Capital", and the Qinling Mountains and Hengduan Mountains wrap it in it, forming a naturally enclosed independent space. In terms of transportation, the exchange of information with the Central Plains Dynasty was not smooth, but there was a rich plain area in the middle of the Sichuan-Shu land, and this natural terrain condition that was easy to defend and difficult to attack made the officials in charge of the local area have the psychology of trying to dominate one side, coupled with the local people's customs, so it was easy to incite the people to rebel and achieve the purpose of their own division of the king, after cutting off the external traffic of the Shu land, not only could they be self-sufficient, but also prevent the enemy from coming to attack.
▲ Han Gao Zu Liu Bang stills
The most famous case in history is that Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, relied on the geographical environment of the Bashu region that "retreated and defended itself, and entered the world" that finally defeated the invincible Chu king Xiang Yu and then unified the world, so the Central Plains Dynasty has always had a headache about the jurisdiction of the Sichuan and Shu regions. However, the rebel side of the Sichuan-Shu region also has a fatal weakness, and in most cases it is necessary to first control the "Sichuan-Shu Gateway" of Hanzhong, and there is also a saying in history that "to get Hanzhong is to get Sichuan-Shu". That is to say, as an important barrier in the Sichuan and Shu regions, Hanzhong can basically control the entire land as long as it occupies this important pass in Hanzhong.
▲A recent photo of the Hanzhong Stone Gate Trail
During the Qin Dynasty, it was after the Qin people successfully occupied Hanzhong that they went all the way south like a bamboo to gain power in the Sichuan and Shu regions. Later, in order to promote local development, a boardwalk was further built, thus connecting the Sichuan-Shu region with Hanzhong. At the same time, such a practice also provided a favorable condition for the officials and generals who vainly tried to divide the political power in ancient times, secretly using military force to seize Hanzhong before the rebellion, and then setting up a defensive line in the rugged mountains of Hanzhong to block the outside world from coming to attack, and then announcing the establishment of a new regime, so in fact, the land of Hanzhong was the most important reliance on the ancient Sichuan regime to dare to rebel.
▲ Stills of Mongol generals in the Song Dynasty
However, after the Song Dynasty, this situation changed, and when the Mongols sent troops to attack the Southern Song Dynasty, they consumed a large number of troops in the Sichuan region, which can be described as heavy losses. Especially when Hanzhong was captured, it paid an extremely heavy price, so after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongolian Yuan regime learned this tragic lesson, in order to prevent the Sichuan region from rebellion, directly separated Hanzhong from the Sichuan region and handed it over to Shaanxi administration, and sent heavy troops in Hanzhong to monitor Sichuan, this situation continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the officials in charge of Sichuan never dared to rebel again. It can be seen from this that this practice of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty was so old and spicy, that since then, there have naturally been many fewer cases of separating the regime in the Sichuan and Shu regions, and even if it happens occasionally, it will soon be annihilated in one fell swoop.
summary
As the "Peony Pavilion And The Spy" said: "Ten thousand miles of dust, a dynasty of heaven and a courtier", this ancient ruler has changed, and the areas under the administration of the old dynasty will naturally change accordingly, which is actually understandable, but it is still very rare in history for so many regime changes to occur like the Sichuan region.
Resources:
"Historiography", "Historiography of Natsumotoki"