When it comes to Shandong Province and Liaoning Province, everyone will definitely think that these are two provinces across the sea, the Liaodong Peninsula and the Shandong Peninsula, just across the Bohai Sea. In fact, in the long river of history, Shandong and Liaoning provinces were once a family. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Liaoning region separated from Shandong Province, and gradually formed the later Liaoning Province. So, why did Shandong Province and Liaoning Province separate, and how did the 25 Wei in the Liaodong region form Liaoning Province? Today, we're going to talk about that.
First of all, let's talk about the historical development of Liaoning Province. In ancient Chinese history, the Central Plains Dynasty was basically able to control the Liaoning region, thus safeguarding the security of northern China. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, the Central Plains Dynasty had established perfect administrative divisions in the Liaoning region, such as the famous Han Four Counties. However, due to various reasons during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Liaoning region was lost several times. Therefore, in terms of population size and economic development, compared with the inland areas, the Liaoning region has lagged behind. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Liaoning region developed again, and a very prosperous civilization appeared. However, due to the chaotic battles at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Liaoning region was controlled and occupied by the Liao State.
In addition, the Song Dynasty has not been able to regain even the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, resulting in another decline in the population and economy of the Liaoning region. Over time, the Liaoning region has become dominated by nomadic animal husbandry, and during the reigns of the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, the Liaoning region has been in this situation for hundreds of years. After the Yuan Dynasty unified the whole country, it established an empire with a vast territory. Due to the large territory area, the original administrative division system at the two levels of prefectures and counties can no longer meet the requirements of management. Therefore, the Yuan Dynasty introduced the system of Xingzhongshu provinces, dividing the country into 10 provinces.
However, due to the fact that the provincial system of the Yuan Dynasty was a start-up, there were loopholes in the management of all aspects, and the problem of excessive power of local officials appeared. At the end of the Yuan dynasty' rule, there was a situation of armed division of local officials. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, in view of the problem of excessive power in the provinces, the official positions of provincial minister and pingzhang government affairs were abolished, and the department of political envoys, the department of envoys, and the department of commanding envoys were established. The Ming Dynasty further improved the provincial system of the Yuan Dynasty, and the model of two capitals and thirteen provinces appeared throughout the country, with a total of 15 provincial-level administrative divisions.
In addition to the special situation of the southern and northern direct subordinates, the remaining 13 provinces have set up the Department of Envoys, the Department of Political Envoys and the Department of Commanding Envoys. Among them, the Department of Political Envoys is responsible for the province's economic construction, civil affairs, personnel appointments, etc., the Department of Inspection and Envoys is responsible for the province's public security, justice, and prisons, and the Commanding Envoy Department is responsible for the province's military affairs. After the Ming Dynasty expelled the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty forces still occupied the northern grasslands, known as the Northern Yuan Regime. In the early days of Ming rule, the Liaoning region was still under the rule of the Northern Yuan regime. After the Ming Dynasty recovered the Liaoning region, the local population was very sparse, and in the Ming Dynasty literature, there was such a record: "The land of the Left of Liaoning, the land of Liaozuo is cold early, the land is sparsely populated, and it does not want to build a laborer, but the guards are guarded by soldiers." It can be seen that at that time, although the Liaoning region was vast and the land was fertile, the population was relatively sparse.
At the same time, the Northern Yuan regime in the north was not willing to lose, and has been organizing forces to continue to move south. In order to consolidate the northern region, the Ming Dynasty established 9 military towns from the northeast to the northwest, such as Liaodong Town, Datong Town, Gansu Town and so on. In order to administer the Liaoning region, the Ming Dynasty established the Liaodong Capital Command and Envoy Division in the Liaoning region, but did not set up the Department of Envoys and envoys. The Liaodong Dusi was responsible for administering the 25 Wei and 2 prefectures under its jurisdiction, due to the relatively sparse agricultural population. At first, the commanders made yamen barely handle it. However, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty's rule, with the economic development and population increase, the civil affairs of the Liaodong region began to become more and more complex.
The Military Organization of the Command and Envoy Department of the Liaodong Capital has a situation of professional mismatch, and it is simply powerless. Therefore, during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty included the civil affairs of the Liaodong region into Shandong Province, and there was a record of "the old system at the beginning of the country, Shandong and Liaodong were originally one province". Shandong Province is responsible for the administration of civil affairs in the Liaodong region, and military affairs are managed by the Liaodong Metropolitan Department. This situation lasted for a long time, and by the end of the Ming dynasty, the Later Jin regime had risen in the northeast. Gradually controlled the entire northeast region, naturally including the Liaoning region. Nominally, the Liaoning region was subordinate to Shandong Province, but in practice it was already under the control of the Qing Dynasty.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, because it had no administrative experience, it continued to follow the Ming Dynasty provincial system. From the entire time, Shandong Province officially no longer administered the Liaoning region. The Qing Dynasty continued to use the provincial system in the ming dynasty homeland, but did not implement it in the northeast region. The Qing Dynasty regarded the northeast region as its own land of Longxing, and strictly forbade the people of the Central Plains to enter. In the northeast, the Qing Dynasty established the jurisdiction of general Shengjing, the general of Jilin and the territory of heilongjiang. With no administrative officials and administrative divisions, the Qing Dynasty had poor control over these areas. In the period of national strength of the Qing Dynasty, the problem was not obvious.
But in the late 19th century, the Western powers began to infiltrate the northeast and northwest regions of the Qing Dynasty. In order to consolidate the frontier, in 1905, the Qing Dynasty established Fengtian Province, Jilin Province and Heilongjiang Province in the northeast region. Among them, Fengtian Province is the front and back of Liaoning Province. At the same time, due to drought, locust plague and flooding in Shandong Province, many Shandong people began to enter the northeast region to make a living, known as breaking into the Guandong. Many northeasterners are descendants of Shandong people, which is an indisputable fact. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, China fell into the stage of warlord melee. The northeast region is under the control of the Fengzhi warlords, who are among the most powerful warlords.
In 1928, after the end of the Northern Expedition, Fengtian Province was renamed Liaoning Province according to the plan at that time. At that time, although the Tohoku region was divided into three provinces, the administrative divisions were very different from those of today. In the 1930s and 1940s, the northeast region successively went through the administrative division stages of 14 northeastern provinces, 19 northeastern provinces, nine northeastern provinces, and six northeastern provinces. In the 1950s, after the merger of Liaodong Province and Liaoxi Province, the current administrative division of Liaoning Province was formed. In short, Liaoning Province and Shandong Province used to be one family. Even after the separation of the family, there are still many people in Liaoning who are descendants of Shandong people. There are many more stories about the adjustment of China's administrative divisions, and the author will talk to you slowly in future articles.