There is a city in Hunan called Chen[chen] Prefecture, which is often mistakenly pronounced as "Bin [bin] Zhou", and indeed there is this place of Binzhou, but it is not in Hunan, but in Shaanxi, which belongs to Xianyang City. Today we will talk about Chenzhou.
Chenzhou is located in the south of Hunan Province, at the junction of Xiang and Guangdong, across the Nanling Mountains, known as the "South Gate" of Hunan. Chenzhou has a large area of about 19,300 square kilometers, Chenzhou is bordered by Hengyang in the northwest, Zhuzhou in the northeast, Ganzhou in Jiangxi in the east, Shaoguan in Guangdong in the south, Qingyuan in Guangdong in the southwest, and Yongzhou in the west.
Chenzhou's popularity is not very high, but it is very historical. In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Liang rebelled against Qin and supported the Chu Yi Emperor Xiong Xin as a signboard, but after Xiang Yu proclaimed himself the King of Western Chu, he thought that king Huai of Chu was in the way and moved the Yi Emperor to Jiangnan. Where is the kingdom of the Righteous Emperor? It's in Chenzhou. Xiang Yu later sent Yingbu to kill Emperor Yi at Chenzhou.
Since the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, Chenzhou has basically been the seat of government of Guiyang County, except that the Eastern Han Dynasty briefly moved to Leiyang. During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Liu's allied forces defeated Cao Cao at the Battle of Chibi, and Liu Bei took the opportunity to expand south of Jingzhou, capturing Wuling County, Changsha County, Lingling County, and Guiyang County, the four southern counties of Jingzhou, which were in the area of present-day Chenzhou and Shaoguan, Guangdong.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Changshan Zhao Zilong refused to marry Zhao Fan's widowed sister-in-law Fan in Guiyang County, and beat Zhao Fan. In real history, there really is such a thing. Zhao Yun was ordered by Liu Bei to guard Guiyang County, rejecting Zhao Fan's beautiful intentions, and it really happened in Chenzhou. Later, in order for Wu shu to unite against Cao Cao, Liu Bei ceded the three counties of Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang to Eastern Wu. Chenzhou produced more grain and was the home of fishing and rice, which to a certain extent adversely affected Liu Bei's supply of grain and grass and military resources.
Chenzhou has a complex topography, mainly mountainous hills, and Anren, Yongxing and Zixing in the north are the only plains in Chenzhou. The Zhuguang Mountains in the east are the natural dividing line between Chenzhou and Ganzhou, and the Nanling Mountains in the south are the boundaries with Guangdong, and the famous Qitianling Mountains are located in Chenzhou. Nanling was an important watershed between Lingnan and the Central Plains in ancient times, and Chenzhou was not far from Guangzhou, the center of the Lingnan region, and was an important land passage between Lingnan and the Central Plains.
Picture - Overlooking Chenzhou
In this sense, Chenzhou guards the "Chu yue Kong Dao", which can be described as the northern gate of Guangzhou. Gu Zuyu described Chenzhou in the Minutes of Reading the History of Public Opinion as follows: "Wing with the Xiang River, connected to Yue Yue, mountains and rivers qisheng, A in Hunan, operating Chu and Guangdong, the state is also an important place." It can be seen that the geographical location of Chenzhou is very important, known as "the screen of the three Xiangs, the key to the management of the two Cantons", and it is indeed not a waste of time.
Picture - Overlooking the Dongjiang Lake in Chenzhou
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to ensure the safety of the transportation of tributes handed over to the imperial court in Jiaotong (present-day northern Vietnam), the Nanling Mountain Road of Lingling and Guiyang (Chenzhou) was opened, and from then on Lingnan to the Central Plains was unimpeded, which played an important role in the control of Jiaotong by the imperial court. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Chenzhou was owned by Ma Yin's Chu state, posing a great threat to the Southern Han capital Xingwangfu (present-day Guangzhou).
In 951, the Southern Tang Dynasty destroyed the Chu State, the Chu State was in chaos, and the Southern Han took the opportunity to send troops to capture Chenzhou, and the safety of the capital City of Guangzhou was guaranteed to a certain extent. Zhao Kuangyin, Chen Qiao, mutinied, added a yellow robe, usurped the throne of Later Zhou, and established the Northern Song Dynasty. Song led Pan Mei to capture Chenzhou, causing Southern Han to lose confidence in resistance. Chenzhou is the northern gate of Guangzhou, the northern gate is lost, how to keep it?
Nowadays, the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and the Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway, the main artery of China's north-south railway, pass through Chenzhou, and the connection between Chenzhou and Guangzhou is closer. There are many Chenzhou people working and living in Guangzhou, and many Guangdong people also travel to Chenzhou in their leisure time. Now Chenzhou's popularity in Guangdong has reached a very high level, and even many Guangdong people think that Chenzhou is Guangdong.