At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao marched north on Wuhuan, defeated Wuhuan's army in the Battle of Liucheng, and unified the north, where is the famous Liucheng? Liucheng in the Late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period was located in the territory of Liucheng Subdistrict, Chaoyang County, Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. According to historical records, the appearance of the place name Liucheng was first seen in the Qin Dynasty. Prior to this, the area was known as Youcheng ,founded in the Warring States period and belonged to Liaoxi County(妀西郡) of the Yan Kingdom. After Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, he continued to use the name of Liaoxi County, but renamed Youcheng to Liucheng. After hundreds of years of expansion and development in the Qin Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, Liucheng has become a very famous military town at that time, and its main role was to resist foreign invasions.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liucheng was still a subordinate county of Liaoxi County, which appeared in historical records many times, and there was also a famous event that made people cry. According to the Book of Later Han and the Biography of Zhao Bao, Zhao Bao, a Ganling man, was appointed by the imperial court as the Taishou of Liaoxi County. After he took office, he sent people back to his hometown, planning to take his mother and wife to Liaoxi to reunite. Unexpectedly, while passing through Liucheng, Zhao Bao's mother and wife encountered the Xianbei army and were taken hostage. After the Xianbei general learned their true identities, he escorted the two to the front. At this time, Zhao Bao did not know about the capture of his mother and wife, and still led an army of 20,000 men to set up a position according to the original plan, preparing to meet the Xianbei army.
After the two armies encountered each other, the Xianbei general ordered zhao bao's mother and wife to be escorted to the front of the two armies in an attempt to blackmail Zhao bao. When Zhao Bao saw this, he cried bitterly and said to his mother: "For the son is formless, he wants to raise him with a little lu, and does not want to do misfortune for his mother." Once a mother and a son, now a royal courtier, righteousness cannot be taken into account for selfish grace, and the festival of loyalty is destroyed, but only in death, there is no sin. The gist of Zhao Bao's words is that if he is loyal to the country, he will not be able to care about his mother's safety.
At this time, Zhao Bao's mother was very calm. She said to Zhao Bao, "Everyone has their own destiny, so why should they take care of each other, so as to be loyal and righteous!" The former king's mausoleum made a sword to the Han dynasty to consolidate his ambitions and encourage him. The meaning of the mother's words is very clear, hoping that the son will kill the enemy for the country and not worry about his own life. After that, Zhao Bao tearfully ordered the whole army to launch an attack, which would eventually crush the Xianbei army and stabilize the situation in Liaoxi County. However, in this battle, Zhao Bao's mother and wife both died in the rebellion. After the end of this battle, the Han Ling Emperor learned of this matter and was very moved, and ordered Zhao Bao to be made a marquis. However, after Zhao Bao buried his mother and wife, he was overly sad and died of vomiting blood shortly after.
During the late Han Dynasty, the situation in the Central Plains was chaotic, and Wuhuan, which occupied the northeast, took the opportunity to rise. The Wuhuan chieftain Jiandun occupied most of Liaoxi County, and made Liucheng his military and political center. At this time, the Yuan Shao clique also gradually became the most powerful separatist force in the Central Plains. In order to win over Gandun, Yuan Shao married the daughter of his clan to Jiandun. From then on, Jian Dun formed a strategic alliance with Yuan Shao. In the fifth year of Emperor Jian'an (200 AD), yuan shao and cao cao launched a strategic decisive battle in the guandu area to determine the hegemony of the Central Plains. After a bloody battle, Cao Cao finally won the battle. In the following years, Cao Cao took advantage of the victory to pursue and captured the jizhou, hezhou, and Qingzhou regions. Yuan Shao's sons Yuan Shang (袁尚) and Yuan Yan (袁煕), seeing that the tide was over, had to flee north to their father's former ally, the Wuhuan chieftain Jiandun ( 蹋敦 ) , in an attempt to rely on Yuan's forces to defeat Cao Cao and regain control of the Central Plains.
In order to expand the results of the battle and completely control the northern region, Cao Cao and Emperor Jian'an launched a northern expedition to the Wuhuan area in the twelfth year (207 AD), up to Liucheng, the core area of the Jiandun forces. In this battle, the famous general Zhang Liao beheaded Jiandun, the Cao army invaded Liucheng, more than 200,000 Wuhuan troops surrendered, and Cao Cao won a complete victory in the Battle of Liucheng. At this point, Cao Cao's seven-year war to unify the north was also over. However, after the end of Cao Cao's Northern Expedition, in order to completely eliminate the influence of Wuhuan forces in northern Xinjiang, the remnants of Wuhuan were separated and moved inland. After this inward relocation, many of the originally more prosperous areas were gradually abandoned.
Picture - Liaoning Chaoyang City overlook
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Liucheng once again became a strategic town in the northeast region. In the fifth year of the new century (717 AD), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ordered the construction of Yingzhou City in Liucheng, and appointed Song Qingli as the governor of Yushizhong and the governor of Yingzhou, and ordered him to be responsible for defending the area against the Khitan invasion. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the area around Liucheng became a battlefield filled with gun smoke, and the armies of the Later Jin and Ming Dynasties broke out fierce battles here many times, and famous generals such as Emperor Taiji and Yuan Chonghuan fought bloody battles here. Eventually, Liucheng became the domain of Houjin. After the founding of the Qing Dynasty, Liucheng was again assigned to Chaoyang County.
Reference books: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Zizhi Tongjian