Former Qin, an important regime during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, once unified northern China. Because the time for the unification of Former Qin was very short, people did not pay enough attention to the scale of its territory. In Tan Qijun's Historical Atlas of China, former Qin's territory was mainly located in the Yellow River Valley, which was not much larger than that of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. However, in the "Map of Chinese Historical Manuscripts", the territory of Former Qin includes not only the entire Yellow River Valley, but also the western region and the desert region. So, which version of the Former Qin territory is the most objective?
A common map of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Former Qin
Former Qin (349-394), a regime established by the Hu people, was the most powerful of the Sixteen Kingdoms, and existed for 46 years in history. In the early days, Former Qin's territory was limited to the Guanzhong region, with its capital at Chang'an. Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin Dynasty had gone north to Guanzhong and was defeated by Jian Jian.
After Jian Jian ascended the throne, he promoted Confucianism and worked hard to govern. He reused Wang Meng and others to assist the government, and the country was greatly prosperous, and the history was called "Guan Long Qingyan, the people are rich and happy".
After Former Qin became stronger, it began to move towards the road of expansion. In 370, Jian Jian sent Wang Meng and Deng Qiang to destroy Former Yan and obtain the six prefectures of Kwantung, destroying his greatest enemy and laying the foundation for the unified Northern Expedition. In 371, he also destroyed the Qiuchi regime and forced Tuguhun to submit. In 376, Former Qin destroyed former Liang and Daiguo and proclaimed the unification of the Central Plains. The map of Former Qin drawn by Tan Qijun is the map of the period when Former Qin unified the Central Plains.
Map of the distribution of the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
However, Former Qin's territory was not limited to the Central Plains.
In the south, Former Qin captured Liang prefectures and Yizhou in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in 373, bringing the Bashu region into its territory. At the same time, the qiong, qi, and yelang states of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau also belonged to Former Qin.
Qiong and Qiong are located north of the Jinsha River, and Yelang is located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. However, the Yelang kingdom had long since perished, and yelang at that time referred to the indigenous surnames of Guizhou. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Southwest Yi region was nominally subordinate to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but in fact it was divided into one side. Yelang belonged to Former Qin, indicating that Former Qin's sphere of influence had already involved the Guizhou area.
In the Western Regions, Former Qin's exploits were even more outstanding. In 382, Jian Jian appointed Lü Guang as his general and led 70,000 soldiers and horses to conquer the Western Regions. In 383, Lü Guang's western expeditionary army reached the western region, and Yanqi and other countries surrendered. Subsequently, the army attacked the Kamezi Kingdom, shi zai"
Fighting in the west of the city, defeated, slashing more than 10,000 ranks, And Leaving pure to collect its treasures, the prince surrendered more than thirty kingdoms... Those who had never been guests of the King of Hu in the past had come from far and wide, and the festivals given by the Shanghan were passed on, and the light was easy to see.
Lü Guang replaced the Han Dynasty runes held by these countries with new runes, marking the re-incorporation of the Western Regions into the territory.
After the cool map
Soon after Lü Guang conquered the Western Regions, Former Qin perished. However, the influence of Lü Guang's conquest of the Western Regions was far-reaching. After the fall of Former Qin, Lü Guang again occupied Liangzhou and established the Later Liang regime. Among the several Liangzhou kingdoms, Houliang had the largest territory because it included the Western Regions.
In terms of the desert, former Qin's territory also reached the heyday of the Han Dynasty. After the former Qin Dynasty destroyed the dynasty, it incorporated the southern region into its territory. Former Qin appointed the Xiongnu Liu Weichen and the Xianbei Liu Kuren to administer the eastern and western parts of Daidi respectively. The jurisdiction of Liu Weichen and Liu Kuren is relatively broad. Later, Liu Weichen rebelled, Liu Kuren crusaded, and pursued it to more than 1,000 miles northwest of the Yin Mountains, which showed that Former Qin's forces had penetrated deep into the desert.
A map of the territory of the Former Qin and Eastern Jin Dynasties drawn by the Manuscript of Chinese History
It is an exaggeration to say that the Pre-Qin territory in the Map of Chinese History covers almost the entire desert area except Ding Zero (Tie Le). At that time, an emerging force arose in the desert- Rouran. In the early sixteen kingdoms, Rouran was defeated by the Daiguo and thus attached to the Daiguo. After the Dai kingdom was annexed by Former Qin, Rouran was subordinate to Former Qin and came under the jurisdiction of Liu Weichen. However, Rouran's range of activities at that time was incorporated into the deep desert north too far, mainly near the Yin Mountain. Therefore, it is more reasonable that Former Qin's territory should reach the gobi desert as far north as possible.
Therefore, the territory of Former Qin can be said to be south to the Yunnan-Guizhou region, north to the Gobi Desert, east to Liaodong, and west to the western region. The history books record that "the eastern pole is the sea, the west is guizi, the south is xiangyang, and the north is the desert.". Although Former Qin did not achieve the great cause of china's unification, the territory it conquered was already the largest in the entire Wei and Jin dynasties.