Author: Fish Tank
(Liu Bei)
The eastern three counties refer to Fangling, Shangyong and Xicheng (魏興郡). These three counties were originally three counties in Hanzhong, and fangling in the late Han Dynasty was changed to a county and returned to Jingzhou. In 215, Cao Cao attacked Hanzhong, Zhang Lu surrendered, Cao Cao divided Hanzhong into three, placed Xicheng and Shangyong County, and placed the three counties of Xicheng, Shangyong, and Fangling under the jurisdiction of Nanyang County, which was located in the east of Hanzhong, and the Shu state called it the Eastern Three Counties.
The approximate range of the three eastern counties was in present-day Fang County, Zhuxi, Zhushan, YunXian, Yunxi, and most of Ankang, Zaoshui, Zhen'an, and Shanyang in Shaanxi.
Fangling Commandery was in present-day Fangxian County, Hubei Province, named after the "Records of History" ("Thousands of Miles, Mountains and Forests, Its Solid High Tombs, and If There Are Houses"; Shangyong Commandery was ruled in present-day Zhushan, Hubei; Xicheng County was ruled in present-day Ankang, Shaanxi.
The eastern three counties are blocked by Qinling, Bashan, Wudang and Wushan on all sides, which is a standard land of four plugs, but there are Han River through, South River, Block river, money river connected to the Han River, a network of radiation. Surrounded by mountains on the outside, the terrain is treacherous, the internal water transport is developed, and the exchanges are frequent, and it is one of the three small princes who have been divided for a long time at the end of the Han Dynasty.
(Cao Cao)
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Zhang was weak, Zhang Lu in Hanzhong took the opportunity to break away from Yizhou, and because of the geographical environment limitations of the three eastern counties, Zhang Lu also had nominal jurisdiction over it, and could only act independently, and had formed a de facto small division.
Liu Biao, with the help of the Jingzhou households Cai Mao, Qu Liang, and Yue Lu, killed Zong Shuai and took over Zong Shuai's personnel and territory. The Eastern Three Counties became a buffer zone for Jing and Yi geographically, Liu Biao was a standard self-preservationist, and Liu Zhang was a puppet. Fang Ling fell into the hands of Liu Biao in this takeover.
In order to exercise military control over the border plugs, it is likely that during this period, Fangling was withdrawn from the county and set up a county, and Liu Biao repaid Li with a peach and let Ku Qi do the Fangling Taishou. At the same time, Shangyong and Xicheng had been in the hands of the local powerful Shen Yan and Shen Yi.
In 215, Cao Cao captured Hanzhong and divided Hanzhong into three, starting with Shangyong and xicheng two counties. On the one hand, he married Zhang Lu, and on the other hand, he used the local powerful Shen brothers in order to achieve stability and balance in the region.
In the Battle of Chibi in 208, Cao Cao lost most of Jingzhou, and when he left, he left Cao Ren in Jiangling and controlled Nan County, and Lejin was in Xiangyang and controlled Nanyang County.
In 209, Cao Ren reluctantly withdrew from Gangneung under Sun Quan's onslaught, and Nan Commandery fell into Sun Quan's hands. At this time, Cao Cao only had Nanyang County left in Jingzhou, so the three eastern counties came under the jurisdiction of Nanyang County.
In 219, Liu Bei took Hanzhong, and Huang Zhong became famous in the battle of Dingjun Shanxia, beheading xiahou Yuan, the commander of Hanzhong, and Hanzhong fell in the wind. Three months later, Cao Cao, who had already become the King of Wei, personally led his troops out of Chang'an, walked the Valley of Slope, and prepared to fight Liu Bei to death. Liu Bei stood on the dangerous side, closed the door and did not fight, holding each other for more than a month, the morale of Cao Cao's army was low, and Cao Cao had no choice but to retreat.
(Huang Zhong)
Liu Bei took advantage of the victory to pursue, on the one hand, he ordered the Yidu Taishou Mengda to go from east to west, and on the other hand, he ordered his righteous son Liu Feng to leave Hanzhong from west to east, attacking from both sides, and taking the three eastern counties directly.
In this battle, Meng Da showed superb military ability, he led 4,000 people up the Yangtze River, from Zigui abandoned boat to the shore, along the Xiangxi River Valley over the lofty mountains, to the upper reaches of the pink water, along the river valley down to attack Fang Ling, Taishou Puqi was killed.
The Ku clan was a large clan of Jingzhou, and Qu Qi was also Zhuge Liang's brother-in-law.
When Meng Da took Fangling, Shangyong and Xicheng were highly respected by the local magnates Shen Yan and Shen Yi. In order to strengthen his control over the three eastern counties, Liu Bei created Shen Yan the general of northern Zheng and led Shangyong Taishou; he also created Shen Yi Jianxin the general of Xicheng Taishou; and Meng Da's close confidant Deng Fu led Fangling Taishou. Liu Feng was promoted to deputy general by Lieutenant General Zhonglang and commanded the Three Counties, with Meng Da as his deputy. The three eastern counties were transferred from Jingzhou to the jurisdiction of Yizhou, and the eastern three counties were officially born.
A month later, in July 219, Liu Bei was proclaimed king of Hanzhong. In mid-August, the Han River soared, and Guan Yu launched the Battle of Xiangyang, capturing Nanyang in one fell swoop.
At this point, Liu Bei's career reached its peak.
Liu Bei obtained the three eastern counties, opened up the hub connecting Jingyi, and basically completed the strategic deployment of the "Longzhong Pair".
Such a situation, not only Cao Cao could not accept it, sun Quan could not accept it, so Cao Andsun and his two families joined forces to defeat Guan Yu, Guan Yu was also killed by Sun Quan, and Liu Bei lost the entire Jingzhou.
At this time, the situation was extremely unfavorable to Liu Bei, without Jingzhou, the strategic passage out of the Three Gorges in the east was blocked, and the three counties in the east attacked Xiangyang and took Nanyang, because there was no jiangling to rely on and meaningless, but the eastern three counties became a passage for Cao Wei to attack Hanzhong. At this point, the strategic position of the three eastern counties changed from offensive to defensive.
Although Liu Bei lost Jingzhou, because he occupied Yizhou, he felt that he was getting older and had little time, although he had just proclaimed himself the King of Hanzhong, he had more lofty ideals, and began to prepare for the title of emperor again, ignoring the contradiction between Liu Feng and Meng Da in the three eastern counties.
At first, Meng Da killed Pu Qi and formed a vendetta with Zhuge Liang. Liu Feng's real name is Kou Feng, a Jingzhou family, and I don't know if there is any connection with the Ku family, but the Kui clan has a wide network of contacts in Jingzhou, otherwise Pu Qi will be Fang Ling Taishou, and the Shen brothers will not dare to embarrass him.
Liu Feng suppressed Meng Da at every turn in the Eastern Three Counties.
In the first month of 220, Cao Cao died. In July, Liu Feng unbelievably snatched Meng Da's honor guard, which made Meng Da, who had been suppressed for a long time, angry and angry, and led his men and horses to surrender to Cao Pi. Cao Pi, who was still the King of Wei at the time, ordered Xiahou Shang, Xu Huang and Meng Dali to join forces and defeat Liu Feng in one fell swoop, and Shen Yan Shenyi raised a banner to attach himself, and the three eastern counties returned to Cao Pi's hands.
At this time, Xicheng stared at Liu Bei's Hanzhong, Fang Ling stared at Sun Quan's return, and the three eastern counties were in Cao Pi's hands, making it difficult for Wu and Shu to sleep and eat.
In October, Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, and the three counties of Hedong were made Xincheng Commandery (新城郡), with Meng Da as the Taishou (太守), Fengsan Riding Chang Shi (常侍), jianwu (建武將軍), and Marquis of Pingyang (平陽亭侯). Shen Tan was placed in Nanyang. Because the strategic position of the eastern three counties was extremely important, the ministers of the DPRK did not trust Meng Da enough, and Cao Pi, as a politician, for the sake of political balance, separated the Western City and let the local magnate Shen Yi ren Taishou to contain Meng Da and also block the connection between Xincheng and Hanzhong.
(Sima Yi)
In 221, Cao Pi took the meaning of "Cao Wei Xingsheng" and changed the name of Xicheng Commandery to Wei Xing Commandery (魏興郡), Zhixunkou (present-day Xunyang), and Shen Yi as Taishou (太守), which belonged to Jingzhou.
After Shen Yan was politically resettled, Shen Yi took over local affairs, and although Shen Yi led Wei Xing County, his old nest was in Shangyong, and when he came and went, he naturally had a conflict with Meng Da. Because of Cao Pi's trust, Meng Da did not take Shen Yi in his eyes at all.
On May 17, 226, Cao Pi died, and Meng Da's last patron fell. The Ruying clique within the Wei state gradually gained the upper hand, and Meng Da naturally turned to the Yu Pei clique in order to quickly integrate into the core of the empire.
At this time, Sima Yi, the core figure of the Ruying clique, lived in Wancheng and was in charge of Jingzhou affairs, and Meng Da felt that he was in danger, at this time, Li Yan and Zhuge Liang of Xichuan began to write letters to win him over, Sun Quan of Eastern Wu also kept in touch with him, and the old neighbor Shen Yi finally seized his handle and kept beating his small reports.
Meng Da was still hesitating, but Zhuge Liang drew his salary from the bottom of the cauldron, and let Guo Mo fraudulently surrender, leaking the news of Meng Da's return to Shu to Shen Yi.
The politician and military figure Sima Yi knew the news of Meng Da's rebellion, and on the one hand wrote a letter to comfort him, on the other hand, he marched in a hurry, rushed to Fangling City in 8 days, and in 16 days, the city was destroyed and Meng Da was killed. After Sima Yi smashed Meng Da's plot, he found an excuse to bring Shen Yi back to Luoyang, and then forcibly moved more than 7,000 shangyong families to Youzhou, uprooting the forces of Meng Da, Shen Tan, and Shen Yi, and from then on, firmly controlled the three eastern counties.
(Zhuge Liang)
The history books record that Zhuge Liang did not do his best to rescue Meng Da, but in fact, the mountain was high and the road was far away, and the whip was beyond reach.
The three eastern counties are mostly mountainous, and the three counties and nine counties lack resources, the roads are difficult, and the transportation is inconvenient. If Jingzhou is not lost, the three eastern counties still have a place to play, but unfortunately, Jingzhou fell into the pocket of Eastern Wu. Without the support of Jingzhou, the Three Eastern Counties were just a piece of chicken ribs even in the hands of Shu Han.
Zhuge Liang could not attack Nanyang along the Han River, leaving aside the cost, strategically it was also a death.
Therefore, occupying Longxi is the first choice, and once Longxi is captured, a large number of people and horses can be obtained. However, the Eastern Three Counties still played a certain strategic role in the hands of Cao Wei. In 227, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Wei Yan dedicated himself to lead 5,000 people to the Meridian Valley to attack Chang'an, but the entrance to the Meridian Valley was in Ningshan, and Ningshan was the territory of Weixing County, fearing that the back road would be cut off, and did not adopt it. In 230, Sima Yi marched west from Hanshui, and Cao Zhen marched south from the Meridian Valley, preparing to attack Hanzhong, but had to retreat because of the continuous heavy rainfall. In 250, Xincheng Taishou attacked Zigui from the south, wushan, and eastern Wu were defeated.
After the fall of Shu, the zhennan general attacked Jiangling from Xiangyang, and the eastern three counties played the final role.
【About the author】Fish Tank, a native of Xunyang County, Shaanxi Province.
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