Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 303: The Southern Province Scholar's Calculation
Jiangling, also known as "Yingdu", the former capital of the Chu State in the pre-Qin period, is now the most powerful city in the south. People have customarily taken the name of "Jingzhou City" from Xiangyang.
I left Baidi in the morning among the colorful clouds and returned to Jiangling a thousand miles away in one day.
Li Bai's "Early Departure from Baidi City" indirectly explains the location of Jiangling - it and Baidi City are located at the two ends of the Three Gorges. Baidi City is the starting point, and Jiangling is the end point.
Therefore, Jiangling can be said to be a strategic point from Sichuan to Jing. Compared with Yiling, a military stronghold closer to the mouth of the Three Gorges, Jiangling is closer to a transportation stronghold.
Kuai Yue and Liu Biao said, "Occupy Jiangling in the south and guard Xiangyang in the north, and the eight counties of Jingzhou can be conquered by a single order." From another perspective, this expressed the location characteristics of Jiangling - it is located in the south and north of Xiangyang, and is located at the two ends of Nanjun!
Xiangyang is located in the north of Nanjun and close to Nanyang County. It is also the junction of the north and south of the Han Dynasty and the backbone of the world.
Jiangling is located in the southern part of Nanjun, close to Yunmengze. It has a well-developed water system and convenient waterways. It can be said to be the center of the entire south.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the most important area of Jingzhou for the southern regime was Jiangling, while the northern Jingzhou was defended in Xiangyang. As for Nanyang... it was almost assumed to be part of the Central Plains.
Five years ago, Jiangdong was several levels lower than the southern part of Nanjun. Yangzhou only valued Jiujiang and Lujiang in the north of the Yangtze River. Wujun and Danyangjun in Jiangdong were only slightly better than the four counties in southern Jing. Kuaiji and Yuzhang were considered barren.
As for Nanyang County, there is no doubt about it - it is the best county in the world.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Nanyang's water conservancy was as famous as the Zhengguo Canal in Guanzhong and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System in Chengdu. Most of the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, and his generals were born in Nanyang, so it was the birthplace of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the population of Nanyang County alone was 2.4 million, almost as many as that of Xuzhou.
However, the seat of the governor of Jingzhou was originally in Hanshou, north of Wuling.
Firstly, at that time the governor was mainly responsible for supervising the local areas and had no administrative power, and Nanyang... was so close to the center of the imperial court and was a key area, so the governor did not need to worry about it. The governor only needed to keep an eye on the people of Wuxi in the four counties of southern Jing!
Secondly, it is due to Feng Shui... I don't know which Feng Shui master employed by the court identified "Hanshou" as a Feng Shui treasure land. The name itself was praying for the Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period, the Wu Kingdom occupied this place and directly changed its name to "Wushou". When Liu Bei saw that this was not feasible, he changed the name of Jiameng County to Hanshou. After the Jin Kingdom conquered Sichuan and Shu, it changed the name of Jiameng to "Jinshou".
Fortunately, Qin Shi Huang didn't think of this at the time, otherwise this name would be very ugly...
When Liu Biao arrived in Jingzhou, the power of the governor had already been implemented. Naturally, he could not stay in Wuling, staring at the people of Wuxi while praying for the Han Dynasty.
But he didn't dare to go to Nanyang at that time, because the prefect of Nanyang was Yuan Shu, who was one level higher in rank... He would be beaten up if he deserved it!
The aristocratic families of Nanjun extended an olive branch to Liu Biao at this time, and the two sides hit it off. Naturally, the seat of government should be in Nanjun where it would be most stable, and there were only - Jiangling in the south and Xiangyang in the north.
In the end, Liu Biao chose Xiangyang. Although Jiangling was more prosperous, the threat from the north, that is, from Nanyang County, was indeed greater at that time, and it is still the case now.
Moreover, according to Huang Chengyan, Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others not only regarded the north as the place where the dragon rises, but also because the capital was moved to Xiangyang, they became closer to the Central Plains regime.
After all, the capital was in Xiangyang, so the interests and power of the major families in Jingzhou gradually moved northward, and they cooperated more with the families in the Central Plains - just like when the salt trade in Jiangdong just started, the families in Huainan also moved south.
At the same time, Xiangyang's location also meant that if the Nanjun family wanted to live a stable life, it would be more cost-effective to move north...
Why did the Mongolian cavalry fight with the Southern Song Dynasty in Xiangyang for so many years instead of attacking the Song Dynasty from Huainan?
It's not that the Mongols were so stupid that they didn't know that Xiangyang City had thick walls, but the complex water system in the Huainan area made it even more unfavorable for the Mongols to fight. Although the Song Dynasty was weak, neither the Later Jin nor the Mongols had ever gained the upper hand in Huainan. Xiangyang was at least located on a plain, and no matter how strong the city was, it was still conducive to land and cavalry battles.
As for Xiangyang today, it is not as strong as it was during the Southern Song Dynasty.
The gentry of Nanjun had figured this out very clearly - if Xiangyang was in the hands of the southern government, the north would certainly use it as a breakthrough point, and then wouldn't they, the local tyrants, be the ones who would suffer the most?
On the contrary, if Xiangyang was in the hands of the northern regime, the southerners could just enter the Central Plains directly from Huainan. There would be no reason to use their own weaknesses to defeat the enemy's strengths.
This is indeed the case. During the Three Kingdoms period, apart from the threat to Xiangfan posed by Guan Yu in the early period when he was stationed in Southern Jingzhou, the Wu Kingdom in Southern Jingzhou had always made few attacks. Generally, 100,000 troops would march north to Hefei, and 100,000 troops would march north to Guangling...
From this point of view, the calculations of the Nanjun gentry were too meticulous.
If the Huainan gentry had a choice, they would probably prefer to be closer to the south. Unfortunately, Huainan in history was almost completely abolished after Yuan Shu ascended the throne, so they had no choice at all.
Even Bai Tu had to admire Huang Chengyan's analysis - he really thought deeply about it!
Let’s not talk about who is stronger or weaker, just choose the option that has the least negative impact on you…
Therefore, even though Huang Chengyan swore that he had "seen it with his own eyes" as a guarantee, the Nanjun gentry still did not want to stick to the side of the General's Mansion.
After all, Kuai Yue and others now believe that the world situation is likely to fall into a long-term division, and they need to create a safe position, especially... no matter how you look at it, Central Plains + Hebei have greater advantages than Jiangdong + Southern Jingzhou.
Huang Chengyan has been distracted by them for a long time, so how can he make them change their minds?
"So Mr. Huang is unable to persuade them to surrender, right?" Bai Tu was not too disappointed, just a little regretful.
Originally, Baitu was planning to spend three to five years to fight hard, but only one year has passed...
It has been the fifth year of Jian'an, and the local princes have become more and more entrenched. No one can expect to defeat anyone in one fell swoop. The historical situation in which Xuzhou changed hands several times in a short period of time, as it did in the early years of Jian'an, will become increasingly rare.
"No, at least I can persuade Mrs. Cai." Huang Chengyan said righteously.
"Liu Biao is still alive, so we can count on Madam Cai..." Bai Tu said, shaking his head, and then said, "And as the link between the gentry of Nanjun, I'm afraid Madam Cai won't easily have any good feelings towards the General's Mansion."
"Mr. Bai, you worry too much. How could my sister-in-law not be of the same mind as me?" Huang Chengyan said in a seemingly indifferent but actually arrogant tone upon hearing this.
White picture: ...
I always feel that Jingzhou seems to be in chaos, but the dialogue map is actually good news that is neither big nor small.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Huang. Although I am not talented, I have the help of countless talented people in both civil and military affairs to get to where I am today, but I still dare to pat my chest to guarantee my credibility... No matter what happens in the future, the general's mansion will not involve family members in politics and military affairs. If in the future I really need Cai and Liu Jingzhou to surrender the city, I will definitely treat them as county marquises and fiefs."
The "Liu Jingzhou" mentioned by Bai Tu is obviously not Liu Biao, and he said "surrender the city" instead of surrendering the state. This obviously shows that Bai Tu will not place all his hopes here, and the battlefields in Jingzhou will not cease fighting.
After all, Liu Biao would not be able to finish his work in a short time, and this "good news" could not be delivered for the time being. It just made Bai Tu more confident. At the same time, he could send an urgent letter to the front line, instructing them to "take it step by step" and not to take risks with tactics such as the divine troops descending from the sky.
