Whether it’s Li Shangyin, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, who said that “when overseas people hear about Kyushu, others don’t know how to rest in this life.”, It is also the Southern Song Dynasty poet lufangweng’s “when you die, you know everything is empty, but you can’t see the same Kyushu.”; Whether it is Gongzizhen, a poet of the late Qing Dynasty, who wrote that “Kyushu is angry because of the wind and thunder, and thousands of horses are dumb together, so it is sad to study.”, Or the contemporary song “the moon shines on Kyushu, a few happy and a few sad.”. The deep brand of “Kyushu” on the Chinese people seems to have never been shallower and lighter with the wind erosion of time since ancient times.
So where did the concept of “Kyushu” come from, and where did the original “Kyushu” go now? Does anyone know?
01
It is said that after Dayu controlled the flood, in order to facilitate management, China was officially divided into nine regions at the altar, namely, the nine prefectures of Ji, gun, Qing, Xu, Yang, Jing, Yu, Liang and Yong. However, the records about this event originated from the spring and Autumn period. Many experts and scholars have questioned this because many of the places recorded are not consistent with the jurisdiction of Xia at that time. But what cannot be refuted is that Kyushu’s statement must have been before the spring and Autumn period. Now let’s introduce the specific location of Kyushu.
02
Yizhou must be familiar to some readers, because the abbreviation of Hebei today is “Yi”. But the range of ancient Yizhou is much larger than that of today’s Yizhou. Since the Yellow River delayed the household registration, it has been eastward, covering all regions of Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin and Shanxi, as well as some regions of Inner Mongolia, Henan and Liaoning. The area of the corresponding Yuzhou was basically the same as that of Henan Province in ancient times, but it was a little larger. Moreover, unlike the other eight states, Yuzhou is just located in the middle of Kyushu. Therefore, in ancient times, Yuzhou was also called “Central Plains”.
To ask which state has the largest territory, it should be Yongzhou. Yongzhou in ancient times included the west of Inner Mongolia and parts of Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Qinghai, accounting for almost one third of the whole Kyushu. Unfortunately, it has degenerated into a small city in Gansu, a city that many people may not have heard of.
The fate of Yongzhou is like that of Xuzhou, Yangzhou and Jingzhou, which have changed from an ancient “state” to a modern city. Among them, Yangzhou is the most beautiful. Li Bai has a poem saying that “my old friend leaves the Yellow Crane Tower in the west, and fireworks go down to Yangzhou in March”. In ancient times, Yangzhou was much larger than Jiangsu, her superior city now. It includes Southern Jiangsu, most of Anhui and Jiangxi, as well as Shanghai, Fujian and Zhejiang to the south of these provinces. Its area is not much smaller than the Yizhou just mentioned.
Xuzhou is the most famous in the history of modern war. Whether it is the war of resistance against Japan or the war of liberation, there are major battles in Xuzhou that can not be forgotten. The ancient Xuzhou has a similar geographical location with today’s Xuzhou, including northern Jiangsu, southern Shandong and northeastern Anhui.
However, there was no other place besides Jingzhou, which was the most prominent in the ancient war history. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao led 800000 troops to fight sun and Liu in Chibi to capture Jingzhou. Later, there were historical stories about Liu Bei’s borrowing Jingzhou and Guan Yunchang’s “careless loss of Jingzhou”. Jingzhou in ancient times was not only as big as Jingzhou in Hubei Province now. At that time, it not only governed Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, but also part of Anhui and Chongqing.
Some people may ask, which state did China’s vast southwest belong to in ancient times? The answer is Liangzhou. Liangzhou in ancient times included Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou provinces, as well as Qinghai and some parts of Tibet. The area of Liangzhou, second only to Yongzhou and Yizhou, is also an indispensable part of China’s great rivers and mountains.
Speaking of this, some readers may wonder, there are only seven states in total, and where are the two mysterious States? They are not only small in area, but also relatively weak in history. These are Gung and Qingzhou, which govern the area around Shandong. It should be said that they are the smallest of the nine states. Because the area is relatively small, there are not many stories about them, so I won’t repeat them here.
epilogue
Of course, some people have different views on the appellation and regional division of these nine states, but these are minority views. Here, the views that are more accepted by the public are taken as the main basis. After seeing here, do you know which state your hometown belongs to in ancient times?