What do Yuanjiang River and Wuling Mountains mean to eastern Hunan?

As we all know, the Xiangjiang River is the largest river in Hunan Province, with a total length of more than 940 kilometers. It flows from south to north and finally flows into Dongting Lake on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Do you know which river is the second largest river in Hunan Province? Hunan is known for its four major water systems, namely the Xiangjiang River, Yuanjiang River, Zijiang River, and Lishui River. The Yuanjiang River is the second largest river in Hunan Province. Interestingly, these four major rivers in Hunan eventually flow into Dongting Lake, so they are all tributaries of the Yangtze River.

The Yuan River is the second largest river in Hunan, but about half of the Yuan River does not belong to Hunan Province, but originates in Guizhou Province. Let's open a map of Guizhou and find Duyun, the capital of Qiannan Prefecture, southeast of the provincial capital Guiyang.

Not far to the north of Duyun (main urban area, the same below), there is a small river flowing quietly southward under the Doupeng Mountain of Miaoling Mountains and flowing through Duyun. The section from the source to Duyun is called Jianjiang River. After leaving Duyun, Jianjiang River draws a "U" shape and then flows from southwest to northeast.

However, the river is no longer called Jianjiang River from Duyun onwards, but Mawei River or Longtou River, and continues to flow northeast through Kaili, the capital of Qiandongnan Prefecture. About 20 kilometers away, it merges into Chong'an River, which flows from west to east. From then on, the river is called Qingshui River. The Qingshui River flows roughly from west to east, passing Jianhe, Jinping and other counties, and enters Huitong County of Huaihua City, Hunan Province at Tianzhu County.

The Qingshui River does not have a long river in Huitong County before entering Hongjiang City. The Qingshui River flows for about 450 kilometers in Guizhou Province, while there are several different opinions on the total length of the Yuan River, the most popular of which is 1,033 kilometers.

According to this statement, the length of the Qingshui River in Guizhou Province accounts for about 43% of the total length of the river. But even after entering Hunan, the river is still called the Qingshui River until it flows to the southwest of Hongjiang City and merges into the Wushui River, then it begins to be called the Yuan River.

After leaving Hongjiang City, the Yuanjiang River still flows from west to east, but after more than 20 kilometers, it makes a big turn and flows from south to north. It enters Changde City from Xupu County, Huaihua City, flows through the main urban area of ​​Changde, and then merges into Dongting Lake, ending its endless flow along the way.

However, the ancients' understanding of the Yuan River was very different from today's, and there are several theories. One is that the Yuan River originates from Zunyi Prefecture, Sichuan Province (now part of Guizhou Province); the other is that the Yuan River originates from Zhenyuan Prefecture, Guizhou Province (now the area from Huangping County to Sansui County, Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou Province). As for the confluence of the Yuan River into Dongting Lake, the ancients believed that the Yuan River entered the lake from the southwest-northeast direction to the vicinity of Yuanjiang City in Yiyang City.

Yuanjiang City is not part of Changde now (Yuanjiang County in the Ming Dynasty belonged to Changde Prefecture), but its name is related to the Yuanjiang River. From the current map, the "Yuanjiang River" mentioned by the ancients is actually the Zishui River. Of course, some ancient people believed that the mouth of the Yuanjiang River into the lake is in Longyang County (now Hanshou County) of Changde Prefecture, which is the real route of the Yuanjiang River into the lake, which is what we now call the Yuanjiang River.

Due to geographical reasons, the terrain of the Yuan River in Guizhou is relatively high, but after entering Huaihua, Hunan, it is sandwiched between two mountains, forming a narrow valley. The northwest of the Yuan River is Wuling Mountain, and the southeast is Xuefeng Mountain, both of which are northeast-southwest in direction.

Do you think the name "Wuling" is familiar? Those who are familiar with the Three Kingdoms are naturally very familiar with Wuling. The famous Wuling County is now Changde (main urban area) where the Yuanjiang River flows into Dongting Lake, and the county seat is Linyuan County.

Wuling County in the Eastern Han Dynasty was very large. The entire Xiangxi region belonged to Wuling County, including the eastern part of Guizhou Province, and basically covered the Yuanjiang River Basin. There were four counties in the southern part of Jingzhou at the end of the Han Dynasty, namely Wuling, Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang, which Liu Bei captured after the Battle of Chibi.

Affected by economic development, agriculture in Wuling County in the Yuanjiang River Basin seemed to be a little worse than the other three counties. After Zhuge Liang took over the four counties, he specifically supervised the collection of taxes from Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling, excluding Wuling. The terrain of the three counties was relatively flat, but Wuling County was high and dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Before entering Shu, Liu Bei's territory only included the Yangtze River area of ​​Jingzhou and the four southern counties. The three southern counties were actually the granaries of Jingzhou controlled by Liu Bei. Once the grain was cut off, northern Jingzhou would be lost. To save the three southern counties, the role of Wuling County in the Yuanjiang River Basin could not be underestimated. Once Wuling was lost, the three southern counties would be wide open.

There are historical lessons for this. During the Warring States Period, King Huiwen of Qin set his sights on the Qianzhong area of ​​Chu, which is the area between the Yuanjiang River and Wuling Mountain in western Hunan. The reason is that the terrain here is too important. If the Yuanjiang River and Wuling Mountain are connected, the eastern part of Hunan, where agriculture is relatively developed, will be directly exposed to the Qin army.

What was even more serious for Chu was that there was no strategic location to defend the southeast of Chu's capital Ying, and the Qin army could attack Jiangling at any time. King Zhao of Qin asked Zhang Yi to trick King Huai of Chu into the Qin State and detain him, in order to seize Qianzhong and other places. After the Qin army controlled Qianzhong, it could move eastward to the Hunan Plain, northward to the Jianghan Plain, and southward to Guangdong, Guangxi, and the South China Sea.

In the 20th year of Jian'an (215 AD) during the reign of Emperor Xian of Han, Sun Quan of Eastern Wu and Liu Bei, who had entered Shu, signed an agreement to divide Jingzhou in half. Changsha, Guiyang, and Jiangxia were returned to Wu, while Shu Han controlled Wuling, Lingling, and Nanjun. Sun Quan was not very satisfied with this agreement. The key point was that Wuling County in the Yuanjiang River Basin was in Liu Bei's hands, which formed a situation in which Qin State strategically suppressed Chu State. Once the Shu army broke through the Yuanjiang River-Wuling Mountain, Changsha and other counties would have no strategic defenses.

When Shu Han became so powerful that it threatened the existence of Dongwu, Sun Quan did not hesitate to join hands with Cao Cao to sneak attack Jingzhou and kill Guan Yu, thus resolving the strategic threat of Yuanjiang River-Wuling Mountain to the southeast of Jingzhou. After Dongwu controlled this area, it basically cut off the possibility of the Shu army sneak attacking the southern part of Jingzhou from this line. If the southern Jingzhou is safe, then the northern Jingzhou is as safe as Mount Tai. If the northern Jingzhou in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is as safe as Mount Tai, then Jiangdong in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River will have no worries.

Since the Three Kingdoms period, Yuanjiang River-Wuling Mountain has been an important strategic barrier to guard the eastern part of Hunan. Wang Kui, a famous general of the Chu State in the late Five Dynasties, said: Wuling (then called Langzhou) relies on the dangers of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, and with tens of thousands of soldiers, how can we give it up to others! Wang Kui, Zhou Xingfeng and others used Ruanjiang River-Wuling Mountain as their base to recover most of the Chu State occupied by the Southern Tang Dynasty and basically restore the Chu State. From the above, we can see the importance of Yuanjiang River-Wuling Mountain to Hunan.

Text: Jiang Lang Illustration: General Wei

Source: Map Emperor