In the end, the dispute between Chu and Han ended with Xiang Yu's defeat and Liu Bang's establishment of the Western Han Dynasty. For Liu Bang, he won the world with the land of Bashu. But after Liu Bang, Liu Bei also occupied the land of Bashu, but he always shared the world with Cao Wei and Soochow. Moreover, in the capital, Liu Bei chose Chengdu as the capital, not Nanzheng, the land of Hanzhong. Then, the problem comes, and it also occupies the land of Bashu. Why did Liu Bang make Hanzhong the capital and Liu Bei Chengdu the capital? In other words, what caused Liu Bang and Liu Bei to choose different capitals?
one
First of all, for Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, the reason why he made Hanzhong, not Chengdu, was naturally for the convenience of attacking Guanzhong. After the hongmen banquet, liu bang had to submit to humiliation and accept the title. In April, he led the troops into Hanzhong and burned the plank road (the road paved with boards on the cliff) to show that he had no intention of going eastward again, so as to paralyze Xiang Yu and sneak into Chencang. In May and June of the first year of the Han Dynasty (206 BC), Tian Rong, a descendant of the royal family of Qi, was dissatisfied with the enfeoffment, drove away the King of Qi, killed the King of Jiaodong, and became the King of Qi on his own.
In the same year, in June 5438 +065438+10, Liu Bang took the opportunity to send troops eastward, worshipped Han Xin as a general, built a plank road, secretly crossed Chencang (now east of Baoji City, Shaanxi Province), returned to Guanzhong, quickly defeated Zhang Han, and forced Sima Xin and Dong Yun to surrender. This undoubtedly kicked off the Chu-Han War. If Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, made Chengdu the capital instead of Hanzhong, it would be very difficult to attack Xiaguan quietly because of the distance. More importantly, if we attack Guanzhong from Chengdu, both the transportation cost of troops and the pressure of logistics supply will be greater.
two
Correspondingly, for Liu Bei, Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty, he chose Chengdu as the capital instead of Hanzhong, mainly because Hanzhong was not suitable as the capital in the late Han and Three Kingdoms periods. The Battle of Hanzhong was a battle between Liu Bei and Cao Cao for Hanzhong during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of Han Dynasty. This war was initiated by Liu Bei in the 22nd year of Jian 'an (2 17) and ended in May in the 24th year of Jian 'an (2 19). The war lasted nearly two years. After the war in Hanzhong, Liu Bei seized the land in Hanzhong, thus promoting him to be the king of Hanzhong, and in 22 1 year, he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, thus formally establishing Shu Han.
After Liu Bei seized the land in Hanzhong, the situation of competing with each other has ended, that is, the pattern of tripartite confrontation between Wei Shuwu and China has been fully formed. Although Shu Han owned Yizhou and Hanzhong, among the thirteen states in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Wei family occupied most of the counties. Although Liu Bei's goal is to destroy Cao Wei and help the Han Dynasty, in reality, Cao Wei is several times stronger than Shu Han. For the latter, the primary goal is actually to protect themselves, not to attack Cao Wei. Accordingly, if Hanzhong is the capital, the demise of Shu Han will be obviously ahead of schedule.
three
Compared with Bashu, with Hanzhong as its capital and Chengdu as its capital, it can widen the distance between itself and Cao Wei and effectively defend itself with the help of mountains and rivers. This was reflected in the battle of Wei destroying Shu in 263 AD. After Zhong Huijun broke through the Hanzhong defense line, he still could not point to Chengdu. On the other hand, as far as Liu Bang was concerned, after the Hongmen banquet, Xiang Yu enfeoffed more than a dozen governors, especially in Guanzhong area. Xiang Yu was divided into three parts, and three generals of Qin were appointed: Zhang Han as King Yong, Dong Kun as King Zhai, and Sima Xin as King Sai. so this is it？ Sanqin? The origin of. In Xiang Yu's view, the purpose of enfeoffment of the three princes to guard Guanzhong was to prevent Liu Bang from entering the customs.
However, because the land in Guanzhong was divided into three parts, the strength of the three princes was relatively weak, which gave Liu Bang the opportunity to break them one by one. Moreover, Liu Bang's main enemy, Xiang Yu, although relatively strong in overall strength, has its capital in Pengcheng, that is, there are still many governors between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, which undoubtedly gives Liu Bang the opportunity to gradually eliminate the governors and expand his influence. If Liu Bang confronted Xiang Yu from the beginning, he wouldn't dare to make a move.
four
Finally, back in the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, when Liu Bei established Shu Han, he and Cao Cao had already bordered on the site, and there was no buffer space. For Liu Bei, even if Hanzhong is his capital, it is difficult to seize Guanzhong from the powerful Cao Wei, which is completely different from the external environment Liu Bang faces. Moreover, during the Hanzhong War, Cao Cao had moved the population around Hanzhong, which led to the lack of objective conditions for Hanzhong to be the capital. As early as 2 15 A.D., Cao Cao accepted the suggestion of Yongzhou secretariat Zhang to prevent Zhang Lu from making a comeback. Taizu pulled tens of thousands of Hanzhong people to live in Chang 'an and Sanfu. ? Cao Cao not only took away Edward Zhang's family, but also ordered tens of thousands of Hanzhong people to move to Chang 'an, Luoyang and Yecheng. During the Battle of Hanzhong, Cao Cao continued to move people within the controllable range of Hanzhong during the retreat.
Therefore, after the war in Hanzhong, the land of Hanzhong acquired by Liu Bei was almost an empty city. In the ancient history of China, the capital cities often chose relatively densely populated areas, such as Chang 'an and Luoyang. Now, there is no one in Hanzhong. In order to make Hanzhong the capital, it is necessary to invest a lot of manpower and material costs, such as recruiting people from far away to build the capital and transporting materials. All these will increase the burden of Shu Han and make the already weak Shu country even weaker. At the end of Qin Dynasty, Hanzhong was less damaged by the war, so it was undoubtedly easier for Liu Bang to make Hanzhong Nanzheng his capital. Based on the above factors, it also occupied the land of Bashu. Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, chose Hanzhong as the capital, and Liu Bei, Emperor Zhaolie of Han Dynasty, chose Chengdu as the capital, which was in line with the situation at that time.