Why didn't the Qin and Han empires continue to expand?

Since the strength of China's Qin and Han empires is far from that of non-China people who have not yet developed a complex political system around them, and the possession of new land, resources and population will enhance the strength of the empire, why can't the expansion of the empire be maintained all the time? This is a complicated problem, and at least the following reasons should be considered:

First of all, centralization has greatly enhanced its overall political and military capabilities, but it has also made local problems a burden on the whole, thus turning foreign troubles into internal ones. Father Yan described Qin's war against Xiongnu like this:

Qin Shihuang made Meng Tian lead his troops to attack Hu, conquering thousands of miles and taking the river as the boundary. If the ground is solid and salty, no grain will be produced. Then send the world to defend the North River. Soldiers exposed for more than ten years, countless dead, can't cross the river to the north. Also let the world-famous La Shu, starting from the county where Huang, Jia and Lang Xie are in charge of the sea, turn to the North River at a speed of one stone in 30 minutes. Men plow not for food, but women spin not for curtain. The people are in poverty, the old and the weak can't help each other, and the road is dead, covering Qin.

Sima Qian also had a similar understanding of the cost of Emperor Wudi's territory expansion:

At that time, the Han Dynasty was connected to the southwest, and there were tens of thousands of authors who paid thousands of miles for food, earned a stone in ten minutes, and scattered coins in Qionglai to collect it. A few years old, barbarians attacked them by numbers, and officials sent troops to punish them. It's not enough to know the tax of Bashu, but to raise Tian Nanyi and the officials who joined Su County, and at the same time receive money from the capital. East to the county of the sea, the cost of people and apprentices is planned to be in Nanyi. More than 100,000 people were built to guard the north, and it was a long way to turn to Cao Cao. Shandong is salty, costing hundreds of millions, and the national treasury is empty.

Although the war or border opening activities took place at the border, it mobilized the manpower and material resources of the whole country, which is bound to bring a heavy burden to the people in the mainland. People in Shandong had nothing to do with the war in Shuofang. Even the Bashu people do not support the development of the neighboring southwest. Yan' an wrote to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty:

Today, I will recruit barbarians from the south, make a pilgrimage to Yelang, surrender the Qiang people, build a city, go deep into the Huns and burn the city. The negotiator is very beautiful. The benefits of this person and minister are not the long-term policy of the world. Today, China is not surprised by the barking of dogs, but is tired of preparations from afar, which makes our country very difficult, so it is not the people.

The benefits of people and ministers? With what? The long-term strategy of the world? These differences reflect the inconsistency in interests and concepts between the emperor and the ruling class and the people who undertake obligations. The result of a vast territory is a long service distance. Did Zhu and Sima Qian both notice the above quotation? Thirty minutes to a stone? 、? Ten minutes to a stone? The problem is that one clock equals six stones and four buckets, which shows that the transportation cost of long-distance grain transportation is amazing.

Not only to the edge, but also to the central road is too far. Jia Yi noticed that officials in Huainan were too far away from Chang 'an because of the corvee. Self-knowledge and self-compensation, the middle road is poor, and money is called this with various expenses. What is the bitterness of the Han people and their desire for kings? There are many people who are willing to be the subjects of princes rather than the subjects of emperors. On this basis, Ge Xiongjian pointed out that sometimes division and division are more popular with the people than reunification. Even within the ruling clique, there are various centrifugal factors. It goes without saying that with the expansion of the empire in the early Han Dynasty, the satrap of other counties was also considered as a threat to the central imperial power. Yan' an thinks:

The land outside the county or thousands of miles, dozens of cities, shaped like a bunch of soil, threatening the governors, not the first advantage. Nowadays, the strength of the county guard is no longer the weight of the special Committee's six Qing; Thousands of miles away, it is not a dedicated driveway of the capital; Armored equipment is not specially used; In order to be changed by the times, it is not taboo.

The other counties are border counties. The history from the Han Dynasty to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty proved that the prefect of the border county could indeed become a separatist force, and Yan 'an's worries were far-sighted. To sum up, there are many factors that are not conducive to maintaining unity in the Great Kingdom, and it is always necessary to make great efforts to eliminate or suppress various centrifugal tendencies. Due to the existence of centralized empire, people have to undertake some obligations that have nothing to do with themselves.

The bigger the empire, the more difficult and costly it is to fulfill these obligations. Moreover, with the expansion of territory, the power and strength of border local governments have also increased, thus increasing the cost of maintaining centralization and unity. If these costs exceed the affordability of society, the fragile balance of maintaining unity and centralization will be broken. What do political commentators in the Han Dynasty say? Landslide? Fashion.

Secondly, the expansion of Huaxia Empire was restricted by geographical environment and related economic ecology. If we draw the territory of the Han empire on a layered and colorful topographic map of modern China, we will see a very interesting phenomenon. Before the large-scale expansion of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, most of the counties of the Han Empire were in the green area on the map, that is, the area below 1000 meters above sea level. There is a special case here, namely, Beidi County, Shang Jun County and Longxi County in the west of the Loess Plateau north of Guanzhong Basin. Although these places are relatively high in altitude, because loess is easy to carry out dry farming, they are the areas where Yangshao culture is concentrated in the Neolithic Age. After the long-term operation of Zhou and Qin Dynasties, these places have become an organic part of the Daguan Central District.

But these counties are also bordered by Huns, and Qin Changcheng runs through them. Due to the weakness in the early Han Dynasty, they could only keep part of the old fortress (the Great Wall of Zhao Xiang, the king of Qin). Macroscopically, the expansion of the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, on the western front, is precisely to move the frontier to 1000? Altitude1500m propulsion. Coupled with the dry and humid climate, in the north and northwest, the frontier of the Han Dynasty was pushed to the arid farming-pastoral ecotone or pastoral area occupied by Xiongnu and Qiang. In the southwest with Bashu as the expansion base, the expansion direction is from the bottom of the basin to the high altitude area around.

In the south, southeast and northeast, although the Han Dynasty did not conquer high-altitude areas, it still had to cross the barrier of high mountains to obtain the plains outside the mountains. South over Nanling, northeast over mountains and mountains. Land transportation in Han Dynasty depended on cars and needed a lot of roads. So the Qin and Han Dynasties spent a lot of money to build post roads. Outside the main road, traffic is inconvenient. In the case of navigable rivers, bulk materials rely on water transport, but it is also expensive to pull popular ships back by manpower and animal power. In a word, the expansion from low-altitude areas to high-altitude areas faces great traffic resistance.

Traffic resistance is not insurmountable, and military operations are often risky. Bailongdui outside Yumenguan and Gobi Desert in the west are the most unsuitable places to March, but Li Guangli's army can still cross the river under Dawan City. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing attacked the desert several times, and the three-way army crossed Nanling to wipe out Zhao Nanyue in one fell swoop, all of which proved this point.

For a long time, what really prevented the expansion of the Han empire was not traffic, but the economic and ecological differences brought about by geographical changes. As we all know, the first line of the Great Wall is the northern line of the farming-pastoral ecotone in the north, and the construction of the Great Wall just surrounds the farming-pastoral ecotone as much as possible. In the eyes of Han people, Huns lived by grazing pasture and hunting with livestock. Is it different from China in dress, customs, diet and language? ,? Its land can't be cultivated for food, and its people can't be ministers and livestock? .

Because of this, Hu Han between heaven and earth? Across the valley, with a sand curtain? It's absolutely different from outside. Therefore, Han's strategic goal for Xiongnu is to make Khan obey and tie his neck under the que. For crossing the desert and setting up counties, it is not only not so powerful in traffic, but more importantly, it has never been regarded as a goal. What did Ban Gu say? Its land cannot be cultivated and eaten? This is an important standard, and the Han empire is only interested in areas that can be cultivated and eaten. Ge pointed out that the requirements of the Central Plains Dynasty established by the Han people for their own territory were basically based on whether it was suitable for farming and whether it could produce enough food to feed local residents.

On this basis, he analyzed the success or failure of Han Dynasty expansion from several directions. After the Hexi Corridor, south of Yinshan Mountain, Ningxia Plain and Huangshui River Basin were incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty, they were able to accept a large number of immigrants and garrisons because of the conditions for agricultural development, thus being stable and maintaining the long-term existence of administrative institutions and military forces. At that time, the northern part of Yinshan Mountain, the oasis in the western regions and the mountainous area of Fujian and Zhongshan did not have the conditions for large-scale agricultural development, and they could not support administrative institutions and troops, nor could they accept a large number of immigrants. Even if the Han army conquered there, it could not set up a regular administrative region, and it also implemented the policy of resettlement and abandonment in Fujian and East Vietnam.

In the southwest Yi area, where agricultural conditions and traffic conditions are not ideal, although there were counties in the Han Dynasty, these early counties could not collect taxes, and all administrative expenses and officials were supplied by neighboring counties. In this case, we have to maintain the original local political organization and maintain the local official system such as Wang, Hou and Yichang. In fact, it is just a kind of captive management. The Chengdi River has been leveled, and Yelang Wang Xing has hooked the town of Yu Wang. Louwo can still attack it with soldiers, but Yelang Wang Xing can still take it with him? How many people are there in this city? See Kenji satrap Chen Li, illustrates this point.

Whether it is related to farming, whether it is settled or suitable for settlement is also a factor that the empire values. Take the southwest Yi area as an example, for the whole? Migration with livestock, not in the usual place, not long? Kunming failed to set up a county to? Farming has a party? In Yelang and Du Qiong, Qianwei, Zhang Si, Yizhou and Yuesi counties have remained relatively stable. Or aborigines, or immigrants? Li Shen and Wenshan counties, which were built by Youdu and Youyan, were eventually abandoned as a captain after the capital was built, and could not last long. It can be seen that the difficulty of incorporating into the county system is related to the degree of settlement.

Tong Zeng had the insight to discover that there is a river in China that runs from northeast to southwest? Border half-moon cultural exchange belt? It starts from the southern section of Daxing 'anling in the east, reaches Hehuang area in the west along the Great Wall Line, then turns south and reaches northern Yunnan along the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. There is a great deal of archaeological evidence in this area to show the cultural similarity and possible communication relationship.

Mr. Tong further pointed out that the condition for realizing this cultural similarity or cultural exchange is that the natural environment in this area is completely close to topography, temperature and humidity, crop growth period, annual precipitation and vegetation types. At the same time, it forms a huge contrast with the southern and eastern parts of this half-moon zone. Therefore, this area has become a breeding ground for animal husbandry or semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral ethnic groups, and its borders, such as the Great Wall and Minshan Mountain, have been regarded as natural boundaries separating China people from foreigners since ancient times. Mr Tong's discovery powerfully illustrates the constraints of geographical environment and economic ecology on China's expansion.

The last factor that restricts the expansion scope and efficiency of the Chinese Empire is the political organization form of the aborigines, which has a certain relationship with their economic ecology and settlement degree and plays an independent role. Wang Mingke noticed that the nomadic Xiqiang in the northwest plateau valley were scattered one by one. Tribe? Before entering the Central Plains, most of Wuhuan and Xianbei in the forest and grassland areas gathered for? Tribal alliance? And can nomadic Huns in Mongolian grasslands be established? Country? Organization.

These different political developments also determined the relationship between the Han Empire and them. For example, the scattered political organizations of Qiang people make the temporarily loose tribal alliance easy to be defeated. However, after Tommy, Dianwu and other Qiang people were defeated, many tribes and herdsmen under their command could choose to leave, join another alliance and join another war. So the war between the Han Empire and the Qiang people is endless. What kind of political organization form is easier to integrate into the system of the Chinese empire is a question worthy of in-depth discussion.

The history of Zhao Nanyue shows that nothing is more suitable for integration than a smaller Chinese political body. Similar bureaucracy, county system and even ruling means made it quickly absorbed into the Han Empire. The most unsuitable to be absorbed are scattered and underdeveloped political bodies, even loose people with stable political bodies. Such people, coupled with dangerous geographical environment and non-agricultural and non-settled lifestyles, can effectively escape the control of the empire. Because of the lack of centralized political organizations, they can't even be recorded in Qin and Han dynasties. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the expansion of China people's activities, their images gradually appeared in the literature, often described as different types such as mountain gods and savages. For example, what did Deng Deming write in the Southern Dynasties? Wooden guest? It's a group of people:

The voice of the wooden guest is not entirely different, but his hands and feet are like hooks. Li Gaoyanfeng, and then live there. If you can win the list, draw the tree and collect it. In the past, when someone wanted to buy a list, they put it under the tree and took as much as they wanted. Go where it suits you and make no mistakes. But in the end, I don't talk to people face to face. Death is known, it is invisible. Coffin burial method is always placed on the rafters of high river banks or hidden in stone nests. On behalf of the soldiers, Nankang 3rd Battalion told them about the funeral: Although the festivals advocated by dance are different from those in the world, they sound like wind and forest, blowing the sum of audio [genre] songs. In Yixi, Xu Daofu went south and sent someone to cut the bill and load the boat. The wooden guest is providing his list, but he hasn't seen it.

Are wooden guests classified in Taiping Yu Lan? Ghosts and gods? It shows that such a group of people know less about China. They hid in caves, didn't talk to people, and kept their position outside the imperial rule in this special way. Although this material was recorded by people in the Six Dynasties, it can be inferred that such mysterious people must exist more widely in the vast mountainous areas of the Han Dynasty.

Between these two extremes, there are people with different levels of development of various political organizations. Their political body is between a loose society without political organization and a bureaucratic empire in China, so it can be called a medium-sized political body. Like Wu Lingren? There is a city guard named Qu Shuai named Jingfu. ? Lingnan slang? Often other villages have their own handsome men and no monarch. They rely on mountains and dangers, not cities. ?

The political organization of these people is not very developed, and there is only one layer outside the civilians. In contrast, there are more developed Ailao Yi people, who have a king. In the 12th year of Yongping (AD 69), Ailao Taizu sent his son to transfer ownership. Seventy-seven people are called king of the city? It can be seen that there are at least two political organizations: Wang He. If the population size of 5 1890 households with 5537 1 1 is not exaggerated, an ordinary city king's council will govern 673 households with 7 19 1, and there should be more grass-roots organizations under it. So it can be complicated? Emirates Airlines? Yes

The same chiefdom-level political bodies include Yunnan and Yelang. According to archaeological materials, Tong demonstrated the political scale and chieftain attribute of Yunnan, and the conclusion was convincing. Yelang is the largest country in Nanyi, as Tang Meng said as early as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty? I heard that Yelang's elite soldiers can get more than 100 thousand? It can be seen that the complexity of its political organization is by no means lower than Yunnan. After the Western Han Dynasty conquered the southwest Yi area, among the hundreds of monarchs, Alone Yelang, Yunnan is from Wang Yin? It means that the Han dynasty fully realized that the scale and complexity of these two political bodies were higher than others.

For these medium-sized political bodies, the Han Empire maintained its original political structure, and at the same time set up counties to form a dual-track system. The county magistrate cannot directly govern the people, but can only supervise and communicate with the king, prince and mayor. These so-called Chu Jun? What is the practice? Ruled by its customs, no taxes? Policy, or just a symbolic tribute, to express some kind of obedience. For example, the early Han dynasty treated the barbarians in Nanjun. Her husband gave it to 2 160 yuan at the age of three, and gave it to 1800 yuan at the age of three.

Its civilian households are 80 feet high and 30 feet high. ; Yes, the stubborn man in Ba County. After the seven surnames of, Pu, Du, E, Du, Gong in the canal, I will not lose rent or tax, and the rest of the households will earn money every year, with a mouth of 40? ; Zheng Chun, the satrap of Yongchang in the Eastern Han Dynasty, made an appointment with Ailao Yi people. In the first year, I lost my clothes, lost my collar and welcomed the salt. I thought it was often given. . This captive rule, even if the early counties were brought into the imperial territory politically, the manpower and material resources that can be mobilized financially are still extremely limited, and it is impossible to expand to the surrounding areas on this basis.

To make this area a regular county that can collect taxes and corvee normally, officials usually need to change the mode of production, and then tyrannical officials who pursue political achievements try their best to increase the burden of corvee and repeatedly suppress the large and small resistance caused by it. These will take quite a long time. Before becoming a formal county, these areas can only be regarded as the inner edge of the empire.

Too loose indigenous people are difficult to be effectively ruled. Although the existing political bodies of a considerable scale create conditions for indirect rule, they also become obstacles to the establishment of direct rule. It is in this sense that the political organization form of aborigines has become an important factor restricting the expansion of the Chinese empire.

To sum up, the expansion of Huaxia Empire is mainly restricted by three factors: first, the mobilization cost and centrifugal tendency of centralized empire itself; Second, geographical environment and economic ecology; The third is the political organization form of indigenous people. These factors often work together, but they are biased in different regions.

For example, in the face of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau grassland in the north and northwest, the economic and ecological obstacles are the main ones, and the military strength brought by the highly organized Xiongnu or the invincible battle brought by the political fragmentation of Xiqiang also played a role in hindering. In the face of Fan Zhen, Lintun, east of Daling, and the western oasis countries outside Yumenguan, the constraints of geography and transportation are more important, which is related to the fact that the empire could not mobilize so much manpower and material resources from within, and the disastrous consequences brought by the Han Dynasty's attack on Dawan and the Sui Dynasty's expedition to North Korea just illustrate this point.

Geography and transportation are also limited for the southwest Yi region, but what is more important is the original political organization form of the region, which determines the way to obtain this region in the Han Dynasty and the indirect ruling strategy that has to be implemented since then. However, the existing foundation of agricultural civilization, coupled with the dual-track parallel system, has prepared sufficient space for the expansion of the county system and the entry of immigrants from China, which ultimately affected the historical trend here. After the expansion of Huaxia Empire, the tangible external advantages of northwest, north, northeast and southwest were severely restricted, and it was urgent to find a breakthrough. This breakthrough is the mountainous and hilly area in the south of China, that is, the Chinese Empire as Rusic said? The edge of the continent? .