Why did Qin Shihuang unify the six countries? How big is the land area after Qin unified the six countries?

In 22 1 year BC, under the leadership of Qin Shihuang, the Qin Empire, after an arduous 10 campaign, prepared to reunify Xia State, which had been torn apart since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and ended the situation of enfeoffment rule for more than 800 years.

So how big is the territory of Qin? Where are its four positions? Today, let's figure out these two problems.

Qin was herding horses at first, and then gradually formed a tribe. Before that, it can be said that the Qin people were scattered around but not concentrated, and had no territory of their own. Generally speaking, they are a weak nation, with neither class nor territory of their own.

With the implementation of Qin's eastward strategy, the territory of Qin has been expanding from a small clan in Xiqiao, and it has developed into a unified country in summer, replacing Zhou as the master of the world.

Most of the territory of the Qin Empire was expanded on a large scale on the basis of the Zhou Dynasty. It can be said that apart from the East, Daqin has been extended in the other three directions.

As a country dug up in the west, the expansion of Qin's western territory has lasted for several generations.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Qin people fought against Xirong on Guanzhong land, because Xirong occupied Guanzhong land, drove Ren Rong to Longxi grassland and recovered Guanzhong land, which meant that Qin people really founded the country.

By the time we arrived in Qin Mugong, the territory of Qin had been greatly improved, mainly because of the merger of Xirong tribe, which was the "expansion of Wan Li" of Qin.

What's going on here? Qin, headed by Qin Mugong, has been pursuing the strategy of developing eastward, but it is not smooth. At first, it was stubbornly blocked by Jin, a great power in the Central Plains, and was completely annihilated in the battle of chaos. In the end, the Qin people only got the land in the west of the Jin State, and the eastern frontier of the Qin people only reached the west bank of the Yellow River.

After the eastward advance was blocked, Qin Mugong moved westward, which is known in history as "Mu Gong's westward expedition to Rong Di, the destruction of twelve countries, and the land stretching for thousands of miles, making the emperor a servant, and the princes must make peace".

At this time, the Qin people went as far west as Tianshui City, Gansu Province, which was the initial fief of the Qin people.

Longxi Valley, located in the eastern part of Gansu Province today, is a valley in the upper reaches of Weihe River, which was the dividing line of farming and animal husbandry civilization at that time.

After the acquisition of Longxi Valley, the Qin people did not go further westward into today's Qinghai and Xinjiang, but went all out eastward, because the most fertile area at that time was the North China Plain in the east, not the desert in the west.

During the reign of King Hui of Qin, General Sima Cuo led his troops to attack the southwest, and gained the land of Bashu.

During the Zhao Xiang period at the end of Qin Dynasty, the State of Qin built Dujiangyan with the strength of the whole country, which made Chengdu a land of abundance. Chongqing was the southwest frontier before the unification of Qin.

According to the calculation of later generations, after Qin Shihuang led Qin to unify the six countries, the land area of Qin was 210.4 million square kilometers. This figure also represents the actual land area of Qin in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Compared with our present land area of 960 square kilometers, Qin's land area is more than a quarter.

After the unification of the Xia Dynasty, Qin did not stop the pace of external expansion. In Qin Shihuang's strategy, Baiyue in the south and Xiongnu in the north must be conquered. So, he sent Ren Tao and Zhao Tuo to conquer Baiyue, and let Meng Tian and others go north to attack the Huns to prepare for active defense.

Meng Tian, the general, led the army to attack the Huns in the north, and gained more than 700 li of Xiongnu. Scholars dare not bow and complain, and people dare not herd horses in the south.

After the Qin Dynasty repelled the Huns, it acquired the land of the Yellow River Hetao and set up 44 counties, belonging to Jiuyuan County and Beidi County.

Meng Tian recruited talents to develop Hetao area, and achieved good results, and was praised by later generations as the first person to develop Ningxia.

The western part of Ningxia, Gansu Province is a thousand miles Gobi, so it did not cross the quicksand and moved westward.

Of course, in order to conquer Baiyue and Xiongnu, it is more important for Qin to expand its strategic space and build a security barrier for Qin.

In 2 14 BC, Qin took over the land of Baiyue in Lingnan and Hetao in Inner Mongolia successively, making the territory of Qin Empire reach 347 square kilometers. Of course, these figures are also calculated by later generations.

So, we know the territory of Qin State. Where are the four positions of Qin State?

After Qin Shihuang unified the Qin empire, he made "Langyatai Stone Carvings" during his east tour in 2 19 BC, praising his great achievements in his life. Later, in the first year of Qin Ershi, Qin Ershi and Hu Hai also made a new "Langya Terrace Stone Carving" in the same place, imitating their father Qin Shihuang's east tour.

These two "Langyatai Stone Carvings" were written by Li Si, a great writer at that time, which recorded the territory of Daqin Empire in detail.

"Langyatai Stone Carvings" wrote: Within Liuhe, the land of emperors. It involves quicksand in the west and households in the north in the south. The East China Sea is in the east and summer is in the north. Where there are people, there are no ministers.

In this stone carving, we know roughly the four directions of the territory of the Qin empire.

It can be seen that the eastern frontier of the Daqin Empire reached the sea, which is where we are now in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Because at that time, facing the vast sea, the territory of Qin could not be expanded.

The territory of the south has reached today's Guangxi and Guangdong regions, which should be said to cover all positions today.

The territory of the western regions reached today's Ningxia, and when it reached "quicksand", the Qin people stopped conquering.

The arrival of the northern frontier in today's outer Mongolia is recorded in the history of the Qin Dynasty.

The map of Daqin Empire recorded in this "Langyatai Stone Carving" should be scientific.

First of all, the author of this inscription is Reese. Li Si was the maker and promoter of the unification strategy of Daqin Empire in the early Qin Dynasty and Qin Ershi. Although he participated in the dune coup after Qin Shihuang's death, the Qin Empire he personally helped create collapsed soon after Zhao Gaozhi's disaster. However, as a legalist, Lisi's rigorous rule of law style and literary attainments, including his mastery of all the materials of the Qin Empire, can be said that although this article has exaggerated meaning, it is meticulous in general and worthy of our trust.

Secondly, the territorial area and boundary of Qin State calculated by later generations according to the information of the way of Qin, the conquest and annexation of Qin Changcheng and Qin Jun in Qin Dynasty are basically consistent with the description in stone carvings, and the authenticity of the content is beyond doubt.

In addition, after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, it not only inherited the system of the Qin State, but also inherited the territory area of the Qin State, which was consistent with the territory and boundaries of the Qin Dynasty as a whole. Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han pursued the national policy of recuperating with the people, and there was no big expansion to the outside world. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the country declared war on Xiongnu again, and reopened its territory for thousands of miles.

Therefore, it is worthy of our future generations to believe that the territory and four directions of the Qin Empire are recorded in stone carvings.