When did the development of Lingnan civilization begin?

Open up the first monument of Lingnan civilization

Sun Haohui

The development of Lingnan civilization has a long way to go.

The historical turning point of this road occurred in the late Qin Dynasty and the early Han Dynasty.

The historical coordinate of the civilization standing at this turning point is a great imperial general-Zhao Tuo, commander-in-chief of the South China Sea.

As far as the geographical tradition of China in the classical period is concerned, the whole Lingnan region is vast. If we define the three Lingnan counties designated by the Qin Empire, Nanhai County, Guilin County and Xiang Jun at that time generally include all of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan today, as well as a part of Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hunan. If it is defined by Jiaozhou (site secretariat) established in the Western Han Dynasty, the scope will be wider, including most parts of Vietnam. At that time, the traffic in Lingnan was blocked, the mountains and rivers were sinister, the climate was extremely hot, and the natural conditions were very bad. Simple fishing, hunting, picking and slash-and-burn farming, and loose settlement of castle groups close to primitive customs were the most basic lifestyles in Lingnan at that time. Due to the seclusion and backwardness, there was no historical record of great civilization information entering the Chinese nation in Lingnan area throughout the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Of course, this cannot include the footprints of early Lingnan civilization as proved by contemporary archaeological excavations.

Lingnan's integration into Chinese civilization began with Chu's involvement in Lingnan during the Warring States Period.

However, Chu's intervention in Lingnan was only a symbolic order. In other words, Chu made many tribes in Lingnan "submit" and became "tributary" princes of Chu through half-war and half-discussion. This form of tribute governance, which echoes from afar, has no actual governance power, tax power and conscription power, which is more relaxed than the federal vassal system in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Because of this, Chu has a large land population in Wan Li and Lingnan, but its axis power is only in Huaibei and Huainan, and then to a small part of Jiangnan Jiangdong, and it can never really compete with the Central Plains Warring States with a much smaller land population. Until the end of the Warring States period, the Qin Empire rolled up the historical storm of the unified war, and the situation in Lingnan did not change substantially.

Therefore, Chu's involvement in Lingnan is only a "preheating" stage of history.

The turning point in Lingnan history began when Qin Jun went south to destroy Chu.

When the first emperor was in charge, Wang Jian and Meng Tian rebuilt the new army, and a large number of young generals emerged. At that time, Zhao Tuo (now Hebei) was a Zhao native of Qin State, that is, a descendant of Zhao who later moved to Qin State, and was the youngest general in the army of Qin State. Because there are too many famous soldiers and young people need to be tempered, Zhao Tuo did not make a name for himself in the Six-Nation War and appeared in the history books. Zhao Tuo was still a young general when Wang Jian led the 600,000-strong army south to destroy Chu. According to Zhao Tuo's later behavior, Zhao Tuo at this time must be a diligent, brave, steady and solid young general with political talent. Comparing the figures in the Warring States Period, Zhao Tuo's style is very similar to that of Zhao She-he is both a general and a politician.

Zhao Tuo can be seen in the history books, starting from Qin Jun crossing the Wuling Mountains and entering Haitian South Xinjiang.

After the first emperor unified China, there were two most important focal points: the first was the North's counterattack against Xiongnu, and the second was the South's development of Lingnan. The main forces of the Qin Empire were all deployed in these two places: more than 300,000 in Jiuyuan and more than 200,000 in Lingnan. Therefore, based on the actual situation in Lingnan at that time, the main force had to move south: the mountain was locked by water and it was difficult to advance; There are many autonomous ethnic groups, fighting each other endlessly; The non-main forces are not enough to cut through the thorns, to calm the chaos and stabilize the overall situation. In order to carry out this strategic policy, the Qin Empire made all-out efforts to develop Lingnan with three major policies.

The first major policy is to build a new road in Yangyue on a large scale, and it is difficult to cross the Wuling Mountains to Lingnan.

The second policy is to use military force to dig a large-scale canal to connect the Yangtze River water system with the Pearl River water system, so that the materials at that time can be transported to Lingnan at the lowest cost;

The third policy is to immigrate 300,000 people to Lingnan, including150,000 or 30,000 unmarried women, thinking that the main army of the empire would provide support there. Because of this great immigration, there is a saying that "Lingnan Army has 500,000 troops". In fact, these 500,000 Central Plains people who entered Lingnan are a huge development force combining military and civilian, not a simple army. At this time, Zhao Tuo is one of the backbones of this "500,000-strong army".

Zhao Tuo stepped onto the historical stage, starting from being the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Lingnan Army.

After the main force of the imperial army destroyed Chu, some troops went north to Jiuyuan, organized by General Meng Tian, ready to fight back against the Huns. Nearly 300,000 Chu troops were wiped out and continued southward in two ways: first, the Fujian-Vietnam army led by General Tu Youyou marched into Fujian and Zhejiang; All the way is the South Navy under the command of General Ren Xiao, marching into Guangdong, Guangxi and other vast Lingnan areas. In terms of military power distribution, the South China Sea Army is stronger than the Fujian-Vietnam Army of about 200,000. Shortly after entering Nantian, Wang Jian, commander-in-chief of the Confederate army, trudged continuously in the high year and died unfortunately. Later, Tu Youyou, commander-in-chief of the Fujian-Vietnam Army, died one after another. Since then, the Fujian-Vietnam army has been under the control of Ren Xiao, commander-in-chief of the South Navy.

At this time, Zhao Tuo has served as the Longchuan Order of Nanhai County for nearly ten years.

Longchuan, now a county in the southwest of Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, was the first dangerous fortress after crossing Wuling at that time, and its geographical position was particularly important. In the case of the integration of military and political affairs in Lingnan, the imperial magistrate is a senior minister on an equal footing with the county chief, and is the absolute leader of "getting on the horse to govern the army and getting off the horse to govern the people". A general who is not a military and political generalist cannot be appointed. It can be seen that Zhao Tuo at that time was already an outstanding general of the Southern Navy.

Just as the Lingnan army was trying to clean up this place, Qin Shihuang suddenly died of illness.

The pillars were destroyed and the Empire State Building collapsed, which is a historical tragedy.

Due to the instability of rivers and mountains and the national crisis, Zhao Tuo, a civilization superstar, suddenly rose in southern Xinjiang.

Soon, when 500,000 South Navy troops were stationed in Lingnan in 13, Guangwu and Chen Sheng revolted and great turmoil came. At that time, Ren Tao, commander-in-chief of South Navy, was dying. By this time, the South Navy had lost contact with the Central Committee of the Empire. On his deathbed, Ren Tao flatly handed over power to the calm and brave Zhao Tuo. Ren Tao's final exhortation is three points: first, cut off Yang Yuexin's new road and prevent the Central Plains from "stealing soldiers" from endangering Lingnan; Second, with Panyu as the axis castle, relying on the 500,000 soldiers and civilians of the Central Plains, we will establish our own government in Lingnan and wait for the change of the Central Plains. (The original words of this point are: "Panyu has mountains and obstacles, and the north and south are thousands of miles away. China people are quite complementary. This is also the master of a country and can build a country. " Third, the military attache will assist, so no one can pay attention to this strategic concept, only leave the affairs to you.

As a result, Zhao Tuo became the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Nanhai Army and the Fujian-Vietnam Army.

The Central Plains has been in turmoil for years, and the empire's 500,000 soldiers and civilians are alone in Lingnan. At this time, Zhao Tuo's strategic decision will, in fact, profoundly affect the historical fate of Lingnan civilization, and will inevitably determine the fate of the group of soldiers and civilians who went south. If Zhao Tuo is an ambitious politician with no civilized mind, he will make full use of the hatred of the southern soldiers and civilians against the riot forces in the Central Plains, and gradually retreat to the southernmost Jiuzhen County and Rinan County (later Vietnam) to establish an independent kingdom completely divorced from the civilization of the Central Plains.

However, Zhao Tuo has not done so.

The most basic reason, of course, is the feelings of the imperial army soldiers and civilians going south in China, not the social soil that breeds this ambition.

However, the more direct reason is Zhao Tuo's Chinese Civilization.

Let's look at the historical footprint of Zhao Tuo from a civilized perspective.

In the year of Qin's death, Zhao Tuo led the army and the people to build a government in the south, so he killed the old army officials who tried to make trouble by taking advantage of the chaos and re-established the county chief; He also defeated the Lingnan riot tribe who tried to drive away the imperial army and claimed to be the king of South Vietnam. This is the historical fact that "the chief officer set by Qin was punished and his party was a pseudo-defender" ... and Xiang Jun was attacked ". Zhao Tuo's military and civilian actions really settled the overall situation of Lingnan in the world turmoil.

More than ten years later, Zhao Tuo carried out the reform of imitation Qin system in Lingnan, which promoted Lingnan civilization to a historical height. Hanshu? Gao's ancestral tradition says, "Cantonese customs are easy to attack. Before, Qin moved south to three counties, the people of the Central Plains, and made them live together with Guangdong. The world belongs to Qin, Wei Junan, very enlightened art. People in the Central Plains did not spend less, and Cantonese people benefited from the custom of attacking each other, relying on strength. " That is to say, in the era of Zhao Tuo's self-reliance, the military and civilian population in the south of the Central Plains has not decreased, but has successfully curbed the killing of Baiyue tribes. Undoubtedly, this is a great historical contribution to the development of Lingnan civilization.

In the Western Han Dynasty 1 1, Liu Bang, the emperor gaozu of Han Dynasty, sent Lu Jia as his special envoy, officially recognized the title of Zhao Tuo, and decided to extend his jurisdiction to Changsha.

When Lv Hou was in power after Liu Bang's death, he blocked the trade routes between the Central Plains and South Vietnam, killed the Zhao Tuo clan and dug and burned the graves of Zhao's ancestors. Zhao Tuo was furious and sent his troops to attack Changsha. Defeat the Han army twice and get through the Lingnan commercial road. Zhao Tuo was very angry at what Lv Hou's regime had done and called him "the Emperor of South Vietnam", which was the same as that of the Han Dynasty.

In the first year of Emperor Wendi, in order to solve the problem of South Guangdong, Lu Jia was appointed as a special envoy to repair it, and he was willing to admit that Emperor Zhao Tuo had repaired it. Special envoy Lu Jia arrived and was received by Zhao Tuo. Zhao Tuo humbly calls himself "the son of a barbarian, Zhao Tuo", and frankly says, "How dare you hear about the King of Heaven when you steal the Emperor's number and have fun!" The behavior is: "I thank you at the beginning, hope to be a minister, and regard it as a tribute." Emperor Wendi was very happy to hear the news.

Emperor Han Jing acceded to the throne, and Zhao Tuo sent envoys to surrender to him, congratulated him and made him a vassal.

In other words, Zhao Tuo's attitude is clear: As long as the central government of the Western Han Dynasty treats the adherents of this empire well and the land of Lingnan well, Lingnan counties will unconditionally join the central control, otherwise, I will use my strength to teach you to awaken! History has proved that Zhao Tuo's strategy is the correct policy to urge the Western Han Dynasty to change chauvinism and promote Lingnan's peaceful entry into China.

Zhao Tuo's reply to Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty is full of different flavors. Select its core and record it as follows:

"... the land of hundreds of cities, tens of millions of miles from east to west, north and south, more than a million, and the north and the minister, why? Dare not take the memory of ancestors. Having lived in Guangdong for forty-nine years, I am holding my grandson today! However, those who can't sleep at night, can't sleep well, can't eat well, can't look at fools and can't hear the sound of bells and drums, can't serve the Han people ... The old man's bones are not rotten, and he doesn't dare to be an emperor! "

How many blood and tears did the phrase "I dare not bear the memory of my ancestors" soak?

The touching thing about Zhao Tuo is that he is the last Qin Jun star who fully embodies the civilized mind of the Qin Empire and the last leader of the old Qin people. Who is the general's "ancestor"? The old Qin ethnic group also. What is the spirit of "Grandfather"? In maintaining the integrity of Chinese civilization, in the interests of small groups and the overall situation of the world. For more than 60 years, Zhao Tuo, together with the soldiers and civilians in the south of the Central Plains, finally restored the three counties of Lingnan to the Chinese civilization system.

Historically, Zhao Tuo military and civilians were the first group of Hakkas who really developed Lingnan civilization.

Zhao Tuo is a historical monument of Lingnan civilization.

This Zhao Tuo Pharaoh, who has been in office for 67 years, is said to be over 100 years old. His life span is amazing!

A hilly land in Lingnan is the eternal soul of Qin people.

Today's Lingnan people must have the blood of ancient Qin people in their veins. They are flexible and strong, and always stubbornly seek change at the turning point of the times in order to survive and develop. Especially in modern history, Lingnan people are even more brilliant, which makes people feel infinite. As China people, let's remember the name of Zhao Tuo, an old Qin man, the troops who traveled to Lingnan Empire thousands of miles away, the Central Plains immigrants who were the first Hakkas, and our civilization footprints.

The name Zhao Tuo is a household name in Lingnan.

However, in Middle-earth, in the hometown of General Zhao Tuo, the name Zhao Tuo is little known.