Immigrant Annan

For historical figures, people often simply evaluate whether they are positive or negative historical figures according to their contributions in reality. Most historical figures are either negative or positive, and there is basically only one label.

However, in the 5,000-year history of China, there was a figure who was only a small local official in China, but was controversial in another country. Some people call him the founding monarch of this country, while others compare him to an invader full of evil. So why is this person so controversial?

This man is Zhao Tuo, Qiu, who is stationed in Nanyue County, a county at the southern tip of the Qin Dynasty. In 2 14 BC, Zhao Tuo led the Central Plains immigrants to settle in Nanyue, which was still a wilderness at that time, and was responsible for the development and management of Nanyue County, which is now Guangdong.

Seven years later, in 207 BC, after the collapse of the Qin Empire, Zhao Tuo led the troops to attack Guilin County and Xiang County, and established the Chu-Han regime split from the Central Plains and returned to the South Vietnamese regime.

Some historians in ancient Annam called Zhao Tuo the founding monarch of Annam, because the original Elephant County included central and northern Vietnam.

However, in the eyes of Vietnamese modern historians who have experienced modern anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, they believe that the South Vietnamese regime established by Zhao Tuo captured the land in Xiangxian County, which was a barbaric act of aggression.

So how should we evaluate Zhao Tuo's self-reliance as king? How do China historians view Zhao Tuo, a controversial historical figure?

In fact, in the long feudal history of China, it is not difficult to find Zhao Tuo's self-reliance as king. His behavior is no different from that of the rebels in the late Qin Dynasty, such as the regimes established by Liu Bang and Xiang Yu during the hegemony between Chu and Han.

The only difference is that Zhao Tuo's separatist regime is weak, and it is difficult to compete with the heroes of the Central Plains for the throne of the emperor, so he can only settle down and start his own business. In fact, Nanyue County, Guilin and Xiang Jun under the Nanyue regime were all within the territory of China at that time. Only when the central government collapsed and there was a power vacuum did Zhao Tuo have the opportunity to stand on its own feet as king. So Zhao Tuo's behavior is far from being an aggressor.

At the same time, in BC 183, Zhao Tuo sent troops to attack Changsha when the foundation of the Han Empire was not yet solid, and the Han Empire sent troops to fight back, and invaded South Vietnam at the end of that year, restoring the South Vietnamese regime to the territory of the Han Empire. Therefore, Zhao Tuo is not actually the founding monarch of Annan, but just a local regime taking advantage of the chaos.

So Zhao Tuo, who was originally a small local official under the Qin Empire, later became king on his own. How did he manage South Vietnam? Is it worthy of future generations' evaluation?

According to Records of the Historian-Biography of the King of Huainan, Zhao Tuo is actually a very talented military star. When Qin Jun's 500,000 troops marched south by five routes, Qin Jun was defeated by local tribes because of its long mountains and long roads and its climate. Therefore, the first emperor sent Zhao Tuo to lead the Central Plains immigrants and some troops to station and defend the border in South Vietnam.

At that time, the whole Lingnan area was still in the primitive social era, with dangerous mountains and rivers, inconvenient transportation, deep gap with Yue tribes and backward production and lifestyle, so it was actually very difficult to maintain unity in South Vietnam.

However, after Zhao Tuo became the prefect of Nanyue County, there was no large-scale confrontation recorded in historical books in the whole Lingnan area. Moreover, after Qin's death, Zhao Tuo was able to quickly assemble the military forces of South Vietnam and annex Guilin County and County in a relatively short period of time, which showed that Zhao Tuo had achieved good results in the governance of South Vietnam, which could be described as "enriching the country and strengthening the country".

This is also an important reason why Zhao Tuo dared to challenge the authority of the Han Empire in the later period. Of course, this kind of overreaching behavior just prompted the determination of the Han Empire to unify South Vietnam, and the South Vietnam region returned to Chinese territory.