Where do Hedong and Hexi refer to today in Chinese history, and what kind of rivers do they refer to?

Historically, Hedong and Hexi are popular names for place names. They have the same meaning as Jiangdong and Jiangxi in ancient times. They are somewhat similar to the current names of Central China, South China, and North China. Hedong and Hexi are among them. The river refers to the Yellow River, and the river in Jiangdong and Jiangxi refers to the Yangtze River. The Yellow River and the Yangtze River are surprisingly similar.

The general direction of the Yangtze River is from west to east, but after passing Jiujiang and entering Anhui, the Yangtze River flows in the northeast. On the map, it flows from the southwest through the northeast. This is a special period. The flow direction, the southeastern Anhui, southern Jiangsu, all Zhejiang, all Jiangxi, and southern Shanghai to the east of the Yangtze River at that time were collectively called Jiangdong, while the northwest Anhui, central and northern Jiangsu, and northern Hubei to the west of the Yangtze River were collectively called Jiangxi. Pay attention to the ancient Jiangxi Not today’s Jiangxi Province.

The general direction of the Yellow River is from west to east, but when it reaches Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Shanxi, the direction of the Yellow River is very strange. Starting from Lanzhou, Gansu, the direction of the Yellow River begins to flow northward. , slightly to the northeast, and then after reaching Bayannao'er in present-day Inner Mongolia, it began to flow eastward. After reaching Tumed Right Banner in Inner Mongolia, the Yellow River began to flow southward, especially at the junction of Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Shanxi provinces. It begins to flow southward along the junction of Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, until it reaches Tongguan at the junction of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces, and then begins to flow eastward through Henan Province.

If you look at it on a map, the Yellow River forms a strange shape in Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. The so-called Hedong means: the Yellow River flows through Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces. The east side of the boundary. If we look at today's map, the right side of the "ji" shape is Hedong, which is the entire Shanxi Province today.

In ancient times, there was no Shanxi Province, so the area east of the Yellow River was collectively called Hedong. It was the Qin State that first set up Hedong County here. Because it was east of the Yellow River, it was called Hedong County. The scope is most of today's Shanxi Province. During the Han Dynasty, Hedong County of the Qin State was used. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hedong County was affiliated to Sizhou, including Yuncheng, Xiaxian, Wenxi, Wanrong, Yuanqu, and Counties and cities such as Jiangxian, Yongji, Ruicheng and Pinglu only have about one-third to one-fourth of those in Shanxi Province.

So Hedong County is not the same as Hedong. Hedong is a popular term, referring to the entire east of the Yellow River, while Hedong County is an administrative district set up by the Qin and Han Dynasties. Although it is also located east of the Yellow River, it Hedong County is much smaller than Hedong. Guan Yu during the Three Kingdoms period was from Hedong Jie County. To be precise, Guan Yu was from Sizhou Hedong County Jie County, which is today's Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province.

The administrative district of Hedong County was abolished in the Sui Dynasty, and Hedong has been passed down as a common name. Hedong is used as the name of Shanxi Province. Hedong is also one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation, Yao, Shun, and Yu. The capitals during this period were all in the east of Hedong, namely Pingyang (now Linfen, Shanxi), Puban (now Yongji, Shanxi), and Anyi (now Xia County, Shanxi).

After talking about Hedong, let’s talk about Hexi. Hexi is relative to Hedong. It can be understood that the west of Hedong is Hexi, but the Yellow River forms a jigsaw in the five provinces of Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. The middle and left sides of the jigsaw can be called Hexi, and The scope of Hexi extends westward to Yumen Pass, which leads to the Western Regions.

Hexi during the Warring States Period refers to the area in the lower middle of the digit shape. For example, in the early Warring States Period, the Battle of Hexi occurred between Qin and Wei. At that time, the capital of Wei was still in Anyi (today's Hedong). Xia County, Shanxi), the Hexi mentioned here refers to Yan'an, Shaanxi, north of Xi'an today, and Qingyang and Pingliang, Gansu.

Hexi at that time was very important to Qin and Wei. At that time, Hexi was in the north of Qin’s capital and served as a barrier to defend Qin’s capital. At that time, Hexi was also in the north of Wei’s capital. To the west is Wei's bridgehead on the west bank of the Yellow River. As a result, Wei general Wu Qi defeated 500,000 Qin troops with 50,000 Wei soldiers and occupied Hexi for decades. It was not until the reigns of Qin Xiaogong and Qin Huiwen that Hexi was recovered, so During the Warring States Period, Hexi refers to the lower middle part of the digit shape, which is today's Yan'an, Shaanxi, and Qingyang and Pingliang, Gansu.

After Qin Shihuang unified the world, there was no such thing as Hexi. Qin Shihuang set up two counties in Hexi, one was called Beidi County and the other was called Shangjun. These two counties included Hexi during the Warring States Period, and were more than During the Warring States Period, Hexi was much larger and basically occupied most of the Hetao area. Here we need to explain the so-called Hetao area.

The Hetao is all the middle part of the Yellow River, including the vast area east of Helan Mountain and south of Langshan and Daqingshan in today's Inner Mongolia and Ningxia. It is a plain formed by the alluvial of the Yellow River Basin. Here It is a natural pasture with abundant water and grass. It is surrounded by the Yellow River on the east, west and north sides. Only the south side directly connects to the Guanzhong Plain and is buckled on the Guanzhong Plain like a trap, so it is called the Hetao area, which refers to the early Hetao.

During the Qin Dynasty, four counties were established in Hetao: Beidi County, Shangjun, Jiuyuan County, and Yunzhong County. These four counties are all in the middle of the shape of the Yellow River. Location, Beidi County and Shangjun are to the south, Jiuyuan County and Yunzhong County are to the north. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, due to peasant uprisings and chaos in the Central Plains, the entire Hetao area was occupied by the Huns. The administrative districts established by the Qin Dynasty no longer existed, and the Han Dynasty After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, it was still the Xiongnu's sphere of influence until the Battle of Hexi was launched during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

In 121 AD, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing attacked the Xiongnu twice, and the battlefield was mainly in Hexi. At this time, Hexi refers to the Hetao area, and also includes the wider area to the west of the Hetao, until today Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and other places in Gansu are all in Hexi. After two battles in Hexi, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty regained the entire Hetao area and the west of the Hetao, and at the same time opened up the Hexi Corridor.

The so-called Hexi Corridor refers to: located in the north of Qilian Mountain and south of Heli Mountain, starting from Lanzhou, Gansu, passing through Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and other places, and ending at Yumen Pass. The corridor of the Western Regions runs east-west and is about 1,000 kilometers long. This corridor is called the Hexi Corridor and is naturally included in Hexi.

But later, the Hetao refers to changes. In the later period, there were three areas in the Hetao, namely: Qiantao (Tumochuan Plain), Houtao (Bayannur Plain), Xitao (Yinchuan) Plain), the early Hetao and the later Hetao have different concepts and different geographical locations. Therefore, the same place name refers to different places in different historical periods.

The same is true for Hexi. Hexi refers to different things in different historical periods. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Hexi became a super large area. Later, Hexi became a The commonly known geographical scope is not an administrative area, but Hexi refers to the area from the west of Hedong to Yumenguan, which is more than 1,200 kilometers long, including the early Hetao and Hexi Corridor.