How many counties were established in the Qin Dynasty?

As a local administrative division, counties began in the late Spring and Autumn Period. Due to the needs of the war, the country set up counties in the border areas, although the area is very large, but its status is lower than that of counties. In the Warring States period, the border areas gradually prospered, so there were counties under the county, forming a county-county two-level system. The county magistrate called Shou, first for Wu Zhi, and then for the local governor.

This is the germination and development period of the local administrative division system in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. After Qin Shihuang unified China, he established a centralized state, improved the county system, and fully implemented it throughout the country, becoming a county-level system of local administrative divisions organized by political power. There are several counties under the county, and the county chiefs are appointed and removed by the central government and become part of the centralized institutions. As the county with the highest level of local administrative region, how many counties were set up in the Qin Dynasty has not been determined because there is no clear history.

In the 26th year of Qin Shihuang (22 BC1), the whole country was divided into 36 counties, which is the consensus of academic circles. Because the earliest official historical records did not contain special geographical records, they did not contain its full name. Pei Qian's Historical Records in the Southern Song Dynasty wrote "Sanchuan, Hedong, Nanyang, Nanjun, Jiujiang, Zhang Jun, Huiji, Yingchuan, Party Army, Surabaya, Xue Jun, Dong Jun, Langxie, Qi Jun, Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi and Liaodong.

Since the Qing Dynasty, most scholars think that Pei's theory is not completely credible, but various scholars have different opinions: one thinks that Pei's annotation "Internal History" (that is, Qin Dynasty) should not be included in the number of counties, but should be supplemented by Yong County (Hong's "On Geography with Qian Shaozhan" contains "Shi Ge Wen Jia Ji", volume 10); History says that we should go to literature and history, Yan county, and increase it to suburban county (Mao's "On Thirty-six Counties of Qin Dynasty", contained in Selected Works of Hugh Duoju, Volume 1); It is said that it is going to the civil history, Yan county and Jiuyuan, supplemented by Hejian and Minzhong (Wang Guowei's "Qin Jun Kao" contains "Guanlin" Volume 12); On the one hand, it is necessary to go to the folk history, Yanzhou County and Qianzhong, supplemented by Guilin, Nanhai and Xiang Jun (Qian Daxin's Examination of the Thirty-six Counties of Qin Dynasty contains the Collection of Thousand Words Hall, Volume 16) and many other statements.

How many counties were established in the Qin Dynasty? At present, there is no conclusion in academic circles. It is generally believed that 36 counties were the number of counties when Qin Shihuang unified China, and then the analysis increased. But schools have different opinions. The following are several representative views: (1) Qin 36 County said. Qian Daxin said so. This is an unusual statement. Most scholars believe that Qin Shihuang was added and divided one after another after twenty-six years, but according to Hanshu. Geography says: there are seven out of twenty people in Qin; Called Qin County No.1 Middle School; Therefore, there are eight counties in Qin, and thirty-six counties in * * *. After the reform of the Yuan Dynasty in Qin Ershi, heroes merged, also known as the Six Kingdoms, divided into counties. Many of them came from 36 counties, but they were quickly merged into provinces, so Ban Zhi was omitted. ("Examination of the Thirty-six Counties of Qin Dynasty", contained in the Collected Works of Qianyantang, Volume 16) The whole Geography of Hanshu also said the same thing.

(2) said forty counties in Qin dynasty. Book of Jin Geography "is the key. As the saying goes, "world cooperate, the early emperor, punished the Warring States and broke the governors, and there were 36 counties in the world (named Pei Note by county). So we crossed the river, made a hundred leaps, and made forty counties in central Fujian, Nanhai, Guilin and Xiang Jun. "There are a lot of people say so, such as Yang Shoujing's" Map of Past Dynasties ". Preface to Qin County Records, Appendix to the Golden List, Examination of National Geographical Records by County, and Collection of Liu Zuowan. Examination of forty counties in Qin dynasty and so on.

(3) Qin 48 county said. Wang Guowei said this. According to the biographies of Historical Records and other historical books, he made textual research one by one and came to the conclusion that Qin * * * set the county for forty years and eight years. It is also based on "Qin is the king of water, so the number is based on six", saying that "in 26 years, the world will be divided into 36 counties. The multiplier of thirty-six and six also increased the six counties in Yanqi to forty-two counties for the second time. Forty-two, seven times six. By thirty-three years, Nanhai, Guilin and Xiang Jun were located in the south and Jiuyuan was located in the north. If the number is less than six, the mainland will be divided into two counties, Chen and Donghai, and * * * is 48 counties. Forty-eight people, eight times six, Qin also. " ("Qin Jun Kao", contained in "Guanlin" Volume 12). (4) Qin 46 county said. Tan Qixiang said this. It is considered that Qian Daxin is "obsessed with the thirty-six counties of Banzhi, ignoring the history and the Han Dynasty, and it is difficult to justify itself": "It has gained a lot, but it is limited to the thirty-six counties when it was first merged into the world". Yang Shoujing, Liu, etc. Because they're still talking about it, and they haven't gained much. Wang Guowei "pushed it to the county owned by Qin, but it was curious."

According to biographies of Historical Records, Notes on Water Classics, Huayang County Records and other historical records, he made textual research one by one and reached the conclusion that the county was founded by 46 people with historical characteristics in the Qin Dynasty. At the same time, he believes that "it is necessary to say that the county of Qin will stop at a few." He disagreed with Wang Guowei's method that "water is king in Qin Dynasty, so counting six is the discipline" and used the method of "six times and multiples of six" to calculate counties. Wang is only interested in Qin. There is no clear historical record in the year when Qin set up the East China Sea. In thirty-five years, the East China Sea stood in the chest, thinking that the East Gate of Qin was in. Another example is, "Han takes five as the discipline, and 103 counties and countries are multiples of five?" (On Dragon Water Collection, People's Publishing House)

In addition, Ma thinks how many counties were set up in Qin * * *. "Generally speaking, it is more appropriate to say forty-one counties. If you add the folk history of Xianyang, the capital of China, one * * * is 42 county-level units (China's Theory of Historical Geography, Shaanxi People's Publishing House).

Since the Qing Dynasty, many scholars have been arguing for a long time about how many counties were set up in Qin, with little achievement and no substantive breakthrough. This is because the first official history did not set up a special geographical chronicle to describe the establishment and evolution of Qin counties, but only recorded it in biographies, which inevitably produced incomplete defects, so that all counties and counties of Qin could not be seen in the history of a generation, and it was difficult to understand after a long time. Future generations can only conduct textual research based on existing materials. Only when there is no clear explanation in history, it is no wonder that there are many different views on the setting time of a county. Therefore, it is undoubtedly very difficult to truly get the actual number of counties in Qin Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago and completely solve the mystery of counties in Qin Dynasty.