The ancient dynasties in China basically had "West" and "North" first, and then "East" and "South". In ancient China, there were mainly the following dynasties. Zhou Dynasty is divided into Western Zhou Dynasty and Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Han Dynasty into Western Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty into Western Jin Dynasty and Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Song Dynasty into Northern Song Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty. Among these dynasties, the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty are unified, and there is no direct inheritance relationship between the two dynasties. The Eastern Zhou Dynasty inherited the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty inherited the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Southern Song Dynasty inherited the Northern Song Dynasty.
Let's look at the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty. Both the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty are later names, and ancient history books are generally called "First Han and then Han". If you look at it in sequence, you can use former Han and later Han. The Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty mainly looked at the location of the capital. The capital of the Western Han Dynasty is in Chang 'an, west of Luoyang. The capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty is in Luoyang, to the east of Chang 'an. Chang 'an and Luoyang were also called Erjing in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In 202 BC, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and established the Han regime. In 8 AD, Wang Mang, the consort of the Western Han Dynasty, seized power and established a new dynasty on behalf of Han. The Western Han Dynasty officially perished.
After the failure of Wang Mang's restructuring, the Greenwood Red Eyebrow Uprising broke out in the New Dynasty. The wave of peasant war destroyed the new dynasty, and Liu Xuan established a new regime. Later, the Xuanhan established by Liu Xuan was overthrown by the Red Eyebrow Army. Liu Xiu, Hebei Province, rose suddenly and eventually rebuilt the Dahan regime. After Liu Xiu rebuilt the Han Dynasty, he built Luoyang as his capital. More interestingly, at the end of the Han Dynasty when Liu Xiu was founded, his capital was once in Chang 'an. Historically, the Han Dynasty established by Liu Bang was called the Western Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty established by Liu Xiu was called the Eastern Han Dynasty. In fact, the Dahan regime established by Liu Xiu is a brand-new regime, a new regime after the peasant war and the reorganization of the ruling group. Liu Xiu can change a new title, but because he comes from the royal family of the Han Dynasty, the title of the new regime is still "Han".
BC 1046, Zhou Wuwang defeated Shang Zhouwang's army in Konoha, and Zhou Wang set himself on fire. Zhou regime was established, with Haojiang as its capital. The geographical location of Haojing is roughly the same as that of Chang 'an in Han Dynasty, and it is called the Western Zhou Dynasty in history. After the establishment of the Zhou dynasty, the feudal system of founding the country and the system of rites and music were implemented, and the Zhou dynasty was once strong. The enfeoffment system implemented in the Zhou Dynasty made the Zhou Dynasty stronger to some extent, and also laid the groundwork for its decline.
In 77 1 year BC, Xigourong captured Haojing and the Western Zhou Dynasty perished. In 770 BC, Zhou Ping moved to Luoyi, later Luoyang, which was called the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in history. The Eastern Zhou Dynasty is divided into two parts, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The national strength of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was very weak, and Zhou Tianzi had already lost his prestige. Zhou Pingwang, the founder of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, was the prince of Zhou Youwang, the last monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was a continuation of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The ruling area of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty has also been greatly reduced, and the area that can be directly controlled is limited to the surrounding areas of Luoyi.
In 266, Sima Yan forced the last emperor of Cao Wei to abdicate and established the Jin Dynasty with Luoyang as its capital, known as the Western Jin Dynasty in history. In 280, Sima Yan sent troops to destroy Soochow and unify China. After the death of Sima Yan, the Eight Kings Rebellion broke out in the Western Jin Dynasty, and the national strength of the Western Jin Dynasty was greatly consumed. In 3 16, the Xiongnu captured the capital of the Western Jin Dynasty and the Western Jin Dynasty perished.
In 3 17, Si Marui, the imperial clan of the Western Jin Dynasty, proclaimed himself emperor with the support of the Du Nan gentry, and made his capital Jiankang, which was called the Eastern Jin Dynasty in history. Geographically, Luoyang is in the northwest and Jiankang is in the southeast. The Eastern Jin regime established by Si Marui directly inherited the Western Jin regime, and its territory was greatly reduced, limited to couples in the southeast. The national strength of the Eastern Jin Dynasty is not the same as that of the Western Jin Dynasty.
In 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin launched a mutiny in Chen Qiaoyi, wearing a yellow robe, and established the Song Dynasty with its capital in Kaifeng, known as the Northern Song Dynasty in history. After the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, the national policy of valuing literature over martial arts was implemented, which led to the low combat effectiveness of the army. The Northern Song Dynasty was always at a disadvantage in the battle of northern minorities. First defeated by Liao and then defeated by Xixia, the rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty could only rely on money to maintain border peace. 1 1 15 years, the rising Jurchen nationality in Northeast China established Daikin regime.
1 125 years, the Jin dynasty destroyed Liao country, 1 127 years, 8 Jin Army paid tribute to Kaifeng House, and captured more than 3,000 Qin Hui emperors and imperial clan ministers in the north. This was called Jingkang Revolution in history, and the Northern Song Dynasty officially perished. In the same year, Zhao Gou, the ninth son of Song Huizong, proclaimed himself emperor in Yingtian, established the Southern Song Dynasty regime, and made Lin 'an, Zhao Gou, its capital, namely Song Gaozong. The capital of the Northern Song Dynasty is located in the north of Kaifeng, and the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty is located in the south of Lin 'an (Hangzhou). Legally speaking, the Southern Song Dynasty is a continuation of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the ruling foundation of the Southern Song Dynasty also originated from the Northern Song Dynasty. The ruling area of the Southern Song Dynasty was greatly reduced, basically located in the south of the Huaihe River in Qinling Mountains.
Through the analysis of the above dynasties, we can know that except for the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, several other dynasties have certain continuity relations. After the transition from west (north) to east (south), the national strength of the dynasty declined greatly, and the ruling area of the dynasty was also greatly reduced. In ancient China, dynasties (regimes) with continuous relations basically extended from northwest to southeast, except Yuan and Beiyuan. Why is this happening?
After China entered the civilized era, the earliest economic centers were in the Guanzhong Plain in the northwest and the North China Plain in the north. It can also be understood that the economic base of China was in the north at that time. The north is the economic center of our country for thousands of years, and the south is the economic center for less than a thousand years. The north was the traditional economic center of China in ancient times, while the south began to develop in the Six Dynasties. Economic distribution directly determines population distribution. At that time, the population in the north was much larger than that in the south.
When we open the map of Qin and Han dynasties, we will find that the number of counties in the north far exceeds that in the south, and the area of counties is much smaller than that in the south. The main reason is that the economy in the north is developed and the population is important. Because the north is the economic center of gravity and has a large population, we will find that all dynasties before the Song Dynasty can only control the north. When reunifying the south, we basically only need to cross the Yangtze River, and the rest can basically be passed on. After the Six Dynasties, China's economic center of gravity began to move southward until the Southern Song Dynasty.
After the economic center of the Southern Song Dynasty was completed, the only feudal Wang Chaocai in the Ming Dynasty was unified by the South. Because the north is the center of economy and population, some dynasties basically chose the north as their capital at the beginning of their establishment. After the regime was destroyed, the north fell into chaos, and the imperial clan of the regime came to the relatively backward south to establish a partial regime. However, it is difficult for a small court with local security to complete the Northern Expedition, unify the world and rebuild its former glory.
China's topography inclines from northwest to southeast, with high northwest and relatively low southeast, so most rivers in China flow from west to east. Attack from northwest to southeast, you look down, attack from southeast to northwest, you look up. It is relatively difficult to attack from south (east) to north (west); It is relatively easy to attack the south (north) from the north (west).
Therefore, most of the unified regimes were completed by the northern (western) regime, and the ruling center of these regimes after reunification was naturally the northern (western) regime. After the demise of these regimes, the core ruling areas will naturally be in chaos. The imperial clan of these regimes can only continue the regime in the relatively stable east and south. So there was a situation in which there was the west and the north first, and then there was the east and the south.
The regimes of Jin Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty and Song Dynasty were all attacked and destroyed by the regime from the northwest, Zhou was attacked and destroyed by western dogs, the Western Jin Dynasty was destroyed by Xiongnu in the north, and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by Jurchen who killed the north. After these regimes were eliminated, the western and northern regimes were still very strong, and the imperial clan had to flee to the eastern and southern regions if it wanted to continue the regime. This is why there are some security systems in the east and south.