Great Han Empire

Chapter 405 Geographical Environmental Factors and the Historical Process of the Three Kingdoms in the Late Han Dynasty

Geographical Environmental Factors and the Historical Process of the Three Kingdoms in the Late Han Dynasty

Author: Ma Qiang, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Communication, Shaanxi Institute of Technology
At the end of the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms were in the transition period from the unification of Qin and Han to the division and chaos of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.The Eastern Han Dynasty began to disintegrate in the famous Yellow Turban Peasant Uprising, and history entered the era of the Three Kingdoms, where heroes competed for each other and ruled separately.With regard to the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the formation, confrontation and end of the situation of the Three Kingdoms, and the reasons for the political and military success of the Three Kingdoms, the academic circles have discussed and conducted in-depth research from the aspects of politics, economy, ideology, and military affairs for many years.But any historical activity takes place in a specific period, a specific geographical environment and ecological background, and the history of the Three Kingdoms at the end of Han Dynasty is no exception.This paper tries to make a new analysis of the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the military wars and folk religions of the Three Kingdoms period from the perspective of historical geography.

[-]. Natural Disasters and the Crisis of the Eastern Han Dynasty

According to the climatic fluctuations in ancient my country revealed by Zhu Ke, a famous phenologist, the Three Kingdoms of the Eastern Han Dynasty were in the second period of large climate fluctuations since three generations.The most prominent ecological mutation phenomenon in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was the frequent occurrence of natural disasters; at the same time, the Eastern Han Dynasty was also a stage in history where natural disasters frequently occurred, and records of earthquakes, wind disasters, snow disasters, and locust plagues increased abnormally.After Heng and Ling in the Eastern Han Dynasty, abnormal geographical phenomena became prominent, plagues spread frequently, and natural and man-made disasters followed one after another, which brought increasingly serious psychological panic to the society of the Eastern Han Dynasty where Huiwei superstition was already prevalent.The Yellow Turban peasant riots just took advantage of natural disasters and social panic to take advantage of the opportunity; among them, the raging plague epidemic was the fuse that led to the Yellow Turban riots.

Although the plague mainly affects the human body, it is a highly prevalent and socially harmful infectious disease. In fact, it is also caused by the ecological imbalance in the relationship between man and land, and is closely related to the background of ecological variation such as climate, floods, and early disasters.At the end of the Han Dynasty, people already knew about this.Cao Zhi's "Shuo Epidemic Qi" clearly stated that the epidemic occurred because "the yin and yang are out of place, and the cold and heat are at the wrong time, so the epidemic occurs."Therefore, it also belongs to the scope of natural disasters.According to historical records, in the fourth year of Yongjian Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty, "six prefectures were plagued by locusts, and the epidemic was prevalent"; in the spring of the first year of Yuanjia, Emperor Heng, "the great epidemic in the capital,...the great epidemic in Jiujiang and Lujiang"; during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty There have been five large-scale epidemics successively.During the ravages of the epidemic, there were many people with broken families and dead people, and the consequences were very tragic, as described in Cao Zhi's "Speaking of the Epidemic Qi": "Every family has the pain of a corpse, and every room has the mourning of howling, or close the door and die, or Lose the family and die." The Yellow Turban organized a group of people in the secret of the Taiping Dao, that is, to cure diseases as a call. "Three Kingdoms" Volume 184 Notes quoted "Dianlue" said: Zhang Jiao Taiping said: "The teacher holds the nine-section stick as a talisman, and teaches the patient to kowtow and think about his mistakes. Because of the talisman water, the sickness will gradually recover. Daoism.”; and Zhang Lu’s practice of five buckets of rice in Hanzhong is also “to add a quiet room, so that patients can think about their mistakes.”At the end of the Han Dynasty, a plague broke out in the Chengdu Plain, and the Tao of Heavenly Masters became popular in Shu.Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty said in "The Legend of Immortals" that the reason why Zhang Daoling created the way of heavenly masters in Shu was also the so-called "First, there were tens of thousands of devils in Shu, who were the city in daylight, and they were good at diseases and epidemics, and the living people urged their harm for a long time."After Zhang Daoling entered Sichuan, he practiced magic spells to disperse the demons.Putting aside the mysterious elements of religious exaggeration, it also reflects the fact that Tianshi Taoism preached by healing diseases in central Sichuan.It was under the background of the epidemic epidemic and people's lives in dire straits that Zhang Jiao and others secretly organized people in the name of curing diseases and exorcising demons for a long time. The banner of "Jiazi, the world is auspicious" was raised on the same day in 36 A.D., [-] squares, which led to the Yellow Turban Uprising, a storm of popular riots that swept across the country, which also sounded the death knell of the collapse of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

[-]. Geographical Environment and the Political Separation of the Three Kingdoms
The role of geographical environment in the formation of ancient Chinese political and military structures has begun to attract the attention and attention of more and more scholars in the fields of history, ancient literature and economic history.Geographical environment includes two levels of natural ecological environment and human geographical environment.Among them, regional natural landforms, terrain factors, regional social psychology and people's character have different degrees of influence on the ancient historical process led by war under different time and space backgrounds.The restriction of the geographical environment on the military war of the three countries and the check and balance of the political confrontation are very prominent.In the Yellow Turban Uprising, all heroes rose together and merged to fight. Soon after the Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Dingjunshan, the three separatist regimes of Wei, Shu, and Wu appeared. The differentiation of physical geography and cultural regions is reflected on the military strategic map.The Yellow River Basin, the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were controlled by the Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan groups respectively, and history entered the famous Three Kingdoms era.The formation of the situation of the Three Kingdoms was certainly due to the balance of political and military power among the warlords in the late Han Dynasty, and it was also closely related to the geographical environment of the three parties.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Bashu area was the first to form a separate regime in the country.The land of Shu is located in the southwest, surrounded by dangerous fortresses, protected by the Qinling Mountains and Bashan Mountains in the north, Wushan Mountain and Xiajiang River in the east, and far from Luoyang Mountain, the political center of the country. 40. If the power of central control and local power is weakened, it is often prone to risky separatist regimes.As early as the Han Dynasty, Gongsun Shu once occupied the land of Bashu, which opened a precedent for Qin to separate the land of Shu after unifying China.At the beginning of the great chaos at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was also Liu Yan who first ruled Chengdu, Zhang Lu closed Hanzhong, and took the lead in announcing the split with the Eastern Han Dynasty.Later, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were able to compete with Cao Wei with the weakest strength of the three parties, and performed six heroic dramas of Qishan and the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei, and were able to maintain the politics of the Shu Han in Southwest China for more than [-] years, and Hanzhong and Shuzhong were "four strong and dangerous" This unique geographical location is not unrelated.As Zhang Hua of the Western Jin Dynasty commented on the strategic geography of the Shu Han, he said: "The land of the Shu Han is in the same region as the Qin Dynasty.Cao Cao's forces originated in North China and Shandong, and most of the Kanto region is plain and flat. The terrain is flat and suitable for cavalry to conduct raids and annihilate battles and assemble corps battles. In addition, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Plain was the country's economic center and the most densely populated area at that time. This is Cao Cao. The unification of the north provides a good military arena and source of troops.Therefore, after annihilating Yuan Shao's main force in the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao quickly unified the north, ruled the Central Plains, and occupied the six states of Chong, Henan, Qing, Xu, Ji, and Yong among the nine states of the world at that time; some scholars pointed out from the perspective of political geography: Cao Cao In addition to political and economic reasons, the reason why northern China was quickly unified was "because the Huanghuai and Haihe plains are a whole region and cannot be separated. The result of a battle between heroes can only be the victory of the strong, and there is no It has been divided and not unified for a long time", which is indeed quite insightful.The Cao Cao Group suffered an unprecedented disastrous defeat in the Battle of Chibi. The main reason is that the war took place in the ancient Yunmengze lake and swamp area, and it was also the schistosomiasis endemic area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. For Cao's army, it was a natural unfavorable geographical condition. As a result, Cao's weakness of not being familiar with water warfare was fully exposed as soon as the war started. "Water and soil", there is no doubt that it will be defeated. In addition, it will soon be infected with the plague and suffer heavy casualties. Cao Cao had to flee back to the north in embarrassment, and the Cao Zihao chariot that unified Jiangnan was also forced to stop.After Sun Wu crossed to the south, he established the Dingding and Jiankang (now Nanjing). The first military strategy was to rely on the natural dangers of the Yangtze River to defend against Cao Wei in the north; he stationed heavy troops at the east entrance of the Three Gorges to occupy the Shu Han; Wrapping the rear, but the Yangtze River is still Sun Wu's most important line of defense.The Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Yiling are all related to the survival of Wu. In the two major battles, Sun Wu used the southern soldiers who were accustomed to water warfare. Jiangnan stands firm.From the perspective of the social environment, when the northern region fell into war and the economy was in ruins at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Bashu in the southwest and Jiangzuo in the southeast were relatively peaceful. This is also an important human geography factor that contributed to the formation of the Three Kingdoms.

[-]. The influence of geographical environment on the history of the Three Kingdoms

The influence of landform and terrain factors.The constraints of geographical environment on military warfare are obvious. Military strategists of all dynasties have all paid attention to the understanding of terrain. "Terrain" in "Sun Tzu's Art of War" specifically talks about the importance of terrain in battle and how military strategists can fully understand the terrain before the battle. Study and master the terrain to strategize.During the Three Kingdoms period, the most typical example of topographic factors restricting war was the Qinling Mountains where the Wei and Shu confronted each other.The Qinling Mountains are tall and steep, stretching between the Guanzhong Plain and the Hanzhong Basin. As early as in the "Shan Hai Jing", it was called "the great obstacle of the world".The confrontation between Qin and Shu, Ba, Yong, and Chu during the Warring States Period, and the offensive and defensive advances and retreats of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu during the Chu and Han Dynasties all took advantage of the natural dangers of the Qinling Mountains.During the Three Kingdoms period, the Qinling Mountains and the difficult and dangerous traffic conditions between the Qinling Mountains played a particularly obvious role in the military geography in the Three Kingdoms Wei and Shu Wars.The military effect of the Qinling Mountains on the two sides of Shu and Wei was exactly the opposite. On the one hand, it played an important role in restricting and delaying Cao Cao's unified strategy. After conquering Cao Wei and entering Shu from the west, and using Hanzhong as a base, they used many plank roads in the Qinling Mountains to attack the west.In the 20th and 24th years of Jian'an, Cao Cao twice led his troops to conquer Hanzhong, an important town in the north of Shu.According to the military strength that the Cao family had at that time, it is very possible to attack the Xiashu land in one fell swoop and kill the Liu Bei Group at the time of its establishment.This is indeed the case. When Cao Cao moved westward for the first time, incorporated Zhang Lu, and occupied Hanzhong, "the number of policemen in Shuzhong a day" caused great panic.But in the end, Cao Cao only left a small amount of troops to defend Hanzhong, and he withdrew northward to his division Guanzhong; the second time he conquered Hanzhong through Baoxie Road, he seemed to be even less confident about attacking Shuhan, and finally left his army with a sigh of "chicken ribs", and finally gave up. Hanzhong.Carefully studying the reasons for Cao Cao's two western expeditions, it is not difficult to find that this general who once competed in the Central Plains and was defeated repeatedly was not suitable for mountain warfare, so he was often helpless in Hanzhong.The first time he attacked Zhanglu, Cao Cao took the Chencang Road. As a result, from Sanguan to Yangping (now Wuhou Town, Mian County), the journey was difficult and slow, and he was constantly blocked by the Qiang and Clan indigenous armed forces. After arriving at the western edge of the Hanzhong Basin, Cao Cao , The soldiers were exhausted and tired, and they wanted to withdraw their troops, but because of an accident, they took advantage of the chaos and captured Yangping, entered Nanzheng, and surrendered Zhanglu.For the second westward march, he confronted Liu Bei in Hanzhong for several months. Liu Jice, who was invincible, lamented that Nanzheng was a "heavenly prison" and retreated northward.Many scholars believe that Cao Cao's abandonment of Hanzhong is equivalent to giving up the great opportunity to seize the middle of Shu, so it is difficult to realize the great cause of unifying the Southwest.The reason for this is mostly due to the eagerness to return to Xuchang to force Emperor Xian to usurp power and replace Han, and he had no intention of fighting in Hanzhong.In fact, if we analyze the specific physical geography and traffic conditions of the Qinling Mountains, we will find that this view has not grasped the crux of the problem.It can be said that Cao Cao's lack of understanding of the geographical characteristics of the Qinling Mountains and his clumsiness in fighting in the mountains were the main reasons for the failure of Cao Cao's two western expeditions.On the other hand, if Cao Cao occupied Hanzhong and concentrated his troops to capture the Chengdu Plain in central Shu in one fell swoop, obviously the history of the Three Kingdoms would be rewritten.In history, it was very early to attack Shu from Guanzhong.
There are few successful ones, because the northerners who are good at fighting on the plains have difficulty adapting to the special terrain of the Qinling Mountains, and they are often caught in a dilemma here.The fact of the war between Wei and Shu in the Three Kingdoms shows that the military geography of the Qinba Mountains has different difficulties and effects on strategic offensives in the north and south.From south to north, the Qinling Mountains are an effective natural shelter; from north to south, the Qinling Mountains are often a natural obstacle that is difficult to overcome.

Of course, the constraints of the geographical environment on the war are also dialectical. On the one hand, the natural barriers of the Qinling Mountains successfully protected the safety of the Hanzhong Basin and the Central Shu Plain, but at the same time, they also created fatal difficulties for Zhuge Liang’s Northern Expedition in the transportation of grain and grass.According to "Three Kingdoms Shushu Zhuge Liang Biography", four of the six out of Qishan battles were due to the difficult traffic on the Qinling plank road and the lack of food and grass, and the troops were forced to retreat.Even if Zhuge Liang invented the wooden cow and the horse, it would be difficult to achieve success in the actual Northern Expedition.Some scholars believe that the reason why Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition failed repeatedly was that he was too cautious in using troops, detoured to Qishan Mountain, and rejected Wei Yan's military strategy of going out of Ziwu Valley.In fact, it is a comment made without familiarity with the actual situation of the geographical traffic routes of the plank roads in the Qinling Mountains, not to mention that there is no horizontal branch line to follow between Baogu and Ziwu Road, and the north entrance of Ziwu Road is already approaching the suburbs of Chang'an. Even if troops are rashly sent out to attack the Meridian Road, it will be very difficult to defeat the enemy and win with the exhausted army of the Shu Han under the defense of the Wei Army who is waiting for work.But along the Qishan line, the terrain is relatively flat, and Tianshui County in Longxi has been a famous wheat-producing area since the Eastern Han Dynasty. The local Shi and Qiang have always been at odds with Cao Wei and can be used for capital. Therefore, Zhuge Liang chose to send troops to Qishan, from the upper reaches of the Wei River to the east. It is a feasible strategy to push forward and push into Guanzhong in order to win slowly.Of course, in this way, the progress of the war will be relatively slow, and it will be difficult to achieve short-term results.For Zhuge Liang, it was really a dilemma.But in any case, Qinling played a very important role in the 40-year-long confrontation between Shu and Wei.In fact, it has always "had a direct and powerful role in demarcating the boundary", so it has become the natural military demarcation line between the two countries.

climatic factors.Research by historical geographers has found that war turmoil in Chinese history has a certain functional correspondence with climate fluctuations, that is, ethnic wars, epidemics, and social unrest are prone to occur during cold periods in history.There is no doubt that the occurrence and success of military wars are also closely related to climate factors. This has been repeatedly confirmed in historical battles such as the Chen Sheng in the late Qin Dynasty, the Wuguang peasant uprising, the Li Zicheng peasant uprising in northern Shaanxi in the late Ming Dynasty, and the French Napoleon Waterloo War. .The climate of the Three Kingdoms period was in the cold period of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties in the history of Chinese climatology, and the Jiangnan region, which has always been relatively warm, often experienced severe cold weather.In October of the sixth year of Huangchu (225), Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of the Wei Dynasty, went south to Guangling (Yangzhou) to inspect the naval exercise, and returned because the Huaihe River was blocked by ice. "Three Kingdoms·Wei Zhi" Volume 241 "Wendi Ji" says: "Winter and October, I was fortunate enough to travel to the old city of Guangling, and watched the soldiers by the river. There were more than 257 soldiers and hundreds of miles of clan flags. It was a severe cold, and the waterways were icy, and boats could not enter the river. , is to lead back."This is the first time in history that the Huaihe River has been frozen. Volume 234 of "Three Kingdoms·Wu Zhi" contains: In the first month of spring in the fourth year of Chiwu (230) of Sun Quan, "heavy snow was three feet deep on the ground in the Jiangnan area, and most of the birds and animals died"; in February of the second year of Sun Wu Taiping ([-]), Jiankang area There was also snowfall and "great cold" weather, which caused Sun Liang to issue an "amnesty" (Volume [-] of "Three Kingdoms·Wu Zhi").Even in the third year of Sun Quan's Jiahe ([-]), there was an extremely cold and low temperature of "the first day of September, and the falling frost killed the valley".It goes without saying that the south is so cold in the north.However, the climate characteristics of the Three Kingdoms period were not completely dry and cold, but appeared in an alternating state of cold and wet.In Southwest China, the rainfall did not decrease but tended to increase during the cold period.The cold and rainy climate in the Three Kingdoms period also had a typical impact on the success or failure of the wars between Wei, Shu and Wu.For example, after the death of Cao Cao, Cao Wei continued to launch an attack on the Shu Han. "The heavy rain will never stop", and as a result, "all the truth and others will be returned" ("Three Kingdoms Shu Zhi" Volume [-] "Host Master"), the national crisis of the Shu Han was temporarily lifted.Many years later, someone from Cao Wei also mentioned the failure of the military operation caused by the rain: "In the battle of Ziwu in the past, the soldiers marched hundreds of miles in spite of the rain, the bridges and pavilions were destroyed, the rear grain was corrupt, and the former army county (suspension) was exhausted. ", so he was forced to quit his teacher.In addition, in the Battle of Chibi and Zhongting, the defeats of Cao Cao and Liu Bei were all related to climate discomfort.

Diseases and effects of the Three Kingdoms period.The Three Kingdoms period was the peak period of frequent natural disasters in the history of our country. The cold climate and frequent wars often caused plague epidemics.The plague, in turn, had varying degrees of impact on religion, military affairs, economy, and even social mentality during the Three Kingdoms period.The "plague" and "disease" recorded in ancient literature often refer to epidemic infectious diseases. There is no doubt about its long-term existence.Wars were frequent during the Three Kingdoms period, and diseases and epidemics were often accompanied by them. According to relevant literature statistics, the number of diseases and epidemics occurred as many as 22 times in the entire Three Kingdoms period. delayed the progress of the war.In the famous Battle of Chibi, Cao Jun, who had an absolute advantage in military strength, was defeated in the end. In addition to the fact that the soldiers were not familiar with water warfare, the outbreak of plague in the army was a major reason. "Three Kingdoms Shu Zhi Biography of the First Lord" contains: Liu Bei and Cao Cao "battled in Chibi, broke it, and burned their boats. The First Lord and the Wu army marched by land and water, and chased to Nanjun. There was a disease, and the northern army died many times. Cao Gong lead back".In his later years, Sun Quan launched a military campaign, intending to attack Zhuya (now Hainan Island) and Yizhou (now Taiwan).The famous minister Quan Cong advised, "Quan did not listen, the army marched through the ages, and the soldiers died of diseases, nine out of ten, Quan deeply regretted it."As a result, the two places were not captured, but the Wu army lost its troops and lost its generals, and returned in a big defeat; the most typical is that in the second year of Sun Wu Jianxing (253), Zhuge Ke led 20 troops to besiege the new city of Hefei, Cao Wei. The plague, "the soldiers were fatigued, most of them were swollen and sick due to drinking water in the summer heat, and the death and injury spread across the ground", forcing Zhuge Ke to return without success.The reason why the wars during the Three Kingdoms period were protracted and it was often difficult for both sides to win was not unrelated to the constraints of these frequent outbreaks of diseases.

The plague also had a causal relationship to the prevalence of religion in the Three Kingdoms at the end of Han Dynasty.During the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, Taoism with wizards and alchemists as the main body was very popular.If we examine the environmental factors at that time, we will find that this phenomenon is based on the social background of the plague epidemic that caused a large number of deaths.As mentioned earlier, the Three Kingdoms period was a period of high incidence of natural disasters since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and there were as many as 22 plagues recorded in the literature.The death of the population caused by the plague is no less than the reduction of the population in the war.In the 22nd year of Jian'an, there was a great plague in the Central Plains, and four of the famous "Seven Sons of Jian'an" died of the disease.Later, Wei Wendi Emperor Cao Wang recalled the incident and said sadly: "In the past, the disease was plagued by relatives and friends. Xu, Chen, Ying, and Liu died all at once, and the pain can be described as evil!" The epidemic that occurred in the Luoyang area at the end of the Three Kingdoms period , even claiming the lives of almost half the people in the region. "Book of Jin Wudi Ji" records that in December of the first year of Xianning (275), "it was a great plague in the month, and most of the people in Luoyang died." The catastrophe caused by the plague was shocking. Said: "In the 22nd year of Jian'an, the sickness was prevalent, and every family had the pain of zombies, and there was mourning in every room, and they either closed their doors and colonized, or lost their families and died." .These social disasters caused by natural disasters will inevitably bring about profound changes in people's beliefs and social psychology.

The Taoism of Tianshi, which was popular in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, called for the promotion of immortality, and used disaster treatment as a means of gathering people. It was very attractive to ordinary people who were in the midst of wars and plagues. "Three Kingdoms · Wei Shu · Zhang Lu Biography" contains: "Zhang Lu separatized Hanzhong and practiced the five buckets of rice Taoism, "teaching the people with ghosts and Taoism, and calling himself a master.Those who came to learn Taoism were all named ghost soldiers at the beginning. After accepting the Tao, they had already signaled to sacrifice wine.Sickness surrenders itself.Most of them are similar to yellow scarves.All the sacrificial wines are used as righteous houses, which are passed down in today's pavilion.They also put rice and meat to hang in the cemetery, and travelers measure their stomachs to get enough. If there is too much, ghosts will often get sick.For those who break the law, the three principles are followed by execution.There are no senior officials, and they are all ruled by offering wine, and the people are happy, and they have ruled Ba and Han for 30 years." "Zhang Lu Biography" Pei Annotation quoted "Dianlue" also said: "In the early Xiping period, demons and thieves rose up. In Hanzhong, there is Zhang Xiu as the Taiping Dao, and Zhang Jiao as the Wudou Rice Dao. The Taiping Daoist holds a nine-section stick as a talisman, and teaches the patients to kowtow and think about their mistakes, because they drink the water from the amulet.Those who are sick or self-healing are said to believe in this person.If it doesn’t heal, it’s not true.” In the first section of this article, Ge Hong’s Biography of Immortals has also been pointed out that Zhang Daoling’s creation of the Heavenly Master’s Way in Heming Mountain, Dayi, in the middle of Shu, was mainly to take advantage of the prevalence of epidemic diseases in Shu to dispel evil spirits. Disease is a call to attract the people. Many places in the classic "Tianshi Dao" and "Taiping Jing" emphasize the principles and methods of life and health, nourishing qi and longevity, and preventing and controlling epidemic qi. The psychology is intentional.
important reason.After the Three Kingdoms, one branch of Tianshi Taoism spread along the Han River to Jingxiang and Jiangnan, and was widely spread in the south of the Yangtze River after the transformation of Ge Hong in the Eastern Jin Dynasty; the other branch was spread from Hanzhong to Guan and Long.It was not abolished in the north until Kou Qianzhi "purge Taoism" in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

To sum up, the influence of the geographical environment of the Three Kingdoms period on the politics, military affairs and economy of the Three Kingdoms is obvious.It has marked the historical process of the Three Kingdoms deeply with the imprint of the times, and natural factors have obvious constraints on the success or failure of regional social politics, military affairs, and religion.However, we cannot exaggerate the influence of geographical environment too much, let alone play a decisive role.For example, in the same geographical environment, why did the Hanzhong defense line deployed by Zhuge Liang himself and defended by the soldiers and civilians of the Shu Han for nearly half a century collapsed quickly under the attack of Zhong Hui at the end of the Shu Han period, causing the Wei army to drive straight into the Shu Han regime? The same Three Gorges waterway on the Yangtze River, why? Liu Bei’s Eastern Expedition defeated Yiling, but at the end of the Three Kingdoms period, Wang Jun went down the river from Chengdu, but he was able to break through the Three Gorges, and soon wiped out Soochow? This fully shows that the geographical environment has a great influence on the political and military success or failure of an era. cannot be decisive.The decisive factor in the historical process is still the subjective initiative of people in politics and military affairs.But at the same time, as Braudel said, the geographical environment factor is not just a static stage background for historical activities, but also an important participating force in the historical process. After all, people’s subjective initiative in history has its energy limit, and sometimes even Often can not go beyond the constraints of the natural environment.This may also be the greatest inspiration from studying the historical process of the Three Kingdoms from the perspective of geographical environment.
Author: Ma Qiang, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Communication, Shaanxi Institute of Technology
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