Province of YuZhou（Introduction to Three Kingdoms Geographical Names 5）

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The Province of YuZhou豫州 in Eastern Han Dynasty, with a jurisdiction corresponding to the eastern part of present-day He’nan and the northern part of Anhui. Yuzhou was one of the earliest nine Provinces in ancient China, because it was located in the center, so it was also known as “central province中州” . The term “Central Plains中原” in a narrow sense also refers to the original Yuzhou. It was the political, economic and cultural center of China from the Xia Dynasty（2070BC - 1600BC） until the Song Dynasty（960AD - 1127AD）.

If you are talking about the complexity of the situation, Yuzhou豫州 province to the south of Yanzhou can be said to be second only to Yanzhou. It was sandwiched between the forces of Yuan Shao袁绍, Cao Cao, Tao Qian陶谦, Yuan Shu袁术, Liu Biao刘表 and other factions, and the war here was constant.

Especially after the crusade of Dong Zhuo董卓, the original provincial governor of Yuzhou, Kong Zhou孔伷, died of illness. In just a few years, the governors of Yuzhou kept changing, and there was even a miraculous phenomenon of several governors co-existing.

In order to cultivate their power here, various warlords sent their subordinates to serve as the provincial governor of Yuzhou. For example, Sun Jian孙坚 was appointed by Yuan Shu, Zhou Ang周昂 was appointed by Yuan Shao, Liu Bei was appointed by Tao Qian, and Guo Gong郭恭 was appointed by an unknown person.

These Governors had set up their own capitals, arranged officials, and conquered each other, plus hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban peasants army and bandits in the mountains and forests , Yuzhou was in a mess.

After Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu and basically occupied most of Yuzhou, the situation seemed to be gradually moving towards stabilization. However, with the outbreak of the Battle of Guandu in 200 A.D., Yuzhou, as Cao Cao's strategic rear, where Yuan Shao incited rebellion on several occasions, as well as sending Liu Bei on two times to unite with the forces of the local Yellow Turbans to harass them in their enemy's backyard, it was only after Cao Cao gradually unified the entire north that the situation in Yuzhou stabilized.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were six Commanderies in Yuzhou, namely:Pei沛,Chen陈, Lu鲁 , Liang梁 , YingChuan颍川,RuNan汝南.

Pei Commandery, named after the Pei County under its jurisdiction,which is the hometown of Liu Bang刘邦（256-195BC）, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms period, in order to distinguish between Pei Commandery and Pei County, people used to call Pei Commandery as“Da Pei”(Major Pei大沛) and Pei County as“Xiao Pei”(Minor Pei小沛).

The seat of Yuzhou, Qiao谯 County, was also within the jurisdiction of Pei Commandery. Qiao County is the hometown of Cao Cao, the real founding emperor of the Wei Empire. The emperors of two consecutive dynasties had their hometowns from the same Commandery, which can truly be called the“hometown of emperors".

While the seat of Pei Commandery was in Xiang相 County, in present-day Xiangshan相山 District, Huaibei淮北 City, Anhui安徽 Province.

Liang Commandery, located four hundred and twenty kilometers southeast of Luoyang, in present-day Shangqiu商丘, He’nan Province. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liang Commandery was long used as a fiefdom for princes ,so it's usually called Liang State, and there were total six generations of Liang princes until the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Lu Commandery is located in that narrow strip of land in the northeastern corner of Yuzhou, and its seat, Lu County, is the city of Qufu曲阜 in today's Shandong Province, the hometown of Confucius. When Zhang Liao张辽 was under Lyu Bu's吕布 command, he was appointed as the Commanderial Governor of Lu by Lyu Bu.

Chen Commandery, the center of which is located in the area of present-day Zhoukou周口 City of Henan Province. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Chen Commandery also served as a prince's fiefdom for a long time, with a total of six generations of Chen Princes.

I believe that those who have played the game “ The Total War：Three Kingdoms ” are not unfamiliar with the last generation of Prince of Chen — Liu Chong刘宠. In the chaotic times of the late Han period, Liu Chong did have some strength. He was very brave and good at using a crossbow, and his archery skills were so good that he could hit ten times out of ten, and all in the same point. During the uprising of the Yellow Turbans, the officials and soldiers in the Commandery abandoned the city and fled. At that time, Liu Chong had thousands of crossbows, so he recruited soldiers in his territory to guard the Commandery of Chen, and the people in the Commandery of Chen were afraid of him and didn't dare to rebel. The Commanderial governor of Chen, Luo Jun骆俊, had always been very prestigious and well-governed. At that time, among all the Commanderies in the Central Plains, Chen was the only one that was still very rich and strong, and the people from the neighboring Commanderies went to join them, which amounted to more than 100,000 people. During the allied forces' crusade against Dong Zhuo, Liu Chong also gathered troops in his territory and called himself the “Great General of Assisting Han辅汉大将军”. But the good times didn't last long, as both Liu Chong and Luo Jun were assassinated by Yuan Shu's assassins, and Chen Commandery has been in decline ever since.

Later, Cao Zhi曹植, Cao Cao's most literate son, who was a Prince of Wei Empire, ended up with his fiefdom in Chen Commandery , and was often referred to as “ Prince of Chen” in later Literary works.

Yingchuan Commandery, its seat originally located in Yangzhai阳翟, was the capital of the first dynasty in Chinese history, the Xia Dynasty(2070-1600BC).

In 196 AD, Cao Cao greeted Emperor Xian of Han to Xu许 county in Yingchuan Commandery, which became the last capital of the Eastern Han Empire. Xu County was thus also known as capital of Xu(许都). After Cao Pi established the Wei Empire, Xu County was renamed as Xuchang许昌.

Cao Cao made Xu County his early headquarters and greeted the emperor here, largely because most of his civil ministers came from Yingchuan Commandery, led by Xun Yu, who later became known as the "Yingchuan Strategists Group". They included Xun Yu荀彧, Xun You荀攸, Zhong Yao钟繇, Guo Jia郭嘉, and the "Four Great scholars of Yingchuan" Chen Qun陈群, Zhao Yan赵俨, Du Xi杜袭, and Xin Pi辛毗.

Runan, was the hometown of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu brothers.Family Yuan of RuNan was the no.1 prominent family in the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, the Yuan family had four consecutive generations who held the position of "Three Excellencies三公", hence they were known as the " Three Excellencies in Four Generations四世三公". But with the successive failures of the fifth generation Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, who once pushed the reputation of the Yuan family to its peak, the Yuan family in Runan gradually faded out of the historical stage.