The Control Of Yuan And Li River Valley Under Qin

This dissertation focus on the Yuan River(沅水)and Li River(澧水)and makes use of Strips and Tablets of Qin discovered at Liye(里耶)to explore how the Qin rule Chu.Chapter one discusses the historical process of how the Qin conquered the Yuan River(沅水)and Li River(澧水)valley,it concludes that the conquering process of Qin could be divided into three phases:in BC 277,Qin Zhao Wang(秦昭王)sent Zhang Ruo(张若)who basing himself at Ba Shu(巴蜀),crusaded against the South of Chu,this was the first phase;the second phase started from BC 276 when Qin and Chu confronted each other along the Yangtse River which last as long as 50 years;the third phase witnessed Ying Zheng(嬴政),basing himself at Nan Jun(南郡),assaulted South of Chu,.By BC222,as the core areas of Huai River valley of Chu fell,the Yuan and Li River valley were conquered by the Qin gradually.Chapter Two explores the implement of the prefectures and counties system in Yuan and Li River valley(沅澧流域).It uncovers that except Shou,Wei and Jian,the Dongting Prefecture(洞庭郡)also set up several military assistant officer among who the Dongting Fa Nu(洞庭发弩)and Dongting Hou(洞庭候)could exercise the duty of the magistrate of prefecture as assistant officer and assisted magistrate of Dongting to govern the affiliated counties.The Dongting Jun Wei(洞庭郡尉)was called Bang Wei(邦尉)in the earlier period,its rename indicates that the Qin might try to integrate the titles of the six former countries’officials.The Dongting Chu Dao Wei(洞庭除道尉)was under the jurisdiction of Dongting Wei(洞庭尉)who was in charge of clearing ways for collecting rations and forage.The Jian Yu Shi of Dongting Prefecture(洞庭监御史)could check and study the justice cases of affiliated counties,he was closed to the emperor and could make presentation directly,his duty was similar to that of Ci Shi(刺史)which was set up by Wu Di(武帝).The magistrate,Wei and Jian of Dongting all established themselves at Lin Yuan.The Qin set up 16 counties in the Yuan and Li River valley(沅澧流域),the Dongting Prefecture(洞庭郡)had four more affiliated counties than the record of Wuling Prefecture(武陵)in Han Shu,Geography Section(《汉书·地理志》)which were Men Qian(门浅),Shangyan(上衍),Yuanyang(沅阳),Pengxian(蓬县).Both Men Qian(门浅)and Shangyan(上衍)were near Changde(常德)which located at the lower reaches of Yuan River(沅水),these two counties which played the role of military defense,might be set up to protect the Linyuan county(临沅),the seat of Dongting(洞庭)’s administration.After the minorities at the Yuan and Li River valley(沅澧流域)surrendered to Qin,the set up the Shu Bang Hou(属邦候)and Shu Bang Hou Chen(属邦候丞),who were in command of troops,to rule them and to suppress the barbarians by military threat,but politically govern them by their traditional rules.Chapter Three is a case study on the administration of Qianling county(迁陵县)of Qin.It uncovers that military advisers such as Fa Nu(发弩)and Shi Li(士吏),were in the official system of Qianling(迁陵),they took orders from the Xian Wei(县尉)and Fa Nu(发弩)could run the county on behalf of Xian Wei(县尉).Officials in charge of Ting(亭)were called Jiao Zhang(校长)which originated from the military organization of Qin and differed from the Ting Zhang of West Han.The garrison force of Qianling(迁陵)was consist of soldiers under various titles,including Geng Shu(更戍),Tun Shu(屯戍),Fa Shu(罚戍),Li Yi Zu Shu(吏以卒戍),Zhe Shu(谪戍),Rong Mu Shu Zu(冗募戍卒),Ju Zi Shu Zhai Shu(居赀赎债戍者)and so on,they were all from the other counties.Qianling(迁陵)also set up Qiu Dao(求盗)which was assumed by the common people who were brought under the rule of village,they were the reserves to chase after bandits,it reflected the turbulent ruling of Qianling county(迁陵县).The common people of Du Xiang(都乡)such as those from Du You(督邮)and Qi Ling Jin Chuan(启陵津船人),assumed much more heavy work than those from Er Chun(贰春)and Qiling(启陵)village,it seems that Qianling was the only county which could effectively control the common people.Chapter Four discusses the Qin’s rule on the Yuan River and Li River valley(沅澧流域)from three angles:the resource demand of Qin on the Yuan River and Li River valley and the ways it adopted,how did the dealt with the bandits in Qianling(迁陵);explore how did the officials in the Qin carried out the laws of old haut of Chu by analyzing the dealing process of“the case of new common people flow to north”in You County(攸县).It indicates that the Qin had various resource demands on Qianling(迁陵),including the feather,birds,monkeys,fungus and so on,the county relied on Tu Li(徒隶)to obtain these resources.The Empire also established official organization to control the iron mine in Peng County(蓬县)and set up Xian Guan(献官)in Linyuan County(临沅县)in charge of paying tribute,these officials needed corporation from the counties affiliated to Dongting(洞庭)to finish their jobs.The Qianling County(迁陵县)had a daily mechanism to deal with bandits which could be initiated only at the permission of county magistrate.Moreover,Qin set up a military adviser called Si Ma(司马)in Qianling(迁陵)to assist the county to suppress the bandits’rebellion.In order to arouse the initiative of those new common people in Jing Xin Di(荆新地),the Empire laid down the law ruling that whoever refused to fight would be beheaded.However,officials in You County(攸县)and Nan Jun(南郡)couldn’t execute this order effectively,consequently,it not only failed to arouse the initiative of the new common people,but also wasted a lot of human resource and time.This dissertation concludes that the bureaucratic system of Dongting Prefecture(洞庭郡)enjoyed the character of military control,it relied on the back up of garrison forces from the other counties to maintain its regional ruling system.This kind of ruling system made the Qin could only govern the Yuan River(沅水)and Li River(澧水)valley at very high cost,once the supplies areas fell into disorder,Qin’s control on the valley would collapse.