Study On The Conquer The Jianghuai Region Of The Northern Wei Dynasty

The special position and geographical environment makes Jiang-huai Region a place of high strategic value, therefore a key place where both two conflict regimes always try to control.Decades of fierce conflict round the footholds here has continued between The Northern Wei Dynasty, which is built by Tuoba Xianbei and the Southern Dynasty. The large-scale of the horrifying war makes it remarkable on history. The research on the Northern Wei Dynasty’s management of this special region has a positive significance on how the northern minorities expand to the south. In this paper, we use both literatures and epitaphs unearthed to study the following issues on the basement of previous research. Including the geographical environment of the battlefield in Jiang-huai Region, the military struggle situation between the north and the south, and measures the Northern Wei Dynasty takes to manage this region. By doing this, we hope to reveal both its experiences and lessons.On chapter one, we mainly discuss the geographical environment of the battlefield and its impact on Northern Wei Dynasty’s military operations. By analyzing and discussing how the position, the natural environment, the land and water transportation, the economic development,and the distribution of footholds work on military operations, we can get a brief understanding of the battlefield environment and how the Northern Wei Dynasty make and operate its strategic and tactical decisions.On the second chapter, we mainly discuss the decades of military struggle between the north and the south, as well as the importance of Jiang-huai battlefield in the whole national defense strategy of the south. Throughout history, the process of The Northern Wei Dynasty’s military operation in this region can be divided into the aggression period and the defense period by the failure of King Zhongshan in Zhongli. The difficulties of The Northern Wei Dynasty’s military operation in Jiang-huai Region mainly occurs in city attack and defense, water-battle,night combat and espionage activities, which are the forms that it’s not good at. The Jiang-huai battlefield not only acts a leading role in the national defense strategy of the south, but also can match up with and support other battlefields.Measures of The Northern Wei Dynasty’s management in Jiang-huai Region are our main focus on the last chapter. In terms of administrative system, The Northern Wei Regime establishes Yang, Ying and other states to control this area after it conquers the strategic footholds Shouchun and Yiyang. The next issue is how to choose proper chief commanders as the Jiang-huai Region has a high strategic value. By analyzing each Ci Shi of Yang state, we find that the central government trend to choose the Dai Group aristocrat who has strong political belief, high talent and good personality. The candidate should also be experienced in military struggle on the south.To give an example of the "chicken ribs" Shouchun, The Northern Wei Regime has always been difficult in logistics and surely paid his price. However, it still tries hard to keep the logistics support by transporting from the Rear Area, garrison reclamation and snatching from the enemiesas the high strategic value of Jiang-huai Region. All the measures above contribute a lot to the quarter-century’s rule of Jiang-huai Region by The Northern Wei Regime through fierce conflict.And also provide a lot of experience and lessons for the later history.