Like the famous feudal dynasty in China, the capital of the Han and Tang dynasties is also in Xi 'an. It can be said that since Xi 'an, the capital of the Han Dynasty, most subsequent dynasties have established their capitals here. It can be said that it is a flowing dynasty, and the iron is Xi' an.
However, after the Tang Dynasty, Xi 'an began to recover and never even became the capital. Why is this? Next, we will analyze the different situations faced by the Wang Dynasty from the aspects of economy, politics and later period.
First, political rebalancing under the shift of economic center of gravity to the south.
The Guanzhong Plain where Xi 'an is located may be just right today. In fact, during the Qin and Han Dynasties, Guanzhong Plain was the most economically developed area in China, and the earliest land of abundance was Guanzhong Plain.
Moreover, the Guanzhong Plain is not only fertile land, but also a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Relying on the advantages of topography, we can develop slowly and plot the world, just like in ancient times, when we left Hangu Pass, we could sweep across the Central Plains.
The last winner of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Qin Dynasty, relied on the advantages of the Guanzhong Plain. After the efforts of the twenty-six generations of heroes, Qin Shihuang swept the six countries and unified the whole country.
For example, Sean's evaluation of the Guanzhong Plain in the early Han Dynasty is very reasonable: Guanzhong has a letter on the left, a dragon tree on the right, and a fertile land in Wan Li. This so-called golden city is thousands of miles away, and the country of abundance is also.
But at that time, there was still no undeveloped wild land in the land of plenty in the south, and the real economic outbreak was after three southern tours. As in the Three Kingdoms period, the territory of Liu Bei and Sun Quan seems to be very large. In fact, at that time, many places in the south were undeveloped and the land was barren, and the local barbarians were also unstable factors. For example, the barbarian of Shu Han and the mountain crossing of Sun Wu both prevented Shu Han and Sun Wu from going north because of their crimes, so there was an allusion to Zhuge Liang's seven capture of Meng Huo.
The first expedition to the south after the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion broke out in the Tang Dynasty, the second crossing of the river began. After the humiliation of Jing Kang in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Haoqi Gou Jian of Kang rebuilt the Song Dynasty for the third crossing.
After crossing the south three times, the land of fish and rice in the south was fully developed and the economic center began to move south.
The southward movement of the economic center led to the frequent establishment of capitals in southern cities by the dynasties. Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, and Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, are all proof of this.
At this time, with the development of the south, the Guanzhong Plain where Xi 'an is located not only lost its economic advantage. It is not suitable for ruling the vast north and south of the central region, and it is naturally not suitable for building a capital here. To put it bluntly, the focus of the Han and Tang Dynasties was the Guanzhong Plain, and then the Silk Road in the Western Regions was more northwest, and the south was not the dominant focus. Later, with the decline of the Silk Road on land and the outbreak of the southern economy, it became more and more important. Xi' an is more like a corner of the northwest, with limited radiation, and it is too reluctant to be the capital.
Moreover, all the troubles in China in the past dynasties were in the north, shifting from northwest to northeast. For example, the Huns of the Han Dynasty were in the northwest. Turkic in Tang Dynasty, Turkic was almost due north. Mongolia in Ming Dynasty and later Jin Dynasty was due north first and then northeast. This transfer confrontation between farming civilization and nomadic civilization makes Beijing's strategic position more important, while Xi 'an is no longer so important.
In ancient times, when the traffic was backward, the south with the capital was very unfavorable to resist the powerful enemies in the north. Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, was not very south. It was raided by the emerging State of Jin, and it was too late to organize effective forces to destroy the country, which caused the shame of Jingkang.
And the economic center is in the south, and the capital is also in the south. Not only is the military situation not good, but it has also caused serious economic imbalance. With the formation of the Grand Canal running through the north and south after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the unified dynasty after the Tang Dynasty used to build its capital in the north, which was conducive to facing the northern border and balancing the economy between the north and the south.
Second, the different situations faced by Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The Tang Dynasty was followed by the Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty was just an orthodox dynasty, not a unified dynasty. Strictly speaking, the Song Dynasty should be a period when Song, Liao, Jin and Xixia were divided, so why the Song Dynasty didn't make Xi 'an its capital for the time being.
In fact, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty can be regarded as a combination of farming civilization and nomadic civilization. After all, Beijing is the northernmost part of the traditional Chinese land. Similarly, Beijing's climate is more suitable for the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty to live in, and compared with the vast territory, Beijing is the center of the empire and more conducive to rule.
In fact, there are two main reasons why the Ming Dynasty made Beijing its capital, namely, in ancient times, when the traffic was backward, it was better to face the northern border disaster and the economic rebalancing between the north and the south.
Of course, Nanjing was the capital of the early Ming Dynasty and had certain historical limitations. Because Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, started in Jiangnan, built his capital on the foundation and then unified the whole country, in fact, this Nanjing capital is only a temporary capital.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, wanted to move the capital to Xi 'an. Even in the 13th year of Hongwu, when the Drum Tower in Xi 'an was completed, its specifications exceeded that of Nanjing, the capital at that time. In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, Prince Zhu Biao was sent to Ann with the intention of moving the capital. As a result, Zhu Biao died soon after he came back. Old Zhu Yuanzhang sent a brunette, and he never mentioned moving the capital again.
The story after Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, must be familiar to everyone. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, his great-grandson Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne with the aim of establishing his empire.
After Zhu Yunwen came to power, he has been thinking about cutting Francisco and not doing it. As a result, his uncle Judy, the prince, rebelled, and Zhu Yunwen lost to his uncle Judy and was ousted from the throne. After Judy became the new emperor, in order to better resist the threat of northern Mongolia, he moved the capital to his base camp. From then on, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was completely out of touch with Xi 'an.
Li Zicheng's Dashun regime was a short-lived dynasty in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, which once made Xi 'an its capital, but the so-called capital of this short-lived dynasty was only a mirage.
The Qing Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, which can be regarded as the system that the Qing Dynasty inherited from the Ming Dynasty, similar to that of the Yuan Dynasty. However, this also has its historical reasons. After all, after the Qing dynasty entered the customs, it faced years of resistance from Nanming and the serious contradiction between Manchu and Han brought about by shaving and changing clothes. At one time, it was also an insecure rule. For example, on the wicker border in the northeast, Han people were not allowed to go through the customs, just thinking about the convenience of running to Beijing.
At the same time, just like the Yuan Dynasty, Beijing, as a combination of traditional farming civilization and nomadic civilization, is more suitable for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty and is also conducive to the economic balance between the North and the South.
However, Xi in the northwest has no advantage in economy. With the shift of the center of gravity of the dynasty after the Tang Dynasty, its radiation power was limited. Naturally, it was not conducive to the later unified dynasty.