Speaking of which, the existence of Xia State was an accident.
At least two hundred years ago, there were only three kingdoms in the world. Generally speaking, Liang and Chen were fighting for supremacy, and the battles were repeated. Then Cambodia took advantage of the situation to rob, or was beaten by the Chen Dynasty after it recovered.
However, the Liang Empire had a firm grasp on the situation. Whenever the Chen Dynasty wanted to resolve the Khmer issue once and for all, the Liang Empire would launch a moderate offensive in the north. This was a perfect situation, as if you didn't want to intervene, the local garrison would be unable to hold out. If you mobilized reinforcements, you would have to recall the troops fighting against the Khmer.
By the time your Chen Dynasty army was ready, the Daliang soldiers had already returned to the fortress, eating hot pot and singing...
Of course, the Khmers also reciprocated. Whenever the Chen Dynasty was provoked and mobilized a large group of people to talk things out with the Liang Empire, the Khmers would come out of the woods shouting and hit the Chen Dynasty's empty anus hard.
The Chen Dynasty enjoyed such a comfortable life for two or three hundred years, from the court to the common people.
This is probably why the Chen Dynasty occupied more than half of the world's population and wealth, but was unable to do anything about the Liang Empire in the north.
Later, when Emperor Gaozong of the Great Chen was in power, he finally figured it out. The Khmer people are disgusting to me, so I might as well create a small country to disgust you. Then I can use my rich experience to defeat you.
What a coincidence, isn't it?
Because the northern part of the Great Liang Empire is vast and sparsely populated, there are still some barbarians causing trouble. Although these barbarians do not even have the ability to capture a regular city, and are considered to be affiliates of the Liang Empire for most of the time, since they are barbarians, they have capricious characteristics and often take advantage of the Liang Empire's inattention to go south to plunder.
In response to this, the Liang Empire's approach was to organize cavalry on a large scale, which not only intimidated the barbarian tribes, but also, in conjunction with the armored infantry, could suppress the Chen Dynasty.
Okay, now the problem comes. The Daliang Empire needs war horses, quite a lot of them, and the northwest of Daliang is the only place that is not disturbed by the Chen Dynasty and the barbarians. Daliang needs to find a piece of land for raising horses there.
For over a hundred years, countless pioneers, following the orders of the Daliang Central Committee, continued to advance into the wild lands, eventually finding a fertile land with abundant grass and water for horse breeding. To this end, the Daliang Central Committee invested vast resources here, establishing five states with Jizhou as the core for horse breeding.
Later, because Jizhou and Jizhou had the same pronunciation, it was renamed Zhongxing Prefecture, implying the revival of the Daliang Empire.
It is true that the appearance of a large number of cavalry put enormous military pressure on the Chen Dynasty, causing its several northern expeditions to fail. However, given the mountainous and water-rich terrain in the south, it would be difficult for Daliang to convert its military victory into actual occupation relying solely on cavalry and bulky armored infantry.
But no matter what, at least we have gained the strategic initiative.
Based on this, the royal family and central government of the Liang Empire were still satisfied.
However, war horses are strategic resources and can basically only be used in war. Simply put, they are consumed in huge quantities on a daily basis, but cannot be used for eating or living. The horse policy of Daliang also determined that the people of the five northwestern states had to spend huge amounts of materials to raise horses on a daily basis, but could only give them to the country for nothing.
Yes, the end point of the horse policy is the unconditional collection of war horses.
Regarding this point, there is an explanation from Daliangzhongshu.
First of all, the population of the northwest basically belongs to the inland population who migrated there, and most of them migrated from places where barbarians lived. There are both local population and barbarians, and there are also many mixed-race people. These people are better at raising horses than people from other places, and have been harmed by barbarians for many years. Therefore, changing the place where they live is a kind of welfare.
Besides, everyone who migrated to the northwest could be allocated corresponding land. In addition to being used for their own lives, the output of these lands was used to raise horses.
Therefore, the central government thought: We have already paid for raising horses, isn’t it just your land?
If the policy can be implemented well, it actually looks good.
Until the empire's land annexation became more and more serious, the Northwest, a newly developed virgin land, became a new target of land annexation.
The bad news is that a large number of horse farmers lost their land.
The good news is that they still have the obligation to pay war horses to the center.
In the words of the Zhongxing Prefecture Horse Administration Office: Your land is gone, please contact the relevant department to resolve the issue. I am responsible for collecting the horses. If you cannot hand over the horses, I will come to resolve the issue.
In the following decades, civil unrest broke out in the northwest region, and the imperial army killed people with great pleasure.
This gave the long-awaited Chen Chao the opportunity they had been waiting for.
Groups of Jinyiwei of the Chen Dynasty sneaked into the northwest, braving the attacks of the Kongyingwei, looking for "like-minded" people.
Finally, with the "selfless" support of the Chen Dynasty, the former tribal leader, a mixed-race of native and barbarian people, and a patriot who firmly opposed the tyranny of the Liang Empire, Wei Ming Nanxiao, spent the silver of the Chen Dynasty, took the weapons of the Chen Dynasty, and followed the strategy given by the military advisor of the Chen Dynasty. He led his army to break through Zhongxing Prefecture and established a separatist regime in the northwest of Daliang. He proclaimed himself the king of the country and named it: Xia.
As the five northwestern states fell into the hands of Weiming Nanxiao, the Liang Empire, unwilling to see its investment go to waste, launched three consecutive suppression operations, but ultimately failed due to the obstruction of Hanhai.
For the final time, the Liang army, numbering over 300,000, had broken through the vast sea and finally sighted the walls of Zhongxing Prefecture. Only then did the cunning Weiming Nanxiao deploy his main force, severing Liang's fragile supply line through the vast sea...
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