The Study On Shu Roads In The Earlier Period Of Nan Song Dynasty From The Perspective Of Military Geography

Throughout the history,the military conflicts have always happened in the geographic environment.In the conflict-stricken areas,the mountains,the rivers,the topography,the traffic capacity and other geographical elements had restricted and affected the military activities to a great extent.This paper is a study on the military geography of Shu Roads in the early period of Nan Song Dynasty,which is based on a well-founded,all-around understanding of the natural geographical environment in the area along Shu Roads and the traffic conditions of Shu Roads in the early period of Nan Song Dynasty.By reviewing the important military conflicts in the adjacent area and the utilization of Shu Roads in the early period of Nan Song Dynasty,the author expounds the value of Shu Roads in the military transportation,finds the characteristics in the distribution of battlefields,and analyzes the role of Shu Roads in the formation of such characteristics.Then,this paper delves into the construction of Nan Song’s defense system in the area along the Shu Roads.By observing the deployment of Nan Song’s military forces in the adjacent areas,the author analyzes the effect of Shu Roads on the deployment of military forces from the perspective of traffic capacity.At the same time,the author clarifies the distribution of mountain passes and village fortresses in the defense system,finds the characteristics of the distribution and analyzes the reason for the formation of such characteristics.Finally,the author explains the division of the defense zones in the defense system,explores for the implicit relations between the traffic conditions of Shu Roads and the construction of the defense system,and gets a better understanding of Nan Song’s defense system in the area along the Shu Roads from the perspective of military geography.This paper mainly consists of four chapters:The first chapter is an overview of the landform,the topography and the hydrology in the area along the Shu Roads,which aims at expounding the potential value of this area in the field of military geography.In the area along the Shu Roads,the landform and the topography were extremely complicated.In particular,the Tsinling Mountains not only divided the two major geographic units-Gung Zhong and Ba Shu-into several parts,but also exerted a significant influence on the four branches of Shu Roads in the north.In the area along the Shu Roads,the hydrological environment exerted both positive and negative effects on the traffic conditions of Shu Road.On the one hand,the hydrological environment hampered the traffic on the land;On the other hand,the hydrological environment diversified the means of transportation in the form of water routes,which was of relatively higher value in the military transportation.The second chapter puts the emphasis on the routes of Shu Roads and probes into the characteristics of the traffic conditions of Shu Roads in the early period of Nan Song Dynasty.The routes of Shu Roads were optimized for many times during the Tang Dynasty,and some routes were changed and finalized during the Song Dynasty.The changes were reflected on some sections of Shu Roads.In the southern part of Chen Cang,there used to be a section with the name of “Qing Ni”,where the pedestrians had to “make nine turns within the distance of one hundred steps”.Qing Ni was replaced by Bai Shui,which was more convenient for the pedestrians;Bao Xie started from Bao Xie County,stretched to Wu Xiu pass,made a turn to the west,cut across Lian Yun Plank Road and joined the northern part of Chen Cang.As a result,Bao Xie had an advantage due to the good traffic conditions and the shortness of the route.Between the Bei Song Dynasty and the Nan Song Dynasty,the changes of routes had accentuated the geographical advantages of Chen Cang(in the western part of Shu Roads)and Bao Xie in the transportation,which provided some clues to the distribution of battlefields and the spacial characteristics of the defense system in the area along Shu RoadsThe third chapter is mainly about the use of traffic-related tactics in the military conflicts along the Shu Roads in the early period of Nan Song Dynasty.The author finds the general rules according to which the troops made use of the Shu Roads in the military transportation.At the same time,the author summarizes the military conflicts that happened along the Shu Roads during this period,finds the characteristics in the distribution of the battlefields along the Shu Roads,and analyzes the role of the Shu Roads in the formation of such characteristics.Amid all the important battles in the area along the Shu Roads,Song’s troops and Jin’s troops shared a common characteristic in terms of their tactics: the attackers always sought to conquer the defenders at the highest speed whereas the defenders always strove to delay the advance of the attackers.In addition,most of these battles happened in the northern part of Chen Cang,which could be probably attributed to the traffic condition and the location of Chen Cang.Since Chen Cang had a clear advantage over other branches of Shu Roads in the transportation,Chen Cang had become the central area for which Song’s troops and Jin’s troops had fought against each other.Meanwhile,the topography of Tsinling Mountains hampered the movement of the troops.Both the Song regime and the Jin regime found it difficult to fight a long-lasting battle against each other in the areas where their troops had to cross over the mountain ridges frequently.Gradually,they got involved in some long-lasting conflicts in the northern part of Chen Cang near the ridge of the Tsinling Mountains.The fourth chapter is focused on the construction of Song’s defense system,which mainly consisted of three parts: the characteristics in the distribution of military forces in the area along the Shu Roads,and the reason for the formation of such characteristics;the characteristics in the distribution of the mountain passes and the village fortresses along the Shu Roads,and the reason for the formation of such characteristics;the relationship between the division of defense zones and the traffic capacity of Shu Roads.Along the Shu Roads,Song’s troops have established three bureaus of Du Tong Si,which were respectively situated in Xingzhou,Xingyuanfu and Jinzhou and which were in command of the troops in the Chuan Shaan area.The size of military forces,which were in the charge of different Du Tong Si bureaus,varied significantly.The size of the deployed troops also varied with the space.Such differences are attributed to the traffic capacity of the roads during the transportation of the army’s grains,the value of the roads in the military strategies,and so on.Besides,most of the mountain passes and village fortresses were also located in the area long Chen Cang and Zi Wu,probably because the two roads were of higher value in the military transportation and the adjacent areas were strewn with precipitous spots where the troops could keep control of the traffic.In the dynamic process of military conflicts,Song’s troops divided their defense system into four defense zones in consideration of the geographical situation in the area along the Shu Roads: beyond the Shanhaiguan Pass,the four prefectures was a screen for Xingzhou and Lizhou;Xingzhou was a vital stronghold in the defense of Shu,Xingyuan was the foundation of the defense,and Jinzhou was a hedge against the invaders in the east.In the construction of this defense system,the Song’s troops made use of Shu Roads,integrated the four functionally different defense zones into a unity,realized the efficient deployment of military forces,and coordinated the defensive forces with the offensive forces.As the conclusion,by analyzing the distribution of battlefields and the construction of defense system along the Shu Roads in the early period of Nan Song Dynasty,we know that Song’s troops had a good knowledge about the value of Shu Roads in the military geography.The safety of Chuan Shu was closely related to the strongholds along Chen Cang.In the late period of Nan Song Dynasty,Mongolian troops launched attacks at the Chuan area.As was known from the military practice,both the Mongolian troops and the Jin’s troops had attacked the Chuan area,but the results were quite different,which depended on whether the Song’s troops were able to keep control over Chen Cang.