Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province is very famous. Shunde District has a very developed economy and is known as one of the four little dragons in Guangdong (the other three are Zhongshan City, Dongguan City and Nanhai District of Foshan City). Shunde, originally a county, was located in Jingtai, Zhu Qiyu in the third year of Emperor Taizong of Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1452). ? But when Shunde County was established, it actually had the same name as another Shunde in the Ming Dynasty. And this Shunde, which is more than 2000 kilometers away from Shunde, Guangdong, is higher than Shunde, Guangdong, and is built by the government (prefecture-level city). Where is this Shunde? It is very famous, which is now Xingtai City, Hebei Province. Xingtai City is located in the south of Hebei Province, and only Handan in Hebei Province is farther south than Xingtai. Xingtai is adjacent to Hengshui in the northeast, Shijiazhuang in the north, Shanxi in the west, Handan in the south and Shandong in the east. The geographical situation of Xingtai can be said to be very simple. Summarized in four words: high in the west and low in the east. The westernmost part of Xingtai City is the majestic Taihang Mountain. To the west of Taihang Mountain are heshun county and Zuoquan County in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province. Xingtai City is in Taihang Mountain area, with Malingguan leading to heshun county in the north and Junjiguan (the junction of Xingtai and Handan) leading to Zuoquan County in the south. ? Further east, Xingtai's terrain is getting lower and lower. In Xingtai city, it is basically a plain. In the east of Xingtai City, the endless North China Plain. There is an obvious difference between Hebei province and other provinces, that is, there are many counties and the natural area is relatively small. Xingtai, too, covers an area of 1.24 million square kilometers, excluding two municipal districts, but has two county-level cities and 15 counties. There are four famous counties in Xingtai City, and each county has its own characteristics. There is a giant deer (or giant deer) in the middle of Xingtai city, so it is not appropriate to introduce it too much. At the end of Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu, the general of Chu State, defeated Qin Jun's main force in Julu (now Pingxiang County, Xingtai City) and reached the peak of his life. There is a Qinghe county in the easternmost part of Xingtai City, which is well known. "Water Margin" and "Jin Ping Mei" promoted the popularity of Qinghe County to the extreme. ? There is a white elephant in the north of Xingtai. Those who are familiar with the history of the Five Dynasties must be deeply impressed by the name White Elephant. In the early Five Dynasties, Zhu Wen occupied the Yellow River valley, while his sworn enemy, Jin Wang Li, occupied Shaanxi. Without Li, Zhu Wen can't sleep steadily. In the fourth year of Liang Kaiping (AD 9 10), Zhu Wen felt that he was running out of time (Zhu Wen was 59 years old in nominal age), and sent troops to the north to annex Wang Rong, the king of Zhao. Invited Li to send troops and hit Baixiang hard. This battle was a decisive battle of great strategic significance in the early years of the Five Dynasties. After the defeat, unable to annex countries such as Jin and Zhao in the north, they were forced to take strategic defense. Jin became more and more brave in the Vietnam War. Finally, in 923 AD, the back beams were destroyed and the Central Plains was unified. There is a Longyao county in the northeast of Xingtai City. It may not be famous, but if you are familiar with the history of the Five Dynasties, you won't forget Longyao. Longyao is the land of emperors, with two powerful emperors. Guo Wei and Guo Wei, the first founders of the Later Zhou Dynasty (95 1-960), were good emperors who loved their people as sons, and actually opened the curtain of the unification of the Northern Song Dynasty. The other emperor was Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, a generation of saints who had pacified the world for Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi brothers. Chai Rong inherited his adoptive father Guo Wei's legacy, moved to the north, defeated Houshu, took Huainan and made a northern expedition to Qidan. If he hadn't died young, he would have been a first-rate figure of Emperor Gaozu (in Song Shenzong). Meng Zhixiang, the founding emperor of Shu after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (934-965), was also from Xingtai. He comes from Longgang (now Xingtai County). ? In addition, there is another place in Xingtai that is not a county, but it is equally famous. This is a sand dune. Two heroic emperors died here: Zhao Yong, King Wuling of Zhao, rode and shot in Khufu, was trapped in the Dune Palace and starved to death, and the first emperor Qin Shihuang traveled around the world and died in the Dune. Dune, in Guangzong County, Xingtai City. The geographical location of Xingtai is very special. Backed by Taihang Mountain, it is one of the important gateways for Shanxi to enter and leave Hebei. To the north of Xingtai is Shijiazhuang, which is one of the important gateways for Youyan to go south to the Central Plains. East of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is one of the important gateways for Shanxi and Hebei to enter Shandong. South (across Handan) connects Henan, which is one of the important gateways for Hebei to enter Henan. In ancient times, if there were forces controlling Xingtai, Jizhou and Bingzhou (Shanxi) in the north, Yanzhou (Luxi), Qingzhou (Ludong) and Xuzhou (most of Jiangsu Jiangbei) in the east and Yuzhou (Henan) in the south. At the end of Qin Dynasty, Zhang Han stationed troops in Julu (Pingxiang) because its geographical position was very moderate. If the main force of Chu army is eliminated, Qin Jun can gradually recover Hebei, Shandong and Henan in the east with Taihang Mountain as the barrier. Unfortunately, Zhang Han met Xiang Yu, the god of war. ? In the early days of the Five Lakes and Sixteen Countries, Zhang Bin, an adviser, suggested that Xingtai be the capital of the empress. Zhang Bin's reason is that Guo Xiang is surrounded by mountains and is full of dangers, but it can be connected from north to south and from east to west. If the capital of the post-Zhao Dynasty is Guo Xiang, there will be a base expanding southward. At the same time, as long as we hold Guo Xiang, the territory in northern Hebei can also be preserved. Schleswig-Holstein accepted Zhang Bin's suggestion and set Guo Xiang as his capital. The territory of the post-Zhao Dynasty is bounded by the Yanshan Mountains, the Great Wall and the NATO Hetao, with the Yellow River (a part of Ningxia) in the west, the Eastern Jin in the southeast and Shu in the southwest. Xingtai, just in the middle of the post-Zhao Dynasty, is much safer than Luoyang, the capital of the Western Jin Dynasty. Luoyang was certainly a good place to build its capital, but it was too close to the Eastern Jin Dynasty. If the Eastern Jin Dynasty goes north, it can kill Luoyang at any time. Chang 'an is too close to Han Cheng and Liang Qian, which is not safe for Hou Zhao. ? Xingtai lies to the north of the Yellow River. No matter how strong the strength of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was, it was difficult to kill the Yellow River during the Northern Expedition. The northern Xianbei departments, such as Dai, Yan and Duan, are not strong enough to pose a fatal threat to the post-Zhao dynasty even if they go south. After Shi Hu, nephew of Schleswig-Holstein, usurped the throne, he moved the capital of the post-Zhao State from Guo Xiang to Yeh until the post-Zhao State perished due to civil strife. In the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Xingtai (now called Xingzhou) was sandwiched between Jin (Li), Liang (Zhu Wen) and Zhao (), and it was the second gateway to the north of Kaifeng, the capital of Liang (the first Weifang (daming county, Handan, Hebei)). The Liang Dynasty set up an envoy to protect the rebel army in Xingzhou, a strategic place with Zhao in the north and gold in the west. However, in the second year of Liang (AD 9 16), in August, Jin Jun conquered Xingzhou, and Hou Liang opened the door to convenience, which was not far from extinction. Xingtai, formerly known as Shunde, began in the third year of Kublai Khan's unification of Yuan Shizu (A.D. 1262), when the appeasement department was established. Extending to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Xingtai has always been Shunde Prefecture, and later renamed Xingtai to this day. For more historical geography articles, please pay attention to WeChat official account: Map Emperor (circle card has been added here, please go to today's headline client to check).