The provincial system originated in the Yuan Dynasty. With its effective management of financial, military, administrative and other affairs, it soon became the most important administrative model in our country. After the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming and Qing Dynasties inherited and developed the provincial system. There were fifteen chief envoys in the Ming Dynasty, commonly known as "fifteen provinces". The Qing Dynasty followed the old system of the Ming Dynasty and developed it, establishing eighteen provinces, known as the "Eighteen Provinces of the Mainland". Among these eighteen provinces, Jiangnan Province is the most prosperous and is looked up to by the world. In the early Qing Dynasty, the tax revenue of Jiangnan Province accounted for one-third of the country's total, and the number of candidates who passed the scientific examination accounted for about half of the country's. Looking at the rest of the provinces, there is no one like him.

Jiangnan Province originated from Southern Zhili in the Ming Dynasty. South Zhili, as the name suggests, is the collective name for Nanjing and nearby prefectures and Zhili Prefecture. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the area directly under the capital Nanjing was Zhili and belonged to the capital. Later, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, moved the capital and the capital changed its owner, but the name of Zhili did not change. The original capital area was renamed Southern Zhili. At that time, there was Beizhili in the north with Beijing as the center; and Nanzhili in the south with Nanjing as the center. North and South Zhili were the two most important areas of the imperial court. South Zhili covers a wide area, roughly equivalent to today's Jiangsu Province, Anhui Province and Shanghai City, and borders today's Shandong, Henan, Huguang, Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Qing government adopted many of the Ming Dynasty's systems as they were, with slight changes. Inheriting the provincial system of the Ming Dynasty is one of them. Soon the management of Inner North Zhili was put on the agenda. With Beijing as the center and the seat of the imperial court in Northern Zhili, it is natural to strengthen management. What about Southern Zhili? It is a place of taxation and cultural context, so it cannot be underestimated. After intense discussions at the imperial meeting, Dorgon finally made the decision to declare Jiangnan the Political Envoy, and only abolished the status of Nanjing as the capital, leaving the rest unchanged. The governor's office was located in Jiangning Mansion. This year is the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1645).

Later, the Provincial Envoy Department was changed to the province. At this point, the most awesome province in the Qing Dynasty, Jiangnan Province, was released.

How awesome is Jiangnan Province? Jiangnan Province covers the prosperous Jiangnan region, accounts for one-third of the country's taxes, and accounts for half of the country's candidates for the imperial examination every year. Jiangnan Province alone is on par with the entire northern region.

Too much influence is sometimes not a good thing. Jiangnan Province's "monopoly" status still aroused concerns from the central court. Such a behemoth, far away from the control of the imperial court, would always be too dangerous for the Qing court once it was controlled by someone with ulterior motives. In addition, the area under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan Province was too wide and it was very inconvenient to manage, so the court had the idea of ????divide and rule. In 1661, Shunzhi divided Jiangnan Province into two parts, roughly equivalent to Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.

In 1667, Kangxi took the first two words of Jiangning Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture and renamed the Jiangnan You Chief Envoy Department as Jiangsu Chief Envoy Department. This is the origin of Jiangsu Province.

At this point, the controversial Jiangnan Province has disappeared in the long river of history.