Zunyi is the second largest city in Guizhou Province, and according to 2018 statistics, Zunyi's total economic output is second only to the provincial capital Guiyang, exceeding the 300 billion mark. Due to the Zunyi Conference in modern history, Zunyi City is famous throughout the country. But everyone also wonders if the Zunyi area was only divided into Guizhou Province in the early period of Qing Dynasty rule. Prior to this, Zunyi District had been subordinate to Sichuan Province. So, why is the Zunyi area included in Guizhou Province, and why can it increase the total economic output by 50%? Today, let's talk about the important role of Zunyi area in Guizhou Province.
First, let's look at the history of Guizhou Province. Guizhou Province is located in the southwest region of China, and China's provincial system was established in the Yuan Dynasty. Prior to this, China has been adopting a system of administrative divisions at the state and county levels. After the Yuan Dynasty unified the whole country, it established a large empire with a vast area. Due to the large area, the original two-level administrative division could no longer meet the needs of the administrative management of the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, the Yuan Dynasty introduced the Xingzhongshu province system, dividing the country into 10 provinces, such as Sichuan Province, Gansu Province, Henan Jiangbei Province, and so on.
The administrative divisions of the Yuan Dynasty were large, such as Huguang Province, which was equivalent to the eastern part of present-day Hubei Province, Hunan Province, most of Guizhou Province, Guangxi Autonomous Region, and Guangdong Province. Due to the large administrative area and too much local power, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty's rule, there was a situation of armed division of local officials. After the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Yuan Dynasty's rule, it reclassified the Yuan Dynasty's provincial system. By the end of the reign of the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, a total of 13 provinces were divided across the country. At that time, Guizhou Province had already been established. The administrative divisions of many provinces in China were basically basically established in the Ming Dynasty, such as Henan Province, Shandong Province, Fujian Province, etc., and compared with the current administrative divisions, the difference is not much.
In the southwest region, the Ming Dynasty successively divided Sichuan Province, Guizhou Province, Guangxi Province and other provinces, but the administrative divisions of Guizhou Province were very different from those of the present. At that time, the proportion of taxes paid by the provinces in the southwest was very low, as low as unimaginable. At that time, among the taxes paid by all provinces in the country, Shaanxi Province and Henan Province accounted for about 9% of the country, Shandong Province accounted for 17%, and Nanzhili accounted for more than 20%.
As for the southwestern provinces, Sichuan Province accounted for 2%, Yunnan Province accounted for 0.46%, Guangxi Province accounted for 0.7%, and Guizhou Province accounted for the lowest proportion, accounting for only 0.09%. According to the population distribution at that time, even if the economy of the southwest region was not as good as that of the Jiangnan region and the Central Plains, the gap would not be so large. There is a very important problem here, that is, the actual control of southwest toast. Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, large and small toast forces have emerged in the southwest region. These toastmasters were loyal to the Central Plains Dynasty, but the imperial court was not allowed to interfere in their own internal affairs. Toast had absolute control over his own territory, and with the exception of a very few toastmasters, most of them did not pay taxes to the imperial court or bear the burden of servitude. The Central Plains Dynasty's main energy was in the north, lower than the steppe nomadic regime to the south, and it had no energy to deal with the problem of southwest toast.
Therefore, from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has always adopted a policy of restraint for the toastmasters in the southwest region. As a result, the proportion of taxes paid in the southwest is low, especially in Guizhou and Yunnan provinces. Of course, the jurisdiction of Guizhou Province is too small, the geological structure is complex, the traffic is blocked, and the area of arable land is small, which is also an important reason. During the reign of the Ming Dynasty, in the face of the continuous southward march of the Mongol tribes and the challenge of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty did not have time to deal with the problem of southwest toast.
In the mid-17th century, the Qing Dynasty entered the customs in the northeast region. In the course of 20 years, the peasant military regime and the various regimes of the Southern Ming Dynasty were pacified and their own rule was established. During the 61 years of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, he made great efforts to govern and left a relatively stable foundation. By the time the Yongzheng Emperor came to power, the Qing Dynasty was not much of a threat except for the Dzungars in the northwest. With the stabilization of the external environment, the Yongzheng Emperor began to shift his energy to internal affairs, especially the southwest toast issue. The Yongzheng Emperor introduced a policy of returning land to the land, and the imperial court guaranteed the property and titles of the toastmasters, but the toastmasters had to give up their local management and the imperial court sent officials to handle local affairs. The policy of returning land to the land has been opposed by many toastmasters. Some of the toasts even launched a rebellion, which caused the Qing Dynasty a lot of headaches.
Under such circumstances, the Yongzheng Emperor appointed the rising star Ortai as the governor of Yungui, and was fully responsible for the matter of land reform and return. Ortai belonged to one of the three confidants of the Yongzheng Emperor and was deeply favored by the Yongzheng Emperor. After Ortai arrived in office, on the one hand, he suppressed the rebellion with an iron fist policy, and on the other hand, he used the method of adding officials to the knighthood to appease. Over time, the policy of returning land to the land was gradually implemented in the Yunnan-Guizhou area. During his work in the southwest, Ortai found that the jurisdiction of Guizhou Province was small and the economic strength was too weak, especially the lack of necessary food supply. At the same time, Ortai believes that the Zunyi region in the south of Sichuan Province is connected to Guizhou Province in terms of geological structure, which is more convenient to manage in Guizhou Province and can quickly enhance the economic strength of Guizhou Province.
Ortai was a fierce official who quickly appealed to the Yongzheng Emperor and requested that the five counties in the Zunyi region be transferred from Sichuan Province to Guizhou Province. Ortai's proposal was opposed by Sichuan officials, but the Yongzheng Emperor defied the crowd and agreed to Ortai's request. According to the Records of the Qing Dynasty, "In the fifth year of Yongzheng, the four counties of Zunyi, Tongzi, Suiyang and Renhuai in Sichuan, Zheng'an Prefecture and Zunyi Were all under the jurisdiction of Guizhou, and the governor of Yungui, Ortai, invited him to also." "So, how much benefit has the Zunyi region brought to Guizhou Province?"
According to the description in the "Zunyi Fu Zhi": "I went to Yongzheng for five years, cut into the northern domain of Qianjiang, and began to grow a large territory, covering a vast area of 2,000 miles, and the customs duties of the fields were half of Qian." In other words, after the Zunyi area was transferred to Guizhou Province, the tax money and grain paid accounted for almost 50% of Guizhou Province. The record of the Guizhou Tongzhi is more straightforward: "The present is divided into Qianjiang, and the situation of the northern domain begins to be strong, and its feudal territory is adjacent to Guiyang in the south, sinan in the east, Dading in the west, and Chongqing in the north." In guizhou province, Zunyi Province is called "Qianbei Granary."" "The addition of the Zunyi area has greatly improved the economic strength of Guizhou Province. At the same time, with the implementation of the policy of returning land to the land, the proportion of taxes paid in Guizhou Province has begun to increase significantly.
During the reign of the Qing Dynasty, Zunyi Province was actually not outstanding, after all, the gap with the southeast region was obvious (Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, which undertook about 10% of the national tax). But in the modern period, due to the crucial Zunyi Conference, Zunyi City was known as one of the most famous red cities in the country. In addition, the famous liquor in Zunyi is also famous and is one of the main liquor bases in China. At present, Zunyi City is the second largest city in Guizhou Province, second only to the provincial capital Guiyang City in all aspects.