Revisiting the Establishment and Evolution of Yuzhang Prefecture in the Early Han Dynasty
The traditional view holds that Yuzhang Prefecture(豫章郡),which is currently located in southern Jiangxi Province,was part of the Huainan Kingdom(淮南国)in the early Han Dynasty.However,a careful review of historical events recorded in Western Han texts suggests that Yuzhang Prefecture should have been affiliated to the Kingdom of Wu then and is currently located in southern Anhui Province.The prefecture was also known as'Guzhang Prefecture'as its administration center was located in Guzhang Count.During the Wei and Jin dynasties,'Guzhang Prefecture'was erroneously referred to as'Zhang Prefecture'.In the early Han Dynasty,Yuzhang Prefecture successively belonged to Han Xin king of Chu,Liu Jia king of Jing and Liu Bi king of Wu.The Records of the Grand Historian(Shiji,《史记》)suggests that this prefecture was previously governed by Ying Bu king of Huainan and Wu Rui king of Changsha,but there were actually'empty enfeoffments'.In the third year of Emperor Jing's reign,the royal government divided Yuzhang Prefecture into two parts:the northern part merged into the Kingdom of Jiangdu and the southern part was merged with Lujiang Prefecture and renamed'Lujiang Yuzhang Prefecture'.The surviving seal muds in Han Dynasty refer to'the governor of Lu jiangyu',namely'the governor of Lujiang Yuzhang Prefecture',rather than the governor of Yuzhang Prefecture in the Kingdom of Lujiang as previously thought.At the turn between Emperor Jing and Emperor Wu,another Lujiang Prefecture was established between the Yangtze River and the Huai River,and the central government thereafter renamed Lujiang Yuzhang Prefecture as Yuzhang Prefecture.In the second year of Yuanfeng(元封二年),Emperor Wu created Danyang Prefecture(丹阳郡)out of Yuzhang Prefecture,which thereafter only covered Gan River basin.This geographical scope of the prefecture was later recorded by The Geographical Records of The Book of Han(Hanshu Dilizhi.《汉书·地理志》).
Yuzhang PrefectureShangganTongshan in the Kingdom of WuGuzhang Prefecturegovernor of Lujiangyu
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