How big were the nine counties of Jingzhou during the Three Kingdoms period? It is equivalent to the size of which province today?

Jingzhou during the Eastern Han Dynasty had seven counties and 117 counties under its jurisdiction. The place where he was governed was Hanshou (Guan Yu was granted the title of Hanshou Tinghou), in the north of today's Hanshou County, Hunan. At the end of the Han Dynasty, he moved to Xiangyang, now Xiangyang City, Hubei Province. In the 14th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei led Jingzhou as a pastoralist and moved to the Public Security Bureau, which is now northwest of Hubei Public Security Bureau. After "borrowing Jingzhou", he moved to Jiangling. Its jurisdiction is equivalent to most of Hubei and Hunan, as well as parts of Henan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi and other provinces.

Jingzhou in the Eastern Han Dynasty originally governed seven counties: Nanyang County, Nanjun, Jiangxia County, Lingling County, Guiyang County, Wuling County, and Changsha County. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, some counties were separated from Nanyang County and Nanjun and established as Xiangyang and Zhangling counties. Therefore, Jingzhou had nine counties under its jurisdiction. This is the origin of the name "Jingxiang Nine Counties" in later generations.

After the Battle of Chibi, the three families of Cao, Liu, and Sun were divided into Jingzhou: Cao Cao occupied the three counties of Nanyang, Xiangyang, and Nanjun, Liu Bei occupied the four counties of Lingling, Guiyang, Wuling, and Changsha south of the Yangtze River, and Sun Quan occupied the four counties of Lingling, Guiyang, Wuling, and Changsha south of the Yangtze River. Then occupy Jiangxia County.

In the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Zhou Yu defeated Cao Ren and captured Nanjun. Sun Quan worshiped Zhou Yu as a partial general and led the Nanjun prefect to station in Jiangling. In the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210 years), after Zhou Yu's death, Sun Quan accepted Lu Su's proposal and "lent" part of his territory to Liu Bei, so Liu Bei occupied most of Jingzhou's territory.

After the Battle of Chibi in 208, Cao Cao, who briefly held Jingzhou, only retained part of Nanyang County and Nan County in the north of Jingzhou, while the central and southern parts were carved up by the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

Cao Cao later divided Xiangyang County and Nanxiang County from Nanjun and Nanyang County, and Jingzhou became a three-way division: Nanjun, Lingling, and Wuling belonged to Liu Bei, Jiangxia, Guiyang, and Changsha belonged to Sun Quan, and Nanyang , Xiangyang, and Nanxiang returned to Cao Cao. It is generally believed that the situation in which each of the three families occupied three counties at this stage is the origin of the term "Jingxiang Nine Counties". Extended information

After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao failed to realize his hegemony of unifying China because of the loss of Jingzhou; Liu Bei used Jingzhou to establish his own country, gained the land of Western Shu, and formed the Three Kingdoms with Wei and Wu. However, due to the issue of Jingzhou's ownership, the Wu-Shu alliance broke down, forming a long-term confrontation with Wei, and the three kingdoms eventually returned to Jin;

Wu used Jingzhou to form an alliance with Liu Bei, and defeated Cao Cao in Chibi. However, due to the strong attack on Jingzhou and the killing of Guan Yu, the country was almost destroyed in the Battle of Yiling. In the end, although Jingzhou existed, it lost the support of the Shu Kingdom and was destroyed by the Sima family one after another. In the land of Jingzhou, successes and defeats were staged again and again.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Nine Counties of Jingxiang