益州 / Yizhou (Late Han)
Hanji 959 backfills Yizhou as Liu Yan’s autonomy laboratory. The source says the strengthened provincial shepherd office lets 刘焉 gather enough military and administrative power to kill local strongmen, use 张鲁 and 张修 in 汉中, block the 斜谷道, and retain 刘璋 after the court sends him as envoy.
Hanji 969 adds a comparative strategic-geography note before the Liu Yan/Liu Zhang succession branch. The episode places Yizhou beside 扬州 and 荆州 on the Yangtze-line map, treating it as a defensible western base whose remoteness makes it less immediately flexible than Yangzhou or the 江陵 pivot in Jingzhou.
Hanji 981 later develops 益州 / Yizhou (Late Han) as the provincial base held by 刘焉 and then inherited by 刘璋. The episode emphasizes that the Han court cannot simply decide Yi Province’s leadership from outside; local officeholders and armed groups determine whether a formal appointment can work.
The source treats Yizhou as internally divided. Liu Yan’s order depends on a Dongzhou military bloc made from Nanyang and Sanfu migrants, while local Yi Province elite families remain a separate resource and legitimacy base. This makes the province a source case for 外来武装与本土豪族裂缝.
After Liu Yan dies, senior figures such as 赵韪 support Liu Zhang. Yet the same structure produces talent leakage: 甘宁 rebels, is defeated, and eventually leaves eastward rather than becoming part of Liu Zhang’s order.
Connections
- Hanji 959, 张鲁, 张修, 汉中, 斜谷道, and 州牧集权与地方割据 - early autonomy and road-control branch.
- Hanji 969, 扬州, 荆州, 江陵, and 长江走廊战略根据地 - comparative Yangtze-line base evaluation.
- 刘焉 and 刘璋 - predecessor and successor.
- 庞羲 and 赵韪 - officials around the succession.
- 甘宁 - local talent-loss case.
- 成都 - later provincial-seat location in the source.
- 外来武装与本土豪族裂缝, 安全第一政治生存, and 以贤臣为宝 - concepts attached to the province’s source role.