Lishui County Absorbs Liyang, 598 CE

Background

In 591 CE, the eleventh year of the Kaihuang era, the northwestern part of Liyang and the former Danyang lands were separated off to form Lishui County, so that Lishui and Liyang existed side by side, both under Jiangzhou. Seven years later the two were merged.

Time and place

The gazetteer records:

十八年戊午，并溧阳入溧水。

Translated: In the eighteenth year, a wuwu year, Liyang was merged into Lishui.

The entry follows the eleventh year of the Kaihuang era without repeating the era name, so "the eighteenth year" is the eighteenth year of Kaihuang, 598 CE. The gazetteer does not record where the county seat stood after the merger.

The standard history's variant

The Suishu, juan 31, "Treatise on Geography, Part 3," entry on Danyang Commandery, under Lishui, reads differently from the gazetteer's wording here:

溧水（舊曰溧陽。開皇九年廢丹陽郡入，十八年改焉。有赭山、廬山、楚山。）

Translated: Lishui (formerly called Liyang. In the ninth year of Kaihuang Danyang Commandery was abolished and it was merged in; in the eighteenth year it was renamed. It has Zheshan, Lushan and Chushan.)

The treatise treats Lishui as Liyang renamed in the eighteenth year of Kaihuang, rather than as a county carved out in 591 and then absorbing Liyang. This, however, differs from the Yuanhe Junxian Tuzhi, juan 28 — "in the eleventh year of Kaihuang, Yuwen Shu separated off the west of Liyang and the east of Danyang to establish Lishui County" — and Fudan's CHGIS notes that the two accounts "differ and are suspect", adopting the 591 foundation. The two are set side by side.

What happened

Liyang County was merged into Lishui County and ceased to exist.

Consequences

The territory of Lishui County was enlarged and for a time covered the former Liyang lands. In 620 CE, the third year of the Wude era, Lishui and Jiangning were made into Yangzhou and the eastern part of Lishui was separated off as Liyang, so that Liyang County was restored and stood alongside Lishui again.

Uncertainties

First, the entry consists of six characters only. It gives no reason for the merger, no county seat and no boundary, and this entry adds none. No source consulted states the boundary between Lishui and the former Liyang after the merger.

Second, the establishment itself is disputed: the Suishu, "Treatise on Geography," treats Lishui as Liyang renamed in 598, while the Yuanhe Junxian Tuzhi and the gazetteer have Lishui carved out in 591 and Liyang merged into it in 598. The two are set side by side without preference.

Third, a search of the Suishu in this library found no explicit statement that Lishui County was established in the eleventh year of Kaihuang. On these grounds the confidence level is set to medium.