The Three Kingdoms belong to the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were thirteen states in China: Li Si, Yuzhou, Jizhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Yizhou, Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Jiaozhou and Youzhou.

Zhou, also known as the Ministry of Supervision in the Han Dynasty, was established in the Eastern Han Dynasty. There are thirteen states in China, and the number of counties and countries under the jurisdiction of each state is different. Each state has a secretariat or state shepherd to inspect county, state, county officials and local strongmen, correct violations of law and discipline and impeach corrupt officials.

By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the state that was originally a prison area had established a state animal husbandry, which was in charge of local military, administrative and civil affairs. The state is called the first administrative unit under the central government, just like today's provinces or States in the United States.

Thirteen counties in the Eastern Han Dynasty changed slightly compared with thirteen counties in the Western Han Dynasty. The secretariat of Shuofang was merged into the secretariat of Bingzhou, and the school captain's office (signed by seven counties near the capital) was demoted as one of the thirteen states, with the total number of thirteen unchanged, so it was called thirteen states in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Extended data:

In the turbulent 400 years after the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were many regimes, and various regimes kept adding counties and counties, and the area of counties and counties kept shrinking. By the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, the original thirteen states had almost become more than 300.

The Sui Dynasty abolished the county as a state, and from then on it replaced the county. There were more than 300 states in the Sui Dynasty. At this time, although there were many states, they were still the first-level administrative units under the central government. By the time of the Tang Dynasty, our era was established.

Since then, the state has been directly separated from the central government by our first-level jurisdiction and has become a second-level administrative unit. After that, roads were set up in the state, provinces were set up in the Yuan Dynasty, and the state was changed to the government in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, prefectures, especially Zhili Prefecture, were reduced to administrative units at the same level as counties.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Thirteen States in the Eastern Han Dynasty