Chapter 3 Section 1 "Zhang Qian Hollows Out"

The transportation and cultural exchanges between China and the West during the Han Dynasty experienced a situation of uproar and vitality.From the perspective of China, the formation of this situation is due to Zhang Qian's contribution to the Western Regions. The term "Western Regions" was first seen in the Western Han Dynasty, and its coverage can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense.In a narrow sense, the Western Regions refer to the west of Yumen Pass (northwest of today’s Dunhuang, Gansu), the west of Yangguan (southwest of Dunhuang, Gansu), and the east of Congling, that is, the east and south of today’s Balkhash Lake and the vast areas of Xinjiang.The Western Regions in a broad sense include parts of Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia to the west of Congling, as well as Eastern Europe and North Africa. It was China's collective name for the West at that time.

In the early Western Han Dynasty, there were 36 countries in the Western Regions, most of which were distributed in the oases on the north and south edges of the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains.At that time, the nomadic Huns on the northern prairie were very powerful, and their power extended to the present-day northeast in the east, to the Hexi Corridor in Gansu and Xinjiang in the west, to Mobei in the north, and to Hetao in the south. ] People moved westward to the Yili River Basin.The forced westward migration of the Yuezhi people caused a chain reaction, forcing the Cypriots who had been grazing in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains to also move westward to Kashmir and the vast grasslands north of the Amu Darya River.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che (140-87 BC), the Western Han Dynasty gradually reached its peak state after decades of recuperation.Emperor Wu heard that after the Xiongnu defeated the Yuezhi, they used the head of the Yuezhi king as a drinking utensil. He believed that the Yuezhi must hate the Xiongnu, so he planned to contact the Yuezhi to attack the Xiongnu.The task of carrying out this important mission fell on Zhang Qian. In 138 BC, under the order of Emperor Wu, Zhang Qian set out from Chang'an, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, but as soon as he arrived in Longxi, he was caught by the Huns who controlled the Hexi Corridor and imprisoned for 10 years.Later, he escaped by chance, trekked westward, crossed the Congling Mountains, and arrived at Dawan (located in the Fergana area of ​​Central Asia), from there to Kangju (approximately between the present-day Balkhash Lake and the Aral Sea), Finally found Yueshi.But at this time, the Yue clan had already conquered Daxia, and lived and worked in peace in the Gui [guigui] water (now the Amu Darya River Basin).They had no intention of going back east to compete with the Huns.Zhang Qian stayed in Yuezhi for more than a year, but with no results, he had to go home.On the way back, he was detained by the Huns in Qiangzhong (now Qinghai) for more than a year. It was not until the new death of Shan Yu (the title of the Huns' monarch) and the civil strife among the Huns that Zhang Qian took the opportunity to escape and return to Chang'an.During the mission, Zhang Qian led more than 100 subordinates.After a full 13 years of hardships, only he and his entourage, father Gan, were left when they returned.Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, that is, the famous "Zhang Qian's hollowing out" in history, officially opened the road to the West.

Zhang Qian's first mission to the Western Regions, although he failed to achieve the goal of allying the Yuezhi and attacking the Xiongnu, he obtained a large amount of unprecedented information about the geography and products of the Western Regions, learned some inside information about the Xiongnu, and heard about the Uganda. Sun (in today's Ili River Basin and Issyk Lake area), Yancai (between today's Aral Sea and Caspian Sea), Anxi (now Iran), Liqian (jianjian) (Alexandria, said to be in today's Syria area ), Tiaozhi (in present-day Iraq) and Shendu (present-day India, Pakistan) and other countries and regions.When staying in Daxia, Zhang Qian saw there were Qiong (Qiong poor, near today's Xichang) bamboo sticks and Shu cloth, and heard from the locals that these goods were poisonous to themselves.Therefore, he thought that Shendu was not far from Sichuan, so after returning to China, he urged Emperor Wu to open the road to the southwest.After receiving the information brought back by Zhang Qian, the talented and general Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty began to seek the westward passage.In 122 B.C., Emperor Wu sent envoys to go four ways to go deep into the southwestern Bashu region, seeking a way to Shendu, and wanted to open a route to the Western Regions through Shendu, but unfortunately failed.In the second year, Emperor Wu sent Huo Qubing to lead an army to expedition against the Xiongnu. They entered the territory of the Xiongnu for more than a thousand miles in the west and captured the Tianjin people who worshiped King Xiutu of the Xiongnu; they went south to the Qilian Mountains and severely hit the Huns. Jiang Han.As a result, the Han Dynasty obtained the Hexi Corridor, which guaranteed the smooth flow of roads leading to the Western Regions.In 119 B.C., Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, generals of the Han Dynasty, led an army to attack the Xiongnu again, defeating the Xiongnu Shanyu, and traveled more than 2,000 miles to Langjuxu Mountain (approximately in the east of Ulan Bator, Mongolian People's Republic of China), on the verge of the vast sea. Triumph.The Xiongnu forces who suffered heavy losses were forced to move to the northwest, basically eliminating the threat to the Han Dynasty and creating conditions for the smooth flow of roads in the Western Regions.Therefore, Zhang Qian suggested that Emperor Wu contact Wusun, persuade Wusun to move eastward, return to the hometown of Hexi, and "break the right arm of the Huns" ("Historical Records" Volume 1, 23, "Dawan Biography").Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty accepted this suggestion and sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions for the second time.

Zhang Qian's second mission, led 300 soldiers, many deputy envoys, and brought cattle and sheep, gold coins and colored silk, and communicated with countries in the Western Regions along the way to strengthen ties.However, his goal of contacting Wusun and attacking the Xiongnu was still not achieved.Wusun was afraid of the Xiongnu and dared not take any action.However, there is still a lot to gain from this mission.Deputy envoys sent by Zhang Qian visited Dawan, Kangju, Da Yuezhi, Daxia, Anxi, Shendu and other countries and regions respectively.When the mission returned to the country, Wusun and other countries sent envoys to Chang'an with Zhang Qian, and since then there has been a formal return to the Han Dynasty.In addition, the Han Dynasty sent envoys to the countries of the Western Regions year after year, and the culture of the Han Dynasty spread to the far west along with these activities.The transportation and cultural exchanges between China and the West opened a new era.