Chapter 24 Section 2 The Protectorate of the Han and Tang Dynasties

In the Han Dynasty, in addition to the official prefecture and state administrative district, there was also a rather special administrative district, that is, the Western Regions Protectorate.The salary of the governor of the Western Regions is more than two thousand stones, which is similar to the level of the prefect of the county. The status of the governor is equivalent to that of the county, but the jurisdiction is not the county, but the management of about 50 small countries on the north and south oases of the Tianshan Mountains by means of military guardianship. These small countries can be roughly divided into two categories, one is the travel country, that is, nomadic with water and grass, and the other is the residence country, where the city is built on the oasis and engaged in agricultural production.The countries in the Western Regions were vassals of the Xiongnu before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After three generations of management, Wu, Zhao, and Xuan, the Western Regions were established in 60 BC, and these small countries were placed under military supervision.This is the first step for the Central Plains Dynasty to occupy the territory of the Western Regions.The Protectors of the Western Regions did not interfere with the original systems, production and lifestyles of the countries, but only required them to be loyal to the Han Dynasty.

The form of setting up the Duhufu in the Western Regions continued from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty (it was once changed to Changshifu in the middle), but it was interrupted and continued.In the early Tang Dynasty, the national power was at its peak.In the north and south of Tianshan Mountain, there are Anxi Dadufufu and Beiting Duhufu.At this time, the counties under the Beiting Duhufu were no different from the official states and counties in the mainland.However, the Anxi Dadu Protectorate on Tianshan South Road still manages the minority states in the form of military guardianship.

The Tang Dynasty not only set up the Protectorate of the Western Regions, but also extended this system to the border areas in the east, north, south, and west directions: the Andong Protectorate was established in North Korea in Liaodong, and the Shanyu and Anbei Dadu were established in the north. Protectorate, Annanzhongdu Protectorate was built in the north of Vietnam, and Borinh Protectorate was established in the southwest.Among them, the three prefectures of Shanyu, Anbei, and Annan are also all counties, which are no different from Zhengzhou.The Andong Protectorate was initially set up in Pyongyang and only served as a guardian.Because Tang Ting pacified the governor's mansion and prefectures and counties established by Koryo, and the local leaders were generally used as the governor, governor and county magistrate. Liaodong, then moved to Liaoxi, and was abolished after the Anshi Rebellion.The Baoning Dufu was built in the middle of the Tang Dynasty to manage the ethnic minorities in Tibet and Yunnan, but it only served as a prisoner.

Therefore, although the name of the Duhufu in the Tang Dynasty was the same, the substance was different. Mostly in places where the degree of Sinicization was deep, the Duhufu was already a formal administrative area, and secondly, it retained the guardianship. The three types are mostly nameplates and have no real management effectiveness.In the three directions of east, south, and southwest, the territory of the Tang Dynasty was not as good as that of the Han Dynasty, but in the Western Regions, the territory of the Tang Dynasty surpassed that of the Han Dynasty, and its rule was deeper than that of the Han Dynasty. The result of long-term operation since the Six Kingdoms period.In the middle of the fourth century AD, Qianliang established Gaochang County in Turpan, Xinjiang, and Yiwu County in Hami in the Sui Dynasty.In the Tang Dynasty, these two counties were changed to Xizhou and Yizhou, and then Tingzhou was established in the northwest. Beiting Duhufu is actually the successor of Tingzhou. Luntai County, one of the four counties under its jurisdiction, is today's Urumqi.

In addition to the rule of military guardianship, the Duhufu in the Tang Dynasty also governed Jimifu Prefecture, which will be described below.