The Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, as two powerful unified dynasties in Chinese history, not only unified the Western Regions, but also effectively administered the Western Regions.
During the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, after a long period of fierce fighting, strengthened the political influence of the central government of the Han Empire on the Western Regions. In 60 BC during the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, the Han Dynasty set up the Western Regions Capital Protectorate, officially incorporating today's Xinjiang region into the territory of the central government. The influence of the Han Dynasty on the Western Regions was maintained until the Eastern Han Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin gradually unified the Western Regions through military actions such as counterattacking Gaochang, and set up the Anxi Capital Protectorate in 640 AD. In 702, Wu Zetian established the Beiting Capital Protectorate to further strengthen the effective control of the Western Regions.
Both the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty exercised effective administration of the Western Regions, but how could the Song Dynasty, which was not a unified dynasty, maintain contact with the Western Regions?
Above_ Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions (Han Dynasty)
First, although the Song Dynasty did not unify the Western Regions militarily, some countries in the Western Regions recognized the orthodox status of the Central Plains Dynasty in which the Song Dynasty was located and paid tribute to the Song Dynasty.
During the Song Dynasty, there were three large states in the Western Regions: the Qarakhanid Kingdom, the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom, and the Khotanese Kingdom, all of which were local regimes located in the Western Regions. In addition to these three larger countries, there are also western regions
The Kingdom of Khotan was a "fan" of the Tang Dynasty, and in order to maintain political identification with the orthodox status of the Tang Dynasty, the King of Khotan changed his surname to "Li Surname". In 912, five years after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Khotanese king, Wei Chi monk Wu Bo, ascended the throne, and he called himself Li Shengtian. The Khotanese king's recognition of the Tang dynasty and the Central Plains dynasty existed until the fall of the Tang dynasty.
Above_ Chen Qiao mutiny Zhao Kuangyin
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains experienced many military coups, and five separatist regimes such as Later Liang and Later Tang appeared successively. In 960, Zhao Kuangyin launched the Chen Qiao Mutiny to establish the Prosperous Song Dynasty. In 961, the Kingdom of Khotan sent emissaries to the Central Plains to show his submission to Taizu of Song and offered various jade objects. Since then, the Khotanese kingdom and the Song Dynasty have been very frequent.
In 1006, the Qarakhanid Kingdom was destroyed by the Khotanese Kingdom, but the Qarakhanid Kingdom was a vassal of the Song Dynasty. In 1063, the Qarakhanid Kingdom "sent an envoy to Rothavin to offer fangs", and the Song Empire crowned the Qarakhanid King as "The King of Guizhongbaoshun Scaled Black Han". Thereafter, the Qarakhanid Kingdom often sent emissaries to Kaifeng to pay tribute to the Song Emperor. The Song dynasty also married its own princesses to the Qarakhanid Kingdom, whose envoys came to Kaifeng in 1081 and called Song Shenzong "uncle".
Above_ Map of the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty and the surrounding regimes
In addition to the Kingdom of Qarakhanid and the Kingdom of Khotan, the Uighurs of Gaochang also sent emissaries to Kaifeng to submit to the Song Dynasty as a local government and pay tribute to the Song Dynasty. In 962, the Gaochang Uighurs first came to the Song Dynasty. According to the Song Shi Gaochang Biography, the Gaochang Uighurs "paid tribute with square objects". In 965, the Uighur monk Fayuan of Gaochang offered precious treasures such as Buddha teeth, glass, and amber cups.
In 981, Emperor Taizong of Song sent emissaries Wang Yande, Bai Xun and others to Gaochang Uighurs, who warmly entertained two emissaries from the Great Song. The Guizi Uighurs, a vassal state of gaochang uighurs, also paid tribute to the Song dynasty five times from 1023 to 1031, 1037, and three times in 1071, 1072 and 1096.
From the above list of events, it can be seen that during the Song Dynasty, although the Song Dynasty failed to completely control the Western Regions like the Han and Tang Dynasties because of the rise of the Western Xia, but despite the absolute influence of the Tang Dynasty, the countries in the Western Regions still recognized the Song Dynasty as the orthodox dynasty of the Central Plains, at least during the Northern Song Dynasty, the influence of the Song Dynasty on the Western Regions was never interrupted.
Wang Anshi (1021–1086)
Second, the rise of the Western Xia was the direct reason why the Song Dynasty was unable to unify the western regions militarily like the Han and Tang Dynasties, and during the period from Song Shenzong to Song Zhezong, with the increase in the military strength of the Song Dynasty caused by Wang Anshi's change of law, Song Shenzong and Song Zhezong actively plotted to use troops against the Western Xia, hoping to restore the territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Until Emperor Huizong of Song ascended the throne, the Song Dynasty's use of troops in the direction of the Western Regions continued.
In 960, Zhao Kuangyin launched the Chen Qiao Mutiny to establish the Song Dynasty. Because the song dynasty's key battle goal in the early days of the founding of the country was to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and defeat the Liao State. Therefore, from the time of Song Taizu to Song Zhenzong, the Song Dynasty did not have a battle plan to retake the Western Regions by force.
From the time of Emperor Zhenzong of Song's signing of the Alliance of Yuanyuan to the time of Emperor Yingzong of Song, the overall foreign war strategy of the Song Dynasty was mainly defensive. Due to the Song Dynasty's strict restrictions on military officers and other reasons, the Song Dynasty lost consecutive battles in the direction of Western Xia.
After Emperor Shenzong of Song ascended the throne, he devoted himself to changing the current situation of the Song Dynasty's poverty and weakness, hoping that the Song Dynasty would restore the territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties. However, in order to restore the territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties and recover the Xinjiang region, the Song Dynasty had to defeat the Western Xia militarily.
Above_ Song Dynasty army
In 1081, Emperor Huizong of Western Xia made a request to the Song Dynasty for peace, and Huizong was imprisoned by Empress Liang. The Song army concentrated its forces and launched a large-scale attack on Western Xia. The Song army actively fought in five routes, recovered Lanzhou and other important cities, and won a preliminary victory in the Western Xia campaign. However, due to the heavy losses of the Song army in the Battle of Yongle City, the Song army failed to complete the task of defeating Western Xia during the Shenzong period.
After ascending the throne, Song Zhezong continued to complete his father's unfinished business and actively used troops against Western Xia. In 1092, Empress Liang personally led her troops to march on the Song army along Huan County. The Song army took the initiative to attack in the Hongdecheng area, annihilating thousands of Western Xia troops and capturing more than 600 horses and more than 900 camels.
In 1096, Lü Huiqing commanded the Song army to launch 14 small-scale attacks on Western Xia, provoking a revolt of the Western Xia. At the end of 1096, the Western Xia army attacked Yan'an, annihilating 3,000 Song troops and achieving a small victory. However, in the battle between Tiandu Mountain and Shimen Gate, the Song army defeated the Western Xia army continuously. In 1098, the Song army launched a new military campaign to drive the Western Xia people to the desert, and the Western Xia was forced to ask the Song Dynasty for peace after losing consecutive battles. Zhao Xu promised Xixia peace.
Above_ The Warriors
In addition to defeating the Western Xia militarily, the Song Dynasty also launched a large-scale attack on the Qingtang region. In 1099, the Song generals Wang Zhan and Wang Hou attacked the Qingtang area and defeated the Qingtang area in one fell swoop. This was the first time that the Central Plains Dynasty had used troops in the Gansu and Ningxia areas close to the western region to recover lost territory after the Tang Dynasty's Tang Xuanzong period, and the Song Dynasty military reached a "peak state" in the areas close to the western region. Due to the successive victories of the Song army in the foreign wars during the Zhezong period, the Arabs of West Asia sent emissaries to Kaifeng to pay tribute to Song Zhezong.
In 1100, Emperor Zhezong of Song died and Emperor Huizong of Song ascended the throne. Emperor Huizong of Song continued to use troops against the Western Regions, and in 1104, after the Song army had completely annihilated the Jurchen regime, set up the Longyou Capital Protectorate and exercised direct administration over northern Qinghai and parts of the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang. For the first time, the Song Dynasty gained direct rule over parts of the Western Regions. If the Northern Song Dynasty had not perished, the Song Dynasty's rule over the Western Regions might have deepened.
Above_ Zhao Tuo (1082-1135), also known as Emperor Huizong of Song
However, Emperor Huizong of Song was not an emperor like Emperor Shenzong of Song and Emperor Zhezong of Song. Song Huizong, the class contradictions of the Song Dynasty were very fierce, and the revolts of the domestic people were endless. After Song Huizong achieved certain achievements in the Western Regions, he forgot about it and lived a life of drunken dreams and death. Finally, in 1125, the Jin army conquered Kaifeng and also took parts of the western region that the Song generals fought bloodily to recover.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhuo only sought partial peace, and did not have the confidence of Song Shenzong and Song Zhezong to recover the lost land and let the Song Dynasty revive the han and Tang dynasties. Zhao Zhuo didn't even want to recover the lost land in the north, let alone the western region. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the Western Regions partially returned to the central government. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, through the efforts of several generations of emperors from Kangxi to Qianlong, all the western regions returned to the jurisdiction of the central government.
Author: Military Handsome Correction/Editor: Lilith
Reference: History of the Song Dynasty
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author