Zhu Lishuang Rong Xinjiang: The Development of Khotan during the Two Han Dynasties and Its Relationship with the Central Plains

Author: Zhu Lishuang Rong Xinjiang

Source: "China Frontier History and Geography Research" WeChat public account

The original article was published in China Frontier History and Geography Research, No. 4, 2021

Western Regions Protectorate during the Western Han Dynasty (Source: Tan Qijun's Historical Atlas of China)

Records of the early history of Khotan in ancient times are preserved in the "Records of the Kingdom of Khotan" in the Tibetan Sutra "Danjur", although the legend of the founding of Khotan in it provides some historical information, but the legend is not a history of faith after all, can not tell people the exact date of the founding of Khotan, and the "founding of the country" actually refers to people settling down here and establishing the city, which is not complete enough in terms of political power system.

The scientific basis for exploring the history of early Khotanese civilization is the Central Plains Chinese historical material with an exact chronological system. In the second half of the 2nd century BC, with the birth and development of the civilization of the kingdoms in the Western Regions and the prosperity of the Unified Han Dynasty in the Central Plains, driven by the common psychology and consciousness of resisting the oppression of the Huns, the western regions established formal contact with the Han Dynasty for the first time, and the completion of this move should be attributed to the great ancient explorer Zhang Qian.

1. Zhang Qian traveled through the Western Regions, and the deputy envoy visited Khotan

At the end of the 3rd century BC, the Xiongnu, based in the Yinshan Mountains of present-day Inner Mongolia, were the strongest, first defeating Donghu to the east, and then defeating another powerful nomadic Yueshi in the Hexi Corridor in the early 2nd century BC, forcing a large number of Yueshi people to move west to the Ili River Valley, and then the Xiongnu extended their power into the Tarim Basin and controlled the oasis kingdom around the desert. At the same time, the Xiongnu continued to invade the northern borders of the Han Dynasty. After the destruction of the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty and the Chu-Han dispute, the Han Dynasty did not have enough strength to resist the invasion of the Xiongnu in the early years, so it had to adopt a "policy of peace and affinity", marrying the princess to the Xiongnu Shan Yu, and paying a certain amount of silk and gold coins as a tribute every year, but this did not stop the nomadic Huns from plundering south. Therefore, after 60 or 70 years of recuperation and accumulation of certain wealth in the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of han actively prepared for war against the Xiongnu after he took the throne. In order to achieve a complete victory against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of Han wanted to unite the Yue people who had been taken away by the Xiongnu as allies to jointly deal with the powerful Xiongnu forces, so he offered a reward to recruit emissaries of the Yue clan. Zhang Qian, a Hanzhong man, enlisted and traveled west with more than a hundred followers in 138 BC. Han emissaries were captured while passing through Xiongnu-controlled areas, and Zhang Qian was imprisoned for more than ten years, before taking the opportunity to escape and travel west to Dawan (present-day Fergana). At this time, the Ōtsuki clan had moved from the Ili River Valley to the Bactrian (Bactrian) region of the Amu Darya River Valley, and when Zhang Qian came to the Ōtsuki clan from Dawan, the Ōtsuki clan had already lived and worked in peace and contentment here, and there was no intention of taking revenge from the east. Although Zhang Qian did not achieve his original goal, he visited the countries of Dawan, Dayueshi, Bactria and Kangju, learned about the situation of the five or six major countries around him, and opened up exchanges between China and Central Asian countries.

Although the delegation led by Zhang Qian did not officially visit Khotan during its first mission to the Western Regions, it is worth noting the route taken by Zhang Qian on his way back. The Chronicle of Dawan records that Zhang Qian "stayed in his old age and returned to Nanshan, intending to return from qiangzhong and restore it to the Xiongnu". The "Nanshan" here should refer to the line from Kunlun Mountain to Arjin Mountain, and the so-called "Qiang" refers to the Qiang tribes distributed in these mountains. Zhang Qian's journey along the Nanshan Mountains was obviously the Southern Silk Road, and even if he did not enter the capital of Khotan, he would inevitably pass through the Khotanese region. Therefore, Zhang Qian mentioned Khotan in his report after fleeing from the Xiongnu to the Han Dynasty a year later, saying: "Dawan is in the southwest of the Xiongnu ... To the north is Kangju, to the west is the Dayue clan, to the southwest is Bactria and to the northeast is Wusun, and to the east is Yufu and Yuzong (i.e., Khotan). To the west of Yu, the water flows west, injecting the west sea; its east, the water flows east, injects the salt ze, and the salt ze sneaks underground; the south is the source of the river, more jade, and the river is injected into China. This is the first definitive record of Khotan in Chinese literature, and it provides a glimpse of Khotan before Zhang Qian's return to the Han Dynasty in 126 BC, when Khotan was already an independent political body. However, the fact that Zhang Qian traveled towards the South Mountain was once again captured by the Xiongnu also seems to indicate that the southern provinces at this time were under the control of the Xiongnu.

This material also records that the eastern border of Khotan was 扜罙. It is generally believed that 扜 is the "Zhimi" of Xun Yue's "Han Ji", the "Shumi" of the "Hanshu Xiyu Biography", the "Bimo City" of Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", and the "Da (Jian) Deli City" of the New Book of Tang geography, located on the banks of the Limo River (a named Jiandeli River) more than 300 miles east of Khotan. The Rival River is now the Kriya River. As for the western part of Khotan, it may be referred to the "Book of Han and The Biography of the Western Regions": "Three hundred and ninety miles east of the capital city of Khotan is Yumi, and three hundred and eighty miles west is Pishan." According to the New Book of Tang and Geography, there is Pishan City in the southwest of Khotan in 380, which is suspected to be the capital of the Pishan State in the Han Dynasty, and it is speculated that the "west" of the "Book of Han and the Western Regions" should be a "southwest" blackmail. The Book of Han and the Tale of the Western Regions also records the southern and northern realms of Khotan, namely "the south is connected with the Wuqiang and the north is connected with Gumo". Gumo, the land is in the area of present-day Aksu. As for the Wuqiang, according to the same legend, it was the first small state in the western region after the Western Han Dynasty left Yangguan, "opened in the southwest, not in the confucian way." Household four hundred and fifty... West and end". It seems that it should not be in contact with Khotan. According to Yu Taishan, according to the "Book of Han and the Biography of the Western Regions", XiaoWanguo "joined the Wuqiang in the east", the Ronglu state "connected with the Wuqiang in the south", the Qule state "connected with the Wuqiang in the west", the Khotanese state "connected with the Jurchen Qiang in the south", and the Nandu state "connected with the Wuqiang in the south". "Since The Wuqiang is a small country with 'four hundred and fifty households', it is still possible to connect the west with the end and the small Wan, and at the same time it is connected with Ronglu, Qule, Khotan, and Nandu, so it is incomprehensible." Therefore, it cannot be assumed that the distribution of the Species is very wide. The author speculates that the so-called "southern and Wuqiang" Wuqiang are nomadic Species of Qiang in the area of Khotannan Mountain.

In 119 BC, after failing to contact the Great Moon Clan, Emperor Wu of Han heeded Zhang Qian's advice and sent him to lead a 300-man mission to Wusun, which was lobbying for a strong power in the Ili River Valley, to jointly fight against the Xiongnu. On this mission, Zhang Qian "sent three hundred men, two horses each, tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, tens of thousands of gold coins, and more deputy envoys, and the Dao could be made, so he sent them to other countries." While lobbying Wusun Kunmo, Zhang Qian "dispatched deputy envoys to Dawan, Kangju, Dayue, Bactria, Sabbath, Body Poison, Yu Zhen, Shu Qi, and other bystanders." Although Zhang Qian did not receive a promise from Wusun, "in the following years, the envoys sent by Qian to the great Xia were quite popular with others, so the northwest kingdom began to pass through the Han Dynasty." It was precisely because Zhang Qian's deputy envoys visited the kingdom of Khotan for the first time that Khotan established formal contacts with the Han Dynasty from this time on.

Second, in the context of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu competition

However, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu's power in the Western Regions was still very strong, and the Xiongnu who were stationed in the west set up servants to serve the western regions of guo. After the Han Dynasty established four counties and two passes in the Hexi Corridor, and gained a firm foothold, since the second year of Emperor Wu's Tianhan Dynasty (99 BC), it began to compete with the Xiongnu in the Western Regions, focusing on the Xiongnu's passage in and out of the Western Regions and the grain supply area, the Turpan Basin where the Cheshi people lived. After nearly 40 years of 5 repeated battles, the Xiongnu civil strife, the western Japanese king and the newly established Handan Shu Shan Yu discord, in the second year of the Han Xuan Emperor (60 BC) led the crowd to surrender to the Han, "the servants and lieutenants thus stopped, the Xiongnu were weak, not allowed to go near the western region." As a result, Han took Zheng Ji, an emissary of tuntian qu plough, as his capital protector, stationed in Wulei (present-day Bujir), and unified the thirty-six kingdoms in the western region, and Khotan officially became a vassal state of the Han Dynasty.

According to the "Book of Han and the Tale of the Western Regions", Khotan is bordered by the kingdom of Yumi and jingjie in the east, the state of Ronglu and qule in the southeast, the state of Pishan in the west, the country of Shache, and the country of Gumo in the north, "its king ruled the western city... There were 3,300 households, 3,300 mouths, and 2,400 victorious soldiers. The Marquis of the Auxiliary State, the Left and Right Generals, the Left and Right Riders, the Eastern and Western City Chiefs, and the Translator Commanders each have one." Judging from the population and soldiers, Khotan belonged to the southern province. From this brief record, it can also be seen that under the command and supervision of the Western Protectors of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty, Khotan had its own king, its own capital, and the establishment of official positions, including military generals such as marquises, generals, and knights, as well as civilian officials such as city chiefs and translators, and had formed a set of state organizations that combined military and government and entered the civilized world.

In the third year of the Han Yuan Emperor's jianzhao, the Han Dynasty army further attacked Kangju and annihilated the forces of the Xiongnu Zhi Zhidan yu in one fell swoop. For some time after that, the countries of the Western Regions lived a relatively peaceful life under the rule of the Han Dynasty. The southern province where Khotan was located was far from the Xiongnu forces, and became the passage for the envoys of the Han Dynasty to travel westward, and the people and livestock food needed for the emissaries to travel were provided by Khotan and other eight countries in the southern province, which should not be light for the chengguo kingdom, which was not well developed in production. The Book of Han and the Tale of the Western Regions says: "The messengers look at each other in the Tao, and from one year of age to more than ten generations, they all suffer." "Probably because of this, the Han Dynasty decided to settle the grain supply problem when operating the Western Regions," since the general of the Second Division, The Western Regions were terrified, and more envoys were sent to contribute, and the Han made the Western Regions beneficial. Therefore, from the west of Dunhuang to Yanze, pavilions were often raised, and hundreds of pawns were placed on the wheel platform and the canal plough, and the emissaries were escorted by lieutenants, so as to give foreign envoys." The Han Jian from the ruins of the tuyan on the north bank of the present-day Lop Nur has a record of the situation in Tuntian at that time.

After the death of emperor Ai of Han, Emperor Ping ascended the throne at the age of nine, and great power fell into the hands of his foreign relative Wang Mang. Wang Mang soon usurped power, and in 8 AD, he proclaimed himself emperor and changed the name of the country to "Xin". Due to civil unrest, the Han Dynasty had gradually lost control of the Western Regions. Wang Mang attempted to strengthen his control over the western regions and sent Zhen Feng, the Duke of Guangxin, on an envoy to the western regions. The queen of Cheshi had to leave to pay for the emissaries and planned to flee into the Xiongnu, but was captured by the Han army and beheaded by Duhu Danqin. A large number of Cheshi people defected to the Xiongnu under the leadership of their elder brother Hulanzhi, who took the opportunity to attack Cheshi and instigated a rebellion by Yanqi. Five years after the founding of the people's republic, Yan Qi killed Du Hu Danqin. In the third year of Tianfeng, Wang Mang sent the Wuwei general Wang Jun, the Western Regions Capital Protector Li Chong, and the Lieutenant Guo Qin to lead an army to conquer the Western Regions, but Wang Jun was killed, Guo Qin fled back, and Li Chong's retreat to Guizi City. In the first year of the first year, Wang Mang was killed, and Li Chong also died in the Western Regions. From then on, the Western Regions temporarily broke off contact with the Central Plains, and the Xiongnu forces once again entered the area south of the Tianshan Mountains.

Located in the southwest of the Tarim Basin, the State of Shache was far from the Xiongnu forces, and its king Yan had served as a servant in the capital of the Han Dynasty, Chang'an, so his heart was set on the Han Dynasty and did not attach himself to the Xiongnu. Tianfeng died five years later, and Zi Kang succeeded to the throne, leading the neighboring countries to fight against the Xiongnu and protect the han dynasty capital and protect the remnants. At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Kang sent envoys to Hexi. In the fifth year of Jianwu, the Hexi general Dou Rong was ordered by Emperor Guangwu to make Kang "King of HanshaChe Jiangong Huaide and Lieutenant of the Western Regions", and most of the Kingdom of Guo in the Western Regions such as Khotan was attached to Shache. Nine years later, Kang died and his brother took the throne. In the fourteenth year, Xian, together with King Shanshan, sent envoys to Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Western Regions reconnected with the Han. In the seventeenth year, Xian sent envoys to the Eastern Han Dynasty to protect the capital, and emperor Guangwu obeyed Dou Rong's suggestion, appointed Xian as the protector of the Western Regions, and gave the seal and the che flag and other things, and regretted it and pursued the seal. The sages resented this, and on the one hand pretended to be "the protector of the capital" and commanded the kingdoms; on the other hand, they called "Shan Yu" and gave the kingdoms. Cheshi, Shanshan, Yanqi, Guizi and other states asked the Han Dynasty to fail to protect them, so they became dependent on the Xiongnu. The kingdoms around Shache, such as Khotan, Gumo, Jimi, and Zihe, were at the mercy of the sages. In the last year of Jianwu's reign, Xian attacked and conquered Khotan, and his king Yu Lin was made the king of Ligui, and his brother was made the king of Khotan. Soon, suspecting that the kingdoms were going to rebel, he killed the attendants and the kings of Jimi, Gumo, and Zihe, and no longer established a king, while Pai Shache guarded the town of Khotan. The attendant Zi Rong fled into the Han Dynasty and was given the title of Marquis of Shoujie.

Junde's rule over Khotan was brutal, and the people resented it. In the third year of Yongping, the Khotanese nobles killed Junde and rebelled against Shache. Another Khotanese nobleman, Xiu Moba, joined forces with the Han Han Han rong and others to kill the Du mo brothers, established himself as the king of Khotan, and then joined forces with the people of the Mi kingdom to kill the Shache general stationed in Pishan. King Xian of Shache was furious and sent his crown prince and minister of state to lead 20,000 soldiers from various countries to attack Khotan. Xiu Moba sent troops to meet the battle, defeated the Shache soldiers, and killed more than 10,000 people. Not willing to be defeated, Xian personally led tens of thousands of soldiers from various countries to attack Khotan, and was once again defeated by Xiu Moba, with more than half of the soldiers killed and wounded, and Xian escaped and returned to The country. Xiu Moba took advantage of the situation to lead his army into Theache, but was killed by a stray arrow, and the Khotanese army retreated. The Xiongnu took the opportunity to lead Guizi and other countries to attack Shache, but failed to break through.

Yu Khotanese Minister Su Yule and others jointly established Hu Moba's brother Guangde as king. Guangde took advantage of the wounds of the Shache War to be healed, and sent his brother Hou Ren (侯仁) to lead an army to attack Xian. Unable to defeat him, Xian sent envoys to negotiate peace with Guangde, and released Guangde's father, who was detained, and married his daughter to Guangde, who was about a brother, and Guangde withdrew his troops. The following year, Shache guoxiang and yun and other unbearably tyrannical people plotted to move the city to Khotan. King Guangde of Khotan led 30,000 soldiers from various countries to attack Shache, and sent an envoy to Guangde: "I am still Ru Father, and Ru Woman, ru lai attack me, what is it?" Guangde said fraudulently: "If we have not seen each other for a long time, I would like to form an alliance from outside the city of the two people." Xian asked if Heyun could go, and Yunyun said, "Guangde's son-in-law is close to his relatives, and it is advisable to see him." Xian then lightly left the city, was captured by Guangde, and Yun and others were immediately introduced to Khotanese and destroyed the Kingdom of Shache. Guangde brought Xian back to Khotan and killed him.

The Xiongnu heard that Guangde had destroyed Shache, and sent five generals to lead more than 30,000 soldiers from 15 countries, including Yanqi, WeiLi, and Guizi, to besiege Khotan, and Guangde begged to surrender, sent the prince to the Xiongnu as a hostage, and made a covenant to pay tribute to the Xiongnu (a kind of silk wool) every year. The Xiongnu also sent troops to send the Shache protons in the Xiongnu to return to Shache as king. As soon as the Xiongnu army withdrew, Guangde immediately sent troops to attack and kill Buju Zheng, and established his brother Qi Li as the King of Shache. After two generations of efforts, Khotan finally attacked the most powerful state in the western region, Shache, although immediately besieged by the Xiongnu, but the Xiongnu were far away and could not exercise a strong rule over Khotan, although Khotan sent tribute to the Xiongnu, but also dared to kill the Xiongnu's old enemy Shache King, making it difficult for the Shache state to be restored for a while. According to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Tale of the Western Regions, King Guangde of Khotan also took advantage of the situation to annex the two kingdoms of Qule and Pishan, and at its peak, from the northwest of Jingzhi to the 13 kingdoms of Shule, they all obeyed Khotan. In short, from the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, Khotan slowly developed forward in the cracks between the Han and Hungarian struggles, and by the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it had developed rapidly in the war with Shache Wangxian and became a great power in the southern part of the Western Regions and Shanshan.

3. Ban Chao and Khotan

When King Guangde of Khotan established partial hegemony in the southern province of the Western Regions, and the Northern Xiongnu held the Northern Tianshan Province and extended their power further to the Southern Province, the Eastern Han Dynasty also gradually stabilized the interior, accumulated strength, and prepared to attack the Xiongnu, eliminate border troubles, and regain control of the Western Regions.

In the sixteenth year of Emperor Yongping of the Ming Dynasty, Dou Gu and others led an army from Jiuquan to the eastern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, broke through the Xiongnu Huyan King, captured IwuluDi, and set up a Tuntian official here, called "Yihe Du Wei", and initially established a base area for attacking the Xiongnu. At the same time, in order to contact the countries of the Western Regions to jointly counterattack the Xiongnu, Dou Gu sent a false Sima Banchao with his army to go on an envoy to the Western Regions together with Guo Ke.

Ban Chao only led 36 officials to the west, first to Shanshan, and with the courage of "not entering the tiger's den and not allowing the tiger to be a tiger", he took advantage of the night to attack and kill the Xiongnu emissaries, forcing the king of Shanshan to surrender to the Han Dynasty. Emperor Ming was overjoyed to hear the news and appointed Ban Chao as a military commander. Ban Chao was ordered to lead the original from 36 people to Khotan. At that time, the Khotanese king Guangde was claiming the title of Xiongnan Province, and there were Xiongnu emissaries to supervise Khotan, so he was very unkind to Ban Chao and other courtesies, and listened to the words of the witch, and sent envoys to Ban Chao to ask for horses to worship the witch. Ban Chao, knowing that it was malicious, pretended to be a promise, and asked Wu Zi to come and take the horse. And witches, super chops. Guangde had heard of Ban Chao's bold behavior in Shanshan, and was greatly frightened, so he rushed to attack and kill the Xiongnu emissaries, surrendered to Ban Chao, and sent his son to serve the Han Emperor. Ban Chao rewarded officials at all levels below the Khotanese king and stationed themselves in the town. The following year, Ban Chao, with the support of Guangde, entered Shule. At the same time, Dou Gu and others led an army out of Dunhuang and defeated the Xiongnu at the Pushi Sea (present-day Bali Kun Lake), and the former and later kings of Cheshi immediately surrendered to the Han Dynasty, and the Xiongnu forces temporarily withdrew from the eastern foothills of Tianshan Mountain, and the Han Dynasty re-established the Western Regions Capital Protector and the Pengji Lieutenant to control the Western Regions.

In the eighteenth year of Yongping, the Xiongnu counterattacked the che division, and the Han army fought bravely. At this time, Emperor Ming died, and there was no master in the dynasty. In November, Yanqi and Guizi attacked and killed Chen Mu and more than 2,000 of his generals, and the Han army besieged in Cheshi was starved of food, leaving only a few dozen people, under the leadership of Geng Gong. Emperor Zhang ascended the throne, and in the first year of the founding of the first year, he sent troops to rescue Geng Gong and others, and immediately dismissed the Western Regions Capital Protector and The Lieutenant colonel Peng Ji, and ordered Ban Chao to return to Beijing. Ban Chao set off from Shule to return to China, and as for Khotan, the king of Khotan, his generals, and the people cried and said, "Yi Han is like a parent, and he must not go." And hugged Ban Chao's horse's feet and did not let go. Ban Chao did not want to return to Beijing, and seeing that Khotan's father and elder had requested him, he turned his horse and returned to Shule to quell the rebellion, and in the case of losing contact with the Han Dynasty, he used the support of local forces to insist on garrisoning in Khotan and Shule. In the first three years of its establishment, Ban Chao led 10,000 soldiers such as Shule, Kangju, Khotan, and Jimi to attack Gumoshi City, killing 700 enemy soldiers and winning the first victory in Northern Province. Ban Chao wanted to take advantage of the victory to pacify the countries in the Western Regions, and wrote to the Eastern Han Court to request more troops. He said: "The subject stole that the former emperor wanted to open up the western region, so he attacked the Xiongnu in the north, and sent foreign countries to the west, and Yanshan and Khotan immediately xianghua. Present-day Jimi, Shache, Shule, Yueshi, Wusun, and Kangju wish to return to the annexation, and want to work together to destroy Guizi and pingtong Han Dao. In five years, Emperor Zhang sent Xu Gan to lead more than a thousand people to reinforce Ban Chao. In the eighth year, Ban Chao was appointed as the general shi and Xu Gan was made the military commander. In the ninth year, he also sent the false Sima and Gong and others to lead 800 troops to assist Ban Chao. As a result, Ban Chao sent Shule and Khotanese troops to attack the rebellious Shache state, but because Shache secretly allied with Shule Wang Zhong and received kangju assistance, he failed to achieve a complete victory. In the third year of Yuan He, Ban Chao and the King of Khotan led 25,000 soldiers of the various kingdoms to attack Shache again. King Guizi sent General Zuo to lead 5,000 soldiers such as Wen Su, Gu Mo, and Wei Tou to rescue them. Ban Chao used a plan to retreat from the enemy, and by surprise, he attacked Shache in one fell swoop and threatened the western region. At this point, With the help of Khotan and other countries, Ban Chao completely pacified the hostile forces in the southern province of the Western Regions, and Khotan can be said to be the main base for Ban Chao to operate the Western Regions.

Fourth, the dissipation of the Han and Guishuang forces and their influence on Khotan

From the beginning of the 1st century AD, the guishuang qihou, one of the five branches of the Great Moon clan, moved west to unify the various departments, and gradually developed and grew in the northwest Indian region. During the reigns of kings such as Qiu Yu, Weima Taktu, and Yan Jiaozhen, Guishuang "invaded the rest of the land and took the high land", "destroyed Puda and Qibin, and had their own kingdoms", and "restored Tianzhu and placed one person in charge". With the gradual expansion of the territory, Guishuang also wanted to extend its power into the Tarim Basin. When Ban Chao attacked Shache, he used the brocade to bribe the King of Guishuang and used the marriage relationship between the King of Guishuang and Kangju to prevent Kangju from reinforcing. Gui Shuang thought that he had contributed to Han's efforts to defeat Shache, and also contributed treasures and other things, and asked to marry a Princess of the Han Dynasty, but was rejected by Ban Chao, so he resented. In the second year of Yongyuan, Guishuang's deputy king Xie led 70,000 troops across the Onion Ridge and attacked Banchao. Ban Chao's soldiers were few and invincible, so they had to collect the grain and hold on to it in order to wait for work. Gui Shuang was unable to attack for a long time, and lacked grain and grass, so he sent people to ask Guizi for help, but was killed by Ban Chao. Gui Shuang had no choice but to negotiate with Ban Chao and retire. Kushan's first attempt to enter the Tarim Basin ended in failure. Ban Chao relieved his worries and entered the North Road. The following year, the three kingdoms of Guizi, Gumo, and Wensu surrendered, so the Eastern Han Dynasty appointed Ban Chao as the capital protector, stationed in Guizi it Qiancheng, Xu Gan as Changshi, Tun Shule. In the sixth year of Yongyuan, Ban Chao further pacified the three kingdoms of Yanqi, Weishu and Weili, and more than 50 countries in the western region belonged to Hanna and became vassal states of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

In the thirteenth year of Yongyuan, Ban Chao returned to Beijing, and Ren Shang succeeded him as the protector of the capital. Ren Shang's handling of things was severe, causing dissatisfaction among the countries in the Western Regions, and as soon as the emperor died, he besieged the capital to protect Ren Shang yu Shule. In the first year of Emperor Yanping's reign, the Eastern Han Dynasty recalled Ren Shang. In the first year of Emperor An's reign, he rebelled against the western regions. Soon, all the Han Dynasty forces withdrew from the western region, and the Northern Xiongnu took the opportunity to take over the Northern Province Cheshi and other countries. At the same time, Gui Shuang also took the opportunity to extend his power into the Tarim Basin again.

Around the time when the Han Dynasty withdrew from the Western Regions, the greatest monarch of the Kushan Dynasty, Jia Ti Sega, had begun his glorious reign (now considered by more scholars to have it in 127), and Guishuang entered its heyday. It was under the intimidation of Guishuang's prestige that in the early Yuan Dynasty (114-120), The Shule King Anguo sent his sinful mother-in-law Chenpan to Guishuang as a hostage, but Chenpan was loved by King Jia. After Anguo's death, he was childless, and his nephew was made king. Chenpan asked king Kaga to send troops to send him back to Shule. The people of Shule were afraid of Gui Shuang, so they abandoned their widows and became kings. As a result, the Forces of Guishuang crossed the Green Ridge and took control of Shule, and Shule gradually became stronger under the support of Guishuang, and the Shache state subordinate to Khotan rebelled against Shule, making Shule a great power that could compete with Guizi and Khotan.

In the years that followed, whether Khotan also entered Guishuang's sphere of influence, although there is no record of it in the literature, the archaeological discoveries in Hotan reveal very important information. According to the statistics of numismaticists, since the end of the 19th century, among the coins collected by the British Hornley, Stein, the Japanese Otani Expedition and the French Dutrey de Lance Expedition in Hotan, there are a total of 42 Coins of the Kushan Dynasty, of which 37 coins other than the collection of the Otani Expedition, 8 of which are Oka (7 of which are second suppressed as Han Yu Dimone Coins), 3 Yan Cream Treasure Coins, 25 Gathel Sega Coins, 1 Po Tune or his successor coins, with the most coins issued by the King of Jia. The sudden influx of Kathaga coins into the Khotanese region seems to be difficult to explain by the perspective of merchant trafficking, because the coins of the Guishuang kings after the King of Jia have so far only been equivalent to the wave of the early years of the Three Kingdoms or 1 of their successors, and the historical records clearly record that the Guishuang forces entered the Tarim Basin only once in 114-120 years, so there is every reason to believe that the Guishuang coins unearthed in Hotan entered the Khotan Kingdom with the power of The Guishuang. It should be noted that the Kushan forces entered the oasis kingdoms southwest of the Tarim Basin such as Shule and Khotan, but did not cut off their royal rule, and Khotan and other countries still maintained their own state form as under the control of the Xiongnu and Han Dynasty, but had to pay in kind tribute and provide military service. The influx of Kushan coins into Khotan also reflects the fact that Kushan's control over the area is mainly manifested in the form of economic exploitation.

Judging from the above numismatic information, with the end of the Kasuga era, Guishuang soon withdrew from the Tarim Basin. However, Gui Shuang's control over the Tarim Basin, although short-lived, had another effect on the Khotanese kingdom, namely the suppression of the Han and Han two-body money.

Since the end of the 19th century, a large number of Han and Tangan coins have been excavated in the ancient Khotanese area centered on the site of Jotgan. In 2004, Wang Hailan published a monograph "Currency on the Silk Road", which counted the number of Han and Tang coins, a total of 446 coins, including 179 Stein collections, 152 Hoenlei, 11 Petrovsky, 2 Oldenburg, 76 Madhan, 11 Otani Expeditions, 1 Huang Wenbi, and 14 newly discovered and published in domestic publications in recent years. Recently, Luo Shuai recounted on this basis and in combination with the latest domestic publications, with a total of 513 pieces. With the exception of a small number of people who were scattered to the neighboring Guizi (3 of which are said to have been excavated at the Site of Subash) and the western part of Theraiya and Andir, most of the Han and Yudan coins came from Khotan. Combined with some coins with the inscription "King of Khotan" (yidiraja/yitiraja) or the Chinese character "King of Khotan", this is undoubtedly a coin minted and issued by Khotan in ancient times.

The typical Han coin is made of copper, divided into large and small two kinds, the common feature is that one side is a Chinese inscription, the big coin is "heavy twenty-four baht copper coin" (or read as "copper coin heavy twenty four baht"), there is a "shell" shaped symbol in the middle, the small coin is "six baht money"; the other side is the Lu inscription, for the king's name and title, written around the immediate or walking horse pattern. Due to the different periods of writing, the inscription writing method is also different, coupled with more than a thousand years of wear and tear in the desert Gobi, resulting in many divergent opinions in the interpretation of these inscriptions in the academic circles, except for the title of maharaja (the king of kings), rajatiraja (the king of kings), yidiraja/ yitiraja (Khotanese king), for other parts of the title and the name of the king, the views of researchers have not been unified. Hornley was the first to identify five kings, namely Gugramada, Gugradama, Gugramaya, Gugramoda and Gugratida, and given the confusion of similar letters, he grouped the five kings into 3, namely Gugramada, Gugradama and Gugratida. Ma Yong basically agreed with Hon Lei's reading, but he believed that the 5 or 3 names were actually the same person, namely vijiya Samgrāma, the king of Khotan, in the Early Tibetan Book of Khotan, and the Khotanese King An guo in the Later Han Shu Xiyu Biography. Klib believes that a total of 6 kings are recorded, namely Gurgadema, Gurga, Gurgamo(y)a, Inaba, [... ］doga、Panadosana。 He pointed out that Gurga as a prefix may be related to the Khotanese king's surname Wei Chi /Vijava recorded in Chinese and Tibetan texts; in addition, Inaba can correspond to Xiu Moba, and the subsequent [... Doga may be Guangde, Panadosana can be the same as Pre-Release Survey. As for the release time of the Han Dynasty, he set it in three periods between the first half of the 1st century and 132 AD. Lin Meicun denied the existence of the last three royal names of Klib, believing that the first three royal names he claimed represented only one king, that is, the Khotanese king Qiuren recorded in the Weishu Xiyu Biography, whose correct spelling was Gugramaya, Sanskrit for Goograma, and Pali for Gogāma, meaning "Niucun", and placed its reign in the period from 175 to 220 when Khotan has no record of Khotan. Recently, Luo Shuai proposed a new theory, believing that the name beginning with gugra refers to the same Khotanese king, that is, Guangde, who was active in the late 1st century AD, because from the phonetic point of view, "Guangde" and Gugramada and other forms can be well corroded. As for Kriber's comparison of Panadosana with pre-release, it may be acceptable. There are not many coins with the last three names, of which the coins with [... There is only 1 doga, so it's hard to say whether it represents a new king, but more likely it's just another way of writing the previous name. As for Inaba, since Klib had proposed that an Inaba coin was repressed on Guangde's coins, and the style of the pre-pai coin continued from the Inaba coin, Luo Shuai believed that Inaba was likely to be the king of Khotan between Guangde and Pre-Fang. In this way, Luo Shuai attributed the issuance of the Han and Yu two-body money to the three kings of Khotan, namely Guangde, Inaba, and Fangqian, when in 73-127 AD, that is, Ban Chao surrendered to the Khotanese king and Thega Sega took the throne. He also divided the issuance of the Han Andi coin into three phases, one was the prelude or initial period, when under the rule of Guangde, there were silver Han Andi two-body money and Han 2-body five-baht copper coins, the former and the "Yu" coin issued by Guishuang Weima Taktu, which was an intermediary currency to solve the payment problems encountered in the trade between the two places. Second, in the typical period, King Inaba issued a variant of the Han Dynasty coin, which should be changed from 107 to 123 AD, and the horse statue in the previous back was changed to a camel statue, and the camel statue was also commonly used on several coins issued by Yan Jiaozhen. This coin was issued during the period when the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu forces withdrew and the Kushan forces infiltrated the Tarim Basin. The third is the aftermath or the end of the period of the Han Dynasty two-body money. The first is the late coins before the release, with the Chinese inscription on the front as "Khotan [Wang]"; the second is two special coinage coins in Khotan, namely the horse-patterned round leadless coin and the rectangular wearing Chinese lead coin, which were also issued before the release. He pointed out that the monetary policy before the release was more changed and chaotic, which may be related to his once dependence on Guishuang. In the first year of the Shun Emperor Yang Jia, The Shule King Chenpan issued an army at Dunhuang Taishou to defeat Khotan, which eventually led to the suspension of the issuance of Han and Yu's two-body money. He believes that the back of the typical Han coin uses the Luwen and copied the title of the King of Guishuang, calling it "Great King, King of Kings, Great", expressing a posture of sitting on an equal footing with the King of Guishang; the front side uses the Chinese inscriptions "Six Baht Money" and "Heavy Twenty-Four Baht Copper Coin" as the main motifs, and the front of the small coin even has only three words of "six baht money", and occupies the entire coin surface, expressing recognition and respect for the status of the Han Dynasty.

Although the interpretation of the Linglu inscription on the coin remains to be discussed by relevant experts, only for the relevant information that is known so far, the approximate chronological range of the circulation of the Han and Yu two-body coins is still traceable. First of all, since at least 6 Han Shu coins were made twice on the Drak Mai copper coins of the Guishuang King Qiu, it shows that the production of the Han Tang Coins should be produced before the Kathaga coins enter Khotan in large quantities, otherwise they will definitely be suppressed on the Ka King's coins. As mentioned above, before the King of Jia, only a small amount of Guishuang money entered Khotan, and the Han and Ling two-body money used The Luwen (one of the official scripts of the Guishang Dynasty) and the Han script, so its appearance should be after both the Han Dynasty and the Guishang Dynasty had a certain influence on Khotan, and in the history of Khotan, it should be during the period when the Kushan forces began to enter the Tarim Basin in the 90-120 years. Secondly, the Han and Tang coins were made by using the method of making coins using Gui Feng, rather than the method of Han Coinage, especially the weight of its large and small coins and the ratio of 4:1 between the two, which is completely imitated from the weight and ratio of the four Drake wheat coins and the Drake wheat money of the Kathy serka. This shows that the stereotype of the Han dynasty coin is a direct consequence of the popularity of the Khotanese coin in Khotan, and the era should be 120-127 years after the Kushan forces reached Khotan. Finally, due to the existence of multiple inscription forms and the overlapping and suppression of different Han and Bissex coins, it is difficult to attribute all such coins to the same king, although it is difficult to refer to the king name on the coin, but at least it can be considered that this coin was issued by more than one Khotanese king.

In short, although the inscription and chronology of the Han and Han coins have not yet been completely solved, its excavation fully illustrates the political and economic influence of Han and Guishuang on Khotan, and its title of "King of Kings" and the pattern, writing method and weight ratio of coins are imitated from Guishuang, and the Weight Unit marked with Chinese is to facilitate the conversion and common use of a large number of local popular Han five-baht coins. Known to have found the amount of Han five-baht coins, Stein obtained more than 468 pieces in Hotan Yotegan, Rewak and other places during his three Central Asian expeditions. In 1977, a pottery jar was excavated from the ruins of HetianMalikawati, which weighed about 45 kilograms in total for five baht coins in the Han Dynasty. Wang Hailan estimated that each five-baht coin weighs 2-3 grams, and 45 kilograms of five-baht money is about 15,000-22,500 pieces. In 1992, a cellar of copper coins weighing about 20 kilograms was found in Yujimili Village, Aksarayi Township, Hetian Moyu County, but unfortunately it quickly flowed to the society after discovery, and the Hotan Wenguan Office recovered 7 kilograms of them and stripped out a total of 1326 copper coins. In 1999, Moyu County Yingyaer Township found 27 kilograms of copper coins, was purchased by local antique dealers, and then flowed into Beijing, according to the insiders, this batch of copper coins included 2 1 Qin half, the Western Han Dynasty four baht and half 7 pieces, the Western Han Dynasty five baht about 200 pieces, Wang Mang period 1 piece, the Eastern Han Five Baht accounted for more than 70% of the total, that is, about 19 kg. If each five-baht coin weighs 2-3 grams, the five-baht coin of about 19 kilograms is about 6300-9500 pieces. In summary, there are more than 20,000 known Han five-baht coins found, while the above-mentioned known Han wu baht coins are only 513 pieces. Comparing the two, it can be seen that the dominant currency circulation system in Khotan during the Eastern Han Dynasty was the five-baht coin, while the Han and Han two-body money was an auxiliary intermediary currency. Luo Shuai pointed out that due to the low quality of the Han and Tang coins, it was impossible to maintain stability in terms of weight, size, copper content, etc., so after Khotan was freed from the control of the Eastern Han Dynasty in the middle of the 2nd century AD, it was impossible to restore the issuance of Han and Other self-coinage coins.

(5) Annexation of states

The Eastern Han court was not reconciled to the defeat of the Western Regions and had been exploring strategies to counterattack the Xiongnu and regain the Western Regions. Emperor An Yanguang for four years, Ban Chaozi Ban Yong led an army to break the car division after the kingdom, it is worth noting that the Shule state also sent troops to help. In the second year of Yongjian, Ban Yong led an army to attack Yanqi, "So, the seventeen kingdoms of Guizi, Shule, Khotan, and Shache all came to obey, while Wusun and Onion Ridge were already extinct." Obviously, the major powers east of the Onion Ridge had all belonged to the Han, while the guishuang and other countries west of the Onion Ridge were isolated from the Han. In the same year, Guishuang's shule king,pan sent envoys to offer his service to Han, and Emperor Shun appointed him as a "Han Grand Duke" and gave him a special honor. The back of Chenpan reflects the decline of Guishuang's power and the reconstruction of Han Dynasty rule in the Western Regions, but at this time, the Han Dynasty's rule over the Western Regions was mainly carried out by Dunhuang Taishou and local powerful figures such as Chenpan, so for Khotan, this was another rare period of expansion. In the fourth year of Yongjian, before the King of Khotan was released, he killed King Xing of Jimi and established his son as King Jumi. Dunhuang Taishou Xu petitioned to be attacked, but Emperor Shun did not allow it. In the sixth year, He sent his attendants to the Han court to contribute, and Emperor Shun ordered him to return to the Kingdom of Mi, but he refused to do so. In the first year of Yang Jia, Xu You sent Shule Wang Chenpan to lead 20,000 troops to defeat Khotan, and Lixing's fellow tribesmen became a state and returned for the king of Jimi. Khotan's expansion ambitions were temporarily halted by the Han Dynasty. Probably soon after, the long history of the Western Han Dynasty was stationed in Khotan.

In the first year of Yuan Jia, the governor of the Western Regions, Zhao Jueyu, died of illness in Khotan, and the commentator went to the funeral and passed through the kingdom of Jimi. King Chengguo of Khotan, who had a vendetta against king Jian of Khotan, who had succeeded him, lied to his critics and said, "The king of Khotan made Doctor Hu hold poison to create the middle, so he died in the ear." The commentator believed it to be true and also sued Dunhuang for guarding the motor. The following year, Wang Jingdai took up his post as Changshi, and Mada ordered him to secretly investigate the matter. Wang Jing first arrived at Jimi, and Cheng Guo instigated Jing to kill Wang Jian of Khotan. Wang Jing was greedy for meritorious service, and as for Khotan's queen to set up a banquet to invite Jian, Jian was invited to go, and jing ordered him to take it left and right, and Qin Mu, the master of the Detention Andi who came with Jing, came forward to cut the construction. The Marquis of Khotan would gather troops and kill Wang Jing. The loser wanted to establish himself as king, and established the son an anguo after the Khotanese killed him. When Ma Da heard about this, he wanted to send troops to requisition, but Emperor Huan did not allow it, and used Song Liang to replace Ma Da as dunhuang Taishou. After Liang arrived in office, he ordered the King of Khotan to behead the losers, and when the losers were dead, Yu Khotan sent people to Dunhuang without explaining the truth, and Liang hou knew that he was deceitful, but he was unable to send troops. Since then, the Han Dynasty's rule in the western regions has declined, and Khotan has taken the opportunity to develop and grow. In the first year of the Ling Emperor Jianning, the Shule king Han Dadu Wei Chenpan was killed, and the Han Dynasty lost its agents in the Western Regions, and its rule over the Western Regions was further weakened. In the fourth year of Xiping, the Khotanese king An Guo attacked and killed his king, and many people died. Han Pengji's lieutenant and The Western Regions Changshi sent troops to assist Dingxing, a servant in Han, but the population was only a thousand, compared with the 7251 people recorded by Ban Yong before 127, the population was rapidly reduced, and the national strength declined.

From 175 to 220, there was little literature on the Western Regions. At this time, the Yue clan moved south, the Xiongnu migrated west, and the eastern Han Dynasty was in civil strife, creating conditions for the development of the great powers in the western region. Emperor Jian'an was dedicated to Emperor Jian'an for seven years and offered to the Khotanese kingdom to tame elephants. The elephant was not a product of Khotan, but the tamed elephant that paid tribute to the Eastern Han Dynasty was either a prisoner of war or a tribute from other small countries. The only record of Khotan in the past 50 years reveals khotan's outward expansion. By the early years of the Three Kingdoms, Shi Zai "traveled westward in the southern province, and the zhi (end) kingdom, xiaowan kingdom, jingjie, and loulan kingdom all belonged to Shan Shanye." The kingdoms of Ronglu, Qilu, Qule and Photers all belonged to Khotan." Ban Yong's hukou recorded in Khotan is "32,000 households, 83,000 mouths, and more than 30,000 victorious soldiers", which has greatly increased compared with the Western Han Dynasty. At this time, Khotan annexed the surrounding countries, the territory expanded, and the population should be more. The following is the King of Khotan in the two Han dynasties seen in Han Chinese, and the numbers in parentheses are the dates of their appearance:

Yu Lin(?) —56): Deposed by King Xian of Shache as King Of Ligui, Brother of Yu Lin (56), brother of Yu Lin, killed by King Xian of Shache for a long time; Xiu Moba (+60+): Originally from Khotan, he established himself as king of Khotan, Guangde (+73-86+): brother of Xiu Moba, brother of Shu Moba (+129-131+): In 132, Shule Wangchen Pan attacked Khotan; Jian (+151-152): killed by Wang Jing, the chief of the Western Regions, and Qin Mu, the lord of The Imperial Household; An Guo (153-175+): Son of Jian, In 152, he killed Wang Jing, the governor of the Western Regions of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and in 175, he attacked Zhimi.

Conclusion

The above combined with the documents handed down from generations and excavated cultural relics to illustrate the situation in Khotan during the Two Han Dynasties. It can be seen that the development of Khotan is closely related to the growth of the Xiongnu, Han and Kushan forces in the western region. After the second half of the 2nd century AD, due to the decline of the Han, Xiongnu and Guishuang, Khotan was further expanded and became a great power in southern China. In the fifth year of Cao Wei Ganlu, Zhu Shi traveled west to cross the quicksand, and as for Khotan's quest for the authentic Sanskrit book of the Radiant Prajnaparamita Sutra, it seems that Khotan had become one of the centers of Buddhism in the Western Regions at that time, and the so-called "Hinayana scholars" recorded in the biography obstructed the eastern transmission of the "Radiant Prajnaparamita Sutra", which showed the power of the Khotanese Sangha, which would not have been possible without prosperous economic support. In 401, the Han monk Fa Xianxing traveled west to seek the Dharma, and when he arrived in Khotan, he said that there were tens of thousands of monks in his country, and there were 14 large Garan houses, of which 3,000 monks of Qu Mo Di Jia Lan shared a gavel and ate, "when entering the canteen, Wei Yi Qi Su". All these remind us that at the end of the Han Dynasty, wei and Jin, Khotan was prosperous and developing, the people were prosperous, life was stable and happy, and it was sincerely a great power in the western region.

The author is Zhu Lishuang, a professor at the Institute of Dunhuang Studies of Lanzhou University, and Rong Xinjiang, a professor at the Department of History, Peking University

Comments from omitted, the full version please refer to the original text.

Editor: Xiang Yu

Proofreader: Water Life

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