In 102 AD, the most famous diplomat in the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ban Chao who had passed through the Western Regions again, suddenly fell seriously ill.
After that, despite the high-level officials of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the best doctors were quickly sent to treat Ban Chao. Emperor He, who was reigning at that time, sent an envoy to represent himself and came to express his condolences to Ban Chao. But none of these have been able to reverse Ban Chao's condition.
Soon after, Ban Chao died of illness at the age of seventy-one.
After Ban Chao's death, because he made great contributions to the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor He of the Han Dynasty also specially sent envoys to come over to offer condolences. Moreover, after Ban Chao died, he was directly buried in the mountain next to Luoyang. The specifications of this funeral were undoubtedly quite high at the time. To a certain extent, this is actually a recognition of Ban Chao by the state and an affirmation of Ban Chao's contributions.
But what everyone didn't expect was that Ban Chao's death was not the end of Ban Chao's story.
After Ban Chao's death, within a few years, a large-scale rebellion began in the Western Regions. A number of countries in the Western Regions began to join forces to attack the garrison troops of the Eastern Han Dynasty in the Western Regions. In addition, at that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty was making natural disasters. In the end, this rebellion directly led to the Eastern Han Dynasty losing control of the Western Regions for a time!
And after the rebellion broke out, the Eastern Han Dynasty reviewed the entire rebellion experience. At this time, the high-level leaders of the Eastern Han Dynasty realized how important Ban Chao was back then! To put it simply, as long as Ban Chao was alive, the Western Regions would not be chaotic. But as long as Ban Chao dies, the Western Regions will be in chaos immediately!
So, why did the real Ban Chao in history have such a great influence? In addition to revisiting the Western Regions, what did he do in the Western Regions later? Why did the Western Regions soon start a rebellion after Ban Chao's death? And in the end, how was this rebellion resolved?
In this history, we actually have to start from after Ban Chao revisited the Western Regions.
In 94 A.D., with Ban Chao from eight subject states such as Qiuzi and Shanshan, he gathered an army of 70,000 and began to kill those countries in the Western Regions that had not yet surrendered. The decisive battle of Ban Chaotong in the Western Regions has officially begun.
Ban Chao's first mission to the Western Regions was in 73 AD. In the previous 20 years, Ban Chao had conquered many countries in the Western Regions, gradually opening up the situation. However, in the northern part of the Western Regions, that is, near the Tianshan Mountains, the area where the Xiongnu can maintain a certain degree of contact, there are still a few countries in the Western Regions, which are holding on to the hard top of the Han Dynasty.
For these countries, Ban Chao can only slowly figure it out. On the one hand, for those countries in the Western Regions that have surrendered, Ban Chao tried his best to win them over, establish good relations in the local area, and determine the right to rule. On the other hand, Ban Chao began to train troops in the Western Regions, directly using the methods of the Han Dynasty.
In this way, after more than ten years of hard work, Ban Chao finally became the overlord of the Western Regions. Then, in 94 AD, Ban Chao recruited a large number of soldiers from all the Western Regions countries that had submitted to the Western Han Dynasty, and finally formed an army of more than 70,000 people, and began the final decisive battle in the Western Regions.
One more thing to say here, in fact, this decisive battle should have been carried out several years in advance. As early as 89 AD, five years before Ban Chao's decisive battle, Dou Xian had successfully defeated Shi Yanran and defeated the Northern Xiongnu.
After the Northern Xiongnu were defeated, the remaining countries in the Northern Western Regions had no one to support them. At this time, Ban Chao could have successfully assembled his army and directly took the few remaining countries in the Western Regions.
But the problem is that just when Ban Chao was just ready, the high-level leaders of the Eastern Han Dynasty began to fight for the supreme ruling power. At that time, Dou Xian relied on his own merits to Le Shi Yanran, coupled with the strength of the Dou family, which formed a huge threat to the Han and Emperor. Then, Emperor Han He suddenly launched a coup d'état and cleaned up the entire Dou family.
This coup, although far away in the capital, still had a great impact on Ban Chao. You must know that in the past few decades, the Ban Chao family has always been regarded as a subsidiary family of the Dou family. Ban Chao's eldest brother, Ban Gu, had followed Dou Xian to Le Shi Yanran before. After the fall of the Dou family, Ban Gu was also implicated and finally died unjustly in prison.
Therefore, this turmoil naturally also affected Banchao. At such a sensitive time, if Ban Chao had requisitioned troops from the countries of the Western Regions as originally planned, the final decisive battle would begin. Then then, things are in trouble.
You must know that on the side of the Western Regions, an army of 70,000 can basically sweep away all disobedience. At such a sensitive time, your Ban Chao suddenly gathered so many troops? What do you want to do? Rebel?
In fact, according to normal logic, after this political turmoil ended, Ban Chao should have been transferred back to the capital, at least he would have been relieved of his military power. But the interesting thing is that not long after Ban Gu was unjustly killed, Ban Chao's sister Ban Zhao entered the palace again, took over Ban Gu's work, and continued to write history.
Ban Zhao's entry into the palace made Emperor Han and Emperor begin to trust the Ban family again. Coupled with Ban Chao's position in the Western Regions, there is indeed no one who can replace him. Therefore, Ban Chao can continue to stay in the Western Regions and prepare for the next decisive battle.
In this way, in the autumn of 94 AD, as all the turmoil had temporarily subsided, Ban Chao began to order the requisition of troops from the countries of the Western Regions.
At that time, there were more than 3 million people in the entire Western Regions. Therefore, when this army of 70,000 appeared, it was basically invincible. And Ban Chao at that time did not go on a killing spree. Rather, it was in the form of coercion to force the remaining countries to surrender.
At that time, Ban Chao directly brought the army around those countries and held a big military parade. At the same time, Ban Chao sent a message to those countries, asking them to surrender quickly, and the king immediately came to receive them himself, and let the army pass through their country. Otherwise, simply use the army to level their country.
Under the coercion of Ban Chao, soon, some countries completely surrendered. And the countries that did not surrender in the end were easily broken by Ban Chao. Since then, Ban Chao has completed a major change of blood in these countries. not only changed the king, but also replaced other high-level nobles with nobles from the Western Regions who were close to the Han Dynasty.
After such a round of blood exchange, the few remaining countries in the Western Regions also became vassals of the Han Dynasty. The entire Western Regions, since then, has also been completely controlled by the Eastern Han Dynasty.
By this time, Ban Chao could already be called a 'King of the Western Regions'.
It was at this time, in 95 AD, that after Ban Chao reported his merits, Emperor Han He ordered Ban Chao to be named 'Marquis of Dingyuan'. Since then, Ban Chao has completed his dream of 'throwing pen from Rong and sealing the marquis for thousands of miles'.
This year, Ban Chao was 64 years old.
And with the sealing of Ban Chao, the Western Regions were completely taken over. Next, Ban Chao needs to face another problem.
The dilemma is: how to manage the Western Regions?
Contrary to what many people think, in real history, it is actually more difficult to manage the Western Regions than to sweep away the Western Regions! Because this area of the Western Regions is too far away from the capital of the Han Dynasty, and the terrain is too special. The Han Dynasty could only travel to the Western Regions through a Hexi Corridor. It was a struggle to transport things to this area, or to send officials.
The most important thing is that because of the inconvenient transportation at that time, coupled with the fact that the Eastern Han Dynasty was a typical agricultural civilization, most of them had a complex of 'homeland is difficult to leave'. Therefore, at that time, the vast majority of officials and even soldiers in the Eastern Han Dynasty were actually unwilling to come to live in the Western Regions! This kind of thinking could not be changed even by the emperor.
Therefore, at that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty could only send some officials who had committed crimes to take charge of affairs in the Western Regions. At that time, the Western Regions was more like a place of exile for many Eastern Han people.
So, relying on these officials who are guilty and have problems in themselves, how should Ban Chao manage the Western Regions?
Therefore, in the previous decades, Ban Chao has figured out a set of very practical strategies: first of all, the army of the Western Regions must be firmly grasped in his own hands. The capital of the Western Regions is the protectorate, and the army must be mastered. Moreover, the army directly under the Metropolitan Protectorate must be the most powerful. At the same time, when necessary, the Metropolitan Protectorate must also be able to recruit troops from the countries of the Western Regions and exercise unified command.
With an army and a strong force, this will ensure the overall stability of the Western Regions.
Secondly, in terms of actual governance, in order to grasp the big and let go of the small, we need to deeply understand the truth that 'when the water is clear, there are no fish'. To put it simply, because there are many countries in the Western Regions, and these small countries in the Western Regions may have completely different customs and Xi from each other. If you simply copy all the management systems of the Han Dynasty, it is easy to do bad things.
In this case, it is better to hand over the power of governance to the nobles of those small countries in the Western Regions, and let them actually rule. As long as they don't rebel and don't make mistakes on major issues, the Metropolitan Protectorate tries not to meddle in local affairs, and wants to let those small countries in the Western Regions become autonomous.
This idea of rule, when placed on the side of the Central Plains, is undoubtedly contrary to the idea of the unification of the 'county system'. But on the side of the Western Regions, it is really easy to use. At least, under the governance of Ban Chao's thinking, in the next few years, there was no rebellion in the Western Regions, and everyone lived in harmony with each other.
And during this period, Ban Chao also sent a mission to the west again, to Central Asia and even West Asia, and finally even almost to Rome.
In this way, after 6 years, Ban Chao began to lose it.
At this time, Ban Chao was almost seventy years old. For the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is already a miracle to be able to live to be seventy years old. In addition, the people of the Han Dynasty had a complex of 'falling leaves returning to their roots', and everyone hoped to die in their own homes. So at this time, Ban Chao took the initiative to write a letter to the capital, asking him to return to Luoyang.
And on the Luoyang side, Ban Chao's sister Ban Zhao at that time had a very high status. Although Ban Zhao is a woman, she has become the queen's teacher, and she can indirectly intervene in court politics through the queen Deng Sui. And Ban Zhao himself was also very trusted by the Han and Emperors. So at this time, Ban Zhao took the initiative to intercede with his brother, hoping that Emperor Han and Emperor Han could bring Ban Chao back.
In this way, Emperor Han He finally ordered Ban Chao to return to the Central Plains.
And after Ban Chao came back, because Ban Chao was seventy years old at this time, his physical condition was not very good. In addition, there were bumps along the way, unaccustomed to water and soil, and Ban Chao's chest and ribs were also injured and had dark diseases. Therefore, soon after returning to the capital, Ban Chao became seriously ill.
And in the end, just over a month after returning to Luoyang, Ban Chao died of illness.
This is the final ending of Ban Chao.
Although after coming back, I didn't enjoy any glory and wealth. But at least, before Ban Chao died, he returned to his hometown and saw the prosperity of Luoyang.
Perhaps, the moment Ban Chao saw the prosperity of Luoyang City and the people of the Eastern Han Dynasty living and working in peace and contentment, he was already satisfied. From the first mission to the Western Regions to the return to Luoyang now, Ban Chao has spent a full thirty years in the Western Regions!
But it's clearly worth it.
However, for the Eastern Han Dynasty, the story continues, and the plot in the Western Regions continues to develop.
But the problem is that after Ban Chao left the Western Regions, the wind in the Western Regions began to change gradually.
After Ban Chao made a retirement report before, Emperor Han He actually had a headache. On the one hand, Emperor Han He also admired this old man and wanted him to return to Luoyang. But on the other hand, the position of the Western Regions Capital is too special, and it is difficult to find a suitable person to take over.
This is mainly because the situation in the Western Regions is too special. If you rashly find an official who doesn't know much about the Western Regions, or doesn't plan to stick to the Western Regions for a long time, it will easily be bad.
In the end, Emperor Han He chose an official named Ren Shang and took over the position of protector of the Western Regions.
Speaking of which, this Ren Shang is also a person with a lot of plots. In the battle of Dou Xianle Shi Yanran back then, he was one of the main generals. When Dou Xian was killed, the Xiongnu rebelled again, and he personally led his troops to chase and kill the Xiongnu. This battle is called 'Ren Shang's battle to hunt down the Xiongnu Beidanyu in the history books'.
In later generations, many historians believed that it was because of this Ren Shang that he chased and killed the Xiongnu at that time, and he killed him too ruthlessly, so some of the Northern Xiongnu were completely discouraged and finally moved west directly to Europe.
Before Ban Chao retired, this Ren Shang was serving as a lieutenant of Wuji. This official position was also one of the highest official positions in the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty, mainly responsible for managing the army and conducting tuntian on the side of the chariot division. From the perspective of power gradient, Ren Shang was able to rank in the top five in the entire Western Regions before, and he was directly under the leadership of Ban Chao.
Such an official who has military merits, knows how to fight, is very familiar with Ban Chao, and also has a special understanding of the Western Regions is undoubtedly the best candidate. So in the end, Emperor Han He appointed this Ren Shang, succeeded Ban Chao, and became the next protector of the Western Regions.
Before Ren Shang took over, he personally came to meet Ban Chao and asked Ban Chao for the 'secret book' for governing the Western Regions. Ban Chao didn't hide his personal interests at that time, and directly told Ren Shang all his ideas of 'grasping the big and letting go of the small'. Ban Chao believes that the soldiers in the Western Regions are originally exiled sinners, and those small countries in the Western Regions are also easy to rebel.
Therefore, as long as they do not rebel and do not make big mistakes, there is no need to hold on to them. At present, the first task is to maintain the stability of the Western Regions, and then slowly plan for it.
However, what Ban Chao didn't expect was that although he told Ren Shang all his experience without reservation. But Ren Shang's side doesn't agree too much.
It's really a matter of experience.
Ban Chao has been operating in the Western Regions for many years and has a better understanding of the actual situation in the Western Regions. But Ren Shang is different, Ren Shang is a serious military general, and he believes in the supremacy of strength. Therefore, in Ren Shang's view, since the Western Regions Protectorate is strong enough now, there is no need to continue the previous policy.
Therefore, after Ren Shang took over, he began to gradually negate Ban Chao's strategy. In the following years, Ren Shang began to strictly transplant the system of governing the army directly to the governance of the Western Regions. The relaxed governance environment created by Ban Chao before is gone. In its place, there is a gradual militarization and comprehensive in-depth management.
At this time, the Western Regions began to gradually become chaotic.
You must know that many Han Dynasty soldiers in the Western Regions at that time were criminals before, and they didn't like to be subject to so many constraints. Now that Ren Shang has begun to strictly manage, these soldiers have naturally begun to gradually resist Ren Shang's policies.
At the same time, those countries in the Western Regions also began to resent Ren Shang's excessive interference in local governance. In the past, they enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. Now Ren Shang wants to refine the management and take away their management rights.
This made many nobles in the Western Regions gradually begin to be unable to accept it.
The same thing actually happened once when the Eastern Han Dynasty was just founded. After Liu Xiu unified the world, in order to count the land of the whole country, he used to refine the management, touching the fundamental interests of the powerful in those places. As a result, Rao was a powerful emperor like Liu Xiu, and in the end, he was also disgraced and almost caused a large-scale rebellion.
And now, what Ren Shang is doing is actually the same thing.
So soon, the vast majority of people in the entire Western Regions began to hate Ren Shang's governance policies. And this kind of disgust is often not blamed on Ren Shang alone, but on the entire Western Regions Protectorate.
If the Western Regions were really absolutely peaceful at this time, without any external troubles, perhaps Ren Shang would be able to truly refine his governance by relying on a strong army and his own iron-fisted policies. But the problem was that the situation in the Western Regions at that time was too complicated.
First of all, on the side of the Xiongnu, although Dou Xianle Shi Yanran completely destroyed the Northern Xiongnu. But after that, the Southern Xiongnu directly annexed the Northern Xiongnu, and for these surrendered Northern Xiongnu tribes, the Southern Xiongnu tried their best to squeeze them, and finally led to many Northern Xiongnu tribes rebelling again.
And this time, after they rebelled, they directly supported the son of Shan Yu, who was destroyed by Dou Xian, and later generations called Shan Yu, the marquis.
After Ban Chao returned to China, this marquis Shan Yu had gathered a lot of old troops and reoccupied a large piece of territory in the north. Although this marquis Shan Yu did not allow the Xiongnu to rise again in the end. Because at this time, Xianbei began to occupy the grassland, and finally forced the Northern Xiongnu to disappear completely. But in any case, at least at this time, the Northern Xiongnu showed signs of recovery again.
The revival of the Xiongnu meant that part of the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains had once again become the Xiongnu's sphere of influence. And those countries in the Western Regions in the southern part of the Tianshan Mountains naturally began to be influenced by the Xiongnu again.
Secondly, to the west of the Green Ridge, the influence from the Kushan Empire is also continuing.
Although compared with the Eastern Han Dynasty, Guishan is much weaker. Moreover, before Ban Chao fought the decisive battle in the Western Regions, Guishan had sent troops to come, and was finally defeated by Ban Chao. But on the whole, Guishan is still strong. As one of the four major powers in the world at the same time, Guishan still has some influence on the Western Regions.
And the existence of Guishan also had a great impact on those countries in the Western Regions. Although it was difficult for Guishan to cross the green ridge and enter the territory of the Western Regions Protectorate on a large scale. But it is still possible to support some small countries and support them to rebel in the Western Regions.
Therefore, when the Guishan and the Xiongnu began to influence the Western Regions one after another, many small countries in the Western Regions that were not convinced began to rebel one after another and rebelled against the rule of the Duhufu.
This time, the problem is bigger.
You must know that if it was simply a rebellion by a small country in the Western Regions, with its strong military force, the Protectorate of the Western Regions at that time could be easily suppressed. But if there are several countries in the Western Regions that resist at the same time, it will be more tricky.
Once this situation arises, at least two conditions need to be met on the side of the Metropolitan Protectorate in order to suppress the rebellion. First, the Metropolitan Protector of the Western Regions, which is led by the Metropolitan Protectorate, must be able to fight enough. Just like the previous Ban Chao, although Ban Chao is positioned as a diplomat in the history books, the real Ban Chao's military ability is actually first-class.
Secondly, the Eastern Han Dynasty behind the Metropolitan Protectorate must be super strong, able to support a large number of troops to come to the Western Regions at any time, and at the same time support a large number of war materials.
And Ren Shang didn't have these two conditions at that time.
In terms of command ability, Ren Shang should be slightly worse than Ban Chao. Or at least on the battlefield side of the Western Regions, Ren Shang is not familiar with the terrain, so he is not as good as Ban Chao.
Although the Eastern Han Dynasty behind the Imperial Protectorate was very strong, the Eastern Han Dynasty at this time was also facing many problems.
Less than four years after Ren Shang took over, in February 106 AD, Emperor Han He died. After the death of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty began the era of 'the little emperor reigned, and the empress dowager Deng Sui was in power'. This kind of era of high-level change of emperor and suspicion of the lord and the country means that it is difficult for the Eastern Han Dynasty to send a large number of troops to support the Western Regions.
Many years ago, the story of the thirteen soldiers returning to the Jade Gate is an example. In that year, because Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty changed shifts, the main force of the Eastern Han Dynasty could not support the Western Regions during this period, so Geng Gong himself held on to Shule City for a year. And now, Ren Shang will also face this situation.
What's even worse is that after entering the Deng Sui era, the next Eastern Han Dynasty will enter a period of more than ten years of 'natural disasters'.
During the more than ten years of natural disasters, the Eastern Han Dynasty had earthquakes every year, which caused the national strength of the Eastern Han Dynasty to drop a lot in an instant. If we take into account the Xiqiang, which has been in a lot of trouble in the west, the security of the Hexi Corridor has also been seriously threatened.
Therefore, in the next ten years, it was difficult for the Han Dynasty to send troops to the Western Regions to send supplies, and the capital could only fight hard by the Duhufu itself.
In short, Ren Shang's new policy, the dissatisfaction of the Western Regions, the intervention of the Northern Xiongnu and Guishan, the instability of the Eastern Han Dynasty's high-level, coupled with the natural disasters of the next ten years, the Xiqiang rebellion...... When these reasons add up, it's completely fatal!
Therefore, in February 106 AD, Emperor Han He died. Only half a year later, in September 106 AD, several rebellious states in the Western Regions formed a coalition army and slaughtered the Shule region where the capital was located.
After learning this news, the Eastern Han Dynasty quickly sent Liang Qing, the deputy captain of the Western Regions, to transfer 5,000 elite cavalry from the Hexi region to quickly reinforce the capital. However, after Liang Qing arrived with his troops, Ren Shang had temporarily repelled the rebels of the Western Regions.
caused such a big mess, Ren Shang naturally couldn't have done nothing. After that, the Eastern Han Dynasty capital quickly ordered Ren Shang to return to the capital and explain the situation in detail. As for the Western Regions, it was Duan Xi, the cavalry commander, who took over the position of the protector of the Western Regions.
Compared with Ren Shang, Duan Xi should be considered more cautious. But at this time, on the side of the Western Regions, a wind of rebellion had already taken shape, and even if Duan Xi was cautious, it would be difficult to suppress this trend.
So, shortly after Ren Shang left, the rebels attacked again. Under the command of Duan Xi, although the Duhu Mansion later held Qiuzi with great difficulty, it did not completely collapse the Western Regions. But after this rebellion, the key passage on the northern side of the Western Regions was occupied by the rebellious small countries in the Western Regions.
At the same time, large-scale natural disasters began to break out at this time on the Central Plains side. Even if Duan Xi wanted to continue Tuntian, he would not be able to support this consumption on the side of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Therefore, in the middle of 107 AD, after a high-level meeting and discussion in the Eastern Han Dynasty, everyone finally faced huge financial pressure and had to decide to withdraw all the Tuntian soldiers and officials of the Western Regions Protectorate and temporarily abandon the Western Regions. At the same time, the establishment of the Western Regions Protectorate was also temporarily abolished by the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In this way, Duan Xi, who was ordered in danger, became the last protector of the Western Regions Metropolitan Protectorate.
This is the general history of the Eastern Han Dynasty's loss of the Western Regions after Ban Chao's death.
Speaking of which, the history of the loss of the Western Regions in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty has actually been finished. However, after this history, there is actually an end.
The first is Ren Shang.
After losing the Western Regions, although Ren Shang was reprimanded, in the final analysis, he was also well-intentioned before and wanted to strengthen his control over the Western Regions. So in the end, the high-level officials of the Eastern Han Dynasty did not punish him too much, but let him go to the west to continue to be a general.
But what no one expected was that this decision would become the biggest decision mistake in the entire middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
After Ren Shang arrived in the west, Xiqiang was in rebellion at that time. So it didn't take long for Ren Shang to follow Empress Dowager Deng's eldest brother Deng Qiu and lead troops to quell the Xiqiang rebellion.
But as a result, I don't know how this battle was fought at that time, this Eastern Han army was directly ambushed by Xiqiang. Especially the army directly under Ren Shang's command, more than 8,000 people were wiped out by Xiqiang in one go!
Such failures were extremely rare throughout the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
And Ren Shang's failure this time also caused a big hole in the western defense line of the Eastern Han Dynasty. After that, the Eastern Han Dynasty had to spend huge military resources to solve the problem of Xiqiang while facing natural disasters.
So, for the next ten years, Ren Shang stayed in the west and was responsible for dealing with the Qiang people. According to the speculation of later historians, this battle to pacify Xiqiang, which lasted for more than ten years, cost a total of more than 24 billion military spending!
This is undoubtedly a very terrifying figure! You must know that in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the annual national tax revenue was only more than 4 billion. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the national tax revenue of the Eastern Han Dynasty has increased a lot. But these few years happened to be the most difficult period for the Eastern Han Dynasty. Therefore, this military expenditure is almost about to crush the finances of the entire Eastern Han Dynasty.
Of course, in the past ten years, Ren Shang himself has made a lot of contributions, and his status has become higher and higher, which can be regarded as making a lot of contributions.
However, more than ten years later, when this war was finally over, Ren Shang made a big mistake again. At that time, on the battlefield of the Western Front, Ren Shang was already the second person. Only Empress Dowager Deng's cousin, Deng Zun, has a slightly higher status than him. And after the battle was over, Ren Shang directly falsely reported his battle in order to compete with Deng Zun!
Falsely reporting the record, which was a great sin at the time. Therefore, when Ren Shang's false report on his achievements was discovered, Empress Dowager Deng could only order a thorough investigation. As a result, this thorough investigation revealed that Ren Shang not only falsely reported his achievements, but also embezzled more than 10 million yuan in military expenses and violated the law many times in the army.
These charges are added together, and Ren Shang is completely hopeless. In the end, Ren Shang was directly dismissed from all his positions, and was taken back to the capital, where he was beheaded on the street in the downtown area, and all his family property was confiscated after his death.
This is Ren Shang's final ending.
Secondly, there is the mess in the Western Regions.
With the retreat of Duan Xi with his troops, the Eastern Han temporarily lost control of the Western Regions. But in this way, without the Western Regions, the Silk Road was broken, and the Eastern Han Dynasty lost a huge trade route.
So, in 119 AD, when the Eastern Han Dynasty finally put down the Xiqiang rebellion and survived the natural disaster, the Empress Dowager Deng planned to regain control of the Western Regions again.
However, if you want to regain control of the Western Regions, it must be very difficult. Especially the selection of people, that is the most important.
And in the end, Empress Dowager Deng chose Ban Chao's son, Ban Yong. Later, it was with Ban Yong's efforts that the Eastern Han Dynasty once again took the Western Regions. After controlling the Western Regions this time, the Eastern Han Dynasty did not build the Western Regions Protectorate, but launched another set of preparations, the Western Regions Changshi Mansion.
And Ban Yong, who was later appointed as the chief of the Western Regions, took over his father's class. In the following twenty years, Ban Yong worked hard in the Western Regions and restored his father's glory.
Of course, further back, that's Ban Yong's story.
To sum up, the two generations of the Ban family, father and son, have definitely made great contributions to the Eastern Han Dynasty after decades of experience in the Western Regions. Without the efforts of the Ban family's father and son, whether the Eastern Han Dynasty could stably control the Western Regions for a long time may still be a question.
It is precisely for this reason that many historians in later generations have expressed a sigh.
If Ban Chao had retired and his son would have taken over directly, perhaps, the Eastern Han Dynasty would not have lost more than ten years in the Western Regions.