During the Three Kingdoms period, the Dongwu government once sent people to cross the sea to Liaodong, which can be called the greatest "thousands of miles to ride alone" during the Three Kingdoms period.
The time is in the first year of Qinglong (233 AD), and the protagonists of the story are not one, but four: Qin Dan, Du De, Huang Qiang, and Zhang Qun, all of whom are Sun Quan's courtiers. This historical story was originally recorded in the "Book of Wu" by Wei Zhao, the Taishi of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms, and later Sima Guang moved this story to the "Zizhi Tongjian".
At the beginning of the first year of Qinglong (233 AD), Gongsun Yuan sent people to Dongwu to call his ministers, Sun Quan was very happy, so in March, he sent the widow Taichang Zhang Mi, Zhijin Wu Xu Yan, and the general He Da to lead more than 10,000 troops, "Jinbao treasure loan, Jiuxi preparation", to reward Gongsun Yuan, and named Gongsun Yuan as the king of Yan. Most of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty felt that Gongsun Yuan's move was deceitful, and thought that as long as a few hundred people were sent, it would be enough. But they were all rejected by Sun Quan. For this reason, there was a quarrel between Zhang Zhao and Sun Quan to the point where "weeping was rampant; Lord Wu threw his sword on the ground and wept with him, and then sent Mi and Yan to Zhao to say that he was not going to be angry, saying that he was not in trouble; Lord Wu hated him, and the soil blocked his door, and Zhao sealed it with soil inside." However, later facts proved that Zhang Zhao and the ministers' exhortations were correct.
Is Sun Quan's move wrong?
To a certain extent, Soochow's overseas expansion journey can be said to be a last resort, and the Soochow regime needed to expand its territory if it wanted to survive under the three-legged pattern. However, with the strength of Eastern Wu, to eat Cao Wei is tantamount to a fool's dream, and Shu Han, who is in danger of mountains and rivers, is not something that Eastern Wu will be able to win for a while and a half.
Moreover, under the strong state of Cao Wei, the relationship between Eastern Wu and Shu Han was actually cold, so it was impossible for Eastern Wu to set Shu Han as the main target. Throughout the Three Kingdoms period, although wars broke out between Shu and Wu over the Jingzhou issue, most of the time Shu and Wu were allies against Cao Wei. Since Cao Wei can't fight and Shu Han can't fight, Soochow can only choose to develop overseas. At the same time, Soochow also had unique advantages in overseas development: all the land of Shu and Han in the Three Kingdoms was deep inland, and it lacked the geographical conditions to expand overseas; in Cao Wei's sea area, the Bohai Sea, which was an inland sea, occupied a large area; in contrast, it was actually Soochow that really had the smooth conditions to the ocean.
While visiting Yizhou, Bozhou, and Zhuya (Hainan Island), Soochow also set his sights on the Gongsun clan in northern Liao.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the heroes rose together, and later, after continuous mergers and acquisitions, the tripartite forces of Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu rose up, while the other heroes basically disappeared. However, there was also a separatist regime that survived the rise of the masses. In the first year of Chuping (190 AD), Gongsun Du became the Taishou of Liaodong. During his tenure, Gongsun Du exterminated more than 100 wealthy clans in the territory, thus establishing his absolute authority in Liaodong County, and in fact developed into a separatist force in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Gongsun Du also conquered Zhang Haidong and conquered Waiyi: the surrounding Xianbei, Karasuma, Buyeo, and Goguryeo were almost all beaten by him, and he also took advantage of the war in the Central Plains to cross the sea to take Donglai counties in the north of the Jiaodong Peninsula.
After the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's two sons, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, went to Gongsun Jiakang, who had seized Liaodong. At this time, the head of the Gongsun family had been replaced by Gongsun Kang, the son of Gongsun Du. Gongsun Kang naturally knew that Liaodong's strength was by no means enough to resist Cao Cao, the overlord of northern China, so he beheaded Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi and gave their heads to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao was busy preparing for the war in the south, so he agreed to let the Gongsun family maintain semi-independence on the premise of subjugating himself, so the Gongsun family in Liaodong became a separatist force nominally subservient to Cao Wei.
In the second year of Jiahe (233 AD), Sun Quan sent Zhang Mi, Xu Yan and others to cross the sea to Liaodong with gold and jade treasures, and established Sun Yuan as the king of Yan.
Gongsun Yuan originally had a ghost in his heart, and after Zhang Mi and Xu Yan arrived in Xiangping, Liaodong, Gongsun Yuan immediately dismantled the officers and soldiers of Eastern Wu and prepared to inflict harm. In Gongsun Yuan's action to kill the envoys of Eastern Wu, only Qin Dan, Zhang Qun, Du De, and Huang Jiang escaped over the wall.
At that time, Zhang Qun had a sore knee in his knee, and the three of them took turns to help him walk six or seven hundred miles in the rugged valley. Later, Zhang Qun's injuries became more and more serious, and for the safety of everyone, he asked the three of them to abandon themselves to escape alone, but Dude said: "Thousands of miles away, life and death together, I can't bear it." So Qin Dan and Huang Qiang explored the way in front, and Du De was responsible for taking care of Zhang Qun, living on wild vegetables and mountain fruits.
After the two left the mountain, they walked for a few more days before they realized that they were already in Goguryeo. According to the "Legend of Karasuma Xianbei Dongyi", Goguryeo is 1,000 miles east of Liaodong, and the capital Marudu Mountain is now the northwest of Ji'an, Jilin Province, with a land area of about 2,000 li and 30,000 household registrations.
In order to fulfill their wish to return to the country, the two had an idea, claiming that Sun Quan had sent them to "edict the palace of the Guryeo throne and its main book, and give them a gift", but the gift they sent was robbed by Gongsun Yuan. And this Goguryeo king actually believed Qin Dan and Du De, not only sent people to pick up Du De and Zhang Qun who were in trouble, but also "sent 25 people in soapy clothes, sent Dan and others back to Wu, and was called a minister, a thousand mink skins and ten chicken skins."
After all these twists and turns, Qin Dan, Zhang Qun, Du De, and Huang Qiang were able to return to Soochow safely. When Qin Dan and others saw Sun Quan, they couldn't help but "be sad and happy".
And Sun Quan was also moved by their feat, and promoted all four to lieutenants. Qin Dan, Zhang Qun, Du De, and Huang Qiang not only escaped death and returned to their hometowns, but also promoted ethnic relations.
At the same time, the return of the four not only reflects the ability of Qin Dan, Zhang Qun, Du De, and Huang Qiang to adapt to changes, but also shows the moral integrity of "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness" that the Chinese nation has always advocated.
However, although the story of the courtiers of Eastern Wu who "rode alone for a thousand miles" is more tortuous and bizarre, with ups and downs, compared with the false Guan Yunchang who rode alone for thousands of miles, how many people in later generations will remember it? We should cherish the memory of Qin Dan, Zhang Qun, Du De, and Huang Qiang, four Chinese people with lofty ideals who traveled thousands of miles, were not afraid of hardships, and did not end up in a foreign country by overcoming all difficulties.
With such an experience, it will be a touching blockbuster to make a movie!