Yanran Mountain is the place where Dou Xian climbed and carved stones after his northern conquest of the Xiongnu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and is a famous mountain in the history of Han-Hungarian relations. In 89 AD, at the request of the Southern Xiongnu, the Eastern Han Dynasty sent the general Dou Xian to lead an expedition. The Northern Xiongnu were trapped internally and externally, and their strength was weakened. After the Battle of Jiluoshan, the Northern Xiongnu were defeated, and the Commander of the Han Army, Dou Xian, ascended Yanran Mountain and carved a stone Legong. The Jigong inscription is the "Fengyanran Mountain Inscription" referred to in the "Anthology". For the next three years, the Han Dynasty and the Southern Xiongnu continued to pursue the Northern Xiongnu in the north of the desert, forcing them to migrate west. Although the Han Dynasty completely removed the threat of the Huns, it failed to exercise effective jurisdiction over the Mongolian plateau. Since then, the Mongolian plateau has successively risen from the Xianbei, Rouran, Turkic, Xueyantuo, Uighurs, Mongols and other ethnic groups, and continues to evolve its interaction with the Central Plains Dynasty. Yanran Mountain, only fragments of historical memory remain in the literature.
Yanran Mountain should be the ancient Name of the Xiongnu language of a mountain range, which mountain does it correspond to today in Mongolia? The historical records of the past have not left a clear answer to this question. The Qing Dynasty Official Revision National Geography Chronicle of Jiaqing Reconstruction refers to Hangai Mountain, "this is the ancient Yanran Mountain"[1]. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, ding Qian, a historian of history, systematically studied the mountains and rivers of mobei, and also believed that Hangai Mountain was Yanran Mountain[2]. Since then, this statement has become a common opinion. However, Hangai Mountain is vast and stretches, and the branches also have their own names. Is Yanran Mountain all it is? Or is it just a vein? Some people have also pointed out that Kent Mountain is Yanran Mountain, but there are not many supporters. Due to the lack of archaeological materials and field investigations, research on the location of Yanran Mountain has been stalled. The Japanese scholar Sato Nagarjun once tried to use phonetics to interpret Xiongnu place names, pointing out that the meaning of "Yanran Mountain" may be "sacred mountain", but the location still follows the hangai mountain.
In 2017, Mongolia discovered the Hanwen Moya of the Fengyanran Mountain Inscription, confirming that Dou Xian carved the Yanran Mountain of Shi Legong, which is the mountain where the Moya Cliff at the southern foot of the Dele Gehangai Mountain is located.[4] Delegar Hangai Mountain is located in the middle reaches of the Onkin River, in the middle of the mountains and hills southeast of Hangai Mountain, northeast of the Gobi Altai Mountains and eastern Mongolia. This place is in line with the route of Dou Xian's march, and also in line with the traffic route between the north of the desert and the central plains, but it is a certain distance from the traditional understanding, and at the same time there are discrepancies with the literature. Some scholars have written that "according to historical records and the analysis of archaeological materials, the real Yanran Mountain should be located in the Huni River Basin, a tributary of the Selenge River" [5]. This theory synthesizes the archaeological materials of the Xiongnu cemetery found in the Huni River Valley, and also pays attention to the Daoli account of the Han army's exit. However, it seems inappropriate to use "more than three thousand miles" as a straight line calculation. The author has conducted field investigations of the cliffs of the "Fengyanran Mountain Inscription", and has also traveled north along the Wengjin River, through the valley area, over the southeast foothills of hangai Mountain to Hala and Linchuan; and then traveled west along the Tamir River to the Hanui River Valley, a tributary of the upper reaches of the Selenge River, and visited the archaeological site of the Gaole Maodu No. 2 Xiongnu Tomb Group that is being excavated, so he has a preliminary understanding of the physical geography and archaeological dynamics of Mongolia, and has some thoughts on the location of Yanran Mountain and the Dao recorded in historical records. This article was specially written to see and teach the Fang family.
I. The "Yanran Mountain" recorded in the historical record
The Xiongnu were one of the early nomadic peoples of northern China. During the Warring States period, the Xiongnu stood on the Mongolian plateau in a unique nomadic way, adjacent to the three kingdoms of Yan, Zhao and Qin, and carried out continuous exchanges and integration. The Huns, with their political systems, taxation measures, and cultural beliefs suited to nomadic customs, were able to use maps to guide marches. In the twenty-second year of Jianwu (46), the Southern Xiongnu wanted to attach themselves to the Han Dynasty, and "Bimi sent the Han Guo Heng to serve the Map of the Xiongnu" to express sincerity.[6] It is called "map", and it seems that it should be marked with the names of mountains and rivers, but it has not been seen and circulated, and the content cannot be explored.
When the Han Dynasty interacted with the Xiongnu, the military and soldiers went out, the emissaries came and went, or the Huns returned to the Han and the normal trade exchanges, they could bring back the knowledge of the mountains, rivers and rivers of the Xiongnu region. With the help of the accumulation of such knowledge, Sima Qian made an unprecedented single transmission for the strong neighbors of his time; the relevant knowledge continued to accumulate, and Ban Gu and Fan Ye could inherit Sima Qian's tradition. Therefore, from the "Records of History" to the "Book of Han" and the "Book of Later Han", the Xiongnu biography and related parts have left many names of mountains, rivers, and even cities in the north of the desert, such as Shan Yuting, Longcheng, Zhuo evil mountain, Yanran Mountain, Zhijushui, Xiongnu River and so on. According to the author's rough statistics, there are as many as 43 place names of the Northern Xiongnu in the "first three histories". The Chronicle of History states that the Huns "did not have a document, but were bound by words", that is, the Huns had a unique language. Looking at the Xiongnu place names recorded in the "First Three Histories", such as Yanran Mountain, Zhuo Evil Mountain, Zhiju Shui, Khotanese Mountain, Guyan Mountain, Punu Shui, etc., the nouns do not mean similar to Chinese, but should be the language of the Xiongnu.
"Yanran Mountain" as a mountain name, in the historical books appeared not many times, the first time in the "Book of Han , Biography of the Xiongnu". Compared with Sima Qian, Ban Gu knew more about the history of the Xiongnu in the past two hundred years, and had personally visited the desert steppe twice. Therefore, the Book of Han, which he wrote, recorded a large number of place names of the Northern Xiongnu, and also mentioned "Yanran Mountain" for the first time:
The general of the Second Division will be out of the jam, and the Xiongnu will make the Right Metropolitan And Wei Lu riding five thousand horses to attack the Han army Yufu Yanggushan Narrow. The Second Division dispatched two thousand hu horsemen to fight with the subordinate state, and the captured soldiers were scattered, killing and wounding hundreds of people. The Han army took advantage of the victory to chase the north, to the city of Lady Fan, and the Xiongnu ran away, daring not to distance themselves from the enemy. The wife of the second master sits on the witch and reaps the harvest, and smells the fear. His servant Hu Yafu also avoided the crime and joined the army, saying that the second master knew: "The lady's family is in the official's house, if you are not satisfied, it is suitable for the prison meeting, and the north of the qiju can be seen again?" "The second master was suspicious and wanted to go deep to ask for merit, so he went north to the water of Zhiju. The prisoners were gone, and the Second Division sent an escort army of 20,000 to ride to the waters of Zhiju. One day, when Zuo Xianwang Zuo Da general, 20,000 horses and the Han army fought together for one day, the Han army killed the left general, and many people were killed and wounded. Commander Shi and The Commander of the Army, Lieutenant Hou Xunqu, said: "The general has a different heart, and wants to endanger the people and seek merit, and he is afraid that he will be defeated." "Conspire to be a second master." The second division heard about it, cut off the history, and led the troops to the rapid evil Wuyanran Mountain. Shan Yu knew that the Han army was tired, and he covered the second division with 50,000 horses, killing and injuring many people. In the front of the Han army, several feet deep, it struck sharply from behind, and the army was greatly defeated, and the second division fell. Shan Yusu knew that his Han generals and nobles, as their wives, were favored by the wei law. [8]
This was a Han-Hungarian war that took place in the third year of the Han Dynasty (90 BC) of the Han Dynasty. According to reports, the general Li Guangli of the Second Division went deep alone and fought fiercely with the Xiongnu at Yujushui in the north of the desert, and then led his troops back to Yanran Mountain, where he was defeated and surrendered to the enemy. The "ZhijuShui" and "Yanran Mountain" that appear here are far away in the hinterland of the Xiongnu in northern Mobei, which is an important geographical coordinate for the study of Xiongnu place names. Zhi jushui in the north, Yanran Mountain in the south, the future generations to the water than the Linge River, to the mountain than hangai mountain, the location relationship is undoubtedly righteous, but the genus is speculated. It should be noted that the complete expression of "Yanran Mountain" that appears here is "Swift Evil Wuyanran Mountain", what is its significance? Is it the same mountain as Yanran Mountain? These two issues are not yet known.
The second historical record of "Yanran Mountain" is the Northern Expedition of Dou Xian during the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the first year of the Yongyuan Dynasty (89), Dou Xian led more than 40,000 people in the combined forces of Han And Xiong and Xi Rong and Qiang, through Jilusai, Manyi Valley, and Liyang Sai divided into three routes, and after crossing the desert, they encountered the main force of the Northern Xiongnu at Jiluo Mountain. After the fierce battle, the Northern Xiongnu were defeated and the Han army won. Dou Xian "climbed Yanran Mountain, carved Stone Legong, Ji Hanweide":
(Dou) Xian was afraid of the curse and begged to attack the Xiongnu to redeem himself. HuinanDan yu asked for troops in the Northern Expedition, naibai xian che riding general, jinyin purple silk, the official subordinate Yi Sikong, with Jin Wu Geng Bing as the deputy, the fifth colonel of the Northern Army, Liyang, Yongying, the knights of the twelve counties of Yuanbian, and the Qianghu soldiers. Next year, Xian and Bingge rode 4,000 horses and the Southern Xiongnu Zuogu Li Wang Shi Zi Wan out of Shuofang Jilu Sai, Nandan Yu Tun Tu River, and rode Wan Yu out of the Manyi Valley, the Du Liao general Deng Hong and Yuanbian Yi rode out of Qianghu Eight Thousand, and the Zuoxian King An Guowan rode out of The Liangyang Sai, all of which would be Zhuo Evil Mountain. Xian dispatched the lieutenants Yan Pan, Sima Gengkui, and Geng Tan to send the generals Zuo Gu Li Wang Shizi and Right Huyan Wang Shu Zi to ride more than 10,000 horses, and fought with Beidan Yu at Jiluo Mountain, and the great destruction, the collapse of the people, Shan Yu fled, pursued the various departments, and then approached the private canal Than the Sea. Beheaded the king below 13,000 levels, and obtained more than a million heads of horses, cattle, sheep, and camels. Therefore, Wen Lishu, Ri Zhi, Wen Wu, Fuqu Wang Liu Yan and other eighty-one people led the people to surrender, and more than 200,000 people before and after. Xian and Bingsui climbed Yanran Mountain, went to Sai for more than three thousand miles, carved Shi Legong, Ji Hanweide, and Ling Ban Guzuo mingyue... [9]
Here, Zhuo Evil Mountain, Jiluo Mountain, Yanran Mountain, and Private Canal Biyun Sea are all in the north of the desert. The Gobi area between present-day China and Mongolia, known as the Great Desert in ancient times, also known as the Hanhai Sea, is the natural boundary between the south and the desert and the north. The Huns were the first to conquer the Gobi and travel freely through it. In the process of fighting against the Xiongnu, the Han army improved its horseback riding skills and also had the ability to cross the desert, which is called "the end of the curtain" in historical records. In the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (119 BC), Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi led an army from Dingxiang and Dai Commandery to the north, and attacked the Xiongnu for the first time. Since then, the Han army has not only successfully closed the curtain many times, but also opened up a new route from Juyanhai. According to historical data, the Han army seems to be more familiar with Zhuo Evil Mountain, and each time it splits its way to send troops, it will meet here. Dou Xian won the Northern Expedition, and once "climbed Yanran Mountain, went to Sai for more than three thousand miles, and carved stone Legong", indicating that Yanran Mountain was more distant than Zhuo Evil Mountain, so it was more symbolic.
Dou Xian's inscription "Carved Stone Legong" is the "Fengyanran Mountain Inscription" circulated by later generations, which briefly explains the marching route of the Han army:
Suiling Gao Que, lower chicken deer, through moraine halogen, absolute desert, cut Wen Yu to provoke the drum, blood corpses to dye the edium. Then the four schools crossed, the star stream camet, the strip was flat, and the wild was untouched. So the domain was destroyed, and the area was reversed, and the map was passed on, and the mountains and rivers were exhausted. Overdo zhuo evil, enter An hou, take yanran, pollute the teasing strategy, and burn the dragon court of the old man. [10]
Later, Ban Gu also wrote "Ode to the Northern Expedition of the Che Riding General", which once again reviewed the han army route:
Then he trampled on evil spirits, crossed the prayers, and went through the court, and the frontier was lonely. The Mountains of Yuanyou, the Fierce River, the Marquis of Lin'an, the Ruins of Yi Yanju and Yu Yan, the Relics of Gu Weihuo, the Place of Yi Rank... [11]
There is no Yanran Mountain here, but the ode still has the words "Feng Yanran to longgao, Guangyun to Hongkuang, Ming Ling Tao to Le Chong, Qin Emperor Yuan to Youzhen".
"Yanran Mountain" appeared in historical records three times during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. According to the Book of Wei, in the second year of the Divine Dynasty (429), emperor Tuoba Tao of taiwu personally conquered Northern Rouran:
In May, second to the south of the desert, the sheriff attacked lightly, to The Chestnut Water, and the Great Sandalwood crowd ran west. Brother Pi Li Xiandian fell to the east, and will go to Da Tan, encounter the Han army, and Han Zhong will ride and attack it, killing hundreds of its people. The great sandalwood was shocked, and his clan party, burned the hut, and went west, not knowing where it was. So the country scattered, scurrying into the valley, livestock and wild, and no one watched. Shizu Yuanlishui traveled westward, and the Han general Dou Xian died. In June, the car drove after rabbit garden water and went to Pingcheng for 3,700 miles. The division of the army searched, east to Hanhai, west to Zhangye Water, north to Yanran Mountain, east and west more than 5,000 miles, north and south 3,000 miles. [12] The Book of Wei records a considerable amount of information, including Yanran Mountain, Lishui, ShuyuanShui, Zhangye Water, Hanhai, Dou Xian's Former Fortress, and other place names, as well as "3,700 miles to Pingcheng" and "more than 5,000 miles from east to west, and 3,000 miles from north to south". If these place names can determine one or two locations, they will help coordinate the study of Xiongnu geography.
The Book of Southern Qi and the Book of Liang also record Yanran Mountain. The Book of Southern Qi contains:
In the second year of Shengming (478), Taizu (Xiao Daocheng) assisted the government, and sent the general Wang Hongqi to make Rui Rui, and Ke Qi's joint attack on Wei. In August of the first year of Jianyuan (479), Rui Rui sent 300,000 horsemen to invade the south and go to Pingcheng for 700 miles, Wei Yu refused to defend and did not dare to fight, and Rui Rui returned from hunting under Yanran Mountain. [13] The southern Dynasty Liu Song joined forces with Rouran to attack northern Wei, and the Book of Liang also records:
Song Shengmingzhong (478), sent Wang Hongluo to yan, and led him to fight Wei. In the first year of Qi Jianyuan (479), the Hong Rail began to reach his country, and the king led 300,000 horsemen to ride more than 3,000 miles southeast of Yanran Mountain, and the Wei people did not dare to fight. [14]
"Rui Rui" is rouran, also known as "creep" and "ruru", which is another nomadic people who occupy the desert plateau after the Xiongnu and Xianbei. According to the Book of Southern Qi and the Book of Liang, and the Book of Wei, Rouran's dispatch of troops did not trigger a large-scale war, and "the creep led more than 100,000 Southern Kou to the end of the country" [15]. Therefore, the Biography of Wei Shu Ruru does not even mention this war. The Northern Wei dynasty repeatedly attacked Rouran, forcing him to move to the area north of Yanran Mountain, and the two sides basically maintained peaceful relations during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen. At the instigation of Liu Song's emissary Wang Hongluo, the Rouran people crossed the Yanran Mountains and went south again. However, the world suddenly changed, Xiao Daocheng usurped the imperial power of Liu Song, did not send envoys to Rouran, and did not send troops to the Northern Expedition on a large scale. Therefore, the Rouran people did not return. The records of the three histories of the Southern and Northern Dynasties have also been recorded in the "History of the North", and most of them are still contained, and no valuable information is found.
After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the desert steppe was successively occupied by turks, Xueyantuo, Uighurs, Khitans, Jurchens, Mongols and other ethnic groups. The mountains and rivers are still the same, but the names have changed a lot. Such as yudujin mountain and Lanweng River in the Turkic period, Wude Mountain and Kun River in the Uighur period, Hanghailing and Wangji River in the Mongolian Yuan period, and so on. Yanran Mountain, with the change of ethnicity, has gradually been forgotten by the plateau people, but its name still appears in Chinese historical records from time to time. In the Tang Dynasty, the Prefecture of Qiangfu was set up to administer the various ministries of northern Mobei, and the prefecture capital was named after the Xiongnu of the Han Dynasty, such as Yanran Prefecture, Junji Prefecture, Jianlin Prefecture, Jinwei Governor's Mansion, and Hanhai Governor's Mansion. Whether there is a certain connection between Yanran Prefecture and Yanran Mountain is unknown. Where Yanran Prefecture is located, there is no clear answer at present. This problem is still to be continued in Mongolian archaeology, such as the discovery of the epitaph of The Servant Gu Yitu, which can basically determine the geographical outlook of Jinwei Prefecture .[16]
The Tang Dynasty's management of Mobei enabled the Tang people to have a more detailed grasp of the routes and miles to and from Mobei. For example, the New Book of Tang records, "In Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong asked the kingdoms of Zhubo to be far and near, and Wang Zhongsi of Hongxuqing used the "Map of the Western Regions" to correct them, and there were only a dozen kingdoms. Later, The Zhenyuan Chancellor Jia Yan examined the most detailed number of fang public opinions, from the border state into the Four Yi, translated by the Hongxu, no biji. [17] "The seven main roads mentioned in it are "the Four Days of descending from the city into the Uighur Road", and the location of the road and the distance of the road are recorded in detail. The Taiping Huanyu Chronicle of the Song Chucheng book quotes the Jizhou Tu yun: "Introducing the Three Paths of Sai, since the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Wei Dynasties, there have been only three ways to go out of the Northern Expedition before and after..." and quoting the "Into the Setu", detailing the journey from the north of Jinyang to Hanhai, one of which is:
...... Another way is from Pingcheng northwest to Yunzhong, then fifty miles northwest to Wuyuan, two hundred and fifty miles northwest to Woye Town, two hundred and fifty miles northwest to Gaoque, two hundred and fifty miles northwest to Lang Junshu, three thousand miles north to Yanran Mountain, and another thousand miles north to Hanhai, and from Jinyang to Hanhai. [18]
The territory ruled by the Song Dynasty did not reach the north of the desert, and the account of the Taiping Huanyu should be the accumulation of Tang people's knowledge. According to this account, the journey from Gaoquesai to Yanran Mountain has reached 3,250 miles, which is similar to the "more than 3,000 miles" of the Han army. In this regard, Yan Gengwang has done special research and made a road map. According to the strict map, from the loop of the river to the Onkin River, across the mountain into the Orkhon Valley Uighur Tooth Tent (present-day Ancient City of Harabaragas in Houhangai Province, Mongolia), that is, the Tang Dynasty's "Heavenly Khan Road". This road is approximately straight, similar to the Wooden Neighbor Station Road in the Mongolian Yuan Period. The route of the Han Dynasty, after crossing the desert, needed to march north to Zhuo evil mountain, which was more tortuous than that of the Tang Dynasty and later.
After the Tang Dynasty and before the Qing Dynasty, there were also historical books that recorded the mobei region, including the "History of Liao", "Jin History", "Yuan History", as well as "Changchun Zhenren Journey to the West", "Sungai Drunk Collection", "Lingbei Jixing" and other chronicles and anthologies, but none of them mentioned Yanran Mountain. The Song people have recorded that Yanshan Mountain is Yanran Mountain and imitates moyas, which is not enough to take [20]. In contrast, the "Chronicle of the Unification of the Ming Dynasty" and the "Minutes of Reading the History of Public Opinion" are still more realistic, but they are still vague and do not help answer the question of the location of Yanran Mountain.
II. "Yanran Mountain" from the Perspective of Annotation Science and Modern Historical Geography
Where is Yanran Mountain located? Let's look first at the inquiry of ancient annotation. Annotating the meaning and pronunciation of words verbatim, each involving historical place names, including Yanran Mountain. The Book of Han and the Book of Later Han, the earliest records of the name "Yanran Mountain", formed a wave of annotation in the Tang Dynasty. Among them, Yan Shigu's annotations on the Book of Han and Li Xian's annotations on the Book of later Han had a great influence.
How does Yan Shigu solve "Yanran Mountain"? Its saying: "Su Evil Wu, the place name is also, Yanran Mountain is in it." Swallow a thousand anti. [21] Yan Shigu was a generation of famous Confucians, who were very knowledgeable, and only understood Yanran Mountain as a mountain name, and simply split the term "Swift Evil Wu Yanran Mountain". Looking at its notes, there is no study of the geography of northern Mobei, only the annotations of individual mountains and rivers as place names, and how they are pronounced. For example, "Khotanese Mountain" is noted as "窴音徒千反"; "Floating Tho Well" is noted as "Tho Yin Zi Yu Anti"; "Junji Mountain" and "JiluoShan" are noted as "Junyin Jun". Sound chicken. [22] Li Xian's annotations to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty "re-exegeted", but there is no interpretation of the geography of northern Mobei, including "Yanran Mountain". The Yuanren Husan Provincial Phonetic Annotation "Zizhi Tongjian" mentions That Li Guangli's army defeated the evil Wuyanran Mountain, noting that "according to the Biography of the Xiongnu, Yanran Mountain was in the Xiongnu to speed up the evil Wudi"[23]; referring to Dou Xian's landing on Yanran Mountain, noting that "Tang Taizong had placed Yanran Prefecture with many indiscriminate lands." According to the "History of the North", Yanran Mountain is in the north of shuiyuan. [24] Gu Zuyu's Minutes of Reading the History of Public Opinion also records Yanran Mountain, and the argument does not come out of Hu San Province.[25]
Confined to geographical knowledge, traditional annotations always mention Yanran Mountain, but there is no way to ink its location. It was not until the introduction of new western geography knowledge and the rise of historical geography in recent times that related research turned around. As we all know, Western geographical knowledge and technology were introduced to China in the late Ming Dynasty, and new-style geographical surveying and mapping and map compilation gradually attracted the attention of the world. The Qing Dynasty mixed north and south, and the territory was vast, and the Zhongyuan scholars had a direct understanding of the mountains and rivers in the north of the desert. At the time of Kangqian, the Qing Dynasty twice surveyed and compiled maps, forming two geographical atlases, namely the "Imperial Public Opinion Overview Map" and the "Inner Province Public Opinion Map", both of which have map plates of Mobei. The Kangxi Emperor also initiated the compilation of the Great Qing Unification Chronicle, and by the twenty-second year of Daoguang (1842), a total of 3 "Great Qing Unification Zhi" were compiled, namely Kangxi's "Great Qing Yi Tongzhi", Qianlong's "Qing Dynasty Unified Zhi" and Jiaqing's "Reconstruction of the Great Qing Unification Zhi". Among them, the Qianlong and Jiaqing dynasties have records of the historical evolution of northern Mongolia and the mountains and rivers. The Qing Dynasty's geographical mapping and map compilation of the whole country, as well as the compilation and revision of the national geographical general history with the participation of officials and scholars of the Manchu, Mongolian and Han ethnic groups, fully reflected the geographical vision of the period and provided a basis for future generations to understand and study the geography of northern Mobei.
The name "Yanran Mountain" is clearly described in the "Jiaqing Reconstruction and Unification Chronicle". Volume 544 details the mountains, rivers and monuments within the range of the four eighty-six banners of Khalkha Mongolia, including 5,000 miles from east to west and 3,000 miles from north to south, and involves 15 places in the Han Dynasty desert place names such as Wolfjuxu Mountain, Khotanyan Mountain, Junji Mountain, Zhuo Evil Mountain, and Yanran Mountain. Looking at the volume, the source, direction and length of the mountains and rivers in the north of the desert are recorded, and the judgment of the main trunk relationship of the river is also consistent with today. For example, the Aletan Mountain, "that is, the Ancient Golden Mountain, in the northwest of the Tess River, stretches for more than 2,000 miles." High into the Xiaohan, the snow does not disappear in the middle of summer, and it is the ancestor of the mountains in the northwest. [27] Describing Hang'ai Mountain, "north of the Orkun River, 2,000 miles north of Ningxia, Gansu, and more than 500 miles northwest of the Wengjin River." Its mountains are the tallest, the mountain range from the northwest of the Altan Mountains, east, to the orkhun, Tula waters for the Daxing'an, Kent mountains. It also bends north from the Dry Kuling Mountains in Shanxi, around the source of the waters flowing on the Selenge River, reaching the Russian border for more than a thousand miles. The Orkun and Tamir rivers all originate here. [28] Describing the Orkhun River, "this river is larger than Tula and smaller than Selenge". The Shu Weng Jin River, "originates in the southeast mountains where the source of the Orkun River is close, flows southeast, and flows for more than 700 miles in the flat land, and ends at Hulha Orenpo." The berth is also small, and it is eight hundred miles northwest of the Loop. [30] The above indicates that the Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle has a high degree of credibility.
Compared with the richness of the main text records, the book is extremely simple in terms of language and examination. For example, after "Yanran Mountain", the following words:
Dou Xianle Ming Yanran, since ancient times known as ExtremeLy Far. However, in the Book of Former Han, according to the Xiongnu, the second division of the Northern Division of Zhiju Zhishui killed the general Zuo and led the troops to the rapid evil Wuyanran Mountain. Although defeated and surrendered, its depth was farther than that of Dou Xian. Zhiju Shui (郅居水) is suspected to be the water of the Garden of Wei in the Book of Wei. [31]
According to the language, Yanran Mountain is intended to show that the general of the Second Division arrived at Zhijushui "more profound than Dou Xian", and does not point out its geographical prospects; referring to Hangai Mountain, that is, Yanran Mountain, is after the same volume "Hangai Mountain": "According to this, this is the ancient Yanran Mountain." [32] A careful examination of this simple statement is actually only a speculative judgment, and there is no documentary support. However, this record has had an important impact on later generations, and is the earliest source of the theory of Hangai Mountain, that is, Yanran Mountain.
Since then, from the "Mongolian Nomadic Chronicle" and "Shuofang Beicheng", to the "Later Han Shu Shu Evidence" and the "HanShu Xiongnu Biography Geographical History Examination", the historical geography of recent times has paid more and more attention to the study of desert place names. Among them, Ding Qian, a native of Zhejiang, is the most famous, and his "Geographical Examination of the Xiongnu Biography of the Hanshu" is the first academic work to conduct a comprehensive and systematic study of the place names of the Xiongnu in northern Mobei since the "First Three Histories" were written.
How does Ding Qian interpret the location of Yanran Mountain in this book? He believes that "the speed evil Wu, also zhuo evil mountain transliteration, and Yanran Mountain north and south side of the desert, so it is even called the speed evil Wu Yanran Mountain." The predecessor said that it was the southern foothills of Hangai Mountain, near it. [33] Cha Dingqian did not personally go to Mobei during his lifetime, so how did he examine Yanran Mountain? According to his own account, there are eight methods for governing historical geography: "One is to look at the ground, the second is to look at the situation, the third is to examine the direction, the fourth is to examine the distance, the fifth is to check the time and day, the sixth is to examine the path, the seventh is to distinguish the similarities and differences, and the eighth is to be suspicious." [34] None of the so-called "Eight Laws" refer to archaeology or fieldwork.
The "Geographical Examination of the Xiongnu Biography of the Hanshu" has made certain achievements, and has not only been cited by domestic historians of historical geography and ethnic history, but also used in many places by the Japanese scholar Uchida Yinfeng and others to translate the "History of the Equestrian Peoples (Zhengshi Beidi Biography)". Since the 1950s, a team of historical geography led by Tan Qijun has begun to compile a new Historical Atlas of China. The current "Historical Atlas of China" is often different from Ding Qian's old sayings, but several place names such as Yanran Mountain and Longcheng are consistent. It can be seen that the theory of Hangai Mountain, that is, Yanran Mountain, which was judged by the "Jiaqing Reconstruction and Unification Chronicle" and expounded by Ding Qian, was widely circulated. After the above analysis, the author believes that this theory is generally good, but after all, there is no literature to support it. The Hangai Mountains stretch for hundreds of kilometers, with many branches from north to south and each with its own name. Dou Xian ascended, or more than one mountain; but carved stone Legong, there will be only one place. Yanran Mountain, where is it located in the Hangai Mountains?
III. The "Yanran Mountain" Discovered by the Sino-Mongolian Joint Investigation
In 2017, a joint survey team was formed by the University of Inner Mongolia in China and Genghis Khan University in Mongolia to conduct archaeological surveys in del GalhangaiSumu, Central Gobi Province. The joint investigation team confirmed on the spot that the newly discovered Hanwen Mo cliff, namely the "Fengyanran Mountain Inscription", was the relics of Dou Xian's carved stone Legong. The discovery of Moya provides a key basis for this paper to explore the location of Yanran Mountain.
Moya geographical coordinates: longitude 104°33ʹ17.7ʹʹ, latitude 45°10ʹ40.4ʹʹ, altitude 1488 meters. Located in the southern foothills of Thelegarhanai Mountain, the cliff runs in an east-west direction, about 70 kilometers long, and the highest point is 1972 meters above sea level. The investigation revealed that the name Ofagle Hangai Mountain was formed in the 1930s, formerly known as "Inil Hairhan". The author later consulted the "Imperial Public Opinion Overview Map" and "Jiaqing Re-repairing the Unified Chronicle" to confirm that this statement is not false. The woodcut version of the Imperial View of the Imperial Opinion is marked with the name "Mount Eunil" at the intersection of 46° and 11° west, and its orientation is located south of Hangai Mountain, northeast of the Yongjin River, when it is the phonetic writing of the word "Inil Hairhan" (see Figure 1); the corresponding position of the copper engraving of the figure is marked in Manchu, and the Latin transliteration is "inil alin" (see Figure 2). The Chinese way of writing this mountain is also inherited in the Jiaqing Reconstruction chronicle "Uria Sutai Quantu" and "Kulun Tu", but it is written as "Ynell Mountain". "inil" is only written in Manchu and not Manchu, as to whether it is Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic or Khitan? What is its significance? Can it be consistent with Yanranshan in philology? Further research is yet to be done.
Moya is located at the southern foot of the Delegar Hangai Mountain, about 200 kilometers north of the Hangai Mountain Range. Hangai Mountain and Dele GehangAi Mountain, is the relationship between the main mountain and the remnants? The geographical topography of Mongolia is divided into three regions: the western mountains and the middle and eastern mountainous hills, as well as the southern Gobi region, and the Deleger hangai Mountain is located in the middle of the three terrain areas. The author thinks that the relationship between the location of the Delegarhanai Mountain and the Westward Onkin River seems to provide some useful understanding. The Wengjin River originates in the southern foothills of Hangai Mountain, runs from north to south, passes through the west of Delegar Hangai Mountain, and continues south, and finally enters the Gobi region. Judging by the relationship between the location of the mountain and the river, Dele geer Hangai Mountain should belong to the remnants of Hangai Mountain.
Since the Qing Dynasty, Hangai Mountain, that is, Yanran Mountain, has been said to be almost conclusive. As of now, there are only three dissenters, namely Huang Wenbi, Komai Yoshiaki and Uchida Yinfeng. Huang Wenbi, based on the "Map of Frontier Wars in Past Dynasties" edited by Ouyang Miao in the ninth year of the Republic of China, referred to "Yanran Mountain as Gurbancha Khan Mountain"[36]; when Komai Yoshiaki examined "Khotan yan mountain", he referred to "Yanran Mountain, Kent Mountain". In contrast, Uchida's statement is slightly cautious. His commentary on the "Swift Evil Wuyanran Mountain" reads: "This Yanran Mountain was not the Yanran Mountain that Dou Xian later went to plug more than 3,000 miles, and gai here is recorded as 'Swift Evil Wu's Yanran Mountain'. Zhang Xingtang's "History of Hanshu Xiongnu Geographical Names Present Interpretation" (Taiwan National Defense Research Institute, 1962) said: "Thirty miles east of present-day Xuanhua County, Chahar, there is also Yanran Mountain, as if the second division led troops to the rapid evil Wuyanran Mountain, or the Yanran Mountain in the east of Xuanhua County, to be examined." [38] Although the Uchida clan did not indicate exactly where Yanran Mountain was located, his research separated Yanran Mountain from the Wuyanran Mountain, believing that the former was the mountain ascended by Dou Xian, Ban Gu and others in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the latter was where Li Ling's soldiers in the Western Han Dynasty were defeated and captured. This understanding is obviously more rigorous than that of the Zizhi Tongjian, which directly reduces the "Rapid Evil Wuyanran Mountain" to "Yanran Mountain". Ding Qian also distinguished between these two mountains, referring to the "rapid evil Wu" as "Zhuo Evil Mountain transliteration, and Yanran Mountain north and south and facing the desert", such a statement is obviously unconvincing.
The discovery of the cliffs in the "Fengyanran Mountain Inscription" confirms that the southern foothills of the Dele gehangai Mountain are Yanran Mountain. On the other hand, the "Book of Southern Qi" records that it can be corroborated by two phases. The book is quoted above to reveal three important points:
First, the Rouran army has reached the land seven hundred miles north of the Northern Wei capital Pingcheng;
Second, the Rouran Army had hunted in Yanran Mountain;
Third, the Ruoran army returned north after hunting Yanran Mountain.
The political center of Ruoran is also in the area of the Northern Orkhon River Valley of Hangai Mountain, and after hunting Yanran Mountain, it is returned to the north, indicating that Yanran Mountain is south of Hangai Mountain. Although the distance from Dele gehangai Mountain to Pingcheng is more than 700 miles, this mountain is located on the northern edge of the desert, which is a place for the Ruoran army to advance and retreat. The Sino-Mongolian joint investigation found that there are large hunting grounds in the south of The Hangai Mountain, which the Mongolian investigators believe are left over from the Mongolian Yuan period. It is not known whether the Rouran people hunted here, but the information revealed in this record of the Book of Southern Qi is quite consistent with the location of the newly discovered cliffs, which should be noted.
However, the determination of the southern foothills of the Dele gehangai Mountain as Yanran Mountain is quite different from the numbers and spatial descriptions recorded in the historical records. According to the Book of later Han, Dou Xian went out for "more than three thousand miles"; according to the Book of Wei, Xianbei marched Ruoran to Shuyuanshui, "went to Pingcheng for three thousand seven hundred miles", and then crossed the Yanran Mountains in the north. The Book of Liang is dominated by Rouran, referring to its "more than three thousand miles southeast of Yanran Mountain, and the Wei people did not dare to fight." The Han army marched from Jilusai and Gaoquesai, both of which were located on the south side of the Yin Mountains in present-day Bayanur City. It is generally believed that the length of the "Li" in the Han Dynasty was smaller, from the south side of the Yin Mountain to the Hangai Mountain, and three thousand miles was probably insufficient; therefore, the previously quoted scholar's article pointed the location of Yanran Mountain to the Huni River Basin, a tributary of the Selenge River.
The author thinks that it is not appropriate to make a straight line calculation of "more than three thousand miles". It is estimated that the Han army will go out three thousand miles to Yanran Mountain, or the Ruoran army will reach the Northern Wei border by more than three thousand miles southeast of Yanran Mountain, then Yanran Mountain will be more remote in the north of Hangai Mountain, which is inconsistent with the common sense that the peoples of northern Mobei built their teeth in the Orkhon River Valley. The Han army marched out of the blockade, and the set target was Zhuo evil mountain (present-day Gobi Altai Mountains southwest of Lake Benchagan in Mongolia). When the curtain comes, you can't go in a straight line, you can only follow the mountains and rivers of the Gobi Altai Mountains. If there are twists and turns in the road, the distance out of the plug is naturally farther than the distance on the map.
The author notes that the Book of Han records that the distance from Shuofang to Zhuoxi Mountain has reached "more than 2,000 miles" [39]. For example, from the Junji Mountain to the north, Daoli is naturally farther away than "more than two thousand miles" - and Dou Xian is out of the jam, and the previous route is quite consistent with this. Therefore, the record of the Han army's "more than three thousand miles" should be paid full attention to, and it can neither be easily denied nor blinded.
To understand the "three thousand miles" journey, it is necessary to examine Dou Xian's march out of the cyprus. The Book of Later Han states that the Han army set out from Gao Que Sai and JiLu Sai, and after the curtain fell, it met zhuo evil mountain; after the fierce battle of Ji Luo Mountain, pursued the Northern Xiongnu until the private canal Bi Yanhai, and then climbed yanran mountain and carved shi Legong. This is a thick line description. The "Feng Yanran Mountain Inscription" is still a thick line description, "Over the zhuo evil, into the Anhou, take yanran, pollute the teasing strategy, burn the dragon court of the old man." In contrast, the route recorded in the "Ode to the Northern Expedition of the Che Riding General" is slightly more detailed: "Sui Zhuo Zhuo evil, cross the prayer line, the court is in the court, the Frontier Dragon Ridge, the Ren You mountain, the fierce river, the Lin'an Hou, Yi Yanju and Yu Yan, the relics of Gu Wei Huo, the place of The Rank of Yi Yi..."
The above three records of Dou Xian's marching route all mention Zhuo Evil Mountain and Anhou River. Zhuoxian Mountain is the Gobi Altai Mountains southwest of present-day Benchagan Lake in Mongolia, and the Anhou River is the Orkhon River in the north of present-day Hangai Mountain. From the Gobi Altai Mountains to the Anhou River, it is necessary to cross the Hangai Mountains. According to the "Ode to the Northern Expedition of the Che Riding General", the Han army first "trampled on the evil" and then "crossed the prayer company". Qilian Mountain is also a famous xiongnu mountain, also known as Tianshan Mountain, and there are three theories about the Qilian Mountains in present-day Gansu, the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, and the Hangai Mountains in Mongolia. After the Han army arrived at Zhuo evil mountain, it was marching north, so the "cross prayer company" should be over the Hangai Mountain. According to the Book of Later Han, in the second year of Yongyuan (90), the Han army once again went out of the blockade, "to zhuo evil mountain, nai liu reloaded, divided into two parts, each leading light soldiers to attack it twice." The left part crosses the West Sea to the north of Heyun, the right part from the Xiongnu River to the west around the Tianshan Mountains, the south degree of the Jinwei Mountains, the two armies meet, and the night surrounds the north Shan Yu. [41] This historical record reflects that the Han army crossed the Hangai Mountains again a year later.
The song text describes that the route after the Han army crossed the Hang'ai Mountain was "The Dragon Mountain, the River of The Fierce", and then "Lin'an Hou". "Anhou" is written for "Orhun", and "Youshan" and "Fierce River" are written for "Anhou", and it seems that the two are also written in sound. At present, no one has explored what places "Youshan" and "Fierce River" refer to, only Bai Jingsheng's annotation "Ban Lantai Collection", which refers to the fact that "Youshan" is a Yin Mountain, which should be inappropriate [42].
The author believes that "fierce" and "Hungarian" are connected, and the "Fengyanran Mountain Ming" Moya writes "suppressing Hun abuse" as "suppressing fierce abuse". Then the "fierce river" can pass through the "Hungarian River". The history of the Fierce River is not recorded, but the Hun River is loaded. According to the "Chronicle of History", in the sixth year of Emperor Yuanding of the Han Dynasty (111 BC), "Han also sent his ancestors from Zhao Punu, the Marquis of Biao, to ride out of Lingju for thousands of miles, and returned to the hun river, and did not see a single Xiongnu." [43] The Book of Han records this again, except that the "Hun River" is written as the "Xiongnu River". In this way, the "Fierce River" and the "Hun River" should be the same river, or named after the "Huns". The point of the Hun river or the Hun River is also said to be the Tamir River, the Badalag River, and the Onkin River. Ding Qian first referred to the Xiongnu River as "the Tamir River, named after the Xiongnu King's Court on this waterfront. [45] Uchida agreed with Ding Qianzhi, but the Historical Atlas of China rejected it, arguing that the Badalag River at the southern foot of Mount Hangai was the Xiongnu River. [46] In addition, Yoshiaki Komai and Nagashi Sato considered it to be on the Ongjin River. According to the Book of Han, in the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty (111 BC), Gongsun He came out of Jiuyuan "more than 2,000 miles to the floating depression well"; Zhao Baonu "ordered the residence of thousands of miles to the xiongnu river" [47]. "Lingju" was in the Heishui River basin of present-day Gansu, and Zhao Baonu arrived at the Xiongnu River "thousands of miles" north, probably not the Badarag River or the Wengjin River in the southern foothills of the Hangai Mountains.
In 2019, the Sino-Mongolian joint investigation team went to Yanran Mountain again, and went to the Xiongnu Cemetery No. 2 in Gaole Maodu, Houhang Ai Province, to investigate. The cemetery is located on the east side of a river called "Khanui" in the upper reaches of the Selenge River, which is now translated as the Hanui River or the Hani River in Present-day Chinese, and the Qing Dynasty land icon is called "Ha Sui River" and "Ha Rui River". To its east is the Cemetery of Gaole Maodu No. 1, and there is also a river called "Khuni", which is now translated as the Huni River in Chinese, and flows north into the Hanui River. Archaeologist Ma Jian has noticed the sounds of these two rivers, judging the Hanui River to be the water of the Hungarian River. The author agrees with this. In addition, in the author's own opinion, from the vast area from the Southern Foothills of Hangai Mountain in Deleger to the southern foothills of Hangai Mountain, the surface of the desert grassland is only present, the grassland is desolate, and there are few trees growing, and there are only a few elm trees and poplar trees in the Onkin River Valley; but the northern foothills of Hangai Mountain can be seen everywhere in the forest grassland landscape, especially from chekelleg City in Houhangai Mountain Province to the Hanui River Valley, where the mountains are densely forested with pine forests and trees, which is quite worthy of the name of "Youshan Mountain". However, according to the study of Lan Wanli, a Chinese plant archaeologist who is jointly excavating locally, the current forest landscape in the Hanui Valley is the result of the natural growth of tree species blown from Siberia in the past 200 years. What the vegetation and landscape of this place were before 2,000 years ago is not known. However, this place is deep in the hinterland of the desert north, and it is also a cemetery of Xiongnu nobles, which is sparsely populated and has a quiet environment, which is generally not wrong. Therefore, the author believes that the "fierce river", that is, the Hun River, should refer to the Hanui River, a tributary of the Selenge River; "Youshan" should refer to the remnants of the northern foothills of the Hangai Mountains along the Hanui River.
If the above discussion is correct, it is necessary to solve a question, why did the Han army travel as far as the Hanui River Valley? Why did you go east to the Anhou River? The author believes that the answer is already implicit in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Fengyanran Mountain Inscription. According to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Nandan reported to the Han Dynasty in the year before Tun Tu He (88) that Beidan had "fled far away and was west of the Hou River". A larger tributary of the Anhou River, the present-day Tamir River, flows from west to east. According to the intelligence of Nandan and the west of The Tamir Valley, the ultimate goal of the Han army's troops should be the west of the Anhou River. Where does the West anhou River lead? The author once traveled west along the Tamir River Valley, crossed the remnants of the northern foothills of hangai Mountain in Checherleg City, Houhangai Province, and entered the Hanui River Valley. [50] The Hanui River flows from southwest to northeast for a total of 421 km and then joins the Selenge River. Beidan moved here in the west, not only because of the wide Kawano and abundant pastures, but also because of the author's speculation that there should be more important reasons.
[51] Mongolian archaeology has found that there are two super-large Xiongnu aristocratic tomb groups in The Gaolemudu of the Hanui River Basin, namely the Gaolemudu No. 1 and No. 2 Xiongnu Tombs. In 2016, archaeologists collected data that Cemetery No. 1 "preliminarily counted that there are more than 400 tombs in the cemetery" and more than 400 tombs in Cemetery No. 2, including 98 large noble tombs, 250 funerary tombs and 85 independent circle tombs. [52] The archaeological information of the two large Xiongnu cemeteries in the Hanui River Basin and Tomb M189 is quite consistent with the information revealed by Moya's sentence "The Coma of Filthy Modun and the Burning of the Dragon Court of the Elderly". [53] "Commotion" means a tomb in Xiongnu, and "Dragon Court" is also known as Dragon City and Shan Yu Ting. Although it cannot be confirmed that the No. 1 or No. 2 tomb of Gaole Maodu is the Xiongnu MotonDan Yu Tomb, tomb M189 of the Gaole Maodu No. 2 cemetery, which is being excavated, has indeed found excavation traces from the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to excavation reports, "it can be confirmed that the age of the tomb is equivalent to the Western Han Dynasty in China, earlier than most of the Xiongnu noble tombs excavated in Russia and Mongolia in the past." Tomb owners should have a higher status in Xiongnu society. The tomb was seriously disturbed during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the bones of the tomb owner and the burial goods were seriously damaged. [54] At the same time, archaeological excavations in the Orkhon Valley and the three cities of Rimentara pointed to the location of the Xiongnu Dragon City.
Archaeological excavations in Mongolia show that the area from the Northern Orkhon Valley of Hangai Mountain to the Hanui Valley of the upper reaches of the Selenge River should be the political hinterland of the Northern Xiongnu. According to the literature, the subsequent Juran, Turkic, Uighur and Mongol peoples all used this area as a center of activity. Beidan is nomadic in the "West of the Yi'anhou River", that is, from Longcheng to the west near the tombs of its tribes. Therefore, the Han army crossed the Hangai Mountains to the Hanui River in order to search for Beidan Yu, and then entered the Orkhon River Valley in the east, randomly destroying its dragon city. The military pursuit of the Han army completely destroyed the psychological defense line of the Northern Xiongnu, triggering its subsequent overall westward migration.
Therefore, Dou Xian's marching route should be as follows: the Han army divided into three ways from Jilusai, Manyi Valley, and Liyangsai, met at Zhuoxi Mountain, which is now the Gobi Altai Mountains, and after the battle of the nearby Jiluo Mountain, traveled north along the Baidalag River, over the Hangai Mountains, and traveled as far as the Hanui River Valley; then went east to the Orkhon River Valley, returned south to Longcheng, and arrived at the Dele Gehangai Mountain. Delegle Hangai Mountain is close to the Gobi, where Dou Xian rests, "Fengshen Qiu", "Han Mountain", "Carved Stone Legong", and returned to Hansai in the south.
After the above analysis, it is known that the spatial and Daoli contradictions between the location of Yanran Mountain and the historical records stem from the misunderstanding of the historical materials of the Later Han Dynasty that "Xian, Bing Sui ascended Yanran Mountain, went to Sai more than 3,000 miles, carved Stone Legong, Ji Hanweide" in the Book of Later Han. According to inertial thinking, the present people placed the Yanran Mountain and the carved stone Legong placed directly outside the Sai more than three thousand miles. Unbeknownst to him, Dou Xian's landing on Yanran Mountain and the carved stone Legong were when he returned south to The Dele GeHangai Mountain. MoYa has revealed that Ban Gu Zuoming was at the time of "reversing and returning", and before making the inscription, he had "examined and examined the map and exhausted his mountains and rivers"; the distance of "more than three thousand miles" should also be calculated at this time. Combined with the above-mentioned Dou Xian marching route, the "three thousand miles" of the plug is regarded as a curved line rather than a straight line, and the aforementioned contradiction is solved.
In summary, Dou Xian's northern expedition against the Xiongnu did cross the Hangai Mountains, reach the Hanui River Valley, and return south through the Orkhon River Valley in the east. Dou Xian marched through the "Anhou River" and then landed on the "Yanran Mountain" and the "Yanran Mountain" of the carved stone Legong, that is, the mountainous area engraved on the cliff at the southern foot of the present-day Delegle Hangai Mountain.
The relationship between China and Hungary is the opening stage of the integration and exchange of ancient agricultural and animal husbandry civilizations. Since the discovery of the Noyan Ula Hun Tomb in 1924, there have been 8 Hun noble tombs found in Mongolia. The shapes, funeral rites, and excavated objects of these tombs provide an excellent perspective for studying the depth and breadth of the early fusion and exchange of the two civilizations of agriculture and animal husbandry. In contrast, the length and content of the biography of the Xiongnu in the "First Three Histories" reflect the accumulation of the results of the fusion and exchange of the two civilizations in the Qin and Han dynasties. According to historical records, although Mobei and Chang'an are far away, the Han Dynasty dared to attack the curtain because it already had a certain degree of understanding of the geography of Mobei. For example, during the han and Yuan Emperor period, Lang Zhonghou should talk about the Xiongnu, mentioning "the northern level of the curtain, less grass and trees, how much sand, the Xiongnu came to Kou, less sheltered, from the south of Sai, deep valleys, travel is difficult." [56] Hou's description of the northern part of the curtain, although simple, is very consistent with the topography, landforms, and surface landscape characteristics of the Gobi region south of the Hangai Mountains in present-day Mongolia. This is the understanding of the Han Dynasty people in the first year of Jingning (33 BC) about the geography of mobei. After that, Zhaojun went out of the country, and the Han and Huns maintained peace for nearly 60 years, and the Han Dynasty's understanding of the Xiongnu should be richer. For example, in the second year of the founding of the people's republic (10), Wang Mang prepared ten ways and went out to attack the Xiongnu, and the general Yan especially gave advice on the five difficulties. The third mentions, "Hudi sand brine, more water weeds." Fourth, "Hudi is very cold in autumn and winter, and very windy in spring and summer" [57]. Yan You's cognition of the desert north has added vegetation and meteorological characteristics, which are still descriptions of the area south of Hangai Mountain. As for the Eastern Han Dynasty, twenty-four years after Jianwu (48), the Southern Xiongnu annexed the Han and provided a "map of the Xiongnu". In this way, the Han Dynasty's mastery of the xiongnu geographical knowledge increased significantly. These records are helpful in understanding why The Yanran Mountain, where Dou Xian ascended and carved the stone, is located south of hangai mountain.
In addition, since Emperor Wu, the Han army has repeatedly attacked the Xiongnu, and there are many records of the number of outgoings. For example, in the sixth year of Yuan Ding (111 BC), Gongsun He came out of Jiuyuan "more than 2,000 miles to the floating depression well"; Zhao Baonu "ordered thousands of miles to live in the Xiongnu River". "Lingju" was in the Heishui River basin of present-day Gansu, and Zhao Baonu went straight north "thousands of miles" from then on, which was the first time that the Han army reached the Xiongnu River north of Hangai Mountain. According to the Book of Later Han, in the sixteenth year of Yongping (73), Dou Gu marched north, in which "riding the capital Wei Laimiao, The Lieutenant Wen Mu of the Wuhuan Colonel, rode Taiyuan, Yanmen, Dai County, Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Dingxiang Commandery and Wuhuan and Xianbeiwan out of Pingcheng Fortress." "From Laimiao and Wenmu to the waters of the Xiongnu, the captives all ran away and found nothing." Therefore, in the first year of the Yongyuan Dynasty (89), the Han army once again expeditioned to the Xiongnu River, which was already the third visit, and had a certain understanding of the marching route and terrain.
In 2017, the discovery of the "Feng Yanran Mountain Inscription" confirmed that the Yanran Mountain where Dou Xian "carved stone Legong" was the mountain where the Cliff at the southern foot of the Dele Gehangai Mountain was located. This concretizes the General Statement of "Hangai Mountain, that is, Yanran Mountain" speculated by the Qing people to a clear location, and provides an accurate coordinate for the geographical study of the Northern Xiongnu. Nowadays, people think that Moya is relatively close to Han Sai, which does not conform to the "three thousand miles" Daoli account of the Han army's departure from the Plug, but in fact, it is a misreading of the historical material of the "Book of Later Han" "Xian, Bing Sui climbed Yanran Mountain, went to the Han Dynasty for more than three thousand miles, carved Shi Legong, Ji Han Weide". "More than three thousand miles" is calculated when dou xian goes out to Zhuoxian Mountain, north vietnam Hangai Mountain to Hanui River Valley, and eastward Orkhon River Valley returns to the southern foothills of Dele gehangai Mountain through Longcheng. As for the name of Hangai Mountain, which stretches 700 kilometers in the central part of Mongolia during the Han and Hungarian dynasties, it was called "Qilian Mountain" or "Tianshan Mountain" according to the records of the "Chronicle of History" and the "Ode to the Northern Expedition of the Che Riding General".
exegesis:
[1] Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 544, Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1986.
[2] Ding Qian: Geographical Examination of the Xiongnu Biography of the Han Dynasty, edited by Wang Deyi, vol. 79, New Wenfeng Publishing Company (Taipei), 1997.
[3] [Japanese] Yoshiaki Komai: "On Xiongnu Place Names in the History of the Former Han Dynasty", originally published in Qian Daosun, ed., Xuezhi, Vol. 2, No. 1, February 15, 1931; This article is based on Wumingzi: "The Complete Works of < Zhou Liang> Anthology of Zhou Jie Translated by Jujing Yoshiaki< The Former Han Xiongnu Place Names Brief Examination >".
[4] Qimud Dorji and Gao Jianguo, "The Survey of the < Of Mongolia and the > of the Cliffs of Yanran Mountain", Literature and History Knowledge, No. 12, 2017, pp. 17-25; "Three Questions About the > of < FengYanranshan Ming", Northwest Ethnic Studies, No. 1, 2019.
[5] Chen Keng: The Discovery of Yanran Mountain Ming and the Location of Yanran Mountain
[6] Book of the Later Han Dynasty, vol. 89, "Biography of the Southern Xiongnu", Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1965.
[7] History, vol. 110, Biography of the Xiongnu, Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1963.
[8] Book of Han, vol. 94, "Biography of the Xiongnu", Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1962.
[9] Book of the Later Han Dynasty, vol. 23, Biography of Dou Xian.
[10] Qimud Dorji and Gao Jianguo: "Three Questions About the > of < FengYanran Mountain".
[11] Zhang Puji, Zi Jingsheng's Note: Annotations on the > of the < Banlantai Collection, (Zhengzhou) Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House, 1991.
[12] Book of Wei, vol. 103, "The Tale of the Worm", Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1974.
[13] Book of Southern Qi, vol. 59, "The Biography of C C," Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1972.
[14] Book of Liang, vol. 54, "Biography of C C", Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1973.
[15] Book of Wei, vol. 7, Gao Zuji.
[16] Feng Enxue, "The Epitaph of the Governor of Shangjin Weizhou in Mongolia", Cultural Relics, No. 5, 2014.
[17] New Book of Tang, vol. 43, "Seven Geographical Chronicles", Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1975.
[18] Taiping Huanyu, vol. 49, Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 2007.
[19] Yan Gengwang: "Tang Dynasty Traffic Tukao", (Taipei) Wenhui Printing Factory Co., Ltd., 1985.
[20] Xin Deyong: "Discovering the Ming of Yanran Mountain", Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 2018.
[21] Book of Han, vol. 94, "Biography of the Xiongnu".
[22] Book of Han, vol. 94, "Biography of the Xiongnu".
[23] Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 22, 49, Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1956.
[24] Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 49.
[25] Reading History as a Compendium of Public Opinion, vol. 45, Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 2005.
[26] Jiaqing Re-cultivation of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 544.
[27] Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 544.
[28] Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 544.
[29] Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 544.
[30] Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 544.
[31] Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 544.
[32] Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 544.
[33] Ding Qian, "Foreign Legends of Penglaixuan's History", Series Of Three, Vol. 79.
[34] Ding Qian, "Geographical Examination of the Xiongnu Biography of the Han Dynasty", Series Of Three, Vol. 79.
[35] Jiaqing Reconstruction of the Unified Chronicle, vol. 523, 533.
[36] Huang Wenbi, "Former Han Xiongnu Shan Yu Jianting Examination", Lin Hui: Selected Essays on the History of the Xiongnu (1919-1979), Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing), 1983.
[37] [Japanese] Komai Yoshiaki: "On Xiongnu Place Names in the History of the Former Han Dynasty".
[38] [Japanese] Uchida Yinfeng et al., translated by Yu Dajun: A Collection of Translations of the History of the North as a Nation and the History of Mongolia, (Kunming) Yunnan People's Publishing House, 2003.
[39] Book of Han, vol. 94, "Biography of the Xiongnu".
[40] There are many papers on the geographical examination of Qilian Mountain, as detailed in Wang Xingfeng, "A Review of the Historical Geography of the Xiongnu in the Past Hundred Years", Tangdu Academic Journal, No. 5, 2016. Hangai Mountain, also known as Qilian Mountain, for details, see Tan Qixiao: Historical Atlas of China, Volume II, (Beijing) China Map Publishing House, 1982.
[41] Book of the Later Han Dynasty, vol. 89, Biography of the Southern Xiongnu.
[42] Zhang Puji, Zi Jingsheng's Note: "Annotations on the > of the < Ban LanTai Collection".
[43] The Chronicle of History, vol. 11, is based on the Biography of the Huns.
[44] Book of Han, vol. 94, "Biography of the Xiongnu".
[45] Ding Qian, "Geographical Examination of the Xiongnu Biography of the Book of Han", Volume 79 of the Third Series of The Book of The Collection.
[46] Tan Qixiao: Historical Atlas of China, Vol. 2.
[47] Book of Han, vol. 94, "Biography of the Xiongnu".
[48] Ma Jian, Archaeological Exploration of Xiongnu Funeral Rites: On Cultural Exchanges in Eastern Eurasian Grasslands, Lanzhou University Press, 2011.
[49] Book of the Later Han Dynasty, vol. 89, Biography of the Southern Xiongnu, p. 2952.
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Source: Chinese Historical Geography Theory Series, Vol. 36, No. 2, April 2021