In 1976, when the Construction of the Southern Xinjiang Railway, 85 ancient tombs were found in the Alagou and Yuergou areas of nanshan mining area in Urumqi County, in the hinterland of Xinjiang's Tianshan Mountains, and after archaeological research, these ancient tomb groups existed in the 5th century BC, corresponding to the Warring States period in China, and the most eye-catching of the ancient tomb group was the excavation of a large number of gold products in the No. 30 cemetery.
Among them, there are 8 tiger striped gold medals, 4 tiger stripes, 1 lion-shaped gold medal ornament and a large number of gold products such as gold beads and golden flowers, a total of more than 200 pieces, No. 30 cemetery is also known as the golden tomb, the number of gold ornaments in this tomb is the largest number of similar tombs excavated by archaeology, and the owner of the cemetery is a beautiful woman.
A lion-shaped gold medal ornament excavated from the ancient tomb of Alagou
This site is speculated to be the aristocratic cemetery of the ancient Cheshi Kingdom, because the site is the approximate range of the ancient Cheshi Kingdom, and the cheshi first entered the Chinese vision in the Western Han Dynasty, which was reported to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty after Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions, and the original name of the Cheshi was not called Cheshi, but gushi.
"History of Dawan Lie": And Loulan and Gushiyi have chengguo, Linyanze. Yanze can go to Chang'an for five thousand miles. The Xiongnu on the right side lived east of Yanze, to the Great Wall of Longxi, to the south by the Qiang, and to the Han Dynasty.
This is the first time in the "History" that the name of Gushi appears, that is, the predecessor of Cheshi, which is said together with Loulan, and the towns of Loulan and Gushi have cities and towns, that is, there are city walls and moats, and they are close to Yanze, which is today's Lop Nur and also says that Yanze is about five thousand miles away from Chang'an. The xiongnu's right side was just east of Yanze, up to the Great Wall of Longxi, and the southern side of the Xiongnu bordered the Qiang residential area, blocking the road to the Han Dynasty.
The cheshi's position in the western region
"Book of Han Biography of the Western Regions": There are two ways to go out of the Western Regions from Yumen and Yangguan: from the north of the South Mountain, the Bohe River runs west to Shache, which is the South Road, and the South Road is over the Green Ridge in the west, and the Great Moon Clan and rests in peace. From cheshiqian Wang Ting followed the North Mountain, the Bo River went west to Shule, which was the Northern Province, and the North Road was over the Green Ridge in the west, and the Dawan, Kangju, and Xiangcai Yan were born.
Judging from the records of the Book of Han, the geographical location of cheshi is important, and at that time there were two roads to go from yumen pass and Yangguan to the western region in the Han Dynasty, the first of which was the south road: from Shanshan (renamed Loulan in the late Western Han Dynasty) along the north side of nanshan, along the Tarim River to the west to Shache, and then west over the Onion Ridge (Pamir Plateau) to the Great Moon Clan and Anshi (present-day Iran).
The second is the North Road: from cheshiqian wangting along the south side of Beishan Mountain, along the Tarim River to the west to Shule, and then west over the Onion Ridge (Pamir Plateau) to Dawan (present-day Uzbekistan), Kangju, and Xiangcai (most of present-day Uzbekistan and southwestern Kazakhstan).
Ancient Silk Roads
It can be seen that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Gushi has been renamed Cheshi, the capital of Cheshi is in Jiaohe City, that is, the northwest of present-day Turpan, Xinjiang, the ruins of Jiaohe City are still there today, this is a city completely built of soil, and it is a city that develops underground, the entire city pool is dug down from the surface of the towering raw earth terrace, the deepest place is more than ten meters deep, in 1994 archaeology also found underground monasteries and tombs of Cheshiguo nobles, unearthed a number of precious cultural relics, including five baht coins of the Han Dynasty.
According to historical records, Jiaohe City was first established by the Cheshi people, and after more than 2,000 years of wind and rain, its ruins have been preserved until today. Judging from the historical records, the geographical location of cheshiguo is quite important, here is the northern road of the Silk Road, the southeast is Dunhuang of Liangzhou of the Han Dynasty, the south is Loulan, the west is Yanqi, the northwest is Wusun, and the northeast is Xiongnu, so where do Cheshi people come from?
Cheshi people are generally considered to be Tocharians, Tocharians are the original Indo-European race, is a branch of caucasians, is one of the earliest settled in Central Asia and Xinjiang ethnic groups, living in the Pamir Plateau in Central Asia and Xinjiang's Tianshan, Altai Mountains, Tarim Basin, Turpan Basin and other places, Loulan people are said to be Also Tocharians.
Tocharians
Judging from the excavation sites, the 58 skeletons excavated from the ancient tombs of the Alagou and Yu'ergou sites mentioned above have been tested, the vast majority of which are of The Europa race, that is, whites, in addition to a small number of Mongolian races, that is, yellow races, and a small number of mixed races, that is, mixed races of Europa races and Mongolian races.
For example, in the Xiaohe cemetery not far from Loulan found the dried corpse of Princess Xiaohe, the body is clearly visible with the appearance characteristics of white and yellow people, that is, mixed race, after DNA testing, it was found that its paternal genes belong to the European and Indian race, the maternal gene belongs to the North Asian race, and the car master is close to Loulan, so the styles of the two countries are similar.
That is to say, there are Caucasians, yellows, and yellow-and-white mixed races, which may have been established by the Tocharians of the White race, and then constantly merged with the yellow people of Asia, and began to have mixed races, because the location of the Cheshi at that time was the fortress of the Silk Road, which was also the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures, where people from the south and north exchanged and integrated.
Loulan Xiaohe Princess restoration map
Because until the Han Dynasty, Huaxia did not know the Cheshi, before this, the Cheshi may have been established a long time ago, there is no written record, no one knows when the Cheshi was established, the aforementioned Alagou and Yu'ergou ruins existed in the Warring States period, it is likely that at this time the Cheshi already existed, and has been constantly evolving and integrating, until the Han Dynasty began to deal with Huaxia, and the position of the Cheshi is very important, it has become a key place for the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty to compete, and the two sides often have wars here.
In 108 BC, because Cheshi attacked and killed Han envoys and was close to the Xiongnu, Emperor Wudi of Han sent the general Zhao Baonu to lead tens of thousands of troops to attack Cheshi and Loulan, conquered Cheshi and captured the king of Loulan, and both Cheshi and Lanlan submitted to the Han Dynasty. In 99 BC, the Che division once again belonged to the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of han sent an attack on the Cheshi, the Xiongnu Right Xian Wang led an army to rescue, and the Han army failed to retreat.
In 90 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used troops on a large scale against the Xiongnu, the main battlefield was north of the Western Regions, and the Han general Ma Tong went north through cheshi and surrendered cheshi again. During the reign of Emperor Zhao of Han, Cheshi once again belonged to the Xiongnu. In 68 BC, Emperor Xuan of Han sent Zheng Ji to lead the Troops of Tuntian in the Western Regions and the forces of the Western Regions that submitted to the Han Dynasty, and a total of more than 10,000 people attacked the Cheshi State, once again forcing the Cheshi to surrender to the Han Dynasty. When the Xiongnu heard about it, they sent troops to rescue cheshi, but they were repelled by the Han army, and wugui, the cheshi king, fled to Wusun.
The ruins of Jiaohe City, the capital of cheshiguo
In this way, the cheshi has been oscillating left and right between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, one will turn to the Xiongnu, the other will defect to the Han Dynasty, as a small country's cheshi, there is no choice at all, can only choose the immediate interests, which side is strong to turn to which side, but such repeated surrender, in fact, both sides have offended.
In 62 AD, the Han Dynasty Licheshi former crown prince Junsu was the king of Cheshi, and the Xiongnu Litumo was the king of Cheshi, and the two sides confronted each other, so that the Cheshi state was divided into two, and the Han Dynasty established it was called Cheshi Qianguo, which was located in the area of Quli (present-day Korla City, Xinjiang), and later returned to Jiaohe City, and the Xiongnu li established the Cheshihou State, which was located in tugu (present-day Jimsar County, Xinjiang).
Cheshi was not strong at all, and was divided into two small regimes, in 60 AD, the Han Dynasty set up a capital in the Western Regions, and completely expelled the Xiongnu forces from the Western Regions, even the Xiongnu in charge of the Western Regions of the Japanese Dynasty surrendered to the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty began to formally rule the Western Regions, and also set up a lieutenant in the Former State of Cheshi, and tuntian near the capital of the former state of Cheshi, tuntian purpose on the one hand is to provide food and supplies for the Han envoys and Han troops passing through here, on the other hand, to monitor the Cheshi and the countries in the western regions that are in strategic places.
Area of activity for the Tocharians
According to the "Book of Han", Cheshi later split into two other small regimes: Cheshi Duweiguo and Cheshi Houcheng Changguo, cheshi duweiguo population of only 333 people, 84 troops, Cheshi houcheng Changguo population of 960 people, army only 260 people, this can not be called a country at all, because it is too small. Later, the four Cheshi regimes evolved into six, collectively known as the Six Kingdoms of Cheshi, namely: the front of the Cheshi, the rear of the Cheshi, the East and Mi, the Beilu, the Pu, and the Shifting Branch.
And cheshi former country population of 6050 people, 1865 troops, Cheshi hou country population of 4774 people, army 1890 people, even if these four regimes are all added together, Cheshi in the western region can only be regarded as a small middle and lower regime, it can be seen that the strength of cheshi has always been relatively weak, can only swing between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, can continue to exist in the western region has been very difficult.
After Wang Mang established a new dynasty to replace the Western Han Dynasty, the Western Regions began to be chaotic, Cheshi and the former kings were killed in the chaos, and defected to the Xiongnu, Wang Mang's late Central Plains Chaos, even more powerless to control the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty set up in the Western Regions of the Capital Protectorate was also destroyed, the Western Regions countries also began to act independently, until the Han Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu re-established the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cheshi Qianguo, Houguo and Loulan and other states asked the Han Dynasty to restore the Western Regions Capital Protectorate, but Liu Xiu did not agree.
The Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu were constantly at war for the Western Regions
At this time, the Cheshi Houguo, with the support of the Xiongnu, annexed some small regimes in the vicinity, with a population of more than fifteen thousand people, an army of more than 3,000 people, and the national strength almost doubled, but the Eastern Han Dynasty did not forget the Western Regions, until the time of the Han Ming Emperor, in 73 AD, the Han Ming Emperor sent four large armies deep into the desert to attack the Xiongnu, in preparation for the recovery of the Western Regions.
The following year, Emperor Ming of Han sent Dou Gu, Geng Bing, Ban Chao, Geng Gong, Guan Pet, and others to lead an army into the Western Regions, and after defeating the Xiongnu BaishanBu near Pushihai (present-day Barikun Lake, Xinjiang), attacked Cheshi, who surrendered successively, and then the main forces of the Han army returned to China, appointing Geng Gong and Guan Yu as lieutenants of Pengji, Geng Gong stationed at Jinpu City (present-day Qitai, Xinjiang), Guan Yu garrisoned Liuzhongcheng (present-day Aidin Lake, Xinjiang) in the former state of Cheshi, and Ban Chao continued to march deep into the western region with 36 men.
In 75 AD, the Northern Xiongnu made a comeback and attacked Geng Gong and Guan Yu, cheshi former and later kingdoms once again defected to the Xiongnu, and together with the Xiongnu attacked the Han army, Guan Yu's entire army was destroyed, Geng Gong later moved shule city to hold for a year, while the eastern Han reinforcements arrived in the following year, Geng Gong was rescued by the Han army to return to China, when they arrived at Yumen Pass, Geng Gong and his men only had 13 people left alive, which is the story of the thirteen heroes of the Eastern Han Dynasty who were famous in the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty returned to Yumen.
The Eastern Han Dynasty reopened the capital
At this time, there were only Ban Chao and his 36 subordinates in the Western Regions, and Ban Chao used his strength to fight in the Western Regions, and with wisdom and bravery, he successively conquered the countries of Loulan, Khotan, Shule, Guizi, and Yanqi, and reopened the Western Regions Capital Protectorate, and Cheshi also submitted to the Eastern Han Dynasty again. In 90 AD, Dou Xian led an army to destroy the Northern Xiongnu and achieved the battle feats of Yanran Leshi, which shocked the Western Regions, and both the former and later states of Cheshi sent princes to the Han Dynasty as hostages.
In this way, cheshi in the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu tug-of-war like a wall grass, which side is strong to which side, until gradually perished, in 450 AD, equivalent to the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China, the Xiongnu besieged Cheshi for 8 years, Cheshi Wang abandoned the city and fled, since then the word Cheshi has disappeared, its land was incorporated into Gaochang, and Cheshi also disappeared in the history of China.
The main reason for the demise of the Cheshi is that the national strength is weak, the population in its heyday is only more than 10,000 people, the army is only three thousand people, this point of people for the Han Dynasty or the Xiongnu, are extremely weak, which also makes the Cheshi choose the policy of wall grass, which is also the helplessness of the survival of small countries, and as long as the big countries want to destroy the Cheshi, it is also very easy.
The cheshi disappeared into the war, leaving only the ruins
The reason why Cheshi can exist in history for nearly a thousand years is because the political environment in the Western Regions at that time was so, not for the purpose of destroying the country, whether it was the Han Dynasty or the Xiongnu, at first they did not want to destroy the Cheshi, only wanted to make the Cheshi submit to themselves, the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu administration of the Western Regions, were set up in the local capital to supervise, if these regimes were destroyed, it would cause panic in the Western Regions and push the countries to their enemies.
The demise of Cheshi occurred under the lack of care of the Central Plains regime, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the political environment in the Western Regions underwent great changes, each side was independent, the annexation war also continued, and the demise of Cheshi was only a replacement for Cheshi by other regimes, just like the change of dynasties of the Central Plains regime, the same thing is that Cheshi's cities and lands have been preserved, the difference is that the people living in that land may have changed several times.