Yelang is a political power established by ethnic minorities in southwest my country. The location of Yelang Kingdom is approximately in the Yunnan-Guizhou area today. Affected by topographic factors, Yelang Kingdom was not discovered until the middle and late period of and Warring States Period.
When it comes to Yelang Kingdom, everyone will think of the idiom "Yelang is arrogant". The idiom tells that King Yelang asked the envoy of the Han Dynasty who was greater, the Yelang Kingdom or the Han Dynasty. This is used to satirize King Yelang for his narrow vision and overestimation of his own abilities. So how big was the Yelang Kingdom in history? Is Yelang really a "small place"?
The allusion of Yelang's arrogance
is based on Sima Qian"Historical Records: Biography of Southwest Yi". In the sixth year of Emperor Wu's founding (135 BC), Wang Hui was ordered to lead an army to conquer Eastern Vietnam. The Dongyue people themselves killed the King of Dongyue and surrendered to the Han Dynasty. Wang Hui followed Yu Wei and sent an envoy Tang Meng to the Nanyue Kingdom to convey the decree and recruit peace. South Vietnam The people gave Tang Meng some wolfberry paste, a specialty of Shu region. Tang Meng was confused, how did Qijiang, who was thousands of miles away, get to South Vietnam? When he went back and asked the merchants in Shu, he learned that it was sold in the Yelang Chinese drama.
A schematic map of the territory of the Han Dynasty in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty
In the first year of Yuanshou (122 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Prince Bowang Zhang Qian returned from his envoy to the Western Regions. During his trip, he also went to the Bactria Kingdom in Central Asia (today's Afghanistan), where he saw Shu brocade and bamboo sticks from the Shu region of our country. After inquiry, it was " Shendu Guo" from the west of Qiongdi.
At this time, Emperor Wu wanted to find a way to communicate with the countries in the Western Regions. The Huns in the north were eyeing them, affecting the stability of the Hexi Corridor. If the road to the Western Regions could be found in the southwest, then the Han Dynasty would be able to communicate with the Western Regions unimpeded.
Zhang Qian sent an envoy to the Western Regions and reached Dayuezhi and Daxia Kingdom
So Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Wang Ranyu, Bai Shichang and others to the southwest to search for the kingdom of Shendu. Now we know that Shendu country is an ancient country in ancient India. According to Zhang Qian's message, Emperor Wu's envoy wanted to go to Shendu Kingdom via Yunnan. However, envoys from all walks of life were stopped by the King of Dian when they reached the Yunnan-Guizhou area.
This is how the famous saying came about: "Which one is greater, Han or me?"
Please note that this sentence was asked by the King of Dian and not by the Yelang Kingdom. What is recorded in the history books is "and the same goes for Yelang Hou" . In other words, Yelanghou also asked this question.
Sima Qian also gave a reply later, because "there is no common ground, each thinks he is the master of one state, and does not know the vastness of the Han Dynasty."
The rise of Yelang Kingdom
It is impossible to verify when the Yelang Kingdom was established, but the earliest recorded era is at the end of the Warring States Period.
" Huayang Guozhi" once recorded: " General Zhuang Yue went back to the water and came out of Qielan to attack King Yelang...Qielan defeated Yelang and surrendered.". Zhuang Yuesu was a general in the Chu Kingdom King Qingxiang period. The King of Chu sent him to Qielan (now Fuquan, Guizhou) to attack King Yelang. This can be regarded as a deal between the Central Plains and Yelang Kingdom. Later, Zhuang Yuesu occupied the Kunming area and established the Dian Kingdom . Subsequently, the Seven Kingdoms warred and Qin unified the Central Plains. The Yelang Kingdom once again lost contact with the Central Plains, and did not contact again until the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
The terrain in the Yunnan-Guizhou region is rugged and difficult to transport, and even now it is a difficulty in road construction. But the reason why the Yelang people were able to found a country and even develop and grow here was also because of the transportation here.
Before the opening of the Silk Road , the exchanges between East Asia and Central Asia and South Asia were mainly completed through the Yunnan-Guizhou region. As mentioned above, Zhang Qian once saw Shu brocade in Daxia, which shows that exchanges between the East and the West were already common at that time.
starts from Yunguichuan, passes through the Dali area of Yunnan, ends at Baoshan and exits Myanmar . Further west from Myanmar is Myitkyina in India. In modern times, the Chinese Expeditionary Force during World War II and the remnants of the Chinese army after liberation also followed this path to South Asia. This ancient trade road later developed into the most important trade road in southwest China - " Ancient Tea Horse Road ".
There are three Silk Roads in China: the North Road (Hexi Corridor), the South Road (Southwest Region) and the Maritime Silk Road
Let’s come back to the Yunnan-Guizhou region where Yelang is located, precisely because we have grasped the only way to pass this ancient trade road. The road " five feet road " laid the economic foundation for establishing political power. This is also the basis for Yelang Kingdom to be "arrogant". Indeed, they have been the king of the southwest region for a long time.
Commercial trade of Yelang Kingdom
We say that the rise of Yelang is due to its location as a trade hub, but what specific important trade routes pass through Yelang?
The first one is the "Five-foot Road" mentioned above.
Wuchi Road was built during the Warring States Period and is an important passage connecting the Central Plains and Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Qin State The famous Shu County Prefect Li Bing used the method of accumulating fuel (firewood) and burning rocks to dig mountain roads. Because the road is only five feet wide on average, it is named Wuchi Road.
Wuchi Road starts from Yibin, Sichuan in the north, passes through Zhaotong area and reaches Kunming. Although this road is narrow, it creates important conditions for north-south exchanges in the southwest region. This is why the textiles and specialties of Shu were able to circulate into Yunnan and even countries in South and Central Asia.
The second one is the famous "Linqiong Road" .
Linqiong Road starts from Qionglai, west of Xinjin, in the north, and reaches Dali, Yunnan via Xichang. It is another important road from Sichuan to Yunnan. Linqiong Road goes through mountains and ridges all the way, and most of the silk cloth and tea industry in Sichuan area are transported through here.
The above two trade routes transport treasures from the Sichuan and Shu regions by land, and the third road transports them by water.
This waterway is 牂牁江 (zang ke).
Zangdao Jiangxi starts from Xuanwei area in Yunnan, passes through Liupanshui, Anshun, Southwest Guizhou and merges into Nanpanjiang, and then passes through Guangxi and enters the Pearl River in Guangdong. In the endless large ravines in the southwest, the efficiency of this waterway is much higher than that of the land route. Therefore, South Vietnam can enjoy "Qijiang", a specialty of Sichuan.
In addition to the Zangzhou River Channel, the Yuanjiang River Channel is also an important waterway hub in Guizhou.. Along the Yuanjiang River all the way east you can reach the Dongting Lake area of Hunan. When the Chu State attacked Yelang, General Zhuang attacked Yelang from this waterway ( Zhuang Yuesu Shenshui ).
How big is Yelang?
talked for a long time, how big is Yelang Kingdom?
Let’s look at “Historical Records” first. Sima Qian once said: "There are many kings in the southwestern barbarians, and Yelang is the biggest." This means that the tribes of small countries in the southwest are counted in dozens (the representatives are particularly large), among which only the Yelang Kingdom is the largest. The records in
" Hou Han Shu " are more detailed. "For the barbarians in the southwestern region, there are Shuxian, Yelang Kingdom, Jiaozhi to the east, Dian Kingdom to the west, and Qiongdu Kingdom to the north. Each has its own ruler, and its people all have vertebrae buns left folds and towns. Living together " , it can be seen that the scope of Yelang is probably the central and western parts of Guizhou, the northeastern corner of Yunnan and the southeastern part of Sichuan. It can be roughly calculated from the map that Yelang ruled an area of nearly 400,000 square kilometers (approximately 4 Jiangsu Provinces/1 Yunnan Province/Germany).
In this way, Yelang cannot be regarded as a small country.
Yelang's self-confidence not only rules a considerable territory, but also has a federation composed of dozens of "small countries" within it.
Historical books record that small countries in the southwest are called "kings and chiefs", which translated into our words are "chiefs" or "tribal elders". Compared with the centralized monarchy of the Han Dynasty at the same time, Yelang's political system is more like the United States when it was first founded. There are 22 small countries in Yelang, among which the larger ones include Qielan (Fuquan), Turtle (Zunyi), Pingyi (Bijie) and other places.
The mountains in Guizhou are intertwined, making it difficult to form a centralized country.
The capital of Yelang was roughly in the area of Keke Township in Bijie City, where a large number of Yelang noble tombs and many Yelang cultural relics were discovered. Friends who are interested can go to Bijie Cola ( Hezhang Cola Site ) and Southwest Guizhou (Puan Tonggushan Site) to see the glory of the Yelang Kingdom.
The Demise of Yelang Kingdom
After hundreds of years of development, Yelang Kingdom has a prosperous economy and a strong military. By the time of Emperor Wu, it was said that Yelang also had more than 100,000 troops and was the most powerful force in the southwest.
But Yelang met Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who was full of martial virtue and full of firepower.
In order to unite with Yelang to besiege South Vietnam, Emperor Wu sent Tang Meng as envoy to Yelang and gave him generous rewards. Emperor Wu hoped to establish counties and counties in Yelang Kingdom and incorporate them. Yelang considered that the roads in the southwest were not smooth, and even accepting the canonization would not affect their independence, and they could still get so many treasures for free. Therefore, Yelang established , Jianwei County, and other administrative districts.
However, you will have to pay it back sooner or later.
Emperor Wu Yuanding In the fifth year (112 BC), Emperor Wu sent troops to attack South Vietnam. Yelang, who has benefited from being awarded an official title, has no intention of fulfilling his promise. It was fine not to send troops. Yelang also took advantage of his home field advantage to kill Emperor Wu's officials. Now the temper and Liu Che broke out. After pacifying South Vietnam, the Han army turned their guns and came towards Yelang. King Yelang thought that a good man would not suffer the immediate consequences, so he immediately surrendered and surrendered. This time Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty showed his noble hand again and made Yelang the commander of Zangzhou County and withdrew his army.
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Cheng, Yelang began to cause friction with the small countries around him by virtue of his relatively large size. is equivalent to Brazil fighting against the beautiful country and its South American brothers. The beautiful country must not sit idly by. Under the active mediation of the Han Dynasty, Yelang not only did not cease fire, but also led an uprising directly with 22 little brothers.
The strength of the Han Dynasty has also been greatly reduced at this time, but after all, it is still the Han Dynasty. Emperor Cheng ordered Chen Li to be appointed as the 牂牁 prefect to send troops to attack Yelang. In this way, the glorious Yelang finally knew the strength of the Han army when it arrived in the capital.
During the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty , Yelang Kingdom was annexed by the Western Han Dynasty and became Zangda County. In the end, the ancient country of Yelang disappeared in the vast history, leaving only the allusion of "Yelang's arrogance" to be ridiculed by later generations.
