text | Comrade Guevara
In the fifth year of Yonghui (654), a Persian delegation came to the court of Chang'an . After performing the kneeling ceremony in accordance with the tribute etiquette, they immediately made a special request to Emperor Gaozong of Tang, hoping that Tang Dynasty could send troops to aid the Persian king Beilus who struggled to resist the great food in the Tochar state and help him restore the country. Say an off-topic story. Persian is today's great Western Asian power Iran. Dashi is the Chinese name for the Arab Empire, and Tochar is a powerful country in the Western Regions. It was called Daxia during the Han Dynasty. Its location is in the northern part of Afghanistan .
Emperor Gaozong of Tang rejected Beilus' first request for help
At this time, Emperor Gaozong of Tang had only been five years ago and was concentrating on fighting against the group of auxiliary ministers headed by his uncle Changsun Wuji . In addition, the Tocharo Kingdom was thousands of miles away from the Central Plains, and the Dashi was super strong and had no grudges with the Tang Dynasty, which made him lack the energy and no interest in helping a country that was not related to China. Therefore, Emperor Gaozong of Tang flatly rejected the request of Persian envoy on the grounds that the journey was long. However, after refusing Persia's request for help, Emperor Gaozong of Tang asked the envoy with interest why the Persian king fled to Tochar.
It turns out that Belus was the son of Yi Siqi III, the last emperor of the Persian Sassanid Dynasty, and was also the leader of the Persian restoration movement. He can be called the Persian version of "Murrong Fu". Sassanid dynasty , also known as the Second Persian Empire, is different from The First Persian Empire ( Achaemenid dynasty ) between 550 and 330 BC. It was founded in 224, equivalent to the Three Kingdoms period in China. It was a great empire with the main ethnic group of Persian as the ruins of the ruins of the Sakura (also known as the Parthian Empire or the Assassian dynasty, which existed in 247-224 BC).
Sassanian peak map
After the founding of the Second Persian Empire, it began to embark on the road of external expansion. After hundreds of years of war, including today's Iran, Iraq , Afghanistan, Syria , Caucasus , southwestern Central Asia, western Asia Minor, Arabian Peninsula coastal, Pakistan southwestern Pakistan even occupied Palestinian region and Egypt, with an area of about 5.6 million square kilometers and a population of nearly 20 million. 620, Persia's strength reached its peak. At that time, it was a world power that could compete with Eastern Roman Empire and the Tang Dynasty .
However, the peak period of Persia only lasted for more than ten years. Due to years of continuous battles with the Eastern Roman Empire, the national strength declined and domestic crises broke out. The decline of Persia provided an opportunity for the emerging Arab Empire. It first expelled Persian forces from the Arabian Peninsula, Syria and other places, and then launched a fierce offensive on its homeland. 637, the Arab army defeated the main force of Persia in the Battle of Caticia, and then captured its capital, Taixifeng, forcing Emperor Yisi III to escape to the east.
Caticia battle greatly damaged Persia's energy
The fall of the capital was tantamount to "cutting off the firewood from the bottom of the pot" for Persia. The subsequent defeat of the Battle of Nahawand (also known as the Battle of Nihawand , which broke out in 642) was the last hope for Persia to restore its country. In addition, Yi Si'ai III gave up a large amount of wealth and treasures when he fled, so that the exiled government could not form a strong army and launch an effective counterattack. After that, Yisi'e III fled to the east of Horasan and was stabbed by a mill worker in 651. The Sassanid Dynasty ended .
After the death of Yi Si'ai III, although Prince Beilus lost all his territory, he still claimed to be the King of Persia and led his troops to flee east to Tochar . At that time, only Eastern Rome and the Tang Dynasty could compete with the Great Food, but the former was far away in Europe and was a feud with Persia, so he had no intention of helping him restore the country. The only one who could help Beilus was the Tang Dynasty, so he sent envoys to China. Say an off-topic story.On his way eastward, Yi Si'ai III sent envoys to seek help from Emperor Taizong of Tang (638, 639, 647, 648), but they were all rejected by the latter on the grounds that the journey was long.
Belus twice requested the Tang Dynasty to help Persia restore its country
Belus failed to ask the Tang Dynasty for help, and could only rely on Tochar to resist the Great Food and intend to restore its country. At first, the military operations of Blus achieved quite good results. The coalition forces once fought against Horasan, but were soon defeated because they were outnumbered. What's worse is that Dashi had established a solid rule on the Iranian plateau at this time, and sent troops to Central Asia, hoping to use the means of attacking the north and the south to eliminate the remnants of Persia. At a critical moment, Bilus sent an envoy to Chang'an for the second time in the first year of Longshuo (661), asking Emperor Gaozong of Tang to send troops to provide assistance to .
. Emperor Gaozong of Tang finally agreed to Beilus' request for help. The reason why he did this was because the Dashi often harassed and robbed the Central Asian vassal states of the Tang Dynasty, which seriously threatened the empire's rule in the Western Regions. Therefore, Emperor Gaozong of Tang sent general Wang Mingyuan to lead his army to aid Beilus, and set up the Persian Governor's Office in Jiling City, appointing Beilus as the governor, and the following year he was officially appointed as the King of Persia. As a result, Persia became a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty in name, but this dependence relationship only has the nature of restraint and has little substantive significance (Note: Jiling City is located in the territory of Zabole City, Iran today).
Persian Governor's Office set up in the Tang Dynasty
Yi Sihou was cowardly and was chased by the great leader, so he ran to Tochar. Before he arrived, he was also killed by the Great Food soldiers. His son was named Beilus, and he threw himself into the charo Yehu and was exempted. In the first year of Longshuo, Beilus, he was frequently invaded by the heavy food, so he asked for troops to rescue him. The imperial edict sent the southern county magistrate Wang Mingyuan to the Western Regions to separate prefectures and counties, and the Jiling City was listed as the Persian Governor's Office and the Beilus was appointed as the governor. This was the contribution of several envoys. See "Old Book of Tang·Volume 198".
Despite the assistance of the Tang army, Beilus still could not resist the fierce offensive of the big food. After years of hard work, he was forced to flee east again. Finally, he arrived in Chang'an in the first year of Shangyuan (675), and was named General of Right Guard by Emperor Gaozong. Beilus lived in Chang'an for two years and had been planning to launch another army, but in the end he had little effect. In the second year of Yifeng (677), the unfulfilled ambitions of Beilus died of illness and was buried in Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty. Thus, he became the first Iranian king to be buried in China (Note: The Persian royal tomb is located in the south of Gaoya Village, Gaolong Town, Yanshi District, Luoyang City).
Stone groups of chieftains from various countries in Qianling, one of which is Beilus
After Beilus died, his son Ni Nishishi , with the help of the Tang Dynasty, returned to Tochar in 679 and continued to lead the war of resistance of Persian remnants against the Great Food. However, because Dashi's strength was too strong, and the followers left one after another after losing confidence, the dream of Ni Nirvana's resurrection finally became a "mirror flower, water moon". The Ni Nie Master persisted in Tochar for more than 20 years, but in the end he returned to the east escape route. In the first year of Jinglong (707), Ni Nishi returned to Chang'an and was awarded the title of General Left Weiwei Guard by Tang Zhongzong . Several years later, he died of illness in the place and was unable to return to his hometown again.
, his son Ni Nishishi was a master. In the first year of Doulu, he ordered Pei Xingjian to protect his troops and restore the kingdom. With a long journey, I went to Anxi to shatter my leaves and returned with frugality. After the 20th year of visit to Tochar, the tribe became more and more dispersed. At the beginning of Jing Long, he came to the court again and was appointed as the General of the Left Guard. Death from illness, the west is alone. See "New Book of Tang·Volume 221".
Until Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was reigned, the "Persian King" still came to pay tribute
When Ni Ni Ni Ni Ni Nii fled to Tochar again, his son Pu Shang did not accompany him, but stayed in Central Asia to continue to resist. Therefore, after Ni Ni Ni Ni Niii died, Pu Shang was crowned the King of Persia by the Tang Dynasty. According to the large-scale historical book " Volume Yuangui " compiled and completed during the period of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, the "Persian King" continued to send envoys to pay tribute from Central Asia. The "Persian King" recorded here should be Pu Shang and his descendants.In other words, although , the Persian Empire, , died, the rest of the pulse existed in Central Asia for a long time, and its influence existed for a long time.
Tang Emperor Xizong The first year of Qianfu (874), in the late Tang Dynasty, a powerful regime called Saman Empire (874-999) emerged in Central Asia and West Asia. Its peak period covers most of Iran, most of Central Asia and Afghanistan today, with an area of 2.85 million square kilometers. Its founder Nasr Ibn Ahmed is a descendant of Beilus who remained in Central Asia. In other words, the Sassanid Dynasty finally ushered in a moment of resurrection more than 200 years after its destruction. Should I be deeply relieved if I know something under the spring of Beilus?
Portrait of Li Xun
In addition to Pu Shang and his descendants staying in Central Asia, Beilus also has many descendants living in China. One of them was descendants following Emperor Xuanzong of Tang to Sichuan in "Anshi Rebellion ", and settled and reproduced in Shu . There are many famous people from this branch, especially famous ones, who are the famous poets Li Xun and Li Shunxian during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. To this day, the descendants of Beilus still live in Sichuan, but their surnames are mostly changed to "Li". Due to long-term intermarriage with Chinese people, their appearance is no longer visible to Iranian .
Reference books
1. Liu Xu , Zhao Ying [ Later Jin ]: " Old Tang Book ", Zhonghua Book Company 1975 edition.
2.Ouyang Xiu [ Northern Song ]: " New Tang Book ", 1975 edition by Zhonghua Book Company.
3.Sima Guang [Northern Song Dynasty]: "Zizhi Tongjian ", 2015 edition of Zhonghua Book Company.
4.Wang Qinruo[Northern Song Dynasty]: "Cefu Yuangui", Phoenix Publishing House, 2006 edition.
5. Xu Xuya : "Research on the History of the Saman Dynasty in Central Asia": Guizhou Education Press, 2000 edition.
