If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s "both ends of the first mouse" and the logic behind the Han Dynasty must break Loulan

2020/06/1918:44:03 history 2677

If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s

Qinghai Changyun dark snow mountain, a lone city looks at Yumen Pass in the distance. Huang Sha wears golden armor for a hundred battles, and will not break Loulan and will not return it-"Congjun Xing"

This is a very famous frontier poem by Tang Dynasty poet Wang Changling. This poem brings us some more interesting poems. Question: For example, why didn't the Han Dynasty break Loulan and didn't pay it back? What did Loulan do that caused the Han Dynasty to break it before stopping? Let’s talk with you today about the story behind this poem, why the Han Dynasty must attack Loulan.

楼兰小史

Perhaps the biggest impression the world has of Loulan is the discovery of the ruins of the ancient Loulan country. So what kind of country is Loulan in history? According to the "Book of Han", Loulanguo is located at 去阳关千六百里, which is the west bank of Lop Nur today. It was an important traffic artery along the Silk Road of the Han Dynasty. Its southwest leads to Qiemo and Xiao Wan, Jingjue, and Khotan, the north leads to Cheshi (Gushi), the northwest leads to Yanqi and Qiuci, and the east connects to Dunhuang, which is an important traffic throat for the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions.

If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s

According to textual research, the Loulan people belong to the Europa race, and their language is the very famous Tocharian language. Loulan is one of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions. It later annexed Yuqiang and Xiaowan Small countries such as, Jingjue, and Qiemo later became one of the seven powerful countries in the Western Regions. The general situation of their country is described in the "Hanshu": The country produces jade, with many Jiawei, Tamarix, Hutong and Baicao. The people randomly graze the water and grass, and there are donkeys and horses . Its population is 口万四千百, victorious two thousand nine hundred and twelve people . Although Loulan is a relatively powerful country in the Western Regions, it is compared with the Han Dynasty. It is undoubtedly a small country.

Although Loulan is small, it has a long history. Its history lasted from the Han Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty before declaring its extinction. There are many historical sayings about the mystery of the demise of the ancient Loulan kingdom. The first one is the climate that Loulan exists. This period of time was the time when the northwest region was arid. Lop Nur was once a large lake with a lot of lake water. However, due to climate change, not only Lop Nur dried up and turned into a Gobi desert, but the water sources around Loulan also began to decrease sharply. In 400 AD, the Eastern Jin monk Faxian passed by Loulan when he went to India to learn the scriptures. He described in the "Book of the Buddha" that Loulan said there were no birds on the top and no beasts on the bottom, all over the eyes, only the dead bones were used to identify ears.

If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s

It can be seen that at that time Loulan had gradually revealed its dilapidated scene due to climate problems. On the other hand, with the successive disasters of swords and soldiers since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Loulan was also a small country. The various forces struggled for survival. Eventually, in the reign of Emperor Taiwu in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the latter sent general Wan Du to attack the Western Regions, Loulan surrendered, and was finally included in the Northern Wei Dynasty to implement the county system. The history of the ancient Loulan country has since been announced. End. It was not until the emergence of the Loulan site in the early 20th century that this small country in the Western Regions re-entered people's eyes.

After talking about Loulan's short history, let's talk about why the Han Dynasty must break Loulan?

Loulan’s Misjudgment and the Han Dynasty’s Strategy

Since Zhang Qian’s two missions to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, he fully understands that there are so many in the west of the Han Dynasty. In different countries, Zhang Qian's vivid descriptions made Emperor Wu of the Han interested in the Western Regions. At the same time, in order to demonstrate and export the influence of the Han Dynasty, he called on the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty to unite and contain the power of the Xiongnu. The era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was a critical period for the Han Dynasty to adjust its relations with the Huns. Before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had always maintained its relationship with the Huns by means of kinship.

If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s

And the Xiongnu's control of the Western Regions also worries Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In order to contain the power of the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent envoys to the Western Regions to contact various countries. This was the strategic layout of the Han Dynasty. . As for the small country of Loulan, due to its special geographical location and on the one hand, the Xiongnu’s strong influence in the Western Regions led to itsMao Dundan had already controlled the Western Regions during the period, just as Mao Dundan said in his letter to Emperor Wenwen that Dingloulan, Wusun, Hujie and the other twenty-six countries all considered the Huns. The people of Zhu Yingong are a family of , which shows the strength of the Xiongnu at that time and its control over the Western Regions.

Loulan, as a small country, was naturally unable to confront the Huns head-on. In addition, the Han Dynasty had no influence and control over the Western Regions. This small country with a population of only tens of thousands naturally fell into the embrace of the Huns and became A dependent country of the Huns. However, with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascending the throne, the old situation is changing, but these are not known to Loulan, which eventually led to Loulan's fatal misjudgment of the situation of Han-Hungarian relations.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent envoys to the Western Regions to contact countries in order to weaken the influence of the Xiongnu in the Western Regions. Loulan, as a traffic artery, was naturally a place where envoys from the Han Dynasty had to go through. However, Loulan attached to the Xiongnu and did not have much favor for the Han Dynasty. They refused to enter Loulan from the Han Dynasty envoys and sent soldiers to obstruct the Han Dynasty envoys. "Book of Han" records that the messenger sent by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is facing the Tao, as many as a dozen generations in one year old, the number is extremely large and frequent, but in the end it was caused by the deliberate obstruction of the two small countries, Loulan and Gushi. No westbound. After all, the reason why Loulan did this was naturally instigated by the Xiongnu. Without knowing the details of the Han Dynasty, Loulan naturally had to work hard for the Xiongnu. "Loulan, Gu Shi was in charge, suffering, and attacking the Han envoys. Wang Hui and others were the eyes and ears of the Xiongnu, so that his soldiers covered the Han envoys.”

If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s

Loulan’s misjudgment behavior seriously interfered with the Han Dynasty’s strategic layout in the Western Regions, and the Han Dynasty envoys returned. The later complaints made Han Wu very angry, the so-called emperor was angry and bleeds thousands of miles. Under the order of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhao Ponu from Piaohou led tens of thousands of troops to attack Gushi, and the envoy of the Han Dynasty Wang Hui also told the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty 数为楼兰所苦, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered Wang Hui to assist him. Zhao Ponu went to attack Loulan. Under the military attack of the Han Dynasty, Loulan was naturally unable to resist and could only surrender to the Han Dynasty.

However, the development of the story does not end here. For a small country like Loulan, its actual situation is difficult. Between the two superpowers of the Huns and the Han Dynasty, no one can easily offend the survival of the small country. To seek political balance, Loulan people are well aware of this.

The political balance of the small country, the two ends of the first mouse evoked "do not break Loulan and never return"

If the Loulan people are also well versed in geopolitics, then they will know this for themselves. For small countries, depending on the Huns will offend the other side, just as depending on the Xiongnu will inevitably hurt the interests of the Han Dynasty, but depending on the Han Dynasty will also offend the Xiongnu. The complicated situation of political and military games between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu in the Western Regions Next, for Loulan, by balancing the political contradictions between the two, try his best to find a political balance between the two countries, and ensure the interests and security of his country to the utmost extent by means of no crime.

If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s

So the political means and attitude of "the two ends of the first mouse" sometimes seems unavoidable. After Zhao Ponu defeated the Loulan people, the latter surrendered to the Han Dynasty and formally went to the Han Dynasty. Said to pay tribute. As discussed above, such behavior will undoubtedly offend the Huns. Sometimes the difficulty of survival in small countries is reflected here. How to seek their own best interests and security among superpowers sometimes seems impossible. Mission accomplished. Sure enough, when the Xiongnu learned that Loulan was a courtier in the Han dynasty, in order to regain his influence, he immediately "deployed his army."

The miserable Loulan had no choice but to make a request and send a prince to the Huns as a hostage. Sending a prince to the Han Dynasty to act as a hostage, but this is only an expedient measure. When the conflict between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu again, Loulan was still involuntarily used by the Xiongnu as a spearman. The angry Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty Ordered the arrest of King Loulan and sent it to Han Ting to accept punishment. Facing Emperor Wu's reprimand, the King Loulan had to say frankly: The country is among the big countries, and there is no peace of mind. Willing to emigrate to Han land.

These words silenced Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and finally pardoned Loulan.king.

If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s

Since then, the Han Dynasty also acquiesced to Loulan’s behavior, and did not over-prosecute it. For a period of time, Loulan was able to rely on this kind of divergence between the Xiongnu and the Han. The way survived. Until Emperor Zhao of Han succeeded to the throne, because Loulan had played with fire, he intercepted and killed some envoys of the Han Dynasty under the instigation of the Xiongnu. Finally, under the order of the general Huo Guang, Fu Jiezi, the Superintendent of Pingle, was sent to assassinate the King of Loulan. His younger brother Tu Qi was established as the new Loulan King, and Loulan has since changed his name to Shanshan.

Since then, as the Huns entered a period of decline under the continuous attack of the Han Dynasty, until they were finally forced to move westward, Loulan also formally surrendered to the Han Dynasty until the Northern Wei Dynasty was annexed and withdrew from the stage of history.

The logic behind "If you don't break Loulan, you won't return it"

Actually Loulan was a small country, it was very easy for the Han Dynasty to destroy it. The so-called "If you don't break Loulan, you won't return it." The logic behind this is that in order to expand and maintain its political influence in the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty must break this country in order to force the Western Regions and deter the Xiongnu. As a small transit country located on the Silk Road of the Han Dynasty, the strategic significance of Loulan was very important to the Han Dynasty. The destruction of Loulan did not bring any substantial benefits to the Han Dynasty, and its land was not enough to broaden its territory. Wealth is not enough to make money, and how to deal with and resettle the people of Loulan is a series of troublesome things.

If you don’t break Loulan, you won’t return it—Lolan’s

Therefore, for the Han dynasty at that time, the conquest of Loulan contributed to the stability of the Silk Road and at the same time cracked down on the influence of the Huns in the Western Regions. At that time, the relationship between Han and Huns was extremely tense. The Western Regions will undoubtedly become the second battlefield between the two. The political and military game surrounding the Western Regions is an important means for the Han Dynasty to expand its influence in the Western Regions and weaken the Xiongnu. With the great victory of the Han Dynasty in the war against the Huns, the Han Dynasty eventually became the final victor in the Western Regions. For the Han Dynasty, breaking Loulan was helpful to the smooth flow of the Silk Road and promoted the Han Dynasty's foreign trade. It not only had substantial economic benefits, but was more of political and military strategic significance.

Therefore, it is not how powerful Loulan is and how bad things he did, but that the Han Dynasty must break Loulan based on these strategies. In the Tang Dynasty, the so-called "do not break Loulan and never pay back" was actually a metaphor. It was the Tang Dynasty that must regain control of the border areas.

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