Among the ancient Chinese poets, there was often a small country in the Western Regions, and this small country in the Western Regions was Loulan.
Loulan is mostly a negative image in the poetry of Chinese poets.
For example, Mr. Wang Changling's poem mentions Loulan, writing: "If Loulan is not broken, it will never be recovered." ”
As for Li Bai's poem, it is "I want to paint Loulan" The sword on my waist is to kill Loulan. ”
So why did the ancient Chinese feudal dynasties have so much hostility towards Loulan, a small country in the Western Regions? What exactly did they do?
1。Loulan repeatedly attacked the feudal dynasty of the Central Plains.
As early as the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty at that time already knew that Loulan was a country in the Western Regions, and the Han Dynasty was also quite hostile to Loulan.
This is mainly because Loulan's position is quite critical. It was close to the rare water source in the western region at that time. It is also an important transportation hub and transportation support point connecting the western region and beyond.
Whoever can control Loulan will be able to better control the Western Regions, but at that time Loulan was the younger brother of the Xiongnu.
If the history of the Han Dynasty is described, it can also be regarded as a history of confrontation with the Xiongnu Empire.
Since its inception, the Han Dynasty has been at war with the Xiongnu Empire.
The Han-Hungarian War lasted for a long time, and it was not until the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty that the Xiongnu Empire basically disappeared.
After Han Gaozu, the rulers of the Han Dynasty finally had the opportunity to face the Xiongnu Empire after years of hard work.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty army attacked the Xiongnu many times and achieved victory.
But because the combat effectiveness of the Xiongnu Empire was too strong, the Xiongnu's control over the Western Regions was very strong for a long time.
Many small states in the Western Regions also followed the Xiongnu, including Loulan.
Only by controlling Loulan could the Xiongnu cut off the internal and external exchanges in the Western Regions.
At that time, the Han Dynasty repeatedly hoped that Loulan could change its flag and join the Han Dynasty, but they were all refused.
So in the fourth year of Han Yuanfeng, the Han general Huo Guang directly sent an envoy to assassinate the king of Loulan, and then moved the capital of Loulan to the south, and then Loulan perished. became a country of the Han Dynasty.
But at that time, Loulan was indeed one of the small countries in the Western Regions that were most reluctant to obey the orders of the Han Dynasty.
Even though Loulan was later destroyed, Loulan would still be mentioned repeatedly in the poems of countless poets of the Central Plains Dynasty.
Especially in the Tang Dynasty, because the environment at that time determined that these poets also liked to express their attitudes by shouting to kill Loulan.
2.Many of the people who wrote about Loulan were poets of the Tang Dynasty.
In fact, Loulan often appears in the poems of Tang Dynasty poets. Li Bai, Du Fu and others have all described Loulan in their poems.
The environment in which they lived at that time was the Tang Dynasty. Although it should be said that there should be the Anshi Rebellion, but in the early period of Tang Xuanzong, that is, in the Kaiyuan period and the early Tianbao period, the country at that time was indeed rich and strong.
The Tang Dynasty army completely dominated the Western Regions, and even had the ability to directly fight the Arab Empire on the periphery of the Western Regions.
At that time, the Arab Empire and the Tibetan Empire, anchored on the plateau, were the greatest enemies of the Tang Dynasty.
Even if the Tang Dynasty was still strong, it could not solve these two opponents, so there were frequent wars in the Western Regions at that time.
At that time, the Tibetan Empire often sent troops to attack the Western Regions, which belonged to the Tang Dynasty, while the Arab Empire focused on the Outer Western Regions.
For the ambitious poets of the Tang Dynasty at that time, everyone supported the use of units outside the Sai and units outside the Western Regions.
Because for the Tang Dynasty people at that time, the Western Regions was already our inseparable historical territory.
But it is necessary to use a curved pen when writing articles. To put it simply, there are some things that everyone knows, but they can't be written so bluntly.
For example, when Bai Juyi wrote "Song of Long Hatred", the first two sentences were the Han Emperor's concentration and national thoughts, and Yu Yu couldn't get it for many years.
This Han Emperor refers to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che, but in fact, Bai Juyi wrote about Tang Xuanzong Li Longji.
He ridiculed Li Longji for valuing women over state affairs, which eventually led to the Anshi Rebellion.
Therefore, when the poets of the Tang Dynasty described the war in the Western Regions, they were willing to take Loulan with them.
I don't just want to show support, but also to do some literary embellishment.
Conclusion: But Loulan's influence is actually not that great. Around the end of the fourth century AD, the city of Loulan was abandoned.
The prosperity of Loulan during the Han and Jin dynasties was mainly due to the establishment of the Changshi Administration Office in the Western Regions of Loulan City.
But with the fall of the Jin Dynasty, the long history of the Western Regions was directly canceled. At that time, due to the diversion of the river, Loulan City was no longer as prosperous as before.
So over time, the entire city of Loulan was abandoned.
It was not until the 26th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty that Swedish explorers discovered this ancient city that had been sealed in the dust for more than 1,300 years in the west of Lop Nur.