In 73 AD, the Eastern Han diplomat Ban Chao was ordered to go to the Western Regions and successfully arrived in Shanshan.
In the face of the envoys from the Han Dynasty, the king and ministers of Shanshan showed great respect. This is natural, after all, in that era, the strength of the Han Dynasty was a fact that could not be ignored.
Although Shanshan is nominally a country, it is actually just a county in the Central Plains. Therefore, Shanshanguo did not dare to have any contempt for the Han Dynasty's mission.
Soon after the mission stayed in Shanshan, the attitude of the king of Shanshan began to reverse, from enthusiasm to coldness. This left the members of the mission confused and did not know what the problem was.
Ban Chao, as the head of the mission, judged that this might be due to the arrival of the Xiongnu mission, which caused the king of Shanshan to hesitate between falling to the Xiongnu and the Han dynasty.
Ban Chao's strategy proved to be accurate, and he decisively proposed to defeat the Xiongnu mission at Shanshan to prevent Shanshan from defecting to the Xiongnu. Under his leadership, the mission succeeded in beheading the Xiongnu mission, forcing Shanshan to completely submit to the Han Dynasty without any hesitation.
Ban Chao's passage to the Western Regions not only showed his fearless courage, but also opened the door to the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty.
Under the challenge of Shanshanguo, he led a team of only thirty-six people to successfully intercept the Xiongnu mission, paving the way for the Eastern Han Dynasty to regain control of the Western Regions.
This story allows us to see the power of courage and the charm of wisdom, and Ban Chao's heroic deeds deserve our deep admiration.
How did Ban Chao's bravery and decisiveness come about?
Why was he able to accurately judge the arrival of the Xiongnu envoy only by the change in the attitude of King Shanshan?
And after Ban Chao killed the Xiongnu mission, why did Shanshanguo finally decide to defect to the Han Dynasty?
All this is inseparable from the historical background of the Han Dynasty's loss of the Western Regions. When we read the story of Ban Chao's passage to the Western Regions, we will find that there is a word "again" in it, which indicates that Ban Chao's actions were the key to regaining control of the Western Regions after the Han Dynasty lost the Western Regions.
The Han Dynasty had already ruled the Western Regions during the Western Han Dynasty, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the Western Regions, and after learning about the situation in the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty actively expanded and set up a capital protectorate in the Western Regions to directly govern it.
From the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty until the fall of the Western Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty was committed to the management of the Western Regions.
For nearly a hundred years, the Western Regions were controlled by the Han Dynasty.
However, after the fall of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang usurped the throne and ruled the Western Regions, during which he made many mistakes and was defeated in the war against the Xiongnu.
The Central Plains regime during Wang Mang's reign lost control of the Western Regions, leading to the re-emergence of the Xiongnu, who had been suppressed by the Western Han Dynasty, and turned their attention to the Western Regions.
In the later part of Wang Mang's reign, due to unpopular policies and a shortage of talents sent to the Western Regions, many small states in the Western Regions began to move closer to the Xiongnu, which eventually led to the weakening of the influence of the Central Plains in the Western Regions.
During Liu Xiu's reign, although he did not have the strength to go deep into the grassland to fight the Xiongnu for the time being, he adopted diplomatic means to create trouble for the Xiongnu.
In the later years of his reign, the Xiongnu's Lao Shan Yu died, and Lao Shan Yu's son and nephew both wanted to become the new Shan Yu.
The Eastern Han Dynasty supported Lao Shan Yu's nephew to establish an independent state, because he was located in the south of the Han Dynasty and was closer to the Han Dynasty, so he was called the Southern Xiongnu, while Lao Shan Yu's son's territory was in the north and was called the Northern Xiongnu.
The ** of the Xiongnu caused turmoil in the countries of the Western Regions, and they could not be sure whether to continue to follow the Southern Xiongnu or the Northern Xiongnu.
Under these circumstances, the Eastern Han Dynasty began to support the Shache Kingdom in the Western Regions as its representative in the region.
With the rise of the Shache Kingdom, many small states in the Western Regions began to gravitate towards the Han Dynasty and the Shache. This further expanded the influence of the Eastern Han Dynasty in the later period of Liu Xiu's reign.
However, due to the influence of the Xiongnu, there were still many countries in the Western Regions that had reservations about the Han Dynasty.
Some people may wonder: since the Xiongnu had continuous internal disputes, why didn't the Han Dynasty directly send troops to the Western Regions and take this opportunity to recover the entire Western Regions?
Why did the Eastern Han Dynasty support Shache as its representative in the Western Regions?
In fact, this problem is not complicated, it comes down to a cost problem.
In general, many small states in the Western Regions at that time, especially led by the Shache Kingdom, hoped that the Han Dynasty would send troops to come.
Because when the armies of the Han Dynasty arrived, their safety would be guaranteed.
Although the Eastern Han Dynasty intended to regain control of the Western Regions, due to its special geographical environment, the local population carrying capacity was limited. If you want to achieve this goal, you need to station tens of thousands of troops in the Western Regions.
However, the Western Regions could not be self-sufficient in the supplies needed by these large armies, and could only rely on transportation in the Central Plains. However, the Eastern Han Dynasty had just recovered from the war and could not afford this attrition, so they had to settle for the next best thing and support the Shache Kingdom.
This situation lasted for more than twenty years, until Liu Xiu died of illness and his son Emperor Ming of Han ascended the throne. Although the Han Dynasty changed emperors during this time, the overall strategy did not change, and it has been committed to recuperation.
More than ten years after Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, the Eastern Han Dynasty had recovered its vitality and began to consider foreign wars. For the Han Dynasty, fighting or expanding was not the ultimate goal, its real purpose was to protect
At that time, the Northern Xiongnu were undoubtedly the greatest threat to the Han Dynasty, and even though the Southern Xiongnu had been annexed, the Northern Xiongnu were still causing trouble.
In addition, because the Northern Xiongnu were located in the depths of the grassland, if they were forcibly attacked, they would inevitably cause heavy losses, just like the war of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu.
In the late Ming period of the Han Dynasty, some people proposed the strategy of conquering the Western Regions first and then attacking the Northern Xiongnu from three directions at the same time, so as to reduce the cost of the Han Dynasty's war against the Xiongnu.
To this end, the Eastern Han Dynasty sent a four-way army, three of which made a feint attack to lure the main army of the Northern Xiongnu, and the main attack was directed to the Tianshan region.
In the Western Regions, the Tien Shan Mountains occupy a vital position and run through the entire region. In the southern part of the Tien Shan, the territories of numerous small states are distributed; The northern part is mainly a grassland landform, which is suitable for the survival of nomadic people.
During the Western Han Dynasty, the imperial court supported the establishment of the Wusun State in the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains, using this as a springboard to further compress the territory of the Xiongnu. However, after the fall of the Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu briefly expanded and regained control of many steppes in the northern Tien Shan Mountains.
Therefore, in the early days of the Eastern Han Dynasty, its primary strategic goal was to seize the Tianshan Mountains. Due to the complex topography of the Tianshan Mountains and the high altitude of most of the area, the cavalry of the Xiongnu could not cross it on a large scale, and could only pass through a few mountain passes next to the Tianshan Mountains.
As long as the Eastern Han Dynasty can occupy these key nodes, it will be able to actually control the Tianshan Mountains.
Master the Tianshan Mountains and cut off the ties between the Xiongnu and the Western Regions, and the countries of the Western Regions will naturally turn to the Han Dynasty. This is the historical background before Ban Chaotong went to the Western Regions.
Subsequently, with the departure of the Eastern Han army, Ban Chao's journey to the Western Regions officially began.
On the battlefield of the Tianshan Mountains, led by the famous general Dou Gu, the Eastern Han army quickly defeated the main force of the Northern Xiongnu and seized today's Hami region, which was the only way for the Northern Xiongnu to reach the Western Regions.
The Northern Xiongnu's dream of sending troops to the Western Regions on a large scale had been shattered after the Han army occupied Hami.
Ban Chao was just a minor official under Dou Gu at that time, he was not a general, but a civilian official who was dismissed.
His family was a professional in the study of history, and his eldest brother Ban Gu was the author of the Book of Han in the Twenty-Four History.
Ban Chao was originally a secretary to Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, responsible for organizing the music and writing history, but was later dismissed from his post due to negligence.
However, after the Eastern Han Dynasty decided to use troops in the Western Regions, due to the inherent friendship between the Ban family and Dou who led the troops, Ban Chao was recruited as Sima in the army and became a member of the Dou family's subordinate families.
After Dou Gu successfully occupied the Hami region and completed the strategic task, according to the original plan, the Han Dynasty would send envoys to lobby the countries of the Western Regions.
Due to the close relationship between the Dou family and the Ban family, Dou Gu decided to leave this opportunity for meritorious service to the Ban family.
Therefore, Ban Chao served as an envoy of the Han Dynasty and went to the countries of the Western Regions on his behalf.
The target of Ban Chao's first mission was Shanshanguo, and Shanshanguo gave high respect to Ban Chao's mission.
Shanguo's warm hospitality to Ban Chao and his party at the beginning was not out of friendship, but out of awe of the strength of the Han Dynasty and the memory of its historical lessons.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Loulan repeatedly discooperated with the expansion of the Han Dynasty, and even helped the Xiongnu to fight against the Han Dynasty, so it has received many key lessons in the history of the Western Han Dynasty.
Today, the main elite of the Han Dynasty is still stationed in the Western Regions, and they can set foot in Shanshan at any time.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, General Zhao Ponu raided Loulan with a force of 900 men, successfully captured the king of Loulan and brought him back to Chang'an.
During Huo Guang's auxiliary administration, although the Han Dynasty's policy in the Western Regions was relatively conservative, when the Xiongnu attacked the Western Regions again and Loulan fell to the Xiongnu again, Huo Guang did not send troops to the expedition, but sent the minister Fu Jiezi to Loulan and easily solved the problem.
After Fu Jiezi's actions, Loulan officially changed her name to Shanshan. Shanguo deeply felt the influence of the history of the Western Han Dynasty and was full of respect for the Han Dynasty. When Ban Chao's mission arrived, Shanshanguo was respectful.
However, it was not long before Shan's attitude changed.
Considering the history and background, Ban Chao speculated that the outcome of the Xiongnu mission was expected.
Except for the secret arrival of the Xiongnu envoy and putting pressure on King Shanshan, there was no other reason for King Shanshan to suddenly change his degree.
Faced with the fact that Hami was occupied by the Eastern Han Dynasty and it was impossible for the Huns to cross the Tianshan Mountains on a large scale to reach Shanshan, Ban Chao began to collect information about the Xiongnu mission.
He believes that the size of this mission will not be too large, with a maximum of only a few dozen people.
This realization made Ban Chao bold. Although Dou Gu's garrison was nearly a thousand miles away from Shanshan at that time, it was impossible to provide direct military support, but this meant that as long as this Xiongnu mission was successfully killed, the Xiongnu would not be able to send another mission over in a short time.
Ban Chao planned a night attack on the Xiongnu mission, taking advantage of the windy day, they set fire to the Xiongnu mission's station, and the Huns fled in panic, not expecting that there were ambushes outside.
Ban Chao took the opportunity to lead the team and successfully eliminated the Xiongnu mission.
On that night, Ban Chao wiped out the entire Xiongnu mission in one fell swoop with a surprise attack. By the time King Shanshan reacted, it was already too late. After the Xiongnu mission was wiped out, even if King Shanshan wanted to attach himself to the Xiongnu again, it was difficult to make it clear.
The Xiongnu side would also mistakenly believe that Shanshan had fallen to the Han Dynasty. As a result, Shanshan then completely surrendered to the Han Dynasty. In this area of the Western Regions, the location of Shanshan Kingdom is extremely important.
After the Han Dynasty left the Yumen Pass, it continued to travel west, and it would definitely pass through Shanshanguo. For the passage of the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions, Shanshanguo was like a valve. With the stability of Shanshanguo, the Han Dynasty's road to the depths of the Western Regions was naturally unimpeded.
Therefore, Ban Chao's later envoy was hailed"Re-opening of the Western Regions"。