In the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, political darkness had a significant impact on the frontier strategy. Among them,"Huayi's argument"Under the ideology, razing and destroying became the most prominent strategic plan of the Eastern Han Dynasty for the frontier ethnic economy.
This strategy was mainly embodied in the establishment of the original ruling power of the leaders of the ethnic minorities, such as the canonization of the small tribes of the Southwest Yi and the Nanban as the rulers, and the recognition of the rule of the Xiongnu Huhan and the Evil Shan Yu over the original tribes.
These measures reflected the respect and tolerance of ethnic minorities in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and made important contributions to the stability of the frontier.
The strategy of "using razing to control razing" in the Eastern Han Dynasty was not only a respect and tolerance for ethnic minorities, but also an in-depth manifestation of the ruling order of the Central Plains Dynasty among ethnic minorities.
This strategy maintains stability in the border areas by granting honorific titles and official positions to the leaders of ethnic minorities, co-opting and combating contradictions between different ethnic groups, and forming joint armed forces. During the northern strategy, the Eastern Han Dynasty made the Southern Xiongnu an important force against the Northern Xiongnu by dividing the Xiongnu and Wuhuan Xianbei.
When fighting ethnic rebellions in the south, the Eastern Han Dynasty often used the power of local ethnic minorities to quell the rebellion. In general, the strategy of "using razing to defeat raze" in the Eastern Han Dynasty was a wisdom and strategy of the Han Dynasty in dealing with frontier issues.
In addition to collecting alliances in the border areas, the Han Dynasty's strategy of using razing to control raze would also allow it to fight across regions, such as using the Banyu barbarians in the south against the Qiang people in the west. The Qiang people in the west were dispatched to assist the Eastern Han Dynasty in the management of the Western Regions.
Under this strategic thinking, the "Baosai barbarians" were gradually formed in the areas where the Han Dynasty had fierce conflicts with the western and northern regions, and in the south, the "Nei barbarians" were formed, and these tribal people were politically connected with the Central Plains regime and identified with the Central Plains Dynasty.
On the other hand, however, long-term economic aid and military dependence, as well as the administration of the crown, allowed these peoples to retain their intact ethnic identity and remain under the direct rule of their original tribal leaders.
This makes it possible for the Central Plains Dynasty to become rebel forces again once its strength declines and loses its attractiveness to the surrounding ethnic groups, and the idea of "Yixia Great Defense" also hinders the further identification of the frontier ethnic groups with the Central Plains Dynasty, which brings difficulties to the frontier strategy during the period of the dynasty's decline.
In the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, through the efforts of Wu Zhaoxuan, the Central Plains Dynasty successfully realized the unification of the frontier nationalities, so that the frontier situation in the early Eastern Han Dynasty was somewhat eased compared with the early Western Han Dynasty.
However, this has also led to the emergence of an ideological tendency of "inward return" among the people of the frontiers. At the same time, separatist forces supported by ethnic minorities in the border areas also emerged, such as Lu Fang in the north, Huaihuan in the west, and Gongsun Shu in the southwest.
These complex separatist forces made the first task of the Eastern Han Dynasty after its establishment to crusade and suppress the rebellion and unify the world. Coupled with the severe weakening of the national strength caused by the peasant uprising war in the late Western Han Dynasty, it took a while to recover.
Therefore, in the early days of the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, various ethnic minorities were encircled and appeased in many ways, and the frontier economy was very passive and conservative. However, even during the period when the Eastern Han Dynasty was strong, although the economic strategy was positive, its core ideas were still relatively conservative.
After completing the great cause of unification, the Han Dynasty seemed somewhat calm in the face of the enthusiastic attachment of various nationalities. In the twenty-first year of the founding of the army, Lu Fang and other rebel forces had been pacified, and in the face of the annexation of Shanshan and Cheshi in the Western Regions, Emperor Guangwu politely refused on the grounds that "China was initially decided, and foreign affairs were not forgotten", and said that "the strength of all countries is not enough, and the east, west, north and south can be at ease".
This negative thinking led to the re-belonging of the Western Regions to the Xiongnu, which brought great difficulties to the Han Dynasty to recover the Western Regions again. In terms of frontier strategy, the conservative attitude of the Eastern Han Dynasty was more obvious.
During the reign of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the frontier expansion was very passive and lacked initiative, and most of them began when external threats such as "Yongpingzhong, the northern captives coerced the counties of Kouhexi" or ethnic attachments, such as "Jiuzhen Wai Yelang barbarians raised the land and opened up the territory for 1,840 li".
This negative thinking stems from the completion of national unification in the Western Han Dynasty, as well as the ruling nature of the Eastern Han Dynasty established by the support of powerful landlord groups and the annexation of many separatist regimes.
In order to suppress the power of powerful landlords, the Eastern Han Dynasty always took the suppression of the power of powerful landlords as the core of its rule.
The frontier strategy of the Eastern Han Dynasty has always been based on internal restrictions, and lacks the positive and enterprising spirit of external expansion. In the middle and later periods, the contradictions within the ruling group intensified, the frontier issue became more complicated, and the frontier strategy became conservative and negative.
This phenomenon of "abandoning the land and defending oneself" appeared as early as the beginning of the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when some courtiers suggested abandoning remote areas such as the western part of Jincheng and Poqiang to avoid banditry.
At the same time, in some more remote areas, the Eastern Han Dynasty has also implemented this strategy, such as in the northeastern frontier region, when the military was established in the sixth year, the imperial lieutenant was omitted, and the territory of the east was abandoned.
The weakness of this frontier strategy existed at the beginning of the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and whenever the situation faced a crisis of border rule, the Eastern Han Dynasty would fall into a discussion about whether to abandon it.
For example, in the early Yongchu period, there was a proposal to abandon Liangzhou and concentrate troops to defend the north, while in the Xiping period, there was a proposal to abandon Yizhou, thinking that the county was outside the border, the barbarians liked to rebel, and the labor division was far away, so it was better to abandon it.
Although the discussion of "abandoning land" was not passed in the government, it was quietly implemented in practice. For example, in the process of navigating the Western Regions, the phenomenon of "three absolutes" appeared, which is a practical reflection of the policy of abandoning land.
With the decline of the Eastern Han Dynasty, some areas with serious ethnic conflicts have become difficult to control, such as Jincheng and other counties in Liangzhou, there is a phenomenon of "abandoning without abandonment".
The political situation and quality had a profound impact on the four-sided strategy of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Although the frontier was stabilized and developed under the leadership of the Ming monarch and outstanding border officials in the early period, after the middle period, the decline in national strength and infighting in the court led to political corruption and internal strife, which had a negative impact on the Quadrilateral Economic Strategy.
Especially in the war against the Northern Xiongnu in the Yongyuan period, the impact of the court's political attack on the four-sided economic strategy was particularly obvious.
Under the long-term strategy of the Han Dynasty to the north, the power of the Northern Xiongnu has been greatly weakened, and they have begun to frequently ask for peace and surrender. After the victory of the war, after the defeat of the political struggle, Dou Xian, in order to protect himself, tried to use this expedition to attack the Xiongnu in exchange for pardon.
To a large extent, his strategy of establishing the Northern Xiongnu belongs to the category of "striving for merit." However, with the death of Dou Xian, the process of annexing the Northern Xiongnu that he had established was interrupted and the rebellion resumed.
Moreover, the remaining strength of the Northern Xiongnu was also inherited by the Southern Xiongnu and Xianbei, which had an impact on the strength of the Han Dynasty in the north. The bureaucrats in the court also advocated appeasing the northern Xiongnu, believing that if the southern Xiongnu were blindly supported, it would cause a border crisis.
However, with the death of Dou Xian and the opposition of Yuan An, the northern side of the Han Dynasty eventually went to an unfavorable situation.