Huns & the Latter Han Dynasty 

Huns & the Latter Han Dynasty 
 
In AD 48, the Hunnic Empire formally dissolved due to internal fights. The Hunnic internal turmoils had very much to do with the killing of Lady Wang Zhaojun's son by a Hunnic kinsman. The Huns adopted a rule of passing on the kingdom to brothers, but one brother of the Huns refused to acknowledge Wang Zhaojun's son as a legal heir. In AD 73 (?), Han Dynasty sent a huge expedition against the Huns. Ban Gu (General Ban Chao's brother) wrote an extol article and had it inscribed on a stone monument in today's Outer Mongolia. After a period of passive dealings with the Huns, Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220) slowly adopted the policies of its predecessor, namely, cutting off the right arm of the Huns, namely, the territories of today's Western China. It recovered the lost territories, driving the Huns back into the Altai Mountains and the steppes north of the Gobi.
 
General Dou Xian and Geng Zhong defeated the Huns in and beyong Jiuquan on the Silk Road, further defeated Hunnic King Huyan-wang to the north of Tianshan Mountain, and took over Yiwu [Hami, i.e., ancient Komul] and established the post of "yihe duwei" [i.e., farming captain]. As an offshoot of the campaign, Ban Chao was dispatched along the southern side of Tianshan Mountain for recovering Chinese control over the Western Territories. Bao Chao utilized diplomacy and Han Dynasty prestige in subjugating the Hunnic vassals such as Shanshan [Pichang], Yutian [Khoten], and Shule etc.
 
At the times of Eastern Han Emperor Mingdi [reign 58-75 AD], Eastern Han Dynasty's "yihe duwei", on basis of Western Han Dynasty's "wuji xiaowei", was put in charge of military farming. Also stationed in Chinese Turkistan would be "xiyu [western territories] zhangshi [senior minister]" who was under the supervision of Dunhuang "taishou" [i.e., prefecture governor]. In 1959, a seal bearing "si [manage] he [rice paddy] fu [office] yin [seal]" was excavated in Ni-ya of Minfeng-xian county. Chinese archaeology had revealved ruins of military farming in such counties as Luntai, Shaya, Ruoqiang and Luo-bu-po [i.e., Lake Koko Nor], with traces of barns, canals, flood gates, castles, wells, metallergy sites, potteries, woks, iron spades, wind blowers, low banks and ridges between fields, coins, wooden inscription plates, and mail relay stations. Scholar Huang Wenbi stated that military farming was controlled by two offices of Ganchang [Khocho] to the left and Gumo to the right. Hou Han Shu mentioned that grand general was in charge of five military farming units which were subdivided into the "qu" units of left and right. Aside from military farming, two more forms were employed, i.e., convict farming and civilian farming. Records from Juyan Lake military farming pointed to family members co-living with soldiers on site. Ruoqiang, Shanshan, Qiemo and Qiuci, with iron ore and metallergy, had produced iron sickles, iron saws, and iron ploughs. Han Shu mentioned that as many as 600000 horses were raised by Han China in northwestern territories at one time.
 
In AD 91, General Dou Xian mounted another deadly campaign against the Northern Huns. Northern Huns hence began a migration that would lead to the chain reaction to the West. Scholar Luo Xianglin stated that the Huns split into two groups: Ye-da [White Huns] posing threat to Sassanian Dynasty to the northeast of today's Iran, and western offshoot moving to south of Ural Mountain. Luo Xianglin further stated that the Western Huns, under Balamir, due to a famine, relocated towards Europe in AD 372, conquering Eastern Goths and driving away Western Goths. Balamir, after conquering the territories north of Danube, received the tributes from Roman Emperor. Balamir's son would be Attila who, with 700000 army, campaigned against East Roman Empire in AD 447 and attacked Western Roman Empire in AD 450.
 
Two Colonial Policies Of Han Dynasty
Two colonial policies were adopted at the time. The other policy would be setting up the castles along the Silk Road, which would effectively segregate the Huns from the Qiangic nomads in today's Qinhai-Gansu areas. This is in addition to the first policy of cutting off the right arm of the Huns. General Ban Chao (Pan Chao) was dispatched to today's Xinjiang areas where he stayed for 30 years, till reaching the age of 70. Ban Chao was entitled 'du hu' (protector general) of 'Xi Yu', i.e., the Western Territories and Marquis Dingyuan-hou.
 
In AD 97, one small expedition led by Gan Ying, a secretarial official under General Pan Ch'ao, crossed the Pamir Mountains and reached the Xihai or West Sea (Caspian Sea?) in search of Lijian (Alexandra, Egypt), i.e., Rome. (There is a confusion here as to the exact sea referred as 'Xi Hai' or West Sea. Ancient classics claimed that Arabs and Parthians traded with Romans at Xihai Sea. Hence, Xihai would be most likely the Mediterranean rather than the Caspian. Thus, Gan Ying had reached the Mediterranean coast. Some Chinese expert believed that West Sea referred to the Arab Sea.) When Pan Chao's soldiers reached the sea, they were cheated by the local Arab ruler about insurmountability of the high seas. History recorded that the locals cheated Gan Ying about some kind of creature on the Sea which might cause travellers homesick. Arabs tried to stop the Chinese from going to Rome for sake of monopolizing the silk and tea trade. (Alexander the Great had a dillusion at the Caspian, thinking that the sea was insurmountable.). This kind of Chinese expansion will usually give today's Chinese countrymen a wrong impression in that the Chinese empire was very powerful at that time.
 
Ban Chao versus Kushan Yuezhi
In Western History book, there was citation of Pan Chao's defeating the Yueh-chih (Yuezhi) Kushan Empire. The truth is nothing more than Pan Chao's wisdom in defending Western territories from the attack of the 70 thousand strong army sent by the Kushan Yueh-chih (Yuezhi) king. Ban had ruled the western territories via a very small contingent, a couple of thousands of Han army. When Ban first embarked on his trip to the West, he had 36 Chinese, only. Later, the Han Emperor sent him a contingent of 500 and another contingent of maybe 2-3000 men. In the early years, the Chinese posts in the West were often in perils. At one time, several thousand soldiers stood steadfast against a Hunnic encirclement for several years, and one general (Geng Gong) was famous for preaching to the Heaven for water after digging deep into the ground without any trace of water.
 
The Kushans had been mostly an outsider during the whole time period of about 30 years when Ban was busy conquering the 36-50 kingdoms of Xinjiang and driving out the Hun influence. Kushan king had at one time helped the Ban Chao (Pan Chao) in not sending relief army to the pro-Hun kingdom. Kushan king got only enraged after Pan Chao threw to the ground the letter which was to request for Han princess for marriage. Pan Chao, as we know, had only a few thousand Chinese soldiers, and the rest were locals. Pan told his troops that the Yüeh-chih, with 70,000 people, would soon run out of grain supply and they would go home by themselves. When Yueh-chih (Yuezhi) sent an emissary to a neighboring country for borrowing grains, Pan ambushed the emissary and cut off the head of the Yueh-chih (Yuezhi) emissary. Thereafter, the Yueh-chih (Yuezhi) promised that they would never wage war with Han Chinese.
 
With few than thousands of soldiers who had actually been dispatched by the Han Dynasty, and most of those soldiers were actually convicts, Ban had been able to colonize the territories in the same way as the British did in India one thousand years later. Ban first successfully adopted the policy of "ruling aliens with aliens". Though, Ban Chao's efforts were very much ignored by Han Emperor. For many years, until the age of 70, he had petitioned time and again with Han Emperor for permission to return to China proper for retirement, and his request was not approved till he asked his historian sister relay a message to the emperor for mercy. Ban Chao had sent his son on a mission back to Han Court at one time, mentioning in his letter to the emperor that he wished to have his son come to China to take a personal look at China proper. In his sister's letter, there was reference to the fact that the two to three dozens of Chinese who accompanied Pan on his journey to the West (at the order of General Dou Gu 30 years earlier) had all died in remote lands. In the same year Ban Chao returned to China, he died at age 71. Shortly thereafter, Ban's successor lost the control of western territories to the Huns. Uygur nationalists mentioned that Ban Chao's son fled back to China proper the second year Ban Chao left the western territories. To save the few thousands of Chinese stranded in the West, Han emperor would order big contingents, in tens of thousands, to march out of the Yuemen Pass for rescuing the Han garrison troops.
 
Hunnic Split of AD 89
Around AD 89, General Dou Xian, under the order of his empress sister, led a huge army comprising of soldiers from Beijing Area and the Southern Hun allies, had a decisive battle over the Northern Huns at Jiluoshan Mountains. Han army chased the Huns deep into the northwest territories, defeated 81 Hunnic tribes, and captured over 200 thousand Huns. History of the Northern Dynasties recorded that the Chanyu of Northern Huns fled westward to the ancient Kang-chu Statelet, while the remaining weak and elderly Huns relocated to the north of the Qiuci (Chouci) Statelet. In the west, the descendants of those Huns would set up a country called Nie-Ban (a word that was used for Nirvana), in the ancient Kang-chu or Kang-ju territories which was to the northwest of the ancient Wusun Statelet.
 
Ban Yong
Around AD 120, governor of Dunhuang, Cao Zong, requested with Han Court for relief. Earlier, Cao Zong tried to recover the lost territories in Chinese Turkistan by sending his official (Suo Ban) to Yiwu Statelet. Shanshan King and "Frontal Cheshi" ["qian cheshi"] King both submitted to Cao Zong, but the "Hind Cheshi" ["hou cheshi"] requested with Hunnic armies for defeating the Frontal Cheshi. The Huns controlled the northern route of the Silk Road.
 
Ban Yong, the son of Ban Chao, proposed a restoration of 300 farming soldiers and a deputy governor-general in Dunhuang. Ban Yong further proposed that a senior official be dispatched to Loulan with 500 farming soldiers for sake of cutting off the invasion of Qiuci (Chouci) / Yanqi and beefing up the courage of Shanshan / Yutian against the threats of the Northern Huns. In AD 124, Ban Yong was conferred the post of senior official for western territories. From AD 125 to 127, as "zhang shi" [senior minister of Han court], Ban Yong won over the defection of Qiuci (Chouci) King plus their two accessory states, Gumuo and Wensu. Together, they defeated the "Frontal Cheshi" and the Northern Huns. In AD 125, Ban Yong, leading 6000 cavalry consisting of Shanshan, Shule and Frontal Cheshi, defeated the "Hind Cheshi". Ban Yong went on to drive Northern Huns away, and he captured 20,000 Huns. Later, Ban Yong was ordered to attack the Yanqi Statelet, but Ban Yong was punished by Han Emperor Shundi because Ban Yong did not catch up with his colleague who deliberately arrived at Yanqi first and defeated Yanqi.
 
Ban Yong wrote "Records Of What I Saw and Heard In Western Territories". Later Historian Fan Ye, in Hou Han Shu, completed his section on "western territories" on basis of Ban Yong records

Next Huns During Wei-Jinn Time Periods