The Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 CE), founded by rebel leader Liu Bang (known after his death as Emperor Gaozu), was China's second imperial dynasty. This followed the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC), which had unified the Chinese War with conquest. Interrupted briefly by the Xin Dynasty (9-23 CE) Wang Mang, the Han Dynasty is divided into two periods: the Western Han (206 BC - 9 CE) and the Eastern Han (25-220 CE). These appellations come from the locations of the capital cities of Chang'an and Luoyang, respectively. The third and final capital of the dynasty is Xuchang, where the court moved in 196 AD during periods of political upheaval and civil war.
The Han Dynasty reigned in the era of Chinese cultural consolidation, political experimentation, economic prosperity and relative maturity, and great technological advancement. Terrestrial territorial expansion and exploration are unprecedented by the struggle with non-Chinese, especially the nomadic Xiongnu of the Eurasian Steppe. The Han emperors were initially forced to recognize Xiongnu Chanyus's rival as their equivalent, but in reality Han is an inferior partner in the marriage and royal alliance known as the heqin. This agreement was terminated when Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141-87 BC) launched a series of military campaigns that eventually led to the Xiongnu Federation's gap and redefined the Chinese border. The Han Region is expanded into the Hexi Corridor in modern Gansu province, the modern Xinjiang Tarim Valley, modern Yunnan and Hainan, modern northern Vietnam, modern North Korea, and southern Mongolia. The Han Court establishes trade and rivaling ties with the rulers as far west as Arsacids, whose court at Ctesiphon in Mesopotamia the Han kings sent emissaries. Buddhism first entered China during Han, spread by missionaries from Parthia and Kushan Empire in northern India and Central Asia.
From the beginning, the imperial court of Han was threatened by a betrayal and rebellion plan of his subordinate kingdom, the latter ultimately governed only by members of Liu's royal family. Initially, the eastern half of the empire was indirectly administered through large semi-autonomous kingdoms that promised loyalty and a portion of their tax revenues to the Han emperor, who ruled directly in the western part of the empire from Chang'an. Gradual steps were introduced by the imperial palace to reduce the size and power of these kingdoms, until the 2nd century BC reforms abolished their semi-autonomous rule and governed the palace of kings with central government officials. Yet much more volatile and the consequences for the dynasty were the growing power of both the empress's clan (queen) and the court's eunuch. In 92 CE, the eunuchs took root for the first time in the matter of the succession of the emperor, causing a series of political crises that culminated in 189 AD with their fall and massacre at Luoyang palaces. This incident triggered the age of civil war when it was divided by regional warlords competing for power. Finally, in 220 AD, the son of an imperial chancellor and the king accepted the resignation of the last Han emperor, who was deemed to have lost the Mandate of Heaven according to the Dong Zhongshu cosmological system (179-104 BC) which intertwined the fate of the imperial government with Heaven and the natural world. Following Han, China is divided into three countries: Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Wu Timur; this was consolidated into one kingdom by the Jin dynasty (265-420 CE).
Video History of the Han dynasty
The fall of Qin and Chu-Han contradictions
The collapse of Qin
The Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1050-256 BC) has made Qin State in western China the outpost to raise horses and act as a defense buffer against the nomadic army of Rong, Qiang, and Di tribes. After conquering the six Warring States (ie Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi) by 221 BC, King Qin, Ying Zheng, China united under one kingdom divided into 36 centrally controlled commanders. With control over most of China, he asserted an enhanced prestige by taking an unprecedented title huangdi (??), or 'emperor', known after him as Qin Shi Huang (ie the first emperor of Qin). Han-era historians will accuse his regime of using cruel methods to maintain his power.
Qin Shi Huang died of natural causes in 210 BC. In 209 BC, army officers Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, leading 900 conscripts through the rain, failed to meet the deadline for arrival; The Standard History claims that Qin's sentence for postponement is execution. To avoid this, Chen and Wu started a rebellion against Qin, known as the Dazexiang Rebellion, but they were thwarted by general Qin Zhang Han in 208 BC; Wu and Chen were later killed by their own armies. Yet at this point others have rebelled, among them Xiang Yu (d. 202 BCE) and his uncle Xiang Liang (??/??), people from Chu's leading aristocratic families. They joined Liu Bang, a male farmer and prisoner inmate in Pei County. Mi Xin, grandson of King Huai I of Chu, was declared King Huai II of Chu in his Pengcheng (modern Xuzhou) power base with the support of Xiangs, while the other kingdom was soon formed in opposition to Qin. However, in 208 BC Xiang Liang was killed in a battle with Zhang Han, who later attacked Zhao Xie, King Zhao in the capital Handan, forcing him to flee to Julu, who was besieged by Zhang. However, the new kingdoms of Chu, Yan, and Qi came to Zhao's help; Xiang Yu defeated Zhang at Julu and in 207 BC forced Zhang to surrender.
When Xiang was occupied at Julu, King Huai II sent Liu Bang to capture Qin's heart from Guanzhong with the agreement that the first officer who captured the territory would become its king. By the end of 207 BC, the ruler of Qin Ziying, who had claimed the reduced King Qin title, ordered his eunuch Zhao Gao to be killed after Zhao arranged the death of Chancellor Li Si in 208 BC and the second Qin Qin Shi Emperor. 207 BC. Liu Bang accepted Ziying's submission and secured the capital of Qin Xianyang; Persuaded by his chief adviser, Zhang Liang (p.189 BC) not to let his soldiers loot the city, he sealed his treasury.
Relating to Chu
The Standard Histories alleges that when Xiang Yu arrived in Xianyang two months later in early 206 BC, he looted it, burned it to the ground, and Ziying was executed. That year, Xiang Yu offered King Huai II the title of Emperor Yi of Chu and sent him to the remote border where he was killed; Xiang Yu then assumed the title of Hegemon-King of Western Chu (????) and became the leader of the confederation of 18 kingdoms. At the Hong Gate Celebration, Xiang Yu was considered to have killed Liu Bang, but Liu, aware that Xiang was considering killing him, escaped amidst the banquet. A little towards Liu Bang, Xiang Yu carved Guanzhong into three kingdoms with former general Qin Zhang Han and two of his subordinates as kings; Liu Bang was granted the Han kingdom on the Hanzhong border, where he would be less of a political challenge to Xiang Yu.
In the summer of 206 BC, Liu Bang heard the fate of Emperor Yi and decided to rally some new kingdoms against Xiang Yu, leading to a four-year war known as the Chu-Han dispute. Liu initially carried out a direct attack on Pengcheng and arrested him while Xiang was fighting against another king who rejected him - Tian Guang (??) King Qi - but his army collapsed when Xiang returned to Pengcheng; he was saved by a storm that delayed the arrival of Chu's army, although his father Liu Zhijia (???) and wife LÃÆ'¼ Zhi were captured by Chu's army. Liu almost escaped another defeat in Xingyang, but Xiang Yu could not pursue him because Liu Bang encouraged Ying Bu (??), King Huainan, to rebel against Xiang. After Liu Bang occupied Chenggao along with Qin's large grain storage, Xiang threatened to kill Ms. Liu's father if she did not give up, but Liu did not give in to Xiang's threat.
With Chenggao and his food supplies gone, and with Liu Bang's general, Han Xin (died 196 BC) had conquered Zhao and Qin north of Chu, in 203 BC Xiang Yu offered to free Liu Bang's family from captivity and divide China into a political part: western will belong to Han and east to Chu. Although Liu received a ceasefire, it was short-lived, and in 202 BC in Gaixia in modern Anhui, Han forces forced Xiang Yu to escape from his fortified camp in the morning with only 800 cavalry, chased by 5,000 Han cavalry. After a few fights, Xiang Yu was surrounded on the banks of the Yangzi River, where he committed suicide. Liu Bang took the title of emperor, and was known as the son of Emperor Gaozu of Han (r.202-195 BC).
Maps History of the Han dynasty
Gaozu Government
Consolidation, precedence, and rival
Emperor Gaozu initially made Luoyang his capital, but later moved him to Chang'an (near modern Xi'an, Shaanxi) due to concerns about natural defenses and better access to supply routes. Following the Qin precedent, Emperor Gaozu adopted an administrative model of a tripartite cabinet (formed by Three Parties) along with nine subordinate ministries (led by the Nine Ministers). Despite Han's general criticism of Qin's harsh methods and Qin Legalist philosophy, the first Han legal code compiled by Chancellor Xiao He in 200 BC seems to have borrowed much from the structure and substance of the Qin code (texts extracted from Shuihudi and Zhangjiashan in modern times have reinforced this suspicion).
From Chang'an, Gaozu directly commanded more than 13 commanders (increased to 16 for his death) in the western part of the empire. In the east, he founded 10 semi-autonomous kingdoms (Yan, Dai, Zhao, Qi, Liang, Chu, Huai, Wu, Nan, and Changsha) which he gave to his most prominent followers to calm them down. Because of alleged acts of insurrection and even alliance with Xiongnu - northern nomadic people - by 196 BC Gaozu has replaced nine of them with members of the royal family.
According to Michael Loewe, the administration of every kingdom is "a small-scale replica of the central government, with its chancellors, royal advisors, and other functionaries." The kingdoms sent census information and some of their taxes to the central government. Although they are responsible for defending the armed forces, the king is not authorized to mobilize troops without explicit permission from the capital.
Wu Rui (??), King of Changsha, is the only king left not of the Liu clan. When Wu Rui's grandson, Wu Zhu (??) or Wu Chan (??) died without the heir in 157 BC, Changsha turned into imperial command and later became the kingdom of the Liu family. In Southern Changsha, Gaozu sent Lu Jia (??) as ambassador to Zhao Tuo's court to acknowledge the last sovereignty over the Nanyue (Vietnamese Dynasty: Tri Dynasty; in modern Southwest China and northern Vietnam).
Xiongnu and Heqin
General Qin Meng Tian had forced Toumen, Chanyu Xiongnu, out of the Ordos Desert in 215 BC, but son and successor Toumen Modu Chanyu built Xiongnu into a powerful empire by subduing many other tribes.. At the time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu domain stretched from what is now northeastern China and Mongolia to the Altai and Tian Shan mountains of Central Asia. The Chinese are afraid of Xiongnu's invasion under the guise of trade and fear that Han-made iron weapons will fall into Xiongnu's hands. Gaozu imposed a trade embargo against Xiongnu. To compensate for Chinese border merchants in the northern kingdoms of Dai and Yan for losing trades, he made them high-paying government officials. Angry with this embargo, Modu Chanyu plans to attack Han. When Xiongnu invaded Taiyuan in 200 BC and assisted by King Xin defector of HÃÆ'¡n (?/?, Not to be confused with the ruling dynasty of Hia Dynasty, or general Han Xin), Gaozu personally led his troops through snow to Pingcheng (near Datong is modern, Shanxi). In the next Baideng Battle, Gaozu's forces were surrounded for seven days; running out of supplies, he was forced to flee.
After this defeat, Liu Jing's court adviser, originally named Lou Jing [??]) convinced the emperor to make a peace treaty and a marriage alliance with Xiongnu Chanyu called the heqin agreement. With this arrangement established in 198 BC, Han hopes to modify Xiongnu's nomadic values ​​with Han's luxury items given in awards (silk, wine, groceries, etc.) and to make a half-Chinese substitute Modu subordinate to Gaozu's grandfather. The exact amount of annual tribute as promised by Emperor Gaozu was given to Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC shortly after the unknown defeat. In 89 BC, however, Hulugu Chanyu (95 95-85 BC) requested renewal of the heqin treaty with an increase in annual tribute at 400,000 L (11,350 US bu) of wine, 100,000 L (2,840 US bu) of wheat, and 10,000 silk bales; so the previous number will be less than these numbers.
Although the treaty recognizes both huangdi and chanyu as equals, Han is actually an inferior partner because she is forced to pay tribute to meet the militarily powerful demands of Xiongnu. Emperor Gaozu was originally set to give his only daughter to Modu, but under the opposition of Queen LÃÆ'¼, Emperor Gaozu made a relatively female daughter and married her with Modu. Until the 130s BC, the offering of the bride and the crossing goods barely met Xiongnu, who often raided the northern border of Han and broke the 162 BC treaty that established the Great Wall as the border between Han and Xiongnu.
Empress Mother Regulation LÃÆ'¼
Emperor Hui
When Ying Bu rebelled in 195 BC, Emperor Gaozu personally led the army against Ying and received an arrow wound that allegedly caused his death the following year. The heir apparent Liu Ying took the throne and was posthumously known as Emperor Hui of Han (r.1991-88 BC). Shortly afterwards Gaozu's widow, LÃÆ'¼ Zhi, now the queen's widow, had Liu Ruyi, a potential prosecutor for the throne, poisoned and his mother, Empress Qi, brutally mutilated. When Emperor Hui's teens discovered the cruel acts committed by his mother, Loewe said that he "did not dare defy him."
The brief government of Hui saw the completion of the city wall of defense around the capital Chang'an in 190 BC; brick walls and rammed earth walls initially as high as 12 m (40 feet) and form a rough rectangular plan (with some deviations due to topography); the ruins still stand today. This urban construction project was completed by 150,000 military workers. The Emperor Hui's government saw the repeal of the old Qin law which forbade certain types of literature and was characterized by a cautious approach to foreign policy, including the renewal of the heqin agreement with Xiongnu and Han's recognition of independent sovereignty. Kings of Donghai and Nanyue.
District and fall of the clan LÃÆ'¼
Since Emperor Hui did not glorify the children with his empress Zhang Yan, after his death in 188 BC, LÃÆ'¼ Zhi, now the widow of the great empress and bupati, chose his successor from his sons with the other empress. He first placed Emperor Qianshao of Han (reigned 188-184 BC) on the throne, but later transferred him to another puppet leader of Emperor Houshao of Han (reigned 184-180 BC). He not only issued the imperial decree during their reign, but he also appointed his own clan members as king against the explicit prohibition of Emperor Gaozu; other clan members became military officers and major civilian officials.
The court under LÃÆ'¼ Zhi not only could not handle the Xiongnu invasion of the Longxi Commandery (in modern Gansu) where 2,000 Han prisoners were taken, but also provoked a conflict with Zhao Tuo, King Nanyue, by imposing a ban on exporting iron and other merchandise to his southern kingdom. Proclaiming himself Emperor Wu of Nanyue (????) in 183 BC, Zhao Tuo invaded the Han Kingdom in Changsha in 181 BC. He did not cancel his rival imperial title until Han's ambassador Lu Jia visited the Nanyue court during Emperor Wen's reign.
After the death of the Empress Dowager LÃÆ'¼ in 180 BC, it was alleged that the LÃÆ'pl clan planned to overthrow the Liu dynasty, and Liu Xiang King Qi (grandson of Emperor Gaozu) rose against LÃÆ'¼s. Before the central government and Qi forces were involved with each other, the LÃÆ' was ousted from power and destroyed by a coup led by officials Chen Ping and Zhou Bo in Chang'an. Although Liu Xiang has rejected LÃÆ'¼s, he is passed to become emperor because he has mobilized troops without permission from the central government and because his mother's family has the same ambitious attitude as LÃÆ'¼s. Empress Bo, Liu Heng's mother, King Dai, is considered to have a noble character, so that his son is chosen as the successor to the throne; he was known after his death as Emperor Wen of Han (reigned 180-157 BC).
Wen and Jing's Government
Updates and policies
During the "Rule of Wen and Jing" (the era named Emperor Wen and his successor Emperor Jing (reigned in 157-141 BC), the Han Empire witnessed greater economic stability and dynasty, while the central government took over more power. to abstain from Qin's harsh rule, the courts under this ruler abolished the punishment of law involving vandalism in 167 BC, declared eight broad amnesties between 180-141 BC, and reduced tax rates on household agricultural products from one-fifteenth to one-thirtieth in 168 BCE, was abolished altogether the following year, but was restored at the one-thirtieth level in 156 BC.
The government policy was influenced by the proto-Daoist ideology of Huang-Lao (), a mixture of the political and cosmological teachings afforded by the wife of Wen, Consort Dou (135 BCE), who became the queen's widow during the reign of Jing and the widow of the great empress. during the early reign of his successor Emperor Wu (r. 141-87 BC). Huang-Lao, derived from the mystical Yellow Emperor and the 6th-BCE philosopher Laozi, saw the first as the founder of an orderly civilization; this is unlike Confucius, who gave that role to the legendary sages of Yao and Shun. Han imperial patrons of Huang-Lao sponsored a "non-action" policy or wuwei (??) (Laozi's central concept Daodejing ), claiming that the authorities should intervene as little as possible if administrative and system laws function seamlessly. The influence of Huang-Lao doctrines on state affairs was hindered by the formal adoption of Confucianism as the state ideology during Wu's reign and the later view that Laozi, not the Yellow Emperor, was the originator of Taoist practices.
From 179-143 BC, the number of empires increased from the eleventh hour to the twenty-fifth and the number of commanders from nineteen to forty. This is not because of the great territorial expansion, but because the kingdom that has rebelled against the Han rule or failed to produce the heir is significantly reduced in size or even abolished and carved into a new commander or smaller kingdom.
The Seven Countries Rebellion
When Liu Xian (??), the heir of Wu, had made an official visit to the capital during the reign of Wen, he played a board game called liubo with the crown prince Liu Qi, the future of Emperor Jing. During a fierce dispute, Liu Qi threw a board game in Liu Xian, killing him. This angered his father Liu Pi (??), King Wu and nephew of Emperor Gaozu, who was still obliged to claim loyalty to Liu Qi as soon as he took the throne.
Still bitter over his son's death and fearful that he would be targeted in a wave of imperial reduction by Imperial Emperor Jing on the advice of Imperial Advisor Chao Cuo (154 BC), King Wu led the rebellion. against Han in 154 BC as head of the coalition with six rebellious kingdoms: Chu, Zhao, Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Zaichuan, and Jinan, who were also afraid of such reductions. However, Han forces commanded by Zhou Yafu are ready and able to stop the insurgency, destroying the seven-state coalition against Han. Some kingdoms were abolished (although later restored) and others significantly reduced in size. Emperor Jing issued a decree in 145 BC that banned independent administrative staff in the kingdom and abolished all of their senior offices except the chancellor, which was subsequently reduced in status and appointed directly by the central government. His successor, Emperor Wu, would reduce their strength even further by abolishing the ancestral tradition of the kingdom and ordering that every king divide his territory among all his male heirs.
Relationship with Xiongnu
In 177 BC, Xiongnu Wise King of the Right raided non-Chinese tribes living under Han protection in the northwest (modern Gansu). In 176 BC, Modu Chanyu sent a letter to Emperor Wen informing him that the Wise King, supposedly insulted by Han officials, acted without Chanyu's consent and therefore sentenced the Wise King to force him to conduct a military campaign against the nomadic Yuezhi. But this event is only part of a larger effort to recruit nomadic tribes in northern Han China, where most Yuezhi were expelled from the Hexi Corridor (fleeing westward to Central Asia) and Loulan settled in the Lop Nur salt marsh, the nomadic House of the Tian Shan ranks, and twenty-six other states east of Samarkand (Sogdia) subjugated to the Xiongnu hegemony. Modu Chanyu's implied threat that he will invade China if the heqin agreement is not renewed sparked a debate in Chang'an; although officials like Chao Cuo and Jia Yi (169 BC) wanted to reject the heqin policy, Emperor Wen endorsed the renewal of the treaty. Modu Chanyu died before Han's tribute to him, but his successor Laoshang Chanyu (174-160 BC) renewed the heqin agreement and negotiated the opening of the border market. Lifting the trade ban significantly reduces the frequency and size of the Xiongnu attack, which requires tens of thousands of Han forces stationed at the border. However, Laoshang Chanyu and his successor Junchen Chanyu (??) (r. 160-126 BC) continued to violate the sovereignty of Han territory by making an invasion despite an agreement. While Laoshang Chanyu continued his father's conquest by riding Yuezhi into the Ili River valley, Han secretly built up cavalry force forces to then challenge Xiongnu.
Wu Government
Confucianism and government recruitment
Although Emperor Gaozu did not consider the philosophy and ethical system associated with Confucius (6th century BC), he did seek Confucian help such as Lu Jia and Shusun Tong (???); in 196 BC he established the first Han rule to recruit people who deserved to be government employees, whom Robert P. Kramer called "the first major impulse to a well-known test system." Emperor Wen and Jing pointed Confucian academics to justice, but not all academics in their courts specialize in what later became orthodox Confucian text. For several years after Liu Che assumed the throne in 141 BC (known for his death as Emperor Wu), the Doubtless Doubtless Dou continued to dominate the palace and did not accept any policy which he found to be unfavorable or contradictory Huang-Lao ideology. After his death in 135 BC, a major shift took place in China's political history.
After Emperor Wu called for a memorial essay on how to improve the government, he preferred the rule of Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BC), a philosopher whom Kramers called the first Confucian "theologian". The Dong Synthesis combines the ethical ideas of Confucius with the cosmological beliefs in the yin and yang and the Five Elements or Wuxing by pairing them into the same universal system, which governs the heavens, the earth, and the human world. In addition, he justified the imperial government system by providing his place within the larger cosmos. Reflecting Dong Zhongshu's idea, Emperor Wu issued a decree in 136 BC that wiped out academic chairs other than those focusing on the Five Classics of Confucianism. In 124 BC Emperor Wu founded the Imperial University, where academics taught 50 students; this is the beginning of a new system of civil service examination purified in later dynasties. Although the sons and relatives of officials are often privileged with nominations to the office, those who are not from official families are not barred from entering the bureaucracy. Conversely, education in Lima Klasik becomes the most important prerequisite for getting an office; consequently, the University of the Empire expanded dramatically in the 2nd century AD when it housed 30,000 students. With the invention of the papermaking process at Cai Lun (d.31 CE) at 105 CE, the spread of paper as a cheap writing medium from the Eastern Han period further increased the supply of books and hence the number of people who could be educated for civil service.
The war against Xiongnu
The death of Empress Dou also marks a significant change in foreign policy. In order to overcome Xiongnu's threat and renewal of the heqin agreement, Emperor Wu held a press conference to the court in 135 BC in which two prominent ministerial factions debated the current rewards and policy blunders; Emperor Wu follows the consensus of the majority of his ministers that peace must be maintained. A year later, when Xiongnu was busy raided the northern border and waited for Han's response, Wu held another press conference. Factions supporting the war against Xiongnu were able to influence majority opinion by making compromise for those who worry about stretching financial resources to an unlimited campaign: in limited engagement along the border near Mayi, Han forces will lure Junchen Chanyu with gifts and promises of defections to quickly eliminate it and cause political turmoil for Xiongnu. When Mayi's trap failed in 133 BC (Junchen Chanyu realized that he would fall into a trap and flee north), the heqin-style defeating era was broken and the Han court decided to engage in full-scale war.
Leading a campaign involving tens of thousands of troops, in 127 BC, general Han Wei Qing (106 b) retook the Ordos Desert region of Xiongnu and at 121 BC Huo Qubing (117 bc) drove them out of the Qilian Mountains, Xiongnu aristocracy. At the Battle of Mobei in 119 BC, the generals Wei and Huo led a campaign into the Khangai Mountains where they forced the chanyu to flee to the north of the Gobi Desert. The maintenance of 300,000 horses by government slaves in thirty-six different prairie fields was not enough to fill the cavalry and luggage carts required for this campaign, so the government offered the release of the military and corvettes of labor to three male members each. a household that presents horses that have been privately raised to the government.
Expansion and colonization
After King Xiongnu Hunye surrendered to Huo Qubing in 121 BC, Han acquired the territory stretching from Hexi Corridor to Lop Nur, thus cutting Xiongnu from their Qiang allies. New commanders were established in Ordos as well as four in the Hexi - Jiuquan Corridor, Zhangyi, Dunhuang, and Wuwei - occupied by Han settlers after the main Qiang - Xiongnu alliance force was repulsed from the area in 111 BC. In 119 BC, Han forces established their first garrison outpost in the Lake Juyan Valley in Inner Mongolia, with larger settlements built there after 110 BC. About 40% of the settlers in Juyan come from the Guandong region in modern Henan, western Shandong, southern Shanxi, southern Hebei, northwest Jiangsu, and northwest Anhui. After Hunye surrendered, Han's court moved 725,000 people from the Guandong region to fill the Xinqinzhong region (???) in the southern bend of the Yellow River. Overall, Emperor Wu's army conquered about 4.4 million km of 2 (1.7 million mi 2 ) new soil, by far the widest territorial expansion in Chinese history. Sustainable agricultural garrison was established at this outpost to support military campaigns as well as secure trade routes leading to Central Asia, the eastern end of the Silk Road. The Great Wall of Han era extended as far west as Dunhuang and its parts still stand today in Gansu, including thirty Han tower towers and two fortified fortresses.
Exploration, foreign trade, war and diplomacy
Beginning in 139 BC, diplomat Han Zhang Qian traveled west in a failed attempt to secure an alliance with Da Yuezhi (who was expelled from Gansu by Xiongnu in 177 BC); However, Zhang's journey reveals an entire land unknown to the Chinese people, the remains of Alexander the Great's conquest (reigning 336-323 BC). When Zhang returned to China in 125 BC, he reported on his visit to Dayuan (Fergana), Kangju (Sogdiana), and Daxia (Bactria, formerly the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom conquered by Da Yuezhi). Zhang described Dayuan and Daxia as an agricultural and urban country like China, and although he did not dare there, described Shendu (the Indus River valley in northern India) and Anxi (the Arsacid region) to the west even further. Messengers sent to these countries return with foreign delegates and profitable trading caravans; but even before this, Zhang noted that these countries imported Chinese silk. After interrogating merchants, Zhang also found a southwest trading route that led through Burma and continued into India. The earliest Roman glassware found in China (but produced in the Roman Empire) is a glass bowl found in Guangzhou tombs dating from the early 1st century BC and possibly from a maritime route that passes through the South China Sea. Likewise, imported Chinese silk garments became popular in the Roman Empire at the time of Julius Caesar (100-44 BC).
After the heqin agreement failed, Xiongnu was forced to extract more craft and agricultural food from the downtown Tarim Basin. From 115-60 BC, Han and Xiongnu fought to control and influence these countries, with Han obtaining, from the surrender of 108-101 BC submissions of Loulan, Turpan, BÃÆ'¼gÃÆ'¼r, Dayuan (Fergana), and Kangju (Sogdiana). The furthest and most expensive invasion was Li Guangli's four-year campaign against Fergana in the valleys of Syr Darya and Amu Darya (Uzbekistan and modern Kyrgyzstan). Historian Laszlo Torday (1997) asserts that Fergana threatened to cut Han access to the Silk Road, but historian Sima Qian (86 BCE) downplayed this threat by insisting that Li's mission was really a means of punishing Dayuan for not paying homage to the Asian boy The precious middle.
In the south, Emperor Wu helped King Zhao Mo in fend off attacks by Minyue (in modern Fujian) in 135 BC. After a pro-Han faction was overthrown at Nanyue palace, the Han navy forces conquered Nanyue in 111 BC during the Han-Nanyue War, bringing modern Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan Island, and northern Vietnam under Han's control. Emperor Wu also launched an invasion of the Dian Kingdom in Yunnan in 109 BC, subduing his king as a tribute slave, while later Dian rebelled in 86 BC and 83 BC, 14 M (during Wang Mang's reign), and 42-45 CE was extinguished by Han's power. Wu sent an expedition to the place now called North Korea in 128 BC, but it was abandoned two years later. In 108 BC, another expedition established four commanders there, only two of them (ie Command Xuantu and Auction Commandery) left after 82 BC. Despite some violent resistance in 108 BC and irregular attacks by Goguryeo and Buyeo afterwards, Chinese settlers made a peaceful trade relationship with indigenous Koreans living largely free from (but culturally influenced by) rare Han settlements.
Economic reforms
To finance the military campaign and its prolonged colonization efforts, Emperor Wu turned away from the "inaction" policy of the previous administration by asking the central government to confiscate private industry and trade in salt mining and iron manufacturing in 117 BC. Another government monopoly on liquor was established in 98 BC, but the majority consensus at a press conference in 81 BC led to the breakup of this monopoly. The mathematician and Sang Hongyang (d.80 BCE) officially, who later became the Imperial Counselor and one of the many former traders recruited into government to help manage these monopolies, was responsible for an 'equitable transport' system that eliminated price variations from time to time from place to place. This is the way the government interferes in the grain trade is profitable by removing speculation (because the government piles up grain when it is cheap and sells it to the public at a low price when private traders demand a higher one). This along with the monopoly was criticized even during the Wu administration as bringing unnecessary difficulties to the merchant's profits and the peasants were forced to rely on goods and services made by low-quality governments; monopoly and adequate transportation did not last until the Eastern Han Era (25-220 AD).
During the reign of Emperor Wu, the voting tax for every three- to fourteen-year-old was raised from 20 to 23 coins; the rate for adults remains at 120. New taxes demanded on market transactions, wheeled vehicles, and property are intended to increase military budgets. In 119 BC, a new bronze coin weighing five shu (3.2 g/0.11 oz) - replacing four coins shu - issued by the government (the rest of the standard coin) from China to the Tang Dynasty), followed by a personal printing ban in 113 BC. Previous attempts to ban private printing were conducted in 186 and 144 BC, but Wu's monopoly over the coin problem persisted throughout Han (though his stewardship changed hands among various government agencies). From 118 BC to 5 CE, the Han government scored 28 billion coins, averaging 220 million a year.
Halfway West Han
Huo Guang County
Emperor Wu's first wife, Empress Chen Jiao, was ousted in 130 BC after allegations that she tried magic to help her produce a male heir. In 91 BC, similar accusations were made against Emperor's Crown Prince Liu Liu Ju, son of Emperor Wu's second wife, Empress Wei Zifu. Prince Liu Ju, fearing Emperor Wu who believed in false accusations, started a five-day rebellion in Chang'an while Emperor Wu went to his quiet resting place in Ganquan (in modern Shaanxi). After Liu Ju's defeat, he and Empress Wei committed suicide.
Finally, due to his good reputation, Huo Qubing's half-brother Huo Guang was entrusted by Wu to form a triumvirate district along with ethnic Xiongnu Jin Midi (86 86 BC) and Shangguan Jie (d.80 Bce). his successor's court, the son of Liu Fuling, known after his death as Emperor Zhao of Han (reigned 87-74 BC). Jin Midi died a year later and in 80 BC Shangguan Jie and Imperial Counselor Sang Hongyang were executed when they were accused of supporting Emperor Zhao's brother, Liu Dan (??) King Yan as emperor; this gives Huo an unparalleled power. However, he did not abuse his power in the eyes of Confucius's establishment and gained popularity because of the reduced tax of Emperor Wu.
Emperor Zhao died in 74 BC without a successor, while the one chosen to succeed him on July 18, his niece Prince He of Changyi, was removed on August 14 after demonstrating a lack of character or capacity to govern. Prince He's dismissal is guaranteed with a warning signed by all prominent ministers and handed over to Empress Shangguan for approval. Liu Bingyi (Liu Ju's grandson) was named Emperor Xuan of Han (r.74-49 BC) on September 10th. Huo Guang remained in power as the guardian of Emperor Xuan until he died of natural causes in 68 BC. But in 66 BC, the Huo clan was charged with conspiracy against the throne and eliminated. This was the culmination of Emperor Xuan's revenge after Huo Guang's wife had poisoned his beloved Empress Xu Pingjun in 71 BC only to succeed him with Huo Guang's daughter, Empress Huo Chengjun (the last was deposed in September 66 BC). Liu Shi, son of Queen Ms. Xu, succeeded her father as Emperor Yuan of Han (ruled 49-33 BC).
Reform and save
During the reign of Emperor Wu and the Huo Guang government, the dominant political faction was the Modernist Party. The party supports greater government intervention in the private economy with government monopolies over salt and iron, higher taxes demanded on private business, and price controls used to fund aggressive foreign policy of regional expansion; they also followed the approach of the Qin dynasty to discipline by imposing more penalties for guilt and less rewards for service. After Huo Guang County, the Reform Party gained more influence over state affairs and policy decisions. The party supported the abolition of government monopoly, limited government intervention in the private economy, moderate foreign policy, limited colonization, costly budget reforms and a return to the ideal Zhou dynasty to provide more prizes for the service to show dynastic generosity. The influence of this party can be seen in the abolition of the central government's salt and iron monopoly in 44 BC, but this was restored in 41 BC, only to be removed again during the 1st century and transferred to local government and private entrepreneurship. In 66 BC, the reformers had a lot of spectacles, games and fancy entertainment installed by Emperor Wu to impress foreign officials undone on the grounds that they were excessive and luxurious.
Encouraged by suspected signs from Heaven warning the rulers of his disability, a total of eighteen general amnesties were given during the joint reign of Emperor Yuan (Liu Shi) and Emperor Cheng of Han (r.37-3 BC, Liu Ao). Emperor Yuan reduced the severity of punishment for some crimes, while Cheng reduced the length of judicial procedures in 34 BC because they disrupted the lives of ordinary people. While the Modernists had received some cash from criminals until their punishment was alleviated or even repealed, the reformists reversed this policy because it benefited the rich to the poor and was not an effective deterrent against crime.
Emperor Cheng made great reforms to state-sponsored religions. The Qin Dynasty had worshiped four major legendary deities, with others added by Emperor Gaozu in 205 BC; this is Five Powers, or Wudi (??). At 31 BC Emperor Cheng, in an effort to gain Heaven's support and bless him with the male heir, stopped all ceremonies dedicated to the Five Powers and replaced them with ceremonies for the supreme god Shangdi, whom the kings of Zhou had worshiped.
Foreign relations and war
The first half of the 1st century BC witnessed several succession crises for Xiongnu's leadership, allowing Han to further strengthen his control of the Western Territories. General Han Fu Jiezi killed the pro-Xiongnu King Loulan in 77 BC. Han formed a coalition with Wusun, Dingling, and Wuhuan, and the coalition forces had caused a major defeat against Xiongnu in 72 BC. Han regained her influence over the Turpan Depression after defeating Xiongnu at the Battle of Jushi in 67 BC. In 65 BC, Han could install the new Kucha King (northern state of the Taklamakan Desert) which would be pleasing to Han's interests in the region. The Western Guard Office, firstly assigned to Zheng Ji (d.49 BC), was established in 60 BC to oversee colonial activity and establish links with the small kingdom of Tarim Valley.
After Zhizhi Chanyu (r. 56-36 BC) had caused a serious defeat against his rival brother and royal competitor Huhanye Chanyu (r. 58-31 BC), Huhanye and his supporters debated whether to ask Han for help and become Han's followers. He decided to do so in 52 BC Huhanye sent his son as a Han hostage and personally saluted Emperor Xuan during the celebration of the 51st Chinese New Year BCE Under the reformist advocacy, Huhanye sat as honored guest of honor and a 5kg rich award ( 160 oz t) gold, 200,000 coins of cash, 77 suits, 8,000 silk ball bales, 1,500 kg (3,300 Ã, lb) of silk thread, and 15 horses, in addition to 680,000 L (19,300 US bu) of grain sent to him when he returned home.
Huhanye Chanyu and his successors were encouraged to pay a further trip to Han's court because of the increasing number of prizes awarded to them after each visit; this is the reason for complaints by some ministers in 3 BC, but the financial consequences of spoiling their subordinates are considered to be superior to the heqin agreement. Zhizhi Chanyu initially attempted to send hostages and tributes to Han's court in hopes of ending Han's support from Huhanye, but eventually turned against Han. Subsequently, General Han Chen Tang and General Guard Gan Yanshou (???/???), acting without explicit permission from the Han court, killed Zhizhi in his capital city Shanyu (in modern Taraz, Kazakhstan) in 36 BC. The Han Reform Court, reluctant to provide independent missions let alone foreign intervention, gave Chen and Gan simple gifts. Despite showing kindness, Huhanye was not given a Han princess; on the contrary, he was given Mistress Wang Zhaojun, one of China's four Ancient Beauty. This marked the departure of the preliminary heqin agreement, in which a Chinese princess was handed over to Chanyu as her bride.
Confiscation of Wang Mang
Wang Mang seizes control
The long life of Empress Wang Zhengjun (71 BC - 13 AD), the wife of Emperor Yuan and Emperor Cheng's mother, ensured that her male relatives would be appointed one by one for the bupati role, officially known as Commander-in-Chief. Emperor Cheng, who was more interested in cockfighting and chasing beautiful women than managing the empire, left many state affairs to his relatives from the Wang clan. On November 28, 8 BC, Wang Mang (45 BC - 23 AD), the niece of Empress Mother Wang, became the new General Chief. However, when Emperor Ai of Han (reigned 7-1 BC, Liu Xin) took the throne, his grandmother, the Fu concubine (Emperor Yuan's concubine) became the main character in the palace and forced Wang Mang to resign on August 27, 7 BC. , followed by a forced departure from the capital to its headquarters in 5 BC.
Due to pressure from Wang's supporters, Emperor Ai invited Wang Mang back to the capital in 2 BC. A year later Emperor Ai died of illness without a son. Wang Mang was restored as regent of Emperor Ping of Han (r.1 SM - 6 CE, Liu Jizi), first cousin of the former emperor. Although Wang had married his daughter with Emperor Ping, the last was still a child when he died at 6 AD. In July of that year, Empress Dowager Wang affirmed Wang Mang as the acting emperor and Liu Ying's son as his successor in his place, despite the fact that a marine Liu family had rebelled against Wang one month before, followed by others who were angry because he assumed a greater power than Liu's imperial family. The rebellion was extinguished and Wang Mang promised to surrender power to Liu Ying when he reached the majority. Despite pledging to release power, Wang initiated a propaganda campaign to show that Heaven is sending a signal that it is time for Han's rule to end. On January 10, 9, he announced that Han had done his duty and accepted the request that he declared himself the emperor of the Xin Dynasty (9-23 AD).
Traditionalist Reform
Wang Mang had a great vision to restore China to the golden age achieved in the early Zhou dynasty, an era idealized by Confucius. He sought major reforms, including the prohibition of slavery and the institution of the King's Fields system in 9 CE, nationalized land ownership and provided a set of land standards for each family. Slavery was rebuilt and the land reform regime was canceled at 12 M due to widespread protests.
Historian Hans Bielenstein points out that most of Wang's reforms are in line with Han's previous policies. Although the new currency denominations introduced in 7 CE, 9 CE, 10 CE, and CE 14 lowered the value of the currency, the early introduction of the lighter currency produced economic damage as well. Wang changed the names of all imperial commanders and bureaucratic titles, but there is also a precedent for this. Government monopolies were repealed at 22 CE because they could no longer be enforced during a large-scale uprising against them (spurred by the great flood of the Yellow River).
Foreign relations under Wang
Half-Chinese, half-Xiongnu Noble Yituzhiyashi (?????), son of Huhanye Chanyu and Wang Zhaojun, became partisan vocals for Han Chinese inside the Xiongnu region; Bielenstein claims that this leads the conservative Xiongnu nobility to anticipate an alliance with Han. When it came when Wang Mang took over the throne and lowered Chanyu to the lower level; this became a pretext for war. During the winter of 10-11 AD, Wang collected 300,000 troops along the northern border of Han China, a show of force that caused Xiongnu to retreat. But when the raid continued, Wang Mang took Xiongnu hostage held by Han's ruler. Diplomatic relations were corrected when Xian (13-18 CE) became chanyu, only grubbed again when Huduershi Chanyu (r.18-46 CE) took the throne and invaded the Han border in 19 CE.
The Tarim Basin kingdom of Yanqi (Karasahr, located east of Kucha, west of Turpan) rebelled against Xin authority on 13 CE, killing General Han and Qin Protector (??). Wang Mang sent troops to avenge Karasahr in 16 AD, quell their resistance and ensure that the territory will remain under Chinese control until the widespread uprising against Wang Mang overthrew his rule on 23 CE. Wang also expanded China's influence on the Tibetans in the Kokonor region and fended off the 12th attack by Goguryeo (an early Korean state located around the Yalu River) on the Korean peninsula. However, as the widespread uprising in China increased from 20 to 23 M, Koreans stormed the Commandery Auction and Han did not reassert itself in the region until 30 AD.
Han Recovery
Natural disasters and civil war
Before 3 AD, the Yellow River road has been emptied into the Bohai Sea in Tianjin, but the gradual buildup of mud in the riverbed - which raises the water level every year - beats the dikes built to prevent flooding and river splits. in two, with one hand flowing to the south of the Shandong Peninsula and into the East China Sea. The second flood at 11 CE changed the direction of the northern branches so it emptied slightly north of the Shandong Peninsula, but far south of Tianjin. With most of the southern China Plains being submerged after the formation of the southern branch of the Yellow River, thousands of starving farmers who fled their homes form bandits and rebels, especially the Red Eyebrows. Wang Mang's army tried to quell the uprising on 18 and 22 CE but failed.
Liu Yan (d. 23 CE), descendant of Emperor Jing, led a group of rebel noble groups from Nanyang who had Yan's third cousin, Liu Xuan (??) received the title of Emperor Gengshi (23-25 ​​at 11) March, 23 CE. Liu Xiu, brother of Liu Yan and future Emperor Guangwu of Han (r.25-57 AD), distinguished himself at the Battle of Kunyang on 7 July 23 when he unleashed a town besieged by Wang Mang's army and changed the tide. war. Soon after, Emperor Gengshi had Liu Yan executed on the basis of treason and Liu Xiu, worried about his life, resigned from his post as Minister of Ceremony and avoided public sadness for his brother; for this, the emperor gave Liu Xiu a marquessate and promotion as a general.
The Gengshi army later targeted Chang'an, but a local rebellion erupted in the capital, sacking the city on October 4. From October 4-6, Wang Mang stood last at the Weiyang Palace only to be killed and beheaded; his head was sent to Gengshi's headquarters in Wan (ie, Nanyang) before the Gengshi army even reached Chang'an on 9 October. Emperor Gengshi settled Luoyang as his new capital where he invited Red Eyebrows leader Fan Chong (??) to stay, but Gengshi only gave him the title of honor, so Fan decided to run away as his men began to leave him. Gengshi moved the capital back to Chang'an in 24 CE, but the following year Red Eis beat his troops, appointed their own puppet ruler Liu Penzi, entered Chang'an and captured the escaping Gengshi they descended as Changsha King before killing him.
Reconsolidation under Guangwu
While acting as a commissioner under Emperor Gengshi, Liu Xiu garnered significant followers after laying down a local insurgency (in what is now Hebei province). He claimed Han's own throne on August 5, 25 AD and occupied Luoyang as its capital on 27 November. Before he finally united the empire, there were 11 others who claimed the emperor's title. With the efforts of officers Deng Yu and Feng Yi, Guangwu forced the wandering Red Alis to surrender on March 15, 27, resettling them in Luoyang, but their leader Fan Chong was executed when a rebellion was revealed.
From 26-30 AD, Guangwu defeated various warlords and conquered the Central Plains and Shandong Peninsula in the east. In alignment with warlord Dou Rong (??) from the far Hexi Corridor on 29 CE, Guangwu nearly defeated warlord Gansu Wei Xiao (??/??) in 32 CE, seized Wei's domains in 33 CE. The last stand is Gongsun Shu (???), whose headquarters are in Chengdu in modern Sichuan. Although Guangwu's army succeeded in burning Gongsun's pontoon bridge stretching on the Yangzi River, Guangwu Cen Peng (??) general commander was killed in 35 AD by a killer sent by Gongsun Shu. Nevertheless, Han General Wu Han (w.44 CE) continued Cen's campaign along the Yangzi and Min rivers and destroyed Gongsun forces on December 36.
Since Chang'an lies to the west of Luoyang, the names of Western Han (202 BC - 9 CE) and Eastern Han (25-220 CE) are accepted by historians. Luoyang's 10 m (32 ft) high east, west, and north walls still stand today, though the south wall is destroyed when the Luo River changes its course. Inside the wall were two prominent palaces, both of which existed during the West Han, but were expanded by Guangwu and his successors. While East Luoyang is estimated to have about 500,000 inhabitants, the first known census data for all of China, dated 2 M, records a population of nearly 58 million. Comparing this with the 140 CE census (when the population is registered about 48 million), there was a significant migration migration up to 10 million people from north to south of China during the Eastern Han, largely due to natural disasters and wars with nomadic groups in the north. Population size fluctuates according to the updated East-Han census periodically, but historian Sadao Nishijima notes that this does not reflect a dramatic loss of life, but rather the government's inability to register the entire population.
Policies under Guangwu, Ming, Zhang, and He
Destroying the denominations of Wang Mang, Emperor Guangwu reintroduced the Han Western standardized shu coins at 40 CE. Growing revenue lost after the salt and iron monopolies were canceled, private producers were heavily taxed while the government bought swords and armor shields from private businesses. At 31 CE he allowed farmers to pay military substitution taxes to avoid conscription into the armed forces during one year of training and tenure; instead he built a volunteer force that took place throughout the East Han. He also allowed farmers to avoid a one-month job with taxes that could be replaced as rental workers became more popular. Wang Mang has lowered all Han fighters to ordinary status, but Guangwu has been trying since the 27th to search for their relatives and return the abolished marquessates.
Ming Emperor of Han (reigning 57-75 CE, Liu Yang) rebuilt the Office of Price Adjustment and Stabilization and a price stabilization system in which the government buys wheat when it is cheap and sells it to the public when private commercial prices are high because of limited stocks. However, he abandoned a prize stabilization scheme in 68 CE when he became convinced that the government stockpiled grain just made wealthy merchants richer. With the new economic prosperity brought by his father's government, Emperor Ming overcame the Yellow River flood by repairing various dams and canals. On April 8, 70 CE, a declaration boasted that the southern branch of the Yellow River that emptied south of the Shandong Peninsula was finally interrupted by Han engineering. As a patron of scholarship, Emperor Ming also set up a school for young nobles aside from Imperial University.
Emperor Zhang of Han (reigned 75-88 AD, Liu Da) faced an agrarian crisis when the livestock epidemic erupted in 76 CE. In addition to providing disaster relief, Zhang also reformed legal procedures and eased existing sentences with bastinado, as he believed that this would restore the seasonal balance of yin and and heal the epidemic. To further display his virtues, in the year 78 AD he stopped working in the canals of the Hutuo River that flowed through the Taihang Mountains, believing that it caused too much trouble for the people; at 85 AD he gave a three-year tax exemption for the woman who gave birth and freed her husband for a year. Unlike other Eastern Han rulers who sponsored the tradition of the New Text of the Five Classics of Confucianism, Zhang is the patron of the Old Texts tradition and holds a scientific debate on the validity of schools. Rafe de Crespigny writes that the great reform of the Eastern Han period was Zhang's reintroduction in 85 CE of the altered Sifen calendar replacing the Emperor Wu Taichu calendar in 104 BC which has become inaccurate for two centuries (the first one measured the tropical year in 365.25 days such as the Julian Calendar, while the latter measured the tropical year on 365 385 / 1539 days and lunar month at 29 43 / 81 days).
The Emperor He of Han (r.88-105 AD, Liu Zhao) is tolerant of both New Text and Old Text texts, although orthodox studies have declined and worked with skeptics of New Texts, such as Wang Chong (27Ã, CE). ) Lunheng , disappointing the intellectual community with that tradition. He also showed interest in history when he commissioned Lady Ban Zhao (45-116 CE) to use the imperial archives to complete the Book of Han , the work of his late father and brother. This sets an important precedent of imperial control over historical records and thus unlike Sima Qian's much more independent work, Notes from the Grand Historian (109-91 BC). When the misfortune of grasshoppers, floods, and earthquakes disrupt the lives of ordinary people, Emperor He's aid policy is to cut taxes, open barns, provide government loans, forgive private debt, and resettle people from disaster areas. Believing that a severe drought in 94 CE was a cosmological result of injustice in the legal system, the Emperor He personally examined the prison. When he discovers that some people have false accusations against them, he sends Luoyang Prefects to prison; The rain allegedly came soon afterwards.
Foreign relations and regional splits Xiongnu
The Vietnamese Sisters of Vietnam led the rebellion in the Red River Delta of the Jiaozhi Commandery in 40 CE. Guangwu sent the old general Ma Yuan (~ 14 BC - 49 AD), who defeated them in 42-43 AD. The original Drum Dong Son of the sisters was melted and re-formed into a large bronze statue presented to Guangwu in Luoyang.
Meanwhile, Huduershi Chanyu was replaced by his son Punu (??) in 46 CE, thus violating Huhanye's order that only a brother of the ruler of Xiongnu was a legitimate successor; His nephew Huduershi, Bi (?) Wrestling and in 48 AD announced his rival Chanyu. This division created the Northern Xiongnu and Southern Xiongnu, and like Huhanye before him, Bi turned to Han for help in 50 CE. When Bi came to honor Han's palace, he was given 10,000 silk balls, 2,500 kg (5,500 pounds) of silk, 500,000 L (14,000 US) of rice, and 36,000 cows. Unlike during Huhanye's time, however, South Xiongnu was overseen by Han Prefect who not only acted as referee in the case of Xiongnu's law, but also monitored Chanyu's movements and his followers residing in northern Han commanders in Shanxi, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia. North Xiongnu's attempt to enter the Han tributary system was rejected.
After Xin lost the Western Territory, the Yarkand Kingdom kept Chinese officials and families stranded in the Tarim Basin and against Xiongnu to control it. The Guangwu Emperor, who was busy with the civil war in China, only gave King Kang of Yarkand an official title on 29 CE and in 41 CE made his successor King Xian a Protector General (later reduced to the honorary title of "Great General Han"). Yarkand overtaxed his subjects from Khotan, Turpan, Kucha, and Karasahr, who all decided to ally with Xiongnu North. At 61 CE Khotan conquered Yarkand, but this led to war among the kingdom to decide which one would be the next hegemon. The North Xiongnu took advantage of the fight, conquered the Tarim Basin, and used it as a base for a stage attack on Han's Hexi Corridor by 63 CE. That year, Han's palace opened a border market to trade with Xiongnu North in hopes of calming them down.
But Han tried to reclaim the Tarim Basin. At the Battle of Yiwulu in 73 CE, Dou Gu (d.88 M) reached as far as Lake Barkol when he defeated Chanyu Xiongnu North and formed a farm garrison at Hami. Although Dou Gu managed to drive Xiongnu from Turpan on 74 CE, when Han appointed Chen Mu (w.75 CE) as the new West Regional Protector General, Xiongnu North invaded the Bogda Mountains while their Karasarh and Kucha allies killed Chen Mu and his troops. The Han Garrison in Hami was forced to withdraw in AD 77 (and was not rebuilt until AD 91). The subsequent Han Expedition against North Xiongnu was led in 89 CE by Dou Xian (d 92 CE); at the Battle of Ikh Bayan, Dou forces chased Chanyu North to the Altai Mountains, allegedly killing 13,000 Xiongnu and receiving the surrender of 200,000 Xiongnu from 81 tribes.
After Dou sent 2,000 cavalry troops to attack the North Xiongnu base at Hami, he was followed by the initiative of Ban Chao (d.103 CE), who had previously installed Kashgar's new king as Han's ally. When this king turned against him and sought Sogdia's help in 84 AD, Ban Chao arranged an alliance with the Kushan Empire (modern North India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan), which put political pressure on Sogdiana to withdraw; Ban then kills King Zhong from Kashgar. Because Kushan provided assistance to Ban Chao to extinguish Turpan and send tribute and hostage to Han, his ruler, Vima Kadphises (reigned 90-100 AD) requested a Chinese daughter bride; when this was rejected in 90 CE, Kushan drove 70,000 troops to Wakhan against Ban Chao. Ban uses a scorched earth tactic against Kushan, forcing them to demand food from Kucha. When the Kushan envoy was intercepted
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