 | THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty |  |
Ch'en T'ang's extraordinary expedition into Sogdiana and the treatment
of him by the government
The expedition of Ch'en T'ang against Shan-yü Chih-chih was, next
to the famous march of Li Ling deep into Hun territory, perhaps the
most brilliant Chinese military exploit in the Former Han period after
the time of Hsiang Yü.
Shan-yü Chih-chih was the rival of Shan-yü Hu-han-hsieh whom
Emperor Hsüan had aided to establish himself in Mongolia; Chih-chih
consequently fled to the west, fearing a surprise attack. There he made
for himself a kingdom in the region east of Lake Balkash, and defeated
the Wu-sun (in the present Ili valley), who were hereditary Chinese
allies. He held a grudge against the Chinese for protecting his rival,
hence he mistreated and shamed several Chinese envoys sent to him.
The affair of Chih-chih's son deepened the enmity between himself
and the Chinese. His son had been staying at the Chinese court; in
45 B.C., Chih-chih sent an envoy with presents, asking that his son be
returned. The proper thing was for a Chinese envoy to convoy the boy
safely to his father's court, for which purpose Ku Chi was appointed.
Some Chinese officials, however, feared for the safety of a Chinese envoy
Ku Chi replied that for the sake of future relations with Chih-chih, the
boy should be convoyed all the way. The matter seems to have been
delayed and debated from 45 to 42 B.C.; perhaps because of this circumstance,
when Ku Chi reached Chih-chih's court with the boy, Chih-chih
killed the Chinese envoy. He knew that he had outraged the Chinese by
this act, and that they would try to take vengenace, so he planned to
flee further west.
Chih-chih's move to Sogdiana was on invitation of the King. The
Greek kingdom in Sogdiana, a state located across the mountains of
central Asia west of the Wu-sun, in the valley of the Jaxartes River,
had collapsed a century previously; at this time the Sogdianans were
much troubled by Wu-sun raids into their territory. Knowing of Chih-chih's
great fame as a victorious fighter and Shan-yü, and remembering
that the Wu-sun had previously been vassals of the Huns, the King of
Sogdiana invited Chih-chih to settle on the eastern borders of Sogdiana,
and serve as a defence against the Wu-sun. An arrangement was made,
and the King of Sogdiana sent some nobles with several thousand camels,
asses, and horses to convoy Chih-chih. Unfortunately for him, a cold
spell caught his troop on the road and only 3,000 people survived the trip
to Sogdiana. Unless Chih-chih was followed by other Huns at other
dates (which does not seem very likely) there was thus in this century no
mass migration of Huns westwards.
The King of Sogdiana and Chih-chih confirmed their alliance by each
marrying the other's daughter. With Sogdianan troops, Chih-chih
attacked and drove away the Wu-sun, penetrating deep into their territory,
so that they left their western borders uninhabited for a thousand li.
Other successes puffed Chih-chih up until he repudiated the King of
Sogdiana as his overlord and killed the King's daughter, setting himself
up as an independent king and building a fortified capital city for himself.
He exacted tribute even from Ferghana and states north of it, which
were Chinese tributaries.
Chih-chih's power was a threat to the Chinese hold on the Tarim basin.
At this time the valley of the Tarim basin (with surrounding regions
west and north) was called by the Chinese "the Western Frontier
Regions." It had been put under the control of a Protector-General with
an Associate. To maintain order, a Chinese military force was established
in a central part of the Tarim basin (usually at Turfan) as an
agricultural colony, under an officer called the Mou-and-Chi Colonel.
(Mou and chi are the central stems and this officer was located in the
Western Frontier Regions was also required to contribute a force of levies
at the call of the Emperor. The office of Protector-General had been
established in 67 B.C. and later, in 59 B.C., its rank had been increased
to fully two thousand piculs, a rank the same as that of Grand Administrators
of Commanderies and many court officials. The office of Mouand-Chi
Colonel had been established in 48 B.C.; hence it can be seen
that the Tarim basin did not become an important part of the Chinese
administration until almost the latter half of the first century B.C.
In 38 B.C. Ch'en Tang was sent out to the Tarim basin as Associate
to the new Protector-General, Kan Yen-shou. The former was an ambitious
boy from a poor family, who had been given very minor posts and
had asked for a foreign appointment in order to have an opportunity to
distinguish himself. He showed himself a man of keen insight and paid
much attention to his duties. He soon comprehended the political
situation of central Asia, and saw in Chih-chih a potential source of serious
danger to Chinese interests. Chih-chih was brave and able, and planned
an empire in central Asia athwart the silk route. Although he had
moved out of the regions tributary to the Chinese, his empire would
endanger the western part of the Western Frontier Regions. Hence it
was important to crush him before he had established himself firmly in
Sogdiana.
To attack Chih-chih rapidly required a bold stroke on Ch'en T'ang's
part. Kan Yen-shou agreed with his Associate that Chih-chih must be
crushed, and wanted to follow the usual procedure: memorialize the court
and ask for permission. Ch'en T'ang had, however, gaged the temper of
the Emperor and his court; such a request would bring endless delays,
consultations, and finally a refusal from the pacifistic and narrow-minded
court and ministers. No request was sent. Kan Yen-shou fell ill for a
long period, and Ch'en T'ang seized this opportunity. He boldly forged
an imperial order mobilizing the troops of the cities together with the
garrison of the Mou-and-Chi Colonel. When the troops arrived at the
Protector-General's seat at Wu-lei, in the neighborhood of the present
Chadir, Kan Yen-shou was aghast and rose from his sick bed, intending to
stop the mobilization. Ch'en T'ang, however, intimidated and persuaded
his superior officer to desist. The expeditionary force, numbering
more than 40,000, was organized into six regiments, each with a Colonel.
Following the Chinese practise of having separate columns converge upon
a single objective, three regiments were to take the southern route along
the southern border of the Takla-Makan Desert, cross the Pamirs, and
Protector-General himself, with Ch'en T'ang, were to follow the northern
route, north of the desert, gather at Uch-Turfan, cross the mountains
to the Issik Kul, and transverse Wu-sun territory into Sogdiana. Kan
Yen-shou and Ch'en T'ang memorialized the Emperor, accusing themselves
of having forged an imperial order and relating the circumstances,
then set out westwards, where imperial commands to desist could not
reach them for some months.
The column of the Protector-General defeated a Sogdianan raiding
party and arrived in Sogdiana ahead of the other column. The Chinese
troops were kept from robbing the Sogdianans, and a secret arrangement
was made with these people. Then Sogdianan nobles who had grudges
against Chih-chih allowed themselves to be captured, so that the Chinese
were informed of Chih-chih's circumstances. At last the Chinese army
encamped three li from Chih-chih's city.
This city was defended by an earthen wall, outside of which there was
a double wooden palisade and a moat, with towers for archers inside the
city. On the wall several hundred armed men were seen; outside more
than a hundred cavalry rode about; and at both sides of the city gate
there were lined up more than a hundred soldiers arranged "like the
scales of a fish" (probably Roman legionaries from Crassus' army; cf. TP
36, 64-80). When the Hun cavalry rode towards the Chinese, the
disciplined Chinese line awaited the attack with their crossbows ready
cocked, so that the horsemen were repulsed with losses. The Chinese
crossbows outranged the Hun bows, and arrow fire drove the Huns
into their city. Then the Chinese force was marshalled around the city
on all sides; the sound of a drum signalled the attack. They drained the
moat and advanced with great shields in front and lances and crossbows
behind. Some of these crossbows were so heavy that they could only
be cocked by a strong man lying on the ground, with his feet against
the bow and pulling the string with his hands. Such were the bows used
by "skilled soldiers." The Hun archers were outranged, driven from
their towers, and made to take refuge behind the earthen wall. Chih-chih
himself, with his Yen-chih (empress) and several tens of other women,
shot from one of the towers; Chinese arrows hit him in the nose and killed
some of his ladies, so that he too had to descend. Then the Chinese
gathered faggots and set fire to the palisades. During the night, several
hundred Hun cavalry tried to escape, but were shot down by the Chinese.
By midnight the palisade was pierced, and the people within withdrew
inside the earthen wall.
During the night large bands of Sogdianan cavalry surrounded the
Chinese besiegers in response to the call of Chih-chih for succor. They
attacked several times, but unsuccessfully, never pressing their attacks
home. Probably they were only half-hearted, for Chih-chih had offended
the Sogdianans by his high-handed actions. At dawn the Chinese feigned
to attack the Sogdianans, setting fires and making a loud noise with bells,
drums, and shouting, thus frightening the Sogdianan horses and driving
the attackers away. Then the Chinese pushed forward against the city
on all sides under protection of their large shields, and penetrated the
earthen wall. Chih-chih's people, numbering more than a hundred, fled
into his private quarters. The Chinese set fire to this place; in the
fighting, Chih-chih was wounded and killed. The city was looted and
the credentials of Ku Chi and another Chinese envoy were discovered.
Altogether 1518 heads were taken, including those of Chih-chih, his
Yen-chih, his Heir-apparent, and distinguished kings in his following.
One hundred forty-five captives (possibly the Romans) were taken alive,
and more than a thousand persons surrendered. These captives were
distributed among the auxiliaries of the Chinese, while the Romans
were settled at Li-chien in present Kansu. From the above account,
it is possible to estimate the size of Chih-chih's following. There is no
indication in it of any Hun mass migration into Asia west of the central
mountains. In the attack, all Huns were probably killed and those taken
alive were Sogdianans and others who had joined Chih-chih.
The foregoing is the most vivid and detailed account of military
operations to be found in the HS. It is now found in the "Memoir of
Ch'en T'ang," and was probably taken from Ch'en T'ang's report to
Emperor Yüan, together with the maps of his route, adorned with paintings,
which accompanied the report and which delighted the court and
imperial harem. (It is translated by J. J. L. Duyvendak in T'oung Pao,
vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 259-261 and by de Groot in Die Hunnen, pp. 230-7.)
His expedition shows the power of the Chinese governmental organization
at the time, that the Chinese should have been able, without drawing
upon the central government, to make an expedition to such a vast
distance and capture a fortified town, exacting vengeance for a murdered
envoy.
One important reason for this success was that the Chinese enjoyed a
decided material advantage over the barbarians. Many years later, in
the reign of Emperor Ch'eng, another Protector-General of the Western
Frontier Regions was besieged by the Wu-sun. When he sent for help,
Ch'en T'ang was summoned from private life to advise the Emperor. On
straighten his arms, hence he was specially exempted from the usual
prostrations when he entered the imperial presence. Ch'en T'ang said
that the barbarians' swords had been blunt and their bows and
crossbows were not good, so that one Chinese soldier had been equal to
five barbarian soldiers; that by this time the barbarians had secured some
of the Chinese skill, but even yet one Chinese was worth three barbarians.
Mr. C. W. Bishop suggested that perhaps these barbarians, like the
Germans conquered by Julius Caesar, did not know how to temper iron,
with the result that their weapons were soft. Probably the barbarians'
crossbows did not have the efficient Han crossbow trigger mechanism,
the secret of which, (a triple compound lever) was closely guarded and
not permitted to leave China, so that it did not reach even medieval
Europe. Without such a mechanism, strong crossbows would not be
practical. Chinese crossbow bolts could drive defenders from a city
wall. Chinese mechanical skill undoubtedly played a large part in their
military conquests.
How did the central government treat its servants who had achieved a
notable victory? Similarly to the way governments in Europe have
sometimes treated those who conquered colonial territory for them.
Emperor Yüan was inwardly elated and proud of Ch'en T'ang's achievement,
the most brilliant in several reigns. But Shih Hsien, Emperor
Yüan's favorite eunuch, who controlled the government, bore a grudge
against Kan Yen-shou. Shih Hsien had wanted to marry his elder sister
to Kan Yen-shou, but the latter had refused. The meticulous Confucian
Lieutenant Chancellor, K'uang Heng, and the Confucian Grandee
Secretary, P'an Yen-shou, were mortally offended because the imperial
order summoning the expedition had been forged. Thus the influential
ministers were united against Ch'en T'ang. In the spring of 35 B.C.,
the head of Shan-yü Chih-chih arrived in Ch'ang-an, with the suggestion
that it be hung up at the gate of the Lodge in Ch'ang-an for Barbarian
Princes, in order to show them that even if a person who had outraged
the Chinese should fly to the most distant parts, he would be pursued
and executed. But the ministers memorialized that, according to the
Confucian rules for the seasons, winter was the time for executions and
spring was the time to cover skeletons and bury carcases, so that the
head should not be hung up. The generals at the Chinese court, however,
replied that it should be hung up for ten days and then buried. Ch'en
T'ang was accused of avarice and of having sent into China illegally-obtained
wealth. The Colonel Director of the Retainers, whose duty
commandaries, ordered that Ch'en T'ang's conduct should be investigated.
Normally Ch'en T'ang would have been arrested and imprisoned;
Ch'en T'ang replied, asking if the Colonel was avenging the death of
Chih-chih. Emperor Yüan was shocked and immediately sent out
officers and soldiers, ordering the cities to feast Ch'en T'ang's troops.
Shih Hsien and K'uang Heng, however, told the Emperor at a banquet
that since Kan Yen-shou and Ch'en T'ang had raised their army by
forging an imperial order, they would be fortunate not to be executed,
and, if they were rewarded by being given noble ranks and estates, their
illegal acts would be repeated by later envoys, thus causing trouble
for the government. Although Emperor Yüan was delighted at the great
military victory achieved in his reign, he did not want to go contrary to
the advice of his favorite eunuch and Lieutenant Chancellor, so the
matter dragged along for a long time. In 33 B.C., Kan Yen-shou was
at last given a full marquisate with a small estate, and Ch'en T'ang was
made a Kuan-nei Marquis. They were each given a grant of a hundred
catties of actual gold and official promotion. That same year the Hun
Shan-yu Hu-han-hsieh came to pay court to Emperor Yüan to thank him
for having annihilated his rival.
When, a month later, Emperor Ch'eng came to the throne, K'uang
Heng memorialized that Ch'en T'ang had not acted correctly towards
the barbarians; he had stolen the treasures he secured in Sogdiana, and
although he had done these things before a general amnesty had been
declared, yet it was not proper that he should occupy an official position.
So he was tried and dismissed. Later he was accused and condemned
on a capital charge; Emperor Ch'eng freed him from punishment, but
took away his noble rank and made him a common soldier. The imperial
ministers had long memories for an offence against their pride.
| THE HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN DYNASTY The history of the former Han dynasty | |