Zhangqian's mission to the Western Regions: opening up the Silk Road that has had an impact for thousands of years

From 139 BC to 115 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions twice, opening up the land transportation between China and Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia, and even to Europe, and from then on formally opened up the trade between China and Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia, and Europe with silk as the main commodities, and the German geographer, Richthofen, named this Western transportation road as the "Silk Road" which was later widely used as a term. The German geographer Richthofen named this western transportation road the "Silk Road", and later this term was widely used.

The opening of the Silk Road, strongly promote the development of agriculture and handicrafts in the East and West. It was through this road that grapes, walnuts, pomegranates, carrots, spinach, cucumbers, peppers, precious stones, glass, etc. from the West were introduced to China.

China's silk, lacquer, bamboo, copper and iron, gold and silver, porcelain, peaches, pears, as well as the Four Great Inventions, well-drilling, copper smelting, and the construction of farmland and water conservancy technology, have been transmitted to the West by this route.

This ancient road brought Christianity, Buddhism, Islam to China, the ancient Chinese culture, Indian culture, Persian culture, Arab culture and ancient Greece, ancient Roman culture connected to promote the exchange of Eastern and Western civilizations.

Until today, Asian and European countries still regard the construction of the New Silk Road as an important strategic goal.

So how did the Silk Road come about?

There are two main reasons.

Reason 1: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty needed to contact the western countries to deal with the Xiongnu, and the opening of the road to the western region was a strategic need.

Since the time of the Chu-Han War, the Xiongnu controlled the northeast, north, and west of China.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the Huns conquered the Western Regions and set up boy lieutenants to collect taxes from the countries. The Xiongnu also used the Western Regions as a military stronghold, often invading the Han borders, harassing and plundering the people.

In the course of the struggle between the Western Han and the Xiongnu, the importance of the Western Regions was gradually recognized. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended to the throne, he was informed that the westward-migrating Daxuezhi and the Xiongnu were feuding, and so he sent Zhang Qian on a mission to the Western Regions, to communicate with the Western Regions, and to unite with the Daxuezhi in a pincer attack on the Xiongnu.

Zhang Qian spent 13 years in the Western Regions before returning to Chang'an. He did not accomplish his mission of alliance with the Dayue clan, because at this time, the Xiongnu had already occupied the Hexi Corridor, and the countries in the Western Regions were already cut off from the Han Dynasty, and did not dare to hastily make an alliance with the Han Dynasty under the threat of the Xiongnu.

If the Han Dynasty wanted to make alliance with the western countries, it became a problem to open the road to the western region. Therefore, Emperor Wu sent General Huo Daizi to attack the Xiongnu in the west and expelled the Xiongnu forces, which opened up the Hexi Corridor to the western countries of the throat became unobstructed. Immediately after that, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions for the second time, Zhang Qian rate more than 300 attendants, carrying thousands of gold, silk and silk and other goods, cattle and sheep, from the Silk Road was officially opened.

Zhang Qian's second mission to the Western Regions also brought back a messenger from the Wusun, and since then the Han Dynasty began to make peace with the Wusun, which became an important ally of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions to hold back the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu also sent his army to conquer Dawan in the west, forcing Dawan to pay tribute to the good horses, so that the Han Dynasty cavalry's ability to fight has been improved.

Reason 2: The need for economic trade between China and the West.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the West because of strategic needs, but Zhang Qian's two exits made him realize the value of opening up the West to commerce, so he recruited a large number of merchants to use the court's rationed goods to go to the West to do business. These speculative and adventurous merchants later became rich merchants, which attracted more people to join the trade activities on the Silk Road, greatly promoting the economic and cultural exchanges between the Central Plains and Central and Western Asia, the Han Dynasty in the various barriers to tax, and gained huge profits.

In the West, the Romans conquered the Seleucid Empire in Syria and the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt in the 1st century BC, and with the Han Dynasty expanding its opportunities to the west at this time, trade on the Silk Road linked India, Southeast Asia, Ceylon, China, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Countless novelty goods, technology and ideas flowed into the countries of Europe, Asia and Africa.

From the 1st century AD, silk from China has become the favorite of the Romans, according to Pliny the Elder in the "Museum" records, when the Roman girls have begun to wear translucent silk dress in the street to show off. The price of silk in the ancient Roman market had been as high as about 12 pounds of gold. In addition to the Romans, it is said that Egyptian history of the famous Cleopatra VII also love silk products, once wearing silk coat to receive the envoy.

So what was the process of opening up the Silk Road?

The whole process can be divided into three stages.

The first stage: the primitive stage.

The traditional Silk Road was a land route from Chang'an in the east to Rome in the west. This road was not simply a wide avenue, but also included countless smaller roads.

This route through Eurasia has existed for a long time, and in the beginning it was not used to transport silk, research shows that the ancient Chinese wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, bronze, etc. were imported from West Asia and Central Asia along the road about 4000 years ago. The formation of this corridor is the result of the participation of the peoples of Eurasia***. For example, in the 4th century B.C., Alexander the Great from Greece established the Alexander Empire, which spanned Europe and Asia, conquered Persia, and the border of the empire was close to the Khyber Pass. This was a major transportation route connecting Central, West and South Asia, and Alexander's conquests were accompanied by a great deal of attention to building and maintaining roads. In the original Persian Empire, as early as the reign of Darius I built a well-connected stagecoach, there is a direct from the ancient capital of Susa to the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor, "the Imperial Road" is 2,400 kilometers long, every 20 kilometers to set up a post and merchants, and there are also hostels for the passing merchants to stay. In short, the history of the Silk Road in its original stage is much longer.

The second stage: the "chiseling" stage.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, China's road to Central Asia and even West Asia, South Asia and Europe was blocked due to the overpowering Xiongnu. For strategic reasons, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to contact the Dayuezhi*** in the western region to deal with the Xiongnu. However, Zhang Qian's diplomatic mission inadvertently led to an even greater achievement, that is, the opening up of the Silk Road. Sima Qian praised Zhang Qian's mission to the West as "chiseling the sky", meaning "opening the way". Although this road has existed for a long time, after Zhang Qian's two missions to the West, coupled with the famous general Huo Zaiwei of the Western Han Dynasty, who led the troops to drive away the Xiongnu forces in the Hexi Corridor, a road to Central Asia, West Asia, and even South Asia and Europe was opened up.

The third stage: the mature stage.

After Zhang Qian through the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty sent to the Western Regions of the envoys and Western countries sent to the Han Dynasty of the envoys in an endless stream of businessmen of all races frequent travel between the mainland and the Western Regions, the formation of a "business beard peddlers, the day money under the plug" of the scene. However, Loulan and Cheshi, which were small countries in the Western Region at that time, were still under the control of Xiongnu, and at the instigation of Xiongnu, they often attacked and killed Han Dynasty's envoys and plundered merchants. In order to ensure the passage of the Western Region, the Han Dynasty sent troops to defeat Loulan and Cheshi, and set up pavilions and barricades along the line from Jiuquan to Yumenguan, which served as a post for supplying food and provisions and as a defense post. In 60 B.C., Emperor Xuan Di of Han Dynasty set up the Western Region Defense Office in Wubicheng (now in Luntai County), formally failed to have an official in the Western Region, stationed troops, and implemented the governmental order to exercise the national sovereignty, so that the safety of the Silk Road was completely guaranteed, and the Silk Road entered into a mature stage from then on.

The Silk Road we are talking about here refers to the traditional Silk Road, that is, from the Weishui Basin in Shaanxi Province, China, through the Hexi Corridor by the northern foothills of the Kunlun Mountains or the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains to the west across the Onion Mountains, through Central Asia and then along the Euphrates River in West Asia to the city of Anjouk in the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and finally led to Rome on this road. However, the concept of the Silk Road today is not limited to this, its eastern starting point has been diversified, and with the change in the mode of transportation, and the land Silk Road corresponds to the Maritime Silk Road.