King Shangtai and others started from Guazhou and headed towards Dunhuang along the dry Dang River. The journey was not far but they walked very slowly because archaeological remains worth searching could be found almost everywhere along the way.
With the help of the guide and the only local scholars, King Shangtai finally slowly found the main reason for Dunhuang's gradual decline since the Yuan Dynasty.
It was precisely because of this research that Dunhuang studies began to emerge in the hands of King Shangtai. The King of Ryukyu in the East China Sea actually established a fateful causal connection with Dunhuang in the yellow sand desert tens of thousands of miles away due to magical fate.
The answer to the decline of Dunhuang can be found from the aspects of economy, politics, religion and natural environment!
First of all, let’s talk about the economy. Since the Tang Dynasty, the ancient Silk Road has gradually declined. Due to the increasing risks of war-torn trade on the ancient road, by the Song Dynasty, the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains had completely lost control of the Western Regions. In order to fight against foreigners, the Song Dynasty implemented Very strict trade embargo.
It is difficult to see merchants on the ancient Silk Road, but on the southeast coast, there are many scenes of thousands of sailors gathering.
The Central Asian countries that control communication between Europe and Asia are also people who are proficient in business. The advantages of sea and road transportation are naturally clear.
When the ancient Silk Road lost the nourishment of its strong economic blood and when the ancient road gradually fell into disuse, the material foundation for Dunhuang's construction also disappeared.
Let’s talk about the natural environment. The Western Regions are originally a region with sparse precipitation. The agriculture and animal husbandry here almost rely on irrigation from melting snow from the mountains. The oases created by those seasonal rivers and inland rivers were the foundation of the ancient Western Region Kingdom.
However, over thousands of years, human activities have seriously destroyed the fragile natural balance, desertification has become more and more serious, agriculture and animal husbandry have declined on a large scale, and this place has gradually become unsuitable for human habitation.
In other words, this place is no longer suitable for the residence of too many people. The once fertile land has turned into a sandbank. The reduction of the total population base has naturally made Dunhuang gradually become lonely.
The third important factor is political reasons. When the Ming Dynasty was established at the beginning of the founding of the country, the national foundation was to develop the economy internally and recuperate, while externally the main opponent was the remnants of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang and his descendants were very indifferent to the Western Regions, a region that had lost much economic interest. They were unwilling to invest too much energy, and were only willing to maintain the superficial obedience of local governments.
The Ming Dynasty rebuilt Jiayuguan, the Ming Great Wall, Suzhou City, and established the Seven Guards of Guanxi. Their main purpose was only defensive. Throughout the 276 years of the Ming Dynasty, the entire regime had little interest in the Western Regions.
Even during Turfan's attack on Hami, the Ming Dynasty ordered the abandonment of all land west of Jiayuguan, completely closing Jiayuguan and cutting off exchanges between the Central Plains and the Western Regions.
For a super project like Dunhuang, if there is no support from the government, its final result will be self-evident!
The last reason is of course religion!
The most important reason why Dunhuang was forced to give up construction and maintenance in the end was due to the religious changes in the Western Regions. Dunhuang was conquered by the Turpan Khanate during the Zhengde period, and in the third year of Jiajing, the Ming Dynasty was unable to maintain the defense west of Jiayuguan, so it had no choice but to The closure of Jiayuguan completely abandoned the people of Kansai.
At this time, the Western Regions were experiencing the greatest religious changes in history. Naturally, the natural enemies of Buddhism would not allow the Mogao Grottoes to continue to be built, and they would not even allow the Han people to survive here.
Since the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Dunhuang has actually become desertified. Due to the killings of war and the abandonment of the Central Plains dynasty, even the most basic county system here has been abolished.
There are no cities or towns. Everything returns to nomadic life. Cities become small towns, small towns become ruins, and farmland becomes desert or pasture for grazing.
Agricultural civilization was completely abandoned, and this land returned to the nomadic civilization of long ago!
Fortunately, the yellow sand in the sky buried those Buddhist caves, so these artistic treasures did not attract the attention of the khanates, and there was no large-scale destruction.
It was not until the Kangxi period that the footprints of the Central Plains people were seen again in the desert of Dunhuang. In the late Kangxi period, the Qing government gradually restored control of the Western Regions, and a large number of khanates began to pay tribute to the Qing government.
It was not until the Yongzheng Dynasty that the military garrison was resumed in Dunhuang, which was known as Shazhou garrison in history! At the same time, 2,400 households were relocated to Gansu and some veterans were removed from the army. This gradually restored some vitality to Dunhuang.
It can be seen that from the Jiajing Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty to the Kangxi period, Dunhuang was basically in ruins, with no urban construction and only scattered herdsmen gathering.
In the end, the Qing Dynasty had to migrate from the mainland if they wanted to restore administrative rule here. This shows how much Dunhuang has been destroyed in the past two hundred years.
Sitting on the back of a camel, King Shangtai recorded the entire historical data of Dunhuang's changes, and asked his subordinates to copy a copy and give it to the Chinese soldiers to pass quickly to the rear.
King Shang Tai discovered that when you don’t understand many things, you don’t understand their value, but when you really get into it, you realize that this matter is definitely not simple.
In his letter to Xiao Letian, King Shangtai made it very clear, "The disciples found that the treasures of the Mogao Grottoes mentioned by the head of state were far more shocking than what the head of state described..."
"This piece of yellow sand ruins is simply a living specimen of the history of the Western Regions. From the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, you can clearly see the different traces left by history..."
"There are also many ruins of ancient cities and ancient tombs. Even before the Mogao Grottoes expedition team has collected many ancient books and Buddhist scriptures..."
"Head of State, you know about the Mogao Grottoes, but you may not know that there is another Yulin Grottoes here, which is even closer than the Mogao Grottoes. The Buddhist statues and murals here alone are enough for the expedition team to stay for half a month... "
"This is simply not a place that can be thoroughly studied in a year or two... I'm afraid it will take us one or two generations or even several generations to understand the secrets of this place..."
"This matter involves many things, and it is by no means an important task that can be accomplished by one disciple...I am afraid that the Chinese will need to take the lead with government functions to make any achievements!"
"This disciple is greeting the master from thousands of miles away. Master Wan hopes to make a decision soon!"
King Shangtai directly raised the Dunhuang trip to a level where Chinese government functions must intervene, and it was also because he was convinced by the rich monuments and cultural relics along the way.
Before seeing the Mogao Grottoes, King Shangtai was already shocked by the Buddhist caves in Yulinbao. He really couldn't imagine how amazing the Mogao Grottoes, which made the capital of the Yuan Dynasty think about day and night, would be!
The ancient yellow sand road, the jingling camel bells... When the setting sun pressed on the edge of the sand dunes and cast the last ray of red light on the desert, a strange sight suddenly appeared in the eyes of King Shangtai and all the members of the expedition team that they would never forget. scene.
The guide rushed to the top of the five- to six-meter-high sand dune in front of him and shouted to the front, "We're here... we're here... Crescent Moon Spring... twenty miles south of here is the Buddhist cave... Finally here!"
With a clatter, the kettle in King Shangtai's hand fell to the sand, and the water spread all over the floor, but no one cared!
Looking down from the sand dune, it is not just a glacial lake that looks like a crescent moon. There are slight water waves floating in the center of the lake. It seems that this is not stagnant water, but there is a spring under the water!
"It's really like a crescent moon! What a standard shape... Keep moving forward, hurry up at night and you must see the Mogao Grottoes tonight!"
