The disputes between the Qiang people and the Han Dynasty lasted from the Western Han Dynasty to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The reasons are obvious. One is strategic considerations and resistance to the Han Dynasty's high-pressure restrictive policy of freedom; the other is the awakening of its national consciousness, which made it begin to unanimously exclude the Han nationality from the Qiang people. This phenomenon was especially obvious in the Eastern Han Dynasty more than a hundred years later. Originally, after the Qiang people launched a large-scale assault on the Han Dynasty, General Zhao Chongguo resolutely opposed high pressure and switched to a soft policy to implement reclamation in the border areas, which made the war It subsided, and for more than a hundred years since then, the Qiang and Han peoples have been living in peace and contentment in Liangzhou and other places. Unfortunately, later on, the corruption and tyranny of officials increased day by day. In the disputes between the Han and Qiang people, officials always favored the Han people because they accepted bribes, so the Qiang people had to rise up to resist. Because the Qiang people discovered that unless all local government officials were killed, they would never be safe. As a result, the war between the Han and Qiang reached a peak in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The Qiang people are mainly nomadic, very close to the Xiongnu people, and are incompatible with the farming Han people in terms of lifestyle. During the Western Han Dynasty, the first large-scale confrontation between the Qiang and the Western Han regime occurred during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. By the time of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, the Qiang people even assisted the Huns and disturbed our borders. Emperor Xuan then sent Zhao Chongguo to attack, and it was completely pacified in two years. He established Jincheng as a vassal state and resettled the Qiang.
Zhao Chongguo (137 BC - 52 BC), courtesy name Wengsun, was of Han nationality. He was originally from Shanggui (now Tianshui City, Gansu Province) in Longxi Province, and later moved to Huangzhong (now Xining District, Qinghai Province). He was a famous general in the Western Han Dynasty. In his early years, Zhao Chongguo was praised as having great strategy. When he was young, he admired generals and loved to learn the art of war. He devoted himself to serving the country and paid great attention to the military defense of the Western Regions, Hexi and the Huns in the north. He initially joined the army as a cavalryman as a "good man", and was later transferred to the Harin Army (Palace Guard) because he was good at riding and shooting. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty won the third victory against the Xiongnu in the north, he began to immigrate, and Zhao Chongguo moved his family to Lingju. Later, Li Guang led his troops to fight against the Huns. Although he was defeated, he succeeded in conquering Zhao Chongguo. At that time, the Han army was besieged by the Xiongnu. Under the leadership of Zhao Chongguo, Li Guangli was able to lead hundreds of people to break out.
Li Guangli reported this situation to the emperor. Emperor Wu met with Chongguo and personally saw his wounds. He praised him as a warrior, paid homage to Zhonglang, and made him a general of chariots and cavalry. During the reign of Emperor Zhao, Zhao Chongguo moved to Zhonglang General and Shuiheng Duwei. Huo Guang sent him to attack the Xiongnu in the north. In this battle, the Xiongnu were defeated and returned home. Even King Qi of Western Qi was captured and returned alive. Emperor Zhao was overjoyed and promoted him to the rank of captain and rear general to protect the Qiang.
Zhao Chongguo not only had outstanding military exploits and was known for his strategic skills, but he also had a clear understanding of the current situation. He saw that Huo Guang could not be defeated, so he remained loyal to Huo Guang. When Huo Guang overthrew King Yan, Shangguan Jie and others, he resolutely chose to serve under Huo Guang. Later, together with Huo Guang, he made a plan to welcome Emperor Xuan. For this reason, Zhao Chongguo was immediately granted the title of Marquis of Yingping.
Zhao Chongguo played a decisive role in the subsequent Pingqiang War. Before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Qiang people never knew how to unite with each other. Instead, they liked to kill each other. Therefore, they were never able to assemble a force as powerful as the Xiongnu, let alone establish a national organization. In the Han Dynasty, the four counties of Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Wuwei were established in the Hexi Corridor of the Xiongnu Khanate to maintain local stability and maintain the smooth flow of the Silk Road.
However, with the implementation of the above measures in the Han Dynasty, the following two situations emerged:
1. The forces of the Central Plains were like a sharp knife inserted between the Xiongnu Khanate and the Qiang people, separating them so that the Qiang people could not receive assistance from the Huns.
2. Under political and military protection, the Han people actively moved westward and drove the Qiang people away from their homeland. Except for a few tribes, most tribes moved westward to the areas west or south of Qinghai Lake.
In the late period of Emperor Wu, the Qiang people who lived in what is now Qinghai Province saw the Han army's repeated defeats in the war against the Xiongnu. They suddenly felt that the time had come, so they often invaded the hinterland of the Han Dynasty and captured cities and territories. Qinghai's geographical location is very important. On the one hand, it can strangle the Western Han Dynasty's road to the Western Regions. On the other hand, it also forms a condescending position over the capital Chang'an. For this reason, the Han army has a headache for the heroic and capable Qiang people.
At that time, the Xiongnu learned from Zhang Qian's experience in conquering the Western Regions and believed that they could unite with the Qiang people to invade the Han Dynasty. As long as the Qiang people can contain the main force of the Han army, the Xiongnu troops can march straight in and plunder deep into the hinterland of the Han army. For a time, the Xiongnu regarded the Qiang as their right-hand man, always ready to strike a heavy blow at the Han.
Faced with this situation, Emperor Wu made a decisive decision to cut off the right arm of the Xiongnu, which meant to break the Xiongnu's plan and defeat the Qiang people's troops. Unfortunately, the tens of thousands of Han troops also failed when faced with the bravery and skill of the Qiang people. Becoming stretched thin, coupled with the Qiang people's geographical advantage, the Han army finally returned in defeat. After the victory in this battle, the Qiang entered gradually moved north of the Huangshui River, trying to find places where farmers had abandoned farming and grazing. At the same time, various tribes of the Qiang people also have a tendency to unite. The county officials set up by the Han Dynasty in the land of the Qiang people are just like a fake at the moment, and there is no way to prevent the Qiang people from uniting. Seeing that the Qiang people were about to contact the Huns, the Han Dynasty made a decisive decision and sent troops from Haojiao (today's east bank of Datong River in Qinghai) to attack the Qiang people in an attempt to prevent their further actions. Unfortunately, this time, the Han army was still defeated by the Qiang people, and their morale was reduced. While plummeting, it also suffered huge losses.
According to the agreement between the Western Han Dynasty and the Qiang people, the Qiang people were not allowed to cross the Huangshui River without authorization, otherwise they would be punished for rebellion. When Emperor Xuan succeeded to the throne, Zhao Chongguo was granted the title of Marquis of Yingping. One day, Yiqu Anguo, the official of Guanglu, sent a memorial from the Qiang area. Chief Yan Mingxianling expressed to him that he wanted to cross the Huangshui River north to reach a place where Han people did not farm. Local livestock. Zhao Chongguo impeached Yiqu Anguo without hesitation in the court, indicating that he needed to be punished for dereliction of duty.
It turned out that in the spring of the first year of Shenjue of Emperor Xuan (61 BC), the ministers of the two Han Dynasties, namely the prime minister and the censor, did not understand the truth about the Qiang people, so they recommended to the emperor that Guanglu Dafu Yiqu Anguo be sent as an envoy to the Qiang people. , understand its trends. Unexpectedly, Yiqu Anguo, a mediocre person, still went his own way among the Qiang people. He did not clearly understand the truth of the secret visit to the Qiang people, and could not analyze the situation of the tribes in various countries in detail. Instead, he called more than 30 leaders of the Xianling tribe without asking any questions, and beheaded them all for the crime of disobedience. The Xianling tribe is the most powerful tribe of the Qiang people, and many Qiang people follow the leadership of these leaders. Now that the Qiang leaders have been killed, the Qiang people can't control their anger, so they all denounce Yiqu Anguo. However, at this time, Yiqu Anguo still had no remorse and even dispatched troops and generals without authorization to suppress the Xianling people and killed more than a thousand Qiang people. As a result, all the Qiang tribes and Guiyi Qiang Marquis Yang Yu and others were frightened and forced to leave their land. In order to expand their power, they did not hesitate to plunder other small tribes. Eventually, they invaded the Han border fortress, attacked the city, and killed the chief officials. Yiqu Anguo then led three thousand cavalry to fight against the Qiang as a cavalry captain. In this battle, he discovered that the Qiang's combat power was astonishing. Seventy-eight out of ten of his three thousand soldiers died in the battle. It was only when he was defeated and retreated to Lingju that he remembered to fight against the Qiang. Emperor Xuan reported the situation here.
In the third year of Yuankang (63 BC), the Xianling tribe, the most powerful among the Qiang people, and more than 200 chiefs of other Qiang tribes "resolved their feuds and exchanged views" and formed a blood alliance. They agreed to march to the Central Plains together to resist the Han Dynasty. Tyranny of officials.
Tan Ma soon spread the news to Emperor Xuan's ears, and the government and the public were shocked after hearing the news. At this time, the Huo family had been exterminated, and Zhao Chongguo became the minister of consolidation of the country, assisting Emperor Xuan together with Huang Ba, Xiao Wangzhi and others. At this time, Zhao Chongguo stepped forward and stated to the emperor: "The biggest hidden dangers of the Qiang people mainly include three aspects. First, the Qiang people and the Xiongnu have long planned to unite; second, the Qiang people originally had tribes attacking each other and were easy to control. But in recent years, they have made a "contract to resolve their hatred" and jointly fight against the Han; thirdly, the Qiang people may also "join other races", that is, unite with other races. 'To sum up, Zhao Chongguo put forward the suggestion of "preparing for the unexpected".
Emperor Xuan and his ministers thought it was reasonable. One month later, Lang Heguo, the Qiang lord of the Xiaoyue clan, sent people to borrow troops from the Xiongnu, intending to attack Shanshan and Dunhuang to cut off the passage between the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty. Zhao Chongguo then put forward two suggestions to the emperor: one was to strengthen military border defense; the other was to alienate the Qiang tribes and detect their premeditated plans. Moreover, Zhao Chongguo also believes that there must be deeper reasons why the Qiang people are like this. For this reason, comprehensive plans and long-term preparations need to be made.
At this time, Zhao Chongguo was already over seventy years old, but Emperor Xuan still admired Zhao Chongguo's talents in knowledge and strategy. Seeing that he spoke eloquently, Emperor Xuan wanted to ask him to take command to quell the rebellion. However, Emperor Xuan was a little worried that he was old and lacked energy and courage. Therefore, Bingji, the imperial censor, was sent to see Zhao Chongguo and consult him about who could take on the important task.
Zhao Chongguo replied confidently: "No one is better than an old minister." Emperor Xuan sent someone to ask again: "How about a general conquering the Qiang captives? How many people should be used?" Zhao Chongguo replied: "A hundred hearings is not as good as a sight. It is difficult to conquer an army. I would like to rush to Jincheng, and the map is as follows." This means that when fighting a war, you cannot talk about it on paper, but you must go to the front line to observe in person, and then you can make countermeasures based on the actual situation. He also asked Emperor Xuan to leave all matters of quelling the chaos in his hands, so that the emperor would be able to sit back and relax. Emperor Xuan heard this and readily agreed.
"When you are old, you should be strong, and you would rather move your heart with a gray head; when you are poor, you should be strong, and you should not chase the ambition of Qingyun." Although Zhao Chongguo was over seventy years old, he still supervised the troops in the western border. After obtaining Emperor Xuan's permission, he quickly led more than 8,000 cavalrymen out, skillfully crossed the Yellow River, established a position, and prepared for battle. The Qiang people were greatly frightened when they heard that the famous general Zhao Chongguo came to supervise the battle. The Qiang people couldn't bear it and went to challenge, but Zhao Chongguo still couldn't hold on. Using his fame and the prestige of the Han Dynasty, he continued to recruit and surrender some tribes, and finally disintegrated the plan of the Qiang tribes to unite.
In the process of Zhao Chongguo's gentle governance of the various tribes of the Western Qiang, in order to prevent things from happening before they happened, he worked hard and conducted on-site inspections, and finally got a good plan. After returning to Chang'an, Zhao Chongguo wrote three times to propose to Emperor Xuan the idea of "garrisoning the fields with troops", which was highly appreciated by Emperor Xuan. From then on, the Han Dynasty regarded "garrisoning fields in Huangzhong (on both sides of the Huangshui River in today's Qinghai Province)" as a long-term strategy, and proposed a method of using both soldiers and farmers to raise grain on the spot. "Agriculture"; "The way for soldiers to sit still and win"; "Save a lot of money, and the corvee will come to an end" and other "twelve tips". This played a great role in supporting the frequent wars at that time and reducing the burden on the people. It also eased the conflict between the Han and Qiang people, allowing the two tribes to coexist peacefully in Xiliang for hundreds of years.
