Last time, I talked about the combat strength of the Ming Dynasty army at this time, with "firearms" and "infantry" to fight "cavalry", swept across the desert, stationed in Heshuo, Xiaoyu Guanxi.

"Guanxi Seven Guards" refers to the Ming Dynasty in the west of "Jiayuguan" set up seven "Guards", also known as "Northwest Seven Guards" or "Mongolian Seven Guards", because the leaders of the "Seven Guards" are all Mongolian nobles, the location is equivalent to the northwest of Gansu Province, the north of Qinghai Province and the eastern part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

During the Yongle period, the Ming Dynasty successively set up seven "guards" here, such as "Andingwei", "Aduanwei", "Qu Xianwei", "Handongwei", "Shazhouwei", "Chijin Mongolian Guard" and "Hamiwei". Later, the "Shazhou Wei" moved inward, and the imperial court set up the "Handong Left Guard" in its hometown. However, with the division and merger of the various departments of the "Moxi Mongols" and the melee with each other, the small country "Turpan" in the Western Regions took the opportunity to become stronger, and completely annexed the "Seven Guards" after the "Jiajing Dynasty".

If we talk about the "Seven Guards of Guanxi", it will inevitably involve the rule of the ancient Chinese feudal dynasties over the western frontier, of which the Han and Tang dynasties are the most important.

As we all know, the "Western Regions Protectorate" is the official administrative body established by the "Two Han Dynasties" in the Central Plains, and the existence of the "Western Regions Protectorate" in history is also intermittent, basically after the unification of the "Two Han Dynasties" and when the national strength is strong, it can only operate normally, otherwise it will be infiltrated by the Xiongnu and other forces.

If you compare it with the administrative divisions of later generations, it is like the provinces, cities, and counties in the interior coexist, but there are also autonomous regions and special administrative regions, but more emphasis is placed on the "military" aspect to restrain small countries.

After understanding the meaning of "Duhufu", we will know that the history of "Duhufu" is actually far beyond the existence time of the "Two Han Dynasty", because similar administrative institutions continued in the "Han Dynasty", and there are about three stages, namely "Western Regions Duhufu", "Anxi Duhufu", and "Guanxi Qiwei".

The "Western Regions Protectorate" originated from the "Western Han Dynasty". After "Zhang Qian's passage to the Western Regions", the Central Plains Dynasty opened up trade routes with the West, selling "luxury goods" such as silk, tea, lacquerware, paper, and wine produced by the Han Dynasty to the West in exchange for spices, gold, silver, precious stones, giant bird eggs (ostrich eggs), "Kunlun Nu" (black slaves) and other things, and strengthened cultural exchanges with the Western world, allowing Buddhism to spread to the Eastern world.

At that time, there were many small countries in the Western Regions, and many of them were subservient to the Han Dynasty. Therefore, in 60 BC, in order to manage the unified Western Regions, the "Emperor Xuan" of the Western Han Dynasty established the "Western Regions Protectorate" in Wulei City (in the territory of Luntai County, Xinjiang in later generations), and officially set up officials, garrisons, and administrative orders in the Western Regions, and began to exercise national sovereignty, manage the countries in the Western Regions, and maintain the smooth flow of the "Silk Road". At that time, the first "protector of the Western Regions" of the Han Dynasty was Zheng Ji.

The main responsibilities of the "Protectorate of the Western Regions" are to guard the territory and secure the land, coordinate the contradictions and disputes between the countries in the Western Regions, stop the intrusion of foreign forces, maintain the social order in the Western Regions, and ensure the smooth flow of the "Silk Road". Because these small countries were on the "Silk Road", they happened to provide transit for Han Dynasty merchants.

"Duhu" governs more than 30 countries east of Dawan and south of Wusun, and each country "self-translates chiefs, domain chiefs, monarchs, supervisors, officials, Dalu, Baichang, Qianchang, Duwei, and Qu, Danghu, Jiang, and Xiangzhi Hou Wang, all wearing Han seals", that is to say, these local nobles are nominally local officials of the Han Dynasty, but each country manages its own national affairs in its own way, and legally only has the seal of the Han Dynasty to be considered legal.

After all, the "Western Regions" originally had more than 50 "countries" during the Qin and Han dynasties, but after "involution" and external interference, it was reduced to 36 countries in less than a hundred years, all of which were distributed in the north and south of the "Tianshan Mountains", especially around the "Taklamakan Desert".

Moreover, the "Western Regions" is far from the interior of the Central Plains, even if it is connected by a narrow "Hexi Corridor" connecting the two ends, but it is thousands of miles back and forth!

In the Han Dynasty, where transportation was very underdeveloped, it was difficult for the Central Plains court to incorporate it into direct rule to organize households and people, so in order to save "administrative costs", it simply set up the "Western Regions Protectorate" to manage and coordinate the countries of the Western Regions, which can be regarded as indirect rule, after all, as long as the foreign forces are blocked.

In fact, the various unified feudal dynasties after the Western Han Dynasty, even the most recent Eastern Han Dynasty, the Western Regions countries controlled by them also had intermittent contact with the Central Plains Dynasty, mainly because of the Xiongnu, Guishan and other powerful forces outside the region. Therefore, when the Central Plains Dynasty was strong, the Western Regions were under the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty; If the strength of the Central Plains Dynasty declines, then it will cut off contact and play its own.

However, the way the Central Plains Dynasty ruled the western frontier was also changing. During the Tang Dynasty, due to the strong national power of the Tang Dynasty, many of the original small vassal states in the Western Regions were included under the direct rule of the Tang Dynasty. As a result, the Tang Dynasty set up six "capital protectorates", among which the "Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate" covered the area including the Han Dynasty's "Western Regions Protectorate", and after the Tang Gaozong defeated the "Western Turks" by force, the territory extended to West Asia.

The "Anxi Protectorate" governed the "Four Towns of Anxi", and its maximum jurisdiction once completely included the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and crossed the Green Mountains (Pamir Plateau) to the east of Persia (Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), and reached as far as "Khorasan" in the Sassanid Persian Empire.

During the "Wu Zhou" period, after the division of the "Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate", the "Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate" was in charge of the Western Regions south of the Tianshan Mountains. At this time, there were no longer many small countries in the "Western Regions", but there were still many nomads and a few "desert oasis" farming peoples living in this area. In fact, the Tang Dynasty still implemented indirect rule, but it was a step further than the Han Dynasty's "Western Regions Protectorate", because there were no longer kings of small countries as agents.

With the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the "Anxi Protectorate" also fell into the hands of other countries, and its landmark event was the "Battle of Talas" that took place in 751 AD. This large-scale battle determined the final sovereignty of Central Asia and even West Asia between the classical Chinese Empire and the emerging Arab Empire.

"Talas" is the city of Zhambyl in Kazakhstan in later generations. As a result, when the "Tang Fan Coalition Army" and the "Great Food Coalition Army" were fighting, the Tang army was defeated due to the defection of the "subject country" Qarluq, and more than 50,000 of the 80,000 allied troops were killed, leaving more than 20,000 Tang Dynasty infantry to be captured by the Arab "camel cavalry".

Since then, the "papermaking", "printing" and "compass" in the "four great inventions" of ancient China have also been mastered by the Arabs and spread to Europe. At the same time, the 250,000 Great Food Coalition Army suffered more than 100,000 casualties due to the Tang Army's brave combat and the huge lethality of the "Mo Dao Team"! Later, because the Tang general "Gao Xianzhi" successfully retreated under the desperate escort of the pro-army escort led by the deputy general Li Siye and others, it was a pity that the west of the "Green Ridge" was given to the Arabs!

Although the Tang Dynasty's "Goryeo" general "Gao Xianzhi" emphasized that it would only take three years to regain the "old land" when he played the imperial court and analyzed the reasons, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji was busy pampering Yang Yuhuan at the moment and did not take this matter to heart until the "Anshi Rebellion" broke out four years later, and there was no chance to regain the lost land.

As for the later "Song Dynasty", its military strength could not be weaker, and even the "Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun" in the north have not been recovered, let alone restored the territory of the Tang Dynasty. During the "Yuan Dynasty", the "Mengyuan Imperial Court" adopted the "provincial system" and directly incorporated the entire "Western Regions" under the direct rule of the imperial court.

The Ming Dynasty went even further in its rule over the Northwest Frontier region, as part of the territory near Gansu Province was directly incorporated into the Ming Dynasty's rule, while for the rest of the Ming Dynasty (eastern Xinjiang), the Ming Dynasty set up the Guanxi Seven Guards to rule. As for the "western part of Xinjiang", it was under the rule of the "Yili Jiangli" (Eastern Chagatai Khanate). Although the Ming Dynasty's rule over the "Western Regions" was far less than that of the Han and Tang dynasties, it was almost the same as that of the "Yuan Dynasty".

"Yili Jiangli" was the capital of the "Eastern Chagatai Khanate" in a certain period, and the "Yongle Dynasty" of the Ming Dynasty also briefly set up the "Yili Liwei Station".

In the middle of the 14th century, the Chagatai Khanate, one of the four khanates of the former Mongol Empire, which ruled Central Asia, was split into two parts, the Eastern Chagatai Khanate and the Western Chagatai Khanate, and the kings (khans) of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate were mainly active in the "Beshbali". Because "Bali" is a Turkic language, which means "city", the capital of the "Eastern Chagatai Khanate" is called "Beishi Bali" or "Yili Li" in the records of the Ming Dynasty, which is the "Yili City" in Xinjiang.

According to the record of "Ming Taizu Record", in the autumn and July of the "twenty-fourth year of Hongwu" (1391), "don't lose eight miles" tribute. At that time, the Ming Dynasty people called "Don't lose Bali" that was the "Xinjiang Yili" in later generations. However, at that time, it was not enough to set up a "guard station" in the "Western Regions" until the "Yongle Dynasty".

According to the "Records of Taizu of the Ming Dynasty", the "Timurid Empire" (known as "Samarkand" by the Ming people) successively paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty in September of the 21st year, September 22, March 25th, September 27th, and September 29th year of Hongwu, expressing its willingness to submit to the rule of the Ming Dynasty and seek refuge.

However, later, Zhu Di, the "ancestor of the Ming Dynasty", learned from many reports that the "Timurid Empire" of the Turks successively annexed the "Ilkhanate" in the south, subdued the "Kipchak Khanate" in the east, and defeated the "Ottoman Empire" in the west.

In the second year of Yongle (1404), Timur led 800,000 troops to attack the Ming Dynasty, but he had not had time to capture the "eastern part of Xinjiang" after occupying "Ili" in Xinjiang, but he died of illness in the middle. Thus, the army of the Timurid Empire returned. After Timur's death, his grandson Hari succeeded to the throne and restored tributary relations with the Ming Dynasty in the fifth year of Yongle. Ming Chengzu also sent envoys to worship the late king Timur. However, in view of the importance of the Western Regions, Zhu Di set up the "Kansai Seven Guards".

In the sixteenth year of Yongle (1418), Crooked Si became the descendant of the "Eastern Chagatai Khanate", and moved west to the Ili River Valley (Yining, Xinjiang in later generations), and renamed it "Yili Jiangli". "Yili" is another transliteration of "Yili", and "Lili" means "Bali". Crooked Si continued to maintain economic and trade ties with the Ming Dynasty, and paid tribute endlessly.

In 1432, his Great Khan was distorted, and his descendants were not at odds with each other, leading to the division of the "Eastern Chagatai Khanate". At that time, "Yili Rangli" had been divided into "Yili Rangli", "Yarkand" and "Turpan", and their kings were all descendants of "Chagatai". One of its descendants still adopted the name of "Yili Li" as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty; The "Yarkand Khanate" has all the land south of the Tien Shan Mountains, east of the Green Mountains, and west of Bosten Lake. The other is centered on "Turpan".

The "Turpan Khanate" is the Turpan Khanate of Xinjiang as the center of activities in the later generations, also translated as "Turpan", and is located on the main transportation route to and from the "Western Regions". In the Han Dynasty, "Turpan" belonged to the "Cheshi", the Sui Dynasty belonged to "Gaochang", the Tang Dynasty destroyed "Gaochang" and then placed "West and Jiaohe County", and in the Song Dynasty, it was occupied by the Uighurs.

The "Yuan Dynasty" had a "Wanhu Mansion" in "Turpan". When the Ming Dynasty became the ancestor, it began to establish a local government, with its place name "Tulupan". At the beginning of the 15th century, "Turpan" began to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. In the twelfth year of Yongle (1414), when Chen Cheng of the Ming Dynasty sent an envoy to the Western Regions, he came to his place to preach the virtue of the imperial court.

The "Turpan Khanate" had endless exchanges with the early tribute envoys of the "Ming Dynasty", and its tribute was mainly famous horses and the like, and the tribute was uncertain. The Ming court gave officials to the tributary envoys and gave them rich rewards. In the middle of the 15th century, the "Turpan Khanate" annexed the nearby "Hazhuo Prefecture" and "Liucheng", and since then its power has grown, and the cause of the incident is the "Tumubao Change". This made the various forces in the Western Regions see the decline of the "Ming Dynasty" and the strength of the "Walla", so they stood in line one after another.

The "guard system" is a unique system of the Ming Dynasty, and the "guard station" in the "Western Regions" area is also called the "guard station", which is the Ming Dynasty in the "Hongwu" and "Yongle" years set up in the border non-main ethnic areas, with the local tribal leaders as the "governor", "commander", "command", "thousands of households", "all commanders", "pacification" and other officials, given the "edict" and "seal", under the jurisdiction of the "capital guard", in charge of local military and civil affairs, in the later administrative level equivalent to the "autonomous county".

That is to say, the early Ming Dynasty also effectively ruled the Western Regions, and the reason why the "Western Regions Protectorate" or "Anxi Protectorate" was not set up was because the "Guanxi Seven Guards" were set up to rule. However, with the "Tumubao Incident" on August 31, 1449, the military strength and political influence of the Ming Dynasty declined rapidly, and like other feudal dynasties, it also lost its right to rule the "Western Regions", and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that it resumed its rule over the Western Regions.

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