Chapter 260 Ban Dingyuan (900 monthly tickets added last month)
The second point is about the posthumous reputation of Hu Biao and others.
After that battle, the whole Khotan kingdom was completely frightened. The leader of the country, Guangde, sent the prince to Luoyang as a hostage and completely surrendered to the Han Dynasty.
But Ban Chao took one thing into consideration:
Hu Biao and others recruited troops privately without the will of the imperial court, and even used so many troops. This was definitely a violation of the imperial court's taboos.
After all, in the feudal dynasty, the most sensitive thing was rebellion.
It’s not whether you think about it or not, or whether it is caused unintentionally, but whether you have the ability to do so.
Just hiding a certain amount of armor privately is a capital offense, not to mention that Hu Biao and the others have recruited more than a thousand men with sharp armor and dare to die for them.
Therefore, after such a thing is exposed, it is definitely not a good thing for the posthumous reputation of Hu Biao and others.
Based on these considerations, in Ban Chao's report to Dou Gu, the emperor and the court, he did not mention a word about the bloody battle between them and the Huns.
The only mention is that Hu Biao, the military commander of the Han Dynasty, and Hu Yitong were known for their courage and outstanding wit.
Unfortunately, during the pacification of the Khotan rebellion, he and his 31 soldiers, including Yang Dongli, Beiji, Xufeng, and Fengrui, were killed in battle with the Huns envoys.
Please, Your Majesty, spare no effort to reward and provide generous support to these brave warriors of the Han Dynasty.
So everything that Hu Biao and others did was finally recorded in the writings of historians in the Central Plains region, and in some partial history books.
For example:
Hu Biao, whose courtesy name was Yitong, was from Changsha County. He was known for his bravery and outstanding wit. In the 16th year of Yongping, when he followed Ban Chao as envoy to Khotan, he died in battle with the rank of military lieutenant. He was posthumously named Army Sima by Emperor Ming.
After being kicked, the people of Youzhou and Jin devoted themselves to the country and were unparalleled in their loyalty and bravery. In the 16th year of Yongping, when they followed Ban Chao as envoy to Khotan, they died in battle at the head of the team and were named military marquis by Emperor Ming.
Ruifeng, a native of Henan County...
As for the Huns, these nomadic peoples have no historians to speak of. Such a battle with low overall casualties was quickly forgotten.
Only around the Hongbai Mountain are the small tribes that originally sent cannon fodder to follow the bald bandits.
Generation after generation, people tell their descendants that the bald-headed thieves leaders looked fierce, but the transactions were very fair.
It tells how the goddess Ali is a beautiful person with a kind heart.
Telling about the bloody battle that made the sun and moon dim, and how luxurious their life was when they followed the bald thief.
And with the numerous natural disasters, wars, and plagues in the Western Region.
As a result, these tribes gradually and completely disappeared one by one in the long history. Everything Hu Biao and others did was completely covered up under the long yellow sand of the Western Regions.
****
Third, it is about Ban Chao’s subsequent and legendary life; the deaths of Hu Biao and others did not affect Ban Dingyuan’s subsequent stories and glory.
The next year was the seventeenth year of Yongping.
The Huns supported the ruler of Kucha to become powerful. After the ruler of Kucha sent troops to conquer Shule, he not only killed the old ruler, but also established a Kucha native as the new ruler.
It allowed the Huns to indirectly control the Shule Kingdom.
After hearing the news, Ban Chao led his people ninety miles outside the capital city of Shule and stopped. He sent his guard Tian Liu to ride alone to Shule to recruit Dou Ti.
At that time, Tian Lu saw that Dooti had no intention of surrender, so he directly hijacked Dooti and left the city.
Later, Banchao re-established Zhong, the old king's nephew, as the new king, and the Shule Kingdom was immediately pacified.
In the eighteenth year of Yongping, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty passed away.
Taking advantage of the great mourning of the Han Dynasty, Yanqi State besieged Chen Mu, the governor of the Western Regions, and killed him; Qiuci, Gumo and other countries also repeatedly sent troops to attack Shule, a vassal state of the Han Dynasty.
Banchao and Wang Zhong of Shule were like each other's horns, echoing each other. They defended Panlu City and persisted hard.
In the first year of Jianchu's reign, Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty Liu Jin came to the throne. The court believed that Chen Mu was dead and was worried that Ban Chao would be alone in the border areas and would be difficult to support, so he issued an edict to order Ban Chao to return to his country.
After hearing the news, the whole country of Shule was in panic.
When Ban Chao saw this, he immediately gave up the idea of returning to the country, defeated the Weitou Kingdom again, and killed more than 600 people before Shule was settled again.
In the third year of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ban Chao recruited more than 10,000 soldiers from various vassal states to attack the Gumo Kingdom, killing 700 people and isolating Kucha.
In the fifth year of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ban Chao wrote to Emperor Zhang, analyzing the situation of the countries in the Western Regions and his own situation, and proposed the idea of pacifying the countries in the Western Regions, which was the earliest strategy of "using barbarians to control barbarians".
Emperor Zhang was very satisfied with Ban Chao's strategy.
Xu Qian, a native of Pingling, shared the same goals with Ban Chao and requested to go to a foreign land to assist Ban Chao. The imperial court immediately appointed him as acting Sima and sent him to lead a thousand men to reinforce Ban Chao.
In this year, Wusun, a great country in the Western Regions, fell to the Han Dynasty.
In the ninth year of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the imperial court sent He Gong as acting Sima and led 800 troops to reinforce Banchao. In this year, Shule's leader Zhong rebelled and occupied Wuji City.
Ban Chao bribed King Yuezhi with a handful of glass beads and took back Wuji City.
Subsequently, in the third and fourth years of Yuanhe, the second and third years of Yongyuan, etc., Ban Chao performed various wonderful performances in the Western Regions.
Under his various methods, more than fifty countries in the Western Regions were finally made to surrender to the Han Dynasty.
It doesn’t seem right to say that! Because driven by interests, the barbarians in the Western Regions, who regard alliances, surrenders, and rebellions as their daily routine, have caused too many situations.
Every day Ban Chao spends in it is extremely exciting.
Of course, it also involved countless hardships and difficulties, which would have broken down long ago for ordinary people; but even in the most difficult times, Ban Chao never thought of backing down.
Not only because of his heroic spirit when he gave up writing and joined the army, but also because he always felt that behind him, he was carrying Hu Yitong and other brothers who died in the war, and he must have the dream of ruling the Western Regions for the country.
In the seventh year of Yongyuan, in order to commend Ban Chao's meritorious service, the imperial court issued an edict to confer him the title of Marquis of Dingyuan, with an estate of thousands of households. Later generations called him "Ban Dingyuan" because of this incident.
In the ninth year of Yongyuan, Banchao sent Gan Ying as envoy to Daqin (Roman Empire), and Gan Ying returned to Xihai (Persian Gulf).
The reason for this is that they were deceived by the local natives on the shore, saying that it would take more than half a year to find a boat to cross the Persian Gulf and reach the Roman Empire.
Originally, Hu Biao and the others planned to tell Gan Ying before leaving, but due to the advance transmission of the system, they had no time to tell them.
In the twelfth year of Yongyuan, Banchao wrote to Emperor He, requesting to return to his hometown.
His sister Ban Zhao also wrote a letter requesting to recall Ban Chao. After the memorial was delivered, Emperor He was moved.
So he summoned Ban Chao back to the court. So far, Ban Chao has stayed in the Western Regions for thirty-one years. During this period, the Central Plains dynasty changed three emperors. He also grew up from a middle-aged handsome boy to a gray-haired old man.
In August of the 14th year of Yongyuan, after spending more than a year, Ban Chao returned to Luoyang and was appointed as the captain of Shesheng.
After years of fighting, Ban Chao's chest and ribs were already sick, and his condition worsened soon after he entered the court. After Emperor He heard about it, he sent Zhonghuangmen to express condolences and give him medicine.
In September of the same year, Ban Chao died in Luoyang at the age of seventy-one.
It is said that before his death, he was still called "Yi Tong", "Yang Dongli", "Feng Rui" and dozens of other names. It turned out that he had never forgotten Hu Biao and others over the years.
The imperial court felt pity and sent envoys to express condolences and pay homage. The reward was extremely generous, and the tomb was located in Mengjin, Luoyang, Henan today.
According to Ban Chao's last wish, 36 statues were erected in front of his tomb, which were the 36 people he initially brought to the Western Regions.
What needs to be explained is that Hu Biao and the others were surprised to find that some of those statues were not only identical in appearance to them, but also very similar.
Because Ban Chao drew their appearance after the battle that year.
