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Dashi's interaction with the Liao Dynasty and Yelu Dashi's westward expedition

Dashi's interaction with the Liao Dynasty and Yelu Dashi's westward expedition

As early as the beginning of the founding of Yelu Abaoji, Dashi and the Liao Dynasty had diplomatic exchanges. When the Liao Dynasty faced complete collapse under the attack of the Jin people, the royal family Yelu Dashi resolutely led the people westward, intending to use the Great Food Army to try to prosper. Later, Yelu Dashi really rose rapidly in the Western Regions and founded the huge Western Liao Empire. What kind of country is this big food country? Where is its geographical location? Why did Jerodashi have such high expectations for it? What role did it play in the re-establishment of the Jerodashi state? These problems have always been difficult to solve in the study of Chinese history, and the original intention of briefly exploring these issues is to draw bricks and stones and encourage more comrades to discuss them together on the basis of domestic and foreign documents and relevant Dunhuang documents.

1. Start with the westward journey of Yelu Dashi

At the beginning of the 12th century, the Jurchens grew stronger. In 1115 A.D., the leader Wanyan Agu was proclaimed emperor, and the country name was "Dajin". In 1116 AD, the Jin soldiers marched south and captured Tokyo (now Liaoyang City, Liaoning). In 1122, Jin soldiers marched westward and captured Zhongjing (present-day Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) in Liao, and Emperor Tianzuo fled to Jiashan (present-day Wuchuan County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region), and was cut off. Yelu Dashi supported Yeluchun as emperor and held Nanjing (now Beijing). Soon after, Yeluchun died, and his wife, Concubine Xiao De, became regent. Jin Bing went south to Juyongguan, and Yelu Dashi and Xiao Defei withdrew from Nanjing and defected to Emperor Tianzuo. Emperor Tianzuo killed Concubine Xiao De and questioned Yelu Dashi, Yelu Dashi was extremely uneasy, killed Emperor Tianzuo's cronies Xiao Yixue and Po Likuo, led 200 iron horses, left Emperor Tianzuo's camp, and marched west to Zhenzhou (the city of Kedun in the Uighur Khanate). At this time, Emperor Tianzuo sent troops to the mountain, was defeated and fled, was captured on the way, and the Liao Dynasty perished. Yelu Dashi then assembled the leaders of the seven states and eighteen departments, and made the first to be the king, and generously made a speech, putting forward the plan of "borrowing the power of Zhufan" and "recovering my territory". In 1130 A.D., the Jin State sent the generals Yelu Yujian and Shi Jianu to lead the army to attack Yelu Dashi, Yelu Dashi estimated that the enemy was strong and weak, and there was no hope of recovering the country, so he led the people to the west. "History of Liao" volume 30 "Tianzuo Emperor IV" says:

"On the first afternoon of February next year, the ancestors of heaven and earth were sacrificed with green oxen and white horses, and the whole trip went west, and the first testament was written to the Uighur king Bilge: 'In the past, Emperor Taizu of the Emperor Taizu marched north, passed through the city of Buguhan, and sent an envoy to Ganzhou. The union is your restoration; Thou shalt not return? There are links, and they are still in me. Erzu thanked him and thought that he had moved his country here. For more than ten generations, the army and civilians have been relocated to the land and cannot return. "It's not a one-day good with Erguo. Now I will go west to the Great Food, and the country of False Daoer will not be suspicious. ”

The "Uighur king" is the Uighur protector of the lord of Gaochang. "Buguhan City" refers to the capital of the founding of the Uighur Kingdom, which is located in the central part of the present-day Mongolia People's Republic. "Wu Wu Zhu" is a different translation of the Tangut language "Wu Zu", which means "Son of Heaven", which refers to the Uighur Khan of Ganzhou, whose name at that time was Renmei. Judging from the letter that Yelu Dashi wrote to the Uighur Yiduhu of Gaochang in advance, the destination of his westward journey was the "Great Food Country", and it appears that this "Great Food Country" was due west of the Uighur Kingdom of Gaochang, and that Jelu Dashi had to borrow from him in order to reach it.

Why did Yelu Dashi first think of going west to the Great Food Country when the situation was not good? This is because the relationship between the Great Food Kingdom and the Liao Dynasty is very close. "History of Liao" Volume 2 "Under the Taizu":

(August of the third year of Tianzan) "Guihai, the Great Food Country comes to pay tribute." ”

"Tianzan three years" is 924 A.D., it can be seen that soon after the establishment of the Liao Dynasty, the Great Food Kingdom took the initiative to establish diplomatic relations with it. In the "Khitan National Chronicles" volume 21 "Tribute Objects of Small Countries", eight countries and regions such as Dashi are listed, and the text goes on to say:

"The upper countries have sent envoys once every three years, about 400 people, to the Khitan to contribute jade, beads, rhinos, frankincense, amber, agateware, bintie weapons, oblique black skin, brown silk, Mende silk, pariha, sand, and brown silk."

"It has been (to) all fine wool weaving, with two zhang as a horse. The Khitan reward is at least no less than 400,000 yuan. ”

Khitan refers to the Liao Dynasty, "oblique black skin" should be "oblique lining", which is made of red cowhide and horse skin tanned with sand tanning, which is a specialty of the Western Regions, and is a high-grade raw material for leather boots. "Mende silk" is the Mades silk that is abundant in Hotan and other places in Xinjiang today. "Brown silk" has been reappeared, and it is also a silk fabric produced in the Tarim Basin. "Paliha" is regarded as "Pahei", which is the flower silk produced in Kashgar, Xinjiang. "Misspelling" is a misspelling of sand, which is not only an important raw material for tanning high-grade leather, but also a mineral medicine, which has a miraculous effect on the treatment of abdominal diseases. Judging from this record, the Great Food Kingdom sent envoys at least once every three years, with as many as 400 people, and the tribute items were all treasures and native products of the Western Regions, and the value of each time was as high as 400,000 guan.

In addition to general political exchanges and economic trade, Da Shi and the Liao Dynasty also established a more special relationship. "History of Liao" volume 16 "Holy Sect VII" records:

(October of the eighth year of Kaitai) "Ren Yin, the Great Food Country sent an envoy to enter the elephant and the square thing, and asked for marriage for the sub-book. ”

(March of the first year of Taiping) "In the month, the king of Dashi sent an envoy to ask for marriage, and the prince Ban Langjun Hu Sili was married to the princess. ”

"The eighth year of Kaitai" is 1019 AD. "Fangwu" is a local product. The "first year of Taiping" is 1021 AD. Due to the repeated marriage proposals of the king of the Great Food, Liao Shengzong married his niece and granddaughter Ke Lao to the prince of the Great Food, and the two sides established an uncle-related relationship.

This incident is also recorded in the "History of Liao" volume 70 "Table of Dependent States", but there is a slight difference in time:

(in the column of October of the ninth year of Kaitai): "The king of the great food sent an envoy to ask for the marriage of his son, and entered the elephant and the square object. ”

(in the February column of the first year of Taiping): "The king of the Great Food sent an envoy to ask for marriage, and the prince Ban Langjun Hu Sili was the old princess. ”

The time recorded in the "Table of Dependent Countries" is one year later than that recorded in the "Holy Sect VII", but the word "Wang" is missing after the three characters "Great Food Country" in the "Holy Sect VII", so it seems that the text of the "Subject State Table" is more correct. Regarding the second marriage request sent by the king of the Great Eclipse, there is a difference of one month between the records of the "Table of the Dependent Kingdoms" and the "Holy Father VII", and it is difficult to determine the rights and wrongs of it. The "canon" in the "Table of the Dependent Kingdoms" is a different translation of the "canonization" in the "Holy Father VII".

"Great Food Country" is often translated as "Great Stone Country", and "Big Stone Country" refers to the Islamic State of Arabia. Yelu Dashi is the strangest among the names of the Liao Dynasty, his name "Dashi" happens to be the same as the Dashi Kingdom, and there happens to be a Dashi Kingdom (i.e., the Great Food Country) that has an extremely close relationship with the Liao Dynasty, is it a coincidence?

"Da Shi" has another form of Chinese character transliteration. Hui Chao's "Biography of the Five Heavenly Zhu Kingdom" said:

"And he traveled from Tocharian to the kingdom of Tocharian for a month to the kingdom of Persia, and his king ruled over the kingdom first. Da Kuo was a camel herder of the Persian king, and when he rebelled, he killed the other king and set himself up as the master. But now this kingdom has been swallowed up by the great wall...... And he traveled ten days north from the kingdom of Persia, and entered the mountains, and came to the land of the great eclipse. The king of the other does not live in his own country, and he sees that he lives in the country with his little finger. ”

"Da 寔" is a different translation of "big food", "寔" is a variant of "real", and "big 寔" is "big real". "Khitan National Chronicles" Volume 19 "Dashi Biography":

"Dashi Linya, Linya, is his official name, Judah Hanlin Bachelor; In fact, there is a small name, and there is no surname in the north. ”

"Yelu Dashi" is also translated as "Yelu Dashi", and "Dashi" is its nickname, so it can be seen that the name of Yelu Dashi must be related to the Great Food Country. "History of Liao" volume 30 "Tianzuo Emperor IV" says:

"The big stone character is very virtuous, and the eight generations of Taizu are also grandchildren."

The name of the ancients and the word, the meaning of the two has a certain connection, the name of Yelu Dashi is "Dashi", the word is "heavy virtue", it seems that the meaning of his name is in the Liao country and the big stone country "virtue coincides" meaning, which either reflects the relationship between the two sides, or indicates the intimate friendship between the two sides. In short, there is no doubt that the name of Jerod must be related to the kingdom of Dashi.

2. The "great food" of the Song Dynasty mostly refers to the Qarakhanid Dynasty

In the early days of the Northern Song Dynasty, Da Shiguo sent a monk to Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng City, Henan Province) together with monks from another country in the Western Regions to pay tribute, and this monk also reported to the Northern Song Emperor the geographical location and socio-political and economic situation of his country, which was recorded in the History of the Song Dynasty, Volume 490, "Foreign Biography Liu· Tianzhu":

"Yongxizhong...... There are also Brahmin monks who are eternal, and the Persian foreign Tao Keli Yan is the same as the Beijing teacher. Eternal self-cloud: 'The country's fame and fortune, the king's surname is Yaluo Wangde, his name is Ah You Tie, he is dressed in yellow, he wears a golden crown, he is adorned with seven treasures, he is out of an elephant or a shoulder, he is led by music, snails and cymbals, he travels to Buddhist temples a lot, and he is poor in Boshi...... The country traveled eastward through June to the Great Food Country, and then to Xizhou in February, and to Xiazhou in March. Ali Yanziyun: "This king is black-clothed, surnamed Zhang, and his name is not good." Use brocade silk as clothing, every safari, return to the country on three or two days. Nine acting ministers govern the country. There is no money for goods, and they trade in sundries. The kingdom traveled eastward in June to Brahman. ’”

"Yongxizhong" refers to a certain year from the first year to the fourth year of Yongxi (984-987 AD) of Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty. "Brahmin" refers to the kingdom of Tianzhu, which is present-day India. The Tang Dynasty called the Christian churches built by the Nestorian sect of Persian eastward as "Persian Temple" and "Persian Cross Temple", so Buddhists called Christians "Persian Outer Dao". "Xizhou" refers to the Turpan region of present-day Xinjiang, when the Tang Dynasty had Xizhou, and the Song Dynasty was the territory of the Gaochang Uighur state. Xiazhou in the Song Dynasty, now Yulin City in Shaanxi Province, was an important hub of the "Silk Road" at that time. "Black clothes" is the name of the big food in black clothes, which is the name of the later period of the big food country. Xizhou is about 5,000 miles away from Xiazhou, and it takes three months to travel from Xizhou to Xiazhou, that is, 90 days, so the average daily journey is more than 50 miles. According to this calculation, from the eastward journey of the Great Eclipse in February, that is, 60 days to Xizhou, the black-clothed Great Eclipse must be more than 3,000 miles west of Xizhou, about a few hundred miles west or south of present-day Kashgar City, Xinjiang.

A hundred years later, the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire sent an envoy to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty. Its envoy traveled eastward and once passed through the country of Oshi. "Song Hui to Compile Manuscripts· Fan Yi Four · Fu Lak Kingdom" records:

"On October 6 of the fourth year of Yuanfeng, the great leader of the country ordered Meng to judge: the east of the country is from the east to the sea of the sea, all of which are forty journeys. It also extends to the west to the west and to the new Fuzhou where the king of Khotan lives, then to the old Khotan, and then to the city of Jochang, which is in the border of Khotan. The second east to Huangtou Huifu, the east to Tatar, the second to the seed, and then to the residence of Dong Yu, the second to the city of Ringo, and the east to the Qingtang Dynasty, and even the Chinese border. ”

"The fourth year of Yuanfeng" is 1081 AD. "West Dashi" should be the western part of Dashi Country, and it seems that Dashi Country was divided into two parts, east and west. "New Fuzhou" is also translated as "New Fuzhou", and its place is in the west of the old Khotan, in the area of Kashgar City or Yecheng County in present-day Xinjiang. The former site of "Old Khotan" is in present-day Khotan City, Xinjiang. The covenant of "Youchang City" should be a misspelling of "Zhuo", which is a different translation of "Zhulizhang" and "Cherchen", referring to the ancient city of Jimo County in Xinjiang. "Yellow Head Uighur" is a paraphrase of Sarig Uigur, which refers to the Uighur state of Qiuzi at that time, living in Lop Nur. Tatar is a Tatar tribal branch of the Mongolia Plateau, also known as "grass head (yellow head) Tatar", which was a subordinate tribe of the Yellow Head Hui at that time. "Chongyun", also translated as Zhongyun, Zhongiron, and Chongyun, evolved from the Western Turkic Chuyue tribe who belonged to the Uighur Khanate, and was founded in the steppe southeast of Lop Nur. "Dong Yu" is the Tubo leader in Qinghai, because his political center is in Qingtang City, and it is also called the Qingtang regime in history. The former site of "Lin Yi City" is not far from the east of Qinghai Lake, and the former site of "Qingtang City" is in Xining City. "China" refers to the Song Dynasty. Judging from the itinerary of the envoys, as soon as they passed through the Dashi Kingdom, they took the South Road and Qinghai Road of the Silk Road (the "Qiangzhong Road" of the Han Dynasty and the "Tuyuhun Road" of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties). According to the countries and regions through which the envoys passed, the "Great Stone Country" is also not far west of the Khotanese Kingdom.

The historical facts about the tribute sent by the Fushu State are also recorded in the "History of the Song Dynasty", vol. 490, "Foreign Biography Six · Fula":

"The southeast of the country is forty miles from the south to the sea and thirty miles to the sea in the west. From the east to the west, the Great Food and Khotan, Huifu, and Qingtang arrived in China. Successive generations have not tasted tribute. In October of the fourth year of Yuanfeng, the king of the Emperor Yiling changed the first dispatch of the great leader of the Great Chief, and ordered the Servant Meng to come and offer saddle horses, swords, and pearls. ”

Comparing the above two records, it can be seen that "Nishidashi" is "Nishidashi", which refers to the western part of Dashiguo or Dashiguo.

In the documents of the Song Dynasty, although the name of the country of Dashi can be seen repeatedly, there is no record of the historical events of the country. The discovery of the Dunhuang testament made up for the shortcomings in this regard.

The first Dunhuang testament about the Dashi Kingdom was in Khotan, numbered P5538a, which was transcribed and published in the second series of the Khotanese Documents by the United Kingdom scholar Bailey (H · W· Balley: Khotanes Text II., p125-129), a letter written by the king of Khotan to the Guiyi army envoy "King Cao", in which he recounts an important event concerning the kingdoms of Dashi, Shule, and Khotan. Because of the length of the original text, the following is a translation of the abstract:

We marched into Tsa in July, and the inhabitants of the area were willing to submit. The treasures of our enemy, Tazik Tsun Hien of the Great Stone Kingdom, his wife, elephants, horses, and others, as well as the belongings of his men, have been consecrated to the royal court. From then until now, our soldiers and horses have remained in Sichun Taikuan...... We will send three additional teams of 1,800 men each, led by a minister. As for the other side, there are 8 special service personnel, who have been stationed there from the beginning to the present, and because they have not yet arrived, we do not know who their commander is. Our national prestige has reached the threshold of the West. Because Cagri Khan and Dzongheng of the Great Stone Kingdom have occupied the passage, we have sent escorts to protect the supplies sent to Pasha from loss. Although they have occupied the passage, it does not mean that they can intercept it, please don't worry about it, my lord. Recently, there have been reports from this place that Chaghli Khan had led his troops to the outskirts of the city on the 27th of December and were still stationed there until the 4th day of the first lunar month. We have sent our army out, our army is advancing mightily, and the strength of the westward rush pass is enough to complete the task. As an outsider, it is difficult to control the occupied land and establish a (new) government, but please rest assured that King Cao will not be able to do so...... As a result of our perfect plan, it is now happening that the light of the kingdom has reached Shazhou, and our army has succeeded. As soon as our army arrived, our evil enemy Tazik Tsun Hien (Dzong Heng of Oshi) had fled from the people of Oshikoku...... Our good prince is a warrior, and for that we express our royal family's deep gratitude to you. If he were more courageous in the future, we would be even more grateful to you. In the past, we have presented you with a silver jar with a round lid and a silver box with a round lid from Oishi Kuniko, and we will also present you with a sword with a sheath, which is a national treasure.

We hereby send this letter from the post station, on the ninth day of January, in the fourth year of the Celestial Venerable in the Age of Happiness, in the Year of the Horse.

"Yusha" is the capital of the Shule country, and is sometimes used to refer to Shule. "Tazik Tsun Hien" is obviously a native of Dashiguo and the ruler of the Shule Kingdom, because the Shule Kingdom is very sinicized, this person has a Chinese name "Tsun Hien". "Xichong Daguan" may refer to the Princess Fort located in the Pamir Plateau (the site is in present-day Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Xinjiang), which was a fortress guarded by the Tang Dynasty and was a key point and danger in the Tarim Basin to the south of India and westward to Central Asia, and its strategic position is very important. "Cagri khan" (Cagri khan) is supposed to be the military commander sent by the Dashiguo to support Zongheng, the ruler of the Shule Kingdom, and a minor khan of the Dashiguo. "Special service" is a transliteration of the Turkic word Tegin, which refers to the brother or son of the Khan. "King Cao" refers to Cao Mou, the envoy of the Guiyi Army, who has called himself "King", as for his real name, which will be revealed below. As early as the beginning of the 10th century, the king of Khotan, Vias Sambbava, took the Chinese name "Li Shengtian", and modeled after the system of the Central Dynasty, with the era name "Tongqing". According to the research of experts, "Tianzun" is the name of the year of Li Shengtian's son Wei Chi Shula (Visa Sura), which starts and ends in 967-977 AD, and the "fourth year of Tianzun" is 970 AD, when the Guiyi year festival envoy was Cao Yuanzhong, the son of Cao Yijin. According to the study of relevant materials in Dunhuang, it can be seen that Li Shengtian, the king of Khotan, once married the daughter of Cao Yijin, the envoy of the Guiyi Army, so his son Wei Chi Shula called Cao Yuanzhong "the king of Cao Wu" in his letter. Therefore, this Khotanese suicide note is undoubtedly a letter written by Chi Shula, the king of Khotan, to Cao Yuanzhong, and the content is to report the good news of the victory of Khotan's army that broke through Shule and defeated the reinforcements of Dashi.

Regarding the attack of the Khotanese army on the Shule State, there is also a brief record in the "History of the Song Dynasty" volume 490 "Foreign Biography of the Sixth · Khotan":

"(Kaibao) four years, its national monk auspicious with its king book to say, self-said to break the Shule country, to dance like one, want to pay tribute, edict to it."

"Kaibao four years" for 971 A.D., only one year after leaving the lieutenant Chi Shula to send a letter to Cao Yuanzhong, the envoy of the Guiyi Army. This passage in the History of the Song Dynasty is not recorded in the time of Khotan's attack on the "Breaking Shule State". From the above list of Khotanese testament, it can be seen that in Khotan, "breaking the Shule country" and capturing the dancing elephant was an event in July of the third year of Tianzun (969 AD), which can make up for the lack of records in the "History of the Song Dynasty".

As for Khotan's repulsion of the Dashi reinforcements, although not covered in the History of the Song Dynasty, it can be found in another Dunhuang testament, which is numbered P4065 and written in Chinese, and contains three tables, the third of which reads:

(Previously missing) the early, all the head Yin will be welcome, His Majesty the Emperor Fumeng specially descended to Chenhan, and Hui tokens, not to be remembered. I also heard that the prince of the West led the big stone soldiers and horses to invade the big country, moving the heavens and the earth, and the sun and the moon were dim; To (to) the horses, men, swords, guns, axes, and axes, and the people of the town are afraid, and the Uighurs, Gelu and the Zhubo tribes should be the enemy. Knowing His Majesty the Emperor, Tianbei (Pei) Tianbu (Auxiliary), Holy (De) God's Help, if it is not as good as Si, how can it be Hue for all people? As Zhang Liang's plan, he set up Han Xin's strategy, did not let go of the control world, and acted against the head. Like a moth to a fire, it is like ashes, and it is like a canopy for a while, and the wind blows out of the other world. The thief army was defeated, and the soldiers and horses (escaped). Such a reputation, spread Yang (Yang) the world. In the past, the Han lords □□ meritorious deeds, and today they are the same. There are even generations of kings, taking advantage of the emperor's time, not to mention that the black-clothed Dashi is afraid of the emperor's might, and he is still afraid of power since the Tang Dynasty. Where in the Huanhai, the leap is doubled; Far and near and heard, not to be happy, a certain nephew and uncle, very happy, and all relatives, all increased joy. It is expected that the emperor's foundation will live for a thousand years; Sheji City Panic (God), like a tough stone. Golden beads and jade leaves, Qiongcao fairy flowers, children and grandchildren, never evil and weak. Emperor Weixi, open the world, and endow living beings. It should be two states, both of which are the same Zhanhui. (Missing)

"Chenhan" refers to the emperor's handwriting, and "token" is a diplomatic gift. The "Western Prince" should be the "Tazik Tsun Hien" (Dashiguo Zongheng) in the Khotanese testament, he should be the son of the Great Khan of the Dashiguo and sent to the subject state of Shule to be the ruler. "Black-clothed Dashi" is black-clothed Dashi, which is also a different name for Dashi or Dashi. "Emperor" does not refer to the supreme ruler of the Song Dynasty or the Liao Dynasty, there is a portrait of an emperor painted in the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang, and the title is "The Great Treasure of the Great Dynasty and the Great Sage of Khotan", which shows that when Li Shengtian, the ruler of Khotan had already called himself "Emperor", and the "emperor" mentioned in this Chinese letter must refer to the Khotanese King Yu Chi Shula. "Erzhou" refers to Guazhou (present-day Anxi County, Gansu Province) and Shazhou (present-day Dunhuang City, Gansu Province), which were the spheres of influence that Cao Yuanzhong could control by the Song Dynasty's Guiyi Army. Judging from the content of this document, the army of Khotanese has completely defeated the reinforcements of Dashi to support Shule.

Khotan has been a Buddhist holy place since the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and Shule is also an ancient Buddhist country, and the relationship between the two countries has always been very good. But by the middle of the tenth century, the two sides were suddenly in a state of hostility. According to Islamic histories and folklore, the reason for the breakdown of relations between the two sides was entirely a matter of religion. Judging from the "History of the Song Dynasty" and the Dunhuang testament, by 962 A.D. at the latest, Shule had become a vassal of the Dashi Kingdom, and the Feishi royal system since the Han Dynasty had been severed, and its king had been the prince Zongheng of the "Western Great Stone", who not only believed in Islam, but also did not hesitate to use force to promote the religion, which led to the rebellion of the Uighurs, Gelu and other tribes who believed in Buddhism, Nestorianism and Manichaeism at that time, and also triggered a war with the Buddhist holy land of Khotan.

In the Northern Song Dynasty historical books and Dunhuang testaments, do the big food, big stone, black clothes big food, black clothes big stone, West big food, and West big stone refer to the Arab Islamic State in West Asia? In the past, historiography has never doubted this. However, through in-depth research and meticulous analysis of various historical materials, it is clear that there is a need to change the old concepts and views. In order to clarify the relevant historical facts, it is necessary for us to take a look at the social, political, economic, and military conditions recorded in volume 490 of the "History of the Song Dynasty" "Foreign Biography Six · Great Food":

Another species of the Great Food Country, Ben Persia. In the great cause of the Sui Dynasty, there were people in Persia who explored the cave to get aragonite, thinking that Rui was entangled with his people, plundered the capital, gathered the disciples and became the king, and possessed the western border of the Persian country...... Before the end of the king's basin mud was changed, it was called the white-clothed food, and after Apolobal, it was called the black-clothed food...... In the first year of the Dao, the lord of the country, Puabdhari Pu Xi Mi, came to offer ...... Taizong asked his country and said to Yun: "It is adjacent to the Great Qin State and belongs to it, and the people under the control of this country are only thousands...... Its country is in the northwest of Quanzhou, the boat travels more than 40 days to the blue mile, the following year by the wind, and more than 60 days, to reach its country...... There are prime ministers, captains and ....... ”

The "rebellious" in the "Great Cause of Sui" refers to Muhammad, the founder of Islam. "Great Qin" refers to the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire. The first year of the Tao was 995 A.D. Comparing this account with the Great Eclipse and Dashi mentioned in the History of the Song Dynasty and the Dunhuang Testament, there are at least the following differences: (1) The Great Eclipse and the Black Cloth Great Eclipse mentioned in the Arab Islamic State are west of Persia, while the other Great Eclipse, Dashi and Black Coated Great Stone mentioned in the History of the Song Dynasty and the Dunhuang Testament are not far west of Khotan and Shule State, that is, it is east of Persia. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Persian state was ruled by the Samani dynasty, and its eastern territory reached the Amu Darya River valley, so the geographical location of this Dashi and black-clothed Dashi must be east of the Amu Darya River. (2) The kings of the Islamic Arab kingdoms are called caliphs, and their high-ranking officials include prime ministers and eunuchs, whose Arabic names are unknown, but it is certain that they are all in Arabic. The Great Stone and the Black-clothed Great Stone seen in the History of the Song Dynasty and the Dunhuang Testament are commonly used in Turkic, and the king is called the "Great Khan", and there are "Little Khans" under it, such as Cagri Khan, and the children of the Great Khan are called "Tegin". (3) In the early years of the Song Dynasty, the great food and black clothes of the Islamic State of Arabia were already very weak, and the people under the control of the country were only a few thousand, and they belonged to the Byzantine Empire of Eastern Rome. The Dashi and the Black-Coated Dashi seen in the History of the Song Dynasty and the Dunhuang documents were quite powerful and were engaged in a long and fierce war with the Uighurs, Gelu and other tribes, as well as with the Khotanese state, in order to expand the Islamic sphere of influence. (4) The "Great Food" and "Black Clothes Great Food" of the Arab Islamic State are located by the sea, and they must sail for more than 100 days to reach the country by boat from Quanzhou in Fujian Province, which is different from the inland Dashi Kingdom and the Black-clothed Dashi Kingdom in the History of the Song Dynasty and the Dunhuang Testament. In short, we can be completely sure that during the Northern Song Dynasty, there were two great foods, one east and one west, the Great Stone, the Black Clothes Great Food, and the Black Clothes Great Stone Kingdom, so we must seriously analyze and treat the records of the Great Food and the Black Clothes Great Food in the "History of the Song Dynasty", "History of Liao" and "History of the Jin".

So, what kind of country is Dashi, Dashi, Heiyi Dashi, Xidashi and Xidashi in the "History of the Song Dynasty" and the Dunhuang Testament? Has it been known by any other name in history? How big is the country? Where exactly is its location? We only need to compare the following historical data to see it at a glance. As mentioned earlier, in October of the eighth year of Kaitai, "an envoy was sent to enter the elephant and a square thing to propose marriage for the sub-book", and in March of the first year of Taiping, "the envoy was repatriated to ask for marriage, and the prince Ban Langjun Hu Sili could marry the princess for the princess. There is also an Arab record of Malwaz that in the fourth year of the Taiping reign of Liao Shengzong (1024 AD), he sent an envoy to the Baozni dynasty in Afghanistan, bringing a letter to Sultan Mamud (reigned Mahmud 998-1030), in which he said that the Liao princess was married back to Cagri tegin, the son of Qadir Khn of the Qadir Khan dynasty, and ordered Qadir Khan to build a road to Ghazni so that the two envoys could return it. (Minolsky, Malvaz on China, Turks, and India, London edition, 1942, pp. 19-21) Therefore, in the "History of Liao", the "Great Food King's Confession" is undoubtedly "Chaghli Servant of the Qarakhanid Dynasty", "Confession" is the transliteration of Cagri, and "Prince" is the paraphrase of tegin. The princess of the Liao Dynasty was married to the Qarakhanid Dynasty's Gree Teqin in the first year of the Taiping Dynasty (1021 AD), and the letter written by Liao Shengzong to the Sultan of the Ghazni Dynasty, the southwestern neighbor of the Qarakhanid Dynasty, was received in the fourth year of the Taiping Dynasty (1024 AD). It can be seen that the Great Food, Dashi, Black-clothed Dashi, Black-clothed Dashi, Xidashi, and Xidashi seen in the "History of the Song Dynasty" and the Dunhuang testament, except for those who had relations with the Song Dynasty by sea, as long as they came from the east by land, most of them refer to the Qarakhanid Dynasty.

Why was the Qarakhanid dynasty called the Great Food, the Great Stone, the Great Black Food, the Black Clothed Great Stone, the Western Great Food, the Western Great Stone, and the Tazik? It turned out that this was related to the Islam of its rulers and most of the inhabitants. The 18th-century Armenia historian, Tosan, who was fluent in several Asian ethnic languages, conducted an in-depth study of the term 'big food' and came to a convincing conclusion. Note 1, page 97 of the first volume of the History of Mongolia of Tosan, says: "Tosan, using Turkic, Arabic, Persian and other Oriental languages, specifically discusses the term 'great food', and he says: The people of Siria (Syria) are roughly called Tayoye, and this majority is also called Tayoy in the singular, and was known as Tayi, the most important Arab nomadic tribe in the Siria moraine." The ancient Chaldeens were called Tayia, the ancient Persians Tazi, and the Armenians Tadjik. After the Arabo people who believed in Islam invaded Persia and the two places in the river, the Turks in the east of the Xihun River called this kind of region the country of great food, in other words, the country of the Arabo. The Mongolians also imitated the Turkic example, and the Muslims called Tadjik or Tazik. Originally, the Persians called the Arabs Tazik, which translates as "big food" or "big stone", so the Turks in the east of the Amu Darya River equate Muslims with Arabs, so they called the Qarakhanid dynasty, whose ruler and most of the inhabitants believed in Islam, as Tazik, which was translated into Chinese as "big food" and "big stone".

3. The Western Liao established on the basis of the Qarakhanid Dynasty

It is very clear that the goal of Yelu Dashi is to go west to the "Great Eclipse". Since scholars in the past have always regarded the "Great Food" as the Islamic State of Arabia, which is a long way to go and has many paths, although the "History of Liao" volume 30 "Emperor Tianzuo IV" records its westward route very clearly, it is a false path to the Uighur state of Gaochang, and it has been given a grand welcome and warm reception. There are also many historical facts in the "History of the Song Dynasty", "History of Jin" and other biographies of "History of Liao", which can prove that Yelu Dashi did take this route, but it must also be doubted and denied. Now that it is clear that the great food country of Yelu Dashi is the Qarakhanid Dynasty, these doubts and denials can be dissipated. Because from the city of Kedun in the western part of the Mongolia Plateau to the city of Balasahun on the west bank of Lake Issyk-Kul, the nearest thing is to take the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, in fact, this is an ancient road that has been opened in the Tang Dynasty, the road east of the summer capital of the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom is called "Uighur Road", the road west of Beishi Bali is called "Broken Leaf Road", and Balasahun (called General Peiluo City in the Tang Dynasty) is at the west end of Broken Leaf Road. After leaving the Uighur kingdom of Gaochang, it was reasonable to say that he would soon be able to enter the territory of the Qarakhanid Dynasty, but due to the internal strife of the Qarakhanid Dynasty, he was unable to continue his westward journey. The area around Yemili (present-day Emin County, Xinjiang) was occupied by the tribes (some Turkic tribes originally living in the western part of the Mongolia Plateau) that Yelühua had driven away during the Western Expedition a hundred years earlier, and the eighteen generals of the seven states led by Yelü Dashi were mostly the remnants of the Obstruction, so they turned north and came to Yemili to build a city to live temporarily. The tribes of the Obstruction Divination surrendered to him, and the number of tribes quickly increased to more than 40,000. At this time, the Liao Dynasty had been destroyed for several years, in order to restore the country and succeed the unification, he established himself as the emperor in Yemili, and according to the habits of the local Turks, he was called "Juer Khan", which means "Great Khan"; The ministers also went to the Han Dynasty to honor the title of "Tianyu Emperor", and established the era name "Yanqing", and established the Western Liao regime; The Turks call it "Hara Khitan", which means "Great Khitan State".

At this time, the civil strife of the Hulakhanid Dynasty was becoming increasingly serious, and the ruler could not clean up the situation, so he took the initiative to invite Yelu Dashi to enter the country to quell the rebellion, and Yelu Dashi finally took the opportunity to create Western Liao. Section 10 of the History of the World Conquerors, "The Khans of Harakhitan, Their Rise and Their Fall", says:

"They (referring to Yelüdashi and his men) could not stop here (referring to the city of Yemilit), so they continued on until they reached Barasahun, which the Mongolians now call Ghuz-Baligh. The monarch of the state was a man who traced his ancestry back to Afrashiyab, but was powerless. The Qarligh and Khamli Turks in the region had been freed from their subordination to him and often bullied him, raiding his men and cattle and plundering them. The fellow who was king, unable to stop them or drive them away, heard of the emigration of Jur Khan and his men, and of their great number, and sent messengers to them, telling him of his weakness, and of the strength and treachery of the Kharli and the Hararu, and asking him to come to his capital, that he might bring his whole territory under his rule, and thus free himself from the troubles of this world. Jur Khan entered Barasahun and ascended to his throne without a penny. He received the title of Khan from the descendants of Afratsiyab, who bestowed the title of Ilig Turkmen · Ilijin · Turkmen. ”

"Tiger Sibali" means that Tiger Si cut his ears. "Avrasi Yab" is an ancient hero of Turkic legends. "Yili Pansy" means "tribal leader" in Khitan, originally derived from the Turkic word "Qi Jin", and "Yili Pansy · Turkic Barbarian" means "leader of the Turkic people". From this account, it can be seen that Jerodashi was a lucky man in history, and the opportunity allowed him to get more quickly and more than he originally expected. Originally, he only wanted to borrow the forces of the Qarakhanid Dynasty to restore the country, but now it was the ruler of the Qarakhanid Dynasty who borrowed his forces to quell the rebellion and surrendered his land to him. Therefore, Yelu Dashi took advantage of the foundation of the Qarakhanid Dynasty to quickly quell the riots in Heralu and Khamli, and then defeated the 100,000-strong army of the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar, and sent troops to the west to conquer Khorezm, and to the east to conquer Kashgar, Khotan, and Gaochang Uighurs, making them vassals. With the exception of the Qiuzi Uighurs southeast of Lop Nur, the northern and southern Tianshan Mountains and the vast areas of Central Asia were included in the territory of the Western Liao Empire. In 1134 A.D., Yelu Dashi built the capital in Hu Si and cut his ears, changed the year name to "Kangguo", and was a great hero. He never forgot to restore the country, and immediately poured the strength of the whole country into the east to conquer the Jin country. "History of Liao" volume 30 "Tianzuo Emperor IV" records:

In March of the first year of Kangguo, "led 70,000 horsemen to the east." With the green ox and white horse sacrifice to the Tianshu flag, to swear to the public and say: 'I Daliao has become an emperor since Taizu Taizong's difficulty. His heirs were insatiable and disrespectful of national politics, thieves swarmed, and the world collapsed. I led the people, as far as the desert, to restore the great cause, to the light of the prosperity. This is not the place where I and you have lived for a long time...... Traveled more than 10,000 miles, gained nothing, cattle and horses died, and the soldiers returned. ’”

Judging from Yelu Dashi's oath of the Eastern Crusade, although he has achieved great success in the Western Regions, he is not satisfied with the status quo, and still regards the Western Regions as "not a place to live in the world" and wants to return to his "hometown". But having said that, from then on, he never mentioned the matter of restoring the country until he died of old age.

IV. Conclusions

Yelu Dashi's life was indissoluble with the Qarakhanid Dynasty. After he was born, he got his name from the Qarakhanid dynasty. After the fall of the Liao Dynasty, he wanted to restore the country with the strength of the Qarakhanid Dynasty. He relied on the concessions of the Qarakhanid rulers to prosper and founded the Western Liao Empire, which lasted for 90 years. After his death, he also rested in the suburbs of Balasahun, the political center of the original Qarakhanid Dynasty.

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Resources:

"Khitan National Chronicles", "The Biography of the Five Tianzhu Kingdoms", "Song Hui Manuscripts· Fanyi Four · Fulak Kingdoms", "Khotanese Documents", "History of the Song Dynasty", "History of Liao", "History of Jin", "History of the Mongolia of Dosan", "History of the World Conquerors"