It was the largest city in the north of Tianshan Mountain in the Tang Dynasty - from the old city of Beiting

【Archaeological China】

　　To the north of the Tianshan Mountains, there is a big road, which is the Oasis Silk Road; to the north of the Tianshan Mountains, there is a big city, that is, Beiting City.

　　Overlooking from the air, the ruins of Beiting Ancient City located in Jimsar County, Xinjiang, covering an area of ​​1.5 square kilometers, the general pattern of the city is clearly visible, roughly divided into one inner and one outer, one large and one small and two heavy cities.

Interestingly, the two-layered city is a complete city, with city walls, trenches and city gates. The city wall has a horse face every 60 meters or so, and in the middle of each section of the city wall is a tall podium that is combined with the horse face. .

　　Why was there such a big city at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains in ancient times, and why was the largest city in the Tang Dynasty in the north of Tianshan Mountains in Jimusar County?

This kind of urban layout is quite special in Xinjiang, why is it so?

In fact, this is the reason for the emergence of the Beiting military town system and the result of the development process.

Why is the Western Region important?

　　In ancient times, farming and nomadism were two very different economic forms. Therefore, the ideological concepts of the two groups of people were quite different, and their governance methods were more incompatible.

As Ban Gu said: "The land cannot be cultivated for food, and the people cannot be ministers but animals."

For the farming society, the nomads are brave and good at fighting, and their residences are scattered, and they cannot effectively collect taxes. The cost of directly ruling the grasslands is far greater than the benefits.

Of course, nomads also have a lot of misunderstanding and prejudice against the farming world.

In general, the main purpose of the nomadic empires that have been rising on the Mongolian plateau is not to enter the Central Plains, but to obtain various materials from the agricultural society through trade, harassment, looting, and blackmail.

The Central Plains dynasties based on farming would not try to manage pure grassland areas. They often adopted a two-handed strategy of rapprochement, gifts, mutual markets, and isolation, differentiation, and concentrated forces to attack the frontiers for a short period of time.

If you take advantage of the time and place to benefit people and people, and control less and less, and achieve the "four barbarians and guests", you are fortunate to be prosperous.

　　In the Western Regions, however, the situation is different.

Historically, the Western Regions with Xinjiang as the core is the heartland of the Eurasian continent. It is located in an area bordered by several major civilization plates, and has important transportation and geostrategic value.

For the steppe empire with a military advantage in the Mongolian Plateau, it is easy to obtain treasures, production and living materials, manpower and talents from the Western Regions.

And the powerful Central Plains Dynasty is also bound to win the Western Regions.

First of all, this is a strategic military location.

For example, the Han Dynasty can contact the Wusun and Oasis countries to achieve the strategic goal of "breaking the right arm of the Xiongnu".

Secondly, this is the place where east-west traffic must pass.

For example, after defeating the Western Turks, Tang Taizong excitedly said to the people from Anguo in Central Asia: "The Western Turks have fallen, and business travel is feasible!" At the same time, there may be some deep reasons.

For example, since ancient times, the Central Plains Dynasty has always had the ambition of "expanding thousands of miles, emphasizing nine translations, creating special customs, and spreading mighty virtues all over the world", "sound teachings and institutions, no far-flung", the pursuit of "six contract styles, Kyushu co-consistent" "The ideal, longing to achieve the realm of "mountains and rivers, the sea and the rivers are clear, the four barbarians are salty, and the four seas are safe".

In addition, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty discovered that the Western Regions is where Kunlun is located, where beautiful jade comes from, is the source of the river, and the ancestor of Wanshan, which has profound cultural origins and the meaning of spiritual hometown.

Why is the North Court important?

　　The north of the Tianshan Mountains is a nomadic area with a strong military; the south of the Tianshan Mountains is dominated by oasis cities of small countries and few people, which are fragile and have few defenses.

Therefore, the overall situation in the Western Regions is that "the north can dominate the south, but the south cannot dominate the north." Regardless of the Han and Tang Dynasties, in order to manage the area south of the Tianshan Mountains firmly, it is necessary to completely control the nomadic forces that play a dominant role in the north of the Tianshan Mountains.

As the "gateway to the Western Regions" and the base area, the eastern Tianshan area has become the key.

　　Beiting City is connected to the southern Xinjiang by the Tianshan Mountains in the south, the Hanhaiwang Grassland in the north, the grasslands and the Central Plains in the east, and Central Asia and West Asia in the west. typical)".

Jimusar County, where Beitingcheng is located, is located in a semi-mountainous area with warm winters and cool summers, drought and floods, and an alluvial plain with abundant water and fertile land. Farming can provide a stable guarantee for urban and military and political development.

This is why the Han and Tang Dynasties continued to build a military and political system that effectively governed the Western Regions here.

　　The Tang Dynasty was one of the peaks of Chinese feudal society.

It is worth pointing out that under the background of the great communication between the East and the West and the great integration of Hu and Han in the past three hundred years, the frontier governance before the An-Shi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty achieved remarkable results.

The ruling group formed by the integration of farming and nomadic groups, on the one hand, inherited the cultural traditions and ruling experience accumulated by the Central Plains dynasty for nearly three thousand years; , Hu and Han have repeatedly collided and merged the broad-mindedness and wisdom of ruling the dual society of agriculture and animal husbandry.

At the same time, since the opening of the Silk Road, the understanding and vision of the East Asian farmers and herdsmen have been greatly improved.

　　Hexi and the Western Regions had special political and military strategic significance to the Tang Dynasty, and were an important strategic buffer zone in the west of the Guanzhong capital.

The situation faced by the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions was more complicated. In addition to the Turks and the above-mentioned reasons, there were also factors such as the expansion of the Tubo, the rise of the Turks, and the eastward advance of the Caliphate.

In the Tang Dynasty, the management of the Western Regions, especially the grassland area north of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, through the establishment of Tingzhou, the upgrading of the Beiting system, and the continuous adjustment of the organizational system, in coordination with the Anxi Duhufu, the effect is particularly prominent.

Compared with the Han Dynasty, the long-term stabilization mechanism is very obvious.

Why is the North Court System Important?

　　In 630 AD, the Eastern Turkic Khanate fell, and Tang Taizong gained the status of "Emperor Tian Khan" and became the co-lord of the farming and animal husbandry world.

In the direction of the Western Regions, during the civil war in the Western Turks, various forces in the Western Regions surrendered to the Tang Dynasty one after another.

Tang regained the current Hami Oasis and established Illinois.

In 640 AD, the Tang army recaptured Khan Futu City and the Turpan area in Jimusar County.

The Tang Dynasty established Xichang Prefecture (later changed to "Xizhou") in the Turpan area, and established the Anxi Duhufu, stationed in the ancient city of Jiaohe, responsible for "comforting Zhufans, seizing foreign pirates, waiting for traitors and conspiracy, and expedition to carry two".

In addition, set up Tingzhou in Khan Futu City.

Under the insistence of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the three states of Yi, Xi and Ting were all governed according to the Tang system in the Central Plains.

　　Despite this, the Tang Dynasty was not yet prosperous in the early days, and the main force in the eastward expedition to Koryo, so the troops sent to the Western Regions were mostly short-term expeditions, and they basically relied on the appointment of subdued Turkic leaders for their jurisdiction, and there was not enough Tang Dynasty stationed in the Western Regions for a long time. Regular garrison army.

Therefore, the control over the Western Regions, especially the area north of the Tianshan Mountains, has not yet been consolidated.

Tingzhou, which was weak in military strength, fell twice: the first was the surrender of the Tang Western Turkic Yehu (the official name of the Turkic, Uyghur and other ethnic groups, and its status was second only to the Khan. - Editor's Note) Ashna Helu's rebellion ; From 651 to 658, the Tang Dynasty sent troops three times, and finally quelled the Ashina Helu Rebellion.

The second time was when Su Haizheng, the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, listened to the true slander of Asunabu, the Protector of Mengchi, and was involved in the internal conflict of the Western Turks. Attached to Fan, Xingbing attacked Tingzhou, the governor of Tingzhou came to fight the dead enemy, and Tingzhou fell twice.

　　After October of the third year of Longshuo (AD 663), Jinshan Duhufu was established.

Soon, the administration of the Jinshan Duhufu was transferred from Xizhou to Tingzhou, and since then he has served as the Jinshan Duhufu and Tingzhou prefect, which has become a unique tradition of this Duhufu.

The Jinshan Duhufu was established by the official Tang army appointed by the imperial court, and had a close administrative relationship with the Anxi Duhufu. The defense at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains was therefore greatly strengthened.

Although there is no direct inheritance relationship between the Jinshan Duhufu and Beiting Duhufu, which were abolished in the years of Chui Gong (the era name of Tang Ruizong Li Dan, the first month of 685 - December 688 - editor's note), it can be said that the Jinshan Duhufu Hufu is the historical precursor of the establishment of Beiting Duhufu.

　　The real turning point for the stable situation in Northern Xinjiang lies in the establishment of the Northern Court Protectorate.

During Wu Zetian's reign, with the rise of the Turks, the western expedition of the Eastern Turkic Khanate, and the continued existence of the Tubo threat, the situation in the Western Regions was worrying.

In 692 AD, after Wang Xiaojie recovered the four towns, the Tang Dynasty guarded the four towns with 30,000 elite soldiers, which greatly strengthened the military power of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions.

In 702 AD, Tingzhou was upgraded to Beiting Duhufu, and the Candle Dragon Army was set up.

In 703 AD, the Candle Dragon Army was changed to the Han Navy, with a standing army of 12,000 people and 42,000 horses.

Later, the Yiwu Army and the Tianshan Army were added, with a total strength of 20,000 troops and more than 5,000 horses.

Due to the establishment of the status of the Duhufu, the improvement of the military town system integrating Fuzhou, Zhen, Shouzhu, garrison, fort, beacon, shop and Guanyi, especially the increase in the strength of the army, the Tang Dynasty finally stabilized. It controlled the nomadic forces north of the Tianshan Mountains and weakened the connection between the grassland forces and the Tibetans, thus effectively ensuring the stability of the areas south of the Tianshan Mountains.

The Beiting Duhu (Daduhu) and the Yibeiting Jiedushi, which were successively established, successively took over the vast areas of Yizhou, Xizhou and the north of Tianshan, the south of Altai Mountain, and the west of Aral Sea, and finally developed into the northern foot of Tianshan. Political, military and cultural center.

　　The double city inside and outside the Beiting Old City is the embodiment of this institutional reform and expansion.

Through observation, it can be seen that the current inner city is Tingzhou City, which was first built during the Tang Taizong period.

The outer city wall including the inner city was expanded when Wu Zetian established the Northern Court Protectorate.

The relevant archaeological excavations of the north gate and west gate of the inner city and the south gate and north gate of the outer city in recent years by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences can also prove that the inner city is indeed the earliest built Tingzhou city, and the outer city should be built to accommodate the Han Navy in the later period. And expansion.

Tingzhou City and the expanded outer city add up to become Beiting City. The sub-city located in the northeast of Tingzhou City has always been the core area.

This big pattern was followed by the Gaochang Uyghur Kingdom in the Song, Liao, Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, and continued until the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when the city was completely destroyed in the war.

Why is Beiting Research Important?

　　The entire Western Regions, including the area north of the Tianshan Mountains, were viewed as areas that must be effectively ruled by powerful Central Plains dynasties such as the Han, Tang, Yuan and Qing Dynasties.

The change from Tingzhou to Jinshan Duhufu, to Beiting Duhufu, and then to Jiedushi in Yibeiting just reflects the Tang Dynasty invested a huge amount of financial and human resources, strengthened military and political construction, and effectively ruled the grassland areas north of Tianshan Mountains. s hard work.

These institutional reforms ensured the effective rule of the Tang Dynasty over the Western Regions for nearly a century and a half, and promoted the urbanization process in the area north of the Tianshan Mountains, becoming an important heritage and tradition for future generations of frontier governance and construction. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the nurture of culture and the prosperity of culture became an area where talents came out in large numbers.

　　The urban network with Beiting Old City as the core is the most precious testimony of the "four commons" in the development process of China and the Chinese nation, that is, all ethnic groups jointly develop and defend their territory, jointly write history, jointly create culture, and jointly cultivate spirit. It is the most precious cultural heritage resource for us to consolidate the consciousness of the Chinese nation's community today.

The Anxi and Beiting systems that have maintained the Silk Road for a long time in history are also the most valuable cultural heritage resources to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Like many similar relics around the world, they are worthy of all human beings to cherish and learn from.

(Author: Guo Wu, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)