How Ban Yong Continued Eastern Han Work in the Western Regions

After Ban Chao, the Western Regions remained unsettled, and Ban Yong inherited a difficult frontier problem.

After Emperor Shun regained the throne with help from eunuchs, the palace in Luoyang entered another round of power adjustment.

Outside the palace gates, however, Eastern Han still faced an older problem: the Western Regions.

Ban Chao Returned

The Western Regions had never been a straight, stable line.

After Zhang Qian opened the route in Western Han, the empire first reached into the oasis states. Then Wang Mang seized the throne, mishandled policy, and the connection broke.

Under Emperors Ming and Zhang of Eastern Han, Ban Chao spent decades restoring Han influence. Through patience, risk, diplomacy, and force, he brought the states back under Han prestige.

That was the second opening of the Western Regions.

But Ban Chao grew old.

After so many years stationed far from home, he longed to return. He submitted a request to come back to the interior, and his sister Ban Zhao also pleaded for him. The court remembered his service and allowed him to return.

Ren Shang was appointed to replace him as Protector General of the Western Regions. On paper, Ren Shang looked experienced enough.

During the handover, Ren Shang asked Ban Chao how the Western Regions should be governed.

Ban Chao looked at him and spoke plainly. Ren Shang, he said, was too impatient and too strict. The states of the Western Regions were difficult to read. They could submit easily and turn away just as easily.

Many Han officials and soldiers beyond the passes were also men sent there because of crimes. They could not be held only by harsh punishments.

Government that was too sharp and too clean might fail. If water is too clear, there are no fish.

This was not a slogan. It was the result of Ban Chao's decades in the west.

Ren Shang agreed outwardly, but he was unconvinced. Later he told his attendants that he had expected Ban Chao to offer some brilliant secret. Instead, he had heard only ordinary words.

The disaster began there.

Ren Shang Lost the Western Regions

After Ren Shang became protector general, he proved exactly as Ban Chao feared.

He was forceful but not flexible. He demanded too much from the oasis states and showed little care for his own men.

The local states had always balanced between powers. When they saw Han rule turn harsh, they began drifting toward the Northern Xiongnu.

During Deng Sui's regency, the Western Regions rebelled and joined forces against Ren Shang at Shule. Ren Shang urgently requested aid.

The court sent Liang Jin with five thousand Qiang and Hu cavalry from the four commanderies of Dunhuang, Wuwei, Jiuquan, and Zhangye. Ren Shang was recalled, and Duan Xi became the new protector general.

The situation was chaotic. Duan Xi and the others could only hold a small city. Liang Jin judged that it could not be defended for long, so he entered Kucha and joined King Baiba there.

The officials and people of Kucha did not want Han troops inside the city. They urged Baiba to refuse. He ignored them.

Liang Jin entered quickly and then brought Duan Xi's troops in as well. The combined force reached eight or nine thousand.

The Kucha population then rebelled against Baiba and joined Wensu and Gumo to besiege the city with a force said to number in the tens of thousands.

Liang Jin opened the gates and fought. He defeated the allied army. After months of fighting, the rebels withdrew, and he pursued them, killing more than ten thousand and capturing several thousand.

Kucha was temporarily stabilized. The protectorate at least had a place to stand.

But the deeper problem remained. Orders from Luoyang could barely reach west of the Yumen Pass. The road was blocked. The protectorate was like an outpost hanging alone in the distance.

Officials at court began to argue that the Western Regions were too far away, rebelled too often, and cost too much in garrisons and farming colonies.

The court finally abolished the protectorate. Ban Yong, Ban Chao's son, was appointed Army Major and sent beyond the pass to bring Han troops back.

The connection between the Western Regions and the central lands broke again.

The Northern Xiongnu Returned

Abandoning the west did not make the frontier peaceful.

Remnants of the Northern Xiongnu moved between the Tian Shan and Altai. Once Han withdrew, they grew stronger again.

They occupied the Yiwu region, pressured the states of the Tarim Basin, and used them to harass the Hexi corridor.

In the early years of Emperor An, the governor of Dunhuang sent Chief Clerk Suo Ban with more than one thousand men to station at Yiwu. The former king of Jushi and the king of Shanshan saw Han troops return beyond the pass and submitted.

For a moment, it looked as if the Western Regions might reopen.

Then the Northern Xiongnu joined with the rear king of Jushi and attacked the Han force. Suo Ban was killed. The former king of Jushi was driven away. The northern route of the Western Regions fell again under Xiongnu control.

Shanshan was in danger and asked Dunhuang for help.

The governor of Dunhuang petitioned the court. He asked for five thousand troops to attack the Xiongnu, avenge Suo Ban, and recover the Western Regions.

The court debated the matter again. Most high officials still opposed involvement. They argued that the empire should simply hold the Yumen Pass and leave the world beyond it alone.

Empress Dowager Deng did not decide at once. She had heard that Ban Yong had some of his father's ability and had grown up in the Western Regions. She summoned him and asked for his view.

Ban Yong Came Before the Throne

Ban Yong was not only a soldier.

He told the empress dowager that Emperor Wu of Western Han had opened the Western Regions to cut off the Xiongnu's right arm. During Emperor Guangwu's restoration, the court had no strength to look west. By Emperor Ming's time, when the Xiongnu again attacked Dunhuang and the gates of Hexi cities had to be closed even by day, Han was forced to act again.

Ban Chao's long work in the Western Regions had brought peace to the frontier.

Now the Western Regions were cut off, and the Northern Xiongnu were driving the states. Shanshan, Jushi, and others still wished to submit to Han, but they had no road through which to show loyalty.

Ban Yong also admitted something important. The earlier rebellions were not simply because the western states were naturally unreliable. Han officials had sometimes governed badly and pressed too hard.

For that reason, he did not support a sudden five-thousand-man revenge campaign from Dunhuang. The treasury was weak, and a distant army without lasting support would only satisfy anger for a moment.

His plan was different.

Restore the office of deputy commander for the Western Regions and station it at Dunhuang. Then send a senior envoy with five hundred men to Loulan.

From there, Han could control Yanqi and Kucha to the west, strengthen Shanshan and Khotan to the south, resist the Xiongnu to the north, and protect Dunhuang to the east.

Do not rush with a large army. But do extend Han's hand back into the Western Regions.

The Court Debated the West

Opposing ministers challenged him immediately.

If the court resumed management of the Western Regions, they asked, could Ban Yong guarantee that the Northern Xiongnu would never again harm the frontier?

Ban Yong refused the trap.

He answered that the court appointed provincial inspectors to restrain thieves and wicked men in the commanderies. If an inspector could guarantee that robbers would never rebel, then Ban Yong would accept execution by waist-cutting if the Xiongnu ever raided again.

The point was clear. No policy could promise zero danger. But managing the Western Regions could weaken the Xiongnu.

If Han abandoned the area and let the states despair, they would submit to the Northern Xiongnu. Hexi might again reach the point where city gates had to close in daylight.

Another official argued that western states came with tribute but also demanded gifts. When the Xiongnu pressured them, they asked Han for rescue. In the end, the empire spent more money and troops.

Ban Yong asked in return: if Han handed the Western Regions to the Xiongnu, would the Xiongnu be grateful and stop raiding?

If not, then abandoning the region would give the enemy wealth, tribute, and manpower. A commander and envoy would cost something, but losing Bingzhou and Liangzhou to future raids would cost vastly more.

Empress Dowager Deng accepted Ban Yong's proposal. The court sent three hundred garrison troops to Dunhuang and restored a deputy command for the Western Regions.

It was a beginning, but not enough.

Five Hundred Men Left the Pass

Han decided to resume Western Regions policy, but it did not immediately station troops deep in the region. The Northern Xiongnu continued to join with some western states and harass the frontier.

Eventually, the court appointed Ban Yong as Senior Clerk of the Western Regions and ordered him west.

Ban Yong led five hundred men beyond the pass and stationed them at Liuzhong.

Compared with Ban Chao's thirty-six men, this was larger. Against the Northern Xiongnu and the shifting oasis states, it was still not large.

In 124, Ban Yong reached Loulan. The king of Shanshan submitted, and the court granted him an official seal.

The king of Kucha, Baiying, hesitated at first. Ban Yong used both kindness and pressure to persuade him. Baiying finally brought the kings of Gumo and Wensu with him, bound himself as a sign of submission, and came before Ban Yong's camp.

Ban Yong then mobilized more than ten thousand infantry and cavalry from Kucha and other states. He moved to the court of the former king of Jushi, drove away the Xiongnu commander there, and accepted more than five thousand Jushi troops.

The front division of Jushi reconnected with Han.

The next year, Ban Yong attacked the rear king of Jushi and replaced rulers across the Jushi divisions. The six divisions of Jushi were settled.

He then called up troops from the western states and attacked the Huyan king of the Northern Xiongnu. The Huyan king fled, and more than twenty thousand people submitted. Ban Yong also captured a cousin of the Northern Xiongnu chanyu.

He deliberately had the rear king of Jushi kill the captive with his own hands. That forced Jushi into an irreconcilable break with the Northern Xiongnu.

When the chanyu later attacked the rear king of Jushi, Ban Yong's subordinates defeated him.

From then on, the Jushi region no longer had a Xiongnu presence.

The Battle of Yanqi

After these operations, only Yanqi among the major western states had not submitted.

In 127, Ban Yong petitioned to attack King Yuanmeng of Yanqi. The court sent Zhang Lang, governor of Dunhuang, with three thousand troops from the four Hexi commanderies to support him.

Ban Yong mobilized more than forty thousand troops from the Western Regions. He advanced on Yanqi from the southern route, while Zhang Lang moved from the northern route. They agreed on a date to meet below the city.

But Zhang Lang had earlier committed an offense and was eager to redeem himself. He marched early.

When Yanqi saw the Han army approaching with such force, it surrendered. Zhang Lang did not wait for Ban Yong, who was supposed to command the Western Regions operation. He accepted the surrender, entered the city, completed the ceremony, and returned.

By military discipline, Zhang Lang had violated the agreed plan.

The court, however, punished Ban Yong for failing to arrive on time.

Ban Yong was recalled to Luoyang, imprisoned, and removed from office.

The man who had reopened the Western Regions for a third time ended his career under a charge like this. He later died in frustration.

After Merit Was Won

After Ban Yong's campaigns, the Western Regions were largely reconnected to Han influence, and the Northern Xiongnu position was weakened.

But Eastern Han did not restore the full protectorate. It relied on offices such as senior clerk and commander instead.

The empire could still enter the Western Regions, but it no longer had the same long-term strength it had shown under Ban Chao.

The frontier line had been tied back together. Luoyang, however, was moving along a different track.

Emperor Shun had taken the throne through eunuch support, and Sun Cheng's group had become marquises overnight. Once the western frontier quieted, wet nurses, eunuchs, and imperial relatives would again take the stage inside the court.