Chapter 12
The last link
Chinese policy was abruptly reversed during the reign of the emperor Han
Wudi (141– 87 BCE). He had an interest in foreign lands and their products
and no aversion to war, especially when it came to the despised Xiongnu. He
intended“to cut off the right arm of the Xiongnu”by separating them from
their lucrative trade routes to the west and by seeking allies among other
nomads who harbored grudges against them. With this in mind, Wudi sent
an emissary named Zhang Qian westward tofind the Yuezhi, establish an
alliance and trade relations, and gather whatever intelligence he could on the
countries he might pass through along the way. Described as“a man of
strong physique and of considerable generosity; he inspired the trust of
others and the barbarians loved him,”Zhang Qian was accompanied by an
escort of over 100 men that included a Xiongnu slave named Ganfu, who had
been captured by the Chinese but released to serve as guide and interpreter
on this most impossible of missions.
Neither Zhang Qian nor Ganfu had any idea where they were going.
Shortly after passing into the Gansu Corridor, the entire mission was cap-
tured and brought to the shanyu in western Mongolia. Zhang Qian told the
shanyu part of the truth, that he had been sent on a mission to the Yuezhi:
“The Shanyu said:‘The Yuezhi lie to the north of us; how may Han send its
envoys there? If I wished to send envoys to Yueh [an independent state
encompassing part of southeastern China and northern Vietnam], would Han
be willing to let me?’”Zhang Qian and his men were enslaved, and he spent
the next ten years tending cattle and sheep, during which he married another
slave. One day he was part of a group who escaped. They headed west since
their pursuers were coming from the east, skirting deserts and crossing
mountains that took themfirst to the Ili Valley, then past the Issyk Kul into
the land of Ferghana. They were trying to catch up to the Yuezhi, who were
also on the move, attempting to put as much distance as they could between
themselves and the Xiongnu. With help along the way from the Wusun,
who, according to Ban Gu,“had heard of Han’s abundant wealth and had
wished to establish contact but had not been able to do so,”Zhang Qian
finally caught up to the Yuezhi in Bactria. Unfortunately, as Sima Qian put