During the Spring Festival, the Lunar New Year movie "Tianjiangxiongshi" starring Jackie Chan was released. It is said that the film originated from some materials that Jackie Chan saw, saying that the ancient city of Liqin, Yongchang County, Gansu Province has descendants of Romans and the remains of ancient Rome, so there is this film of ancient Romans lost in China. In fact, after decades of interdisciplinary research by scholars, the hypothesis that "Roman legions were placed in the Hexi Corridor" has been falsified.
Roman Legion, Battle of Calle, Lijin Speaking of it, the statement that the ancient city of Lijin has descendants of the Romans and the remains of ancient Rome is an imported product. As early as 1957, the American sinologist Homer Dubs (1892~1962) published "Ancient China's City of Romans", comparing some strange soldiers who appeared in the battle of Zhizhicheng in which the Han army defeated the Huns with ancient Rome. Remnants of the Legion are linked. It is claimed that Roman soldiers captured by the Parthians at the Battle of Calle in 53 BC were later exiled to the Xiongnu Zhizhishanyu. 36 BC In 2009, in the confrontation with the Protector of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty, after the defeat, he voluntarily followed Gan Yanshou, the Protector of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty, and Chen Tang, the Deputy Protector of the Western Regions, to return to the Han Dynasty, and helped to draw the battle map of Zhizhicheng and presented it to Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was in Hexi In the corridor, these Roman soldiers were placed in Lijin County, which was the name of the Romans in the Han Dynasty at that time. This statement has been endorsed by many people, including famous scholars like Joseph Needham. It's a truly magical story, connecting two legends from the East and the West. In 54 BC, Crassus, one of the "first three heads" of the Roman Republic, led a total of about 50,000 troops with 7 legions including 8,000 cavalry across the Euphrates River and went straight to the capital of Parthia (known as the Parthian in Chinese history). This was the first time the Romans, who dominated the Mediterranean world, fought against the horse archers of the East. The Parthians lured the enemy deep and led the arrogant Crassus into the endless wasteland. Finally, in Kale (now southeastern Turkey), the Parthians surrounded the Romans and kept three lines with the Romans. A distance of ten to fifty meters. They fire arrows so fast that they don't aim at all, and they try to shoot the arrowheads with maximum force. The Roman army was in despair. They hoped to fight the enemy in close quarters, but the opponent's light cavalry did not give any chance to fight at all. Once attacked by the slightest, the Parthian cavalry, who might have been charging, would immediately retreat, replaced by sharp arrows shot from immediately turning around. The Roman infantry, who had lost their protection, could not resist the arrows of the Parthians. The Romans, who were short of water and food, had to force their way out. In the end Crassus was captured and the seven Roman legions he brought with him were almost wiped out. About 20 years later, another saga happened in the East. Zhizhi Chanyu of the Northern Huns expanded to the Western Regions, attacked Wusun, forced Kangju to seek peace, and built a city there. The Deputy Protector of the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty, Chen Tang Jiao, coerced his superior Gan Yanshou to attack 40,000 pairs of troops. Stantaraz, Tang interprets Talas) under the encirclement. After a fierce battle, Zhizhi City fell, and the Han army beheaded Zhizhi Shanyu and passed on Chang'an. In his report to the imperial court, Chen Tang stated the reasons for sending troops, leaving behind the eternal rhetoric that "whoever commits a crime against a strong Han will be punished even if he is far away." The North Hun Khanate fell. Indeed, as a nomadic people, the Huns were mainly cavalry and lived by water and grass. It is rare to build a branch city in Zhizhi, and what is even more peculiar is that the historical records left a sentence "more than 100 infantrymen are caught in the door and fish scales Chen". This sentence has led many people to speculate that it was Roman soldiers who helped Shanyu to defend the city, so they could form a "fish scale formation" (when the Roman army was on defense, the legions were usually arranged in a deep and dense formation, with shields connected to shields. ), and the Huns could neither build cities nor defend the city. The source of these Roman soldiers was the remainder of Crassus who escaped after being defeated in the attack on Parthia. This argumentation process seems to be logical. The Roman legion that never disappeared, but did Romans really come to the Western Regions? The seven legions were annihilated and captured in most parts of Carle. This was a rare fiasco in Roman military history, and it was also a major event in the history of the Roman Republic. . In the early 1st century AD, just a few decades before the Battle of Calle, the Roman historian Valerius Patekurus described the expedition and the whereabouts of the survivors in detail in his History of Rome: "... The remainder of Crassus' legion was saved by (financial officer) Guyo Cassius - who not only preserved the province of Syria by his loyalty to the Roman people, but also successfully defeated Parthia on his return to Rome across the border people". The Roman historian Florus in the early 2nd century AD also recorded in more detail: "...In the eyes of Crassus, his son Crassus (that is, the man in "The Hero of Heaven") The archetype of a Roman prince) was besieged and then killed. The remnants of this army broke through and returned to Rome through Syria, Armenia and Silesia, bringing back this disastrous news.” The Roman historian Dio Cassius of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries AD also recorded in detail in his History of Rome: "...During the night the siege began to break out, some died, and the rest retreated to Syria under the leadership of Cassius Longinus. Later, the Parthians invaded Syria and were defeated by Cassius." These historical data are very consistent. The whereabouts of the remnants of the Roman army who survived the siege of the Parthians are very clear. Under the leadership of Cassius, they retreated to the Syrian province of the Roman Empire. As long as you look at the map, you can see that Carle, which is located on the western border of Parth, is close to Syria. The Roman army will naturally choose to return to the motherland through Syria, which is familiar with the terrain and is a Roman province; on the contrary, if it breaks through from Carle to the east, It was almost equivalent to crossing the entire Parthian land, and the Romans at that time knew nothing about it. After breaking through the encirclement and fleeing eastward, it was undoubtedly self-defeating. Anyone with a little common sense should know the path that Cassius could choose to escape when the Roman soldiers who broke through the siege could only go west, not east. Some of these survivors later served as guides for Anthony during his resting expedition to avoid the tragedy of Crassus from happening again. Since the Romans did not come to the Western Regions, who was the one who built the city and formed an array for the Huns, a steppe nation? According to the "Book of Han", Zhizhi City "has a heavy wooden city outside the earth city", and the use of wood to build a city is not the style of the Romans. Octavian, the founder of the Roman Empire, famously said: "I turned the brick and earth Rome into a Marble Rome". It shows that the Romans used brick and earth as building materials in the early days and marble in the later period, and the building materials of ancient Roman ruins that have survived to this day, such as the Colosseum, are basically mainly cement and stone. And since Zhizhi Shanyu moved to Kangju for many years, he was no longer nomadic, so he naturally drove the local people to build a city. The use of wood is precisely the customary practice of the ancestors of the Western Regions. The ancient city of Loulan, located to the west of Lop Nur, has left a large number of relics of wooden buildings. As for the "hundreds of infantrymen clasping the door with fish-scale Chen", as early as 1994, the famous scholar Ge Jianxiong pointed out that although "Chen" is related to "array", the use of "Chen" here as a verb cannot be interpreted as "fish-scale array" "'s proper name. In fact, the meaning of the whole sentence is just to say that the guards are closely arranged like fish scales, not a "fish scale array". Finally, according to the records of the Book of Han, all the prisoners and descendants of the battle of Zhizhicheng were handed over to the Western Allies participating in the battle by Chen Tang, and they were never brought back to the customs. Therefore, the Han Dynasty did not need to build a county in Hexi. Rome descended. Zhang Guan and Li Dai's Liqin "Han Shu Geography" indeed records that there is a "Liqin" county under Zhangye County in the Hexi Corridor. The county existed for hundreds of years until it was withdrawn and merged in the early Sui Dynasty. Gansu Provincial Institute of Chinese Slips Director Zhang Defang once published "Confirmation of Han Slips: Liqin City in Han Dynasty has nothing to do with Roman prisoners of war" in Guangming Daily, and announced 15 Han Slips related to Liqin unearthed in Jinguan and Xuanquanzhi in Jianshui in the late 20th century. , in addition to "Lijinchang", there are also "Lijinwei", "Lijinwei history", "Lijinzuo" and other officials, as well as "Yidaoli" and "Dangli" under the jurisdiction of the county. "Li", "Changlili", "Wanzaili", "Wuduli" and so on. In the Han bamboo slips found in Jinguan, Jianshui, there are records of the year of the second year of Shenjue (60 BC) and the place name of Lizhen. This shows that Lijin County was established as early as the second year of Shenjue (60 BC). The pastoral system implemented in the northwest region of the Han Dynasty was also extended to Hexi and even Lijin, and the political economy has developed to a considerable scale. Lijin County was established both earlier than Chen Tang’s attack on Zhizhi in 36 BC, and earlier than the Battle of Kalai in 53 BC, so it has nothing to do with the Romans. Since the Romans never came to Gansu, what happened to the exotic place name "Lijin"? In fact, as the Hexi Corridor is located in a remote area and was just opened up in the second century BC, it is not surprising that there are place names that are unknown in Chinese. For example, Jiaozhi (now northern Vietnam), which was also included in the southern frontier of the Han Empire during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, also had non-Chinese place names such as Goucha, Lingling, Qutan, Beidai, Jixu, and Xiyu. According to the "Han Shu Biography of the Xiongnu", in the third year of Yuanfeng (78 BC), Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty, "Shanyu sent King Liqin to look at the border and said that Jiuquan and Zhangye's troops were weaker and weaker, and sent troops to try to attack, hoping to recover it. The land. When the Han Dynasty was the first to surrender, after hearing his plan, the emperor ordered the frontier to guard.... The prefect of Zhangye and the captains of the vassal states attacked and destroyed them. Hundreds of people were able to escape. The knights of the king of Yiqu, Qianchang of the vassal state, shot and killed the plough. King, give me 200 catties of gold and 200 horses, because I was named the King of Plough... Since then, the Huns have not dared to enter Zhangye." It can be seen that "Plough" was originally a king's name for the Huns, and King Plough invaded. The location is the area of Rile, Wulan and Fanhe in Zhangye County, that is, between Zhangye and Yongchang in Gansu. The former site of Fanhe is now Yongchang, which is very close to the former site of Liqin, but Liqin is not mentioned in the Book of Han. It is likely that this county had not been set up before the war. Queen Liqin, who killed the Xiongnu in the victory of the battle, wanted to resettle the Xiongnu. Li (that is, Li, in ancient history books, Li is connected with Li, Li, etc.) Jinxian County, which was established only by prisoners. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory". Liqin City in the Han Dynasty has nothing to do with Roman prisoners of war”, which announced 15 Han bamboo slips related to Liqin unearthed in Jinguan and Xuanquanzhi in Jianshui in the late 20th century. "Lijinwei", "Lijinwei Shi", "Lijinzuo" and other officials, as well as "Yidaoli", "Danglili", "Changlili", "Longsuili", "Lijinli" under the jurisdiction of the county. Wuduli" and so on. In the Han bamboo slips found in Jinguan, Jianshui, there are records of the year of the second year of Shenjue (60 BC) and the place name of Lizhen. This shows that Lijin County was established as early as the second year of Shenjue (60 BC). The pastoral system implemented in the northwest region of the Han Dynasty was also extended to Hexi and even Lijin, and the political economy has developed to a considerable scale. Lijin County was established both earlier than Chen Tang’s attack on Zhizhi in 36 BC, and earlier than the Battle of Kalai in 53 BC, so it has nothing to do with the Romans. Since the Romans never came to Gansu, what happened to the exotic place name "Lijin"? In fact, as the Hexi Corridor is located in a remote area and was just opened up in the second century BC, it is not surprising that there are place names that are unknown in Chinese. For example, Jiaozhi (now northern Vietnam), which was also included in the southern frontier of the Han Empire during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, also had non-Chinese place names such as Goucha, Lingling, Qutan, Beidai, Jixu, and Xiyu. According to the "Han Shu Biography of the Xiongnu", in the third year of Yuanfeng (78 BC), Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty, "Shanyu sent King Liqin to look at the border and said that Jiuquan and Zhangye's troops were weaker and weaker, and sent troops to try to attack, hoping to recover it. The land. When the Han Dynasty was the first to surrender, after hearing his plan, the emperor ordered the frontier to guard.... The prefect of Zhangye and the captains of the vassal states attacked and destroyed them. Hundreds of people were able to escape. The knights of the king of Yiqu, Qianchang of the vassal state, shot and killed the plough. King, give me 200 catties of gold and 200 horses, because I was named the King of Plough... Since then, the Huns have not dared to enter Zhangye." It can be seen that "Plough" was originally a king's name for the Huns, and King Plough invaded. The location is the area of Rile, Wulan and Fanhe in Zhangye County, that is, between Zhangye and Yongchang in Gansu. The former site of Fanhe is now Yongchang, which is very close to the former site of Liqin, but Liqin is not mentioned in the Book of Han. It is likely that this county had not been set up before the war. Queen Liqin, who killed the Xiongnu in the victory of the battle, wanted to resettle the Xiongnu. Li (that is, Li, in ancient history books, Li is connected with Li, Li, etc.) Jinxian County, which was established only by prisoners. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory". Liqin City in the Han Dynasty has nothing to do with Roman prisoners of war”, which announced 15 Han bamboo slips related to Liqin unearthed in Jinguan and Xuanquanzhi in Jianshui in the late 20th century. "Lijinwei", "Lijinwei Shi", "Lijinzuo" and other officials, as well as "Yidaoli", "Danglili", "Changlili", "Longsuili", "Lijinli" under the jurisdiction of the county. Wuduli" and so on. In the Han bamboo slips found in Jinguan, Jianshui, there are records of the year of the second year of Shenjue (60 BC) and the place name of Lizhen. This shows that Lijin County was established as early as the second year of Shenjue (60 BC). The pastoral system implemented in the northwest region of the Han Dynasty was also extended to Hexi and even Lijin, and the political economy has developed to a considerable scale. Lijin County was established both earlier than Chen Tang’s attack on Zhizhi in 36 BC, and earlier than the Battle of Kalai in 53 BC, so it has nothing to do with the Romans. Since the Romans never came to Gansu, what happened to the exotic place name "Lijin"? In fact, as the Hexi Corridor is located in a remote area and was just opened up in the second century BC, it is not surprising that there are place names that are unknown in Chinese. For example, Jiaozhi (now northern Vietnam), which was also included in the southern frontier of the Han Empire during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, also had non-Chinese place names such as Goucha, Lingling, Qutan, Beidai, Jixu, and Xiyu. According to the "Han Shu Biography of the Xiongnu", in the third year of Yuanfeng (78 BC), Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty, "Shanyu sent King Liqin to look at the border and said that Jiuquan and Zhangye's troops were weaker and weaker, and sent troops to try to attack, hoping to recover it. The land. When the Han Dynasty was the first to surrender, after hearing his plan, the emperor ordered the frontier to guard.... The prefect of Zhangye and the captains of the vassal states attacked and destroyed them. Hundreds of people were able to escape. The knights of the king of Yiqu, Qianchang of the vassal state, shot and killed the plough. King, give me 200 catties of gold and 200 horses, because I was named the King of Plough... Since then, the Huns have not dared to enter Zhangye." It can be seen that "Plough" was originally a king's name for the Huns, and King Plough invaded. The location is the area of Rile, Wulan and Fanhe in Zhangye County, that is, between Zhangye and Yongchang in Gansu. The former site of Fanhe is now Yongchang, which is very close to the former site of Liqin, but Liqin is not mentioned in the Book of Han. It is likely that this county had not been set up before the war. Queen Liqin, who killed the Xiongnu in the victory of the battle, wanted to resettle the Xiongnu. Li (that is, Li, in ancient history books, Li is connected with Li, Li, etc.) Jinxian County, which was established only by prisoners. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory". Jin County. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory". Jin County. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory". Jin County. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory". Jin County. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory". Jin County. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory". Jin County. This explanation is much more reliable than the illusory "Roman theory".
[From] 2015-03-13 Guo Yemin's National Humanities History This article is excerpted from "National Humanities History" March 2015, WeChat: gjrwls Author: Guo Yemin's original article, please do not reprint without permission
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