IV. Sui to Tang Dynasty

　　In 557, the Northern Zhou destroyed the Northern Qi Dynasty; in 581, Yang Jian abolished the Zhou and established the Sui Dynasty; and in 589, the Sui Dynasty destroyed the Chen Dynasty and unified China. The unification of China, a strong centralized government, and a ruling class that honored the Three Jewels laid the foundation for Dunhuang's prosperity. In the early years of the Kaihuang era, Emperor Wen of Sui had "dismissed all counties under heaven" and changed the three-tier system of counties and counties into a two-tier system of counties and counties, with Dunhuang once abolishing its counties for counties. Renshou first year (601), the Sui emperor made all the states in the world tower for relics, Guazhou Mogao Grottoes of Chongjiao Temple is also in the list. Dunhuang at this time due to the decline of the period of Wei Jin and North and South Dynasties, although once Dongyang, Jianping period of recovery, still can not be compared with the other states in the West River, so the Sui dynasty operated the base of the Western Region in Zhangye. But the Sui dynasty in the Mogao Grottoes excavated a large number of grottoes, Dunhuang area even unearthed some members of the Sui royal family wrote the scriptures, see the Sui dynasty to Dunhuang's importance. In the third year of the Daiye era, the state was abolished and Dunhuang was renamed Dunhuang County. Before the Sui Dynasty, the Silk Road was only a north-south road for east-west transportation. During the Sui Dynasty, not only was the previous road more open, but a new one was added, the New North Road. In this way, sui through the western region of the road a total of three: north road (also called the new north road), from dunhuang to yiwu, through the pu class, tiele department, the degree of today's chu river, sylvatic river and reach the west sea; in the road (the north road of the han dynasty), out of dunhuang to gaochang, through yanqi, guezi, shule, over the onion ridge, and then through the felguana, uratiyube, etc. and to persia; south road, out of dunhuang from shanshan, through Ütepe, zhuju wave, thirsty pandora, over the onion ridge, and then through afghanistan, Pakistan and to india. Then through Afghanistan, Pakistan and to all parts of India.
　　In the thirteenth year of the Daye era (617), Li Kui raised an army against Sui in Wuwei, proclaimed himself the King of Liang, and took control of the western part of the river. After gaining a foothold in Chang'an, in the second year of Wude (619), Li Tang utilized the power of the Sut'an clan in Liangzhou to overthrow Li Kui's regime from the inside and formally incorporated Hexi into its territory. After the Tang dynasty occupied the western part of the river, it once renamed the Dunhuang County of the Sui Dynasty as Guazhou.
　　In the early Tang Dynasty, the Dunhuang area was unstable, with the worry of the internal forces and the trouble of the foreigners' intrusion. In the third year of the Wude era (620), Gua Zhou's assassin, Herbert Xingwei, raised an army against the Tang. In the fifth year (622), Wang Gan, a local tycoon in Gua Zhou, beheaded Herbert Xingwei and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty divided Gua Zhou into two prefectures: Gua Zhou and Xisha Prefecture. Guazhou was originally located in Jinchang County, leading Jinchang and Changle counties; Xisha Prefecture was located in Dunhuang, neighboring Dunhuang and Shouchang counties. In the sixth year, the locals Zhang Gu and Li Tong revolted, and they established Dou Fuming as the main ruler. Tang Guazhou assassin Zhao Xiaolun to quell the rebellion, Dou Fuming surrendered, Dunhuang internal turmoil has subsided. But the external danger is more than, Dunhuang to the west and north by the control of the northern desert and the western region of the threat of the Turkic Khanate, the south is subject to the intrusion of the Tugu Hunn. So at the end of the Wude and the beginning of the Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty closed the northwestern passes, not allowing the people to leave the country. Zhen Guan first year (627) Xuan Zang westbound to seek the law, is from Gua Zhou, Dunhuang between smuggled out.
　　Zhenguan four years (630), the Tang Dynasty to the desert north, eliminating the East Turkestan Khanate, East Turkestan control of the Iwu also surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, set up for the Izhou. In the seventh year (633), the Tang dynasty removed the word "west" from Xisha Prefecture, and Dunhuang was officially named Shazhou. In the ninth year (635), the Tang Dynasty marched to Qinghai and defeated the Tugukhun, and the Hexi Corridor was no longer subject to external interference and began to develop steadily. In the 14th year of Zhenguan (640), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty marched to Turpan, destroyed the Jiu's Gaochang, set up the Western Prefecture, and set up Gao Ting Prefecture in the north of the Tianshan Mountain in the vicinity of present-day Jimusar, Xinjiang, with its establishment together with that of the Mainland; in addition, he also set up the Anxi Du Gui to control the Western Region in Jiaoxie County of the Western Prefecture. In the battle of the Tang destroyed Gaochang, there are Dunhuang, Changle area of civil and military officials and soldiers to participate, Dunhuang once again become the military base of the Central Kingdom into the Western Region. In the eighteenth year (644), Tang sent troops to Yanqi. In the twenty-second year (648), it attacked Guzi. In the second year of Gaozong's Yonghui reign (651), the Western Turkic Ashina Heru rebelled against the Tang, and the Tang's advance into the West was blocked. In the second year of the Xianqing period (657), the Tang Dynasty defeated Ashina Heru and regained suzerainty over the Western Regions. In May of the third year of the Xianqing period (658), the Tang Dynasty moved the Anxi Capital Office to Guzi, and set up the four towns of Guzi, Ütep, Yanqi, and Shule, which were known as the "Four Towns of Anxi". However, from the second year of Longshuo (662), the Tubo Kingdom joined forces with the remaining Western Turkestan tribes to fight with the Tang Dynasty over the Western Region. In the first year of Xianheng (670), the Tubo Kingdom captured eighteen states in the Western Region, and the Tang Dynasty abolished the Anxi Four Towns for a time. However, soon thereafter, the Tang Dynasty recovered the lost territory and restored the four towns in the second year of the reign of Shangyuan (675). In order to strengthen the effective control of the Western Region, especially against the Tubo, which was watching from the south, the Tang Dynasty renamed the two major towns on the southern Silk Road, Dianhe City and Qimo City, as Shicheng Town and Bixian Town in the second and third years of the reign of the First Emperor (675-676), and assigned them to the jurisdiction of Shazhou. Thereafter, the Tang Dynasty continued to fight with the Tubo. During the Yifeng period (676-679), the Tubo once again captured the four Anxi towns. In 679, Pei Xingjian recovered the lost land, re-established the four towns, and replaced Yanqi with Shiba to cut off the communication between the Tubo and Western Turkestan. In the early years of the Wu Zhou Dynasty, the Eastern Turkestan revived and continued to invade the Tang Dynasty. The Turks attacked the four towns again, and in 686, the Tang Dynasty abandoned the four towns. In the first year of Changshou (692), Wang Xiaojie recaptured the four towns and sent 30,000 Han soldiers to guard them, thus strengthening the fighting power of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Region. In the following one hundred years, the four towns of Anxi were stabilized, and the Tang Dynasty controlled the western region all the time. In the course of the Tang Dynasty's struggle for and management of the Western Regions, a considerable number of Shazhou soldiers went to the front line. Officials from Shazhou and Xizhou also moved around frequently, and there are many records of Shazhou people serving in Xizhou and Xizhou people serving in Dunhuang in the literature of Dunhuang and Turpan. Because of the gradual transformation of the Tang Dynasty's governmental military system into a conscript system, the Doulou Army was set up in Shazhou during the Wuzhou period. Jingyun two years (711) Tang divided the Longyu Road, set up the Hexi Road, set the Hexi Festival Minister, "its system has Chishui, Dadou, Jiankang, Yumen, Mo Li, Doulu six armies, Xinquan catch, Ganzhou catch, Suzhou town guards three make belongs to," the seat of Liangzhou. Since then, the Hexi military and political development, the Tang dynasty has become a strong military center.
　　Dunhuang in the early Tang Dynasty, in a long period of unification of the country's power to flourish under the environment, has been fully developed. The Tang dynasty effectively managed and tightly controlled the Dunhuang area through the county, township and village grass-roots organizations and a complete household registration system. Shazhou governed two counties, Dunhuang and Shouchang, with a total of thirteen townships. The various systems of the Tang Dynasty were effectively implemented in Dunhuang, and the production of Dunhuang developed steadily. The canal irrigation system was perfected, and the city of Dunhuang was surrounded by a water network consisting of five water systems and 84 canals. In addition, it was accompanied by a strict system of official water distribution, with full-time officials and managers set up to manage water resources. The area of cultivated land was enlarged, and the narrow townships became wide townships. About the Hexi's cantonment, "the old Tang Shu - Guo Yuanzhen biography" contains: "Dazu first year, moved Liangzhou Governor, Longrui army ambassadors. First of all, Liangzhou Feng Boundary north and south but more than 400 miles, both forced Turkic, Tubo, the two invaders frequent years of dying to the city, the people suffer. Yuan Zhen began in the south of Kipkou set and Rongcheng, the north boundary moraine set Baiting army, control of its key road, is to expand the state 1,500 miles, since the kouxu no longer more to the city. Yuan Zhen also made Ganzhou assassin Li Hantong open the set of cantonment, as much as the benefits of land and water. The old Liangzhou corn and wheat dendrobium to thousands, and after the rate of Han Tong, a few years of plenty, and even a silk dozens of dendrobium, the accumulation of military food support for decades." The Tang dynasty from Gaozong, Wu Hou to Xuanzong period, has been in the river and Long areas of the large Tuenian, so that Dunhuang agriculture has been a long development. The Tang dynasty also attaches great importance to animal husbandry in the western part of the river, and managed it with a set of strict organization. The commodity economy flourished, and the market here was filled with silk and porcelain from the Central Plains, as well as jade and treasures from the Western Regions; camel and horse and woolen textiles from the north, as well as locally unearthed grains. Dunhuang's population was also more than 30,000 at the time of Tianbao, reaching another peak since the pre-Qin Dynasty. "It was when China was strong, from the An Yuan Gate to the west of the end of the Tang realm of 10,000,000 li, coccyx and Yan Yan look at each other, Mulberry cataracts, the world's affluence is not such as the Longyi" is this period, the Longyi here is included in Dunhuang. Tianbao fourteen years (755 AD), An Lushan rebellion, the Tang dynasty transferred Anxi, Beiting, Heshi soldiers Tuen Shan, Heshi, Longyue elite then was empty, the remaining soldiers single weak. Guangde first year (763 years), Tubo took the opportunity to capture the Dazhen pass, all trapped Lan (Gansu gaolan), river (Gansu Linxia), contour (Qinghai Guide), Shanshan (Qinghai Xining), Lin (Gansu Lintao), Min (Minxian, Gansu), Qin (Tianshui, Gansu), into the (Chengxian, Gansu), wei (Longxi, Gansu) and other places of Longyi, Anxi, Beitian, Heshi and the Central Plains, Tubo Qilian Mountains along the north, the next captured cool (Gansu Wuwei), Gan (Gansu), the west and the central plains, the Qilian mountains, the north, the Liang (Gansu Wuwei), Gansu (Gansu Wuwei), Gan (Gansu), the west of Hexi, and the central plains of the Tang dynasty. Gansu Wuwei), Gan (Gansu Zhangye), Su (Gansu Jiuquan), Gua (Gansu Anxi) states. Heshi Festival Minister Yang Xiuming, Zhou Ding and other sections of the west to escape, retreat to Shazhou, there is no way to retreat. At this time, the Hexi road break, the scene is broken, Shazhou has become a completely isolated island. At this time, the Tang Dynasty can still borrow Huihe to maintain contact with Anxi and Beiting, while Shazhou has no aid. In the face of such a situation, Zhou Ding, the festival minister, intended to ignore the safety of tens of thousands of people in Shazhou and planned to burn down the city of Shazhou and run eastward from the north of the desert, which was obviously both selfish and unfeasible. What was burned down was not an ordinary frontier town, but an east-west transportation hub with a history of nearly a thousand years. The idea of burning the city could only have existed among the very few Tang officials who were not natives of Dunhuang. The plan to run east was also unfeasible. It was impossible for 40,000 to 50,000 people in Shazhou to run eastward back to Tang at the same time, and it was only possible that more Shazhou people would be abandoned to their fate. Even if a few people ran east, the chance of success was very small. Song Heng was a good example, he ran east to Tang with more than 200 family members, but he was captured by the Tubo, and only because the Tubo admired the name of his father, Song Jing, were they able to let him back in. Therefore, the success factor of Song Heng's eastward flight was really too fortuitous. Under these circumstances, Yan Chao, the leader of the Shazhou resistance movement, hanged Zhou Ding and took charge of the affairs of the state, and continued to organize the people to fight against the siege of the Tubo nobles until the second year of Zhenyuan (786). Shazhou became one of the last counties in the Hexi Corridor to resist. As a small town of 40,000 to 50,000 people, Shazhou was isolated and helpless against the powerful Tubo army, and fought valiantly for nearly ten years, and finally, with all the food and weapons exhausted, it had no choice but to save Shazhou under the condition of "do not migrate to other territories" and surrendered to the Tubo.

Translated with DeepL