For many days on end, they kept on walking in a westerly direction despite tremendous hardships. Still they were not successful in their attempt to find the country of Dayuezhi. Instead, they found themselves in a country called Dayuan whose sovereign had heard that the Han Dynasty was powerful state and wanted very much to develop friendly relations with it. So the king was very happy when he saw Zhang Qian and he gave the envoy from the Han a warm reception. Later, he sent guides and interpreters to escort Zhang Qian and Tangyifu to a country called Kangju, via which they eventually reached Dayuezhi.
The King of Dayuezhi received the envoy from the Han Dynasty warmly. However, when Zhang Qian made his intentions clear, the king declined to join up with the Han Dynasty in an attack on the Huns to avenge his country for the simple reason that the long distance between the two countries made it impossible for either to give direct and immediate aid to the other. Besides, Dayuezhi had already acquired a vast stretch of land and the people were enjoying rich and happy life. Zhang and Tang stayed in the country for over a year. Still they were unable to accomplish the mission and so they decided to return home. Unfortunately, on the journey back they once again fell into the hands of the Huns. And it was more than a year later when infighting occurred among the Huns that they got a chance to escape. 13 years had elapsed before Zhang and Tang finally arrived back at Chang'an.
After listening to his tales, Emperor Wu praised Zhang highly for his quick wit, courage and fortitude. A new understanding of the many countries in the Western Regions made the emperor attach even greater importance to strengthening ties with them. In 115BC, the emperor decided to send Zhang on a second journey to the Western Regions -- this time to the country of Wusun. Zhang had under his command 300 brave men and they took with them gold, money, silk, goods, cotton cloth, and over 10,000 heads of cattle and sheep.
Zhang and several other emissaries arrived in Wusun first. Later, the others went separately to establish contact with such countries as Dayuan, Kangju, Dayuezhi, Yutian and Daxia. This time Zhang and his colleagues visited total of 36 countries, and were cordially received everywhere since those western countries al desired to establish ties with the powerful Han Dynasty. From then on, many envoys had been dispatched from those countries to Chang'an bringing with them many precious gifts. As a result, it was during the Han Dynasty that many hitherto unknown things were successively introduced into China, such as grapes, green onion, walnut, carrot, alfalfa, fine race horses from Dayuan, and music and dances from various countries in that region.
Email to Friends
Print
Save