The Battle of the Altai Mountains in ad 91 41

Debates and Decision-Making: The Battle of the Altai Mountains (Jinweishan 金微山) in ad 91

Shu-hui Wu

During the first seven decades of the Eastern Han dynasty the greatest concern was the threat of the mighty Xiongnu empire on the northern frontier. Han foreign relations had undergone several policy changes, from non-intervention to compromise and from defensive battles to whole-scale offensive warfare and hot pursuit. Throughout the long period of turmoil and struggle, Han civil officials and military men devoted their minds and energies to responding to the crisis, employing strategies to solve the problems, and offering ideas to meet the needs presented by ever-changing circumstances. The main principle of Eastern Han frontier policy towards the divided Xiongnu since 48 was to, “ally with the Southern Xiongnu and resist the Northern Xiongnu together (yong wei fanbi, hanyu beilu)”.1 As the relationship between Han China and the divided Xiongnu states became complicated over time, the principle Han policy shifted to “Destroying the North and Settling the South (po bei cheng nan)”.2 In its warfighting the dynasty developed and applied several strategies, old and new, such as “using war to stop war (yi zhan zhi zhan 以戰止戰 ),”3 subduing the satel- lite states of the Northern Xiongnu in the Western Regions (xiyu 西域) in order to cut off the Xiongnu’s right arm (duan qi you bei 斷其右臂 ).4 and “using barbarians to attack barbarians (yi yidi gong yidi 以夷狄攻夷狄).”5 The Battle of the Altai Mountains in 91 was the decisive campaign, and perhaps one of the most crucial events in world history, that ended the two-and-half-century long Han and Xiongnu warfare and forced the Xiongnu from the historical stage. It is therefore important to investigate the gradual process that led to this decisive battle. Most importantly, how- ever, is to convey the ideas and arguments that generated or reversed

1 ZZTJXJ, 44.1509. 2 HHS, 89/79; ZZTJXZ, 47.1629. 3 Lu Xing 盧星 & Zhao Ming 趙明, “Lun Geng Bing zai han mie beixiongnu zhi zhan zhong de zhanlue sixiang 論耿秉在漢滅北匈奴之戰中的戰略思想,” Jiangxi shehui kexue 12 (2001): 41. 4 ZZTJXZ, 45.1562. 5 HHS, 47/37: 8b (See also p. 19, fn. 47). 42 Shu-hui Wu Manyigu Wuyuan Index Map ear of Battle Shouxiangcheng Gaoque Eastern Han Army Routes Eastern Han Troops Northern Xio n gnu Major Battleground Y City River M o u n t a i n s Lake Jilu Col Legend M t n s . L a n g j u x u Wuwei 89 M t n s J i l u o (Ulan Bator) Shanyu Court Zhangye ) Juyan Source: Zhongguo lishi dituji vol. 2 Shanghai:Ditu chubanshe 1982, pp. 59-60, 65-66, 67. & Luo Kun (eds.), Zhongguo junshi tongshi vol. 6 Dong Han attached maps 4 5 Yongshan Zhang Beijing: Junshi kexue, 1998.

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Pulei Altai Mtns. 73 Heyun (Jinweishan) Yiwu 90 EASTERN HAN 91 ( B a i s h a n ) late first century A.D. NORTHERN XIONGNU, 74 Tianshan Mtns. Jushi