張騫 Zhang Qian. The Secret Envoy of Han Emperor Wu in Search of the Arsi (Yuezhi) and the Fall of the Græco-Bactrian Kingdom. (Annotated Compilation of Eastern and Western Sources)

(these rulers’) family name is Zhaowu to demon-
strate (that they all do) not forget their roots (land
of origin) ...
右 諸 國 並 以 昭 武 為
示 不 忘 本 也 …
姓
The Weishu contains Chinese history from the late fourth to the mid-sixth century.
The new facts on the migration of the 月 氏 are therefore reported some four to five
centuries after the last piece of information contained in Ban Gu’s Hanshu. As we can
see here, the Chinese historians needed much time to find out what really had been
happening in the Far West — reflecting the fact that in the intervening centuries com-
off and reestablished a couple of times.
munications with the West were cut
At long last we read that the 月 氏 did not at all migrate directly from the region be-
reaches of the Oxus and into Daxia —
tween the Ili and Chu all the way to the upper
as the Hanshu wanted us to believe. The 月 氏 were driven from the lands between the
rivers Ili and Chu by the Wusun 烏 孫 shortly
before Laoshang chanyu of the Xiongnu
匈 奴 had died in late 161 BCE and they arrived at the Oxus River only months before
Zhang Qian reached the region in the summer of 129. The Hanshu had kept us won-
long span of one full generation. With
dering what had happened to the 月 氏 in this the additional information contained in the Weishu, we are finally able to fill out this
blank in their history.
The Ruzhi 月 氏 subjugated the Kangju 康 居 , established themselves as their kings
and extended (or moved) this Kangju kingdom southwestward as far as Samarkand
(Sogdiana). There, i.e. in Sogdiana, the 月 氏 must have collided a second time with the
Sakaraukai/Saiwang 塞 王 , who were now dri
ven south — as to the west, i.e. west of
the middle reaches of the Oxus, the mighty empire of the Parthians 安 息 was already
blocking the way.
And here, in former Greek Sogdiana, the 月 氏 — for the first time as far as we can
tell — established lesser principalities or viceroy-ships around their central or main
kingdom. All these viceroys were members of the king’s family. After the Weishu 魏 書 ,
or “Book of the Wei (Dynasty),” had reported this important new information for the
first time, the next in the long line of Chinese Standard Histories, the Beishi 北 史 (in
chapter 97) and the Suishu 隨 書 (in chapter 83), simply repeated the new facts. We
have to wait another two hundred years to be told how many sub-kings or viceroys
there had been in the realm of the new Kangju — and what their names were. The
(New) Tangshu 唐 書 finally has this additional information.
(CHAVANNES 1903: 132–134)
(Le pays de) K’ang 康 est appelé aussi Sa–mo–kien 薩
末 鞬 , ou encore Sa–mo–kien 颯 秣 建 (Samarkand);
c’est le pays qu’on appelai t Si–wan–kin 悉 萬 斤 sous
les Yuen Wei 元 魏 .
Du côté du sud il est à cent cinquante ›li‹ de Che 史
(Kesch);
du côté du nord-ouest, il est à plus de cent ›li‹ du Ts’ao
曹 occidental (Ischtîkhan);
au sud-est, il est à cent ›li‹ de Mi 米 (Mâïmargh);
au nord, à cinquante li du Ts’ao central (Kaboûdhan);
il est au sud de la rivière Na–mi 那 密 (Zara fchan).
Il a trente grandes villes et trois cents petites places.
Le nom de famille du prince est ›Wen‹ 溫 .
C’étaient à l’origine des Yue–tche 月 氏 qui résidaient
autrefois dans la ville de Tchao–ou 昭 武 , au nord des
(monts) K’i–lien 祁 連 . Ayant été battus par les Tou–
kiue (ici: les Hiong–nou), ils se retirèrent graduelle-
(Xin) Tangshu 221B. 6243
康 者 曰 薩 末 鞬 曰
颯 秣 建
元 魏 所 謂 悉 萬 斤 者
其 南 距 史 百 五 十 里
西 北 距 西 曹 百 餘 里
東 南 屬 米 百 里
北 中 曹 五 十 里
在 那 密 水 南 城
大 城 三 十 小 堡 三 百
君 姓 溫 月 氏 人
始 居 祁 連 北 昭 武 城
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