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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Sec. y]   OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE LIMES   747

Doc. No. 451 emanates from a ' deputy ' to the lu-wei of Yii-ma, and another, No. 381, names in general ' officers dependent ' on the latter. But the officers niost frequently mentioned are the company commanders, or lui-chant At A.20 An exAnination of the documents which name them, almost always with the designation of the company commanded, shows beyond all doubt that they were directly charged with the internal administration of the company units into which the troops at each Tu-wei's disposal were divided. We have receipts given to them for food-supplies that they had issued to soldiers and others,21 and for clothing which they had furnished to individual soldiers.22 Certain company commanders are spoken of as detailed for the supervision of granaries in the territory of the Tun-huang command.23 We find them twice referred to in conjunction with ` indigenous functionaries ', about whom more anon.L4 But only one out of over two dozen records refers to an order issued by one of them to an officer in charge of a watch-post ; 25 and documents showing them as directly concerned in military measures, reports, or the like are significantly absent.

The companies (lui K) all bore distinctive names, of which about twenty appear in our documents. Those companies which can be shown with more or less probability to have held particular watch-posts or stations along the Limes have been mentioned above in the course of our survey of the ruins.26 As regards the interpretation of the names, which mostly are meant to convey either triumph over the barbarians or prosperity and support for the dynasty, and in the remaining cases seem to be taken from localities, a reference to M. Chavannes' full explanations will suffice.27 More important it is for us here to examine the question of the places in which the bulk of the men composing these companies were actually stationed. It is of special interest in view of what the discussion in the preceding section has shown us about the character of the system which provided for the construction and guarding of the Tun-huang Limes by means of 'agricultural colonies '.25 Its examination may also help us to solve the difficulty which, as explained above, is presented by the limitation of the ruins traceable along the line of the Limes, and in particular by the very confined accommodation to be found in the quarters.29

Our inquiry is closely bound up with the interpretation of the term ring 4, which repeatedly occurs in documents apparently relating to the location of companies. M. Chavannes translates the word by ' station' and assumes that it designated small military stations, each holding one company (lui), established along the north-western frontier.S° He rightly refers to documents, such as Nos. 432, 552, as proving that to one ling there corresponds one lui. But a careful examination of all documents shows us that the terms were not equivalent in practice, and further that the ting, in these parts at least, could not have stood on the Limes itself. On this point a doubt seems

Company commanders (lui-chang).

Names and
stations of
companies.

Term fing relating to location of companies.

a ' deputy to a [Iu-]wei', receives an order direct from the military commandant (lu-wei) of YU-ma. No. 369 mentions a chien jin holding charge of a magazine (T. xviii i'); No. 370 one in command of a thousand cavalry.

21 Cf. Doc. Nos. 271, 562-5, 484.

22 See Doc. Nos. 42, 43•

23 Cf. Doc. No. 157.

24 Cf. Doc. Nos. 49, 681, and below, p. 752. 26 See Doc. No. 377.

26 Cf. above, pp. 596, 598, 648, 659, 668, 670, 699, 717,

719.

21 Cf. Documents, p. x. Thus we have the companies ,

Ling-hu ' which oppresses the barbarians (hu)', Yen-hic

which represses the barbarians ', etc. ; or Yang-wei ' which raises the prestige ', Ngan-han ' which assures peace for the Han ', Kuang-hsin ' which aggrandizes the Hsin dynasty (of Wang Mang)', etc.

To the dozen names quoted by M. Chavannes, Doc. p. x, may be added those of Ch'ing-tui, Doc. No. 274 ; Chu-chiieh, Nos. 484, 693 ; Fou-ch`ang, No. 150 ; Hsien-ming, Nos. 587, 588, 597; Shu-hsiang, No. 485 ; I-chin, Nos. 463, 464, 470, etc..; Kao-wang, Nos. 439, 565, 613; • Ngan-tien, No. 562.

28 See above, pp. 74o sqq.

29 Cf. above, pp. 738 sqq.

09 Cf. M. Chavannes' remarks, Documents, pp. x, 54 (on Doc. No. 198).

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