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| 0213 |
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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incidents of administrative routine and the still more
numerous records concerning the internal economy of
individual detachments, it is of special interest to come
upon a few documents which give us a glimpse of the
political power creating and protecting this border. The
question how such documents, emanating, it appears, from
the imperial chancellerie, should have found their way to
an outlying military post is not easily answered. But
M. Chavannes' scholarly analysis makes it certain that one
of the records from the rubbish heap of T. vi. b has
preserved for us an imperial edict directing the establish-
ment of a military colony. Unfortunately there is no date
given, and the tablet is not complete. Though the colony
is evidently to be created in the territory of Tun-huang,
the execution of the imperial order is entrusted to the
governor of Chiu-ch'tian, corresponding to the present
Su-chou. This important centre after its occupation in
115 B.C. seems to have served, in fact, as the main base
for the political influence which China under the Emperor
Wu-ti (140-85 B.C.) pushed farther and farther westwards.
Two thousand soldiers raised from the garrison of the
Tun-huang command, and some more troops from Chiu-
ch'tian, under a complete staff of officers and accompanied
by native functionaries, "were to proceed to the locality to
be occupied and to establish there an agricultural colony."
The governor in person was charged with the duty of
"examining the configuration of the ground and selecting
a suitable position. Utilizing natural obstacles, a rampart
was to be constructed in order to exercise control at a
distance."
This document, with its first-hand record of a phase in
Chinese expansion on these marches, is full of historical
interest ; but we can neither fix its exact date nor determine
the location of the new military 'colony.' The reference
to 'natural obstacles,' as well as the find-place of the
document would, of course, make us think of some locality
along the fortified border line. The skill with which the
old Chinese engineers utilized the natural defences offered
here by lagoons and marshes has been emphasized already
more than once. But there remains the plain fact to be
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