Ban Yong

The only border where there are Hàn accomplishments during Ān's reign is on the northwestern front—the Xiyu (modern Xinjiang and former Soviet central Asia)—where Ban Chao's son Ban Yong is able to reestablish Hàn suzerainty over a number of kingdoms.

The great Han general Ban Chao had written a request to the Emperor in 100 CE, saying, among other things: "I have taken care to send my son (Ban) Yong to enter the frontier following porters with presents, and thus, I will arrange things so that (Ban) Yong sees the Middle Territories [usually referred to as the 'Western Regions'—mainly the kingdoms in and around the Tarim Basin] with his own eyes while I am still alive." (From the Hou Hanshu (Book of the Later Han), Chapter 77 [sometimes given as Chapter 47], translated and adapted by E. Chavannes.).

The Western Regions in modern Xinjiang province in 107 CE had rebelled against Chinese rule.

Ban Yong had been appointed as a major and, with his elder brother, Ban Xiong, had gone via Dunhuang to meet up with the Protector General of the Western Regions, Ren Shang (?-119 CE), who had replaced Ban Chao as Protector General in 102 CE.

The Chinese had been forced to retreat and, following this, there have been no Chinese functionaries in the Western Regions for more than ten years.

Emperor An in 123 CE gives Ban Yong the title of 'Senior Clerk of the Western Regions' so that he can lead five hundred freed convicts west to garrison Liuzhong (Lukchun, in the southern Turpan Basin).

Ban Yong afterward conquers and pacifies Turpan and …

…Jimasa (in modern Jimsar County).

Ban Yong arrives in Loulan in the first month of the "following year" (3 February-3 March, 124 CE), and rewards the King of Shanshan with three new ribbons for his submission.

Following this, …

…the kings of Aksu and Uch Turpan (the modern town of Wushi), present themselves with their hands tied behind their backs to make submission.

Ban Yong then sends the soldiers of these kingdoms (numbering ten thousand infantry and cavalry) into battle.

Ban Yong puts the 'Yili King' of the Xiongnu to flight in the Yihe Valley, close to Turpa .

He wins over more than five thousand men of Turpan to his cause, and communications between Turpan and China are reopened.

He then establishes a military colony at Lukchun.

Ban Yong, with more than six thousand cavalry from the prefectures of Dunhuang, Zhangye (modern Gansu), and Jiujuan (modern Suzhou), as well as soldiers from Shanshan, Kashgar and Turpan, in the following year, 125, defeats the King of Jimasa and beheads both the king and a Xiongnu envoy, sending their heads to the capital.

He also captures more than eight thousand prisoners and fifty thousand horses and cattle.

Near the end of the reign of Emperor An, Ban Yong presents a report to him on the countries to the west of China, covering all the territory to India as well as to the Roman Empire.

This report forms the basis, with a few later additions, of the 'Chronicle of the Western Regions' in the Hou Hanshu.

All the "Six Kingdoms of Jushi" (across the mountains to the north and east of Turpan) in 126 submit to Ban Yong.

Ban Chao's son Ban Yong had been able to effectively restore Han suzerainty over Xiyu (modern Xinjiang and former Soviet central Asia) kingdoms early in Emperor Shun's reign, but in 127, Ban Yong is falsely accused of being late in a military action and removed from his office.

After Ban Yong's removal, the situation in Xiyu gradually deteriorates.

Ban Yong, with Zhang Lang, the Governor of Dunhuang, , in 127 attacks seventeen kingdoms, including Karashahr, Kucha, Kashgar, Khotan, and Yarkand.

The Han forces first subdue Karashahr; then …