[KS] "cutting the left arm of Hsiung-nu"

[Yi, Hyunhwee]

Dear Sirs,

I would like to ask you some questions concerning Han China Wu-ti's grand
strategy, "cutting the left arm of Hsiung-nu."

Nichola di Cosmo said in his book, *Ancient China and its Enemies*, like
this: "... Unless we understand the relationship between the Hsiung-nu and
the oasis people, we cannot properly assess how Han conquest of the region
affected the war between the two empires. ... the only reason for the
Chinese expansion in Central Asia was the desire to stop the invasion of
the Hsiung-nu, or, as the ancients said, to 'cut off their right arm,'
i.e., to deprive them of their western bases. The territorial conquests of
the Han were dictated by the military necessity to cut off the Hsiung-nu
from those areas that supplied them with provisions: the Kansu Corridor,
the oases of Central Asia, and southern Manchuria. ... The Chinese military
and political presence in Central asia therefore became vital to the Han
overall strategy of weakening the nomads and was accomplished mainly
through the establishment of farming colonies managed by the military. ..."
(pp. 249-250).

I would like to understand the strategic meaning of "cutting the left arm"
of the Hsiung-nu, too. In the fall of 109 B.C., Han Wu-ti started to launch
a campaign against Chosen (Korea). After the conquest of Chosen, Wu-ti
established four Chun in the Northeast area, Hsuan-tu, Lo-lang, Chen-p'an,
and Lin-t'un, for the purpose of cutting the left arm of hsiung-nu.
* Then, did 'cutting the left arm of Hsiung-nu' imply any politico-military
connections between Chosen and Hsiung-nu? Were there just some
possibilities of alliance between Chosen and Hsiung-nu? *
Let's us review other similar case. in 12 CE, Goguryeo (Korea) rejected the
request of Wang Mang for Goguryeo to join China in a military campaign
against the Hsiung-nu. Instead, Goguryeo chose to attack Wang Mang.
*Why? Were there also politico-military connections between Goguryeo and
Hsiung-nu? *
In my view, Sui and T'ang's persistent campaigns against Goguryeo is
comparable to Han Wu-ti's campaigns against the Western regions. *Can I
understand the ultimate purpose of Sui and Tang's campaigns in the context
of 'cutting the left arm' of the Turkish? *

Your sincerely,
Yi, Hyunhwee from Kyung Hee University, Seoul Korea.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://koreanstudies.com/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreanstudies.com/attachments/20140225/e6df90c6/attachment.html>