车师后王国 / Later Cheshi Kingdom (Xin)

Overview

车师后王国 / Later Cheshi Kingdom (Xin) enters the wiki through Hanji 640 as a Western Regions polity destabilized by 王莽’s anti-匈奴 mobilization. This page is disambiguated from 车师后王国 / Later Cheshi Kingdom (late Han), which covers later Eastern Han layers.

Current Profile

Hanji 640 presents Later Cheshi as a dependent Western Regions polity caught between Xin military demands and Xiongnu attraction. King Xuzhili fears that once Xin forces move west, his kingdom will be required to provide grain, money, troops, and costly reception. The burden expectation makes flight to Xiongnu look preferable.

The result is a local succession and allegiance rupture. Xuzhili’s plan leaks and he dies under Western Regions Protector Dan Qin. His brother Hulan Zhi then leads more than two thousand people to Xiongnu. The chanyu welcomes them and uses them with Xiongnu forces to attack Cheshi and the Western Regions Protectorate’s military staff.

Key Characteristics

• Western Regions polity whose Xin-era profile is source-bounded to the 10 CE Xiongnu rupture.
• Illustrates how central mobilization can look like extraction to dependent frontier states.
• Its king Xuzhili fears war-support costs more than he trusts Xin protection.
• Its elite split produces flight to Xiongnu after Xuzhili’s death.
• Becomes a battlefield where Xiongnu support and local defection combine against Xin-linked authority.

Evidence

• Burden fear: Hanji 640 says Xuzhili worries that Xin war will demand unlimited money, grain, troops, and reception costs.
• Failed flight: Hanji 640 says Xuzhili plans to flee to Xiongnu but the plan leaks and he dies under Dan Qin.
• Hulan Zhi’s move: Hanji 640 says Xuzhili’s brother Hulan Zhi leads more than two thousand people to Xiongnu.
• Xiongnu-backed attack: Hanji 640 says the chanyu sends troops with Hulan Zhi to attack Cheshi and the Western Regions Protectorate’s military officers.

Qualifications

The source does not provide a full Cheshi political history or reconcile this Xin-era branch with later Eastern Han Cheshi episodes. Xuzhili, Hulan Zhi, Dan Qin, exact locations, and local motives remain source-scoped until more source notes support expansion.

What Changed

• Created the Xin-era disambiguated Later Cheshi page from Hanji 640.

Relationships

• 新朝 - central regime whose war mobilization frightens Cheshi actors.
• 匈奴 - receiving and supporting power for Hulan Zhi’s group.
• 西域都护府 - frontier institution attacked after the defection.
• 车师后王国 / Later Cheshi Kingdom (late Han) - later-period page for the same named polity in Eastern Han contexts.
• 象征性名分降格反噬 - upstream Xiongnu rupture that makes Cheshi’s position more dangerous.