《资治通鉴·汉纪》287｜张骞出使西域，回国之路有多艰险？（2）

Summary

This 芮淇讲透资治通鉴 sequel completes the first western mission begun in part 1. 大宛 helps 张骞 travel through 康居 to 大月氏, but the intended ally has conquered fertile 大夏 territory and no longer judges revenge against 匈奴 worth the risk.

Zhang then spends more than a year returning, is captured again, and escapes during the disorder following 军臣单于’s death. The episode says only Zhang and 堂邑父 return from the original party of more than one hundred; it treats the failed alliance, accumulated geographic intelligence, and reopened contact as groundwork for the ancient Silk Road, while its route, family-loss, trade, and record-priority claims remain source-scoped.

Key Claims

• Dayuan supplies guides and interpreters who help Zhang travel through Kangju to Yuezhi.
• Yuezhi has defeated Daxia, occupies fertile and comparatively secure territory, and no longer wishes to fight Xiongnu for an earlier dynastic grievance.
• Zhang cannot secure the proposed joint attack and leaves after staying for more than a year.
• A southern return route intended to avoid Xiongnu instead leads to a second capture; after more than another year, Junchan Chanyu’s death and succession conflict create an escape opportunity.
• The episode says Zhang loses his wife and one son during pursuit, returns with another son, and reaches Han after thirteen years with only Tangyi Fu from the original mission party.
• Han Wudi rewards Zhang as 太中大夫 and Tangyi Fu as 奉使君 despite the alliance failure.
• Zhang’s reports cover locations, products, populations, cities, and military capacity across Central and Western Asia; the episode links their preservation in the Shiji to later geographic knowledge and Silk Road exchange.

Key Quotes

“一百多人就活着回来两个” - the episode’s contrast between the mission’s departure strength and reported survivors.

“军事外交上是失败的，但是它产生的实际影响和历史作用非常巨大” - the episode’s distinction between the original objective and the mission’s wider effects.

Connections

• 张骞 - envoy who reaches Yuezhi, fails to secure the alliance, survives a second capture, and returns with geographic intelligence.
• 月氏 - intended ally whose new security and prosperity outweigh the revenge premise behind Han strategy.
• 堂邑父 - only other named member of the original party said to return to Han.
• 军臣单于 - ruler whose death is presented as the opening for Zhang’s final escape.
• 大宛, 康居, and 大夏 - polities and territories in the mission’s westward diplomatic setting.
• 被扣使者的使命延续 - pattern completed by reaching the intended court, surviving renewed detention, and returning to report.
• 丝绸之路 - later corridor system whose informational and diplomatic opening the episode associates with the mission.

Contradictions

• No settled contradiction with existing wiki content was found. The episode closes the outcome and return left open by part 1 and is compatible with later notes that describe Zhang as a catalytic rather than sole route creator.
• The source’s exact route, durations, party and survivor totals, Yuezhi motives, second-capture conditions, succession sequence, family pursuit and loss, titles, rewards, and dialogue remain episode-attributed.
• The claim that Zhang opened both north and south routes is treated as formation language, not proof that one mission created a stable transcontinental network by itself.
• The commodity directions and claim that Zhang’s report was the first most detailed and reliable record of these regions require chronological, textual, and archaeological corroboration; they are not promoted here as settled superlatives.
• The source calls the expedition an effective scientific investigation. The wiki preserves the underlying observation-and-reporting claim while treating “scientific” as retrospective framing.