Completed in 1084, the Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror to Aid Governance) was a monumental project to compile a coherent, accurate, and objective narrative of Chinese history from the Warring States to the eve of the founding of the Song dynasty in 960 CE. The prominent Song minister and historian Sima Guang (1019-1086) is typically named as the author, but Sima actually supervised a team of historians over a period of nearly twenty years.

Fan Zuyu (1041-1098), a Song official and expert on Tang history, was one of the assistant editors working under Sima Guang in the Zizhi tongjian project. He spent fifteen years researching and writing the Tang portion of the narrative, while separately producing a didactic commentary on numerous passages from it, titled the Tangjian (Mirror of the Tang). Fan’s interpretations of Tang history are heavily moralistic and anti-expansionist and are especially critical of emperor Taizong. The Tangjian passages translated below include slightly condensed excerpts from the Zizhi tongjian, followed by Fan Zuyu’s commentary. The commentary sharply criticizes Taizong’s adoption of the title Celestial Khagan and efforts at dominating the barbarians politically and militarily, including the failed invasion of Goguryeo in 644-645 (see map). The implicit agenda was to dissuade the ambitious Song Emperor Shenzong (r. 1067-1085), a known admirer of Taizong, from waging irredentist wars against the Xi Xia state and the Liao empire.

Like Sima Guang, Fan Zuyu was firmly opposed to the reform program that Shenzong and his chief minister Wang Anshi (1021-1086) had implemented for the sake of raising revenue and solving the Song government’s chronic budget deficit. The reforms, which involved an unprecedented amount of state intervention in local economies, bitterly divided the Song bureaucracy for decades. Many conservative officials believed they ran counter to Ru (Confucian) principles and would impoverish the peasantry. They also suspected that their primary purpose was not to improve the state’s fiscal health but to fund expensive wars of territorial expansion—a suspicion borne out by later events. To the conservatives, the Song state’s stability and security depended on maintaining the existing system of peace treaties with the Xi Xia and Liao, despite the fact that these grated on the Chinese sense of superiority by requiring the Song to pay annual subsidies in silver and silk to its “barbarian” neighbors and recognize the Liao ruler as an equal to the Song emperor, rather than a vassal.

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In the fourth year [of the Zhenguan era] (630), [the Tang] conquered the [Eastern] Türks.¹ The rulers of the barbarians of the four quarters came to the imperial court and asked the emperor to assume the title of Celestial Khagan. The emperor said, “I am the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang; should I now also condescend to perform the lesser role of a khagan?” The ministers and barbarians all chanted wansui (long live the emperor). Thereafter, when the emperor affixed his seal to letters conferred on the rulers of the western and northern peoples, they all read “the Celestial Khagan.”

Commentary: Confucius said, “The barbarians have rulers but are still inferior to Xia states that do not.”² By this he meant that they do not have the ritual propriety that should exist between rulers and ministers. Taizong, as lord of a state with ten thousand chariots³, wanted to be a ruler of barbarians concurrently. Unashamed of bearing this title [of khagan], he accepted [the barbarians’] flattery. This action went against the models of antiquity and does not deserve to be emulated by later ages.

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[Taizong’s] expedition against Goguryeo captured ten cities, including Xuantu (Shenyang, Liaoning), and relocated seventy thousand people from three [newly conquered] prefectures, Liao[zhou], Gai[zhou], and Yan[zhou], into the Central Lands.⁴ In three major battles at Xincheng (Fushun, Liaoning), Jian’an (Gaizhou, Liaoning), and Zhubi (Haicheng, Liaoning), more than forty thousand enemy heads were taken⁵, and nearly three thousand Tang soldiers were killed. 70-80% of the war horses died. The emperor deeply regretted his inability to achieve victory, and said with a sigh, “If Wei Zheng were still alive, he would not have let me go on this campaign.” He sent imperial messengers to make ritual offerings of a sheep and a pig at Wei Zheng’s tomb, and restored the stone stele at the tomb.⁶ He also summoned Wei Zheng’s wife and sons to come to his encampment and conferred gifts on them.

Commentary: Taizong captured Illig (Xieli) Khagan in the north and conquered Gaochang in the west.⁷ The awesome might of his armies extended everywhere, and the barbarians of the four quarters were terrified. But he could not stop indulging in warfare and personally led an attack on Goguryeo. Commanding the army of the whole subcelestial realm, he was frustrated by the resistance of a small barbarian (Yi) state and returned in defeat, his confidence broken. He had personally seen how [Sui] Emperor Yang lost his empire by relentlessly waging war on distant countries, yet he followed in his footsteps. It is my assessment that Taizong’s expedition to Goguryeo was no different from Emperor Yang’s; it is just that the empire escaped descending into chaos and collapse. Taizong could not remain as prudent at the end as he had been at the beginning, nor could he renew his moral charisma daily, yet he wished to achieve greater feats than the five great sage-kings and build a realm larger than those of the founders of the three dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou). That was how he went astray. However, upon realizing his danger, he remembered his honest minister (Wei Zheng); he recognized his error and was able to regret it. That is why he was still a worthy ruler.

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In the sixth month of the twentieth year (646), an edict was issued ordering Li Daozong, the Prince of Jiangxia, to attack the Syr-Yanda (Xueyantuo).⁸ Li Shiji was also sent to secure the surrender of the other [Tegreg (Tiele)] peoples. The emperor composed an edict in his own hand⁹ and personally went to Lingzhou¹⁰ to invite the Tegreg to submit. In the eighth month, Li Daozong attacked the Syr-Yanda and defeated them. The Tegreg peoples all requested permission to come to court. The emperor’s entourage arrived at Fuyang. The Uyghurs [and ten other peoples] all sent envoys to present tribute, and the emperor was greatly pleased. He issued an edict, saying, “The barbarians (Rong-Di) were created along with heaven and earth and coexisted with the great sage-kings of antiquity. They have brought calamity to us since the beginning of our dynasty. With just a small military force, I captured Illig Khagan. As soon as I revealed my strategy, I destroyed the [Syr]-Yanda. More than a million households of the Tegreg, scattered in the far north, have sent their envoys from afar to offer their submission to me, asking to be registered as my subjects and for their lands to be made into prefectures. Something like this has never been heard of since the creation of the world. It should be announced to the imperial ancestors in their temple with the proper ceremonies and proclaimed to the whole world.”

In the ninth month, the emperor arrived at Lingzhou. The Irkins (chiefs) of the Tegreg peoples sent envoys to Lingzhou one after another, several thousands in all.¹¹ The emperor composed a poem to commemorate the occasion, with the lines, “Having avenged my humiliation, I offer a sacrifice to the rulers of the past/Having eliminated the vicious enemy, I report this to the sages of remote antiquity.” The next year, he issued an edict establishing area commands or prefectures over the Uyghurs and other [Tegreg] peoples, with their chiefs as area commanders or prefects. The chiefs requested that a route be opened to the south of the Uyghurs and the north of the [Eastern] Türks, to be called the Route for Paying Court to the Celestial Khagan. The route was to have sixty-six courier stations, each with horses, wine, and meat for traveling envoys who would yearly present a tribute of marten skins in lieu of land taxes. The emperor granted these requests. The entire northern steppe was thus pacified. But the Uyghur [leader] Tumidu had already begun calling himself a Khagan in secret and was giving his subordinates official titles just like those once used by the [Eastern] Türks.

Commentary: … Taizong, having failed to realize his ambitions regarding the eastern Yi (Goguryeo), wished to achieve a success in the far north. Taking advantage of the collapse of the [Syr]-Yanda, he sent an army against them, like a fierce wind shaking a withered tree. Peoples who folded their robes to the left untied their braided hair¹² and submitted to him, and he believed that he had accomplished something unheard of since the creation of the world.

In the past, those who ruled the subcelestial realm all regarded putting caps and sashes on (i.e., civilizing) the barbarians of the four quarters as a sign of great moral authority and a big achievement. Why? I have previously attempted to discuss this, saying:

The Central Lands coexist with the barbarians like day coexists with night, yang with yin, and noble men with inferior men. When governance fails in the Central Lands, then the barbarians of the four quarters invade from all sides. As for how the former kings controlled them, we can learn the basics of this [from the Documents]. Shun said, “Reject sycophants and schemers, and the Man and Yi will come one after another to submit.” It is also said, “[Attend to governance] without idleness and negligence, and the barbarians of the four quarters will all come and acknowledge your sovereignty.”¹³ In that case, to gain the barbarians’ submission and acknowledgement of the emperor’s sovereignty, there is no better way than to reject sycophants and schemers and avoid idleness and negligence. When there is good governance within the realm and peace without, foreign peoples with alien customs will turn to the emperor’s wind-like influence in admiration of his morality. They come of their own accord without being enticed with profit or coerced with military force. Those who wish to submit are treated kindly, and those who do not wish to are not forced against their will. Thus, the state does not burden the people or squander its wealth.

As for rulers in later ages, they either hated the barbarians as enemies and wished to exterminate them, or loved them and wished to invite them in. Both approaches are wrong. Why? Even though they are barbarians, they are no different from the people of the Central Lands in this regard: They seek profit and avoid harm, they wish to live and fear death. How then are they any different from ordinary human beings? A true king nurtures all living things between heaven and earth. He cherishes even animals, grass, and trees. How much less should he wish to destroy human beings? And if it is unacceptable for him to destroy barbarians, how much worse if he fails to defeat them and instead destroys his own people? A humane person would never do that. Only someone like the First Qin Emperor would do it!

The barbarians are separated from us by mountains and rivers and differences in environment (“winds and qi”). Their languages are unintelligible to us and their cravings and desires are different from ours. Even if we conquered their land, it would be inhospitable to us; even if we conquered their people, they would be useless to us. Making prefectures and counties out of such lands is tantamount to seeking empty fame while suffering real losses. Moreover, if we regard conquering them as achievements, then we would have to regard losing them as shameful. Even if the loss of these conquered lands did not happen in our time, it would come in the time of our children and grandchildren. Then there would be the new burden of invading them again and supplying the troops with food. The people would not be able to bear the impositions placed on them, and the state would collapse and fall. That is what happened with Sui Emperor Yang.

Besides, it is not as if the Central Lands are not already vast in territory and population. What can be better than neither gaining nor losing territory and instead working to perfect our institutions of rites and music, government and law, so as to nurture our people with the blessings of good governance? In such a way, the men would have surpluses of grain and the women, surpluses of cloth. There would be no need for weapons and the world would enter an age of Great Peace. Is that not a glorious accomplishment for an emperor?

Thus, we see how difficult it is to seek glory in foreign wars and how easy it is not to do it. Yet rulers frequently reject the easy route and take the difficult one. Why? Because they neglect what is close at hand and take pleasure in what is far off. They grow tired of what is familiar and covet something new. They may escape the fate of the Qin, only to meet the fate of the Sui. Even if they don’t bring their dynasty to destruction, how could their moral authority not be greatly diminished by frequently following such examples?

Taizong boasted about his accomplishments and abilities and his vanity knew no limit. He desired to unite the Hua and barbarians, the center and periphery, into one. This was not the way to bequeath a lasting legacy to his descendants and bring peace to the Central Lands. He should serve as a cautionary tale, not a model to emulate!

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1. In 630, Tang forces launched a surprise attack on the Eastern Türk Illig (Xieli) Khagan, who was at the southern edge of the Gobi Desert negotiating peace with the Tang while struggling to contain a revolt on the steppe. Although Illig Khagan escaped, most of his followers were captured, and he himself was later betrayed and handed over to the Tang. This marked the fall of the first Eastern Türk khaganate and the beginning of a fifty-year period of Tang rule over the Eastern Türks. Note that my reading of the original Turkic form of xieli here follows the conventional reconstruction; Christopher Atwood and Rui Chuanming have proposed an alternative reading as ‘Il. ↩︎
2. See source 1.3. ↩︎
3. A pre-imperial expression meaning a large and powerful state. ↩︎
4. Liaozhou, Gaizhou, and Yanzhou were located in modern Liaoyang, Fushun, and Dengta respectively; each corresponded to a Goguryeo walled city taken by the Tang expedition of 644-645 and then abandoned during its retreat from Liaodong, though the captured populations were forcibly relocated to Tang territory in north China (here references as “the Central Lands”). ↩︎
5. In imperial Chinese warfare, the “body count” for enemy troops was typically recorded as a number of heads taken, as Chinese soldiers used the severed heads of slain enemies to claim rewards and promotions. ↩︎
6. After Wei Zheng’s death in 643, Taizong commissioned a monumental stone stele for his tomb and personally wrote the commemorative inscription. Months later, Taizong learned that Wei had preserved copies of his memorials of remonstrance with the intention of having them published posthumously. Believing that Wei Zheng was apparently seeking fame at the expense of his emperor’s reputation, the image-conscious and egotistical Taizong ordered that the stone stele be toppled. ↩︎
7. In 640, Tang armies conquered the independent kingdom of Gaochang in the Turpan Basin, ruled by the Chinese Qu family. ↩︎
8. In the summer and early autumn of 646 CE, the Syr-Yanda (Xueyantuo) khaganate on the Mongolian steppe collapsed due to a revolt of the other Tegreg (Tiele) peoples under its authority. In a reprise of the collapse of the Eastern Türk khaganate in 627-630, when the Tang had supported the Syr-Yanda and other Tegreg peoples in a revolt against their Türk overlords, Tang armies now attacked the remnants of the Syr-Yanda from their southern flank and hastened their fall. ↩︎
9. This was a reflection of his eagerness and urgency. The edict, as quoted in the Zizhi tongjian, read: “The Syr-Yanda have collapsed and among the other Tegreg peoples, some have come to surrender and others have yet to do so. If we do not seize this opportunity, I fear we will later regret it. I shall personally go to Lingzhou to invite their submission. The troops who served in the expedition to Liaodong (Goguryeo) last year are not to be deployed now.” ↩︎
10. A northern frontier prefecture, corresponding to modern Wuzhong, Ningxia. ↩︎
11. The full account in the Zizhi tongjian claims that on this occasion, the chiefs asked Taizong to again assume the title of Celestial Khagan, pledging themselves and their descendants to be his slaves. ↩︎
12. Allusions to Analects 14.17; see source 1.3. ↩︎
13. These quotes are from the Documents chapters “Shundian” (Canon of Shun) and “Da Yu mo” (Counsels of the Great Yu). ↩︎