Kashgar

Kashgar is the modern name of the oasis that the Chinese call Shule, 疏勒.^[1] It lies at the western end of the Tarim Basin. The northern road of the Han Shu ran from the court of the Former Cheshi king along the Northern Mountains to Shule. West of it the road crossed the Pamirs and led to Dayuan, Kangju and Yancai.^[2]

In Han times

The Han Shu gives Shule a seat at the city of Shule, 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 men under arms.^[2] The Protector of the Western Regions lay 2,210 li to the east. Yarkand lay 560 li to the south.^[2] The Han Shu notes that the state had rows of market stalls, and that it lay on the road to the Great Yuezhi, to Dayuan and to Kangju.^[2]

The products of the oasis

The Wei Shu and the Sui Shu describe Shule under the northern dynasties and the Sui. The capital was five li square. The country held twelve large cities and several dozen small ones, and had 2,000 men under arms. The king wore a crown in the form of a golden lion.^[3]

The country grew rice, millet, hemp and wheat. It produced copper, iron, orpiment and brocade. The Wei Shu adds tin and floss, 綿.^[4] Both histories end the list with the same remark: every year the country regularly supplied these goods to the Turks.^[3] The histories give no quantities and do not say who collected the goods.^[3] The same two histories put the khan’s court a thousand li or more to the northeast of Shule.^[3] They place Kucha 1,500 li to the east.^[3]

The yearly delivery shows what the western Göktürks drew from this oasis: grain, metal and cloth.

Under the Tang

The Xin Tang Shu gives Shule a second name, Qusha. It says that the land was mostly sand and gravel, with little good soil. The king bore the surname Pei and the title amozhi. He lived at the city of Qieshi, and the Göktürks had given him a daughter in marriage. He commanded 2,000 men.^[5] In 635 the king sent famous horses to the Tang court.^[5] The Tibetans broke the state in the years of Yifeng, 676 to 679.^[5] In 728 the Tang court named Anding king of Shule.^[5]

In 719 the court ordered Yanqi, Kucha, Shule and Khotan each to levy duties on the merchants of the Western Regions and to live from them.^[5]