Quli

Quli was a small state on the northern rim of the Tarim Basin. The Han Shu gives it a city commandant, 130 households, 1,480 people and 150 men under arms.^[1] It bordered Yuli to the northeast, Qiemo to the southeast and Jingjue to the south, and it had a river on its west side. The distance to Kucha was 580 li.^[1]

Land and fields

Sang Hongyang called Quli and the neighbouring Jiezhi old states, with wide land and plenty of water and grass.^[1] He counted more than five thousand qing of irrigable fields there. The climate was mild and the soil good. More canals could bring more of it under the plough, and the five grains would ripen at the same time as in China.^[1]

The Han farms

After the war against Dayuan, several hundred field soldiers farmed at Luntai and at Quli. A commissioner and a colonel commanded them.^[1] The colonel Sima Xi and the officer Zheng Ji took freed convicts to Quli, farmed there and stored grain. They used it to campaign against Cheshi.^[1] Zheng Ji returned to Quli after each attack to bring in the harvest, and he drew his field soldiers from it, 1,500 men in all.^[1] After a campaign, the Han moved the people of Cheshi to Quli.^[1]

The Protector-General of the Western Regions later sat at Wulei, 330 li to the north of Quli and close to the field officers there.^[1] The farms of Quli are the starting point of the Han farm colonies in the Tarim Basin.