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贞观元年, when Li Jing defeated the Turkic leader *Xieli*, many tribes surrendered and swore allegiance to the Tang. An imperial decree was issued to discuss strategies for pacifying the northern borders. Zhongshu Ling *Wen Yanbo* advised, "I request that they be settled in the region south of the Yellow River (*Henan*). Following the precedent of the Han dynasty under Emperor Guangwu, when the surrendered Xiongnu were placed near the Wuyuan fortress, keeping their tribes intact so they could serve as our outer shield without altering their native customs and traditions, we can pacify them. Firstly, this will populate and utilize vast, empty lands; secondly, it demonstrates a heart devoid of suspicion. This is the truly inclusive way of nurturing beings." Taizong followed his advice.

Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat *Wei Zheng* argued, "Since antiquity, the Xiongnu have never suffered such utter ruin. This is the annihilation wrought by Heaven and the martial majesty of our ancestral shrines. Furthermore, they have been the historic enemies of the Central Plains, making enemies of ten thousand families. Since Your Majesty accepts their surrender and cannot execute them, you should instead send them north of the Yellow River (*Hebei*) to dwell in their ancestral lands. The Xiongnu have the faces of men but the hearts of beasts; they are not of our kin. When strong, they plunder and pillage; when weak, they grovel and submit. Disregarding grace and duty is their very nature. The Qin and Han dynasties suffered grave anxieties from this very cause, which is why they frequently dispatched fierce generals to strike them and incorporated their southern lands into commanderies. If Your Majesty settles them in the heartland, and now these surrendered peoples number nearly one hundred thousand, within a few years their population will more than double. Living right under our elbows and immediately adjacent to the imperial domain, they will become a disease of the heart and bowels, creating future disasters. It is especially inappropriate to settle them south of the Yellow River."

Wen Yanbo retorted, "In the eyes of the Son of Heaven, all things under heaven are sheltered by the sky and borne by the earth. Those who turn to us must be nourished. Now that the Tujue have been broken and their remaining remnants come in submission, if Your Majesty shows no pity, casting them aside and refusing to take them in, it violates the Way of Heaven and alienates the intentions of the four barbarians. In my humble foolishness, I deem this entirely unacceptable. They should be settled south of the Yellow River. This is what is called bringing the dead back to life and preserving the perished. Cherishing our profound grace, they will ultimately never rebel."

Wei Zheng replied, "During the Jin dynasty, in the time of the Wei, nomadic tribes were allowed to dwell near the commanderies. *Jiang Tong* urged that they be driven beyond the outer passes, but Emperor Wu did not heed his words. A few years later, they overthrew the capitals of *Chan* and *Luoyang*. The overturned carts of previous dynasties are a warning close at hand. If Your Majesty insists on following Yanbo’s counsel and sends them to dwell south of the Yellow River, it is what is known as 'raising a beast that will eventually cause disaster.'"

Yanbo countered, "I have heard that the way of the sage is all-encompassing. The lingering souls of the Tujue have entrusted their lives to us. If we gather them into the interior, teach them rites and laws, select their chieftains, and send them to serve in the imperial guards, fearing our might while cherishing our virtue, what calamity could there be? Moreover, Emperor Guangwu settled the Southern Chanyu within the inner commanderies to serve as a bulwark for Han, enduring for an entire generation without rebellion." He further added, "Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty exhausted his troops and horses, depleted the imperial granaries, and set up a qagan only to command him to restore his state, yet later they forgot this grace and broke faith, besieging Emperor Yang at *Yanmen*. Now Your Majesty is benevolent and generous, allowing them to live wherever they wish—south or north of the Yellow River—each with their own chieftain, independent of one another. With their power and influence thus scattered, how could they ever do harm?"

Giving Shizhong *Du Chuke* stepped forward and said, "The northern barbarians possess human faces yet beastly hearts; it is difficult to win them over with virtue, but easy to subjugate them through might. If we now scatter their tribes across the southern lands, bringing them close to Chinese civilization, they will surely become a disaster in the long run. As for the siege at Yanmen, although the Tujue turned their backs on grace, it was fundamentally because the Sui ruler was devoid of the Dao. The Central Plains fell into chaos because of this; how can one claim that reviving a perished state brought about this calamity? That barbarians must not disrupt China is the clear teaching of past sages; preserving the fallen and continuing the severed lines is the universal rule of all emperors. I fear that if we do not model our actions on antiquity, it will be difficult to sustain them for long."

Taizong praised his words, yet being fully engaged in winning people over with kindness, he did not follow them. Ultimately, he adopted Yanbo's strategy, establishing the Shuo, You, Hua, and Chang prefectural military governor offices from Youzhou to Lingzhou to settle them, with nearly ten thousand households residing in Chang'an alone. Ever since the Tujue leader Xieli was defeated, those tribal chieftains who came to surrender were all appointed as generals and middle-ranking generals, filling the imperial court. More than a hundred of them held official ranks of the fifth grade or higher, numbering almost half as many as the native court officials. Only the *Tuoba* failed to arrive, and missions were repeatedly dispatched to pacify and summon them, with messengers constantly passing each other on the roads.

The Military Governor of Liangzhou, *Li Daliang*, believed this brought no benefit to state affairs and merely wasted Chinese resources. He submitted a memorial stating: "I have heard that those who wish to pacify distant lands must first secure what is close at hand. The common people of the Central Plains are the foundation of the realm, while the peoples of the four barbarian lands are merely like branches and leaves. To disturb the root in order to thicken the branches and leaves while seeking enduring peace—such a thing has never happened. Since antiquity, enlightened kings have governed China with good faith and managed the barbarians with expediency. Therefore, the *Spring and Autumn Annals* states: 'The Rong and Di are like jackals and wolves, they can never be satisfied; the people of the Central Plains are our close kin, they must not be abandoned.'

"Ever since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have deepened the roots and secured the foundation. The people are at ease, the army is strong, the Nine Provinces are prosperous and rich, and the four barbarians have submitted of their own accord. Now, by summoning and bringing in the Tujue—even though they have entered our borders—in my foolish view, it grows increasingly laborious and costly, and I fail to see any benefit. Furthermore, the common folk of the Hexi region, who guard and control the border barbarians, find their prefectures and counties desolate with very few households. Compounded by the chaos of the Sui, their numbers have diminished severely. Before the Tujue were pacified, they could not even pursue their livelihoods in peace, and ever since the Xiongnu weakened, they have only just begun to return to farming. If they are immediately subjected to corvée labor, I fear it will cause further damage and depletion. In my foolish confusion, I request that the pacification missions be halted. Moreover, those referred to as the remote frontier regions ought to remain subjects from afar without being incorporated.

"Hence, the Zhou dynasty loved the people and repelled the barbarians, thereby extending its reign to eight hundred years; the King of Qin took warfare lightly and engaged with the Hu, thus perishing in forty years. Emperor Wen of Han maintained a standing army in quiet defense, bringing peace and abundance to the world; Emperor Wu brandished his military might and pursued distant campaigns, leaving the realm hollowed out. Though he later regretted the *Luntai* edict, it was already too late to catch up. As for the Sui dynasty, they acquired *Yiwu* early on and also controlled *Shanshan*. Yet after acquiring them, the labor and expenses grew daily worse; hollowing out the interior to sustain the exterior ultimately resulted in useless harm. Looking back at the Qin and Han, and observing the Sui close at hand, the principles of action, rest, security, and danger are brilliantly manifest.

"Although Yiwu has already surrendered and become a vassal, it lies far away among the border sands. Its people are not of Chinese stock, and its lands are largely saline deserts. To those who set themselves up as vassals and tributaries, we should receive them with a loose rein, letting them dwell beyond the borders. They will surely fear our might while cherishing our virtue, remaining border vassals forever—this is performing a nominal favor while reaping substantial rewards.

"Recently, the Tujue came to court with their entire nation. Since we could not capture them and relocate them to the Huai River region to alter their customs, we instead settled them in the interior, not far from the capital. Although this demonstrates the virtue of magnanimity and leniency, it is hardly a plan for long-term security. Whenever a single person first surrenders, they are bestowed with five bolts of silk and a robe; the chieftains are all granted high offices, enjoying heavy salaries and noble positions, which naturally entails heavy expenditures. To use the taxes and grain of the Central Plains to feed a host of deeply wicked and savage captives—as their numbers increase, this can never be of benefit to China." Taizong did not accept this.

In the thirteenth year, Taizong visited the *Jiucheng Palace*. The younger brother of *Tuli Qagan*, Middle-ranking General *Ashina Jiesheshuai*, secretly conspired with his tribal members and rallied Tuli’s son, *Heluogu*, to launch a nighttime raid on the imperial encampment. The plot failed, and all involved were arrested and executed. From then on, Taizong felt no sense of justice toward the Tujue, regretting that he had settled their tribes within China. He returned their former tribes to the lands north of the Yellow River, established his royal standard at the ancient city of *Dingxiang*, and appointed *Li Simo* as the *Yimi Nishu Shelibi Qagan* to rule over them.

He then said to his attending officials, "The common people of the Central Plains are truly the foundation of the realm, while the peoples of the four barbarians are like the branches and leaves. To disturb the foundation in order to thicken the branches and leaves while seeking enduring peace—such a thing has never been heard of. At first, I did not accept Wei Zheng's words, and consequently I have found the toil and expense growing worse by the day, nearly losing the path to enduring peace."

In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan, after *Hou Junji* pacified *Gaochang*, Taizong wished to transform its territory into prefectures and counties. Wei Zheng remonstrated, "When Your Majesty first ascended the throne, the King of Gaochang was the first to come and pay court. Ever since then, merchant Hu have repeatedly claimed that he cut off tribute and, moreover, showed discourtesy toward the imperial decrees and envoys, which led to the punitive expedition being launched against him. If his crimes went no further than *Qu Wentai*, punishing him alone would have sufficed. It would have been far better to pacify his people while establishing his son as ruler—what is known as punishing the guilty while sympathizing with the people, spreading martial might and virtue to the farthest reaches—which is the finest way to govern a state. Now, if we covet their soil to set up prefectures and counties, we will constantly need over a thousand men stationed there for defense, rotating every few years.

"Every time they travel back and forth for relief shifts, thirteen or fourteen out of every ten die. We must dispatch provisions and clothing, parting them from their families and relatives. Ten years from now, the *Longyou* region will be completely hollowed out, and Your Majesty will ultimately fail to gain even a foot of grain or an inch of cloth from Gaochang to aid China. This is what is called scattering useful things to serve useless ends; I fail to see the wisdom in this."

Taizong did not follow this advice and ultimately established *Xizhou* on that territory, designating Xizhou as the *Anxi Protectorate-General*, dispatching over a thousand men every year to guard and defend the region. Minister of the Imperial Secretariat *Chu Suiliang* also deemed it unacceptable and submitted a memorial: "I have heard that when ancient wise sovereigns ascended the throne and enlightened kings founded enterprises, they invariably prioritized China over the barbarians, spreading virtue and transformation rather than concerning themselves with distant wildernesses. Thus, King Xuan of Zhou undertook minor military campaigns only to return upon reaching the border; the First Emperor of Qin established distant frontier posts, causing China to split apart. Your Majesty destroyed Gaochang, extending your majesty to the Western Regions, netting those leviathans to establish prefectures and counties.

"However, in the year the imperial army first set out, during the period when Hexi supplied corvée labor, provisions were flown and grain was hauled, leaving nine out of ten households empty. Several commanderies were reduced to desolation, unable to recover even after five years. Your Majesty dispatches over a thousand men every year to serve on distant garrison duty, separated for the entire year, longing for home over ten thousand miles away. Those who depart must supply their own traveling gear, selling their millet and beans, and exhausting their looms. Deaths along the journey occur beyond counting. Furthermore, sending criminals to reinforce the garrisons leads to frequent desertions among the dispatched; when official authorities hunt them down, it creates endless troubles for the state.

"The roads to Gaochang cross a thousand miles of drifting sands; the winter winds are piercingly cold, and the summer winds burn like fire. Travelers who encounter them frequently perish. The *Book of Changes* states: 'In times of peace, do not forget danger; in times of order, do not forget chaos.' Suppose dust rises at *Zhangye* and beacon fires are lit at *Jiuquan*—would Your Majesty truly be able to obtain a single peck of grain from Gaochang in time to meet the emergency? You would inevitably have to mobilize the various prefectures of Longyou, striking with the speed of stars and lightning. Viewed in this light, the Hexi region is like our chest and heart, whereas Gaochang is merely someone else's hands and feet. How can we exhaust the resources of China to serve a useless end?

"When Your Majesty pacified Xieli in the sandy deserts and destroyed the Tuyuhun at the Western Sea, you established a qagan for the remaining Tujue remnants and set up chieftains for the surviving Tuyuhun. Re-establishing Gaochang would not be without precedent—this is what is called punishing the guilty when they err, yet preserving them once they submit. We should select a worthy candidate from Gaochang, summon their chieftains, and send them back to their native country so they may bear the burden of our immense grace and remain border bulwarks forever. China will remain undisturbed, both prosperous and peaceful, passing it down to our children and grandchildren to bestow upon future generations." When the memorial was submitted, it was not accepted.

In the sixteenth year, the Western Tujue dispatched troops to raid Xizhou. Taizong said to his attending officials, "I hear there is an emergency in Xizhou. Though it is not enough to cause grave harm, how can we not be worried? In the past when we first pacified Gaochang, Wei Zheng and Chu Suiliang urged me to establish the sons and younger brothers of Qu Wentai to continue their state as before, but I ultimately rejected their counsel. Today, I find myself regretting and reproaching myself for it.

"In former times, Emperor Gaozu of Han suffered the siege at *Pingcheng* yet rewarded *Lou Jing*, and Yuan Shao was defeated at Guandu yet executed *Tian Feng*. I have constantly kept these two matters in mind as warnings—how could I ever forget what I said!"