After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu, the four counties established in the Hexi area were

The Four Counties in Hexi

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the agricultural areas under the jurisdiction of the Western Han government were often harassed by the Xiongnu and Western Qiang to the north and west of the Great Wall, especially the Xiongnu. They harassed, killed and injured border residents, robbed property, destroyed agricultural production, and plundered border residents as slaves. At the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to fight against the Xiongnu with the country and the Communist Party, he sent Zhang Qian and Ganfu (minority minorities) to fight against the Huns. The purpose of envoying the Western Regions was to unite the Dayue clan. Since the Dayue clan had already established their country in Daxia at this time and were unwilling to return to their hometown to become enemies of the Huns, the purpose of uniting the Dayue clan was not achieved. After Zhang Qian's second mission to the Western Regions, , only then did they gradually achieve the goal of uniting Wusun and other agricultural countries south of the Tianshan Mountains to fight against the Xiongnu.

The Han Dynasty established a large agricultural area north of the Great Wall for reclamation, border garrison, and immigration reclamation. In 121 BC, King Kunxie and King Xiutu of the Xiongnu who were nomadic in the Hexi area surrendered to the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty granted Kunxie the title of Marquis of Yuanyin, and four of his subordinates were granted the title of Liehou. More than 40,000 of his tribe were They were placed in Longxi, Beidi, Shangjun, Shuofang, and Yunzhong, and were called the Wuhu Kingdom. According to "Hanshu Geography", in 104 BC, the Western Han government established Jiuquan County and Zhangye County, and in 101 BC it established Wuwei County. , Dunhuang County was established in 88 BC. According to the "Book of Han: The Chronicles of Emperor Wu", in the second year of Yuanshou (121 BC), King Hunxie descended and the area was named Wuwei and Jiuquan County; in the sixth year of Yuanding (111 BC), Zhangye and Dunhuang counties are divided into two counties. After consulting relevant historical data, it was later said to be more reliable. According to the records of "Hanshu Geography") the household registration numbers of the four counties in Hexi are as follows:

Place name, number of households, number of people, county under jurisdiction Number of plains and river basins to which they belong

Dunhuang 11200 38355 6 Dunhuang Plain Shule River

Jiuquan 18137 76726 9 Jiuquan Plain Heihe

Wuwei 17581 76419 10 Yongchang Plain Stone Sheep River

Zhangye 24352 88731 10 Zhangye Plain Heihe

Total 71270 280231 35

Among the more than 70,000 households and more than 280,000 people, they are mainly Han immigrants. In 121 BC, "Han Naizi set up Jiuquan County in the former home of King Hunxie, and immigrated a few people to enrich it." In 111 BC, "The land of Wucheng and Jiuquan was divided into Zhangye and Dunhuang counties, and the people were immigrated to substantiate it. 107 BC In 1998, "the Wudu clan rebelled and moved to Jiuquan." In 102 BC, "prisoners were pardoned, and young men and side riders who committed crimes were pardoned, and 60,000 people left Dunhuang after their age." "In addition, 180,000 Wujia soldiers were sent to Jiuquan and Zhangye. north. After setting up Juyan and Xiu, he stationed troops to defend Jiuquan. "In 91 BC, "he sent troops with the crown prince of Wei,... all the officials and officials moved to Dunhuang County."