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决战的世界史：西方人怎么看怛逻斯之战？
按：2021年8月，值怛逻斯之战爆发1270周年，翻译一篇波士顿大学历史学博士的文章，忠实于原文，对文中的若干讹误补充说明，配图和浅灰色字体部分为后所加，原文无。
The Battle of Talas
By Kallie Szczepanski
History Expert
Ph.D., History, Boston University
J.D., University of Washington School of Law
B.A., History, Western Washington University
Dr. Kallie Szczepanski is a history teacher specializing in Asian history and culture. She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea.
OUR EDITORIAL PROCESS
Updated October 24, 2019
Few people today have even heard of the Battle of Talas River. Yet this little-known skirmish between the army of Imperial Tang China and the Abbasid Arabs had important consequences, not just for China and Central Asia, but for the entire world.
今天已经很少有人听说过发生在怛逻斯河畔的战斗了，尽管这场唐帝国和阿拔斯阿拉伯之间鲜为人知的小规模冲突对后世有着深远的影响，这种影响不仅仅对于中国和中亚，而是对于整个世界。
Eighth century Asia was an ever-shifting mosaic of different tribal and regional powers, fighting for trade rights, political power and/or religious hegemony. The era was characterized by a dizzying array of battles, alliances, double-crosses and betrayals.
八世纪亚洲各个国家像变幻无常的马赛克附属于不同种姓部落和地区强权，为商道归属，政治权力和宗教霸权而混战。这个时代就像集数众多的《权利的游戏》一样，充斥着让人眼花缭乱的战斗，结盟，反复无常和背叛。
At the time, nobody could have known that one particular battle, which took place on the banks of the Talas River in present-day Kyrgyzstan, would halt the Arab and Chinese advances in Central Asia and fix the boundary between Buddhist/Confucianist Asia and Muslim Asia.
在当时，无人知晓这场发生在怛逻斯河畔的特殊战斗将阻遏阿拉伯和中国在中亚地区的扩张，并确定佛教徒/儒信徒和穆斯林之间的界线，怛逻斯之战发生在今天的吉尔吉斯斯坦的怛逻斯河岸。
图中Тараз是今天哈萨克斯坦的怛拉斯，Суяб为碎叶城，Узкенд为乌兹根（Uzgen，），Шаш是今天乌兹别克斯坦的首都塔什干 （Tashken），Кашгар为新疆喀什。红圈里的国家 tтюргешский каганат是，即突骑施（Türgesh）汗国；红圈左边三个国家：Кангары是Kangar union康居联盟，Согд是粟特，Арабы是阿拉伯；红圈右边Карлуки是葛逻禄（karluks）； Уйгуры是回纥人（Uyghur people）。
None of the combatants could have predicted that this battle would be instrumental in transmitting a key invention from China to the western world: the art of paper-making, a technology that would alter world history forever.
没有参战者能预料到这场战斗使得中国重要的发明物传播到西方，譬如造纸术，这是一项永久改变世界历史的技术，怛逻斯之战促使造纸术西传。
Background to the Battle
For some time, the powerful Tang Empire (618-906) and its predecessors had been expanding Chinese influence in Central Asia.
强大的唐朝和他的前任王朝一度将中国的影响力推进到中亚。
China used "soft power" for the most part, relying upon a series of trade agreements and nominal protectorates rather than military conquest to control Central Asia. The most troublesome foe faced by the Tang from 640 forward was the powerful Tibetan Empire, established by Songtsan Gampo.
中国在中亚大部分地区运用软实力而不是军事征服，依赖一系列贸易条款和羁縻统治。从公元640年开始，唐的敌人，最大的麻烦制造者是来自松赞干布建立的吐蕃帝国。
Control of what is now Xinjiang, Western China, and neighboring provinces went back and forth between China and Tibet throughout the seventh and eighth centuries. China also faced challenges from the Turkic Uighurs in the northwest, the Indo-European Turfans, and the Lao/Thai tribes on China's southern borders.
在公元七至八世纪，中国为控制今新疆地区和邻近省份，和吐蕃展开了激烈的角逐，中国同样面临着来自西北方向的突厥回纥人，吐鲁番的印欧人，和南方边境的老挝/泰国人各种势力的挑战。
The Rise of the Arabs
While the Tang were occupied with all these adversaries, a new superpower rose in the Middle East.
正当唐逐一控制了这些对手，一个新兴的超级大国在中东崛起。
The Prophet Muhammad died in 632, and the Muslim faithful under the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750) soon brought vast areas under their sway. From Spain and Portugal in the west, across North Africa and the Middle East, and on to the oasis cities of Merv, Tashkent, and Samarkand in the east, the Arab conquest spread with astonishing speed.
先知穆罕默德死于632年，在倭马亚王朝将穆斯林信仰带到了其统治的广大区域。从西边的西班牙葡萄牙，跨过北非中东，直达东方的绿洲城市木鹿，塔什肯特，撒马尔罕，阿拉伯人的征服速度令人目瞪口呆。
China's interests in Central Asia went back at least to 97 B.C., when the Han Dynasty general Ban Chao led an army of 70,000 as far as Merv (in what is now Turkmenistan), in pursuit of bandit tribes that preyed on early Silk Road caravans.
中国在中亚的利益诉求可以上溯到至少公元前97年，汉朝将军班超率领七万大军远征至木鹿，位于今天土库曼斯坦的城市，这样是为了打击那些袭击丝路商旅的强盗们。
按：《资治通鉴 卷二十二》天汉四年，公元前九七年，发天下七科讁及勇敢士，遣贰师将军李广利将骑六万、步兵七万出朔方。作者此处引用史料风马牛不相及，暌违史实甚也，中国历代用兵，未尝远至土库曼斯坦的木鹿城。
China also had long courted trade relations with the Sassanid Empire in Persia, as well as their predecessors the Parthians. The Persians and Chinese had collaborated to quell rising Turkic powers, playing different tribal leaders off of one another.
中国长期以来，设法寻求和波斯萨珊帝国之间展开贸易，就像和萨珊王朝兴起之前的帕提亚王朝之间的贸易一样，波斯和中国联合起来抵消正在崛起的突厥势力，突厥人在不同的部落之间担当领袖。
In addition, the Chinese had a long history of contacts with the Sogdian Empire, centered in modern-day Uzbekistan.
而且，中国和粟特帝国有着长期的联系，粟特帝国主要在今天的乌兹别克斯坦。
Early Chinese/Arab Conflicts
Inevitably, the lightning-quick expansion by the Arabs would clash with China's established interests in Central Asia.
阿拉伯人闪电般的扩张不可避免地与中国在中亚的势力范围产生冲突
In 651, the Umayyads captured the Sassanian capital at Merv and executed the king, Yazdegerd III. From this base, they would go on to conquer Bukhara, the Ferghana Valley, and as far east as Kashgar (on the Chinese/Kyrgyz border today).
公元651年，倭马亚王朝占领了萨珊波斯王朝在木鹿的首都，处死了末代沙阿Yazdegerd 三世（对应汉文史籍中的伊嗣候），并以木鹿为基地，占领布哈拉，费尔干纳盆地，甚至远达喀什。
Yazdegerd III 银币，夏鼐先生1974年发表的《综述中国出土的波斯萨珊朝银币》一文中，这种银币曾经在吐鲁番阿斯塔纳墓出土3枚
News of Yazdegard's fate was carried to the Chinese capital of Chang'an (Xian) by his son Firuz, who fled to China after the fall of Merv. Firuz later became a general of one of China's armies, and then governor of a region centered at modern-day Zaranj, Afghanistan.
木鹿城陷落后，Yazdegard 三世（伊嗣候）之子Firuz王子（对应汉文中的卑路斯王子）逃亡中国，向长安的宫廷传达了其父之死的消息，之后卑路斯王子成为一支中国军队的将领，之后成为今阿富汗Zaranj地区的统治者。
661~663年间在疾陵城设置波斯都督府，为今阿富汗的Zaranj，2021年8月6日，Zaranj被塔利班攻陷，
In 715, the first armed clash between the two powers occurred in the Ferghana Valley of Afghanistan.
公元715年，唐与阿拉伯的第一次武装冲突在阿富汗的费尔干纳谷地爆发。
The Arabs and Tibetans deposed King Ikhshid and installed a man named Alutar in his place. Ikhshid asked China to intervene on his behalf, and the Tang sent an army of 10,000 to overthrow Alutar and reinstate Ikhshid.
阿拉伯和吐蕃废黜了伊赫希德王，立阿了达为拔汗那王，伊赫希德王请求中国调停，恢复其王位，唐发兵一万，推翻了阿了达王,扶植伊赫希德王重登王位。
按：《资治通鉴 卷二百一十一》开元三年，公元七一五年记载，枝汗那者，古乌孙也，内附岁久。吐蕃与大食共立阿了达为王，发兵攻之，枝汗那王兵败，奔安西求救。张孝嵩谓都护吕休璟曰："不救则无以号令西域。"遂帅旁侧戎落兵万馀人，出龟兹西数千里，下数百城，长驱而进。是月，攻阿了达于连城。孝嵩自擐甲督士卒急攻，自巳至酉，屠其三城，俘斩千馀级，阿了达与数骑逃入山谷。孝嵩传檄诸国，威振西域，大食、康居、大宛、罽宾等八国皆遣使请降。勒石纪功而还。会有言其赃污者，坐系凉州狱，贬灵州兵曹参军。
Two years later, an Arab/Tibetan army besieged two cities in the Aksu region of what is now Xinjiang, western China. The Chinese sent an army of Qarluq mercenaries, who defeated the Arabs and Tibetans and lifted the siege.
两年后，一支阿拉伯吐蕃军队包围了阿克苏地区的两座城市，中国派遣了一支葛逻禄雇佣军，打败了阿拉伯吐蕃人，并解除了包围。
按：《资治通鉴 卷二百一十一》开元五年，公元七一七年记载，安西副大都护汤嘉惠奏突骑施引大食、吐蕃，谋取四镇，围钵换及大石城，已发三姓葛逻禄兵与阿史那献击之。
《读史方舆纪要 卷六十五 》拨换城在龟兹国西。唐贞观二十二年，阿史那社尔败龟兹兵，拔其都城。其王布失毕西走，遣将追之，行六百里，布失毕窘急，保拨换城。社尔攻拔之，并下五大城，降者七十余城。又咸亨元年，吐蕃袭陷龟兹拨换城。景龙二年，突骑施婆葛入寇，分道出安西、拨换、焉耆、疏勒，袭败唐兵于计舒河口。开元六年，突骑施酋长苏禄谋取四镇，围拨换城。十年，高仙芝讨小勃律，自安西过拨换城，入握瑟德，是也。一名威戎城。《唐书》：安西府西出拓厥关，渡白马河四百余里，即至拨换城。
《新唐书 地理志》大石城，一曰于祝，曰温肃州，位于今新疆塔里木盆地西北边缘的乌什县。
In 750 the Umayyad Caliphate fell, overthrown by the more aggressive Abbasid Dynasty.
公元750年，倭马亚王朝覆灭，被更具侵略性的阿拔斯王朝取代。
The Abbasids
From their first capital at Harran, Turkey, the Abbasid Caliphate set out to consolidate power over the sprawling Arab Empire built by the Umayyads. One area of concern was the eastern borderlands - the Ferghana Valley and beyond.
从首次定都土耳其的Harran（靠近叙利亚边境）开始，阿拔斯王朝的哈里发开始通过扩张阿拉伯帝国巩固其权力，其中一个备受关注的地区便是东方的边界，费尔干纳谷地以及更远的地区。
The Arab forces in eastern Central Asia with their Tibetan and Uighur allies were led by the brilliant tactician, General Ziyad ibn Salih. China's western army was headed by Governor-General Kao Hsien-chih (Go Seong-ji), an ethnic-Korean commander. It was not unusual at that time for foreign or minority officers to command Chinese armies because the military was considered an undesirable career path for ethnic Chinese noblemen.
中亚东部的阿拉伯军队和他们的吐蕃回纥联军由天才的战术家赛德 伊本 萨里赫将军领导，中国西域军队由高丽人高仙芝任指挥官。在那个时代，由外国或者少数族裔指挥军队是一种普遍做法，因为从军对中国的贵族们来说是一种不受欢迎的上升通道。
Appropriately enough, the decisive clash at Talas River was precipitated by another dispute in Ferghana.
恰逢其时地，费尔干纳地区另一桩冲突引爆了怛拉斯河决定性的冲突。
In 750, the king of Ferghana had a border dispute with the ruler of neighboring Chach. He appealed to the Chinese, who sent General Kao to assist Ferghana's troops.
公元750年，费尔干纳地区的拔汗那王和邻邦石国产生边界争议，拔汗那王请求中国人的援助，因而高仙芝被派往该地区援助拔汗那王的军队。
Kao besieged Chach, offered the Chachan king safe passage out of his capital, then reneged and beheaded him. In a mirror-image parallel to what had happened during the Arab conquest of Merv in 651, the Chachan king's son escaped and reported the incident to Abbasid Arab governor Abu Muslim at Khorasan.
高仙芝包围了石国,以保证其国王车鼻师的旅程安全将其驱逐出都城，继而反悔将其斩首，作为651年阿拉伯占领木鹿城后续事件的镜鉴，车鼻师之子逃走并向阿拔斯阿拉伯帝国呼罗珊地区长官阿布穆斯林（对应汉文史料中的並波悉林）报告此事。
天宝九载，讨石国，其王车鼻施约降，高仙芝遣使者护送至开远门，为俘献阙下，于是西域皆怨。
另：《唐会要 卷一百》大食条记载，摩诃末后十四代。至末换。末换杀其兄伊疾而自立。复残忍。其下怨之。有呼罗珊末粗人并波悉林举义兵。应者悉令着皂衣。旬日间。众盛数万。鼓行而西。擒末换杀之。遂求得夷深种阿蒲罗拔立之。自后末换以前。种人谓之白衣大食。自阿蒲罗拔以后。改为黑衣大食。
Abu Muslim rallied his troops at Merv and marched to join Ziyad ibn Salih's army further east. The Arabs were determined to teach General Kao a lesson... and incidentally, to assert Abbasid power in the region.
阿布穆斯林（並波悉林）在木鹿集结他的部队，汇合赛德 伊本 萨里赫的部队进军至更东之地，阿拉伯人决定给高仙芝一个教训，顺便在此地区昭示阿拔斯王朝的权力。
按：747年並波悉林清除了倭马亚王朝在木鹿地区的势力，成为阿拔斯王朝的呼罗珊地总督，怛逻斯之战，並波悉林派遣他的部下Ziyad ibn Salih。
The Battle of Talas River
In July of 751, the armies of these two great empires met at Talas, near the modern-day Kyrgyz/Kazakh border.
公元751年7月，两大帝国的军队在怛逻斯河畔相遇，地点靠近今天吉尔吉斯斯坦和哈萨克斯坦边境。
Chinese records state that the Tang army was 30,000 strong, while Arab accounts put the number of Chinese at 100,000. The total number of Arab, Tibetan and Uighur warriors is not recorded, but theirs was the larger of the two forces.
中国文献记载唐军人数为3万，而阿拉伯方面报告中国军队达到10万。阿拉伯吐蕃回纥联军的武士人数没有记录，但他们是更强大的一方。
For five days, the mighty armies clashed.
五天的战斗里，强有力的军队碰撞在一起。
When the Qarluq Turks came in on the Arab side several days into the fighting, the Tang army's doom was sealed. Chinese sources imply that the Qarluqs had been fighting for them, but treacherously switched sides midway through the battle.
战斗开始后的几天，葛逻禄突厥人倒戈向阿拉伯一方，注定了唐军的厄运，中国史料暗示葛逻禄曾为他们而战，但战斗中途背叛了他们。
Arab records, on the other hand, indicate that the Qarluqs were already allied with the Abbasids prior to the conflict. The Arab account seems more likely since the Qarluqs suddenly mounted a surprise attack on the Tang formation from the rear.
另一方面，根据阿拉伯人的记录，葛逻禄人在战斗开始前已经和阿拔斯军队结盟，阿拉伯人的记载看起来更可靠，因为葛逻禄人在唐军后方发起突袭。
Some modern Chinese writings about the battle still exhibit a sense of outrage at this perceived betrayal by one of the Tang Empire's minority peoples. Whatever the case, the Qarluq attack signaled the beginning of the end for Kao Hsien-chih's army.
现今某些中国人陈述这场战斗时仍然对唐帝国少数族裔的背叛而愤慨不已。不管怎样，葛逻禄的攻击标志着高仙芝大军开始土崩瓦解。
Of the tens of thousands the Tang sent into battle, only a small percentage survived. Kao Hsien-chih himself was one of the few who escaped the slaughter; he would live just five years more, before being put on trial and executed for corruption. In addition to the tens of thousands of Chinese killed, a number were captured and taken back to Samarkand (in modern-day Uzbekistan) as prisoners of war.
数万唐军参加了这场战斗，只有少部分幸存，高仙芝是少数逃出生天的幸存者之一，之后他只活了五年多的时间，最终因为腐败贪污遭到审判而处决。数万中国人被杀，其中一部分被俘虏，作为囚犯送往撒马尔罕。
The Abbassids could have pressed their advantage, marching into China proper. However, their supply lines were already stretched to the breaking point, and sending such a huge force over the eastern Hindu Kush mountains and into the deserts of western China was beyond their capacity.
黑衣大食可能继续发挥他们的优势，向中国本土进军，然而，他们的补给线已经达到了极限，穿越兴都库什山进入中国西部的沙漠，运送大规模军队已经超出了他们的能力了。
Despite the crushing defeat of Kao's Tang forces, the Battle of Talas was a tactical draw. The Arabs' eastward advance was halted, and the troubled Tang Empire turned its attention from Central Asia to rebellions on its northern and southern borders.
尽管给予高仙芝的唐军以毁灭性的打击，怛逻斯之战在战术上只是一个平局。阿拉伯高歌东进的势头停止了，麻烦缠身的唐帝国把注意力从中亚转向其边疆的叛乱活动。
Consequences of the Battle of Talas
At the time of the Battle of Talas, its significance was not clear. Chinese accounts mention the battle as part of the beginning of the end of the Tang Dynasty.
怛逻斯河激战之时，并不明确其重要意义，中国人只是把它作为唐王朝倾覆的开端的一部分来记录这场战斗。
That same year, the Khitan tribe in Manchuria (northern China) defeated the imperial forces in that region, and Thai/Lao peoples in what is now Yunnan province in the south revolted as well. The An Shi Revolt of 755-763, which was more of a civil war than a simple revolt, further weakened the empire.
怛逻斯之战的同年，契丹部落在满洲击败了帝国军队，同时泰/老挝人在云南发动叛乱。接下来的安史之乱，是比小规模叛乱更致命的内战，搞垮了帝国。
By 763, the Tibetans were able to seize the Chinese capital at Chang'an (now Xian).
763年，吐蕃人能够占领中国首都长安。
With so much turmoil at home, the Chinese had neither the will nor the power to exert much influence past the Tarim Basin after 751.
在本土历经如此多的混乱灾难，751年之后，中国在没有意愿和能力越过塔里木盆地施加其影响力。
For the Arabs, too, this battle marked an unnoticed turning point. The victors are supposed to write history, but in this case, (despite the totality of their victory), they did not have much to say for some time after the event.
对阿拉伯人而言也一样，这场战斗是不被人注意的转折点，战胜的一方理应书写历史，尽管他们是胜利的一方，他们事后并没有说什么。
Barry Hoberman points out that the ninth-century Muslim historian al-Tabari (839 to 923) never even mentions the Battle of Talas River.
Barry Hoberman 指出，9世纪的穆斯林历史学家al-Tabari 从未提到这场战斗。
al-Tabari公元839年出生于伊朗的 Amol，923年在巴格达去世。
It's not until half a millennium after the skirmish that Arab historians take note of Talas, in the writings of Ibn al-Athir (1160 to 1233) and al-Dhahabi (1274 to 1348).
直到怛逻斯之战五百年之后，阿拉伯历史学家Ibn al-Athir (1160 to 1233) 、al-Dhahabi (1274 to 1348)才记载了这场战斗。
Nevertheless, the Battle of Talas had important consequences. The weakened Chinese Empire was no longer in any position to interfere in Central Asia, so the influence of the Abbassid Arabs grew.
虽然如此，怛逻斯之战有深远的影响，虚弱的中华帝国不能够再干涉中亚，与此同时阿拔斯王朝增强了其影响力。
Some scholars quibble that too much emphasis is placed on the role of Talas in the "Islamification" of Central Asia.
一些学者辩称过分强调了怛拉斯之战在中亚伊斯兰化中的作用。
It is certainly true that the Turkic and Persian tribes of Central Asia did not all immediately convert to Islam in August of 751. Such a feat of mass communication across the deserts, mountains, and steppes would have been utterly impossible before modern mass communications, even if the Central Asian peoples were uniformly receptive to Islam.
显而易见，751年八月，中亚的突厥和波斯部落并非直接全部改宗伊斯兰教，宗教征服的壮举在现代大众传媒出现之前是完全不可能的，就算中亚各族群一致皈依伊斯兰教，穿越浩瀚沙漠 崇山峻岭 茫茫草原这些地理障碍也使得直接皈依伊斯兰教不可能。
Nonetheless, the absence of any counterweight to the Arab presence allowed Abbassid influence to spread gradually throughout the region.
尽管如此，缺乏对阿拉伯力量的制衡势力，导致了阿拔斯王朝的影响力在这一地区慢慢扩散。
Within the next 250 years, most of the formerly Buddhist, Hindu, Zoroastrian, and Nestorian Christian tribes of Central Asia had become Muslim.
接下来的250年里，中亚部落中大部分的佛教徒，印度教徒，琐罗亚斯德教徒，聂斯托利亚教徒变为穆斯林。
Most significant of all, among the prisoners of war captured by the Abbassids after the Battle of Talas River, were a number of skilled Chinese artisans, including Tou Houan. Through them, first the Arab world and then the rest of Europe learned the art of paper-making. (At that time, the Arabs controlled Spain and Portugal, as well as North Africa, the Middle East, and large swaths of Central Asia.)
最重要的影响是，怛逻斯之战后阿拔斯王朝俘获的囚犯里有一大批手艺精良的工匠，包括杜环。通过这些工匠，阿拉伯世界和欧洲世界首次学习到了造纸术。
Soon, paper-making factories sprang up in Samarkand, Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, Delhi... and in 1120 the first European paper mill was established in Xativa, Spain (now called Valencia). From these Arab-dominated cities, the technology spread to Italy, Germany, and across Europe.
很快，造纸作坊像雨后春笋一样出现在撒马尔罕 巴格达 大马士革 开罗 德里.....1120年，欧洲第一家造纸坊在西班牙的瓦伦西亚建成，从这些阿拉伯人统治的城市，造纸技术传播到意大利 德国乃至欧洲。
The advent of paper technology, along with woodcut printing and later movable-type printing, fueled the advances in science, theology, and history of Europe's High Middle Ages, which ended only with the coming of the Black Death in the 1340s.
造纸术的出现，伴随着伐木印刷术和随后的可移动的印刷术，促进了欧洲中世纪核心时期的科学 神学 历史的繁荣发展，这些成就随着1340年的黑死病戛然而止。
以下是哈萨克斯坦塔拉兹（即怛逻斯）的风景：
Sources
"The Battle of Talas," Barry Hoberman. Saudi Aramco World, pp. 26-31 (Sept/Oct 1982).
"A Chinese Expedition across the Pamirs and Hindukush, A.D. 747," Aurel Stein. The Geographic Journal, 59:2, pp. 112-131 (Feb. 1922).
Gernet, Jacque, J. R. Foster (trans.), Charles Hartman (trans.). "A History of Chinese Civilization," (1996).
Oresman, Matthew. "Beyond the Battle of Talas: China's Re-emergence in Central Asia." Ch. 19 of "In the tracks of Tamerlane: Central Asia's path to the 21st Century," Daniel L. Burghart and Theresa Sabonis-Helf, eds. (2004).
Titchett, Dennis C. (ed.). "The Cambridge History of China: Volume 3, Sui and T'ang China, 589-906 AD, Part One," (1979).