아프라시아브 궁전지 벽화의 ‘조우관사절(鳥羽冠使節)’이 사마르칸트[康國]로 간 원인, 과정 및 시기에 대한 고찰

Abstract

This is a study of the “Embassy Officials with Feathers in Their Hats” image that appears on the wall painting at the Afrasiab Palace Site in Samarkand, and focuses on the embassy’s travel to Samarkand, the cause, the process, and the times. First we examined why in the middle of the seventh century were embassies of Goguryeo(高句麗) dispatched, what was the situation, and when did the Tang(唐) Empire install Varkhumān(拂呼縵), the king of Samarkand, as one of its governors(Kangju–Dudu 康居都督). At that time, Samarkand was under the powerful dictatorship of the Khanate of the Western Tü–chüeh(西突厥可汗國), which extended its territory from early 552 until its collapse in 657, spreading its influence and potential power to Sogdiana. The galvanizing of the relationship between Samarkand and the Tang Empire through tribute was immediately followed by the collapse of the first khanate of the Tü–chüeh(突厥第一可汗國) in 630. A few decades later, the ruling power of the Khanate of the Western Tü–chüeh was returned to the Tang Empire after 657. That was confirmed by the so–called “loose–reign control”(羈縻支配) by the Tang Empire in 658, that installed Varkhumān, the king of Samarkand, as a governor. At that time, however, the control of the Tang Empire over Samarkand was merely formal. Moreover, the people of Samarkand were mainly engaged in commercial trade, and they spread their range extensively to many regions of Mongolia and China. Thus, if Goguryeo had sent embassies to that area, the people of Samarkand would have been expected to have surely accepted and applauded embassies with the hope of further opportunities to enlarge their trade networks. Second is the issue of when and why the officials depicted in the “Embassy Officials with Feathers in Their Hats” image were dispatched to the Türkish tribes in Mongolia. The reason was probably that the Tang Empire, which had defeated Baekje(百濟) in 660, was in high succession of established a long–cherished unification of the world order by China tried to destroy Goguryeo. Consequently, Tang raised a large force in the fourth lunar month of 661, appointed the Minister of the Ministry of War(兵部尙書) Ren Yashang(任雅 相) as chief commander, Shiebiheri(契苾何力) as an army general, and Sudingfang(蘇定方) as a naval admiral and permitted them to simultaneously begin transgressions by land and by sea. Thus, during the seven months from the eighth lunar month of 661 to the third lunar month of 662, the Pyeongyang city wall(平壤城) was under tight siege by the large forces of Sudingfang. In the ninth lunar month of 661, after their start, the soldiers achieved a great triumph over Goguryeo led by troops under the command of Namsaeng(男 生), who was a son of Yeon Gaesomun(淵蓋蘇文). Unfortunately, less than twenty years later, Goguryeo faced the critical peril of national collapse after the invasion by Tang’s Emperor Taizu(太宗) in 645. To overcome this crisis, Yeon Gaesomun, the man in power, sent a messenger to ask for assistance from Japanese troops, and at the same time he came up with an idea of uniting with the nomadic Türkish tribes(鐵勒諸部) of Mongolia against the “loose–reign control” of Tang. That was the “Embassy Officials with Feathers in Their Hats” image depicted in the wall painting in the Afrasiab Palace sent to Türk tribes as messengers of Goguryeo for affiliation. It may be supposed that by the time of the siege by Sudingfang’s forces in the second lunar month of 662, the messengers had left Goguryeo and had reached the Türkish tribes of Mongolia. Third, the reason why Türkish tribes rebelled, what was the deployment of soldiers and the suppression, and the timing of the departure of the “Embassy Officials with Feathers in Their Hats” who reached the Türkish tribes in Mongolia, have been deeply researched. The first revolt of the Türkish tribes against the Tang Empire occurred in the eighth lunar month of 660. And the spread of the rebellion to the Uighurs(回紇部) and the entire Türkish tribe occurred in the tenth lunar month of 661, just one month after the cavalry soldiers led by Porun(婆閏) the attacking army troops in the ninth lunar month of 661, one month earlier, the Uighur spears of the Shiebiheri, of the chief of Uighurs, pulled back their forces into their hometown Mongolia. In response, the Tang Empire appointed General(大將軍) Zheng Rentai(鄭仁泰), who was a commander of the government forces, and he started to trample the rebellious Türk tribes. As a result, moving up to the Khangai Range in the third lunar month in 662, the commander Zheng Rentai and his assistant Shue Rengui(薛仁貴) demolished the Türkish tribes, killing innumerable people. Following the escaping Türkish tribes, Zheng Rentai and Shue Rengui traced them back up to the Selenge River area. But the extension of the expedition caused a lack of provisions and brought many starving soldiers, and they even resorted to cannibalism. Thus, the attacking soldiers of the Tang Empire had no choice but to evacuate. In the end, the strategies to suppress Türkish tribes by the Tang empire failed, but the Tang Empire, appointing Shiebiheri as Pacification Commissioner–in–chief(按撫大事), tried to pacify the relationship. With time passing, the attitude of Türk tribal revolt diminished and in the first lunar month of 663 the whole suppressing operation came to a complete stop. Therefore, the embassy in the “Embassy Officials with Feathers in Their Hat” image, with the intention of solving the critical situation of breaking Tang’s siege of the Pyeongyang city wall, could not accomplish its goals. Having had no way out, the embassy officials could not but switch the route from Mongolia of the Türk tribes to Samarkand of the Sogdians. That era could be tracked back to the third lunar month in 662, the time when Tang’s forces entered, or in the first lunar month of 663, the moment the rebellion of the Türkish tribes was completely suppressed. Considering the situation of that time, the time when the “Embassy Officials with Feathers in Their Hats” arrived at Samarkand could date back to the seventh lunar month of 662 or to the fourth lunar month of 663, approximately three months after they had departed. Considering the context and the background, the time of the drawing of the wall painting of the Afrasiab Palace site of the Goguryeo “Embassy Officials with Feathers in Their Hats” can be traced back to from the seventh lunar month in 662 or the fourth lunar month in 663 to 675, the last year of King Varkhumān of Samarkand’s rule.