Kunmi of the Wusun, the horse-lords of the Ili valley whom the second mission was sent to move east. He was old, his kingdom was split three ways, and his ministers were afraid of the Xiongnu; he took the gifts and did not move.
The kingdom was split three ways and the ministers had lived under the Xiongnu and feared them, so they would not hear of moving; he took the gifts and gave no decision.The historians' narrative of the second Han mission to the Wusun, 119 BCE — the record puts no words in the Kunmi's mouth; Shiji, juan 123; Hanshu, juan 61 and juan 96b
Appears in
Relations
- Zhang Qian allies — Zhang Qian came with three hundred men, two horses apiece and goods worth tens of millions to move his people east; he received him on the model of the Chanyu's court and decided nothing.
- Junchen patron — His court had lived under the Xiongnu, and the fear of them, not any love of Han, is what his ministers answered the Han gifts with.
Myth vs record
Zhang Qian's second mission won the Wusun and cut off the Xiongnu's right arm.
On the ground it failed: both histories say the old Kunmi was aged, his country was divided among himself, a rival prince with ten thousand horse and a grandson with another ten thousand, and his ministers would not move, so Zhang Qian got no decision at all (Shiji, juan 123; Hanshu, juan 61). The arm was cut off in fact by the wars of 121 and 119 BCE, which put the Hexi corridor under Han commanderies and beacon towers. What the mission did buy was the marriage: a thousand horses as bride-price, a daughter of the king of Jiangdu sent out in 105 BCE as the Wusun ruler's Right Lady with a Xiongnu woman as his Left, and her song about felt walls and mare's milk, which the treatise keeps and the emperor pitied.