A Study on Military Campaign Records of Western Zhou and Xianyun

Xianyun (玁狁, also known as 犬戎Quanrong) is a grassland ethnic group that resided at the Northwest of the Western Zhou Dynasty(西周王朝, 11th century to 771 B.C.,). After reviewing the military campaign records related to the Xianyun during the Western Zhou Era, it was possible to identify the following trends and characteristics. First, the Xianyun generally invaded during the agricultural off-seasons. Second, the battles between the Western Zhou and Xianyun surrounded the roads of Jinghe (涇河) river valleys (河谷). Third, although some Chinese scholars consider the Xianyun as warlike “horse-riding people,” after reviewing the related records, the major Xianyun army weren’t professional “cavalry”, but were moved by chariots at that time. Fourth, from the perspective of Western Zhou, the battles with Xianyun were normally in the forms of “withdrawal battles (擊退戰)” to repel the invasion by the Xianyun or the “external punitive expeditions (對外征伐戰)” to conquer the Xianyun. Fifth, in consideration of these findings, the wars between Western Zhou and Xianyun were definitely not one-sided but were of rivalry with repeated ebb and flows. However, this all came into a halt when Xianyun murdered King You of Zhou (周幽王).