When the Silk Road was diverted in the 4th century BC, Loulan was gradually abandoned. The reason is that after the 4th century BC, the ancient road from Dunhuang to the Western Regions had a great development trend. In addition to the routes from Yizhou (now Hami), there are also newly developed sea routes, making the traffic more convenient. The change of traffic lines immediately lost Loulan to the vast desert. After the opening of the Silk Road North Road through Hami (Yiwu) and Turpan, the Silk Road Desert Road through Loulan will be abandoned, and Loulan will also lose its former glory.
The mystery of history Loulan's history is also full of many vacancies. For Loulan and even the western countries, they don't care about their own history. This makes it difficult for historical experts and scholars to analyze the history of Loulan people according to the historical materials of the Western Regions themselves. Although the Central Plains has a tradition of recording history. However, the record of Loulan in the Central Plains dynasty began after Zhang Qian began to fight in the Western Regions-in other words, what happened in the Western Regions in those years before that? What happened to Loulan?
There is basically no trace of these contents. Therefore, before the Western Han Dynasty, the history of Loulan and even the whole Western Region was blank. Although after the Western Han Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty promoted its ties with the Western Regions. However, due to the war-torn period in the Central Plains, the connection between the Central Plains and the Western Regions was intermittent. In this period, the Central Plains historians recorded the history of Loulan incompletely and inadequately, but even so, historians like Han Dynasty and Pre-Qin Dynasty left valuable information for future generations to study the history of Loulan and even the western regions scientifically.
According to historical records, Loulan had declined in the Eastern Jin Dynasty: Fa Xian, a Taoist priest in the Jin Dynasty, passed through Loulan State on his way from the Western Regions to South Asia. According to Fa Xian's description, Loulan State in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was covered with yellow sand and showed signs of decline. From the point of view of environmental protection, at least in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Loulan had very serious soil erosion.
Later, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Western Han Dynasty once crossed the Hexi Corridor and fought in Loulan. At this time, Loulan, a poor king, responded to the conquest of elite soldiers in the Western Han Dynasty and finally chose to surrender. The later kingdom of Loulan never appeared in the history books of the Central Plains. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the ruins of Loulan Kingdom were discovered by adventurers in western countries. Loulan Kingdom was abandoned for about 16 new centuries, and finally came to light.
What happened after the Western Han Dynasty attracted Loulan? Where did Loulan people finally go? Moreover, why didn't Loulan people rebuild Loulan country in the end? All this has not been answered so far.