Battle of Zhizhi The Battle of Zhizhi ( 郅支之戰 ) was fought in 36 BC between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu chieftain Zhizhi Chanyu . Zhizhi was defeated and killed . The battle was probably fought near Taraz on the Talas River in eastern Kazakhstan , which makes it one of the westernmost points reached by a Chinese army . The better - known Battle of Talas in AD 751 was fought in the same area . In 56 BC Zhizhi revolted against his brother . As his brother grew more powerful , Zhizhi retreated westward . About 44 BC he made a close alliance with Kangju near Lake Balkhash . Later he quarreled with the Kangju , killed several hundred of them and forced them to build him a fortress . The fort required 500 men and two years to build . It was probably located near Taraz . About 36 BC Gan Yanshou was governor of the Western Regions and Chen Tang was his deputy commander . Chen Tang claimed that Zhizhi was planning to build up a great empire and proposed a preemptive attack . Gan Yanshou objected , but when he was sick Chen Tang forged an edict and mobilized the army . Gan Yanshou was forced to yield . All this was done without the Emperor ' s permission . An army of 40 , 000 Han and Hu troops called up ( ' ' Hu ' here is apparently a loose term for non - Chinese ) . It marched west on both sides of the Tarim Basin , reunited near Kashgar and moved across Kangju territory reaching the western shore of Lake Balkhash . At this point a party of several thousand Kangju cavalrymen , returning from a raid on Wusun , stumbled onto the rear of the Chinese army , attacked it , and made off with a large quantity of food and weapons . Chen Tang sent his Hu troops back and defeated the Kangju , killing 460 of them and freeing 470 Wusun captives . Several Kangju nobles defected to the Chinese and provided information and guides . The Chinese encamped about 30 Li from Zhizhi ' s fortress and the two sides exchanged rather hypocritical messages . They then moved to within 3 Li of Zhizhi and fortified themselves . The Xiongnu sent out several hundred cavalry and infantry , but they were driven back into the fort . The Chinese followed and attacked the fort and managed to burn part of the wall . That night several hundred Xiongnu horsemen tried to escape but all were killed . Zhizhi himself thought of escape but decided to remain because he knew that he had too many enemies in the surrounding country . Fighting continued . Zhizhi ' s queen and concubines shot arrows from the ramparts . Zhizhi was wounded in the nose by an arrow . Shortly after midnight the outer walls were breached and the Xiongnu retreated to the inner citadel . At this point several thousand Kangju horsemen appeared and attacked the Chinese in the darkness but were unable to accomplish anything . When dawn broke parts of the inner citadel were on fire . The Chinese piled dirt on the citadel walls and clambered into the citadel . Zhizhi and a hundred or so warriors retreated into the palace . The palace was set on fire and attacked from all directions and Zhizhi was mortally wounded . 1 , 518 Xiongnu died , including the crown prince and Zhizhi ' s wives . 145 were captured and well over 1 , 000 surrendered . The soldiers were allowed to keep their booty and the surrendered Xiongnu were distributed to the fifteen kingdoms that participated in the battle . The following spring Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang arrived at Chang ' an and presented Emperor Yuan of Han with Zhizhi ' s decapitated head . It was displayed on the city wall for ten days and then buried . Zhizhi was the only Xiongnu Chanyu killed by the Chinese . A hypothesis by the sinologist Homer H . Dubs , according to which Roman legionaries clashed with Han troops during the battle and were resettled afterwards in a Chinese village named Liqian , has been rejected by modern historians and geneticists on the grounds of a critical appraisal of the ancient sources and recent DNA testings of the village people .