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Historic and antique arms, curiosities, and miscellaneous history.. ANCIENT GREEKS VS. HAN CHINA, THE WAR OF THE HEAVENLY HORSES. By the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC the Macedonian Empire stretched from Greece in the West all the way to Northern India in the East. One of the most remote cities named after Alexander was Alexandria Eschate, literally meaning Alexandria the Farthest, located in what is today the southwestern end of the Ferghana Valley in Tajikstan. The city was founded by Greek colonists and former Macedonian soldiers retired from Alexander’s army, who were granted land as a reward from their service. Nearly two hundred years later Alexandria Eschate was a thriving Greco-Bactrian city when it was visited by the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian in 130 BC. Zhang Quang returned to the Han Emperor with reports of incredibly fast, strong, and rugged horses which were bred by the Dayuan (Greater Ionians aka Greeks) living in the Ferghana Valley. The Chinese greatly desired the horses to help fend off the Xiongnu, a confederation of nomadic horse tribes who lived in the northern steppes of what is now Mongolia. Like most nomadic horse tribes throughout history, they were a major pain in the bu*t for their neighbors at best, and dangerous enemies at worst. The Chinese were looking to acquire Ferghana horses to help At first the Chinese and Dayuan traded a limited number of horses, however the Greeks refused to trade more. When an incident occurred that led to the death of a Chinese ambas*ador, China declared war on the Dayuan. The Han Emperor sent an army of 30,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry to conquer Alexandria Eschate led by the general Li Guangli in 104 BC. Unfortunately for the Chinese, the operation would be extremely difficult as they had to cross through the rugged and barren Taklaman Desert in what is now the Xinjian Uyghur Autonomous Region.  While traveling through the region, Li Guangli demanded local towns, city states, and tribes provide his army with food and provisions.