Since the great ancestor Liu Bang was besieged on Baishan Mountain, the Han Dynasty has been adopting a fraternal policy toward the Xiongnu, assuming a posture of surrender. By the time of Emperor Wu, the country was prosperous, the country was stable, and he had the capital to compete with the Xiongnu. Moreover, Emperor Wu was a hard-blooded man who was unwilling to be submissive (metaphorically relegated to a lower position and doing nothing), so he began to redraw the relationship between Han and Xiongnu. Should we fight the Huns or make peace?
In the sixth year of Jianyuan (135 BC), the Xiongnu took the initiative to request peace. This was the first time Emperor Wu had dealt with Xiongnu affairs. He had little experience, so he "discussed with the ministers."
The officials are divided into two factions, one is for war and the other is for peace.
The representative figure in the main battle was Wang Hui, who was the commander of the army at that time. Wang Hui was a native of Yan. He had guarded border counties for many years and was very familiar with the situation of the Xiongnu. His reason for taking the lead in the war was: The Huns are fickle. Although they made peace with us, they broke the alliance and abandoned the treaty in the blink of an eye. They fell out of favor faster than turning the page of a book. Although we have been tolerant over the years, they are like spoiled children, refusing to repent and going further and further. This time they asked for a marriage, probably hoping to defraud us of some more property. It would be better not to agree to it, but to send troops to attack and subdue them in one fell swoop.
The main representative is Han Anguo, a veteran who made great contributions in quelling the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms. He objected to Wang Hui and said: It is precisely because the Huns are unfaithful that we cannot send troops. Even if we defeat them, it will be difficult to control them. Moreover, their land is not suitable for farming. What is the value of getting it? Moreover, when troops are sent thousands of miles away to fight, the outcome is unpredictable. They will lose more and win less. The crossbow is so powerful that the arrow cannot penetrate the silk material. When the arrow is at the end of the wind, the strength cannot lift the feather. This is the reason. So it is better to agree to their request and make peace with them.
Han Anguo's statement was approved by everyone, so Emperor Wu approved the marriage.
But this was not what Emperor Wu had in mind. Three years ago (138 BC), Emperor Wu heard from a prisoner of the Xiongnu that "the Xiongnu defeated the Yuezhi King and used his head as a drinking vessel. The Yuezhi escaped and blamed the Xiongnu, but it was a pity that there was no one who could fight with him." So Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the Yuezhi, hoping to unite with them to attack the Xiongnu. It can be seen that Emperor Wu approved the marriage this time because the time to fight against Hungary was not yet mature. But the war against Hungary had been put on the Han Dynasty's agenda by Emperor Wu.
Two years later (133 BC), Wang Hui, whose combat suggestions were not adopted, once again advocated war, which once again triggered the "war and peace" debate.
Wang Hui's old rival Han Anguo still holds a peaceful stance on peace. He said: Although he was humiliated, Emperor Gaozu still followed the advice and offered "thousand catties of gold" to make peace with the Huns, not because he was afraid of the Huns, nor because he did not want to avenge the enemy who was besieged Baishan Mountain, but because he took the stability of the world as his own responsibility. Starting from the overall situation, "it has been beneficial for the five lifetimes so far."
"'Today there is a panic on the border, soldiers are wounded and dead, and Chinese coffins and carriages are facing each other, this is a pain for benevolent people.' Where is the peace you mentioned brought about by the marriage?" Wang Hui's retort was resounding.
Han Anguo was not so easily defeated. He repeated the old tune that the Huns came and went like the wind. "The place where you live is impermanent and difficult to conquer." We rashly drove straight into the bitter cold land of the Huns, where food and grass were scarce. How can we win when we are trapped and exhausted? Isn't this what the Art of War says: "The enemy is left behind by the army and captured"?
Wang Hui was waiting for Han Anguo's words, so he told the story exactly. It turned out that Wang Hui was not the initiator of this attack on the Huns. The first advocate was Nie Yiweng, a powerful man from Mayi, Yanmen. He suggested to Wang Hui that we could bury troops near Mayi in advance, and then act as spies ourselves, go to the Xiongnu in person, and lead the monarch and Shanyu to lead his army. As soon as the Xiongnu army arrives, we can kill them all.
The idea is very good. I wonder what Nie Yiweng had with the Huns, and he actually deliberately dealt with them in this way. Could it be that he went into danger alone just to perform meritorious service and gain promotion?
After Emperor Wu heard Wang Hui's statement, the light from his eyes hurt Han Anguo's eyes, so he knew that he should not persist any longer.
Sure enough, Emperor Wu appointed Wei Lieutenant Li Guang as the Cavalry General, Grand Servant Sun He as the Light Chariot General, Daxing Wang Hui as the General Tun General, Taizhong Doctor Li Xi as the Caiguan General, and Yushi Dafu Han Anguo as the Guarding Army. The general commanded more than 300,000 troops from all walks of life and set up ambush in Mayi.
In the days after the army set off, I believe Emperor Wu stayed up all night. He was a little scared, but mostly excited.
Nie Yiweng "escaped" to the Xiongnu, met the monarch and his minister Shanyu, and said that he could enter Mayi and kill his commander, lead the city to surrender, and dedicate all his property to the Shanyu. This was a door-to-door deal. Chanyu's index finger moved when he heard this, so he led an army of 100,000 people to set off and entered Yanmen Wuzhou Fortress.
The Huns were plundering all the way, and when they were more than a hundred miles away from Mayi, Chanyu suddenly felt uneasy in his heart. He looked intently and saw only a few cattle and sheep foraging for grass in the vast wilderness, but not a single human figure. , so he became suspicious and changed his route, giving up Mayi and taking Wuzhou. Wuzhou Weishi was captured by the Xiongnu. He was frightened and revealed the Han Dynasty's ambush plan. The Shanyu was shocked and immediately ordered a retreat. Surprised and frightened, the Huns finally retreated safely outside the Great Wall. It was safe and sound. Shanyu, the monarch and his minister, looked up at the blue sky above and finally breathed a sigh of relief: "I have Wei Shi, It's Heaven!" So he worshiped Wei Shi as the "King of Heaven".
In fact, all this was under the supervision of the Han Dynasty. The Han army stopped chasing after they reached the Great Wall. Wang Hui, who was responsible for attacking the Huns' baggage, also stopped his troops without permission and did not dare to pursue them. Emperor Wu was very disappointed and angry with Wang Hui. Wang Hui defended himself and said: "It was agreed at the beginning that as soon as the Xiongnu soldiers entered Mayi City, our army would fight with them, and then the troops led by me would attack their baggage and cut off their retreat. Only in this way would we be sure. Now the Huns have nothing to do. I turned back when I arrived at Mayi. I obviously saw through our ambush. I only had 30,000 men. If I attacked rashly when the enemy was well prepared, I would definitely be defeated and my refusal would be unreasonable. I knew that this would be a dead end for me to come back. One, but this is to reserve 30,000 elite soldiers for Your Majesty." What Wang Hui said is not unreasonable. Sun Tzu's Art of War has a saying: "If you don't have to win, you won't be outstanding, and if you don't have a complete victory, you won't engage in war."
So Emperor Wu sent a court official to review the case. Tingwei believed that Wang Hui "waited to avoid the enemy and then killed him." Wang Hui then bribed the then prime minister Wu'anhou Tianfu and asked him to intercede with Emperor Wu. Of course, the shrewd Tian Fu would not get into trouble with Emperor Wu at this time, so he turned to tell the Queen Mother and brought the message to Emperor Wu through the Queen Mother.
Emperor Wu sneered secretly after hearing this: It was you, Wang Hui, who advocated the attack. Now, after listening to your words, you mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to set up this trap. Even if the Shanyu escapes, as long as you, Wang Hui, make a decisive decision and attack where his baggage is, there will not necessarily be nothing. The income will at least not allow the Huns to go away so easily. If I don't kill you now, how will the people of the world view me and the court?
So Wang Hui's head fell to the ground, giving an explanation to the world.
After the Mayi incident, the Han and Hungarians were already at odds with each other, and there was basically no possibility of shaking hands and making peace. There is only one thing left: kill!
However, wars involve bloodshed, so neither side took action immediately. The Huns lived by herding and hunting, so they had to obtain many things through "mutual trade" with the Han Dynasty. After the Mayi incident, Emperor Wu did not cancel the mutual trade between Han and Huns, but used it to stabilize the Huns. However, the benefits brought by the mutual market are just a drop in the bucket for the Huns, not enough to fill their teeth. So in the sixth year of Yuanguang (129 BC), the Huns raided Shanggu County, burned, killed, looted and returned.
Emperor Wu decided to teach the Huns a lesson. So four lines of cavalry with ten thousand people were organized to attack the Huns: the cavalry general Wei Qing came out of Shanggu County; the cavalry general Gongsun Ao came out of Daijun; the light chariot general Gongsun He came out of Yunzhong; and the heroic cavalry general Li Guang came out of Yanmen. The last time the Han Dynasty set up an ambush in Mayi, the Han Dynasty mobilized an army of 300,000 troops. This time they took the initiative to attack but only had 40,000 troops. Would it be more reliable to go out and fight? Of course not, but because if you want to go deep into enemy territory, food supply will become a big problem. The more people are dispatched, the heavier the supply burden will be. Although there are only 40,000 troops fighting, the number of people in the supply team is estimated Several times that number. Moreover, this was the first time Emperor Wu took the initiative to attack the Xiongnu, and it was of a probing nature, so 40,000 people was not a small number.
Except for Li Guang, who is a veteran on the battlefield, the other three are all young people. Needless to say, the relationship between Wei Qing and Emperor Wu was that Gongsun Ao was Wei Qing's good friend, and Gongsun He was his successor when Emperor Wu was still the prince. Therefore, these three people are all close ministers around Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu's intention was obvious. He wanted to give the three of them the opportunity to make meritorious deeds and cultivate a new generation of generals for the Han Dynasty. As the three of them grew up with him, they would be able to better implement their strategic intentions.
Wei Qing drove straight in and pursued the Huns all the way to Longcheng, capturing more than 700 first-level prisoners. Dragon City, also known as Longting, was a place where the Huns worshiped their ancestors and the ghosts and gods of heaven and earth, and was an important political and cultural center. Therefore, although there are not many first-level prisoners of more than 700 levels, the significance and impact of defeating Dragon City are shocking. Dragon City is far away in the depths of the desert. From now on, the Huns are no longer mysterious to the Han people. The psychological balance between Han and Huns is tilting towards the Han people. Because of Wei Qing's extraordinary achievements, Emperor Wu granted him the title of Marquis of Guannei.
The other three people were not as lucky as Wei Qing.
Gongsun He fought in the vast desert, but he didn't meet a single Huns. Of course, he had no losses, and it could be said that he didn't lose anything, but his sect, Gongsun Ao, was in misery. He fought with the Huns and lost 7,000 soldiers. The situation of the veteran Li Guang was even worse. He met the main force of the Huns. After a fierce battle, the entire army was wiped out, and he himself was also captured by the Huns. Fortunately, Li Guang pretended to be injured and put the Huns into a net bag. He stood up halfway with his excellent martial arts, kicked the Hun soldiers away on his horse, and galloped south. The Huns chased them all the way, but Li Guang shot them back with his unparalleled arrow skills. In this way, Li Guang was able to escape back to the Han Dynasty.
Gongsun Ao and Li Guang suffered heavy losses and should be executed according to the law and redeemed as common people.
Although only Wei Qing's troops stand out, this dispatch can still be regarded as a rare victory. It seems to tell the Huns: We will come again! Just wait and see!
Ba Ling Drunkard---"Historical Records: Biography of General Li"
At this time, Li Guang, the flying general of the Western Han Dynasty, was demoted to a commoner. When Li Guang lost his official position, he went hunting to Ba Ling Yi Pavilion, but was bullied by the drunken Ba Ling Lieutenant. Later, he used the term "Ba Ling Drunk Lieutenant" to describe the abuse and humiliation he suffered after losing his official position.
Baling: Baling, the name of the mausoleum of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty.
Zuiwei: "Historical Records." "The Biography of General Li": How many years have he lived at home? The Guang family and the late Yingyin Marquis Sun Pingye lived in the southern mountains of Lantian and hunted. Taste the night from riding out, drinking from people in the fields. Returning to Ba Ling Pavilion, Ba Lingwei was drunk and laughed at Zhiguang. Guangqi said: "That's why General Li." Wei said: "Today the general is not allowed to travel at night, why is that so?" He stopped under Guang's pavilion.
Later, "Zuiwei" was often used as a synonym for a snob. Ba Ling Zui Wei: describes being insulted and humiliated after losing official position.
What happened to the Ba Ling Zuiwei later?
"Historical Records. "The Biography of General Li": "In Wuhe, the Xiongnu invaded and killed the prefect of Liaoxi and defeated General Han. Later, General Han moved to Youbeiping. So the emperor summoned Guang to be the prefect of Youbeiping. Guang immediately asked Ba Lingwei to accompany him and arrived at the army. Kill him. He lived widely in Youbeiping. When the Xiongnu heard about it, they called him "Flying General of Han" and avoided him for several years, not daring to enter Youbeiping. "
Translation: Soon after, the Xiongnu invaded and killed the prefect of Liaoxi and defeated General Han Anguo. General Han died of illness after being transferred to Youbeiping, so Emperor Wu issued an edict to appoint Li Guang as the prefect of Youbeiping. Li Guang asked Ba Lingwei to go with him and beheaded him when he arrived in the army. Li Guang was guarding Youbeiping. When the Xiongnu heard of his name, they called him "the flying general of the Han Dynasty". I avoided him for several years and did not dare to enter Youbeiping.
