"A Letter to Ren Shaoqing" written by Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty: "Chang Si risked his life and sacrificed himself for the country's urgent needs."
"Reply to Su Wu Shu" by Li Ling of the Han Dynasty: "When Ran Ling raised his arms and shouted, all wounds and diseases arose."
In the second year of the Tianhan Dynasty (99 BC), General Li Guangli of the Second Division was ordered to lead 30,000 horses out of Jiuquan to fight the Xiongnu King Youxian in the Tianshan Mountains, beheading more than 10,000 people. However, Li Guangli was a mediocre person. After this battle, the Han army also Sixty-seven out of ten losses.
When Li Guangli returned to the south, he was surrounded by the Xiongnu army again and was almost wiped out. Fortunately, the fake Sima Zhao Chongguo led hundreds of soldiers to break through the encirclement and disrupt the enemy's position, and finally saved his life.
Li Ling, the grandson of "Flying General" Li Guang, volunteered to lead 5,000 people out of Juyan to assist Li Guangli. It turned out that although Li Ling was a talented general, Li Guangli only wanted him to be responsible for transporting grain and grass. Of course, Li Ling could not show his talents. Now the opportunity has come.
However, after so many years of fighting, the Han Dynasty's treasury was already exhausted, and there were fewer and fewer war horses available. Emperor Wu told Li Ling that there were not that many war horses. The implication is that he opposes Li Ling's expedition. Li Ling was only in his early twenties, and as the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers. Moreover, his grandfather Li Guang was famous all his life, but he was never granted a title. In the end, he committed suicide out of hatred, which became a big stone in the hearts of the Li family. Therefore, for himself and his family, Li Ling did not retreat and insisted on going out to fight the Huns.
Emperor Wu liked the indomitable spirit of young people the most, so he nodded in agreement. Emperor Wu loved Li Ling's talents and refused to let him die in vain, so he issued an edict to "General Fubo" Lu Bode to be Li Ling's backup and respond to him when necessary. However, Lubod reasoned that it was autumn, the grass outside the wall was fertile, and it was the time when the Xiongnu troops were strong and their horses strong, so it was not appropriate to go on an expedition. It would be better to wait until next spring, when they are scarce, and I would like to go out with Li Ling.
Emperor Wu read Lu Bode's petition and was furious. He thought Li Ling was afraid, so he asked Lu Bode to stand up and refute.
So Li Ling set off without any horses or support. He was not afraid, because although there were no war horses, every soldier under his command was a hardened elite soldier, and each one was equipped with the most advanced crossbow at the time. However, what Li Ling didn't expect was that once he left, he would never come back.
A month later, Li Ling's army met 30,000 Xiongnu cavalry at Junji Mountain. There were many Huns, so they surrounded Li Ling's tribe between two mountains. Li Ling ordered his sergeants to set up a formation of baggage vehicles in front of the camp to resist the impact of the Huns' cavalry. Immediately behind the baggage train is a human wall of soldiers holding halberds and shields. Behind the human wall, there are soldiers holding bows and arrows. Whenever the Huns cavalry wanted to charge over, they were greeted by a rain of sharp arrows. The buzzing sound of the bow string was endless, and the Huns soldiers fell down in response to the bow string, suffering heavy casualties. So he retreated up the mountain in defeat. Li Ling led the Han soldiers to pursue the victory and killed thousands of people.
The Xiongnu Chanyu was afraid. He had deceived Li Ling because he had few people, and thought he could capture him in a moment. Little did he know that what he faced was not five thousand flesh and blood bodies, but a devil with red eyes. So they urgently mobilized more than 80,000 people from the left and right divisions, hoping to win by relying on the human sea tactics. As expected, Li Ling's troops suffered casualties at an accelerated rate and retreated without support. Li Ling asked: "Why is my morale so low and unable to raise my spirits? Are there any women in the army?"
Li Ling suspected that the soldiers were indulging in women's pleasures and lost their combat effectiveness. As early as a month ago, when they first set off for the war, soldiers snatched the wives of Kanto thieves and hid them in their cars to comfort them during the "lonely journey." At that time, morale was declining and they needed blood to encourage them, so Li Ling found these women and beheaded them all. Li Ling beheaded the woman, just like Xiang Yu who destroyed the cauldron and the boat. He wanted to tell the soldiers that if they want women, they should rush out!
Sure enough, morale quickly recovered, and the two sides fought on the second day. Li Ling's tribe killed more than 3,000 Xiongnu.
However, the huge numerical disadvantage was irreparable. Although Li Ling's army killed thousands more Xiongnu soldiers, their own casualties were not small, and there were fewer and fewer bows and arrows, so they fought and retreated. The Xiongnu suffered heavy losses, and Shan Yu had doubts - these elite soldiers of the Han Dynasty were very powerful, and we could not attack them for a long time. We chased them south little by little, but it was difficult to understand that they were just a bait, and there was a large army of soldiers and horses lurking in front. Just waiting for us to fall in? So I decided to quit. The Xiongnu generals did not think so much. They advised us that tens of thousands of us could defeat thousands of others but could not win. I am afraid that we would never be able to make the surrounding tribes surrender in the future, and the Han Dynasty would despise us even more because of this!
The two armies were in a stalemate for several days, and the Xiongnu lost more than 2,000 people. The Huns really wanted to retreat this time. In fact, Li Ling was also at the end of his rope at this time, and he was running out of food and supplies.
Originally, victory was just around the corner, but who would have thought that a traitor would appear at this time? Guan Gan was humiliated by the captain and surrendered to the Huns in anger, telling the truth about what Li Ling had done to the powerful foreign troops. So Chanyu launched a general offensive regardless of all costs. The arrows of the Han army are still like locusts. They cannot be regenerated, but they will eventually be used up. Moreover, the Xiongnu army was located in a high mountain, commanding a high position and occupying all the advantageous terrain. Their arrows were so dense that when viewed from the sky, they looked like black water poured on the Han army in the valley! The Han army was defeated and "withdrew southward. Before reaching Tuanhan Mountain, all 500,000 arrows were exhausted in one day." In this way, it lost its last resort.
At this time, the Han army only had 3,000 men. Without the advantage of strong crossbows and arrows, they could only pick up daggers and spokes of chariots to fight hand-to-hand with the Xiongnu soldiers. However, they were in the canyon and were blocked by the Xiongnu from front to back. No retreat!
There are fewer and fewer people standing, and more and more people are falling down. The stench of the hideous corpses is all around them, and the painless moans are all in their ears. As the sun set in the west, Li Ling looked at the sad color of blood on the horizon and sighed: "We are defeated and we will die!" He felt sad about the end of his life. The military officer advised: "The general shocked the Xiongnu, but his destiny was not fulfilled. He later sought a way to return, just like the Marquis of Zhuo Ye who was captured by the captives and later returned dead. The emperor met him as a guest. What's worse than the general!" The Marquis of Zhuo Ye is Zhao Ponu. , he was captured by the Huns, and later escaped back to the Han Dynasty, where he was treated with courtesy by Emperor Wu. When the military officials mentioned Zhao Ponu, they actually wanted Li Ling to surrender. Li Ling knew what he meant and said: "It's fair! If I don't die, I am not a strong man."
So Li Ling "cut off all the banners" and buried all the treasures he had with him. He sighed and said: "If I still have dozens of arrows, I can escape. Now there are no soldiers to fight anymore, and tomorrow we will only be bound. So everyone scattered Escape, depending on destiny, there will be people who can escape and report our experience to the emperor."
Under the dark clouds covering the moon, Li Ling and Cheng'an Hou Han Yannian led more than a dozen people to break through the encirclement, followed by thousands of Xiongnu pursuers. Han Yannian died in battle. Li Ling looked up to the sky and sighed: "I have no face to repay Your Majesty." Then he surrendered.
Later, Emperor Wu regretted not rescuing Li Ling in time and said: "When Li Ling left the fortress, Captain Qiannu should be there to greet him. Only after the imperial court issued an edict did the veteran Lu Bode become treacherous and annihilate Li Ling's army." So he sent an envoy. He comforted and rewarded the soldiers who escaped from Li Ling's army.
Emperor Wu misunderstood the rumors and executed the Li Ling clan
After Li Ling stayed with the Xiongnu for more than a year, Emperor Wu sent General Yinjuo Gongsun Ao to lead troops deep into the Xiongnu territory to greet Li Ling. Gongsun Ao's army returned without success and said: "I captured the prisoners and said that Li Ling taught the Shanyu to train troops to defend against the Han army, so I have no military merit." Emperor Wu mistakenly believed the rumor that Li Ling trained troops for the Huns, and the Yi and Qi tribes were killed.
Hearsay, without distinguishing between authenticity and falsehood, killed Li Ling's entire family in vain, causing Li Ling to completely sever ties with the Han Dynasty.
Later, the Han sent an envoy to the Xiongnu. Li Ling said to the envoy: "I served as a Han general and sent 5,000 infantry to rampage the Xiongnu. I tried to save them and were defeated. Why did I lose to the Han and kill my family?" The envoy said: "The Han heard that Li Shaoqing taught the Huns how to be soldiers." Li Ling said, "It's Li Xu, not me."
Ling said: "Gui Yi'er, my husband must not be humiliated again!"
In the conversation between Li Ling and Su Wu, he said, "Although I, Li Ling, am incompetent and timid, if the Han Dynasty temporarily forgives my sins and does not kill my mother, so that I can realize my long-cherished wish despite the great shame and humiliation, then I will be like Cao Mo in Keyi." The alliance may be almost the same, this is something I have never forgotten before! Arresting and killing my whole family has become a great shame and humiliation in the world, what should I care about anymore?" He confessed.
This passage shows Li Ling's intention to compromise for the time being in order to make a comeback and report back to the Han Dynasty.
Can this feeling be remembered? It was just that I was at a loss at that time.
After Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty came to the throne, General Huo Guang and Zuo General Shangguan Jie, who had always been friendly with Li Ling, assisted in the administration. They sent Li Ling's old friend Ren Lizheng and three others as envoys to the Huns, taking the opportunity to persuade Li Ling to return to the Han Dynasty. The envoy touched the ring on his saber (meaning "return") at the banquet, touched Li Ling's feet, and said loudly, "The Han Dynasty has granted amnesty, the Central Plains is peaceful, the Lord is young, and the assistants are Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie!" Li Ling said, " I'm done with it!" (I'm already a foreigner) and responded with "A man cannot be humiliated a second time."
What a pain! Stop thinking about your homeland and your old friends!
