introduction
How powerful were the Huns? With a single war, Mo Dun crushed the mighty Dong hu and split it into small forces such as Wu Huan and XianBei. In addition, he also led the Xiongnu army to besiege Liu Bang on mount Baishan in the seventh year of Han Gaozu (200 BC), resulting in the famous "Siege of Baideng" in history.
If Liu Bang had not used Chen Ping's schemes to bribe fu (Mao Dun's wife) at that time, then he would most likely have been buried here. Although Liu Bang did not die at that time, this incident had a great impact on him and was one of the important reasons for his later death.
At that time, the Xiongnu did not take the Han Dynasty seriously, and after The death of Liu Bang, Mao Dundan directly wrote a "love letter" to Lü Hou, expressing that he had long admired him and was willing to accept him as a wife. For the traditional and old-fashioned Han courtiers, this is simply a great shame.
In the face of such humiliation, the Han Dynasty had no way, and it was half a century after the time when the great revenge was repaid.
After the rule of Wenjing and the vigorous rule of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty finally accumulated the strength of a place to fight against the Huns who constantly harassed the border. In the second year of Emperor Yuan Shuo of the Han Dynasty (127 BC), he formally counterattacked the Xiongnu. Some people say that the han dynasty was able to win the victory only by chance to hit the death pit of the Xiongnu. So, what's going on?
One or three
battle
Determine the pattern of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu
In the second year of Yuan Shuo (127 BC), Yuyang in Shanggu (present-day Huailai County, Hebei), on the border of the Han Dynasty, was invaded by 20,000 cavalry led by Xiongnu nobles, which temporarily shook the Han Dynasty's government and opposition.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Emperor Wu of Han soon sent the young general Wei Qing with 30,000 cavalry through Yunzhong (present-day Inner Mongolia Tokto County) to Longxi (present-day eastern Gansu), with the aim of conquering the Hetao region and launching the famous "Battle of Henan" in history.
For a long time, the area west of Longxi was an important center of activity for the Xiongnu, with abundant water sources and grasslands, which had an important influence on the nomadic and military strongholds of the Xiongnu.
Wei Qing adopted the method of roundabout combat, first leading a small number of troops directly to the rear of the Xiongnu military stronghold, and then letting the main force attack from the front, and himself raiding from the rear, so that the Xiongnu army thought that it had become a turtle in an urn and the army was disorganized, thus achieving the final victory.
This tactic soon paid off, with the Xiongnu kings of Lou fu and Baiyang being driven away, and the hidden dangers in the Longxi region were lifted. On the basis of the conquered and recovered territories, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up Shuofang County and Wuyuan County respectively, and relocated more than 100,000 people in the interior, while repairing the old Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty and mobilizing large troops to garrison.
In the fifth year of Yuan Shuo (124 BC), Wei Qing led a large army to drive away the Xiongnu Right Xian King, who was active near Shuofang County and Wuyuan County, captured more than 10 Xiongnu princes, and basically stabilized the area that conquered the Xiongnu.
In March of the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (March 121 BC), Huo Fu led 10,000 cavalry from Longxi to launch the famous "Battle of Hexi". When the Han army arrived at the foot of Gaolan Mountain, it was in a direct battle with the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu army was defeated. The Han army pursued the defeated Xiongnu soldiers, and after crossing the Yanzhi Mountains (in present-day Shandan County, Gansu), they pursued for more than 1,000 miles before returning.
In the summer of the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (121 BC), after a long time of Hugh Dun, Huo Wentai once again led tens of thousands of cavalry to travel more than 2,000 miles, all the way to the foothills of qilian Mountain, giving the Xiongnu army a heavy blow. After conquering the Hexi region, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty soon established the four counties of Dunhuang, Wuwei, Jiuquan and Zhangye here, and actively carried out immigration, tuntian, city building and garrison, laying the foundation for the construction of the later Western Regions Capital Protectorate.
In the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (119 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty led Huo Quyi and Wei Qing to lead more than 100,000 cavalry and hundreds of thousands of infantry to launch the largest "Mobei Campaign" between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu in history. Although the two men fought in a style of war, they cooperated well, leading their armies from Dingxiang Commandery (southeast of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia) and Dai Commandery (Wei County, Hebei) to meet in the north of the desert and attack the Xiongnu Shan Yu.
Wei Qing's army crossed the Great Desert (Gobi Desert) and fought against the Xiongnu army at Khotan (present-day Hangai Mountain Range), annihilating the enemy 1. More than 90,000 people. Huo went after the Xiongnu King Zuoxian and his army, and fought against the Xiongnu army at the Wolf Juxu Mountain (present-day Kent Mountain), capturing a total of 7 enemies. More than 40,000 people.
After this blow, the Xiongnu were seriously injured, and the remnants fled the desert north, so that the power vacuum of "no royal court in the desert north" once appeared in the desert north.
It can be said that these three wars were of great significance, determining the fate of the two different regimes and the possessed peoples of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu. So, how did the Han Dynasty completely defeat the Xiongnu?
Second, the greatest weakness of the Huns
The war was only superficial, and the real victory over the Xiongnu was the administrative layout and wasteland development of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Until the Han Dynasty achieved a fundamental victory, the Han Dynasty had been in a weak position.
In the seventh year of Han Gaozu, Liu Bang personally led an army of 320,000 to fight against the Xiongnu. At that time, Mao Dun Shan Yu's troops were not superior, but he besieged Liu Bang on Baideng Mountain (白登山山, southeast of present-day Datong, Shanxi), and Liu Bang used strategy to escape.
This battle affected the pattern of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu for more than 60 years. From Liu Bang onwards, the Han Dynasty used the method of peace and affinity to appease the Xiongnu at regular intervals, and at the same time sent a large amount of money and cloth to the Xiongnu to seek nearly half a century of peace.
During this period, the dominant Xiongnu have been experiencing internal friction. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, internal contradictions had already caused the Xiongnu to "fall apart", and the various forces were conspiring to fight each other, which occurred from time to time. The Han Dynasty, on the contrary, through the efforts of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, gradually accumulated strength in the process of recuperation, making sufficient preparations for the later attack of the Xiongnu by Emperor Wu of han.
Therefore, the defeat of the Xiongnu to the Han Dynasty has become inevitable. At the time of the "Battle of Mobei", Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty sent 140,000 warhorses to Huo And Weiqing's army as equipment, and also mobilized more than 100,000 heavy troops to deliver grain and grass to them. Such a huge consumption can only be supported by having a certain strength. In contrast, the Xiongnu, in the process of internal friction, fought separately, the degree of economic development was not high, and losing the battle was equivalent to having been exhausted. And that's not the toughest move.
Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty brought the conquered areas into the scope of his rule, "opened up the wasteland" to them, and did not give the Xiongnu the opportunity to redevelop, which was the most powerful move.
Third, victory cannot be achieved overnight
The battle between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu was not a complete victory in one or two battles, but after a long period of preparation and attrition, the winner was the one who survived in the end.
In the second year of the Shenjue (60 BC), the infighting of the Huns had reached an irreparable point. In order to survive, the Xiongnu descended from king to king, indicating that the Xiongnu began to decline. After the Protectorate of the Western Regions, the Western Regions completely fell into the hands of the Han Dynasty, and the territory of the Xiongnu's activities was further reduced.
In the first year of Ganlu (53 BC), the Xiongnu were completely divided into two parts, the north and the south, and no longer had the strength to oppose the Han Dynasty. In the third year of Jianzhao (36 BC), the last Generation of the Northern Xiongnu, Shan Yu, was wiped out by Chen Tangjiao's 40,000-strong army by Zhizhi, marking the end of the war between the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty.
It is worth pondering that the battle between the two has lasted for nearly 200 years. Therefore, the Han Dynasty's victory over the Xiongnu was not something that any important battle or a single person could do.
epilogue
Before a thorough counterattack against the Xiongnu, the Han Dynasty remained on the defensive. During this period, the Xiongnu were quite suzerainous, and the Han Dynasty could only pay tribute to them. After the reign of Wenjing, the Han Dynasty soon acquired strong economic strength and made sufficient preparations for the subsequent battles. Before the three battles that decided the fate of the Huns broke out, divisions began to appear within the Huns.
The main reason is that their inheritance system is very different from that of the Han Dynasty, there is no legal heir, basically "the strong are respected", so there is a series of cannibalism. Constant internal friction brought opportunities for the victory of the Han Dynasty. After the three major wars, the Xiongnu did not change their former wrongs, but the internal friction increased, coupled with the continuous conquest of the territory by the Han Dynasty, and finally could only withdraw from the historical stage.
Resources
Book of Han
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