Emperor Wu of Han was determined to get rid of the scourge of the Xiongnu, but it was Wei Qing and Huo Fu's uncles and nephews who had made many military achievements. These two are really not from the generals, but people can figure out a set of methods to defeat the enemy, and often they all win more with less; Li Guang, who had the background of the Longxi family at the same time, also had a good skill, but on the merits of war, compared with the first two, it was much worse, on fame, turning over the "History" Of History, the small things were said in great detail.
In terms of combat effectiveness, the Xiongnu cavalry for a long time was to suppress the Han army's infantry to fight, and they did not love to fight, grabbed things and ran, for which several emperors of the Han Dynasty were very headaches, and have been relying on peace and relatives to ease the relationship between the two. When emperor Wudi of han came, the situation underwent a qualitative reversal, of course, such an outcome was not achieved overnight. At first, the losses were also heavy, but later, after improving the way of military confrontation, the Xiongnu fell apart and were finally "exterminated".
During the Warring States period, the Xiongnu began to invade the Central Plains, and fought with the Qin general Meng Tian, but they were driven away. Shortly after Liu Bang established power, the Xiongnu came again, and this time they also surrounded Liu Bang, and it is said that it was the ministers around him who used some means that could not be put on the table to break the siege.
After that, the Han Dynasty avoided direct conflict with the Xiongnu and used economic means to soften the relationship between the two. However, as the old ancestors often said, "The stream can be profitable, but it is not eaten." "Then, as long as the Xiongnu look at it, as long as they show a cruel appearance to the Han Room, this money and grain will come in a hurry, so that when the autumn harvest season comes, the Xiongnu will come to attack and make the border people unhappy."
Emperor Wudi of han did not want to see his dynasty being led by the nose of the Xiongnu, so he repeatedly took the initiative to send troops to attack the Xiongnu, and from the results, it benefited future generations, but at that time, he also fell into the name of a poor soldier, and the domestic economy became very tense. It was during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the Xiongnu disintegrated, and they have never recovered since.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu were divided into the south and the north, the south was lowered to the Han Dynasty, and the north began to seek development in the west. At that time, you can still see the shadow of the Xiongnu. The Western Jin Dynasty was short, the second emperor was an idiot, and Empress Jia Nanfeng united with the family to control the government, which in turn triggered a great scuffle of the Sima family.
At this time, the foreign tribes on the side had long been unable to hold back, so they raised troops to establish the royal power, and the southern Xiongnu king Liu Yuandai Sima Shi established the kingdom "Han" (Han Zhao), which was the last regime established by the Xiongnu in Chinese history. (The descendants of the Xiongnu and Xianbei established the Huxia regime.) However, this regime was very short, and it was destroyed by Hou Zhao in the past 20 years.
Since then, the Xiongnu seem to have disappeared from Chinese history, and the surviving Huns have either fled for their lives or merged with other ethnic groups. Some experts have also studied that in the later time, this part of the Xiongnu and Tuoba people and all other Hu people were Sinicized, and they embraced Buddhism and completely assimilated into Chinese.
Even, in order to protect the Han culture, these people changed their surnames, changed their customs, changed their official positions, moved the capital, fought against the Rouran in the north, and even attacked the Tarim region, no different from the previous dynasties. In this way they became completely Han Chinese, so that it is very likely that their bloodline has been melted into the bodies of each of our Chinese now through marriage.
Around 432 AD, a tribe appeared in the West, led by a leader named Attila, who claimed to be Huns and had been dominant in Europe for many years. However, with Attila's death, the empire ceased to exist. However, historians have always debated whether this Hun and Hun are related, and both the front and the back have a lot of reasons, and many people in Europe still claim to be descendants of the Huns.
Therefore, some people raised a question: when the Maodun soldiers surrounded Liu Bang, why did not "a hundred", at that time, the Xiongnu's combat strength was still quite fierce, and as a result, in the end, it ended up with a "extermination" ending. Although the Huns were good at war, unlike the Central Plains, their nomadic habits made it difficult for them to form a real "collective", which seemed to be a Xiongnu Empire, but in fact, it was a tribal alliance, a loose tribal collection.
Such a coalition of regimes, unless the big boss has the unique leadership, otherwise, the tribes will only plan for themselves. At first, the Han soldiers were not adapted to the Xiongnu's riding and shooting, so they always suffered defeats, but when Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty began to improve their combat ideas, not only training cavalry, but also, according to the Xiongnu's combat methods, avoiding their strengths, not fighting with the Xiongnu, or fighting close to the body. Moreover, he took the initiative to attack when he was looking for a mare to produce foals, so that he slowly consumed the strength of the Xiongnu.
At this time, the Han Dynasty began to grasp the initiative of the war, not only regaining the lost territory, but also capturing the Hexi Corridor, so the Xiongnu were once unable to repeat the crime. When the Xiongnu dominated the Hexi Corridor, the Han Dynasty could not trade with the Western Regions, and after the Xiongnu withdrew from the region, the Silk Road was truly smooth. Until 36 BC, the Eastern Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu again, and some of the divided Xiongnu surrendered and the other part moved west.
It is said that these westward migrating Huns first came to Central Asia, but they were in constant conflict with the locals, so they had to continue westward and pass through the Central Asian steppes, and they never heard from them again. However, in the 4th century AD, a Hun empire suddenly appeared in Europe, and some people said that they were Huns. They invaded Europe, first occupying the Danube Valley, then attacking Persia and plundering everywhere, and they also occupied Hungary and established a state.
This period was the peak of the Hunnic Empire, but with the death of its leader Attila, the empire, which had once terrified Europeans, soon disintegrated. If the Hun Empire was really founded by the Huns, what happened in the 300 years from the time they left Central Asia to their reappearance in Europe? There is no written record. Today, although the Xiongnu no longer exist, their deeds in history cannot prevent future generations from facing them squarely.
Resources:
【History", "The Westward Migration of the Xiongnu"】