The historical merits of Hodg's disease are actually underestimated.
His uncle Wei Qing, also an unborn general, had led his troops to recover the "Henan Region" (Hetao region) before Huo Went ill went to war, restoring the border line of the Han Dynasty to the yinshan mountains. This was the northern border at the height of the Qin Dynasty.
Qin Shi Huang was a man of many cattle and strong men, but for the Xiongnu, most of the time he could only take a defensive position, and ordered Mengtian to lead 300,000 Qin troops to attack the Xiongnu in the north, and after collecting the river loop, he began to build the Great Wall.
Meng Tian can be called the "infrastructure demon" of the Qin Dynasty, from Yuzhong (now part of Gansu) along the Yellow River to the Yin Mountains to build a city fortress, connecting Qin, Zhao, Yan more than 5,000 miles of the old Great Wall, forming a long defensive line in the north.
This is a huge project, and folklore says that Wan Xiliang, the husband of Meng Jiangnu, died in the process of building the Great Wall. Keep it
North Defense
For more than ten years, the Xiongnu feared their might and did not dare to commit another crime.
However, after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, the world was in chaos, the Xiongnu waited for the opportunity to go south, robbed a large amount of territory, the historical geographer Ge Jianxiong wrote in the famous book "Unification and Division": "The Xiongnu occupied the area west of the Yellow River to the west, and then drove out the Yue clan that was originally in the Hexi Corridor, threatening Wusun, so that most countries in the western region (present-day Xinjiang and Central Asia) had to submit to its rule." To the east, it annexed the Eastern Hu tribes and controlled both sides of the present-day Daxing'an Mountains. It recaptured Henan to the south, and for a time advanced to the north of present-day Shaanxi and Shanxi. ”
From the map, the Xiongnu have seriously threatened the security of the Han Dynasty. So Liu Bang, who had just seized the world, led 300,000 people to attack, and as a result, in today's northern Shanxi, he was besieged by the Xiongnu army for seven days and seven nights.
Frightened by this, the Han Dynasty had no choice but to adopt a humiliating policy of "peace and affinity", marrying imperial women posing as princesses to Shan Yu, but the Xiongnu were not satisfied, and constantly invaded, burning and plundering.
The Han Dynasty endured for 70 years. Until Emperor Wu of Han couldn't bear it anymore and struck, Wei Qing and Huo Went ill were his two iron fists, the first punch, the blow was full of flowers, staggering back, the latter punch was more fierce, thunderous.
After the Battle of Mobei, the Han Dynasty took control of the Hexi region, laying the foundation for opening up the western region. The Xiongnu lamented for this: "The loss of my Qilian Mountain has made my six animals restless; the loss of my Yanzhi Mountain has made my wife colorless." ”
If we can use the fast-forward button to look at the history of Asia more than 2100 years ago, we can see a magnificent scene: in the hinterland of Asia, the Huns receded like a tide, the earth was like a flood, it was revived, clusters of flowers bloomed, gushing springs, merchants began to travel, and camel bells began to melodiously.
"Constant tribute is not only an economic burden, but also a political weakness. So the Han Empire decided to settle the entanglement with the Xiongnu once and for all.
The first was the capture of the Hexi Corridor and control of the agriculturally rich Western Regions, followed by several conquests over the past decade (ending in 119 BC) to drive the nomads back to their original places. The Hexi Corridor leads to the Pamir Plateau in the west, and to the west of the plateau is a new world. China opened the door to a transcontinental exchange route – the 'Silk Road' was born. ”
The British historian Peter Frankophan wrote in His book The Silk Roads– A New History of the World.
Yes, when we talk about the Silk Road today, we always think of Zhang Qian, but we must not forget Huo's illness.
Interestingly, Huo Went Ill and Zhang Qian also fought together, Huo Went Ill and The Prince of Gongsun Ao walked all the way, and Zhang Qian walked all the way with the famous "Flying General Li Guang" in history. As a result, only Huo went to the disease and won a great victory, Li Guang ventured forward, surrounded by the Xiongnu, suffered heavy casualties, Zhang Qian came to the rescue late, committed the crime of delaying the military aircraft by the marching stranded, and was sentenced to death.
At that time, Zhang Qian was made the Marquis of Bowang for his merits in the Western Regions, paid a ransom, was dismissed from his title, and became a commoner. Because Gongsun Ao was lost, he was unable to meet huo, and as a result, like Zhang Qian, he was sentenced to death, paid a ransom, and cut the knighthood to the people.
The Han Dynasty's war against the Xiongnu lasted for many years, and the Famous Generals of the Han Dynasty won successive victories, while the Xiongnu were gone and could only go all the way to the west.
Around 160 AD, the Huns came to the Syr Darya Valley in Central Asia, a country known in ancient times as "Kangju", and then left, disappearing from historical records until around 260 AD, when they appeared on the other side of Asia, east of the Don River, in the kingdom of Alan.
Here they regained their might and began their expedition westward into Europe, "a kind of man who had never heard of it before, who did not know where on earth, came like a snowstorm on a mountain" (Amianas Marsilinas's History), triggering a domino-like migration that changed the fate of European history, and the "barbarians" were driven away by the more savage Huns, and the Roman Empire was torn to pieces.
In the book "Toward Strange Places: A History of Inland Eurasian Migration", it is written: "In a way, the Huns contributed to the turning point in the development of European history. They put the Germanic peoples in the jungle on the stage of history, and together with them ended the era of the Romans like a decay. The disappearance of imperial history brought about the beginning of a pluralistic political landscape in Western Europe, composed of various feudal states. ”
This is the "butterfly effect" of history. In 476 AD, the last Roman Emperor, Romulo, was deposed, and if he could cross, would he complain to Huo Fuyi bitterly: "600 years ago, why did you beat the Huns so badly?"