preface
In 61 BC, a very far-reaching war took place in the Han Dynasty.
In this year, Zhao Chongguo, a 76-year-old veteran of the Han Dynasty, personally led more than 10,000 cavalry deep into the hinterland of Qinghai to quell the local Western Qiang rebellion. Under the command of Zhao Chongguo, in the end, the Han Dynasty won a complete victory. Since then, the rule of the Han Dynasty in the Qinghai region has been further consolidated. The security of the Hexi corridor has also been fully guaranteed.
Therefore, after that, the Han Dynasty was also able to take advantage of the situation to develop the Western Regions on a large scale, and opened the Capital Protectorate in the Western Regions. The territorial scope of the Western Han Dynasty also reached its extreme.
This is the famous 'Battle of Zhao Chongguo to pacify the Western Qiang' in history.
In the history of the Western Han Dynasty, this battle to pacify Western Qiang is not as famous as the wars fought by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. But in fact, the impact of this war on the late history of the Western Han Dynasty, and even on the entire history of China, is actually no less than the great war of the Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu.
So, how exactly is this war fought? What kind of enemy was Western Qiang, which was hostile to the Han Dynasty at that time? Why did the Han Dynasty send an old man in his seventies to lead troops to Qinghai to suppress the rebellion? After this war was fought, what impact did it have on the Western Han Dynasty?
This story, we have to start with the history of Western Qiang.
Before the Han Dynasty, it was customary to refer to all nomads living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as the Qiang people. The Western Qiang, on the other hand, is a branch of the Qiang people, who probably lived in the Sanjiangyuan area of today's Qinghai region and lived a nomadic life.
The history of the Qiang's dealings with the Central Plains Dynasty can be directly traced back to the Xia Shang period. It is said that during the Shang Dynasty, some Qiang tribes submitted to the Shang Dynasty, and they were also one of the eight hundred fang states of the Shang Dynasty. In the later Spring and Autumn Warring States period, the object of the Qiang's dealings became the Qin state in the western part of the Central Plains.
It is said that during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, the Yiqu State, which once threatened the survival of the Qin state, was established by the Qiang people.
However, later, after the Qin Dynasty, especially in the early Han Dynasty, the connection between the Qiang and the Central Plains Dynasty decreased. This was mainly because, after the rise of the Xiongnu in the north at that time, they directly controlled the Hexi corridor. At that time, the Qiang people wanted to get in touch with the Central Plains Dynasty, and this road happened to be the most important passage.
Therefore, from the founding of the Han Dynasty to the war between Emperor Wudi of Han and the Xiongnu, the connection between the Qiang and the Han Dynasty was actually not much. Although the Qiang were nomads, they did not have the ability to directly kill from the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the border of the Han Dynasty. Moreover, in its long history, the Western Qiang were not unified for a long time and lived in fragmented forms in the form of tribes.
In this way, there was naturally not much contact between the Han Dynasty and the Western Qiang.
And this state, later during the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han, was completely changed. Because during the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han, he fought back against the Xiongnu on a large scale. Especially later, with Huo Qubing's large-scale invasion of the Hexi region, the Han Dynasty completely controlled the Hexi Corridor. In this way, the Western Qiang, which originally had little contact with the Han Dynasty, suddenly had a direct connection with the Han Dynasty.
At the same time, the Xiongnu, who originally had direct contact with the Qiang people, had less contact at this time. And later, after Wei Qing and Huo Qubing finished the battle of Mobei, the connection between the Xiongnu and Western Qiang was almost completely cut off!
It was in this context that the Han Dynasty began to come into contact with the Western Qiang.
Before the Han Dynasty's large-scale counterattack against the Xiongnu, Western Qiang originally submitted to the Xiongnu, which was equivalent to a follower of the Xiongnu. However, at this time, the Western Qiang was not unified internally, but was divided into many tribes. And after the Xiongnu were completely beaten back to Mobei, the Xiongnu, who originally suppressed the head of Western Qiang, were completely gone. So at this time, for the first time within the Western Qiang, there was a sign of unification.
In 112 BC, about seven years after the end of the Battle of Mobei, several large tribes within the Western Qiang, the Xianjiang, the Feng Qiang, and the Laojie Qiang, reached a consensus for the first time and formed an alliance. After that, they made contact with the Xiongnu in the north again. The two sides decided to join forces to attack the Hexi corridor and wanted to regain contact.
But as a result, in this battle, Western Qiang was undoubtedly crushed by the Han Dynasty.
You know, at that time, the Han Dynasty had just sent the Xiongnu back to Mobei for a few years, and the force was in its heyday. At that time, on the side of the Han Dynasty, although Huo Qubing was dead, Wei Qing was still alive. Moreover, a large number of captains and generals they brought out were at this time in the year of fighting, and one could fight more than the other. Moreover, the cavalry army of the Han Dynasty at that time was also personally brought out by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, and the combat effectiveness was unimaginable.
Therefore, shortly after Western Qiang began to attack the border of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wudi of Han directly sent a general named Li Xi with tens of thousands of people to sweep the west. This Li Xi can only be said to be one of the many generals under Wei Qing. Among those generals in the era of Emperor Wudi of Han, he couldn't even rank in the top ten.
But when such a person took tens of thousands of people to the west and began to fight the Western Qiang, it was still a dimensionality reduction blow. There were not even many casualties on the Han side at that time, and directly crushed the Western Qiang army head-on. After this, the Western Qiang, which finally showed signs of unification, was directly crushed, and then it could only surrender.
After that, Emperor Wudi of Han took advantage of the situation to let Li Xi lead the army and garrison the local area for a long time, responsible for managing these returned Western Qiang tribes. Since then, the eastern region of Qinghai has been completely incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty.
However, this situation did not last long. Because later, in the later period of the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han, because the Han Dynasty fought wars for many years, the national strength began to decline continuously. The troops stationed on this side of Qinghai also began to decrease less and less. So later, these Western Qiang tribes began to gradually get rid of the control of the Han Dynasty.
Especially in the later period of the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han, with the occurrence of the scourge of witchcraft, the Han Dynasty's control over the frontier was further weakened. Moreover, this scourge of witchcraft caused the Han Dynasty to lose a large number of elite troops. A large number of elites left behind by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, as well as middle and high-ranking captains and generals, many died in this political storm.
In addition, later, in order to avenge the crown prince, many people who were hostile to the prince were eliminated by Emperor Hanwu one by one. These things led to large-scale turmoil in the Han Dynasty military. For example, Wei Qing's successor, Li Guangli, was later forced to fight a decisive battle with the Xiongnu on the grassland, resulting in 70,000 elite cavalry of the Han family, all of whom died in the depths of the grassland.
In this way, the originally very powerful Han Dynasty border army was suddenly broken.
So after that, before the death of Emperor Wudi of Han, and after the accession of Emperor Han Zhao, the Han Dynasty began to shrink completely. From the defeat of Li Guangli to the death of Emperor Han Zhao. Later, Emperor Xuan of Han ascended the throne, Huo Guang died, and Emperor Xuan of Han completely took power. During this period, the Han Dynasty was implementing a policy of contraction for more than two decades.
During these twenty years, except for the border counterinsurgency war, the Han Dynasty basically did not have foreign wars.
As a result, for twenty years, the Han Dynasty basically did not control the Western Qiang side. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the originally scattered Western Qiang began to gradually have a tendency to unify.
In 63 BC, more than two hundred chiefs within Western Qiang held a meeting to 'resolve hatred and hostage'. At this meeting, many tribes within the Western Qiang announced that they would temporarily put aside their past grudges and exchange hostages. Since then, the originally loose Western Qiang has formed a powerful tribal alliance.
After that, the newly established Western Qiang Alliance pointed the spearhead at the Western Han Dynasty. Of course, in the beginning, they did not dare to directly attack the border of the Han Dynasty. After all, even if the Han Dynasty declines a little, it is still very strong, far from being able to attack directly by the Western Qiang at this time. Therefore, the Western Qiang at that time set its target on the Western Regions side.
Next, the Western Qiang Alliance began to attack some small countries in the Western Regions. They planned to join forces with the Xiongnu again and occupy the Hexi Corridor again, cutting off the Han Dynasty from the Western Regions.
It was in this context that the contradictions between the Han Dynasty and the Western Qiang began to become more and more intense.
And next, a key figure appeared. This person is called Yiqu Anguo.
After learning of the movements on the Western Qiang side, the Han Dynasty first sent a person called 'Yiqu Anguo' to send an envoy to Western Qiang. There are not many records of this person in the history books, except for this mission, there is basically no record of him in the history books. But from his name, we can actually see a lot of things.
First of all, the ancestor of this person should be a person from the Yiqu State in the pre-Qin period. Because in the Western Han Dynasty, surnames were generally stricter. Behind any clan, there is often a more complicated history. At that time, those who could surname Yiqu were probably not only people from Yiqu Country, but also descendants of the royal family of Yiqu Country.
Secondly, this person should most likely have been born in the early days of the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han, because his name was An Guo. This is actually the same as the modern name. For example, people who are called to establish the country or aid Korea are most likely born in the fifties and sixties of the last century. And those called 'Zixuan' or 'Zixuan' are basically post-zero.
And the name Anguo was actually the same in the Han Dynasty. Before Emperor Wudi of Han fought back against the Xiongnu on a large scale, many Han Dynasty people called Anguo, such as Han Anguo, the imperial master of history in the early reign of Emperor Wudi of Han. And after the Han Dynasty began to fight the Xiongnu on a large scale, many Han Dynasty people called 'Guanghan'! For example, Xu Guanghan, the father-in-law of Emperor Xuan of Han, or Deng Guanghan, Huo Guang's son-in-law, and so on.
In short, this person called Yiqu Anguo should belong to Yiqu State in his ancestors and know more about the Western Qiang side. At the same time, he should have been born in the early period of the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han, and at this time he should have been a very old person. Such a person should obviously be the best target for dispatch.
But as a result, this person, who was given high hopes by the Han Dynasty, messed things up after arriving in Western Qiang.
From the perspective of later generations, all those who have a little wisdom, after arriving in Western Qiang at this time, the first thing they should do is to divide and disintegrate this Western Qiang alliance. As an envoy of the Han Dynasty, he could pull one faction to fight another and disperse the Western Qiang alliance that had just emerged. At that time, there were many contradictions within the Western Qiang Alliance, and it did not directly attack the territory of the Han Dynasty, but only attacked the vassal states of the Han Dynasty.
However, what people didn't expect was that after this Yiqu Anguo arrived in Western Qiang, he directly asked people to find the chiefs of some large local tribes. The Western Qiang side thought that the Han Dynasty wanted to negotiate conditions and appease them, so there were really many chiefs who came. After the result came, this Han Dynasty envoy waved his hand and directly pulled all the people out and cut them down!
At this moment, there is a lot of trouble. You know, before the Western Qiang side, nominally did not dare to directly turn faces with the Han Dynasty. However, after Yiqu Anguo's engagement, the Western Qiang was instantly united, and then directly rebelled.
No one knows whether this Yiqu Anguo is stupid and sweet, or is it really so bad in the bones! Or maybe he was originally a traitor, just to take this opportunity to completely unify Western Qiang. In short, when the news came back to Chang'an, the Han Dynasty felt a headache.
When Yiqu Anguo sent an envoy, Huo Guang had been dead for seven years. It has been five years since the Huo family rebelled and Emperor Xuan of Han completely destroyed the Huo family. At this time, Emperor Xuan of Han was already in power and completely secured the throne. In this way, how to solve this problem of Western Qiang is naturally directly in front of him.
At that time, at the top of the Han Dynasty, there were roughly two opinions on this issue. One faction advocates a direct attack, and it is best to completely wipe out the Western Qiang and solve the Western Qiang problem once and for all. The other faction advocates continuing to appease and not making a big move for the time being.
At that time, Emperor Xuan of Han felt that these two opinions were problematic.
If you want to fight, who exactly will you send to fight? And how many troops will be sent? What if I lose? If the damage is too large, will it shake the ruling foundation of the Han Dynasty? If too few troops are sent, will they end up returning in vain?
And if you don't fight and continue to appease, will the other dependent countries around you feel that the Han Dynasty is weak and deceptive? And then all independent? On the Western Qiang side, will it feel that the Han Dynasty is a soft persimmon, and then directly attack the border of the Han Dynasty?
In addition, on the issue of employing people, Emperor Han Xuan was also quite worried. You know, after the scourge of witchcraft back then, the military inheritance of the Han Dynasty was already broken. Later, during the reign of Emperor Han Zhao, national affairs were basically handled by Huo Guang. The generals who can fight during this period are basically Huo Guang's concubines.
And these Huo Guang's lineages were either directly cleaned up by Emperor Xuan of Han when the Huo family fell before. Or even if it was not cleaned up, Emperor Han Xuan did not dare to use it at this time. As for the generals independently trained by Emperor Xuan of Han himself, let alone that. Emperor Xuan of Han himself was not an emperor who knew too much about fighting, and the generals he promoted were okay in fighting with the wind. Let them go and run to the Qinghai side and fight a field war with the nomads, then wait for the whole army to be destroyed!
Therefore, at this time, this problem in Emperor Xuan of Han, no matter how to choose, is actually not right. It was at this time that Emperor Xuan of Han thought of the veteran Zhao Chongguo. Speaking of which, we have to pause the war for a while, and first talk about Zhao Chongguo.
Zhao Chongguo was born in 137 BC, exactly three years younger than Huo Qubing. Therefore, he basically experienced those large-scale wars during the period of Emperor Wudi of Han.
Of course, this personal experience does not mean that he went directly to the front, but that he experienced that era. After all, when Zhao Chongguo was just an adult, Huo Qubing happened to be a wolf juxu, and the Xiongnu had already been beaten back to Mobei. Therefore, in those wars in which the Han Dynasty fought back against the Xiongnu, he definitely did not participate in the war himself.
However, even if you don't go to war in person, this experience is still rare. Especially Zhao Chongguo's home is right in the Tianshui area of Gansu. Before Emperor Wudi of Han fought back against the Xiongnu on a large scale, this place was the forefront of the Han Dynasty's resistance to the Xiongnu. So later, when the Han Dynasty fought with the Xiongnu, many soldiers and generals were selected from this place.
For example, the famous flying general Li Guang, his hometown is here.
Therefore, what Zhao Chongguo has heard since he was a child is how to fight. When he became an adult, although the Xiongnu were defeated back to Mobei, the Han Dynasty's foreign wars continued. So later, Zhao Chongguo successfully joined the army, and then climbed up by relying on military merit.
In the years that followed, Zhao Chongguo relied on his bravery in battle and gradually rose through the ranks. But if compared with Huo Qubing, Zhao Chongguo's promotion, it seems too slow. When Huo Qubing was twenty years old, he had already raised the desert and sealed the wolf Juxu. However, when Zhao Chongguo was almost forty years old, he had just been promoted to the deputy chief of staff at the division level.
Until 99 BC, when Zhao Chongguo was 39 years old, Zhao Chongguo followed Li Guangli, the commander of the Han Dynasty at the time, and participated in the war against the Xiongnu. In this battle, the Han army fought unfavorably, and the main force was trapped by the Xiongnu. Thanks to Zhao Chongguo, the deputy chief of staff, who took the lead in the charge, this killed a bloody road and let the main forces of the Han Dynasty get out of trouble.
In this battle, Zhao Chongguo is said to have been wounded in more than twenty places and almost died on the way to break through. But fortunately, in the end, he survived. After the end of the war, relying on the contribution of World War I, Zhao Chongguo also entered the eyes of Emperor Wudi of Han for the first time.
However, for the next nearly ten years, the command of the front line of the Han Dynasty was in the hands of that Li Guangli. And Li Guangli himself is not a particularly powerful general. As a result, during this decade, the Han Dynasty fought many battles, but the results were very limited. In this way, no matter how hard Zhao Chongguo tried, it would be difficult for him to achieve too much merit, let alone be knighted.
And after the fall of Li Guangli, Emperor Wudi of Han immediately ceased to go. After this, the Han Dynasty began to shrink in full force, rarely fighting abroad. After the death of Emperor Wudi of Han and the accession of Emperor Han Zhao, the Han Dynasty began to enter a stage of recuperation.
After this stage, the Han Dynasty rarely took the initiative to attack the outside world. During the reign of Emperor Han Zhao, the few wars were basically wars of the nature of peace and disorder in the frontiers. It was roughly the rebellion of some small forces subdued during the Han Wudi period, and then the Han Dynasty sent troops to suppress it, and the scale was tens of thousands of people at most.
Compared with those big wars during the period of Emperor Wudi of Han, the wars during the period of Emperor Han Zhao were simply not even a family. And without a large-scale war, it will naturally be difficult for generals to be promoted.
Therefore, when Emperor Wudi of Han died, Zhao Chongguo was 51 years old. By the time Emperor Han Zhao died, Zhao Chongguo was already 64 years old. In the past ten years, although Zhao Chongguo has relied on participating in several counterinsurgency wars, he has taken two steps upwards again. But it is still too far away from the so-called famous players.
Moreover, by the late reign of Emperor Han Zhao, Zhao Chongguo's career had basically come to an end. At that time, he was already a little too old to go directly to the front to fight. Second, Zhao Chongguo himself is not Huo Guang's henchman.
This meant that after reaching a certain level, Huo Guang could not let him rise further. It is even more impossible for him to be like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing back then, directly commanding the main army of the Han Dynasty and taking full charge of the frontline battles of the Han Dynasty.
In this way, Zhao Chongguo is already destined to become a generation of famous generals in this life.
However, what no one expected was that this situation changed dramatically when Zhao Chongguo was sixty-four years old. That year, that Han Zhao Emperor died.
After the death of Emperor Han Zhao, the next main line of history is that Huo Guang first supported the Changyi king Liu He, and then deposed Liu He. After that, Huo Guang supported the Han Xuan Emperor Liu Sick.
In this process, Zhao Chongguo actually did nothing. The only thing he did was to follow Huo Guang to the book and support Liu Sick. Although Zhao Chongguo is not Huo Guang's henchman, he was also promoted by Huo Guang, so he can only follow Huo Guang to study together.
And in this way, because Zhao Chongguo's status in the military at that time was not low. Therefore, after Emperor Xuan of Han ascended the throne, he directly gave him the title of Marquis of Yingping according to the custom.
Zhao Chongguo fought all his life, and he almost died many times, but he failed to get a marquis. On the contrary, after he was old, he casually followed Huo Guang on a play, and he was easily marquised. This result is really dramatic. If Li Guang, the veteran general who could not be knighted in his life, knew about this, he would probably be angry and alive.
And then, with the accession of Emperor Xuan of Han to the throne, Zhao Chongguo's luck seemed to get better all of a sudden. Just two years after Emperor Xuan of Han ascended the throne, the Xiongnu attacked Wusun, a vassal state of the Han Dynasty, and Zhao Chongguo led troops to rescue Wusun. In this battle, Zhao Chongguo only repelled the Xiongnu and retreated directly. After the war, because of the early retreat, Zhao Chongguo was also trained.
Because of this reproach, Zhao Chongguo and Huo Guang Group's side were further drawn. Even Emperor Xuan of Han felt that Zhao Chongguo was not Huo Guang's person. And later, because the Xiongnu rose again, Zhao Chongguo, a veteran, was directly sent to the border to guard the border pass.
It was during Zhao Chongguo's defense of the border that Huo Guang died, and then the Huo family rebelled and was completely cleaned up by Emperor Xuan of Han. Because Zhao Chongguo was not originally a member of the Huo family, when the Huo family rebelled, he happened to lead troops at the border pass and avoided all the storms. So the fall of the Huo family did not have any impact on him!
In this way, after Emperor Xuan of Han completely sat on the throne, Zhao Chongguo at this time was already the only remaining veteran of the Western Han Dynasty. Looking at the entire Western Han Dynasty at that time, it was difficult to find other generals who had experienced the wars of the Han Wudi period and were not related to the Huo family. The most important thing is that Zhao Chongguo himself is also very capable of fighting!
So next, the era that belongs to Zhao Chongguo has finally arrived. It was in this state that Zhao Chongguo, who was already in his seventies, gradually gained the reuse of Emperor Xuan of Han after the fall of Huo Guang. Especially for border wars, Emperor Han Xuan often asked the veteran what he thought.
Then, there was a movement on the Western Qiang side, and Yiqu Anguo then went to the west to solve the problem. In fact, before Yiqu Anguo left, Zhao Chongguo had already predicted all the actions of Western Qiang. Zhao Chongguo had already made it clear at that time that there were many internal contradictions in Western Qiang, and the alliance could only be temporary.
In this way, after they unite, they must find a force to fight, so that the internal contradictions can be transferred. For the powerful Han Dynasty, they may not dare to provoke directly. The most likely to attack is the small country on the other side of the Western Regions. And in order to conquer these small countries, Western Qiang will definitely join forces with the Xiongnu.
Therefore, the best choice is to completely cut off their connection with the Xiongnu first, and absolutely not allow the envoys of the Xiongnu to reach Western Qiang. At the same time, the Han Dynasty had to take advantage of the contradictions within the Western Qiang Dynasty to divide and disintegrate the Western Qiang Alliance, and then the Western Qiang problem would be easily solved.
As a result, after that Yiqu Anguo went, he didn't listen at all, and people directly killed people.
And the result of the killing was to completely unite the Western Qiang Alliance. Originally, the Han Dynasty could easily solve this problem, but at this time, it could only fight hard.
It was under such a historical background that Emperor Xuan of Han could only come to Zhao Chongguo and ask Zhao Chongguo what he meant. Facing this question, Zhao Chongguo gave his own answer: must be beaten! As for how to fight the battle, just leave it to me.
Then, Emperor Xuan of Han asked Zhao Chongguo how many troops he would send in this battle. To this question, Zhao Chongguo also gave a very alternative answer: I will go to the front line to see it first, and then I can give a detailed plan.
What is a professional? This is called professionalism!
Compared with those who only know how to simply say or not to fight, Zhao Chongguo is obviously at a higher level. It's easy to just say hit or not to fight, because they just say their own advice and don't need to be responsible for it. What is really rare is actually like Zhao Chongguo, who came up with a complete set of plans and told the leaders how feasible this plan is.
So after that, Zhao Chongguo, who was already 76 years old, took 10,000 vanguard cavalry and went to the west to solve the Western Qiang problem.
And the next war, like this.
After Zhao Chongguo led his troops to the west, he found that the cavalry of Western Qiang at that time had touched the coastal area of the upper reaches of the Yellow River. So next, Zhao Chongguo first took advantage of the night, divided the outpost into three parts, and quietly crossed the river. By the time the Qiang people found out, the main force of the Han army had successfully crossed the river, and the Qiang people had no chance to do it.
After crossing the river, Zhao Chongguo took this 10,000 cavalry and steadily advanced. In the face of the provocations of the Qiang people, they never underestimated the enemy, and they have been steadily crushing. On the Qiang side, because they never had a chance, and they did not dare to fight a head-on battle, they could only keep retreating.
In this way, Zhao Chongguo easily advanced to the area of Huangyuan County in Qinghai with his army. Then, after arriving here, Zhao Chongguo began to stop and began to station on the spot. After that, Zhao Chongguo began to send troops to protect the grain routes and prevent the Western Qiang army from disrupting the supply lines of the Han army.
In short, along the way, Zhao Chongguo has been playing very steadily. But at the same time, Zhao Chongguo did not achieve any major results. Along the way, the Han army never pursued the main forces of Western Qiang. Although the territory occupied a lot, the main force of Western Qiang did not suffer any damage.
For nomads, simple territorial gains and losses actually mean little. If you want to really win, the most important thing is to eliminate their main force. Therefore, these actions before Zhao Chongguo seem to be very stable, but in fact, there is no credit to speak of.
Zhao Chongguo's reaction also caused great controversy at that time in the central part of the Han Dynasty. Many people believe that this is a manifestation of Zhao Chongguo's cowardice and avoidance of war. Even Emperor Xuan of Han began to doubt Zhao Chongguo's actual ability at this time, and began to doubt whether Zhao Chongguo could win the Western Qiang in the end.
But it turned out that Zhao Chongguo is worthy of being a veteran, and his choice is actually the wisest.
In fact, in the previous advance, the reason why Zhao Chongguo did not fight a decisive battle with the main forces of Western Qiang was actually to observe Western Qiang. Zhao Chongguo has actually been thinking about how to fight this battle.
It may be because Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were too fierce at that time, so almost all the high-ranking officials of the Han Dynasty at that time felt that when fighting Western Qiang, Zhao Chongguo should be like Huo Qubing in those years, directly leading cavalry deep into Qinghai to eliminate the main army of Western Qiang.
But Zhao Chongguo understood that this way of fighting was not suitable for all generals.
To be precise, generals like Huo Qubing, who can lead cavalry in large-depth operations, are actually the real rarity. This kind of general is actually a real once-in-a-century encounter. Those who have the ability to carry out cavalry with cavalry on this side of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, before Zhao Chongguo, the last such general was Huo Qubing.
And after Zhao Chongguo, the next general who can fight like this will have to wait until more than two hundred years later, and will not appear until the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and that person is called Duan Ying. And after Duan Ying, and then the next one, it will not appear until the Tang Dynasty seven hundred years later. That person's name was Li Jing.
As for Zhao Chongguo, he may be able to do it when he is young, but at this time, he is in his seventies, and he definitely can't do it. If nothing else, if you go further, the altitude alone is enough for this veteran to drink a pot. At that time, the place where Zhao Chongguo was stationed was already above 2,500 meters above sea level! If you hit further, the altitude will suddenly exceed 4,000 meters!
To that environment, these cavalry of the Han Dynasty will definitely not adapt. At that time, don't talk about the total annihilation of the main forces of Western Qiang, the Han Dynasty may be completely annihilated by Western Qiang.
Fight and can't fight, retreat and can't retreat, at this time, Zhao Chongguo seems to have no way back. But in this state, Zhao Chongguo still found the most reasonable solution. This plan, in simple terms, is both grace and power.
First, Zhao Chongguo informed the Han Dynasty troops along the Hexi corridor to completely block communications, and it was imperative to block the connection between Western Qiang and the Xiongnu, while blocking the Xiongnu's attack. As a result, Western Qiang had no foreign aid and could only fight the Han Dynasty alone.
At the same time, Zhao Chongguo sent people to deliver letters to various tribes in Western Qiang. The content is relatively simple, roughly paying for people's heads. According to the price set by Zhao Chongguo at that time, ordinary soldiers who can get lost and no longer resist are directly not guilty. He was able to kill the rebellious high-ranking Western Qiang leader on behalf of the Han Dynasty and gave him 500,000 yuan.
Further down, kill a middle-level Western Qiang rebel leader and give money 150,000. Ordinary Western Qiang rebel leaders, kill one for 20,000. Ordinary young and middle-aged rebel soldiers of Western Qiang, kill one and give three thousand. Ordinary Western Qiang rebelled against the old, weak, sick and disabled, as well as women, killing one to give a thousand. Moreover, after killing, all the other party's family property was taken.
After this news passed, the entire Western Qiang Alliance collapsed in an instant!
You know, at that time, within the Western Qiang Alliance, there were already many contradictions. Many tribes originally had blood and sea feuds. It was only because the Han Dynasty had killed their leader before, and they were united in order to expand.
However, when Zhao Chongguo came with troops, the Western Qiang wanted to attack strongly, but could not defeat the Han army. And in the face of the price set by Zhao Chongguo, many people in Xiqiang instantly felt red. Especially between those tribes with blood feuds, if they kill each other's tribes, they can not only get all the property of the other party, but also receive a large amount of money on the Han Dynasty side with the number of people killed.
In this way, the Western Qiang Alliance, which was originally united, instantly began to float inside.
Of course, this approach will not be effective immediately. So next, Zhao Chongguo is not in a hurry. On the one hand, he occasionally sent elite cavalry to find the main forces of the surrounding Western Qiang and carry out small-scale annihilation battles. On the other hand, he asked the Han Dynasty to shoot a large number of infantry over there, and directly went to the local tuntian, putting on a posture of not leaving at all.
In this way, a few months later, three months after Zhao Chongguo arrived in the area around Huangyuan, a large-scale Qiang tribe finally began to choose to surrender directly. By December of that year, the Western Qiang Alliance had completely collapsed, and the various ministries began to fight each other.
After this, Zhao Chongguo didn't even have to fight anymore. He directly applied to Emperor Xuan of Han, withdrew all the cavalry, and then replaced tens of thousands of infantry to come to Tuntian. And after the spring of the second year, the remaining Western Qiang tribes also began to come and surrender.
In this way, by the following winter, almost all the Western Qiang tribes were either wiped out in the civil war or surrendered outright. At this point, the Western Qiang problem was finally successfully solved by Zhao Chongguo. And what Zhao Chongguo paid was only the promised bounty and a part of the tuntian funds.
This price is much smaller than taking cavalry to find the enemy's main forces on a large scale. After these Western Qiang tribes were annexed, the Han Dynasty took advantage of the situation to establish a Jincheng vassal state in this area to better manage Western Qiang. At the same time, because the Western Qiang problem was solved, the Xiongnu in the north were also repulsed, and the Hexi corridor was completely safeguarded.
epilogue
Therefore, a year later, when the Xiongnu's Japanese kings returned to the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty took advantage of the situation to establish the Western Regions Protectorate. Since then, the Western Regions have finally been completely included in the actual control of the Han Dynasty. And these, I am afraid that they all have to thank the contribution of Zhao Chongguo before.
This is the real 'Battle of Zhao Chongguo and Pingxiqiang' in history.