Author: Xu Yunhui
(Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han)
In November 36, the famous Eastern Han general Wu Han surrendered to the White Emperor Gongsun Shubu's general Yan Cen and successfully captured Chengdu. After entering the city, he first cut down Gongsun Shu, who had been seriously injured and killed, and then killed Gongsun Shu's wife and sons and daughters, and then exterminated the general Yan Cen clan, and finally "released the army to plunder and burn the palace." ”
Emperor Guangwu heard the news and angrily rebuked Wu Han: "The people of Chengdu surrendered for three days, and the officials and people have returned to our country, but you have slaughtered the city with your troops!" Poor Chengdu 'children and old mothers, mouths of tens of thousands', killed by you in one day. Sadness and sorrow. You are so cruel and unkind, you have completely lost the heart of benevolence and righteousness that you advocate! ”
Curiously, the famous general Geng Yi had a disgraceful record of "slaughtering three hundred cities" in his military career, but he was not condemned by anyone. Wu Han slaughtered only one city in Chengdu, and was angrily rebuked by the Guangwu Emperor. Why?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > (1) Clever guihan</h1>
Wu Han was a native of Nanyang County, and served as the head of the local pavilion (equivalent to the director of the present-day police station). He is a man of great pride and righteousness, and likes to make friends with three religions and nine streams, so the guests under the door are mixed. In the last year of the new dynasty, Wu Han became a famous figure in the Yanji area because "the guests broke the law and went to Yuyang in exile", and in order to survive, they sold horses as their business, and "all they went to make friends with Haojie".
Han Hong, a native of Nanyang, was ordered by Emperor Gengshi to tour Hebei with a festival and bribe local officials with the high-ranking official Houlu. Someone recommended: "Wu Ziyan, Qi Shiye, can be with the planner!" Han Hong summoned Wu Han, and after some conversation, he was "very pleased", and immediately appointed Wu Han as the county commander of Anle County, Yuyang County, in the name of Emperor Gengshi, under the command of Shou Pengpet of Yuyang County.
"Emperor Zhao Han" Wang Lang proclaimed himself emperor in Handan, and sent people around to make wishes and invite rebellion. At the same time, Liu Xiu recruited troops and horses in Hebei to fight against Wang Lang. Yuyang County's Shou Peng was undecided and summoned his subordinates to discuss who to submit to. Wu Hansu heard that Liu Xiu had the style of an elder, "wanting to return to his heart alone", and urged Peng Pet: "The elite cavalry of Yuyang County and Shanggu County are famous all over the world, why don't you persuade Shanggu County's Shou Geng to submit to Liu Gong together, and send the elite cavalry of the second county to help Liu Gong attack Handan?" Although Peng Yan deeply believed it, because "all the officials and subordinates wanted to attach themselves to Wang Lang", they could not clearly express their position, and the matter could not be resolved.
Wu Han saw both ends of Peng's pet rat and had to resign and go out. On the way, he happened to meet a hungry and dizzy Confucian, wu Han let him eat and drink enough, and asked him about Liu Xiu's recent situation. After he learned that Liu Xiu's county had returned to his heart and that "the honorable person in Handan (i.e., Wang Lang) was not of the Liu clan", he had a plan, sent someone to imitate Liu Xiu's handwriting, forged the official documents passed to Yuyang County, and sent Rusheng to pretend to be a messenger to ask for Peng's favor. When Ru Sheng and Peng Pet had a very pleasant conversation, Wu Han continued to advise Peng Pet to submit to Liu Xiu while the iron was hot.
Just at this time, Shanggu Commandery Shou Geng was persuaded by his eldest son Geng Yi to invite Peng to submit to Liu Xiu. Peng Yu finally made up his mind and sent Wu Han to lead 2,000 cavalry "to join the generals of Shanggu and march south, so as to kill the general Wang Lang." Wu Han and Geng Yi and others caught up with Liu Xiu, and Liu Xiu was overjoyed and immediately sent Wu Han and others to "ride a surprise horse, raise troops and play horses, and ride around Handan City." "After capturing Handan, Wu Han was made a partial general by Liu Xiu," he said, giving him the title of Marquis of Jiance. ”
Shang Shu, who joined hands with Liu Xiu to break through Handan, caused a fierce conflict between Xie Gong and Liu Xiu, and both sides wanted to put the other to death. Xie Gong "led tens of thousands of his troops and also tuned up in Yi (City)." Liu Xiu was highly skilled, and used the plan of moving the tiger away from the mountain to lure Xie Gong out, and secretly sent Wu Han and others to secretly attack Liu Qing and Chen Kang's remaining Yecheng.
Wu Han was coarse and detailed, and the shilling debater persuaded Chen Kang to surrender. Chen Kang arrested Chen Qing and Xie Gong's wife and children, and opened the door to wu Han. Wu Han laid an ambush and personally beheaded Xie Gong, who had returned to Yecheng after the defeat, so that "all his people surrendered." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > (ii) Pingding Hebei</h1>
Liu Xiu wanted to send someone to Youzhou to recruit troops, and Deng Yu recommended Wu Han, who was "brave and wise, and the generals were rarely able to reach". Wu Han was worshipped as a great general, and with a festival to recruit cavalry from ten counties in Youzhou, taking advantage of the fact that the Youzhou Mumiao appointed by the First Emperor was not prepared, he led twenty horsemen to kill Miao Zeng and capture his army. The north state was terrified, and the city was not expected to obey. "Wu Han marched on the Youzhou cavalry," and Guangwu would meet Qingyang. ”
When the generals saw that Wu Han had returned with a full load, they all lived in the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, and decided that Wu Han could not divide his troops among other generals. Wu Han was bright and upright, and the roster of generals and soldiers was all handed in. The generals scrambled to ask Liu Xiu for troops, and Liu Xiu asked with a smile, "Weren't you all worried about Wu Han eating alone?" Now why is the lion opening its mouth again? "The generals were ashamed and full of admiration for the selflessness of Grand Duke Wu Han.
Wu Han followed Liu Xiu to "strike the copper horse, the heavy company, and the high hu, and all of them were broken." "Every time there is a battle, Wu Han "often rides five thousand as an army front, and several of them are the first to fall into the battlefield." Liu Xiu, the empress dowager, appointed Wu Han as the commander of the whole army with the title of "General Wu of Jian, and also of Miao Youzhou and Xie Shangshu, whose merits were great", and appointed Wu Han as the commander of the whole army, "and even made the Marquis of Wuyang." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > (3) pacify the Kanto</h1>
Wu Hanxian led the Great Sikong Wang Liang and others to "jointly attack the Tanxiang thieves on the Zhangshui River in Yidong, and destroyed them, and surrendered more than 100,000 people", and was made the Marquis of Guangping by Emperor Guangwu, eating four counties; then led the generals to eliminate the remnants of the forces, led his troops to "march into Nanyang", and was invincible. Battles and victories.
In a fierce battle, Wu Han personally led the light cavalry to fight the enemy, "unfavorable, the horse wounded the knee, return to the camp." In front of Wu Han's sickbed, the generals said in unison: "At this time, the great enemy is present, but the general is bedridden with injuries, and I am afraid!" Wu Han was furious, bandaged his wounds in pain, stood up, and ordered the cattle to be slaughtered to reward the soldiers, and encouraged the soldiers to kill the enemy bravely. The sergeants were encouraged to kill the enemy and turn defeat into victory.
Wu Han continued to work hard, "Break the five school thieves yu Linping, chase them to Jishan Mountain in Dong County, and break it." The north strikes the Qing River long straight and the plain five miles of thieves, all flat. At this time, the five surnames of Haoqiang of Pingyang County "guarded the commander one by one, and the city was reversed." The generals of the Han army shook their fists, "Scramble to attack." Wu Han was calm and relaxed, and concluded that the root cause of the rebellion of the five surnames was the inaction of the county chief, so he ordered that "those who dared to venture into the army should be beheaded", and at the same time arrested the county chief, summoned the counties, and apologized to the rebels of the five surnames. "The five surnames are very happy, that is, the surrender of the phase rate." The generals admired wu han's ingenious plan of surrendering without a fight, and praised them one after another: "(General Wu) went down to the city without a fight, which was beyond the reach of the people." ”
Subsequently, Wu Han followed Emperor Guangwu on his eastern expedition to the west, and after completely pacifying the East, he sang a triumphant song "Zhen Brigade Returns to Beijing Division." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > (3) To cut Longping Shu</h1>
Soon after the Long Right warlord Kui Huan returned to the Eastern Han Dynasty, he colluded with the White Emperor Gongsun Shu to rebel. Wu Han followed Emperor Guangwu in attacking Longyou, and the Guanzhong commanderies cooperated closely with the imperial army, "so they besieged Kui and hurries in Xicheng." "After Emperor Guangwu returned to the east, Wu Han disregarded the holy orders, greedy and earnest, and desperate for everything" and attacked with all his might. "Guanzhong's county guards do not listen to dispatches," there were many fugitives. Wu Han was short of soldiers and food, and was attacked by Gongsun Shu's rescuers, "so he retreated. ”
In 35 AD, after Kui Huan was destroyed, Wu Han's close comrade-in-arms Lai She led his troops from Long Right to Shu and won successive battles, but was killed by Gongsun Shu's assassins. Wu Han "led the southern general Cen Peng and other gongsun Shu. Cen Peng attacked Jingmen, led a large army into Shu, and was assassinated by Gongsun Shu's assassins. Wu Hanwen led 30,000 soldiers to the west of Jiangxi and took over the command of Cen Peng. He "fought with Gongsun Shu to fight wei dang and Gongsun Yong at Yufujin, and then besieged Wuyang", completely annihilating Gongsun Shu's reinforcements of 5,000 men, and "marching into Guangdu (south of Chengdu) and pulling it out", so that "all the small cities east of Wuyang fell", and the army was directly approaching Chengdu.
Emperor Guangwu heard the report and instructed Wu Han: "There are still more than 100,000 enemy troops in Chengdu, and we must not take the enemy lightly. You should hold on to Guangdu and not fight the enemy. If the enemy does not dare to come, you try to circle with the enemy as much as possible, and then attack when the enemy is exhausted by the movement war and the war of attrition! ”
Wu Han was eager to win, ignored Emperor Guangwu's strategic deployment behind his head, and went deep alone.
Emperor Guangwu was stunned to hear the news, and issued an edict condemning Wu Han: "Why did you ignore the instructions of The Emperor?" You went deeper with the enemy and built a fort with Liu Shang. If the enemy troops send troops to contain you and attack Liu Shang with all their strength, what will you do? Liu Shang defeated, you must lose! You will immediately lead the troops back to Guangdu! ”
The edict was still on the way, and Gongsun Shu did indeed seize the fighter, "so that Xie Feng and Yuan Ji divided the crowd of 100,000 people into more than 20 battalions and attacked Han", and at the same time, Ling Bei general took "more than 10,000 people to rob Liu Shang, so that they could not save each other." ”
Wu Han and the enemy "fought for one day, the army was defeated" and was besieged by the enemy army. Wu Han knew that life and death were here, so he inspired the generals: "Our army and Liu Shangjun are divided and surrounded, and they are in danger. I plan to secretly withdraw my troops to break through and join forces with Liu Shang to resist the enemy, and if the princes can work together with one heart and one mind, people will fight for themselves, and great achievements can be made; otherwise, there will be no more defeat. Success or failure opportunities, in one fell swoop. ’”
After the opinions were unified, Wu Han ordered the soldiers to vigorously fight and horseback, "Close the camp for three days and not come out." In order to paralyze the enemy army, Wu Han ordered the military camp to "plant many banners and flags, so that the fireworks were endless." After the enemy army relaxed its vigilance, Wu Han "led the army to join forces with Liu Shang at night." ”
The enemy general discovered the plan and hurriedly led his troops in pursuit. After Wu Han and Liu Shang joined forces, their strength increased greatly, and they led their troops to meet the battle, "from Dan to Xi, they broke it, beheaded Xie Feng and Yuan Ji, and won more than 5,000 ranks." So the guangdu was introduced. ”
Wu Han wrote to the Guangwu Emperor to report the details, "and deeply condemned", which was forgiven by the Guangwu Emperor. He shook his spirits and fought a decisive battle with Gongsun Shu between Guangdu and Chengdu, "eight battles and eight grams", besieged Chengdu, and finally attacked Chengdu, "beheading Shushu and transmitting Luoyang." After entering the city, Wu Han slaughtered the city and was angrily reprimanded by emperor Guangwu.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="34" > (5) Tucheng was reprimanded</h1>
Why did Wu Han slaughter the city? Why did Emperor Guangwu rebuke him?
Wu Han slaughtered the city, first for revenge. Because Nanyang Commandery's comrades Lai She and Cen Peng died successively at the hands of Gongsun Shu's assassins, Wu Han killed the red eye and only then took an indiscriminate massacre. At the same time, Wu Han led Gongsun Shu to the head and exterminated the clan, completely eradicating Gongsun Shu's forces, and doing what Emperor Guangwu wanted to do but did not dare to do. After gongsun Shu was destroyed, Emperor Guangwu finally achieved the veritable unification of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Emperor Guangwu angrily rebuked Wu Han, first, because Wu Han repeatedly disobeyed the edicts and was greedy and aggressive, undermined his own strategic deployment, and played a very bad leading role, suspected of flouting imperial power, and had to be beaten; second, because Wu Han "sent troops to plunder and burned the palace" turned the city of Chengdu into a purgatory on earth, seriously damaging the image of Emperor Guangwu's benevolent king, so he "heard the anger and condemned han." ”
Wu Han was only criticized by Emperor Guangwu for a few painless words, which did not affect his career and future in the slightest. After eliminating Gongsun Shu, Wu Han attacked the Xiongnu in the north and suppressed the rebellion of the Shu Commandery Guards, and when he was seriously ill, Emperor Wu personally visited him, and after his death, he was posthumously honored as the Marquis of Zhonghou, and enjoyed the solemn funeral of the Western Han general Huo Guang, ranking second in the twenty-eighth general of Yuntai.
Therefore, Wu Han's slaughter of the city was denounced by emperor Guangwu, which was only a superficial article of Emperor Guangwu. For Emperor Guangwu, Wu Han exterminated the entire Gongsun clan, never to be troubled, and his hard work was high, which was worthy of praise.
However, superficial articles must be done enough, and they must establish their own image of a benevolent monarch who hangs the people and cuts down crimes, so it is necessary to criticize Wu Han; for Wu Han, he is good at understanding the intentions of the leadership, doing what the leaders want to do but are inconvenient to do, so that a few words of criticism are exchanged for a splendid future, which is worth it!
【About the author】Xu Yunhui, male, graduated from the Department of Chinese of Yunnan Normal University in 1984 and is now a senior lecturer at Baoshan No.1 Middle School Education Group in Yunnan Province. He has published two monographs and published more than 600,000 words in literary journals at or above the provincial level.
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