The long drive is unstoppable - the young general Huo Qubing
"I was born in the Yulinlang of the Han Dynasty. I first followed the cavalry to fight in Yuyang. Who knew that I would not suffer in the border court, but I still heard the fragrance of a chivalrous man even if I die." This song by Wang Wei's "Youth Travel" actually tells the dream of a young man in Chang'an at that time. Huo Qubing was undoubtedly the fulfiller of this dream. The young general was full of heroic posture and should have been the idol of many men and women for many years at that time. This idol is much healthier and sunny than the current singers.
Huo Qubing, a brave general of the Han Dynasty. His grandmother was the maid of Princess Pingyang. He had an affair with Zheng Ji, an official from Pingyang County, and gave birth to his uncle, the future general of the Han Dynasty Wei Qing. Moreover, this maid Wei also had several children: the eldest son Changjun, the eldest daughter Junru, the second daughter Junru, the third daughter Jun Guang, and the younger brother of the son Fu. Historical books say that they were all the Wei clans surnamed Wei, which means that no one knew who their biological father was. We should actually thank the open social atmosphere at that time and the tolerance of the Princess Pingyang family, because the two great generals and a great Han queen were descendants of this maid. If they were the Southern Song Dynasty and the Ming and Qing Dynasties where Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism were the dominant ones, it would be a question whether these people could survive.
Huo Qubing's mother was an illegitimate son, and he himself was an illegitimate son. His biological father Huo Zhongru was from Pingyang County, Hedong County. He worked as a minor official in Pingyang County. He often went to Pingyang Hou's house for affairs and had an affair with his maid Wei and his child. It seemed that at that time, the minor official in the fief often had an affair with the maid of the local marquis, and Wei Qing's father was also a county official in Pingyang. He had an affair with the maid because he often went to and from the marquis's house to do business. It was a bit like the current office romance. Later, Huo Zhongru got married and gave birth to a son Huo Guang, and then cut off contact with the child. Huo Qubing's half-brother was also a celebrity in the history of the Han Dynasty.
Huo Qubing was born in the first year of Jianyuan (140 BC). This year was the year when Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne. At this time, the court was implementing the new policy of Jianyuan, but all this seemed to be very far away from Huo Qubing and his family. His family seemed to be the slaves of Princess Pingyang. The family lived in Princess Pingyang's mansion. His aunt Wei Zifu was a singer in the mansion, and his uncle was a cavalryman, that is, a bodyguard. Huo Qubing's fate was basically the same as his uncle, a slave of the Marquis of Pingyang. However, when he was one year old, something completely changed the fate of their family and also changed the fate of Huo Qubing. A great young general appeared in Chinese history. In the second year of Jianyuan (141 BC), when Huo Qubing was one year old, a major event happened in the court. Empress Dowager Dou dismissed Zhao Wan and Wang Zang, abolished Mingtang, and abolished
After Emperor Wu of Han’s new policy on Jianyuan, Xuchang and others were allowed to be the three dukes to control the government. It is estimated that Emperor Wu of Han was very cowardly at this time, but he had no real power and there was no way to do it. The court could not go well and the situation at home was not good. Emperor Wu of Han was the daughter of the eldest princess Liu Piao. According to current standards, he should be a typical barbaric girlfriend. Many boys would like it. But she met Emperor Wu of Han, a man with a strong desire to control, and the emperor. Her personality was destined to have a tragedy. The most fatal problem was that she had infertility. In that era, women’s infertility, especially the queen’s infertility, was a huge problem. The most important task of the queen was to give birth to a healthy heir to the throne. This Empress Chen spent a lot of money but failed to achieve such a goal. The disappointment in Emperor Wu of Han was inevitable.
When his career and family were not going well, he must have a catharsis. When he went to the sacrificial ceremony to Princess Pingyang's house to rest, he saw Wei Zifu performing singing and dancing, and found the psychological catharsis. When he changed his clothes, he came to Wei Zifu and rewarded Princess Pingyang's daughter and brought Wei Zifu back to the palace. However, the fate of the Wei family had not changed much at this time. Emperor Wu of Han brought Wei Zifu back to the palace and seemed to have forgotten her and never saw her again. It was not until a year later that Emperor Wu of Han wanted to eliminate the palace servants. Wei Zifu cried and demanded to leave the palace. Emperor Wu of Han remembered her and was lucky again. Wei Zifu became pregnant after this and became noble. This shows that women's tears are indeed a weapon with great lethality, and even veterans like Emperor Wu of Han cannot be spared.
From then on, the fate of the Wei family completely changed. The child remarried to the wife of the Secretary Chen Zhanzhang, and the child's sister Junru also remarried to the Taipu Gongsun He. Wei Qing became the Taizhong Doctor. In other words, Wei Shaoer became the wife of the Director of the Department, her sister became the wife of the Vice Premier of the State Council, and her younger brother became the Director of the Department. At this time, Huo Qubing should be only 3 or 4 years old. He suddenly changed from a descendant of a slave to a high-ranking official. It should be said that his life had undergone tremendous changes.
Huo Qubing's childhood and youth should be happy, and should have been spent under the favor of his parents. At this time, the status of the Wei family was always improving. First, in the fifth year of Yuanguang (130 BC), his uncle Wei Qingguan was appointed as a general of the chariot and cavalry, and his troops went out of Shanggu and attacked Longcheng, becoming the only winning army among the four frontier troops. He was named Guanneihou for merit, and then another important year for the Wei family, the first year of Yuanshuo (128 BC). In this year, Huo Qubing's aunt Wei Zifu gave birth to the prince Liu Jue, and was named the queen, and reached the peak of women at that time, and then Qiu Xian's uncle
My uncle Wei Qing was ordered to lead 30,000 cavalrymen to attack from Yanmen to defeat the Huns. Then in the second year, Wei Qing led his troops to attack from Yunzhong, and then passed Yunzhong County to Shuofang County (now Yikezhaomeng and other places south of Hetao, Inner Mongolia) to sweep westward and pursued to Longxi County (now southwest of Gansu). In this battle in the south of the desert, the Han army of Wei Qing's troops traveled thousands of miles to defeat the Huns, drove away the two kings of Aries and Loufan, and then used Henan as Shuofang County to seize the outpost of the Ordos grassland that the Huns invaded the Central Plains. After the war, Wei Qing was granted the Marquis of Changping, with a fief of 3,800 households. At this time, the Wei family was already noble, and it was not a match today.
At this time, Huo Qubing should be 12 or 3 years old, at the age of having dreams. His uncle's great success is undoubtedly a role model for him. Perhaps this is the time when the young man set great ambitions and rode his horse in northern Xinjiang, it is not far from a goal for the young man.
Four years later, in the fifth year of Yuanshuo (124 BC), Wei Qing, the general of the chariot and cavalry, led more than 30,000 cavalry to attack from Gaoque; at the same time, the Wei Wei Wei Wei was the guerrilla general, the left inner historian Li Ju was the powerful crossbow general, the Taifu Gongsun He was the cavalry general, and the acting prime minister Li Cai was the general of the light charity. Each led his troops to attack from Shuofang, and all were under the command of Wei Qing. This battle defeated the Xiongnu tribes, and the Right Xian King led hundreds of cavalry to escape from the distance. After this battle, Emperor Wu of Han appointed Wei Qing as the general, and later moved to the Grand Sima, becoming the actual commander-in-chief of the Han army. Wei Qing's three sons were also granted marquis. It was also in this year that Huo Qubing took on the stage of history.
At this time, Huo Qubing was already 18 years old. As the nephew of the queen and general, he should be the most favored high-ranking official, besides the royal family. As the attendant of Emperor Wu of Han, he went to and from the palace to attend Emperor Wu, and was deeply trusted. However, the dream of the young man was still lingering in his heart, so he asked Emperor Wu of Han for battle. Out of his love for this nephew or the hope that the young man would become a talent, Emperor Wu of Han agreed to his request. When he attacked the Huns in the sixth year of Yuanshuo, Huo Qubing was put on the battlefield, and a generation of young heroes attacked the sky from then on. A legend unfolded.
In the sixth year of Yuanshuo (123 BC), General Wei Qing attacked the Huns from Dingxiang and accepted the imperial edict of Emperor Wu. He appointed Qubing, a twenty-year-old Qubing as the lieutenant of the Piao Yao School, and used his subordinates as his subordinates. As the nephew of the general and the beloved general of Emperor Wu of Han, Huo Qubing was well taken care of. He was born in Yulin, and Yulin itself was an elite unit of the Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, six good families including Longxi, Tianshui, Anding, Beidi, Shangjun, Xihe and other good families were selected, Jianzhang Palace, and called Jianzhangying Cavalry. Later, he changed his name to Yulin Cavalry, which means "like feces, like many forests", which belonged to Guangluxun and guarded the emperor. The commanders were Yulin Zhonglang General and Yulin Lang. The six counties mentioned above were all in the border areas, with strong people and good people, and they were both good families. That is to say, they were good young people who were both red and special. Huo Qubing's 800 cavalry should have these elites.
There were two out of the Huns this year. One was in the spring, with Gongsun Ao, Gongsun He, the Grandpa Gongsun He, the Left General, Zhao Xin, the Marquis of Xi, the Former General, Su Jian, the Guard of Guard, the Right General, Li Guang, the Order of the Langzhong, and Li Ju, the Left Inner Historian, beheaded more than a thousand people. The second time was in the autumn, Wei Qing led six generals to attack from Dingxiang and beheaded more than 10,000 people. However, Su Jian and Zhao Xin led more than 3,000 cavalry to meet the army of the Huns' Shanyu. One day after the battle, the Han army was outnumbered and killed and wounded. Zhao Xin surrendered to the Huns. But it was this failure that caused a young general to rise.
In this battle, Huo Qubing led his 800 cavalry warriors to leave his army for hundreds of miles, looking for favorable opportunities to attack and kill the enemy. The young man was not afraid or panic, but only the ambition to make achievements and the heroic spirit of disregarding danger. You can say that he was young and a born calf was not afraid of tigers, but it was this kind of hero that made the young man successful. He attacked the camp in the hinterland of the Huns, killed the Huns prime minister and the family, killed Jiruohouchan, a grandfather of Shanyu, captured Shanyu's uncle Luo Gubi alive, and beheaded 2,028 people. Such contributions were even more dazzling against the backdrop of the defeat of the army. Emperor Wu of Han also named Huo Qubing as the champion marquis out of his appreciation for this nephew, and set a fief of 1,600 households.
In this battle, Huo Qubing emerged like a tiger coming out of the trunk. A young man who was eighteen years old became the nemesis of the Huns who dominated the desert. Zhao Xin, who surrendered to the Huns in this battle, made a plan to let the Shanyu go to the north of the Mobei and wait for the Han army to break it out. The Shanyu followed his plan and went to the north of the Mobei. Since the Shanyu Pavilion of the Huns was facing Yunzhong and Dai County, there were no battles in the northeast of the Han Dynasty in the past two years, but in the northwest of the Han Dynasty, the young general Huo Qubing would set off waves of attacks again and again.
In the spring of the second year of Yuanshou (121 BC), two years after Huo Qubing showed his strength last time, Emperor Wu of Han began to attack the Huns again. Before this time, Emperor Wu of Han appointed Huo Qubing as General Huo Qubing, with a rank of equal rank as General. In fact, Huo Qubing's cavalry suffered a lot in the last battle, but because it was not very meritorious in that battle, Zhao Xin, a Hun who originally surrendered to the Han Dynasty, surrendered to the Huns again. In order to boost morale, Emperor Wu of Han wanted to find a hero. Huo Qubing made contributions this time and was also the nephew of Emperor Wu of Han. This hero was not his.
This time, Emperor Wu of Han should be the purpose of testing Huo Qubing's large-scale army combat capabilities, so he gave Huo Qubing 10,000 cavalry to leave Longxi, and set off from the northwest on the defensive. Facing the second-level Youxian King's troops, in addition to being unexpected, he also hoped that Huo Qubing would train his military talents here.
During this battle in the frontier, Huo Qubing exerted the high mobility of the cavalry. He fought for six days, crossed more than a thousand miles across Yanzhi Mountain, and passed five Hun tribes, and fought with the enemy in close combat. He killed King Zhelan, cut off King Luhu's head, killed fully armed enemy soldiers, captured King Hunxie's son, the Xiongnu Prime Minister and the Chief Commander, annihilated more than 8,000 enemies, and seized King Xiu Tu's sacrifice to the heaven.
Shortly after this battle, in the summer of this year, General Cavalry once again led his troops to fight. There was no Wei Qing in this attack, and the four generals went out of the frontier, as if it was a copy of the fifth year of Yuanguang. It is estimated that Emperor Wu of Han hoped that Huo Qubing would be able to establish merits and establish authority in the army like his uncle Wei Qing during this battle.
The four generals who went out of the frontier this time were General Huo Qubing and Gongsun Ao, the Marquis of Heqi, sent troops from the north and marched in different ways; Zhang Qian, the Marquis of Bowang, and Li Guang, the Order of the Doctor, sent troops from Youbeiping, and marched in different ways. Emperor Wu of Han dispatched 14,000 people in the northeast, led by Li Guang and Zhang Qian. Judging from the intentions of Emperor Wu of Han, this battle in the northeast was a strategic restraint, for the northwest attack, with the purpose of attacking the Xiongnu Youxianwang Group in the northwest, in order to achieve the strategic goal of connecting the Western Regions.
During the northwest battle, Gongsun Ao, the Marquis of Heqi, was unable to meet Huo Qubing. Only Huo Qubing himself led the cavalry over Juyanze, passed Xiaoyuezhi, and attacked Qilian Mountains. He captured the chief king Tu. He led the crowd to surrender. He killed 30,200 enemies, captured five little Huns, the mother of five little Huns, the wife of Shanyu, fifty-nine princes of Xiongnu, and captured a total of 63 people, including the Prime Minister, General, Danghu, and Duwei, and won a great victory. At the same time, in this battle, Huo Qubing's command became more and more mature, and the Han army suffered only about three-tenths of losses, unlike the previous two times that had nearly half of the losses.
In this battle, Huo Qubing's subordinates were Zhao Ponu, Gao Bushi, and Puduo and three others were granted the title of marquis. The lieutenants who arrived at Xiaoyuezhi with Huo Qubing were all named Zuo Shuchang, and Huo Qubing's military team began to form.
The second year of Yuanshou (121 BC) was an eventful year, and in the autumn of this year another amazing thing happened. The Huns' Shanyu was furious because the Hunxie King in the West was repeatedly defeated by the Han army led by the General of the Cavalry and lost tens of thousands of people. He wanted to summon King Hunxie and kill him. In the system of the Hunnu, the Zuoxian King was respected. The Zuoxian King usually served as the crown prince. The Zuoxian King Group was also elite in the group of Youxian King Group. He did not care about the Zuoxian King Group. In addition, because the Hunxie King was defeated by the General of the Cavalry during this year, the Hunxie King Group, which had a low status.
The king was targeted by Shanyu, probably to be dealt with as a typical case, to cheer up the morale of the army. It is probably because the news is not confidential, so King Hunxie found out, so King Hunxie and King Xiu Tu wanted to surrender to the Han Dynasty, so they sent people to the border to meet the Han people. At this time, Big Luxe led his troops to build a city on the bank of the Yellow River. When he saw King Hunxie's envoy, he immediately ordered the chariot to rush back and report to the emperor. After hearing the report, the emperor was afraid that King Hunxie would use the method of surrender to sneak attack the border, so he ordered General Hunxie to lead troops to welcome King Hunxie and King Xiu Tu. General Hunxie had crossed the Yellow River and looked at each other with King Hunxie's troops.
At this time, the deputy generals of the Hunxie King's troops saw the Han army and heard that it was the troops led by Huo Qubing. They were probably afraid of being beaten by Huo Qubing some time ago. In addition, they had no idea about surrendering to the Han Dynasty, so many people began to escape. At this time, Huo Qubing's momentum was manifested. Generally, the Huns were in chaos and the situation was unclear. Huo Qubing could completely let the Huns strife themselves, without taking risks among a bunch of Huns who had exploded their nests to take risks. Because the chances of being killed or captured by the Huns were very high, Huo Qubing actually rushed into the Huns' army, not hurting one of his own but killing the 8,000 Huns who mutinied, and subduing the remaining 40,000 people. The courage of the young hero can be seen. He should have been as powerful as a god of war at that time. This image was engraved in the hearts of the Huns and on the scroll of Chinese history.
After killing the mutinous Huns, Huo Qubing was a man who drove the carriage and first went to the emperor's place, and then he led the entire army of Hunxie King across the Yellow River. There were tens of thousands of surrenders, claiming to be 100,000. After they arrived in Chang'an, the emperor used hundreds of thousands of dollars to reward him. Ten thousand households were designated to be named Hunxie King Luoyin Marquis. His little king Hu Duni was named Xiamo Hou, Yingbi was named Quhou, Qinli was the Hou of Heqi, and Tongli was the Hou of Changle.
From then on, the Hexi Corridor became the territory of the Han Dynasty. Soon the Han Dynasty established the four counties of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang in the Hexi region, and the transportation between the Han and the Western Regions was unobstructed. Not only that, after this Hexi battle, the pressure on the Han Dynasty in the northwest was greatly reduced, reducing half of the troops guarding Longxi, Northland and Shangjun. From then on, the Han Dynasty got rid of the two-line combat form and could specifically deal with the Xiongnu Zuoxian King's tribe and the Shanyu headquarters in the northeast.
After this battle, another legend about Huo Qubing passed down. Huo Qubing made great contributions in Hexi. Emperor Wu of Han specially sent an envoy to carry fine wine to the front line to comfort him. Huo Qubing said to the envoy: Thank you for the reward of the emperor. But it was not my own merit to the heavy damage to the Huns. The merit was given to all the soldiers. He ordered the imperial wine to be carried out to reward his subordinates. But there were few wines and many people, what should I do? Huo Qubing ordered his subordinates to pour two jars of fine wine into the mountain spring where the camp was located. The whole valley suddenly filled with wine, and all the soldiers drank the mountain spring mixed with wine, and the joy was thunderous. This is the origin of "Jiuquan". Whether this is a legend or a historical fact, when we read this story thousands of years later, we will still feel heart-wrenching when we read this story, and the image of a brave but romantic young general came to life in front of us.
After the Hexi Battle ended, Huo Qubing was awarded another reward by Emperor Wu of Han, and 1,700 households were designated to be added to the General of the Cavalry. The young general only rested for more than a year, and another battle was waiting for Huo Qubing. This was the famous Battle of Mobei.
Chapter completed!