Introduction: After the Xiongnu besieged Emperor Liu Bang, were they powerful through peace? Just look at the centralization of power and the special military system!
Many people believe that the xiongnu, under the leadership of Mo Dun Shan Yu, were able to rise rapidly because after luring the han emperor Liu Bang into the depths, besieging him for seven days and seven nights, forcing him to sign a policy of peace and pro-peace, and forcing the Han Dynasty to pay tribute, did they become powerful? Let's take a look at the Xiongnu policy of forcing tribute, there are three main contents, one is that the two sides agreed to use the Great Wall as a border, politically call each other brothers, roughly delineated the border between Han and Hungary, politically equal, no one is anyone's vassal state.
The second content is to clear the city, strengthen the trade between the Han and The Huns, the Xiongnu economy is very dependent on the Han Dynasty, its production and living materials were previously obtained by plundering the Central Plains, and after the opening of the guanshi, the Xiongnu people could exchange more materials. The third content is the year tribute (年俸), which is the ultimate goal of the Xiongnu and the most important content of the pro-peace policy, the Han Dynasty gave the Xiongnu a large amount of materials and gold and silver coins every year.
The "Records of History" records that When Gao Zu was "serving the Xiongnu with wine and rice for many years, emperor Wen"'s time" left a single on the number of rice and rice in the grass tillers, and the "Zhongxing Yue" Gu Han lost the rice mushrooms, so that in its quantity, it will be good and beautiful. ”
The Han Dynasty's policy of peace and pro-kinship was actually a disguised tribute policy, but under the ingenious arrangement of the Han-Hungarians, it left face for the Han Dynasty, and the Xiongnu also benefited a lot; for the first item with the Great Wall as the boundary, this was an equal treaty, after all, the traditional border of the Central Plains nationalities was south of the Great Wall; the second, the customs clearance city, although required by the Xiongnu, could communicate with each other, and the Han Dynasty could also obtain materials and technologies from the western regions through Guanshi, especially strategic materials such as good horses. Third, this was a humiliating treaty, but the Han Dynasty gave it to the Xiongnu by way of harmony and kinship, with the dowry of a princess, and the Xiongnu not only got a woman, but also earned enough face, and it was also natural for the Han Dynasty to marry a princess to give a generous gift.
How did Mouton Shan lead the Xiongnu to suddenly rise and become powerful?
The author believes that Mao Dundan was building a powerful centralized empire, and after he killed his father and seized the throne, he killed all those who disobeyed him and carried out a centralized management of the Xiongnu, that is to say, centralized power was the foundation of a strong army. In the Han Dynasty stirrups, the saddle has not yet been perfected, the Xiongnu grew up on horseback and practiced superb riding and shooting skills.
History ·
The Biography of the Huns records that the Huns "could ride sheep and lead birds and mice; Snickers can bend their bows and ride as much as they can. Its long soldiers are bowed and arrowed, and the short soldiers are sharpened. ”
The above information can be seen that the Xiongnu people from riding sheep from a young age to train balance ability and riding effect, through shooting birds, rats to train shooting ability, grow up by shooting foxes, rabbits practice horseback shooting ability; it is the Xiongnu people from childhood to receive such military intensive training, so that the Xiongnu cavalry can ride a horse, shoot, but also fight on horseback; on the contrary, the Han Dynasty cavalry, that is, riding infantry, horses are vehicles, because stirrups, saddles are not perfect, Han cavalry hands are not liberated, when the Xiongnu cavalry encounters Han infantry, Basically, they are all one against ten, showing strong combat effectiveness.
The special military system of the Huns
In wartime, the whole people are soldiers, and when the war is idle, horses and sheep are herded, once the war comes, they can immediately assemble and fight, and the Xiongnu warhorses have a strong rapid mobility, which can form a superior force in an instant to cause a situation of more fighting and less fighting, when the war situation is unfavorable, the Xiongnu cavalry can quickly escape to safety with the speed of the warhorse.
The Xiongnu cavalry has strong combat ability, but the population is small, the occupation of the territory is large, resulting in the dispersion of troops, and Mao Dun shan Yu appeared, he will re-integrate the Xiongnu tribes, form a powerful cavalry force, and his personal talent is also very high military talent, he further strengthened the xiongnu military strength through the conquest of the Eastern Hu, the western region and the northern states; this is one of the main factors for the rise and strength of the Xiongnu.
Successful "tribute" policy,
Mo Dun Shan Yu knew that he had hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers in his hands, fought against the Han Dynasty, and did not lose the upper hand in the battle, but in the face of tens of millions of people, a vast territory, and a strategic depth of the Han Dynasty, it was impossible to rely solely on force, and it was impossible to completely conquer the Han Dynasty, which was also the most important reason why Mo Dun Shan spared Liu Bang under the siege of Bai Deng.
In addition, the Xiongnu were able to suddenly become powerful during the Period of Mao Dundan, but also because the Central Plains region was in the chaotic era of the end of Qin, the peasant revolt at the end of Qin, the Chu-Han War, and the struggle between the princes, all of which made the Central Plains Dynasty have no time to look north, the Xiongnu took the opportunity to submit to the Eastern Hu and Western Regions, and occupied the traditional territory of the Central Plains, and in the war with the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, they almost destroyed their entire army, and Mo Dun single-handedly adopted the policy of fighting if he could fight, and he could not fight and run, invading the Central Plains region, making it helpless, and the Xiongnu at this time reached its peak period.
References: "History", "Book of Han", etc