Introduction: During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, what policies did the Xiongnu adopt toward the Han Dynasty, imposing tributes on the Han Dynasty, passing customs through the city, sending princesses, and fighting for war.
According to the comparison of their own military and economic strength with the Han Dynasty in different periods, as well as internal contradictions, the Xiongnu adopted roughly three policies for the Han Dynasty, namely, the policy of "forcing tribute", the policy of "responding to war" and the policy of "attaching to the Han Dynasty".
The Xiongnu policy of "forcing tribute"
When the Xiongnu unified the steppe and established a powerful regime, they adopted a policy of subordination to the surrounding areas, whether in the western region or to the central plains in the south, and first used the policy of "military" conquest. For the Western Regions, Mao Dundan first drove out the Yue clan and conquered Loulan, Wusun, Hujie and other twenty-six countries in the Western Regions, all of whom were the Xiongnu family; the Xiongnu's conquest of the Western Regions was very successful, and they set up ruling institutions in the Western Regions for effective management, so that when the Han envoys sent envoys to the Western Regions, the countries of the Western Regions did not dare to communicate with the Han.
The Xiongnu who submitted to the Western Regions not only obtained a large amount of grain and money, but also greatly enhanced their military strength, and at this time, the Central Plains region was in the chaos of the late Qin Dynasty, the Six Kingdoms Restoration War and the Chu-Han War, and its national strength was very poor.
The "Records of History" records, "Han Xing, the evil of receiving Qin, the work drama and the wealth of the poor, since the Son of Heaven can not be a donkey, will be phased or ride an ox cart, Qi min has no hidden cover." ”
At this time, the Han Dynasty did not have the ability to compete with the Xiongnu cavalry, and the Xiongnu did not destroy the strength of the Han Dynasty, after all, the Han Dynasty had a large population and the territorial depth was too large, so the Xiongnu adopted a policy of "forced tribute" to the Western Han Dynasty according to the comparison of military forces between the two sides. The policy of "forcing tribute" formulated by Mao Dun Shan Yu sent Xiongnu cavalry to constantly plunder and harass the border, which angered Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, to lead a team to march in person, and as a result, he was caught in The strategy of Luring troops by Mo Dun Shan Yu, resulting in the "Siege of Bai Deng" and almost annihilating the Emperor of the Han Dynasty in one fell swoop.
After besieging Liu Bang for seven days and seven nights, Mo Dundan could have easily eliminated him, but he did not do so, although both sides touched hundreds of thousands of troops to fight a decisive battle, and finally resolved it in a "reconciliation" manner. The reason why Mao Dundan yu besieged Liu Bang and broke away from the siege was to realize a strategy of the Xiongnu and force the Han Dynasty and pro-Na tribute.
During the "Siege of Baideng", the two sides quickly reached a peace agreement, and the Han Dynasty agreed to the policy of pro-Tribute proposed by the Xiongnu, let's see what benefits the Xiongnu achieved in successfully "forcing tribute" this time.
The two sides first demarcated the border demarcation line, that is, the Great Wall as the boundary, politically equal "brothers", each for the country; economically opened the "Guanshi" so that the Xiongnu could obtain the production and living materials of the Central Plains through exchange.
The "Book of Han and the Biography of the Xiongnu" records that "the emperor fu and the Xiongnu peace, pass the city, give the will to yu, send the lord as the old covenant"
Send the princess to the princess
The Han Dynasty paid tribute to the Xiongnu every year, including grain items such as wine and rice, as well as other materials such as cotton wool, as well as certain gold and silver jewelry and coins every year. Sending the princess to shan Yu Fu was one of the core contents of the Xiongnu's "forced tribute" policy, and the Han Dynasty's actions to meet the Xiongnu's "forced tribute" policy were implemented and completed through the situation of sending the princess in person.
Every time a new emperor of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, he had to send a "princess" and a relative, and at the same time, every time the Xiongnu established a new single, the Han King's Court also had to send a princess and a relative, which had become a customization of the Han Dynasty's peace policy at that time. The Xiongnu knew that none of the princesses sent by the Han Dynasty were real princesses, and they were all children of the clan, but the Xiongnu did not dissent. This shows that as long as the Han Dynasty satisfied the Xiongnu in terms of Fengshi's relics and customs clearance, as for what princess you married, the Xiongnu did not matter.
However, in view of the Xiongnu's policy of "forcing tribute", the Han Dynasty had no choice but to do so when its national and military strength could not compete with the Xiongnu, in order to gain time for recuperation and development.
The Xiongnu's policy of "fighting for war", the Xiongnu gained great benefits through the policy of "peace and affinity", but at the same time the Han Dynasty also seized the opportunity to develop and become stronger, and after the prosperity of the rule of Wenjing, the Han Dynasty has been greatly strengthened in politics, economy, and military, and the Han Court has been preparing to strengthen military strength, that is, to conquer the Xiongnu, in this case, it is impossible to continue the policy of peace and pro-xiongnu.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, The Conspiracy of Ma Yi officially tore up the peace situation maintained by the Han-Hungarian policy under the policy of "peace and affinity", and thus opened the prelude to the Han-Hungarian War.
At this time, the Xiongnu could only passively respond to the battle, in the face of Wei Qing, Huo Zhiyi and other generations of military geniuses that had not been encountered in a hundred years, as well as their ability to run quickly at a long distance, the Xiongnu were caught off guard, only the merit of fighting, it was difficult to fight back, and they ended in defeat in several decisive battles, such as the Battle of Monan, the retake of the Hetao region by Wei Qing, the Battle of Gaoque, the Battle of Youxian was severely damaged, the Battle of Hexi was captured by Huo Toyi, the Battle of Wang Ting was swept away, the Battle of Mobei was severely damaged by Wei Qing, and the most elite main force of the Xiongnu was annihilated by Huo Quyi Since then, the Xiongnu have been defeated and no longer have the ability to compete with the Han Court. While the Han Dynasty launched a large-scale attack, the Xiongnu also constantly adopted the strategy of invading the border in various places in order to retaliate, and adopted a partial counter-offensive policy, but often failed to do so.
The Xiongnu's policy of "surrendering the Han Dynasty",
In the early part of the article, the author has already said that the Xiongnu had generals who surrendered to the Han Dynasty at all times, especially under the continuous attack of the Han Dynasty for decades, the Xiongnu finally ended the Hundred Years Of Han-Hungarian War in the form of calling on the Han Dynasty to be subservient.
Through the above reasons, we find that whether in the han and huns in various periods such as war, peace, and confrontation, the Xiongnu had a policy of surrendering to the Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty had a policy of appeasement, and the two sides hit together, creating a large number of Xiongnu generals to return to Han.
References: "History", "Book of Han", etc