When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty attacked the Xiongnu in the north, he dealt a devastating blow to the entire Xiongnu. In the first five attacks of Emperor Wu of Han, the three major parts of the Xiongnu Shan Yu Headquarters, the ZuoXian King, and the Right Xian King suffered heavy blows.
The internal organizational structure of the Xiongnu is described in the Chronicle of the Huns as follows:
Left and right Xianwang, left and right Guli king, left and right generals, left and right lieutenants, left and right big danghu, left and right bone capital hou. The Xiongnu were known as "TuQi", so they often regarded the prince as the king of Tuqi. From the left and right wise kings below to the household, the big one rides ten thousand, the small one thousand, where twenty-four long, the name is "ten thousand horses". All the ministers are officials. HuYan, Lan, followed by The Xubu clan, these three surnames are also of their noble race. The kings of the left will live in the east, straight up the valley, and the east will be bordered by Raccoon and Joseon; the king on the right will live in the west, west of The County, and will be followed by the Yue clan, the Krypton, and the Qiang; and the Shan Yu Court Zhidai and Yunzhong: each has its own land, and migrates by water and grass. The Left and Right Xian Kings and the Left and Right Gu Li Kings are the largest, and the left and right bones are all Hou Fuzheng. The twenty-four chiefs also belong to each of them, namely, the thousand chiefs, the hundred chiefs, the shi chiefs, the small kings, the xiangs, the feudal lieutenants, the pawns, and the canals.
Roughly speaking, the Xiongnu were roughly divided into three major parts, with the left and right sages leading their men to divide the east and west parts. The crown prince generally served as the King of Zuoxian.
Let's look at Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty's war against the Xiongnu. In the first five campaigns of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the strategy adopted was the strategy of first going west and then east. Because the power of the Western Xiongnu was too close to Guanzhong, it posed a serious threat to Chang'an, the fundamental stronghold of the Western Han Dynasty.
Therefore, the troops that first broke through the western front of the Xiongnu could first relieve the Xiongnu from the greatest threat to the Western Han Dynasty, and second, they could occupy such a good campaign starting point as Henan to prepare for the next attack on the Xiongnu shan Yu headquarters.
As a result, Emperor Wu of Han's first counterattack was placed in Henan. Commanded by Wei Qing, he surrounded and annihilated the Xiongnu's Baiyang and Lou Fu Wang's troops, beheaded 2,300 people, captured more than 3,000 people, and recovered the land of Henan.
The second counterattack struck directly at the head of the Xiongnu Right Sage King's headquarters. This time, Wei Qing led the main force and directly attacked the court of the Right Xian King. The Right Emperor fled in a hurry, and his men were captured alive and suffered a fatal blow by capturing more than 15,000 people under the King of Qi.
Next, the Han army launched a campaign to attack Hexi, after the victory of the battle, the Xiongnu infighting, the remnants of the Xiongnu in Hexi surrendered to the Han Dynasty, at this point, the strength of the western Xiongnu was swept away. The Xiongnu retreated to the north of the desert, leaving only the strength of Shan Yu and Zuo Xian.
This time, Emperor Wu of Han launched the most glorious battle against the Xiongnu, the Battle of Mobei. This time, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty mobilized a large number of troops, in addition to 100,000 cavalry, but also mobilized hundreds of thousands of infantry to ensure logistics. It also mobilized forty thousand "privately subordinate horses" to accompany the army.
The Han army divided Wei Qing and Huo Toyi, crossing the desert and attacking Shan Yu's headquarters and Zuo Xian's headquarters respectively. In this campaign, Huo Quyi carried out a devastating blow to the Xiongnu Zuoxian Wang's troops. Of the 70,443 captives, only two-tenths escaped.
As for Wei Qing, because Li Guang was lost, he failed to give Shan Yu a annihilating blow to his headquarters, and only fought a rout battle. However, it also annihilated more than 19,000 people in the main force alone. At this point, the Xiongnu were seriously injured and no longer able to pose a great threat to the Han Dynasty.
We can see from this history that Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty's counterattack against the Xiongnu was all-round. He did not leave the Huns with a chance to breathe at all. Whether it was the Left Xian King, the Right Xian King, or Shan Yu Headquarters, they all suffered a devastating blow from Emperor Wu of Han.
To this day, the heroic words still ring in our ears, "Those who commit crimes against the strong will be punished from afar." ”