Emperor Liu Xiu of the Han Dynasty had twenty-eight founding generals under his command, and his merits were outstanding. During the reign of Emperor Liu Zhuang of the Han Dynasty, he ordered people to paint portraits of these twenty-eight generals and hang them in the Yuntai Pavilion of the Southern Palace of Luoyang, called the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai, in order to praise their merits. The following is the story of Wu Han in the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai.
Wu Han (吴汉), also spelled Ziyan, was a native of Wancheng, Nanyang (present-day Wancheng District, Nanyang, Henan), born poor, and grew up to be a pavilion chief (a pavilion every ten miles in the countryside). In the last years of Wang Mang's reign, Wu Han fled to Yuyang Commandery (around present-day Miyun District, Beijing) for breaking the law with his guests, where he made a living selling horses, during which he befriended many heroes Hao jie.
At that time, when the world was in chaos and smoke was everywhere, the peasant rebel army, the Green Forest Army, elected Liu Xuan of the Western Han Dynasty as emperor, and was known as the First Emperor. Soon after the civil unrest in Chang'an, Wang Mang was killed, and the first emperor entered Chang'an. Emperor Shi sent an emissary Han Hong to surrender to Hebei, and someone recommended Wu Han to Han Hong, so Han Hong summoned Wu Han, talked very happily, and appointed Wu Han as the commander of Anle County.
At that time, there was a fortune teller in Hebei, Wang Lang, who falsely claimed to be Liu Ziyu, the son of the Hancheng Emperor, and gathered a crowd to raise an army, and the counties and counties in Hebei did not know the truth and responded one after another. Previously, Liu Xiu was ordered by Emperor Gengshi to appease Hebei, but he had no soldiers in his hands, so he was persecuted by Wang Lang and had to flee.
Wu Han had always heard that Liu Xiu was a benevolent man and wanted to submit to him, so he persuaded Yuyang Taishou Peng to attach himself to Liu Xiu and help Liu Xiu attack Wang Lang, who was entrenched in Handan. Although Peng Pet agreed, his subordinates all wanted to attach themselves to Wang Lang, and Peng Pet could not decide. Wu Han then forged Liu Xiu's documents, informed the officials and people of Yuyang, and had Wang Lang's false identity exposed, so Peng Sent Wu Han and others to lead troops to attack Wang Lang. When Liu Xiu came to Guang'a County, he appointed Wu Han as a general, and after attacking Handan, he made Wu Han the Marquis of Jiance. Wu Han was simple and not good at words, and became a close confidant of Liu Xiu through the recommendation of Deng Yu and his generals.
Liu Xiu planned to seize the military power of Youzhou and asked Deng Yu to recommend talents, and Deng Yu recommended Wu Han, saying that Wu Han had courage and strategy. Liu Xiu immediately appointed Wu Han as a general and went to Youzhou to dispatch troops. Mumiao of Youzhou had been loyal to Emperor Gengshi and ordered his generals not to obey Liu Xiu's orders to transfer troops. Wu Han led twenty cavalry to arrive first, Miao Zeng let down his guard and came out to greet him, Wu Han took the opportunity to raid and kill Miao Zeng, taking Miao Zeng's army, so the counties of Youzhou surrendered.
At first, Emperor Gengshi sent Shangshu Ling Xie to lead six generals to attack Wang Lang, unable to capture Handan. Just when Liu Xiu's army arrived, they pacified Handan together. Liu Xiu was very jealous of Xie Xiu in his heart, but often praised him, so Xie Xiu was not wary of Liu Xiu. Liu Xiunan attacked the Green Calf Thief Army, and asked Xie to attack the Youlai Thief Army that had been frightened away. Xie Gong then left the general Liu Qing and Wei Commandery Taishou Chen Kang to defend the city of Yicheng (around Anyang, Henan), and led a large army on his own, but was defeated and lost. Liu Xiu took advantage of Xie's absence, so he sent Wu Han and Cen Peng to attack Yecheng. Wu Han ordered the debaters to persuade Chen Kang to surrender, so Chen Kang submitted and opened the door to accept Wu Han. When Xie Huan returned to Yecheng, he was ambushed by the Han army, so he was killed and all his men surrendered.
Liu Xiubei beged the thieves, and Wu Han often led 5,000 elite cavalry as the vanguard and charged Chen. After Liu Xiu pacified Hebei, he proclaimed himself Emperor (25 AD) at Yancheng (in present-day Baixiang County, Xingtai, Hebei), with the era name Jianwu, and appointed Wu Han as the Grand Sima and renamed him marquis of Wuyang.
In the spring of the second year of Jianwu (26 AD), Wu Han led Wang Liang, Du Mao, Jia Fu, Wang Ba, Ma Wu, Yin Zhi and others to defeat the Tanxiang thieves on the Zhangshui River east of Yicheng, and surrendered more than 100,000 people, and was awarded the title of Marquis of Guangping for his merits. Wu Han also led the generals to attack the mountain thieves Li Boqing and others on the west side of Yecheng, and attacked all the camps of the thieves. Liu Xiu personally came to comfort Wu Han, and then sent him to nanyang to capture Wancheng, Neyang, Lixian, Rangcheng, and Xinye. Wu Han then led his army south, defeating Qin Feng at Huangyoushui in Xinye, Defeating the Fifth Floor Thief Zhang Wen and others at Changcheng, and attacking the Copper Horse Thief and the Five Banner Thief in Xin'an.
In the spring of the third year of Jianwu (27 AD), Wu Han led the generals Geng Yi and Gai Yan to defeat the Qing calf army at Xuanxi. He also led the generals Du Mao and Chen Jun to besiege the warlord Su Mao at Guangle (廣樂; present-day northern Yucheng, Henan). Liu Yong, the king of Liang, sent his general Zhou Jian to gather more than 100,000 soldiers to rescue Su Mao. Wu Han was unfavorable in battle, and he fell off his horse and injured his knee, so he had to return to the camp, so Zhou Jian was able to enter Guangle City. All the generals said, "The great enemy is present, and the general is bedridden, and the general is afraid of this." Wu Han then rose up, killed cattle to comfort the soldiers, and boosted morale. The next day, Han soldiers defeated Su Mao and Zhou Jian. Wu Han ordered Du Mao and Chen Jun to continue to besiege Guangle, while he himself led troops to Suiyang to help GaiYan besiege Liu Yong. After Liu Yong was killed by his subordinates, Guangle and Suiyang surrendered.
In the fourth year of Jianwu (28 AD), Wu Han led the generals Chen Jun and Wang Liang to defeat the five school thieves at Linping and pursue them to Jishan Mountain in Dong Commandery, where they won another great victory. Wu Han also attacked the Qinghe Changzhi Thief and the Plain Five Mile Thief in the north, and all of them were pacified. At that time, there were five Hao clans in the county who jointly expelled the county order, and the city rebelled. The generals scrambled to attack, but Wu Han did not listen, and sent people to arrest the county order and apologize to the Hao clan in Gui County. The Hao clan was overjoyed, so they surrendered. All the generals therefore admired Wu Han and were able to win without a fight. In the winter of that year, Wu Han led the generals Geng Yi and Wang Chang to defeat Fuping and obtain the second thief at Pingyuan County.
In the fifth year of Jianwu (29 AD), more than 50,000 thieves attacked the Han camp at night, the army was in turmoil, Wu Han lay still, and soon the Han soldiers settled down. Wu Han immediately sent his elite troops out of the camp to attack, and won a complete victory. He also pursued Yu Dang to Wuyan County, attacked Bohai, and all of them were pacified. He also participated in the conquest of Dong Xian and besieged Shucheng. The following year, Wu Han attacked Shucheng and beheaded Dong Xian. At this point, the East was all pacified, so Wu Han returned to Beijing.
The northwestern warlord Kui Huan submitted to Liu Xiu in the early days and later rebelled, so Liu Xiu sent Wu Hantun to attack Chang'an. In the eighth year of Jianwu, Wu Han followed Liu Xiu in besieging Kui Huan, and the Western Shu warlord Gongsun Shu sent troops to rescue Kui Huan, and Wu Han was defeated and retreated.
In the spring of the eleventh year of Jianwu (35 AD), Wu Han led the general Cen Peng and others to attack Gongsun Shu. Cen Peng attacked Jingmen, entered Shu first, and was assassinated by assassins sent by Gongsun Shu, so Wu Han annexed Cen Peng's army.
In the spring of the twelfth year of Jianwu (36 AD), Wu Han defeated Gongsun Shu's generals Wei Dang and Gongsun Yong at Yufujin, and thus besieged Wuyang (武陽, in modern Pengshan County, Sichuan). Gongsun Shu sent his son-in-law Shi Xing to lead 5,000 troops to rescue him, but was completely annihilated by Wu Han, and Wu Han therefore entered the army as a county. The counties could not hold out, so Wu Han marched into guangdu, broke through the city, and approached Chengdu.
Liu Xiu warned Wu Han: "There are more than 100,000 soldiers in Chengdu, so you should not take the enemy lightly, you only need to hold on to Guangdu and wait for the enemy to attack, and you must not contend with them." If they don't dare to come, you will go forward and provoke, and when they are exhausted, they will attack. Wu Han did not listen, led more than 20,000 people into Chengdu, camped in Jiangbei more than a dozen miles under the city, and ordered the deputy general Liu Shang to lead more than 10,000 people to camp in Jiangnan, and the two armies were more than twenty miles apart.
Gongsun Shu sent Xie Feng and others to lead more than 100,000 soldiers to attack Wu Han, and ordered the general to lead more than 10,000 people to block Liu Shang, so that they could not save each other. One day after the Battle of Wu and Han, the soldiers fled into the camp in defeat, so they were besieged by Xie Feng. Wu Han inspired the generals, broke through at night and joined forces with Liu Shang. Xie Feng did not realize it, and the next day he divided his troops to continue to surround the Han camp in Jiangbei, and he led his troops to attack the Han camp in Jiangnan. Wu Han led all the soldiers and horses to meet the battle, and from morning to noon, he broke the enemy soldiers and killed Xie Feng and Yuan Ji.
Wu Han ordered Liu Shang to stay outside Chengdu, and he himself led his army back to Guangdu and apologized to Liu Xiu. So Wu Han listened to Liu Xiu's words and fought with Gongsun Shu between Guangdu and Chengdu, winning eight battles and eight victories. Gongsun Shu was tired and personally led tens of thousands of people out of the city to fight, and Wu Han sent the generals Gao Wu and Tang Handan to lead tens of thousands of elite troops to meet the attack. Gongsun Shu was defeated and retreated, and Gao Wu rushed into the enemy position and killed Gongsun Shu. At this point, Western Shu was pacified, Wu Han returned triumphantly, and Liu Xiu thus unified the world.
In the following years, the world was basically fine, and Wu Han only went out on expeditions twice, one was to lead an army to attack the Xiongnu in the north, and the other was to quell the rebellion of Shi Xin, the defender of Shu County, and both won victories.
Wu Han was fierce and courageous, and every time he went out on the expedition, Liu Xiu was not at ease. When the generals saw that the war was unfavorable, they were all panicked and uneasy, and there was chaos in every inch, while Wu Han was calm and calm, arranging the equipment and inspiring the soldiers. Liu Xiu once sent someone to observe what Wu Han was doing, and the emissary reported that Wu Han was repairing the offensive equipment, and Liu Xiu praised Wu Han for his majesty and solemnity as an enemy country. Every time Wu Han went out on a expedition, he received an edict in the morning and set off in the evening without delay, so he often got Liu Xiu's reliance and could end up with merit. When Wu Han was in the imperial court, he showed strict and respectful behavior. When Wu Han was seriously ill, Liu Xiu personally visited, and when Wu Han died of illness, Liu Xiu ordered his subjects to mourn, gave him the title of Marquis of Zhonghou, sent troops to send funerals, and the funeral was based on the story of the Western Han general Huo Guang.
Reference: The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Wu Gai Chen Zang Lie Biography VIII
Author: Eaves Rain Step Moss