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Emperor Wudi of Han was one of his greatest contributions in his life, breaking the Xiongnu and restoring self-confidence to the Han Dynasty, and every time we mention the Battle of Han and Hungary, we often hear four words: Hexi Corridor, where is this place, why is it so important, why did Emperor Wudi of Han fight with the Xiongnu here? After looking at the terrain here, you may understand.
Before understanding this problem, we may wish to take a look at what is the Hexi Corridor, about 70 million years ago, the Himalayas began to form, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau gradually uplifted.
Finally, the warm and humid air flow from the Indian Ocean was blocked by the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the warm and humid air flow from the Pacific Ocean in the east was also blocked by the Qinling Mountains and the Taihang Mountains, unable to enter the interior of western China, so a large area of the Gobi desert in northwest China and the Mongolian Plateau was formed.
Fortunately, in the process of the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, an arc-shaped mountain range with a length of nearly 1,000 kilometers was lifted, the average altitude of this mountain range was more than 4,000 meters, most of the peaks had snow, this mountain range is Qilian Mountain, and the Hexi Corridor is formed at the foot of the north side of Qilian Mountain.
The snow in the Qilian Mountains melts in the summer, and its abundant water content also improves the local climate environment to a certain extent, increasing rainfall in the mountains.
As a result, the Hexi region has formed a number of inland rivers, including the Heihe River, which is the second largest inland river in China.
Many scholars sighed that after watching the 3D terrain of the Hexi Corridor, they knew the reason why Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty wanted to fight with the Xiongnu!
The eastern part of the Hexi Corridor is the Loess Plateau, the western part is the Tarim Basin, the northern Mongolian Plateau, the southern part is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Qin destroyed the 8 kingdoms of Xirong, occupied Longdong and Ningxia Plains, the living space of the Inuyasha tribe was greatly compressed, and the remnants of the Yiqu State and Wusun all lived in the Hexi region.
However, at the end of the Qin dynasty and the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty was constantly at war, which gave the Xiongnu and other foreign tribes breathing room, and the Xiongnu produced an outstanding leader, Mao Dun Shan Yu, who gradually developed, squeezed the living space of the Yue clan, and finally expelled the main force of the Great Moon Clan from the Hexi Corridor at the time of the handover of Qin and Han.
But in fact, the Great Moon Clan did not move far, they were active in the eastern part of the Tianshan Mountains, until 174 BC, after the Xiongnu Lao Shangdan killed the King of the Great Moon Clan, they went to the Ili River Valley, which laid the groundwork for Zhang Qian to go to the Western Regions and find the Great Moon Clan.
This was undoubtedly a huge threat to the Han Dynasty, which had just emerged from the war, and the Xiongnu could directly pass through the Hexi Corridor, posing a threat to the core area of Guanzhong. After years of preparation, Emperor Wu of Han sent Wei Qing and Huo to attack the Xiongnu, and although Huo went to the palace, he was not bound by traditional military ideas, and he used light cavalry.
Other Han generals were relatively unfamiliar with light cavalry, and he surprised them and made the Huns themselves confused, in fact, this was a tactic that the Huns were very good at using, but they did not think that the same method would be used on themselves.
The ancients said that the soldiers were fast, and in order to speed up the march, Huo went ill and let his troops abandon the weight of grain and grass, defeated the Xiongnu, ate them, used them, drank them, and marched with the surrendered Xiongnu soldiers, if other Han army leaders evaluated this style of play, they would think that it was a bit aggressive, but if the generals of the Xiongnu royal court saw it, they would feel that this style of play was perfectly normal.
King Xiu Tu was caught off guard by Huo's illness, and lost all the Golden People they sacrificed to the heavens, and could only flee to the west, Huo Wentai continued to pursue, and finally returned victorious, after the two Han-Hungarian wars, the main forces of the Xiongnu had collapsed, unable to fight with the Han Dynasty again, after the Xiongnu lost the Hexi Corridor, they sang sadly in their songs, "Lose me Qilian Mountain, so that my six animals will not rest."
After that, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up the four counties of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang in the Hexi Corridor, Wuwei, meaning "Wugong Junwei", in this way to commemorate the Han army that made military achievements.
Zhangye, known as "Ganzhou" in ancient times, is the source of the word "Gan" in the name of Gansu Province, which means "Zhang Guo Arm Tuo, to pass through the Western Regions", which means that the Han Dynasty can embrace the Western Regions from then on. According to legend, after Huo Went ill after capturing a fortress, the grain and grass were almost exhausted, morale was low, and seeing its scene, he poured a pot of wine into the spring water and drank with the soldiers, and this wine was given to him by Emperor Wu of Han himself, which made the Han army rekindle its fighting spirit, and with one heart and one mind, it broke through the Xiongnu in one fell swoop, and the place was also named "Jiuquan".
And Dunhuang as we all know, famous for grottoes, murals, there are Mogao Grottoes built in the pre-Qin period, is a famous Buddhist holy place.
In addition, these four counties also include the world-famous "Yumen Pass" and "Jiayu Pass", after these four counties were opened, the Central Plains Dynasty and the Western Regions had a channel of communication, and it was also possible to isolate the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Mongolian Plateau from joining forces against the Central Plains.
Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty also relocated Han residents to the Hexi region for agricultural and animal husbandry development, where the Han people began to cultivate fields and build water conservancy projects, while also supplying military food and military horses.
At this stage, silk, iron, porcelain and other commodities produced in the Central Plains and technologies such as papermaking, printing, gunpowder, etc., which are transmitted through the Hexi Corridor to the Western Regions, West Asia and even the Middle East and Western Europe, Western merchants also transport jewelry, baths, grapes, walnuts, fine breeding horses, etc. to Chang'an and Luoyang through the Hexi Corridor, enriching people's lives, and transporting jade to the pass is what we are familiar with." Jade Gate Closed".
In general, occupying the Hexi Corridor can make Guanzhong and Luoyang not have to face the threat of the Xiongnu directly, the security of the core areas has been guaranteed, and the transformation from "Qianghu" to "Currency Qianghu" has also been realized, spreading the advanced culture of the Han Dynasty to the western region and even the Middle East, and also spreading the ingredients produced in exotic areas to the Central Plains.
It is precisely because of the Hexi Corridor that the Han Dynasty has the confidence of "those who commit crimes against the strong Han, although they will be punished from afar", this corridor has experienced the historical process of China from strength to decline, looking forward to the future, hoping that it can once again witness the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
(Source: History & Culture)
This article is the integrated content of the WeChat public account of Liangzhou Cultural Research.
The source of the target is not the first original