Emperor Wu of Han reigned for 54 years. Among them, from the conspiracy of Ma Yi in 133 BC to the "reincarnation of the platform" in 89 BC, the war between Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu lasted for 44 years.
It was not until "the sea was wasted and the household registration was halved" that Emperor Wudi of han stopped the active attack on the Xiongnu.
Why did Emperor Wudi of han have to "fight to the end" with the Xiongnu?
There is no need to endure any longer
Against the Xiongnu, the Great Han endured for many years.
Due to the limited national strength of the early Han Dynasty, the need to recuperate and restore production, and the hidden dangers of the domestic princes, the early Han Adopted the strategy of "peace and affinity" in an attempt to exchange low words for peace.
However, forbearance, although it can be exchanged for a temporary cessation, cannot satisfy the greed of the Xiongnu nobles in exchange for true peace.
The Xiongnu continued to invade the interior year after year, plundering the people and wealth.
According to the records of the "Records of History" and the "Book of Han", only before the Xiongnu military subjects were alone, the Xiongnu took more than 100,000 Han Chinese as slaves!
As early as the time of Emperor Wen, Emperor Wen of Han was unbearable and determined to march in person, but was dissuaded by Empress Bo.
During the reign of Emperor Jing of Han and Emperor Wu, despite the court's repeated tolerances and humility towards the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu still repeatedly launched large-scale captivity!
History shows that blind tolerance can never be exchanged for true peace!
When you can't stand it, you don't have to put up with it anymore!
A threat to the rule of the Great Han
The threat of the Xiongnu was not only a "border problem", but also a huge hidden danger to the rule of the Han Dynasty.
At that time, the Xiongnu not only occupied the Mongolian steppe, but also ruled the southern part of the country, Hexi, and Henan (the land south of hetao).
From Henan to Chang'an, less than a thousand miles. The Xiongnu cavalry only needed two days to reach the northern land that shielded Chang'an, which was extremely threatening!
Therefore, the princes who rebelled against the central government also regarded the Xiongnu as "allies".
During the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, King Wu sent someone to contact the Xiongnu and agreed to act together. It was only because Wu Chu's army was blocked at Suiyang and could not open the situation for a long time that the Xiongnu did not act.
It can be said that the Xiongnu are not only "border troubles", they also collude with the internal resistance forces of the Han and directly threaten the rule of the Han!
At the same time, the land of Hexi occupied by the Xiongnu also cut off the continuity between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions.
Without fiercely attacking the Xiongnu, the Great Han would eventually become a great empire!
Huns, must fight!
The time has come
Where the Han Dynasty was founded, the people's livelihood was withered, the power of the princes and kings was inflated, and the imperial court was still unable to vigorously counterattack the Xiongnu, so it had to adopt a tolerant attitude.
By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, after 7 or 80 years of recuperation, production had been restored, the treasury was enriched, and with the pacification of the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, the threat of the princes was greatly alleviated.
At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Wu of Han "wanted to destroy Hu", only because the government at that time was constrained by Empress Dou, and the forces advocating peace and pro-family still had the upper hand, and Emperor Wu had to be cautious.
In 135 BC, Empress Dou died, and the internal resistance to the large-scale use of troops was greatly reduced!
The subjective and objective conditions for counterattacking the Xiongnu are ripe and the time has come!
After being hit hard, there is still a big attack, only a further blow!
After the Battle of Henan Province, the Battle of Mo nan, and the Battle of Hexi, the Great Han dealt a heavy blow to the Xiongnu.
By this time, the Han had already expelled the Xiongnu to the north of the Yin Mountains and achieved a stage victory.
At this time, the areas recovered by Emperor Wudi of Han had already surpassed qin shi huang in attacks against the Xiongnu.
In that year, after Qin Shi Huang regained Henan and expelled the Xiongnu to the north of the Yin Mountains, he stopped the large-scale attack and turned to defense.
Crossing the desert and pursuing deeply is a great test of national strength, and the Central Plains Dynasty generally rarely does this.
However, at this time, the Xiongnu gave way to "begging for a fight".
Yi Zhi obliquely adopted Zhao Xin's plot in an attempt to "lure the Han soldiers and provoke them to the extreme", and through continuous large-scale aggression, provoked Emperor Wu of Han in an attempt to induce Emperor Wu of Han to move north and fight a decisive battle in northern Mobei.
In 120 BC, the Xiongnu sent tens of thousands of cavalry, attacking from Right Beiping and Dingxiang respectively, killing more than a thousand people.
It can be seen that although the Xiongnu suffered a heavy blow, the strength of shan Yu's headquarters and zuoxian wang's department was still very strong, and if they did not give a strong blow, northern Xinjiang would still have no peace!
In 119 BC, Emperor Wu of Han decisively launched the Decisive Battle of Northern Mobei!
In this battle, although the Han paid a heavy price of losing tens of thousands of soldiers and more than 100,000 horses, it gave the Xiongnu an unprecedented blow!
After this war, "there was no royal court in the south of the shogunate", and the Xiongnu forces retreated in a wide range, and their threat to the northern frontier of the Han Dynasty was greatly alleviated!
Relax a little and the enemy will come back
After repeated blows, the Xiongnu Empire, which used to be strong and strong, and its vast territory had shrunk greatly, and it was difficult to compete with the Han Dynasty, so it had to adopt a strategy of avoiding war.
Soon after the decisive battle in northern Mobei, the Xiongnu "sent envoys to resign and kiss" .
Although the Han Dynasty refused the request for peace, in view of the slight relief of the Xiongnu's troubles, they devoted their energies to the operation of the western region.
Between China and Hungary, a period of 18 years of peace was entered.
However, the resentment between the Han and the Hungarians was already deep, and although the Xiongnu were temporarily "honest", once the conditions were ripe, the Xiongnu would inevitably rebel again!
Soon, the Huns saw an opportunity.
In 104 BC, Li Guangli was defeated in the conquest of Dawan.
This shows that after the death of famous generals such as Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi, the quality of the new generation of generals of the Han Dynasty declined, and the Xiongnu thought that they had an opportunity to take advantage!
Immediately, the Xiongnu besieged Zhao Punu's army, and Zhao Baonu's 20,000 cavalry were completely destroyed!
It seems that the fight against the Huns cannot be relaxed.
In 102 BC, with the success of the management of the Western Regions, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty issued an edict: Emperor Gao left behind the worries of Pingcheng, and Gao Hou Shi Shan Yushu was absolutely rebellious. The revenge of Xi Qi Xianggong Fu Ninth Dynasty, "Spring and Autumn" is great.
Han-Hungary, go to war again!
Helpless to fight
However, far across the desert north, once or twice is acceptable, and it is possible to travel far and wide, with large losses and high risks. On the other hand, the political situation in Emperor Wu's last years was also extremely chaotic, which affected the war against Hungary.
Therefore, in the last years of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, several battles against the Xiongnu, the battles of Tianshan, Junjishan and Yanranshan, were defeated one after another and suffered heavy losses.
With the extreme loss of national strength, the emptiness of the national treasury, the heavy burden on the people, and the emergence of social unrest, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty finally realized that the unrestricted war against the Xiongnu was not worth the loss, so he changed his course and changed his course, and the next round of the Taiwan Was guilty of his own edicts, and stopped the large-scale deep-scale deep-going xiongnu warfare.
The Xiongnu, although they defeated the Han army in these battles, were also extremely depleted and could not afford to go south in a big way.
The war against Hungary during Emperor Wu's period came to an end.
Subsequent
After Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Zhao of Han and Emperor Xuan learned the lessons of Emperor Wu of Han and adopted a more "economic" strategy.
Emperor Han Zhao adopted the strategy of "improving border preparations + counterattacking on the spot".
Due to the change in the balance of strength between Han and Hungary, especially the increase in the strength of the Han army's cavalry, if the Han army is properly organized and counterattacks on the spot, it can give a heavy blow to the Xiongnu!
In 80 BC, the Xiongnu invaded, and the Han army counterattacked on the spot, "beheading and capturing 9,000 prisoners, and giving birth to the king of Outuo." Han has nothing to lose".
In 78 BC, when the Xiongnu entered the Gansu area, the Han army counterattacked on the spot, and only a few hundred enemy escapees.
Emperor Han Zhao's strategy, although the scale of the battle was small and the cost was low, its effect was on some expeditions in the last years of Emperor Wu!!
During the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, the strategy of "compressing space" was adopted.
Due to the weakening of the Xiongnu's strength, its threat to the Western Regions, Wuhuan and other departments was greatly reduced!
Emperor Zhao of Han expelled the Xiongnu from the Western Regions through actions at Cheshi and Wusun, and together with the Wusun army, penetrated deep into the Xiongnu and fought against the Xiongnu.
At the same time, the Great Han allied with Wuhuan to compress the Xiongnu space from the east.
The Xiongnu's economic space was compressed, its economic resources were sharply reduced, its ability to resist risks was extremely fragile, and it was affected by bad weather and suffered heavy losses.
Under the internal and external difficulties, the Xiongnu were divided and weakened.
The Han also took advantage of the division of the Xiongnu to invite rebellion and reap the benefits of the fishermen.
In 43 BC, Hu Han was evil and surrendered to Han.
In 36 BC, Zhi Zhidan was killed by Han troops in the Western Regions.
After that, in the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu were no longer troubled, and peace between Han and Hungary was maintained for more than 150 years.
The war between the Western Han And the Xiongnu ended with the victory of the Han.
In general, it was imperative for Emperor Wu of Han to launch a major counterattack against the Xiongnu.
Facts have shown that 7 or 80 years of striving for perfection cannot be exchanged for true peace.
If you can't bear it, you don't have to endure it anymore.
The early battles against the Xiongnu in the early period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty were both extremely necessary and well organized, with fruitful results, and the consumption was also within the scope of bearing.
In the later period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, several conquests penetrated deep into the desert north, and the organization was not appropriate, the loss was extremely large, and even triggered a social crisis.
This shows that in the face of aggression, it is necessary to resolutely counterattack, but to solve the problem thoroughly requires great strategic patience, and it is necessary to solve the problem together with political, economic, diplomatic and other means, together with military means!