During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a nomadic people quickly rose in the northern steppes, and this nomadic people was the "Xiongnu". For more than three hundred years, the Xiongnu continued to grow and develop. By the time of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu power reached its peak. At this time, the Great Han had just been established, and the country was in ruins waiting to be rebuilt. The Xiongnu took the opportunity to frequently attack the territory of the Han Dynasty from the south.
The Huns were menacing and their arrogance was growing. After decades of recuperation, the Han Dynasty began to turn from defense to offense. Under the leadership of the generals Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi, they defeated the Xiongnu several times, forcing the main Xiongnu forces to withdraw to the northern desert region. Soon after, civil unrest broke out among the Xiongnu and split into two parts, the north and the south. The Southern Xiongnu called han evil and submitted to the Han, and Emperor Xuan of Han placed the southern Xiongnu in the south of the desert, and the northern Xiongnu continued to confront the Han. In 87 AD, the Northern Xiongnu YouliuDan yu was killed, and the Northern Xiongnu civil unrest, at this point, the Xiongnu could no longer pose a threat to the Han, and was gradually replaced by the newly emerging Xianbei tribe. The Xiongnu gradually withdrew from the stage of history.
Then, in the hundreds of years of confrontation between the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty, there were countless wars of all sizes. But there is one thing you may not know, that is, the Xiongnu are very preferential to Han prisoners, especially the generals in the Han army. For example, Su Wu, Zhao Xin, Li Ling, Li Guang, etc., all of them had a very high prestige in the Han army.
Before the flying general Li Guang was captured, the Xiongnu Shan Yu issued an early death order that Li Guang must be captured alive and that Li Guang should not be harmed in any way. After Li Guang was captured by the Xiongnu, not only were they not mistreated by the Xiongnu, but they became high-ranking officials in the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu even married their sisters and daughters to these Han captives.
The Xiongnu not only treated the Han military generals in this way, but also treated the prisoners of the Han dynasty with courtesy. In the heyday of the Xiongnu, in order to avoid war as much as possible, the Han Dynasty often sent envoys to the Xiongnu to persuade the Xiongnu to be alone. The Huns often played their cards according to common sense, and many envoys of the Han Dynasty were detained by the Xiongnu, the most famous of which was Zhang Qian. The Xiongnu Shan Yu had already heard of Zhang Qian's wind and bones, and had been trying to capture Zhang Qian, and this time Zhang Qian sent an envoy to the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu Shan Yu was overjoyed and directly detained Zhang Qian. After Zhang Qian was detained by the Xiongnu, he also suffered all kinds of inducements, and was also given a wife by the Xiongnu and had children with the Xiongnu wife, but Zhang Qian still fled the Xiongnu with his whole family. After he was again detained by the Huns on the way back, the Huns still did not give up the idea of surrendering him, and put him under house arrest for more than a year. This is why Zhang Qian seized the opportunity to return to the Han Dynasty with his wife and children, and completed the historical cause of "Zhang Qian's passage through the Western Regions".
It is reasonable to say that the Xiongnu should hate the Han people to the bone, and they are eager to cut all the Han troops into pieces. But why did the Xiongnu treat these Han captives very favorably, obviously they were mortal enemies. But why did the Huns treat Han Dynasty prisoners so favorably? In fact, the main reasons are these.
First, the demand for talents
As early as the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Wang Xin of Han and Lu Xie, the king of Yan, surrendered to the Xiongnu successively. Han Wangxin became a general of the Xiongnu, and Lu Xie was even given the title of "King of Eastern Hulu". During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, the Han Dynasty and the accompanying members of the pro-princess mission also surrendered to the Xiongnu, such a small person who was not popular in the Han Dynasty, and then assisted the Xiongnu for two generations, becoming an important figure in the Xiongnu political arena. This allowed the Xiongnu to see the extremely high value of Han Talents.
In the case of Lu Xie, Han Wangxin, and others who surrendered to the Xiongnu at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, their surrender was not just as simple as "changing masters". Han Wangxin's generals Zhao Liqi and Wang Huang and others took the lead for the Xiongnu, plundering countless fortunes from the Han Dynasty and causing serious losses to the Han Dynasty's border defenses. These surrendered Han Chinese not only established a new fiscal system for the Xiongnu, but also increased the taxes of the Xiongnu. Moreover, these Han people are familiar with the internal affairs of the Han Dynasty, and more times they have bad ideas, they can get more benefits from the peace talks with the Han Dynasty.
When the Huns were defeated many times and were in trouble. Some of the Han envoys who surrendered to the Xiongnu also played a special skill, and he suggested that the Xiongnu should follow the example of the Han Dynasty, build cities in the rear, and store grain to cope with the next battle. This one measure alone increased the support of the Xiongnu's war. For such "special talents", the Xiongnu of course did not hesitate to "send officials and wives" to take down.
Second, access to technology
The Huns were nomadic people galloping on horseback, with only animal husbandry. In the war with the Han Dynasty, it was impossible to carry out a long war of attrition. Because the Han Dynasty was mainly based on agriculture, as long as the rear supply could keep up, it could always confront the Xiongnu and drag down the Xiongnu. The Huns were also well aware of this and could only engage in some raids. As a result, the Huns began to recruit some ordinary Han Dynasty peasants and craftsmen. According to historical records such as the Book of Han, in the later period of the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was already agricultural production in the territory of the Xiongnu. In the Ruins of Xiongnu towns that have been found on the Mongolian Plateau and in Central Asia, stone tablets with Chinese characters, tiles, and various Han Dynasty handicraft tools have been excavated many times. There are not only Xiongnu weapons such as iron clusters and iron knives, but also traditional Han agricultural tools such as iron hoes and iron shovels, which are obviously some agricultural technologies of the Han Dynasty obtained by the Xiongnu by "introducing talents".
Through the introduction of talents in some handicrafts and agricultural techniques in the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu gradually began to reverse the decline of the battlefield, and during the years of Emperor Xuan of Han, they followed the Han army's "Tuntian" model and garrisoned troops in Tuntian in Cheshi and other places, intending to use this as a springboard to attack south. Especially for the Xiongnu in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, after suffering many heavy blows from the Han army, why did the Xiongnu, who lost hexi and Hetao and other important places in a hurry, persist for decades? The introduction of talents and technology from these Xiongnu was obviously of great use.
Third, increase the population
Frequent wars between Han and Hungary led to a sharp decline in the population of the Xiongnu. The Huns, who were originally nomadic peoples, grew extremely slowly in the extremely harsh environment of the desert. The Han Dynasty sat on the fertile wilderness of the Central Plains, and as long as there was no large-scale war, the population growth was still very fast. In the early days of the Western Han Dynasty, due to the large-scale turmoil that had just experienced, it was urgent to recuperate, and this was also the peak period of the Xiongnu power, in the face of the powerful Xiongnu, the Han Dynasty could only adopt a policy of peace and affinity, and after experiencing recuperation, the Han Dynasty soon became strong, and gradually began to reverse the decline and adopt an offensive policy. The Huns were clearly overwhelmed and gradually began to retreat. The Xiongnu urgently needed to increase their population, and recruiting Han Chinese was a very good way. The Xiongnu continued to plunder the Han Chinese and assimilate with the Huns to grow their population.
However, this is not a long-term solution, because the gap between China and Hungary, whether it is population or national strength, is constantly widening. This method of plundering the Han people has played some counter-effects, such as after the xiongnu split, the southern Xiongnu were very close to the Han Dynasty, the southern Xiongnu were assimilated by the Han people, and gradually integrated into the living habits of the Han people, and after the Southern Xiongnu surrendered to the Han Dynasty, they soon integrated into the Han people.
Today, the Xiongnu have long ceased to exist, but the scene of the Xiongnu "giving preferential treatment to Han captives", and the knowledge of many "talents" and "technology" behind this scene, are still full of too much worth thinking about.
Author: Guoxue that little thing. Daily one read, you are insisting, if you like, welcome to support.
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