Original title: The Qin Dynasty army easily defeated the Xiongnu, but the Han Dynasty could not, why?
In ancient Chinese history, the Xiongnu were a nomadic people of the north with a very long history. For the course of Chinese history, the Xiongnu had an important impact. For example, in the early days of the Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu became an important threat to the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bang suffered a fierce defeat in front of the Xiongnu. However, for the Qin Dynasty, and even earlier in the Warring States period, the Xiongnu became the object of hanging. So, a question comes, the Qin Dynasty army easily defeated the Xiongnu, but the Han Dynasty could not, what is the reason for this?
One
First of all, according to the "Chronicle of the Xiongnu", the Xiongnu, the Miao descendants of their ancestor Xia Hou clan, were also known as Chunwei. During the Warring States period, Li Mu, a famous general of the State of Zhao, defeated the Xiongnu in one battle and killed more than 100,000 horses. He destroyed The Tsubasa, defeated Dong Hu, surrendered Lin Hu, and fled. For more than a decade, the Xiongnu did not dare to approach the border towns of the Zhao state. During the Warring States period, the Xiongnu were repeatedly hanged by the Qin, Zhao, and Yan states. In 215 BC, after Qin Shi Huang established the Qin Dynasty, the Xiongnu were expelled from the Hetao and Hexi Corridor areas by Meng Tian. However, in the early western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang personally led a large army to be defeated by the Xiongnu, forcing the Western Han Dynasty to compromise with the Xiongnu only through peace.
Two
From this, it seems that the Qin Dynasty army easily defeated the Xiongnu, while the Han Dynasty could not. However, during the Warring States and Qin Dynasties, the Xiongnu were far less powerful than the early Western Han Dynasty. In the northern steppes at that time, the Xiongnu did not have a dominant family, but had to face strong opponents such as the Eastern Hu and the Great Moon Clan, that is, the Xiongnu faced during the Warring States and Qin Dynasties were not yet prosperous. However, in 209 BC, during the reign of Hu Hai of Qin II, the Xiongnu's Mo Dun established himself as king, and Mo Dun Shan first destroyed Dong Hu, and then took advantage of the victory to attack the Yue clan of Yongzhou in the Hexi Corridor and forced him to move west, thus relieving the Xiongnu of both sides of the threat. Subsequently, he led the Xiongnu to conquer more than 20 countries such as Loulan, Wusun, and Hujie.
Three
In the early days of the Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu had a vast area from the Yin Mountains in the south to Lake Baikal in the north, the Liao River in the east, and the Onion Ridge in the west, claiming to be a family of people who led the bows, with more than 300,000 people who controlled the strings, becoming the most powerful ethnic group in the north. As a result, the Xiongnu that Liu Bang faced could be said to be ten times stronger than the Xiongnu in the early Qin Dynasty. The enemies they face are not the same, which has become an important reason for the outcome of their battles. At the same time, the Warring States and the Qin Dynasty easily defeated the Xiongnu, and there was an inseparable relationship with first-class generals, such as Li Mu and Meng Tian, two generals who resisted the Xiongnu. In the early Western Han Dynasty, there was a lack of border generals who were very familiar with the Xiongnu.
Four
Finally, in 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang ordered Meng Tian to lead 300,000 Qin troops to attack the Xiongnu in the north, collect Hetao, and garrison Shangjun (present-day southeast of Yulin City, Shaanxi Province). "But for more than seven hundred miles of the Xiongnu, the Hu people did not dare to go south and herd horses" ("On Passing the Qin"). For the Qin Dynasty, it was more defensive against the Xiongnu. When Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty reigned, because of the restoration of national strength, coupled with the appearance of famous generals such as Huo Qiyi and Wei Qing, it finally brought a fatal blow to the Xiongnu. In other words, although the Western Han Dynasty compromised with the Xiongnu in the early days, the Han Dynasty as a whole really defeated the Xiongnu.