What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
1.
In the history of China, there is no shortage of brilliant figures with fantastic ideas, who have achieved great things that will be admired by future generations with their amazing perseverance or great creativity. But those glorious deeds, often after a long period of preparation, suddenly glow with dazzling light during some inadvertent period, making the dark sky as bright as day. After the brilliance shines, it is inevitable to go to silence.
Only a very small number of people who are full of vitality and creativity can break this law and prolong such a glorious time.
Ban Chao is such a person.
In 73 AD, Ban Chao made a decision to accompany the Han Dynasty's army to the north and attack the Northern Xiongnu, who were active in the western region and intended to make a comeback.
This year, Ban Chao was forty-one years old. His position in the army was nothing more than that of an acting Sima in the military. A well-deserved veteran. At this age, Han Xin, the founding general and military wizard of the Han Dynasty, has completed the whole process from the boy who fell into the country to the commander of the three armies, the king of Qi, and then to the scepter killed in Changle Palace.
Not to mention that when Huo went ill at the age of twenty-two, he had already broken the Xiongnu and sealed the wolf Juxu. It was Zhang Qian, whom he had always admired, who had also completed the feat of hollowing out the Western Regions at this age.
And my ban chao is just a veteran in the army.
On the road of the army leaving the Jade Gate pass and embarking on the western expedition, Ban Chao could not avoid thinking like this.
In the era of Feng Tang Yilao and Li Guang's difficult seals, in the hundred years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, where countless talents such as carp crossing the river, he had been late for too long.
The reason why it was issued later was only because joining the army was not ban chao's first mission.
2.
Ban Chao is from a family of historians. His father, Ban Biao, was a famous historian who wrote sixty-five articles of the "Later Biography of Shi Ji", on the basis of which his brother Ban Gu wrote the first historical masterpiece after the "Shi Ji", the Book of Han. Even his sister Ban Zhao was a talented woman with the same name as Cai Wenji. The last "Eight Tables" of the Book of Han was completed by it.
No matter how you look at it, Ban Chao should be a person who records history with a pen rather than a sword.
In fact, the trajectory of his life for the first half of his life was indeed like this. Before joining the army, Ban Chao was a small official in the government, relying on copying documents for the government in exchange for a meager salary. Because he once defended his brother's grievances, his eloquent talent attracted the attention of the Han Dynasty emperor Han Ming Emperor, who promoted him to Lantai Lingshi. This is a profession related to the management of national archives. In this position, you have easy access to first-hand information about the Empire, and it is the dream job of all aspiring people in the field of history.
It was in this position that his elder brother Ban Gu completed the Book of Han.
The track of life is paved in front of Ban Chao, stretch your neck a little, you can see the end of the road.
We are often confused by the fickle dice in the hands of the goddess of destiny. Do we listen to fate's arrangement and then exchange our own vertical tenacity for glory, or do we challenge fate and use our own determination to yield to fate and harvest a new ending?
Ban Chao chose the latter. Day after day of copying, wandering in all the old paper piles exhausted all his patience. He tried to convince himself to record history with a pen and then let history remember him, just like his father and his brother. He spent decades trying this, using the pen as a sword and Jane as the medium. But he finally found that he couldn't do it. He longed for a more intense, more exotic life, rather than relying on time to distill immortality from the ordinary. He was tired of the gentle pen in his hand, though it could sometimes be sharper than any weapon. He longed for a sword that really drank blood, and he begged himself to be like the characters in his pen, fighting with the sword and crossing the realm. Those old legends, the more he read, the hotter the blood, those other people's stories, the more he wrote, the more burning.
Finally, on some ordinary day, in the official court of the Han Dynasty, there was no sign of any difference. Ban Chao was still repeating his copying work. No one realized that his heart, like the eve of the eruption, had been suppressed for more than a decade of boredom with reality.
He jerked away the bald pen in his hand and sighed in the sky.
"The eldest husband should make meritorious contributions like Fu Jiezi Zhang Qian, in order to seek the title of Marquis of Wanli, how can he bend between the pen and stone?!"
I no longer want to be a writer of history, but to be a swordsman who creates history, my life should not only be the book, pen and ink in front of me, but the yellow sand in the sky, the roaring war horse, the sharp sword and a poem stirring in the desperate area.
Ban Chao's words caused his colleagues to laugh. They laughed at Ban Chao, not at the ideal itself. In fact, at a certain green age, they were also like Ban Chao, and they had the ambition to seek the title of Marquis of Huangsha Wanli. It's just that time grinds away the edges and corners of ambition. They are like round sand trapped in countless piles of sand, and they can no longer see the difference between them.
It is precisely because they once had such a hot-blooded ideal, and they have seen it gradually cool, that they dare to laugh at what looks happy but is actually bitter.
So, at this moment, the line between mediocrity and extraordinaryness was drawn.
All mediocre people once held extraordinary ideals, but only those few will always remember the ambitions made at that time, and in the years that followed, unswervingly put them to fruition.
At the age of forty-one, Ban Chao abandoned his pen and surrendered.
He woke up in countless hesitations and made the most important choice in his life, and once he made this choice, he never wavered, no matter what kind of difficulties he encountered, he only listened to the call of his heart. Either he died on a horse or under the horse's hooves.
I will never die on my knees.
People's luck lies in discovering their ambitions as early as possible, so as to avoid wasting precious lives on unnecessary roads. At this point, Ban Chao went too far astray. But fortunately, when his energy was not yet exhausted, he finally got rid of the inertia of life and forcibly changed the trajectory of fate, thus walking on the road of resonance with the strings of the heart. And because of this change of lane, his long-suppressed passion will burn more intensely like compressed fuel.
Desperate Western Regions, Yellow Sand Turbid Wine, Spirited Horse Long Knife. I'm coming.
Since then, China's history has lost one less literary hero who records history with a pen, and more heroes who use swords and courage to create history.
3.
Those colleagues dared to laugh at Ban Chao, in addition to their willingness to anesthetize in the mediocre mud pond, there was a more important reason.
At that time, the Western Regions were not considered a place where miracles could be created and great deeds could be achieved.
Ever since Zhang Qian chiseled the void, the Western Regions have once become a paradise for careerists, adventurers, speculators, and greedy people, and countless people are eager to get what they want from this silk.
Under the attack of the western Han dynasty powers, the Xiongnu Empire, which was once extremely powerful and competed with the Han Empire for living space, fell apart. The folk songs circulating in the Yin Mountains exhaust the sorrows of the losers: "Lose me to qilian mountain, so that my six animals will not rest; The loss of my mountain has left my married wife colorless.
The Han dynasty set up a capital in the western region, replacing the Xiongnu servant Duwei. The Silk Road has been opened, and the western region has gradually moved towards the Central Plains and become part of Chinese civilization.
Until the appearance of Wang Mang, this fantasist, careerist, and paranoid person who came out of nowhere joked about state affairs and ordered all the kings of the western regions belonging to the Han Dynasty to be demoted to the rank of prince.
This was a speculative order, and the reason why the countries of the Western Regions were willing to attach themselves to the Han Dynasty, thousands of miles away, rather than the Xiongnu at hand, was precisely because the Han Dynasty exercised extremely flexible and extensive administration of them. The Han Dynasty only needed to gain nominal control and had no intention of interfering in any specific affairs of its country. It even only needed the other side not to be used by the Xiongnu to invade the borders of the Han Empire.
When the news of the demotion came, the countries of the Western Regions, without exception, broke away from the new dynasty, the short-lived dynasty founded by wang Mang, who was determined to innovate.
Subsequently, the East and West Han dynasties alternated, the Central Plains were in chaos, and the Western Regions once again became a vast region. When the Eastern Han Dynasty was established, the capital of the empire was moved from Chang'an, which had been destroyed by the war, to Luoyang further east. The strategic position in the western region plummeted. The rulers of the Kanto region were far from the western region, and they were far less important than the Guanzhong people.
Those strange and exotic treasures have long been accustomed to the Central Plains people. Even if the thousand-mile territory of the Western Regions produces sweet and fresh fruits, it is not as attractive as the fertile soil of the Central Plains. The Huns, who had threatened the survival of the Empire, had also been drawn from the List of Powerful Enemies of the Empire.
So, what reason is there for these windy and sand lands that are worth the empire's efforts to operate? Even Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who was known as the Lord of England, personally said to the envoys of the Western Regions who came to pay tribute to the court, if you can, you will resist the Xiongnu, and if you can't resist, you will surrender the Xiongnu.
The Western Regions, which were pioneered by Zhang Qian and practiced by Wei Qing, Huo Fuyi, and Li Guangli with their blood, became an abandoned land of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
If it weren't for some tribes invading the empire's borders again, I'm afraid there wouldn't even be this expedition.
4.
In 73 AD, Ban Chao accompanied the general Dou Gu on a campaign against the Northern Xiongnu as acting Sima ( 司馬).
This was not a major expedition, unlike the All-out War of the Western Han Dynasty, in which more than 100,000 people were mobilized, the whole country was mobilized, the logistics of the whole territory were saved for three generations, and the survival of the empire was gambled. It was nothing more of a border patrol, a military operation to declare the muscles of the Empire and reduce the likelihood of a border attack.
After all, the Northern Xiongnu at this time were not the huge empire that controlled 300,000 strings and spanned half of East Asia.
The army arrived in Iwu and engaged the Northern Huns. During the battle, Ban Chao slashed the enemy several levels, so he obtained his first military feat of abandoning his pen and surrendering, and also won an opportunity for himself.
Envoy to the Western Regions.
This was not an important mission, and at the time, it seemed far less than the time when Zhang Qian was looking for Yueshi. The Empire did not have much hope, because only thirty-six people were allocated to Ban Chao. And these thirty-six people are not heroic and strong-willed heroes, most of them are criminals, outlaws, violators, and evil people who have been released from prison on parole and hope to be able to atone for their crimes with merit.
The Central Plains had not been in contact with the Western Regions for too long, and this time, it was just to say hello and consolidate the results of the last expedition, that was all. No one has the luxury of returning to the heyday of the Western Han Dynasty and rebuilding the destroyed Western Regions Capital Protectorate.
But the reason why miracles are called miracles is precisely to transcend the expectations of ordinary people and create immortality from mediocre actions. Any great deed of the world never appears extraordinary from the beginning, but only those who are wise and courageous transform it, forge it, and look for opportunities to appear and indulge from the commonplace. The end result is something that even the creator can surprise.
On the day of the mission, did Ban Chao realize that he would create another legend after Zhang Qian?
Maybe he hadn't thought about it so far, but something was already vaguely felt in his heart. He knew that he was walking the path that Zhang Qian had taken, a path that had been illuminated but darkened. This is an extraordinary Silk Road, before it achieved Zhang Qian and Fu Jiezi. Later, xuanzang and Marco Polo were achieved.
Now, it will make the class super.
The first stop on the arrival of Ban Chao's emissaries was Shanshan. It has a more well-known name: Lou Lan.
5.
In Shanshan, Ban Chao and his party were warmly received. After staying for several days, Ban Chao noticed that the situation had undergone some subtle changes. The originally enthusiastic King Shanshan suddenly became cold.
Ban Chao, who was familiar with history books and proficient in human feelings, immediately guessed the reason behind it.
This must have been the emissaries of the Northern Xiongnu who also came here, and the King of Shanshan was shaken, not knowing whether to follow the Han Dynasty or the Xiongnu, so the number of ceremonies for the Han Dynasty envoys became contemptuous.
Of course, this is just a guess of Ban Chao, and to confirm it, more evidence is needed. After thinking about it for a while, Ban Chao called the waiter of Shan Shanguo, and the hood was a sentence.
"How long have the emissaries of the Huns been coming?" Is it still there? ”
The waiter panicked, the arrival of the Xiongnu emissaries, the negotiations between Shan Shanguo and him were completely secret from the Han envoys, and he did not know how the person in front of him knew the news. In a panic, he said all the details.
Ban Chao fell into contemplation.
Judging from the attitude of King Shanshan, this mission was very likely to fail, not only could it fail, but even their group of emissaries would face the threat of death. In the history of connecting the western regions, it is not uncommon for the envoys of the Han Dynasty to be slaughtered.
At the crucial moment, Ban Chao made a decision with his incomparable courage and rich boldness, he locked up the waiters of shan shanguo, and then gathered thirty-six subordinates and put an account of the current predicament.
"You followed me to the Realm of Extinction, hoping to make a great contribution to the riches, and now the emissaries of the Huns have also come." Judging from the attitude of King Shanshan, it is very likely that we will be handed over to the Huns, for fear that our bones will be eaten by the jackals. What do you say? ”
Everyone panicked, they were also once the evil teenagers of Luoyang, and the things that killed people and violated the law and discipline may not have been done, but after all, this is far away in a foreign country, facing unknown opponents. After a moment of agitation, they looked at Ban Chao, and they believed that Ban Chao would definitely provide them with a way to survive by gathering them here.
They said in unison: "Today we are in a place of peril, and we are willing to follow Sima in life or death." ”
Ban Chao was relieved that he had used the crisis to unite this group of people. As long as you have a team that is in the same direction as xi, there is no crisis that cannot be overcome. In fact, he has believed in this team since then, and has made this team the most solid backing for him to cross the western region. Even in his eyes, the power that this team can burst out is no less than that of an army.
Ban Chao cleared his throat and said his plan, which is a way that only a person on the edge of a cliff can think of, and it is a crazy and speculative plan. He spoke the idiom in the history of Chinese literature that describes those who are willing to gamble everything for the greater good: do not enter the tiger's den, do not go to the tiger's nest.
He said: "Now we can only attack the Emissaries of the Huns at night, they do not know how many of us we have, and after the attack, we will be extremely panicked, and we can take the opportunity to destroy them all." After destroying the xiongnu envoy group, shan shan broke his guts and achieved success! ”
In a foreign country, one mission attacks another and then violently forces a country to submit, which is not absent in the history of diplomacy.
Ban Chao's admirer Fu Jiezi once did this. At that time, Yan shan was also called LouLan, and his king was biased towards the Xiongnu. Fu Jiezi came to Loulan with a group of soldiers on the pretext of being an envoy, lured King Loulan out of the city with gold coins, beheaded King Loulan at a banquet, and then brought the head of King Loulan back to Chang'an and set up another Lord of Loulan. He also renamed Lou Languo to Shan Shan. Take the meaning of always being friendly to the big man.
However, the Great Han of that year was like a day in the sky, and it was only king LouLan who had to be killed. Now that the number of Xiongnu envoys is far above that of the Han Dynasty envoys, how can we ensure that this plan can be implemented?
So the men hesitated, and they said, "Why don't you talk to your business?" ”
In fact, this Guo Ke was the supreme leader of the envoy group. Ban Chao, on the other hand, held this meeting concerning the life and death of the mission, but did not inform Guo Ke. Obviously, in Ban Chao's eyes, this Guo Ke is not a person who can do great things.
Sure enough, Ban Chao said angrily, "Our life and death are today, he is just a civil servant, if you let him know, in case of leakage, we will all die here." And we will die like a bunch of rebels! ”
Is it to abandon all the horrors or rules, to seek a glimmer of life, to create the impossible, even if it fails, to die like a group of heroes, or like a gang of anti-thieves?
This group of people made a choice.
"Goodness!"
Chinese history books often describe the most courageous attitude in very concise words, and this goodness is one of them.
6.
On this night, Ban Chao set off with thirty-six subordinates. They went straight to the Camp of the Huns, and on this day, the dark sky blew a strong wind, and the Campfire still existed in the Campfire of the Huns, and the group was singing and singing, cutting mutton, and celebrating the smooth progress of diplomatic activities. They don't realize that another group of people who refuse to accept defeat are going to take their victory alive, including their lives.
Ban Chao hid his body in the long grass and gave his order, ten people hid in the back door of the barracks with a big drum, and when they saw the fire, they beat the drum and shouted. Ban Chao led the rest of the people with longbows and crossbows to the front door. Here is the upper hand, Ban Chao set off a fire, and by the wind, the fire was like a winged night devil, spitting out a ruthless tongue of fire and swallowing the barracks.
The ambushers who saw the fire rushed out one after another, vigorously beating the big drum in their hands, and making a deafening drum sound.
The Xiongnu camp was in disarray, and they did not even know where the attack came from, and they were afraid that when they were dying, they suspected that the fickle Emperor Shanshan had mobilized his army to launch an attack, but never thought that the attack on them was a Han Dynasty mission that was far fewer than theirs.
Ban Chao drew his sword and rushed into the Xiongnu camp, and in the records of the incident, he personally killed three people. His subordinates slaughtered more than thirty people, while the remaining more than a hundred were buried in the raging fire.
Bluffing, attacking them unprepared, and putting them to death and being born later are all stories recorded in the Zhongyuan Bing Book, which were repeatedly written by Ban Chao's pen when he was a penman. Even this scheme is just a reproduction of Fu Jiezi in that year.
There is nothing completely new in this world, and many miracles are actually repeated. Latecomers use their knowledge and their courage to write their own stories with the wisdom of their predecessors, and some people succeed, such as those who shine in the human starry sky. Some people have failed, such as Zhao Kuo, who talked on paper. And Ban Chao proved that he was not the kind of book reader who was rigid, he reassembled what he saw from the annals of history with his own courage, thus creating his own legend.
He proved that he belonged to blood and sand, not paper and ink.
When the fire was extinguished and the blood soaked into the grass, Ban Chao placed these dozens of human heads in front of King Shanshan, and this bloody and crude diplomatic language was the most powerful display of that era. King Shanshan may have remembered Li Guangli, the general of the Second Division, who had been on an expedition to Dawan, or of Wei Qinghuo's illness, or of Fu Jiezi, who had gone deep alone and beheaded King Loulan.
King Shanshan's body trembled slightly in horror, sweat pouring from his forehead, and he realized that even if he caught these envoys, he would not be able to explain the reality that the Xiongnu envoys were all killed in his country. He didn't even know how to deal with the difficult situation.
At the critical moment, Ban Chao showed his soft side, he slowly stepped forward, whispered to persuade King Shanshan, and slowly calmed his trembling body. Until King Shanshan nodded.
King Shanshan agreed to restore his vassal relations with the Han Dynasty and would send protons to the Han Dynasty. This was the first country to restore relations with the Han Dynasty after half a century of isolation in the Western Regions.
It was a victory with a stake of your life.
This story did not end, and Guo Ke of the mission was greatly surprised to receive the news. Ban Chao proved that he was not the kind of reckless warrior, he was a person who had insight into the world and understood people's hearts. He knew that Guo Ke's panic came more from jealousy, from being shocked by being in the dark, and from being afraid of loss without any success.
Ban Chao said: Although Guo Engaged did not participate, this big thing, how can Ban Chao alone be successful.
Guo Ke was relieved, he smiled, accepted this inexplicable explanation, and then shared the credit and honor that did not belong to him. Later, he was promoted to vice lieutenant of the Western Regions and became the first meritorious officer to connect with Shanshan.
This mediocre man stole Ban Chao's glory. In the history of mankind, there are often such people who, by virtue of their positions, take away the glory and merit that did not belong to them, but time is a sharp weapon to wash away falsehood. Those who benefit from a momentary advantage will eventually make way for true heroes. They are nothing more than parasitic on the side of the hero and a small scrap.
True greatness will always belong to the person who built it with his own hands.
7.
Ban Chao's success surprised the Han Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty immediately arranged a second mission, and the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Han Ming, personally designated Ban Chao to lead the team. He rejected the proposal to keep Ban Chao in China. This suggestion was made by Dou Gu, the first general to send Ban Chao on the road to the Western Regions.
It is impossible to know the intention of Dou Gu. Perhaps, like Guo Ke, he was jealous of Ban Chao's achievements. After the proposal was rejected, he proposed to provide more people for Ban Chao's mission. Presumably to arrange their own people in this rising glory team of empires.
Ban Chao rejected the arrangement, stubbornly believing that his thirty-six-man team was sufficient to accomplish the mission.
Facts have proved that Ban Chao has indeed used these thirty-six people to complete unimaginable tasks again and again, conquering fifty-five countries in thirty-one years and restoring the protectorate of the western region with a total area of two million square kilometers.
But these great achievements cannot be completely recorded in these thirty-six people.
These people in the team are not all brave people, and many of them are timid. For example, a man named Gan Ying. He was ordered by Ban Chao to cross the Sabbath Empire and contact the legendary Roman Empire: Qin. Fearing the waves and bad waters of the West Sea, Gan Ying returned halfway and missed the opportunity to directly connect the Roman Empire with the Han Empire.
Ban Chao refused more aid because he knew that behind him stood the entire Eastern Han Empire. The reason why he was able to create one miracle after another was half due to his great talent and strategy, and the other half was due to the platform of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
No one can do wonders without the platform. True wise people simply know better than mediocre people how to use this platform efficiently and maximize its influence.
Ban Chao's second missionary target was Khotan.
It was a country completely controlled by the Huns.
8.
The Xiongnu used traditional witchcraft to control Khotan. Ban Chao, who came from afar, became a group of undesirable people. The shamans of Khotan made a rather chaotic proposal to their king.
The arrival of the Han envoy infuriated the gods, and one of the Han envoy's horses must be killed to appease the gods.
Obviously, the wizard did not fully exonerate the envoy, he only hoped that Ban Chao would be able to retreat from the difficulties. Soon, he received the news that Ban Chao was willing to hand over a horse, but he needed to pick it up himself.
The wizard was relieved, and he saw this as a symbol of Ban Chao's submission. So he went to collect his booty.
After arriving at the Han mission's camp, his head was cut off by Ban Chao.
It seems that as a wizard, he should do a little homework and understand the style of the class super.
All that can be persuaded, persuaded, and therefore unconvincing, eradicated.
The King of Khotan had heard of Ban Chao's thunderbolt tactics in the Kingdom of Shanshan, and he immediately responded to Ban Chao's actions. He beheaded the Xiongnu envoys in the country and chose to defect to the Han Dynasty.
This extremely simple and crude diplomatic approach now seems inconceivable, but it has become the most effective diplomatic language of that year. Why did Ban Chao Fu Jiezi dare to take such extraordinary measures, while other Han Dynasty emissaries never tried it? Why does such a simple approach work?
The reason for this is not the means themselves, but for the shrewd judgment of the situation. The western states were essentially more welcoming to the feudal administration exercised by the distant Han Dynasty, and were terrorized by the Xiongnu who were nearby. It is precisely because of the insight into the stakes that Ban Chao dared to cross the desert with a team of thirty-six people, act boldly, and achieve one miraculous achievement after another.
The next country Ban Chao conquered was Shule.
Ban Chao had an important piece of information, the current King of Shule was not a Shule person, but a Guizi people left behind after the conquest of Shule.
9.
Ban Chao did not go there in person, because he knew that he was no longer the Envoy who had just arrived in the Western Regions, and now stories about him were circulating in every corner of the Western Regions.
This made it difficult for him to replicate his own success.
Therefore, he needs to show his other talent, to use people.
Heroes in history are divided into two categories, one is the lone hero, he can use his strength, or take the first rank among thousands of troops, or lose the exotic land but can perform miracles repeatedly. There is also a kind of hero who belongs to the leader type, he does not need to personally go into battle to kill the enemy, but he can command the most outstanding generals in the world, and he does not need amazing literary talents, but he can mobilize the most talented literary heroes.
Ban Chao combines both.
Ban Chao found one of his subordinates named Tian Wei and gave him an order: You go to the shule country, and if the king is willing to surrender, then surrender, if not, then capture it.
According to this order, Tian Wei led more than a dozen people into the Shule Kingdom, and in the city, he met the arrogant King of Shule. Tian Wei did not hesitate and resolutely carried out the arrest operation. When all was well, Ban Chao appeared, and like a messenger summoned by God, he summoned the generals of the Shule Kingdom, rebuked Guizi for his unreasonableness, and declared that he would make Shule the king.
The result is a great joy for the People of Shule. The shrewd Ban Chao made a small trick, he refused the Shule people's request to kill the Tuji, and put the Tuzi back to the Guizi Kingdom. This laid the groundwork for his next move to appease Guizi, and completely let Guiziguo break with Shule.
Ban Chao has never been a pure moral saint, but he is also not a thug who has lost his bottom line or a cunning speculator. He is just a shrewd cross-sectionalist, seeking a balance in an intricate relationship. Thus completing their own Mission of Han Envoy.
Next, he will get rid of himself from the identity of an envoy of the Han Dynasty, truly listen to the call of his heart, and thus evolve into the master of his life, the uncrowned king of the Western Regions.