This article is originally created by: Upstairs Old Fan
Chao, a politician and writer in the Western Han Dynasty, faced with the invasion of the Xiongnu, what strategy did he offer to Emperor Wen of Han?
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the nomadic Xiongnu who dominated the north were the strongest enemies of the Han Dynasty, and under the leadership of their outstanding leader Mao Dun Shan Yu, they occasionally invaded the borders of the Han Dynasty, and the soldiers and civilians in the border areas of the Han Dynasty could be said to be living in deep waters.
In the winter of the seventh year of Han Gaozu (200 BC), Liu Bang personally led an army of 300,000 to attack the Xiongnu in the north, but was surrounded by 400,000 troops under the command of Mao Dundan at Baideng Mountain in Pingcheng (Mapu Mountain, northeast of present-day Datong City, Shanxi). In the end, Liu Bang relied on Chen Ping's ingenious plan to cause the Xiongnu army to retreat.
Liu Bang was unable to defeat the Xiongnu, and the Han Dynasty had no choice but to adopt a policy of "peace and affinity" to maintain peace with the Xiongnu. However, even so, the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu were only superficially maintained in the form of "peace and affinity", but in fact they were always in a state of war and uncertainty.
In the summer of the third year of the reign of Emperor Wen of Han (177 BC), The Right Xian of xiongnu took advantage of Emperor Wen of Han's new ascension to the throne and led a large army of Xiongnu to invade the area south of Hetao.
In response to the Repeated Sabotage and Affinity of the Xiongnu, Emperor Wen of Han hunted down and killed Officials and Soldiers of the Han Dynasty without authorization, plundered the property and land of the residents of the border areas, and resolutely sent troops to resist the invasion of the Xiongnu, which was the first time since the implementation of the "peace and affinity" policy that the Han Dynasty launched a large-scale military attack against the invading Xiongnu.
Emperor Wen of Han sent Cheng Xiang to lead an army of 80,000 Han to attack The Right Xian King at Gaonu (高奴, in present-day northern Yan'an, Shaanxi), and sent lieutenants to defend Chang'an. Emperor Wen of Han even personally went to Ganquan (present-day Chunhua, Shaanxi) to supervise the battle, and as a result, the Xiongnu Right Xian's army was defeated and fled outside the country.
Therefore, the Han army took advantage of the victory to pursue, and Emperor Wen of Han arrived at Gaonu from Ganquan and took Gaonu to Taiyuan. Unexpectedly, at this time, Liu Xingju, the king of Jibei (Liu Bang's grandson and Liu Fei's third son), launched a rebellion. When Emperor Wen of Han heard the news, he immediately dismissed his troops and rushed back to Chang'an, quelling Liu Xingju's rebellion.
In the fourth year of the PREVIOUS Era (176 BC), Mao Dun Shan Yu sent another letter to Emperor Wen of Han, expressing his willingness to restore peace with the Han Dynasty. At this time, the Han Dynasty also needed a peaceful environment in order to restore and develop the social economy, so Emperor Wen of Han decided to restore peace with the Xiongnu.
In the sixth year BC (174 BC), Emperor Wen of Han sent people to the Xiongnu, and the two sides were brothers, and also gave Many valuables to Mo Dun. Soon after, Mao Dun Shan Yu died, and his son Ji Congee ji Li, which is the old Shang Shan Yu.
When Emperor Wen of Han married a princess of the clan to him, he also sent the eunuch Zhonghang to be the dowry minister. The Bocq said that the Xiongnu surrendered to the Xiongnu, and often advised Lao Shangdan Yu to attack the Han Dynasty and plunder the wealth of the Han Dynasty, and from then on, the relationship between the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty became increasingly tense.
In the fourteenth year OF THE COMMON ERA (166 BC), Lao Shangdan Yu personally led an army of 140,000 into Beidi Commandery, entered Chaona (northwest of present-day Pingliang, Gansu), Xiaoguan (southeast of present-day Guyuan, Gansu), and Pengyang (southeast of present-day Zhenyuan, Gansu), burned down the Huizhong Palace (秦宫, formerly located in present-day Guyuan, Gansu), and his forward reached Qizhou Yong (present-day Fengxiang, Shaanxi) and Ganquan (northwest of present-day Chunhua, Shaanxi), only 200 miles from Chang'an, seriously threatening the security of the Han dynasty capital Chang'an.
Emperor Wen of Han sent lieutenants Zhou She and Lang Zhong to order Zhang Wu to mobilize 100,000 cavalry and garrison Chang'an in preparation for the Xiongnu. He also sent Lu Qing, Wei Ao, Zhou Zao, Zhang Xiangru, Dong Chi, and others to mount horse-drawn carriages from Dafa Shangjun, Beidi, and Longxi to meet the Xiongnu, and fought hard for more than a month before driving Lao Shangdan Yu out of Saiwai.
After that, the Xiongnu continued to harass the Han Dynasty's border areas every year, killing and plundering a large number of people, and the counties of Yunzhong and Liaodong suffered the most.
In the fourth year of Emperor Wen's reign (160 BC), Lao Shangdan Yu died, and his son Junjun Li became Shan Yu, still taking the Zhonghang Theory as a close confidant and actively preparing to attack Han.
In the winter of the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Wen of Han (158 BC), the military ministers launched a war against the Han Dynasty. With 60,000 cavalry, divided into two roads, each with 30,000 horses, he invaded Shangjun and Yunzhong County, killing and plundering a large number of people, and the warnings frequently spread to Ganquan and Chang'an, and the Beijing division was shaken.
Emperor Wen of Han sent Zhongfu Ling to be a cheri general and led his army into Feihu (flying foxes) (present-day Shangdang, Shanxi), Suyi Tunju (northwest of present-day Dai County, Shanxi), and Zhang Wutun (郡治 in present-day northwestern Qingyang, Gansu). At the same time, near the capital Chang'an, heavy troops were also sent to defend. Zhou Yafu garrisoned Xiaoliu (northwest of Chang'an), Liu Li garrisoned Bashang (southeast of Chang'an), and Xu Li garrisoned Zhimen (north of Chang'an).
At that time, the situation was tense, and the garrison was heavily guarded and ready for emergency response. Emperor Wen of Han went to Xiaoliu to comfort the soldiers, and Zhou Yafu even wore armor and held soldiers, saying, "The soldiers of the Jieguan do not worship, please see them with military etiquette" ("The Biography of Zhou Yafu of Han"), which is almost to the point of sword rattling. The Xiongnu saw that the Han army had strengthened its garrison and withdrew from the outside world. The Han army also withdrew its troops.
During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, in order to seek a stable and peaceful environment, he always adopted a restrained attitude towards the Xiongnu. He continued to implement the "peace and pro- policy" of the early Han Dynasty and avoided making a big fuss.
However, over the years, although the Xiongnu benefited from the policy of peace and affinity, they did not believe in the covenant of peace and affinity, and there were only three large-scale harassments, and there were countless small sporadic invasions, not only the people of the border counties were deeply affected, but also the Han Dynasty spent a lot of money to resist the invasion of the Xiongnu.
In the face of this dilemma, Chao Que, who was still the head of the Prince's House (the head of the Prince's Mansion), wrote a special letter to Emperor Wen of Han, analyzing the military strengths and weaknesses of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, pointing out that the Xiongnu were a nomadic tribe that was good at riding and shooting, they were erratic and mobile, and once they found that there were fewer guards, they would enter and kill at any time.
If the imperial court did not send troops to rescue, the border people were bound to despair and surrender to the Xiongnu, and the small number of troops was useless, and the large number of troops was that the rescue troops from far away counties had just arrived, but the Huns had already fled. If you are stationed in the border areas for defense, the cost is too large, and if you are not stationed in the border areas, the Huns can come in at any time. If this continues year after year, the country will be poor and the people will not be at peace.
Therefore, Chao Que offered a plan to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, that is, to "recruit the people to be on the real side", that is, to build cities in the border areas, recruit people from the interior to migrate to the border areas, and the residents of each city who migrated more than a thousand households were given agricultural tools, clothes, and grain by the government until they could provide for themselves.
Those who are recruited and moved to the frontiers are exonerated from their sins, and those who are not guilty may be knighted or exempted from forced labor. The common people who moved to the frontier areas were organized according to their ranks, trained in peacetime, and could respond to the enemy when there was a problem, and those who could resist the invasion of the Huns and regain the wealth plundered by the Huns were rewarded by the government according to the price. In this way, there will be no suffering in the distance, and the people who have been plugged down can be protected.
Emperor Wen of Han listened to this, so he adopted Chao's wrong strategy, recruited the people to migrate, and received the effect of "the matter of Tun Shu benefits the province, and the loss of the cost is beneficial to the widow" ("Hanshu Chao's Wrong Biography").
Soon, Chao Que also proposed in "On the Guisu Shu" that the people should be rewarded and punished by millet, stipulating that all those who entered the court of The Millet court could worship the lord and be exonerated. And those who enter the millet can also worship and be exonerated.
Emperor Wen of Han again adopted Chao's erroneous opinion, ordered the people to enter the millet, and also stipulated the different ranks of baijue according to the number of millet. This has certain significance for fighting against the harassment of the Xiongnu and reducing the suffering of provincial transfer.
Emperor Wen of Han adopted the method of "recruiting people to be real", changing the system of single rotation of tun shu, which was conducive to the development of border counties and greatly strengthened the defensive force against the Xiongnu. This played an important role in Emperor Jingdi of Han's continued implementation of the policy of recuperation and recuperation, resolving the problem of rebellion of internal princes and kings, and also laid the foundation for the later Emperor Wu of Han to completely solve the Xiongnu problem.
After the death of Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Jing of Han still implemented a policy of "peace and affinity" with the Xiongnu, but also continued to implement the policy of "recruiting people to be real". As the Han Dynasty's defensive forces grew stronger, the Xiongnu's military harassment of the frontiers also relented.
During the 16 years of the reign of Emperor Jingdi of Han, the number of Xiongnu invasions was greatly reduced, and only three times were recorded. On the largest scale, in June of the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Jing of Han (144 BC), the Xiongnu invaded Yanmen, attacked Wuquan (northeast of present-day Hohhot, Inner Mongolia), and then entered Shangjun (上郡, in present-day Yulin, Shaanxi) to plunder the Han Dynasty's Yuanma. Officers and soldiers of the Han Dynasty rose up to resist, and as many as 2,000 people died in battle. In addition, in the lifetime of emperor Jing, the Xiongnu did not have large-scale military harassment.
Relying on the policy of "recruiting the people to practice the real side" put forward by Chao, the wenjing and jing emperors did not only stay in a simple passive retreat in dealing with the military incursions of the Xiongnu, but mainly focused on actively strengthening the defensive force, so as to achieve the purpose of avoiding and reducing war, and creating a peaceful environment for the han dynasty to recuperate.