Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty used troops against the Xiongnu for many years, and although the results were brilliant, they also led to "waste in the sea, halving the hukou in the world", and the consumption of national strength was extremely large.
Tang Taizong has also been using troops, but it has not only played the prestige of "Heavenly Khan", but also made the national strength continue to rise.
What's the difference?
Difference: Ultra-long-distance march
"Do not miss the peasants, do not harm the people", minimize the damage to agricultural production, and reduce the people's burdens are important principles for waging wars in ancient times.
Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang both had this understanding.
In the relatively close combat, Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang basically achieved this.
The proximity here refers to today's Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and other places.
In these places, it is very common to "turn to two thousand miles", and in the strict sense, it is also a long-distance operation. However, compared with mobei, present-day Xinjiang and other regions, these places are indeed much closer, and the cost of marching is much lower.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Battle of Mo'nan commanded by Wei Qing, the Battle of Hexi commanded by Huo Zhiyi, and the Battle of Hexi under the command of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Jing's conquest of the Eastern Turks and Tuguhun were all clean and neat, and they were quickly won at a relatively small cost.
Therefore, in fact, the use of troops in the early and middle periods of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty achieved great results, but it did not affect the normal production and living order.
Where the gap arises is the use of troops at a long distance, that is, the use of troops in the northern and western regions of the desert.
The "Battle of Mobei" commanded by Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi achieved brilliant results, but the losses were more than 10,000 troops, and less than 30,000 horses returned, and the consumption was already very large.
In the later period, under the command of Li Guangli and others, the Han army repeatedly used troops on a large scale, not only attrition, but also defeated more than wins.
At the same time, in the direction of the Western Regions, the Battle of Dawan organized by Li Guangli made "the whole world serve for many years", "lose fifty thousand divisions, spend hundreds of millions of dollars, and after four years of hard work", and "the world is in turmoil".
In contrast, Tang Taizong's ultra-long-distance conquests maintained the characteristics of "low investment and high return" as always.
Emperor Taizong of Tang used the generals Ashinadur, Zhizhi Sili, and Qibi Heli to crush Xue Yantuo and pacify the northern desert without expending a lot of the wealth of the Central Plains.
Hou Junji and others traveled thousands of miles, although the cost was not small, but the wind was swift, clean and clean Gaochang, Guizi and other western countries, controlled the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains.
Even the pro-conquest of Liaodong, which did not compete for full success, also recovered Liaodong Prefecture and County in the absence of much time and loss.
Therefore, what opens the gap is the ultra-long-distance use of troops in the later stage.
The difference in the use of ultra-long-distance troops stems from the differences in the situations faced by each of them, as well as from the differences in the use of personnel and soldiers by the Second Emperor.
The situation is different
Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also used troops against Eastern Vietnam, South Vietnam, Western Qiang, Korea, and Southwest Yi, his main opponent in life was the unified and prosperous Xiongnu.
The Great Han and the Xiongnu, once turned their faces, there was no peace until they were separated.
Emperor Wu of Han was attacking the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu were also carrying out a retaliatory counterattack.
Wei Qing fought the First Battle of Southern Mo, capturing 15,000 Xiongnu troops, and the Xiongnu rode out to attack Dai County, taking more than a thousand people. After Huo went to the "Battle of Hexi", the Xiongnu sent tens of thousands of cavalry to attack Youbeiping and Dingxiang, killing more than a thousand people.
Therefore, after the First Battle of Mo nan, it is necessary to immediately launch the Second Battle of Mo Nan, immediately after the Battle of Mo Nan, to launch the Battle of Hexi, and after the Battle of Hexi, it is necessary to immediately prepare for the Battle of MoBei.
Once you stop, it is a show of weakness, and the Huns will intensify their attacks on you and kill the people.
Emperor Wu of Han had to continuously use troops on a large scale, and there was no chance to breathe until he completely subdued his opponents.
In contrast, Tang Taizong faced a better situation.
The Eastern Turks, Xue Yantuo, Tuguhun, Gaochang, Guizi, and Goguryeo, although related to each other, remained independent opponents.
Moreover, as far as national strength is concerned, although these forces are not small, their strength has passed the peak.
At its peak, the Turks were not weaker than the Huns.
However, by the time of Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Eastern and Western Turks had already split, and the Eastern Turks suffered internal problems and natural disasters, and their strength was greatly damaged.
Therefore, on the one hand, Tang Taizong could calmly choose the timing of the battle, strike a fatal blow, and also take advantage of the contradictions between the opponents, pull one fight at a time, and secure the victory.
The strategy is different
Finding more friends was an important principle of war in ancient times.
Emperor Wu of Han also made such a consideration.
He first sent Zhang Qian to contact the Great Moon Clan and try to unite to attack the Xiongnu, and then he united with Wusun and other countries to attack the Xiongnu together.
However, the Ōtsuki clan was reluctant to fight the Xiongnu, and Wusun tried his best to send troops but his strength was limited.
In general, emperors of the Han Dynasty were either wishful thinking (such as contacting the Great Moon Clan) or staying in the local area (such as uniting with Wusun) to fight the Xiongnu, basically relying on the strength of the Han army itself, "frontal bar".
This is inevitable.
Among the emperors of the Han Dynasty, except for Zhang Qian and others who lived in the Xiongnu for a long time, the rest of the people had extremely limited understanding of the Xiongnu and the grasslands.
They can't get to know the characteristics of the steppe, the characteristics of the steppe regime.
In contrast, Emperor Taizong of Tang had a deep understanding of the characteristics of the grassland.
The rulers of the Northern Dynasty and the Sui and Tang Dynasties all had an inseparable relationship with xianbei, and many of the tang emperors and courtiers were Sinicized Xianbei people, or han people who had once been humbled, they retained many grassland characteristics, and they were very familiar with the characteristics of life, social structure, and combat characteristics of the grassland peoples.
The Li Tang rulers were more familiar with the grasslands.
As early as when Li Yuan was defending the Turks, he had imitated the characteristics of the Turks to train the army.
After Li Yuan raised an army, he was helped by the Turks, and Li Shimin maintained good personal relations with the Turk Khan and others.
Therefore, they can go deeper and deeper, dividing and disintegrating the enemy.
When attacking the Eastern Turks, Li Shimin first divided Jieli Khan and Tuli Khan, divided opponents, and then supported Xue Yantuo and other troops, so that the north of the desert was separated from the control of the Eastern Turks, and finally, he took advantage of the cold weather and the opportunity of the Eastern Turks falling into crisis to destroy the enemy in one fell swoop.
When attacking Xue Yantuo, he also took advantage of the contradiction between the Eastern Turks and Xue Yantuo to let the Eastern Turks resist Xue Yantuo in the south of the desert (reducing the burden on the Central Plains), and then used various means to weaken Xue Yantuo's authority in various departments of the steppe, and finally destroyed the decay, united a large number of nomadic armed forces, and easily pacified the desert north at low cost.
When attacking Tuguhun, he also took advantage of the contradictions between the various departments of the Qiang people and the tuguhun rulers to divide Tuguhun and greatly weaken Tuguhun's war potential and room for maneuver.
In a word, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty's strategy was to attack the nomads in the way of the Central Plains people; while Li Shimin's strategy was to attack the opponents together in a variety of ways by the methods of the Central Plains people + nomads.
The use will be different
Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi in the early period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Li Jing and Li Ji used by Tang Taizong were all epic famous generals.
However, in the later period of Emperor Wu of Han, Li Guangli and others used lacked military talent and personal prestige, which was the key to Emperor Wu's huge expenditure on the use of troops in the later period and the defeat of more than the victory.
This is the beginning of a cycle of evil deeds.
Due to the large losses, the national strength of the Great Han Dynasty declined, bringing about a decline in combat effectiveness.
For example, due to the large consumption of horses, by the late Han Wudi period, the cavalry unit was often greatly reduced and replaced by infantry. This not only reduced the power of the Han military aircraft, but also made the logistics support system fragile and lost its initiative.
In this way, in the later period of Emperor Wu, the more exhausting the attack, the worse the effect, the worse the effect, the greater the consumption...
Consume until the real consumption does not move, the wheel is guilty!
In contrast, under Li Shimin, Li Jing, Li Ji, Li Daozong, Hou Junji, Qi Bi He Li, and others all maintained a high military quality.
Therefore, during the Tang Taizong period, the command standard was as high as ever, and even if the division was unfavorable, there was rarely a situation of total army collapse, even if it was a certain road such as Li Guang and Li Ling.
This is another virtuous circle.
The army is not much attrition, so the more the army fights, the more experienced it becomes.
On the other hand, due to the great opportunity of meritorious service and the relatively small chance of being killed on the battlefield, the brave people enthusiastically joined the army.
When Emperor Taizong of Tang invaded Goryeo, the heroes of Hebei enthusiastically joined the army, and it was at this time that Xue Rengui joined the Tang army.
"A thousand armies are easy to obtain, but one will be difficult to find." He who wins good generals will strengthen the country and prosper.". That's exactly what it is.
It is worth mentioning that even Tang Taizong is not so perfect.
In the later years of Tang Taizong, "there was the army of the Liaohai Sea in the east, the Battle of Kunqiu in the west, the soldiers and horses were tired of armor, and the boats and cars were tired of transportation."
Although these situations are not the same as Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty's "waste in the sea and halving the hukou", they also show that the perennial multi-front operation still inevitably brings interference to production and life.
In general, Tang Taizong's use of troops interfered with production and life, and on the whole, it was indeed much smaller than that of Emperor Wu of Han.
The reasons for this difference are both objective reasons, such as different situations and different cognitive structures of the ruling groups, as well as subjective reasons such as the use of generals.
Although I personally admire Tang Taizong's monarchs and subjects, but in my heart, Emperor Wu of Han and Tang Taizong were all outstanding emperors in ancient times, and their contributions to history were worthy of respect, and there was no need to be either one or the other, and one by one.