Ban Chaozi Zhongsheng, a native of Pingling County, Fufeng, was the younger brother of Ban Gu, the author of the Book of Han. The Ban clan has been a historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty for generations, and Ban Chao was born in this Shuxiang Mendi, he has great ambitions, is informal, and is not ashamed of his hard work and humiliation. Ban Chao is very eloquent, reads a lot of books, and often reads "Ram Spring and Autumn".
In the fifth year of Yongping (63 AD), Ban Gu was recruited as a school secretary, and Ban Chao followed his brother to luoyang, the capital at that time. Ban Chao's family was poor and could only survive by copying documents for the government. However, after a long period of hard work, Ban Chao was tired, and he put down his work and sighed: "The eldest husband has no other grand ambitions, he should also emulate Fu Jiezi and Zhang Qian, and make meritorious contributions to a foreign land to obtain the title, how can he engage in the work of pen yan for a long time?" "This is the famous throwing pen from Rong in history.
Later, Ban Chao went to see the photo. The man who met him said, "Your forehead is like a swallow, your neck is like a tiger, and you fly to eat meat. Ban Chao was very excited, which further strengthened his idea of throwing pens and writing from Rong.
In the sixteenth year of Yongping (73), the Han Dynasty decided to send an army to attack the Xiongnu, and Ban Chao immediately accompanied the Northern Expedition, and served as a false Sima (acting Sima in the army). Ban Chao alone led an army to attack Iwu, fought in the Pushi Sea, and beheaded many enemy heads to come back. The commander Dou Gu admired his talents, so he sent him and Guo Ke on a mission to the Western Regions.
Ban Chao and Guo Gong arrived at the Kingdom of Shanshan, and King Guang of Shanshan received them respectfully and politely. But then the scale of the reception suddenly became cold. The perceptive Ban Chao immediately realized that the emissaries of the Xiongnu were coming, and the King of Shanshan hesitated for this reason. So Ban Chao called for a waiter and frightened him, saying, "The Xiongnu emissaries have been coming for several days. Where is it now? The waiter was frightened and confided the whole situation. Ban Chao then locked up the waiter and gathered all thirty-six of his subordinates to drink together.
When the wine was drunk, Ban Chao provoked his subordinates with words and said, "You and I are in a very remote place, and we want to make great achievements in order to become rich." Now the Xiongnu emissaries have only been here for a few days, and King Guang of Shanshan has revoked the salute, and if he captures us and gives us to the Huns, then our skeletons will be fed to the jackals forever. What do you think? ”
The subordinates all said, "Now we are in a place of critical survival, and we all obey Sima Sima's orders. Ban Chao said a sentence that has been passed down through the ages: Do not enter the tiger's den, but get the tiger? The best strategy now is to attack the Huns with fire when it gets dark at night, and they don't know how many of us we have, and they will be greatly frightened, and we can eliminate them all. Having eliminated the Huns, the King of Shanshan would be frightened and we would be finished. The subordinates unanimously said yes.
At the beginning of the change, Ban Chao led his subordinates to the camp of the Xiongnu emissaries. At this time, the wind howled. Ban Chao ordered ten men to hide behind the Xiongnu emissaries with drums, and agreed: "When you see the fire attacking, you will all beat the drums and shout loudly." The rest of the men, armed with bows and arrows, ambushed on either side of the gate where the Hun emissaries were stationed. Ban Chao set fire to the wind, beat drums back and forth, and the Huns were frightened and chaotic. Ban Chao and his party killed more than thirty of the Xiongnu emissaries' retinue, and the remaining more than a hundred were all burned to death.
The next day, Ban Chao summoned King Shanshan and showed him the head of the Xiongnu emissary. The whole country was shocked. Ban Chao made this matter public and comforted it. King Shanshan expressed his willingness to submit to the imperial court and sent his prince to the imperial court as a hostage.
Emperor Hanming praised Ban Chao's integrity and asked him to once again be sent on an expedition to the Western Regions. Ban Chao went to the Western Regions, first to the Kingdom of The Dragon, and the king was very cold to him, and the etiquette was extremely inconsiderate. And the customs of this country believe in witchcraft. The shaman wanted to sacrifice with the horses of the han dynasty emissaries. After Ban Chao understood, he lured him to lead the horse. When the wizard came, Ban Chao was quick in his eyes, cut off his head and sent it to king Guangde, and rebuked him with words. King Guangde had already heard about Ban Chao's elimination of the Xiongnu emissaries in the Shanshan Kingdom, and he was so frightened that he killed the Xiongnu emissaries and surrendered to Ban Chao.
As a result, all the countries of the Western Regions sent princes to the imperial court as hostages, and the relations between the Western Regions and the Central Government were interrupted for sixty-five years, and only then were they restored. In the following thirty-one years, Ban Chao pacified more than 50 countries in the Western Regions, making great contributions to the return of the Western Regions and the promotion of ethnic integration. The official protected the capital of the Western Regions, and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Yuan, known as "Ban Dingyuan". The prophecy of the man who met him came true.