In the early days of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the national strength was not yet stable, and the Xiongnu saw an opportunity to take advantage of it, often harassing the central plains border. When Han Gaozu saw that the treasury was empty, the troops were not strong, and the civil unrest had not been resolved, he could only adopt a peaceful and pro-kinship approach and maintain superficial peace with the Xiongnu.
The bridge section of "princess and relative" in the film and television drama is very different from the facts of the Han Gaozu period, and most of the "peace relatives" candidates in the Han Gaozu period are some palace women or lower-class women, who seal the title of princess and then send them to the peace relatives. The Huns also had a number in mind, but they only coveted the wealth that came with it. By consensuality, the Han Dynasty gained a period of peace.
By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the situation of not being able to fight and be close to each other no longer existed. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty attacked the Xiongnu three times and achieved great victories, and since then the foreign races have not dared to commit crimes again, and peace and kinship have also become a symbol of mutually established friendly relations and the meaning of appeasing the Xiongnu.
How did Emperor Wu of Han develop his army? Why was Huo Fuyi able to seal the wolf juxu and achieve the point where there was no royal court in the southern desert, while the army during the Han Gaozu period was still chased and beaten by the Xiongnu?
First, only with money can we fight wars
At the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, due to the tyranny of the Qin King, coupled with the peasant uprising, the country was in ruins and waiting to be revived, and it could not come up with much money to fight. Han Gaozu could only choose to rule by doing nothing, cultivate and live, and wait for the opportunity.
Until the later reign of Wenjing, Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han worked hard to rule, and the country gradually became rich. When Emperor Wu of Han ascended to the throne, he already had a huge amount of money needed to fight a war.
If you have money, you can do things. It's time to start recruiting.
In the past, the Central Plains fought against the Xiongnu, basically the infantry of the Central Plains against the xiongnu's cavalry, in the era of cold weapons, such a war did not have to be won or lost to know, basically high and low.
Han Gaozu initially fought against the Xiongnu and formed a cavalry force of about 20,000 people. Originally, it was full of confidence to attack the Xiongnu, but the Xiongnu were shown weakness to Han Gaozu, and after Han Gaozu led his troops out on the expedition, the Xiongnu launched an army of 100,000 and directly beat Han Gaozu silly.
Fortunately, Zhang Liangmiao's plan next to Han Gaozu was frequent, which allowed Han Gaozu to return to Chang'an without any danger. This was a great shame for Han Gaozu, and since then Han Gaozu has paid great attention to the cultivation of cavalry.
From the initial 20,000 cavalry, and then through the development between Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han, and finally when Emperor Wu of Han was at his peak, the size of the country's cavalry could reach the range of 100,000 to 200,000. During this period, the two generals Huo Fuyi and Wei Qing each commanded 50,000 elite cavalry.
The invincible "weapon" of the cavalry is inseparable from horses, and when the country has money, it begins to breed a large number of war horses. The people of the Han Dynasty, especially in the northwest region, trained a large number of high-quality warhorses. During the han wudi period, the country's war horses were as high as 400,000, each of which was shiny in color, handsome and flying, galloping on the battlefield, which was one level better than the Xiongnu war horses.
Second, the master of the division to control the yi
The cultivation of cavalry was the key to the victory of the Han army. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty trained cavalry in a different way - learning from the Xiongnu and defeating the Xiongnu with the Xiongnu's tactics.
Emperor Wu of Han ordered many heroic Xiongnu cavalrymen to be recruited and bribed them at great prices. Money can make ghosts grind, and these Huns, driven by money, taught the training methods of the Hun cavalry to the Han army without reservation.
The cavalry of the Han Dynasty trained hard day and night, and it took four years to create a steel cavalry team. The cavalry team fully learned the hun cavalry set, and the blue out of the blue, better than the blue.
The weapons were in place, and it was indispensable to have the blessing of the two great generals Wei Qing and Huo Quyi, without these two generals, Emperor Wu of Han might not have won such a victory in destroying the Xiongnu.
The tactics of Wei Qing and Huo's army can be said to be very different.
The Xiongnu's method of fighting is basically a mobile war, avoiding the enemy's main force, luring the enemy to go deeper, and then breaking through one by one with superior troops and making a quick decision. They are nomadic peoples themselves, scattered garrisons on the steppes, actively attacking and flexible.
This mode of combat is well known to the sick. Huo's army was highly mobile, able to move quickly and lure the enemy deeper, and then accurately attack the Xiongnu, often making it impossible for the Xiongnu army to eat and walk.
Wei Qing's army was not as bold as Huo's disease, but it was victorious in seeking stability. When he was not born, the Central Plains had few victories in the war against the Xiongnu, but after the emergence of Wei Qing, the Han Dynasty did not lose the war against the Xiongnu. It was Wei Qing who trained the first large-scale cavalry unit to have the brilliant record of the Han Dynasty's repeated victories against the Xiongnu, and he also established the record of seven battles and seven victories.
Some people will wonder if these two heroic generals who can seal the wolf Juxu appear in the Han Gaozu period, whether they can change the dilemma at the founding of the Han Dynasty. In fact, this hypothesis is difficult to establish, if Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi really appeared in the Han Gaozu period, it is likely to fall into the situation of "it is difficult for a smart woman to cook without rice".
Heroes are always made by the times. However, the general was born in the era of no rice and no grain, and he could only have the ability to seal the wolf, but he could not benefit his family and country.
Third, the weapons are sophisticated, and it is difficult not to win
We cannot talk about war without weapons. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the success of the Xiongnu's battles was inseparable from the manufacture and improvement of weapons. The birth of Wu Gangche opened an important scene for Wei Qing in the decisive battle in the north of the desert.
The Wugang chariot was an improvement from an ancient chariot, 4 meters 6 meters long and 3 meters 2 wide, with cowhide armor on the body and shields as cover. There were also firing holes in the hulls, and cavalry could shoot at the Huns through the firing holes behind their shields.
The Wugang chariots under this design can be used to transport grain and grass and wounded soldiers, and can also be used in combat, killing two birds with one stone. Its power is equivalent to that of tanks in modern warfare.
During the decisive battle in northern Mobei, Wei Qing encountered Shan Yu's main Xiongnu army, and Wei Qing was in a hurry, using Wugang chariots to form a fortress to cover himself and march towards the main Xiongnu army. Another five thousand cavalry were used to disrupt the Xiongnu troops with a mobile battle, and finally the two wings encircled the Huns, and only then did they achieve a great victory in this war.
In addition to the Wugang car, it is also inseparable from the long-distance killing and powerful weapons such as the ring head knife and the crossbow arrow.
The ring head knife is a weapon representative of the most Chinese civilization style in the era of cold weapons. For the Xiongnu cavalry combat, the advantage of using the sword was not great, on horseback or mental combat, it was not conducive to slashing the enemy army, and it was easy to be broken. When the ring head knife can solve this situation very well, and after modification, the lethality is greater than the sword.
Some ring-headed knives were as long as one meter, or even one meter two, and the Xiongnu avoided them on the battlefield, and often people died under the knife before they arrived.
The refinement of crossbow arrows was a great advantage for the Han army, and the crossbow arrows of the Han Dynasty at that time were already many ahead of other countries in the world. The range of the crossbow was more than three times that of the bow, and the medical technology at that time was very backward, once it was shot by a crossbow arrow, it was difficult to suture again, and it could only be killed.
The arrow rain made the Xiongnu even more frightened, and the Han army won half of the game at the beginning.
These weapons directly improved the combat ability of the Han army by several levels, coupled with the country's wealth, which could support the needs of the war, and the advent of famous generals such as Huo Zhiyi and Wei Qing. Various factors have made "those who offend our Chinese, although they are far away, they will be punished" has become the most shocking slogan of the entire Han Dynasty!
Text/Lamb
Reference: "Han Dynasty and Xiongnu, How to "Fight" for Three Hundred Years", Li Lei