If you ask the most popular dynasties in Chinese history, when the Han Dynasty and tang Dynasty were first promoted, the current Han nationality, all over the world's Chinatowns, is derived from this. The TV series "Emperor Wu of Han" starring Chen Baoguo comprehensively shows the great achievements of Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago, who killed decisively and was heroic and ambitious, creating a generation of prosperity. Ban Gu's Book of Han commented that Emperor Wu of Han "deposed hundreds of families, exalted Confucianism, xingtai learning, composed poetry, recommended talents, and conspired with others", and if he could be as diligent and frugal as Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han, even the monarchs of Shengming praised in the Book of Poetry and the Book of Shang would be nothing more than that.
Stills from the TV series "Emperor Wu of Han"
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the military and economic strength of the Han Dynasty reached its peak, and famous generals such as Wei Qing, Li Guang, and Huo Quyi emerged, successively eliminating Minyue, Nanyue, and Wei Liaodong, opening up the western region and expanding the southwest, completely defeating the Xiongnu to expel them from the desert north, eliminating the military threat of the northern frontier for a hundred years, and achieving great achievements. Later generations referred to Emperor Wu of Han and Qin Shi Huang, who swept away the Six Kingdoms and unified the world, as The Qin Emperor Han Wu.
The following two letters can clearly feel the change in the strength of the Western Han and Xiongnu in different periods, and the strength of the two sides of the Western Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu have changed.
During the reign of Lü Hou (196 BC – 180 BC). The Xiongnu Shan Yu wrote to Lü Hou: "I have no wife. Your husband is dead, and we are all empty and lonely people. Now that I am stationed at the border with a large army and preparing to go to China to play and hunt, it is better for me to do good deeds to take you as a wife, and both sides will take what they need to soothe your lonely soul. In the face of great shame and humiliation, Lü Hou replied with a generous and humble reply: "You may have misheard false rumors, I am an elderly old woman, my hair and teeth are about to fall out, I need support when I walk, and I am not worthy to serve Shan Yu." We orphans and widows do not dare to offend Shan Yu, you will spare us. ”
In the first year of Yuan Feng (110 BC), Emperor Wu of Han led 180,000 cavalry to the stage and sent emissaries to send a letter to the Xiongnu Shan Yu: "All the countries that oppose me have been destroyed, and the head of the monarch is hanging above the gate of Chang'an. If you are not convinced, we will fight, otherwise we will quickly surrender, why should the turtle shrink in that cold and frozen place in the north of the desert and do not dare to show your head, shame on you. "In anger alone, he detained the emissaries, but he never dared to go to war.
"Whoever offends me as a strong man will be punished from afar." In our hearts, it was China's most glorious moment, invincible in foreign wars, thousands of miles across the country, domestic social stability, and the prosperity of the people, presenting a prosperous scene of the world's great unity, which could not help but make people fascinated.
But is the truth really as we think in our hearts?
Below I will reveal to you the unknown side of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty under the high light.
With the implementation of the policy of "lightly giving away small gifts and resting with the people" during the reign of Wenjing, agriculture developed rapidly, the population increased rapidly, the copper coins in the treasury were not used for a long time, the money ropes were rotten and scattered on the ground, the grain in the granaries could not be stacked, the rain erosion and damage were not calculated, the national strength became stronger and stronger, and it initially had the strength to fight against the Xiongnu.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, he abandoned the foreign policy of the past and pro-pro-defense, and took the initiative to launch 25 large-scale wars against the outside world, up to 16 wars against the Xiongnu alone. During his reign, conquests continued for many years, the flames of the four realms stretched out, and small-scale military conflicts were innumerable.
Foreign wars are divided into three phases:
The first stage: from 138 BC to 128 BC, the western Han dynasty's military strength was weak, and its main energy was used to suppress Minyue and stabilize the rear defense. Defensive operations were taken against the Xiongnu, mainly against the invasion of the Xiongnu to carry out defensive counterattacks, the scale of the war was small, and the two sides won and lost each other.
The second stage: from 127 BC to 119 BC, the Han army, under the command of two famous generals Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi, went deep into the hinterland of the Xiongnu to actively seek a decisive battle.
Zhang Ruoyun's version of the TV series "Huo Go Disease" stills
Wei Qing was the younger brother of Empress Wei, a famous military figure of the Western Han Dynasty, who was originally a slave rider in the Princess Palace of Pingyang and was good at commanding large armies to fight. Since 127 BC, Wei Qing has led his army to attack the Xiongnu four times, beheading and capturing more than 30,000 Xiongnu, capturing more than 2 million cattle and sheep, occupying the Yellow River Loop area, and establishing Shuofang County, which has become an important base for raising warhorses and counterattacking the Xiongnu.
Huo Fuyi was Wei Qing's nephew, the western Han Dynasty military wizard, proficient in riding and shooting, at the age of eighteen, he followed Wei Qing to attack the Xiongnu, led his eight hundred cavalry to travel hundreds of miles in light armor, beheaded more than 2,000 people, killed shan Yu's grandfather, uncle, Xiang guo and other large and small officials, and used elite cavalry to attack the enemy's rear base at a long distance, creating a successful example of "blitzkrieg" in the era of cold weapons. In 121 BC, Huo went ill from Longxi and traveled through the Five Kingdoms to attack the Xiongnu, killing the Second King and capturing 8,900 soldiers. Only a few months later, Huo Wentai crossed the Juyan Sea and crossed the Qilian Mountains to attack the Xiongnu, killing 30,200 people, taking down 2,500 people, and capturing more than 70 Xiongnu kings, princes, and nobles. In the autumn, more than 40,000 people from the Hun evil king of the Xiongnu were collected and 8,000 people were killed. Since then, there has been no safe place in the territory of the Xiongnu for thousands of miles.
Qilian Mountain
In 119 BC, in response to the attack of the Han army, the Xiongnu re-released the old and weak women, children and soldiers to the far north, and concentrated their elite troops to wait in the desert north. After receiving the information, Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi led 100,000 cavalry, 40,000 pack horses, and hundreds of thousands of infantry and heavy troops to carry out an expedition to the country and launch a decisive battle with the Xiongnu, and the Battle of Mobei, which determined the fate of the two countries, broke out. Wei Qing led 50,000 cavalry and hundreds of thousands of infantry across the desert to face the main Xiongnu force, and after fierce battle, killed and captured more than 19,000 Xiongnu. Huo Fu led 50,000 cavalry to attack the Xiongnu from the left side, capturing 86 nobles such as the Xiongnu king, general, and Xiangguo, and capturing 70,443 Xiongnu troops.
The third stage: With the death of Wei Qing and Huo Fuyi, the military strength of the Western Han Dynasty declined rapidly, and in addition to the gains in South Vietnam and the Western Regions, the war with the Xiongnu suffered successive setbacks. In 103 BC, Huo's general Zhao Baonu led 20,000 cavalry to attack the Xiongnu, all of which were destroyed, and Zhao Baonu was captured. In 90 BC, Li Guangli's 70,000-strong army collapsed, and Li Guangli surrendered to the Xiongnu.
Years of large-scale conquests depleted the national strength of the Western Han Dynasty. Especially after the Xiongnu retreated to the north of the desert, no longer posing a threat to the Han Dynasty, and did not have the favorable opportunity for war, Emperor Wu of han still insisted on six large-scale conquests of the Xiongnu, all of which failed one after another.
Sweat blood BMW
On his second expedition to Dawan, his foreign relative Li Guangli sent more than 100,000 troops, 100,000 cattle, 30,000 horses, and tens of thousands of donkeys and camels, and poured out the state's grain, grass, ordnance to supply the army. Because the generals were greedy and cruel, when the army returned, more than half of the sergeants were killed and wounded, and only more than 1,000 horses returned to Guannei. Even in the most successful Battle of Mobei, when the 140,000 military horses were left, only 30,000 or 40,000 were left, and tens of thousands of soldiers were buried in a foreign land. Frequent conscription of men and wives caused a large area of barren land, the government treasury savings were spent during the Wenjing period, the state finances were empty, and hundreds of thousands of young and strong men died in battle, leaving their wives and children alone. Although the war against the Huns was ultimately won, it did not achieve the strategic goal of completely defeating the Huns. The countries of the Western Regions rebelled and the Northern Xiongnu made a comeback, still becoming a major threat for hundreds of years after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
In the face of huge military expenditures and tragic war costs, how should Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty maintain the high-speed operation of the war machine of the Empire? Please see the revelation of what you did not know about the Han Wu Emperor (2) crossed the tyranny.
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