<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="59" > Genggong: soldiers were killed in hundreds of battles, and the cold wind shattered armor</h1>
The inscription is an oil painting entitled "Thirteen Generals Return to Yumen", which depicts the story of the Eastern Han General Geng Gong, who led a mere 300 people to resist the attack of 20,000 Xiongnu troops, held the city of Shule in the western region, and finally returned to the Han Dynasty with only 13 people.
The soldiers in the picture are ragged and holding blades, although their hearts are desolate but their eyes are firm, looking in the direction of their hometown, taking firm and tired steps, supporting each other, step by step on the loess soil that was soaked with their blood, walking towards the Jade Gate Pass.
Whenever I see this painting, I can't help but burst into tears, I can't help but be excited, the thirteen generals returned to the Jade Gate, the wind and snow of the great Han soul, that perseverance and self-confidence, although thousands of people are looking forward to it, because this is the soul of the Han family army!
The whole history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in the whole history of China, the position is somewhat awkward, although it is not like the Southern and Northern Dynasties or the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, because it is too chaotic and not familiar to people, but because of the lack of excitement, it is not valued by the Chinese people.
Maybe when mentioning this time period, you can probably barely remember Liu Xiu, how much else can you remember? Only God knows, whether it is zhaojun who is out of the jam, or the one who shouts, "Those who commit crimes against the strong man, although they will be punished from afar!" "Chen Tang is a person from the late Western Han Dynasty, and the people who can put it on the table in the Eastern Han Dynasty are really lackluster.
It is no wonder that it was the magnificent wave of the Chu-Han War in the early Han Dynasty, followed by the Three Kingdoms of the Late Han Dynasty to chase the deer in the Central Plains; before it was sima Qian's huge brush swing, and then with the strong help of Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so the Eastern Han Dynasty sandwiched in the middle appeared flat, and it would not feel too surprised.
However, we cannot but remember the persistence of Geng Gong Shule City, and we cannot but remember the "white-haired turtle", in the sky of the western region, there was a song of my great Han bloody boy's pathetic song.
In the Book of Later Han, Fan Ye passed on Geng Gong and Su Wu together, but to this day, there are many people who know Su Wu and know few people who recognize Geng Gong, is it because Sima Moved to Su Wu to make a biography, so that his story is familiar to people; and Geng Gong does not have Sima Gong's platform, so the reason for his lack of fame?
In today's film and television works, people are keen on the thrilling palace fighting farce, the anti-war drama of tearing up the devils, the small fresh meat snorting and twisting posture, the fighting of the cornices and the magic of the group of demons dancing wildly, and for such an epic hero as Geng Gong, they are blind.
Geng Gong (耿恭), Zi Bozong (字伯宗), a native of Fufeng Maoling (扶風茂陵人), was a general of the Eastern Han Dynasty who, after the Empire incorporated cheshi into the territory, took the post of lieutenant of the Pengji Colonel as a lieutenant in Jinpucheng; when besieged by the Xiongnu, he held the city without losing it, swore not to surrender, and returned after a year of siege; after writing a letter, he was imprisoned and dismissed from office, and ended up in his hometown.
Compared with such a first-class figure as Han Xin or Huo Fuyi, Geng Gong was not a famous general, he lost his father at an early age, he joined the army very early, and with his talents, he was soon promoted, the history books record, "less lonely, generous and strategic, there are generals and handsome talents."
Since Zhang Qian passed through the Western Regions, this place, as the core interest of the Han Dynasty, has been repeatedly competing with the Xiongnu, but since wang Mang's rebellion, the Han Dynasty's control over the Western Regions has been lost, and those countries in this region have all turned to the Xiongnu, there is no way, the Han Dynasty whip is beyond their reach, they only have to worship the Xiongnu as the suzerain, in order to protect themselves.
During Liu Xiu's reign, he was busy dealing with many contradictions in the country, and Yu Xiyu was unable to do so, and when it came to his son Emperor Ming, Fang began to re-pass through the Western Regions and decided to re-establish the Western Regions Protectorate, and it was at this time that Geng Gong followed Liu Zhang and Dou Gu with the post of Sima and his cousin Geng Bing to send troops to the Western Regions in an effort to restore the Han family's rule in the Western Regions.
After a year of conquest in the Western Regions, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of pengji for his military merits, which was a mid-level officer second only to the general, and then, after the retreat of the army, he led three hundred elite troops to garrison jinpu city, which was the throat key, and the garrisons of other cities were at a distance between each other, so that they could stay in the western region for a long time.
However, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, making Geng Gong's situation very dangerous, "When YanQi and Guizi attacked and killed Chen Mu, beiyu also surrounded Guan Guan and favored Liuzhong." Emperor Huizong collapsed, the rescue troops did not arrive, and the cheshi returned to the shore and attacked Gong with the Xiongnu. ”。
The Xiongnu made a comeback, after annihilating the Han army in other cities, the Xiongnu sent 20,000 troops to besiege Jinpu City, at this time Geng Gong was already a lone army, they were in danger, did not flinch, struggled to kill the enemy, and repelled the Xiongnu's crazy attacks again and again.
They shot at the enemy army with arrows dipped in poisonous juice, once they were hit, they would also fester and bleed unceasingly, which was considered a chemical weapon at that time, and the Xiongnu He had seen it, and he was shocked and collapsed, and the history recorded that "those who have captured the arrow, see the wounds are boiling, so they are frightened." ”
Taking advantage of the enemy's panic, he organized a death squad and took advantage of the cover of the wind and rain to raid the enemy camp, "killing and injuring a lot." The enemy army "shocked" and lamented: "Han Bing God, it is really terrible!" "So he led the troops to retreat."
Geng Gong knew that the Xiongnu would not give up and would make a comeback, and that a corner of Jinpu City would not be defended, so he led his men to move to the dangerous terrain of Shule City, that is, qitai county in Xinjiang, and prepared to resist the enemy for a long time.
Sure enough, the Xiongnu launched another offensive, but in the face of the easy to defend and difficult to attack Shule City, even if they paid countless costs of death and injury, they did not achieve their goal, and there was nothing they could do for a while, so they changed the strong attack to a long siege, and surrounded shule city like an iron barrel, in a vain attempt to trap these Han troops who had sworn to death.
The Huns cut off the water source upstream, and the city was once cut off from water, and the generals were helpless, and they even "drank the dung of the horse." So, they decided to dig a well to get water, but when they dug deep until they were 15 meters deep, they still didn't see the water, and They prayed and prayed, and a miracle happened, "The flying spring rushed out, and everyone called it long live." "The sweet spring water gushing out, it is really a god bless the big man."
The problem of water was solved, when he played a water splashing game with the Huns, this grain was increasingly scarce, and because of the withdrawal of the Han Dynasty army, the Cheshi state they were in rebelled again, and attacked the city of Shule with the Xiongnu, and although it was barely possible to hold on to it with danger, if there was no food, it was only a matter of time before it fell.
"Eat the poor, cook the crossbow, eat its tendons." They boiled and ate the leather of their armor and the strings of their bows and arrows, and the soldiers kept falling, and only the Big Han soldiers who were still holding on to their last breath, and the hunting and hunting flag behind them, which was stained red with blood.
Of course, they also sent Fan Qiang back to China to ask for help, but the road was far away, and they asked for reports one after another, and they could not reply to the letter for a long time, they looked at the east all the time, looked at the road of their hometown, hoping that Fan Qiang could lead the reinforcements to kill, and even they doubted whether Fan Qiang could deliver the letter and whether he was still alive.
Unable to attack for a long time, the Xiongnu were also anxious, and they also knew that the difficulty of Geng Gong's insistence was almost collapsed, and although the Huns were fierce, they respected the heroes very much, so they sent emissaries to persuade them to surrender, promising to make Geng Gong king, and promised to make beautiful women and money, "If you surrender, you should be crowned the king of the white house, and your wife will be a woman." ”
"Gong Nai lured him to the city, killed him with his hands, and burned the city." That is to say, Geng Gong lured the messenger into the city, and without saying a word, he directly beheaded the messenger, threw his head down to the city, and the corpse was roasted and shared with the soldiers.
A thousand years later, Prince Yue wrote the tragic and fierce "Man Jiang Hong", in which the allusion of "Zhuangzhi is hungry for meat, laughing and thirsting for The blood of the Xiongnu", that is, from Geng Gong.
Fortunately, Fan Qiang returned to Dunhuang and sent the emergency document Pegasus to the imperial court, but that was also half a year after Geng Gong was besieged, and the imperial court also had a fierce debate about it.
The controversy was not about the control of the Western Regions, the Imperial Court had long been prepared to abandon the Western Regions, and the focus of the debate was whether to send troops to rescue Geng Gong, which was clear at a glance today, but at that time there was a fierce quarrel.
The side opposed to sending reinforcements believes that half a year has passed since receiving the distress letter, and at this time, the troops have been sent, and Geng Gong is afraid that they have already been killed by the destruction of the city, and now it is useless to send troops to rescue them.
The side that supports the rescue of troops believes that whether Geng Gong is dead or alive, the Han Dynasty should send troops to rescue them, and if the imperial court, as the backer of the Han army, let it go unchecked and let it fend for itself, this will not only greatly damage the national system, but also make the surrounding countries look down on our Han Dynasty.
Among them, the minister Bao Yu vigorously advocated the rescue, and he said a passage that still seems to make people's blood boil: "Now people are in a place of danger, and they are abandoned in a hurry, and on the outside, they indulge in barbarism, and inside they hurt and die ministers." If they are not saved at this time, if the Xiongnu re-offend Sai Wei Kou, what will His Majesty do? ”
This passage is said to the emperor, when you employ people, you will not hesitate to let people go to danger, and abandon them when the situation is urgent, which will make those barbarians more unscrupulous, and it will also chill the hearts of warriors and more people, and if there is a foreign invasion in the future, where will someone stand up and go out to repay the imperial court!
At this time, although Emperor Han Zhang, who had just succeeded to the throne, had just succeeded to the throne, the bloodiness of the Han family still existed, and after listening to Bao Yu's words, he immediately began to deploy rescue, and he would never let the imperial warriors who "wear golden armor in a hundred battles in huangsha" fall hopelessly in that blood-colored sunset, and the warriors who sacrificed their lives for the country would never be forgotten by the Han Empire!
This is the only military operation in Chinese history without any strategic intentions, and it is also the Han Dynasty version of "Saving The Great Soldier Ryan", which can be called the "Thunder Rescue Soldier" two thousand years ago, when the snow was falling in the winter, and the seven thousand troops gathered from Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang braved the wind and snow and embarked on a long rescue road under the leadership of Fan Qiang.
After nearly three months of marching and conquest, when the team marched to the Cheshi Kingdom, it defeated the combined forces of the Xiongnu and the Cheshi State, but because it was still hundreds of miles away from the destination, there was still the Tianshan Mountains in the middle, and it was at the time of the heavy snow sealing the mountains, it was unimaginable to cross the Tianshan Mountains; therefore, almost all the generals were unwilling to advance any further.
Because, at this time, they knew that the lieutenant Guan Yu, who was at that time with Geng Gong, had been killed, so it was inferred that Geng Gong could not have persisted until now in such a harsh environment, and that the whole army had long been destroyed, and he had already come here and could completely return to his life.
Moreover, in their minds, in order to survive a small number of soldiers, it was too expensive to let these seven thousand people risk their lives to rescue a few people whose lives and deaths were unknown, so Qin Peng, the general of the unified army, decided to suspend the rescue operation.
Only Fan Qiang was unwilling to live or die, he was a man, and he also had to go to the rescue of his brothers who were alive and dead, even if Geng Gong died in battle, he also had to go to see, and it was at his insistence that the leading general had to allocate two thousand soldiers to his leadership and go to the rescue.
"Qiang Yin went out with Wang Mengjun. Qianggu please greet, the generals do not dare to go forward, but divide the army of 2,000 people and Qiang, from the north of the mountain to greet the gong, in the face of heavy snow, the army can only arrive. ”
How this team of people and horses overcame the harsh environment, crossed the Tianshan Mountains in the ice and snow, and whether there was a fierce battle in between, the history books do not contain, but they finally reached the Shule City that Geng Gong insisted on.
It is impossible to imagine what it was like for Geng Gong, who was already in despair, and the brothers who were guarding the city to see the arrival of the reinforcements led by Fan Qiang.
The history books record: "The city heard the sound of soldiers and horses at night, thinking that they were coming, and they were frightened." Qiang Naiyao exclaimed, "I Fan Qiangye, the Han Army greeted the lieutenant's ear." 'Long live the city.' Open the door and weep together. ”
However, at this time, only 26 people were left to follow the team out of this purgatory and embark on the road home.
On the way back, they encountered the Huns' front and back blockades, coupled with the harsh climate and towering natural dangers, this group of lone troops far from home fought and retreated, and after more than two months of arduous trekking into Yumen Pass, only 13 of the 26 people remained.
"Tomorrow, we will all go with each other." The soldiers chased after them and fought and fought. The officials were starving, and there were twenty-six people at the time of the hair, and they died with the road, and only thirteen people remained at the Jade Gate. Dressed in a broken suit, described as withered. ”
They did their best, for the han dynasty to open up the territory, for the majesty of the han, in such a difficult environment, with a mere hundred people and tens of thousands of Xiongnu people to fight to the death, they flaunted the indomitable will and firm belief of the han, but also showed the great Han's unyielding fighting spirit.
"Gong defended the isolated city with a single soldier, and when the Xiongnu tens of thousands of people, for more than a month, their hearts were exhausted, they dug mountains into wells, boiled crossbows for food, out of ten thousand deaths, there was no hope of life. Before and after the killing and injury of hundreds of ugly people, all loyal and courageous, not ashamed of the Great Han, Gong Zhi Jieyi, ancient and modern, Yi Mengxian, to be a strong general. ”
This is a report written to the imperial court by Deng Zhong, the Yumen gate guard who welcomed their return that year, and he wrote to the 13 warriors to ask for credit, which is also the best evaluation of their bravery.
Yu First read Su Wuchuan and felt that he was poor and not ashamed of the Big Han. After reading the matter of Geng Gong Shule, he did not feel that there was no way to do so. Oh, righteousness is more important than life, so much so! ”
This is a passage said in Fan Ye's "Book of the Later Han", he passed on Geng Gong and Su Wu together, in his eyes, Geng Gong and Su Wu, no less, they are for the interests and majesty of the Great Han, adhere to the inner belief, "not ashamed of the Great Han", and eventually return to their hometown of the ambitious boys.
However, for a long time, Geng Gong's heroism was not familiar to people, people did not understand the grandeur of the "thirteen soldiers returning to the Jade Gate", and history seemed to selectively forget this historical event.
In fact, this is also related to the face of the Han Dynasty at that time, since Geng Gong withdrew, the Han Dynasty gave up control of the Western Regions, and the pioneering achievements since Emperor Wu were in vain, and they were ashamed of such a shameful thing, so they did not want to mention any events in the Western Regions, and Geng Gong was naturally deliberately diluted by the rulers.
After hundreds of years of silence, it was not until the Tang Dynasty that the control of the western region was restored, but with the Anshi Rebellion, everything disappeared again, and finally in the late Qing Dynasty, Zuo Zongtang led the army to recover Xinjiang, so that this land finally remained in the territory of the motherland.
Geng Gong's encounter was comparable to that of Wang Xuance, who "destroyed one country by one person" in the early Tang Dynasty, because Wang Xuance's divine martial arts destroyed Tang Taizong's strategic plan, so historians did not mention it, and the people did not know that there were such heroic people in the Tang Dynasty; while Geng Gong bore the misfortune of obscurity because of the shame of the Han Dynasty.
Today, people's entertainment is mainly light and funny, and it is difficult to have ratings such a heavy theme and tragedy as Geng Gong, but the recent fire of the movie "Chosin Lake" shows the patriotic enthusiasm of the people.
Therefore, I believe that in the near future, we will be able to see in the film and television works, under the background of yellow sand and gun smoke, in the blood-red sunset, Geng Gong standing at the head of Shule City!