Text/Xia Jinyu
Editor/Xia Jinyu
At the end of the Qin and early Han dynasties, Hou Dun single-handedly ruled the world, and from then on began a long-term war between the Xiongnu and the Han people that lasted for several years. The struggle between the Han and Hungarian in the desert lasted for more than three hundred years, and this struggle had a profound impact on Han society and changed the psychological state of the Han people.
From the Battle of Pingcheng, the entire imperial court was full of fear of the Xiongnu, and by the time of Emperor Wu, the entire court was talking about "although Pingcheng is bitter, I don't eat or sleep for seven days", and by the time of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court launched a great counterattack against the Xiongnu Huo Qubing, and then to "three generations without dog barking, no war in the Kingdom of Lidi", everywhere there was admiration for the harmonious coexistence between Han and Hungarian.
In the Han Dynasty, the war resumed and Dou Xian defeated the Northern Slaves, and Ban Gu carved a stone inscription on Yanran Mountain, "Although it is toil, it will be forever peaceful", announcing the end of the war between Han and Hungarian. In this part, this article briefly discusses the impact of the Xiongnu war on the psychological state of the Han people.
Huns
The Xiongnu are a nomadic people active in the north of the continent, which has risen silently in the Spring and Autumn period, and by the late Warring States period, its contradictions with the Central Plains countries have become more and more intense.
However, the countries of the Central Plains were busy with the annexation war, and no one cared about the threat of slaves. When Qin Shi Huang ruled the world in 221 BC, their forces crossed the Yin Mountains and crossed the Yellow River to occupy Henan, which was a great threat to the Qin Dynasty.
In order to ensure the peace of the Central Plains, especially the capital city bordering Henan, in the thirty-second year of Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shi Huang led the northern general Meng Tian to lead more than 300,000 elites to drive the Xiongnu out of Henan, and sent a large number of soldiers to build the Great Wall in the north to ensure peace in the north, but after the death of Qin Shi Huang, Qin II Huhai plotted to usurp the throne, Meng Tian was forced to commit suicide, and the defense system of the north collapsed.
At this time, Nur Hachi killed his father, unified the entire desert, and took advantage of the Qin civil unrest, captured Henan, launched an aggressive attack on the Central Plains, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu, established the state, this time, the Xiongnu's strength is stronger, the territory is more vast, Liu Bang is facing the war in the Central Plains, the battle of Chu and Han, his strength is getting stronger and stronger, his territory is also getting bigger and bigger, what he has to do is to recover as soon as possible and consolidate his centralized power.
Although at that time, the relationship between the Xiongnu was more complicated than that of Qin Shi Huang, Liu Bang did not care too much about the invasion of the Xiongnu, and did not have much time to pay attention to the Xiongnu.
Although the early Han did not pay special attention to the Xiongnu, it did not completely ignore their prevention. At that time, the north bordering the black slaves was the north of the Yan Kingdom, which was initially divided into seals and reduced tea, and later eliminated because of the rebellion, and Liu Bang's fellow countryman and friend Lu Shu showed that Liu Bang attached great importance to him, so he sent him to guard the black slaves, the Central Plains Dynasty State, in the sixth year of Gaozu (1106 BC), canonized his half-brother Liu Xi as the acting king, the meaning is obvious: Taiyuan and other places are places where the Xiongnu Danton is in a head-on confrontation, and it is very difficult to defend.
Because his sons were still very young, Liu Bang could only borrow the power of other princes. Han Wangxin had just been sent to Yingchuan, and Liu Bang, who was "strong in martial arts", was really not at ease, so he sent Han Wangxin to Taiyuan in the spring of the sixth year, on the one hand, to prevent Han Wangxin from stirring up trouble in the Central Plains, and on the other hand, so that he could take on the heavy task of resisting the Xiongnu, in this case, this arrangement was practical.
Liu Bang suspected Han Wangxin, but had no choice, which contributed to Han Wangxin's decision to rebel against Han as a slave and invade the frontier. After Han Wangxin came to the throne, because he could not succeed in fighting the Xiongnu, he sent envoys many times to seek peace. Liu Bang wrote a letter to King Han to this end, accusing him of malicious intentions.
When Han Wangxin saw this letter, he was shocked, so he joined forces with Nu Yao to fight against the Han Dynasty, and defeated Hu with Mayi and hit Taiyuan. In the winter of the following year, Liu Bang personally went out to fight with Han Wangxin, turning the small fight between the two countries into the first big war between the two countries. The war went well at the beginning, and the alliance between Han Wang Xin and the slaves was defeated by the Han army, which greatly satisfied Liu Bang's self-esteem.
Therefore, when Liu Bang knew that Daiyu Dun's army was in Daigu, the people sent to inquire about the news said that these people could be dealt with, and even Chen Ping, who followed Liu Bang to send troops, did not object, which showed that these people did not know the true strength of these people.
Although Liu Jing felt that the Xiongnu were a trap and wanted Fuqi soldiers to compete for interests, Liu Bang could no longer follow his advice, and his army had reached Pingcheng, and war with the Xiongnu was inevitable.
Before the enemy could figure out the details, Liu Bang made the decision to lose the battle with the slave, which was inevitable. The first great war between Han and Hungarian ended in a big defeat, which caused a great impact on the psychology of the Han people, especially the Battle of Pingcheng, although it was not officially fought, but was trapped on the White Mountain, for seven days, it looked like a war, which is why the Han people were full of fear of slaves.
The songs "There is Suffering Under the Flat City" and "Seven Days Without Eating, Drinking, and Perseverance" are the true portrayal of this mental state. In the third year of Emperor Hui (1,902 BC), Hou Dun sent several letters, several of which were to test the reaction of the Han court, and when Empress Lü received this letter, she became furious, saying that Fan Ha was going to attack the Xiongnu with an army of 100,000 people, but Ji Bu said that he should kill Fan Ha, and quoted the letter as saying:
"Now the song continues, and the number of people coughing up phlegm is still increasing, but Ha wants to shake the whole world, saying that he is too arrogant to attack the Xiongnu with an army of 100,000." Barbarians, like beasts, will not be happy if they listen to their good words, and will not be angry after listening to their bad words. ”
Ji Bu's words clearly represent the opinions of most ministers, and there is such a sentence in "Hun Slavery": "The generals said that Gao Dixian, Wu Ran Shang was trapped in Pingcheng." So, Gao Hou stopped. "It can be seen from this how much the Battle of Heicheng had a great impact on the psychology of civil and military officials.
At the beginning of the war between the two countries, the peace talks between the two countries were not smooth, and the peace talks between the two sides were also contradictions between the two countries, which was also a difficult problem for the Han court.
In the long years, after experiencing the rest and recuperation of the cultural period, the economic and military strength of the Han Dynasty has been rapidly restored and improved, so the relationship with the Xiongnu will inevitably undergo new changes, which will inevitably have a new impact on the change of social psychology, so replacing peace with war has become a new hot spot of concern for the government and the public.
The Han and Hungarian wars again began in the second year of Emperor Wu's reign Yuan Guang, but before that, especially during the reign of Emperor Wen, there were increasing accusations from the imperial court and the people about the issue.
The "brotherly" relationship between Han and slaves not only required a large amount of money, but also caused great economic losses to those Han people who believed in Chinese culture and foreign culture. Moreover, this marriage, instead of curbing the Xiongnu's aggressive intention against the Central Plains, achieved the purpose of Anbian, making the Wokou not weakened, but made Shan Yu more proud.
During the reign of Emperor Wen, there was a eunuch who, because he was forced to the Xiongnu, defected to the Xiongnu and later became a confidant of Shan Yu, who criticized the Han people's custom of treating slaves, saying:
"Gu Han gave the Xiongnu rice, only good things are allowed, otherwise, they will be trampled by the cavalry of the autumn rail."
This gave many reasons to oppose the Huns and the good.
In the early years of Emperor Wen, Jia Yi for the first time put forward a strong opinion against the Han Dynasty and Qin Qin in the court:
"Why did the emperor rule the whole world? That's great. "Barbarians, the feet of the world, what is it?" Me too. Now the servile invaders, the most disrespectful, are also harmed by the world, to the death of the country, and the Han dynasty gives gold to sacrifice him. Foreign conquest is the way of kings, and tribute by the Son of Heaven is the way of subjects. Feet on top, head on bottom, head on bottom, such intractable problems, really worthy of a country's people! ”
In "New Edition of Shibei", the peace talks between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu were even degraded to barbarians and regarded as courtiers. Although the situation is shameful, the calamity never ends! Your Majesty Hu Ren, as the emperor, sit here! ”
His anger was clearly written on the paper, but Jia Yi had no profound insight into how to treat slaves, and his faithfulness to the slaves, his appearance of love, his kindness to them, his beautiful clothes, his wine and food, his singing and dancing, his clothes, their slaves, and their goodwill, making them enemies of Shan Yu, these are all "three tables and five baits".
At that time, these people were young and vigorous, greedy for power, and caused chaos in the world, but in later generations, they were insignificant.
As for Jia Yi's statement of "three years for the short and five years for the long", it was even more fantastic, and it was no wonder that Emperor Wen appreciated Jia Yi's talent but refused to accept his suggestion. However, Jia Yi's volunteering to submit to the Xiongnu and putting his head on Shan Yu's neck to make him obedient was also an encouragement and a fear of servility.
When Emperor Wu was emperor, he was also a teenager and an ambitious person, Fengzuo Ming, painted ancient murderers in front of Shan Yu, his arrogance and courage were similar to Jia Yi. Unlike Jia Yi's righteous indignation, the prince of the "wisdom tank" put forward a lot of useful suggestions in the recital of His Majesty the Emperor.
Chao Chao analyzed in detail the geographical characteristics of the Central Plains and the Xiongnu, the difference in weapon technology, he believes that the Han army has three major advantages, and they only have five advantages, if they can recruit the Xiongnu who are as good at food as they are, give them strong armor, cotton robes, strong bows and sharp arrows, elite cavalry, let them understand their customs and habits, understand their intentions, and then make clear agreements with them, so that they can make up for their shortcomings, and when they are encountered in the "flat land passage", they can be used against them with their light chariots," The two armies complement each other and show their own talents, which is the perfect way to defeat them. ”
Chao also made a new proposal, that is, the north was desolate and sparsely populated, and he made a new proposal to Emperor Wen, that is, to knightize them, let them restore, and let them work together from childhood to adulthood. The sound of the night can save each other, the eyes of the day can make each other friends, love, can make each other die for each other. In this case, heavy rewards and heavy punishments are a dead end. ”
Since ancient times, when dealing with the "barbarians and Rong Di" on the four sides, the Chinese people have a concept, that is, to beware of those who try to invade the Central Plains, if they dare to invade, then they will start a war, but the best way is to use their own virtues to conquer those who invade, let them become their own people, so that they become the lord of the four Yi, this is a sentence in "Spring and Autumn".
The policy of peace and affinity in the early Han Dynasty was mainly to prevent the "barbarian Xia", while Emperor Wu's conquest of the Xiongnu was mainly for the conquest of "I" of "Xia". After Emperor Wu, the relations between the two countries also began a period of adjustment, the two countries resumed harmonious negotiations, and the situation in the north became calmer.
Epilogue:
Based on the above, we can see that the war between Han and Hungarian had a profound impact on the social psychology of the Han Dynasty, but the biggest role of these two factors lies in harmony and war, as Ban Gu said in the "History of the Xiongnu"
"After Hanxing, the wise courtiers, why not fight for the government and the public between the government and the public!"
Everyone's opinion is different. But in the final analysis, there are only two aspects, one is the guard, and the other is the civil official" Fan Ye said in the "Legend of Nannu Lie":
"At the beginning of the founding of the country, Shan Yu had good relations with the ancient country, the national fortune prospered, and the national fortune declined."
"Taizu (Emperor Guangwu) said that his merit was in Xia Weishasai, there was no reward, the Guandong had been leveled, Longshu had been cleared, and the generals were arguing endlessly."
Obviously, peace and war in the Han Dynasty have always been the main reason between the two countries of the Han Dynasty, and it is also an important reason for the social psychology of the Han Dynasty.
Whether it is "talking about peace and kinship" or "talking about war", there are two views, one is "gentleman's confucianism" and the other is "scholar and doctor", these two views are very different, but the main reason is that they have a big difference in the situation at that time and their understanding of the strength of Hungary.
Although what Ban Gu, Fan Ye and others said was more in the court, but to a certain extent, in some special periods of the Han Dynasty, the psychology of the entire society was reflected through the court, and the alternation of "peace" or "conquest" was a major psychological state, which had a great impact on the war process of the Han Dynasty and the relationship between Han and Hungarian.
Resources:
"Hou Hanshu Nannu Lie"
"Book of the Later Han and the Biography of the Western Regions"
"Later Han Shu Guangwu Emperor Ji"
"Salt and Iron Theory, Peace and Kin"