From ancient times to modern society, the growth and development of human beings can be seen as relying on the sky to eat, specifically explained by human beings relying on substances produced from the natural environment as a means of survival. Modern social development is inseparable from oil, and ancient social development is inseparable from crops in the field.
Ancient people collected living resources from the natural environment, and when the population developed or the weather changed, and the resources provided by the natural environment were insufficient, people would collectively migrate to find the next resource-rich area, and the people who occupied the resource-rich area gradually settled and stabilized, forming a sedentary civilization.
And people who do not occupy resources, only have to run around to find survival nourishment, forming a nomadic civilization culture, the two civilizations in the process of robbing and protecting survival resources constantly conflict, so as a representative of nomadic civilization, the name Xiongnu appeared in history.
Hun origin
The earliest recorded records of the Xiongnu were in 318 BC, and it was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties that their names faded from the history books. This tribe, which had a prominent reputation in Chinese history, was a very troublesome existence for many Central Plains regimes at that time.
The Xiongnu was originally the name of a tribe among many nomads, which existed in the Warring States period and has been active in the area north of the Yinshan Mountain Range, and was in a perennial battle with the State of Zhao at that time, and Li Mu, the general of the State of Zhao, led an army to fight the Xiongnu in the northern part of Shanxi.
When Qin Shi Huang unified the Central Plains, the Xiongnu were also quietly expanding, and due to the small resources in northern East Asia at that time, there were various large and small tribes in this land, some tribes stationed in places with abundant water and grass, and some tribes roamed around the land.
Later, after the continuous conquests of the Xiongnu, these large and small tribes were gradually annexed and integrated, and in the third century BC, a powerful nomadic regime gradually formed, and their territory included today's northeast China, Inner and Outer Mongolia, the Russian Far East, and northern Central Asia.
Covet the Central Plains
During the Warring States period, the Xiongnu launched 100,000 cavalry to attack the State of Zhao, when the general Li Mu of the State of Zhao, personally led 160,000 to fight against it, of which archers accounted for 100,000, after this war, the Xiongnu saw the power of the Central Plains civilization, and did not invade for more than ten years.
It was not until Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms that the Xiongnu once again coveted the area of the Loop, which is a large circle formed by the curve of the Yellow River, rich in water resources and flat terrain, which is very suitable for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry.
King Qin swept Liuhe how domineering, naturally he would not let go of this Xiongnu who invaded the border, so in 215 BC, he sent the general Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 troops to attack the Xiongnu north, recover the previously lost territory, and completely drive the Xiongnu out of the Hetao area.
In order to prevent the Xiongnu from violating the border again, Meng Tian followed the instructions of Qin Shi Huang to repair the old Great Wall left by the Yan State, the Zhao State and the Qin State at that time, relying on the Great Wall to build fortifications, and built the northern area into a perfect defense line against the Xiongnu.
Subsequently, the Central Plains regime of the Qin State was replaced by the Western Han Dynasty, when the Xiongnu had grown into a behemoth, the Central Plains Liu Bang, the Xiongnu also appeared a ruthless man, and then the Hundred Years' War with the Han Dynasty also began.
Fight against the Huns, defeat and pro
From the time of the Qin-Han War, the Xiongnu often harassed and plundered the people of the Central Plains, and in the early days of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, in 200 BC, Shan Yudun led his Xiongnu army to attack Taiyuan, and the defenders of Taiyuan, Han Wang Xin, were unable to resist and surrender directly, so the Han emperor Liu Bang led a 300,000-strong Han army to attack the Xiongnu.
After recovering the lost territory along the way, the Han army beat the Xiongnu to Datong, but unexpectedly, Liu Bang, who underestimated the enemy, was besieged by the 400,000 cavalry regiment of Daunton at Baideng Mountain, and after being besieged for seven days, Liu Bang had to temporarily propose to make peace with the Xiongnu, plus bribe the senior officials of the Xiongnu with heavy money, to get out of the trap.
After the thrilling evacuation, Liu Bang felt that it was not easy for the Xiongnu to deal with, after all, anyone in the Xiongnu camp who could get on the horse-drawn bow could become a soldier participating in the war, and at this time, the Han Dynasty had just experienced a big war and needed to rest its national strength and wait for the opportunity to fight again.
Since the Eastern Han regime experienced the Battle of Baideng, it could only endure humiliation and burden, relying on the peacemaking policy of princesses and beautiful treasures to engage in diplomacy with the Xiongnu, and sent a letter to an emissary during the reign of Empress Lü:
The content of the letter was very blatant to tease Lü Hou, which made the entire Western Han lose face, but for the sake of the overall situation, the military strength of the Western Han was not as good as that of the Xiongnu, so he could only choose to endure, continue to stabilize the Xiongnu with the pro-policy, and grasp the development of his military strength.
Although there is a relationship at the national level, the Xiongnu invasion on the border has not stopped, and the two sides often clash on the border, and the people and soldiers on the Western Han border have always been in dire straits.
Starting with Liu Bang, Empress Lü and Emperor Wenjing, who ruled later, they always implemented a policy of peace and affinity towards the Xiongnu.
The peace policy of the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu actually had a great impact on the culture within the Xiongnu, because the Xiongnu did not pay attention to race, they had both yellow and white people in their ranks, and the Han Dynasty and the pro-mission married the Xiongnu, which to a certain extent brought the culture of the Han Dynasty into the Xiongnu.
Accumulate strength and fight back against the Huns
After the recuperation of the Western Han Dynasty, during the Wenjing period, the Western Han Dynasty had accumulated enough food, weapons and horses, and was far superior to the Xiongnu in military strength. By the time of Emperor Wudi of Han, the Western Han Dynasty had begun to take the initiative to launch an attack on the Xiongnu.
In the Western Han Dynasty's war against the Xiongnu, many historical famous generals were also born, Wei Qinghuo went sick and two uncles and nephews, as well as the Fei general Li Guang and Chen Tang, the founder of the phrase "Those who violate my strong Han, although far away, will be cursed".
In 133 BC, the second year of Yuan Guang, Emperor Wudi of Han, the first attack of the Western Han against the Xiongnu began, which was later known as the "Scheme of Mayi", Emperor Wudi of Han sent an army of 300,000 people, sent Li Guang and others to lead the army, set up an ambush in Mayi, and used merchants to lure the Xiongnu into the encirclement so that they could be encircled.
However, this plan was finally recognized by the military minister Shan Yu, and the Xiongnu sensed the danger in advance, so they ran away, so that the first counterattack of the Western Han against the Xiongnu ended in failure.
Four years later, in 129 BC, Emperor Wudi of Han decided to attack again, this time with four forces north to attack the Xiongnu.
Unfortunately, this time, in addition to the troops led by Wei Qing, the other three Han armies were very disappointing, all the way the Han army was completely annihilated by the Xiongnu, all the way because they could not find the direction did not meet the Xiongnu, and all the way to the Xiongnu lost seventy percent of the troops.
Only in his twenties, Wei Qing led the army to fight the Xiongnu with ease, killing more than 700 Xiongnu along the way, and Emperor Wudi of Han failed in his second counterattack, but this operation also allowed Emperor Wudi of Han to discover that Wei Qing was a treasure general.
Immediately following the following year, Emperor Wudi of Han planned the "Battle of Henan", which was a war launched south of the Yellow River, this time Emperor Wudi of Han adjusted his strategy, not to fight a decisive battle with the main forces of the Xiongnu, but to control the strategic areas of the Xiongnu and gradually reduce the living space of the Xiongnu.
In this battle, the Han army won a great victory, not only successfully annihilated 3,000 enemies, but also successfully recaptured the Hetao area from the Xiongnu, and then built Shuofang City as a forward position against the Xiongnu, and after this time, the balance of victory began to tilt in favor of the Han army.
Then the Han army launched the "Battle of Monan", crushed the Xiongnu's Right Sage King, killed and captured 30,000 Xiongnu before and after, this battle allowed the Han army to stabilize the Hetao area, and also unearthed the young war god Huo Qubing.
In 121 BC, Emperor Wudi of Han was determined to regain control of the Hexi Corridor, so he sent the god of war Huo Qubing to sweep away the Xiongnu, and two "Battles of Hexi" were fought, and the Hexi Corridor had been completely controlled by the Han Dynasty, and the Xiongnu had lost all strategic points in the south.
The Han Dynasty took advantage of the victory to pursue and launch the final Armageddon "Mobei Campaign", which led the army led by Wei Qingqing's uncle and nephew to win a complete victory, and Huo Qubing staged the classic scene of "sealing the wolf and taking the son-in-law", which greatly injured the vitality of the Xiongnu and was driven to Mobei from then on.
After the Battle of Monan of the Han army, the defeat of the Xiongnu was already doomed, because the Han army included Huo Qubing, the god of war, and Zhang Qian, who was rescued from the Xiongnu. In the past, the Han army and the Xiongnu were not familiar with the terrain and could not find the main force of the Xiongnu, and Zhang Qian was Zhang Huo's map.
With the radar guidance provided by Zhang Qian and the command of the brave and fierce generals of the Han army, the Xiongnu were simply powerless to fight back under this perfect cooperation.
Trapped Huns, sent wives
Zhang Qian was originally ordered by Emperor Wudi of Han to send an envoy to the Western Regions to lobby the Dayue clan of the Western Regions and unite against the Xiongnu, but on the way, he happened to meet the cavalry team of the Xiongnu, so he fell into the hands of the Xiongnu and was imprisoned for decades.
The Xiongnu intended to extract more information from Zhang Qian and persuade Zhang Qian's mission to serve the Xiongnu, but Zhang Qian refused, and his unwillingness to cooperate and compromise caused the Xiongnu to send soldiers to put him under house arrest.
However, the life of house arrest also allowed Zhang Qian to observe the life of the Xiongnu in ordinary times and at war up close, because the Xiongnu tribes often had to migrate with the seasons, which also allowed Zhang Qian to have a detailed record of the terrain that the Han army had not mastered before.
Zhang Qian found that the organization of the Xiongnu was not so tight, but they had strong combat effectiveness, the reason was the advantage with their horses, horses can be used as tools of transportation and transportation to help production in idle time, and war horses can be used as war horses in wartime, and the Xiongnu are cavalry on horseback, and there is no need to train at all.
Due to Zhang Qian's personality and personality, although his personality is tough but he treats people without losing his temperament, his personality is simple and does not have much heart, which makes the Xiongnu people also like Zhang Qian, so they gradually relax their control over him.
After that, in order to further soften Zhang Qian's feelings, deepen his friendship with the Xiongnu, and make him submit to the Xiongnu, Da Dan Yu came forward and chose a kind Xiongnu woman to give Zhang Qian his wife. The Xiongnu were very fond of using this trick against Hanchen.
Su Wu and Zhang Qian had the same experience, Su Wu caught up with the Xiongnu's civil strife during the order to exchange prisoners with the Xiongnu, Su Wu was implicated in this incident, in order not to be humiliated, he directly pulled out a knife and committed suicide by Mingzhi, and the Xiongnu admired his actions and took action to save him.
During Su Wu's recuperation, the Xiongnu people took care of them carefully, and after recovering from his injuries, they persuaded Su Wu to surrender, but Su Wu was unwilling to compromise, so the Xiongnu imprisoned Su Wu and cut off the supply of food and drink.
However, Su Wu still survived tenaciously after suffering the torture of the Xiongnu, but even more firmly refused to cooperate with the Xiongnu, seeing that it was not possible, the Xiongnu also found a woman to marry Su Wu, trying to disintegrate him emotionally.
Reasons for forced wife-making
This trick of the Huns is actually a gentle knife, more terrifying than directly killing the head, people are often very fragile after encountering difficulties, plus being alone in a foreign country, a woman walks around, and it is difficult not to relax after a long time of psychological defense.
In fact, not only these two famous ministers, but also other captured Xiongnu in the Han army, because the Xiongnu basically do not read and write, and want to own the cultural people in the Han army for themselves, and the Xiongnu population is sparse, there are many women but men are lacking, which is also conducive to the reproduction of the tribe.
The Xiongnu themselves are multi-ethnic integration, and the integration of the Han will bring advanced production knowledge and technology, which is more conducive to the development of the Xiongnu, and once these captives settle down, they are more reluctant to return to the Han Dynasty, which is also a means of disintegration of the military spirit in the Han Dynasty army.
Therefore, the Xiongnu gave wives to Han prisoners, ostensibly for the good of the Han, but in fact, this was even more terrible for Han prisoners than killing him. The Xiongnu seem wild and rude, but they do not lack wisdom and strategy in their hearts.
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