#头条创作挑战赛#
The Xiongnu, a nomadic people who once terrified the Central Plains Dynasty, they fought bravely and well, skillfully bowed and horses, and were able to kill enemies by men, women and children, and they crisscrossed the desert for hundreds of years, leaving a strong mark in the process of world historical development.
As a nomadic people on horseback, the Xiongnu are erratic and do not talk about the spirit of contract, they come like the wind and go like electricity, which makes people unpreventable. With their fierce, strong, cruel and barbaric national style, they established a powerful nomadic empire with a complete system.
Today, although the Xiongnu no longer exist, the name of the Xiongnu is permanently engraved on the monuments of Chinese and even world history.
Huns, where the hell did they come from
Around 1600 BC, Shang Tang sent troops against Xia Wei, the last monarch of the Xia Dynasty, and the Xia Dynasty perished, and Xia Wei fled to live in Nanchao, where he died three years later.
After Xia Wei's death, his son Chunwei fled to the north with his wives, concubines, slaves, subordinate officials, and other subordinate officials left by Xia Wei. Since then, they have relied on the vast grassland, multiplied, and gradually formed a nomadic people, that is, the Xiongnu nation.
"The Xiongnu, the Miao descendant of its ancestor Xiahou clan, is also known as Chunwei."
——"Shiji Xiongnu Lineage"
Therefore, according to Sima Qian's records, the Xiongnu are actually descendants of the Xia Dynasty, also belong to the Han blood, and are part of the Chinese nation like everyone.
However, there are many opinions in the historian circles about the origin of the Xiongnu, and there is no completely unified view.
Wang Guowei recorded in the "Ghost Fang Kunyi Qiqi Kao" that the Ghost Fang, Chaoyi, Xūnyù, 猃 (xiǎn) Yun in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and the Rong, Di, and Hu people in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, all belonged to the branches of the Xiongnu.
Some people also believe that the Xiongnu were northern nomadic tribes in the pre-Qin period, such as Donghu, Yiqu, Linhu, Loufu, Dali, and many other ethnic groups belonged to the Xiongnu.
It is even said that all of the above-mentioned ethnic groups do not belong to the Xiongnu, who were actually nomads who migrated from the west to the north, and only began to develop and grow during the Qin and Han dynasties.
Therefore, Sima Qian's record that the Xiongnu belonged to the descendants of the Xia Dynasty in the "Legend of the Xiongnu" is only one of the theories of the origin of the Xiongnu.
The word Xiongnu officially appeared in Chinese history in 318 BC (late Warring States period), before which there was no title of Xiongnu in history.
The official rise of the Xiongnu was also in the late Warring States period, at that time, the Xiongnu ran to the Central Plains from time to time to burn and loot, they did not receive any civilization and education, acted savagely and rudely, and had no rules to speak of, which caused great trouble to the Han people in the Central Plains.
"Hun" and "fierce" are homonymous to describe barbarism and ferocity; "Slave", that is, slave, slave, with contempt, the two words of Xiongnu combined mean "vicious slave".
Therefore, during the Warring States period, in order to express their fear, hatred and contempt for this nomadic people, the people of the Central Plains collectively referred to it as "Xiongnu".
The Great Wall, a realistic obstacle to the Xiongnu invasion of the Central Plains
The Great Wall was an active strategic defense line created by the Central Plains people to resist the invasion of the Xiongnu during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
At that time, in the course of long-term struggle against the Xiongnu and other nomads, the people of the Central Plains found that the most effective way to deal with the Xiongnu was to take active defensive measures.
That is, on the mountains on the northern border, build fortresses, watchtowers, beacons with warning effects, and then connect them through the city wall to resist the Xiongnu's southward invasion, which is the basic prototype of the early Great Wall.
According to historical records, the states of Qin, Yan and Zhao during the Warring States period all built the Great Wall on the northern borders of various countries in order to defend against the Xiongnu.
"When it is, the crown carries the seven warring states, and the three kingdoms are bordered by the Xiongnu."
——"Shiji Xiongnu Lineage"
However, there were big loopholes in the Great Wall at that time, not only was it relatively simple, but the Great Wall of the Qin, Zhao, and Yan kingdoms was not a coherent organic whole, so the Xiongnu often crossed the gap and invaded the Central Plains.
Especially after the Prince of Qin became pro-government, he only wanted to annex the six eastern countries and unify the Central Plains, and the Central Plains princely states fell into a long-term chaotic war, and there was no time to care about the northern barbarians.
At this time, the first Xiongnu recorded in the Han history books, Shan Yu, Touman, took advantage of the Central Plains to fight each other, adopted a strategy of "encroachment", and gradually appropriated many parts of the Yinshan region (the central part of the present-day Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) and the Hetao region.
During this period, due to the lack of strength of the princely states of the Central Plains against the Xiongnu, the pressure from the Central Plains suffered by the Xiongnu was suddenly reduced, so Tou Mandan's plan to "encroach" on the Central Plains was repeatedly successful, and the Xiongnu's development could be described as smooth sailing and greatly improved its strength.
In 221 BC, King Huanzheng of Qin unified the six kingdoms and proclaimed himself Qin Shi Huang, and the political pattern of the Central Plains underwent earth-shaking changes.
However, Tou Manshan Yu was obviously simple-minded and did not study the original political situation at all. After Qin Shi Huang unified the Central Plains, not only did he not stop in time, but his courage became fatter and fatter, and he even carried out large-scale harassment of the border areas of the Central Plains many times.
Imagine if a thief climbed over the wall every day to steal from your house, could you bear it? Others don't know, but a bloody man like Qin Shihuang definitely can't bear it. In this way, between Qin and Huns, a large-scale battle began.
In 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang sent the famous general of the Qin state, Meng Tian, to lead an army of 300,000 people to violently beat the Xiongnu, and after the two armies fought, the Qin army was invincible, and in one fell swoop recovered the Yinshan region and the Qianli grassland in the Hetao area.
The biggest advantage of the Huns is that their mobility and flexibility are super-first-class, and they mainly fight an enemy and retreat, and the enemy retreats and we advance. In this battle, the Xiongnu suffered heavy losses and losses, so, in order to retain the last bit of comeback strength, they once again chose to run away.
"It was to make Meng Tian build the Great Wall in the north and guard the fence, but the Huns were more than 700 li; The Hu people did not dare to go south and herd horses, and the warriors did not dare to bend their bows to complain. ”
- "Guo Qin Theory"
In the view of Qin Shi Huang, the Xiongnu is a "time bomb", although now they are beaten by the Qin army and flee and dare not go south to herd horses, but if they choose to let it go, it will inevitably bring disaster to the Great Qin Dynasty in the future.
Therefore, Qin Shi Huang decided to carry out large-scale repairs and improvements to the Great Wall of the Qin, Zhao, and Yan states during the Warring States period, and connect them into a complete defense system. After more than ten years of hard work, a defensive line stretching from Lintao in Gansu in the west to Liaodong in the east has finally been repaired.
This great project in the annals of history is known as the "Great Wall". Since then, the Great Wall has become a barrier between the Central Plains and the vast grassland, and the Xiongnu must cross the Great Wall if they want to enter the Central Plains to plunder.
So, can the Great Wall stop the Xiongnu's pace of avenging the shame of their ancestors?
The rise of the Xiongnu, the Great Wall did not stop it
After the Xiongnu defeated the Qin army, Tou Manshan took the remnants of the Xiongnu to overcome many difficulties and came to the bitterly cold desert grassland to recuperate.
In 209 BC, because Tou Manshan Yu wanted to depose Chang Li You, his eldest son Mò Dú, holding a grudge, brutally killed his father and younger brother and established himself as the Xiongnu Shan Yu. Under Morton's leadership, the Huns really entered a period of strength.
After the death of Qin Shi Huang, Meng Tian was quickly killed, and the Central Plains fell into chaos. In order to deal with the anti-Qin forces, the Qin Dynasty transferred a large number of elite Qin troops stationed in the Xiongnu's homeland and the Great Wall. Taking advantage of the vacuum of Biansai's strength, the Xiongnu quietly returned to the southern steppe.
Due to the large number of Qin troops being withdrawn, a three-legged situation of Xiongnu, Yue, and Eastern Hu was formed in the steppe of southern Mo. And Morton was ambitious, and in order to dominate the southern grassland, he soon destroyed the Donghu and Yue clan.
However, at this time, a considerable number of soldiers were still stationed on the Great Wall, and the Xiongnu cavalry was still unable to invade the Central Plains on a large scale. Because of this, during the period of Chu-Han hegemony, although the Central Plains had no time to take care of the Xiongnu, Mudun Shan Yu could only focus his energy on conquering other steppe tribes.
In 202 BC, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and established the Western Han Dynasty, while Morton Shan Yu also successfully unified the southern and northern steppes of Mo, leading the Xiongnu to a strong rise.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, after years of war, the national strength was exhausted and everything was in ruins, and there was no extra strength to continue to wage war. Under the leadership of Shan Yu, the Xiongnu have developed into a powerful nomadic empire with a complete system, and the overall combat effectiveness is in the strongest state.
However, despite the prosperity of the Xiongnu, if they wanted to plunder the population and wealth of the Central Plains, they must first break through the Great Wall between lofty mountains and mountains. Morton believes that even if the Great Wall is solid, there must be its fatal weakness.
Therefore, in order to find the weakness of the Great Wall as soon as possible, he ordered the Xiongnu army to launch a tentative attack along the Great Wall.
After a period of exploration, he came to the conclusion that the Great Wall front was too long and required a lot of defensive manpower. Therefore, as long as the Xiongnu choose a relatively weak defensive pass to forcibly attack, they can break through the Great Wall.
In the end, he used Ma Yi as a breakthrough. Because of the strategic position of Mayi, it was close to the royal court, and if it could forcibly break through, the Xiongnu army could drive straight in.
In 200 BC, Morton sent several armies to feign attacks on other passes of the Great Wall, and at the same time, gathered Xiongnu armies to besiege Mayi.
Han Wangxin, who was stationed on the border of Mayi at that time, was very afraid when he saw Liu Bang's attitude towards other founding heroes. Han Wangxin did not want to be belittled one after another like Han Xin, so he finally chose to turn his back on Han and surrender to the Huns and directly sacrificed Ma Yi to the Xiongnu.
In this way, the Xiongnu effortlessly crossed the Great Wall and plundered deep into the Central Plains, bringing unprecedented pressure and disaster to the Han Dynasty, which had not yet recovered from the war.
After the news reached Chang'an, Liu Bang decided to drive his own conquest, but unexpectedly, the sophisticated Liu Bang was not an opponent of the Xiongnu at all, not only did not win, but was also besieged by the Xiongnu for seven days and seven nights, which was simply humiliating.
In the end, Liu Bang got away with the help of Chen Ping and finally recovered a small life. The eldest husband can flex and stretch, and Liu Bang is very clear that it is difficult for the strength of the Han Dynasty to defeat the Xiongnu at this moment.
In addition, after many years of war, if the Han Dynasty wants to develop and grow, it must put the recovery of the economy and the consolidation of power in the first place, and if it starts a protracted war with the Xiongnu at this moment, it is estimated that it will soon have to be played.
Liu Bang then decided to suspend the Han-Hungarian war and sign a policy of peace with the Xiongnu to ensure that the Han Dynasty continued to recuperate and develop. After Liu Bang, during the reigns of Emperor Wen, Empress Lü, and Emperor Jing, they all adopted a "peace policy" towards the Xiongnu.
Although the Xiongnu always did not pay attention to the spirit of contract and repeatedly invaded the border of the Han Dynasty, due to the relationship between the two sides, the two sides never completely tore their faces, which undoubtedly bought enough time for the Han Dynasty to recuperate.
Xiongnu nemesis - Emperor Wudi of Han, repeatedly touched the Xiongnu death cave
For the Xiongnu, the previous emperors of the Han Dynasty were soft persimmons that were easy to handle. The Han Wudi Liu Che was different, he was a rather powerful emperor, and on the basis of the rule of Wen Jing, the Han Wudi had a rich family base to wage war, and was undoubtedly the biggest nemesis of the Xiongnu.
During the period of Emperor Wudi of Han, the national strength of the Han Dynasty was unprecedentedly strong, but the strength of the Xiongnu should not be underestimated, in the face of the Xiongnu who had repeatedly trampled the Han Dynasty under his feet, how did Emperor Wudi of Han defeat the Xiongnu with one blow?
In fact, Emperor Wudi of Han was able to defeat the Xiongnu in many battles such as Monan, Hexi, and Mobei, not only because Emperor Wudi of Han had a generation of gods of war such as Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, but also because Emperor Wudi of Han repeatedly encountered the death cave of the Xiongnu.
As we all know, the Han people of the Central Plains belong to a typical farming people, which are not easy to move, and the biggest feature is that they rely on the land to survive. The Xiongnu, on the other hand, lived a typical nomadic economic life, they lived by water and grass, they were very mobile, mobile, mobile, and would not stay for a long time after occupying a certain place.
It is precisely because the Xiongnu are like wolves, their combat ability is mobile and flexible, and when they see that the situation is unfavorable, they directly run around. Therefore, every time the Central Plains army took the initiative to attack the Xiongnu, it could not achieve the goal of completely defeating the Xiongnu, and the Central Plains border troubles were repeated year after year.
Studying the time of each Xiongnu invasion of the Central Plains, it is not difficult to find a rule, that is, the Xiongnu will frequently invade the Central Plains in autumn, and basically take the initiative to evacuate outside Serbia in spring and summer. So, why did the Xiongnu choose to frequently invade the Central Plains in autumn?
First of all, after the Xiongnu survived the harsh winter, they generally concentrated on grazing cattle in the spring and summer when the water and grass were fertile. In autumn, after the spring and summer period, the Xiongnu's cattle, sheep and horses were the fattest and strongest, and their troops were also at their strongest.
In addition, the Han people in the Central Plains generally engage in production in spring and summer, and in autumn, everyone is busy with the autumn harvest, and their combat effectiveness is the weakest, so autumn is the most unsuitable season for large-scale conquest in the Central Plains.
Autumn is a favorable time and place for the Xiongnu, and as long as the Xiongnu seize this node, they can defeat the Central Plains to the greatest extent and plunder more people and wealth. However, all this began to take a turn during the time of Emperor Wudi of Han.
Winters in the desert steppe are very cold and dry, and at this time, it will be very difficult for both people and cattle, sheep and horses. Therefore, every year before winter, the Xiongnu would loot enough supplies and then find a suitable place to settle down in search of a smooth winter.
But even so, due to the severe cold and harsh weather in the desert, there are often extreme weather such as blizzards, and the Xiongnu livestock tend to starve and freeze to death in winter.
Therefore, as soon as spring arrived, the combat effectiveness of the Xiongnu war horses dropped significantly, and the Huns had to seize the time to recharge and take care of the livestock after the arrival of spring, and there was completely insufficient energy and time to deal with the war.
In addition, winter is the peak period for the mating of Xiongnu people and animals, so by spring, Xiongnu women and animals are basically pregnant.
At this time, the most needed thing is to raise the fetus with peace of mind, if the pregnant woman and livestock at this time follow the army to fight or run around, it will inevitably cause a large number of abortions and deaths. Therefore, spring was the most unsuitable season for the Xiongnu to march and fight.
Emperor Wudi of Han also found that the spring battle was the death hole of the Xiongnu, so he adjusted the time of the battle with the Xiongnu to spring, so that the Han army could seize the enemy's life when they were most vulnerable and strike hard.
Moreover, during the period of Emperor Wudi of Han, after decades of rest and recuperation, even in winter, the Han Dynasty was just as strong and abundant in food. After another cold winter of rest and recuperation, in the spring, everything began to recover again, and the combat effectiveness of the Han army was more invincible, and it was most appropriate to go out at this time.
Since nomads did not have fixed cities, pregnant women and animals could only choose to run once the Han army attacked. Moreover, the productivity of ancient times was already very low, and if it was tossed by war, the productivity of the Xiongnu would only be low to the bottom.
If Emperor Wudi of Han had chosen spring for every expedition to the Xiongnu, over time, the number of cattle, sheep, horses, and newborn population of the Xiongnu would naturally decline sharply.
Therefore, Emperor Wudi of Han went out in the spring, even if he lost to the Xiongnu in the end, in the long run, it would definitely lead to a significant reduction in the Xiongnu's combat resources, and their future combat effectiveness would inevitably become weaker and weaker, which could be described as a fatal blow to the Xiongnu.
In addition, because the Xiongnu are nomads who live on cattle, sheep and water plants, for them, if there is no feng shui treasure land for herding cattle and sheep, and there is no cattle and sheep to maintain their basic livelihood, they will have to play very quickly.
Therefore, Emperor Wudi of Han successively launched wars to recapture Henan, Hexi, Monan and other fertile water and grass lands, leaving the Xiongnu without natural pasture. In addition, after each big war, Wei Qing would collect a large number of Xiongnu cattle and sheep, so that the Xiongnu food was greatly reduced, and the combat effectiveness would naturally weaken.
It was precisely because Emperor Wudi of Han seized the Xiongnu's death cave again and again to attack and fiercely attack, weakening their living strength again and again, that he created a brilliant record of "from now on, the Xiongnu are far away, and there is no royal court in the south of the desert".