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Editor/Legal Justice
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made a seemingly perfect plan in order to fight against the Xiongnu, but why did it fail in the end?
01
The Huns and relatives were rejected
In the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, the Xiongnu came knocking on the door again and asked for peace, so the ministers inside and outside the Han Dynasty gathered together to discuss countermeasures. Some people say that let's have a good relationship with the Xiongnu, after all, they haven't come to make trouble yet, and it is beneficial for our Han Dynasty to maintain a peaceful situation.
Wang Hui of Daxing, on the other hand, disagreed, arguing that the Han dynasty was so powerful that it no longer needed to make peace with the Xiongnu, and he pointed out that the Xiongnu continued to intrude on the Han border because they had no reverence for the Han dynasty.
Against this backdrop, Nie Yi, a native of Mayi, proposed a bold plan to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, who proposed to use his knowledge of the Xiongnu to lure the Xiongnu into Guanzhong, which would then be ambushed by Han Dynasty troops. Nie Yi's purpose was to make meritorious contributions to the Han Dynasty, and at the same time, he also hoped that through this war, the Xiongnu would have a sense of awe for the Han Dynasty.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, took a keen interest in Nie Yi's plan, and with Wang Hui's support, they began to prepare for the upcoming war, mobilizing troops, horses, grain, grass and other materials, and formulating detailed tactical strategies.
02
Battle of Mayi
In 133 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che decided to carry out an elaborate counter-plot against the Xiongnu, he gathered five brave and warlike generals - Han Anguo, Li Guang, Gongsun He, Li Xi and Wang Hui - and assigned them an army of 300,000 troops, divided into five routes, ready to set up a net in the area of Mayi to ambush the Xiongnu army that came to plunder.
The key figure in this rebellion was the merchant Nie Yi, who infiltrated the Xiongnu as a sinner of the Han Dynasty and gained the trust of the military minister Shan Yu. Nie Yi proposed a bold plan to the military minister Shan Yu: together with Ma Yi's accomplices, he would kill the county commander, take control of the whole city, and dedicate Ma Yi's wealth and people to the Xiongnu. The military minister Shan Yu was full of expectations for this, so he agreed to Nie Yi's request.
After returning to Mayi, Nie Yi colluded with the local officials and made a bloody show, they did not hesitate to sacrifice a death row prisoner, chopped off his head, and then hung it high on the city gate, this trick not only fooled the Huns' ear spies, but also quickly spread to the ears of the military minister Shan Yu.
When Shan Yu heard that there was such "good news", he was happier than finding the treasure, and without saying a word, he immediately crossed the border with 100,000 Hun cavalry, and rushed towards Ma Yi without hesitation. This play can be said to have frightened the Huns Shan Yu overjoyed, and he really went to send himself to the execution ground happily!
At the same time, the Han army set up an ambush in Juzhu Mountain and Daidi near Mayi, and just as the Xiongnu army was about to step into the ambush circle, the military minister Shan Yu suddenly became suspicious. He found that the cattle and sheep along the route were left unattended, which was not in keeping with the habits of the Han Chinese that he was well aware, so he ordered his army to halt its advance and send scouts to scout carefully.
At this critical juncture, a Han Dynasty lieutenant was patrolling the border, accidentally caught by the Hun scouts, this lieutenant saw the Huns' knife holder and weakened his legs, so he immediately explained everything, more comprehensive than the express, and directly explained the plan of the Han army. After learning the truth of this, the military minister Shan Yu sensibly immediately ordered the whole army to retreat.
Han army general Han Anguo and others learned the news of the retreat of the Xiongnu army, although they were unwilling, but did not dare to pursue rashly, on the other side of Wang Hui and Li Xi, originally planned to intercept the Xiongnu's baggage troops in Daidi, but in the case of learning that the Xiongnu had retreated, they also chose to retreat.
In this way, the anti-plot carefully planned by Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty failed to succeed, and the outcome of this war further deteriorated the relationship between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu. Due to an oversight of one detail, the ambush plan failed.
03
Liu Che's fault
Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, during his reign, the national strength of the Han Dynasty reached its peak, expanding its territory and achieving a glorious history. However, a wrong decision made by this wise and martial monarch in his later years led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, which became known as the "Witch Curse".
The initiator of the witch curse was a small man named Jiang Chong, who was originally just a scoundrel in the market, but because of a chance to report the scandal of Liu Dan, the prince of Zhao, he was appreciated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Since then, the trajectory of his life has changed dramatically, and he has changed from an unknown scoundrel to a high-ranking official in the court.
Jiang Chong's upright personality and unafraid of the powerful made him a lot of enemies in the court, and he knew that once Emperor Wu of Han died, his situation would be precarious.
In order to protect himself, he began to plot a witch plot, an ancient superstitious activity that tried to bring disaster to others through curses, and he took advantage of this to introduce witches into the court in an attempt to eradicate dissidents.
His plan started quite smoothly, and in the process of searching for witches, he took the opportunity to put the wooden people in the palace of the empress and the crown prince, which provoked the wrath of Emperor Wu of Han, and he ordered a suppression, and the two armies in Chang'an City engaged in a fierce battle.
The war lasted for five days, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, and the city of Chang'an was bleeding like a river, in which Liu Ju was forced to kill himself, and Wei Zifu also chose to commit suicide. However, the truth will come out one day.
After the witch curse subsided, Emperor Wu of Han began to trace the ins and outs of the matter, and finally discovered Jiang Chong's conspiracy, at this time he deeply regretted it, but the wrong thing he did was irreparable. In order to make up for his mistake, he ordered the execution of Jiang Chong's three clans, and built a palace of thought in Huxian County to commemorate Liu Ju.
Emperor Wu of Han was devastated, and although his mistakes in his later years left a stain on Emperor Wu's life, his eloquence and statecraft still made him a great king in Chinese history.