Preface
I don't know if you have noticed that famous generals in ancient times were often veterans, but in China's thousands of years of history, there will always be a few geniuses who are exceptions, such as Huo Qubing during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
For the ancient emperors, "sealing the wolf Juxu" is the highest ideal in life, if he can achieve this achievement during his reign, then no matter whether the emperor is good or bad, the history books of later generations will definitely add a merit to him.
However, this achievement was originally achieved by Huo Qubing when he was only 22 years old, which was beyond the reach of countless generals in later generations, but he also had to be impressed by Huo Quzhi's ability.
But I don't know if you have ever thought about it, Huo Quzhi's achievement was the top level in ancient times, and what kind of merit would it be equivalent to in modern times?
1. The origin of the Han and Hungarian relationships
To quantify Huo Quzhi's "Feng Wolf Juxu", first of all, we must know what kind of existence the Xiongnu was for the Han Dynasty at that time, so that we can compare more accurately.
To trace the history of the Xiongnu, it is not enough to simply trace the history of the Han Dynasty, which was already one of the greatest enemies of the Han regime in the Central Plains before the establishment of the Han Dynasty.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the various vassal states not only had to take care of attacking each other, but also had to guard against foreigners from the north who wanted to invade the Central Plains.
Although later in the "Historical Records", Sima Qian believed that these ethnic groups were all Chinese people, but this was also a view hundreds of years later, and it was not the same as the concept of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
During the Warring States Period, there was a major event that divided the era, that is, Zhao Wuling King Hu Fu cavalry archery, which introduced the "cavalry archery" skill originally mastered by the Hu people into the Central Plains, which greatly strengthened the strength of Zhao State.
The "Hu" here is actually one of the ancestors of the Xiongnu, at that time the peoples and tribes on the grassland were still relatively scattered, and there was no regime like the Xiongnu, so the threat was limited.
Decades later, around the 3rd century B.C., the foreign tribes in the north gradually combined to form a more orderly regime, that is, the Xiongnu, who began to covet the Central Plains.
In the late Warring States period, the Xiongnu had become a strong opponent of the northern vassal states, and the most famous Han-Hun conflict during this period was that Li Mu led the Zhao soldiers to defeat 100,000 Xiongnu soldiers, so that the Xiongnu suffered heavy losses and did not dare to invade the south in a short time.
However, after the Qin Dynasty unified China, Qin Shi Huang was dissatisfied with the situation of the Xiongnu on the border, so he ordered Meng Tian to attack the Xiongnu in the north, expel the Xiongnu to a distant place, and then build the Great Wall to defend against the Xiongnu invasion.
The effect of Qin Shi Huang's decision is also obvious, in the later Han Dynasty's famous "Treatise on the Passage of Qin", Jia Yi wrote "But the Xiongnu are more than 700 miles, and the Hu people dare not go south and graze horses", which can be seen to be very deterrent.
Second, the counterattack of the Han army
After arriving in the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu became the old enemy of the entire Han Dynasty, and at that time, after many years of development, the Xiongnu became very strong enough to fight against the Central Plains.
However, after years of war in the Central Plains, both the people's livelihood and the strength of the army have reached a low point, and they are completely unable to fight against the menacing Xiongnu.
So in the face of the invasion of the Xiongnu, there was an incident of "the siege of Baideng", even if Liu Bang personally led the troops to fight against the Xiongnu, he was still defeated by the Xiongnu, and even almost gave his life to Baishan Mountain.
So since then, the Han Dynasty has adopted a policy of appeasement towards the Xiongnu before the restoration of national strength, even if the Xiongnu cannot be subjugated to the Han, but at least the Xiongnu will no longer fight at every turn.
After this lasted for decades, the situation finally ushered in a change, and after the restoration of the Wenjing and Jing dynasties, the national power of the Han Dynasty has gradually become stronger.
Emperor Wu of Han, who succeeded to the throne after the death of Emperor Jing of Han, was a monarch with great talent, and since he ascended the throne, he has been dissatisfied with the Han Dynasty that threatened the Xiongnu, and decided to change this situation.
This period can be said to be the right time, place and people, the domestic strength can support the large-scale battles against the Xiongnu, and there are generals who continue to emerge, the most famous of which are Wei Qing and Huo Quzhi's uncles and nephews.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made Wei Zifu the empress, her younger brother Wei Qing was also rewarded, but Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also took a fancy to Wei Qing's talent in military affairs, so he appointed him as a general to fight against the Xiongnu.
In addition to Wei Qing, Wei Zifu's sister also has an illegitimate child, he is Huo Quzhi, Huo Quzhi can be said to have grown up under the watchful eye of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, so his military talent since childhood is also very valued.
More than ten years later, Huo Qubing was appointed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty as the captain of Yao, and followed Wei Qing to attack the Huns, at this time Huo Qubing was only eighteen years old, but he showed amazing strength in his debut on the battlefield, and beheaded more than 2,000 Huns in a battle.
Not only that, Huo Qubing also captured many high-ranking Xiongnu officials in this battle, which was of greater significance to the Han Dynasty, so after the war, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who was greatly admired, was named the champion Hou to show the strength of his brave champion of the three armies.
This battle made Huo Qubing famous, and after that, Huo Qubing was promoted to the rank of hussar general specially set up by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and was appointed to lead the Battle of Hexi, in which the Xiongnu were severely damaged.
The Battle of Hexi was divided into two attacks, spring and summer, and in the spring offensive of that year, Huo Quzhi's leading army not only annihilated the sharp soldiers of the Xiongnu, but also killed or captured many Xiongnu leaders.
In the summer offensive, Huo Qubing attacked farther, all the way to the vicinity of Qilian Mountain, in this battle was killed as many as 30,000 Hun soldiers, and the Hun king was captured alive There were also five people, which greatly hit the strength of the Huns.
After the end of the Battle of Hexi, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty added a reward to Huo Qubing to the marquis of 5,400 households, and the lieutenants who fought with him were also rewarded, and several people were made marquises.
After this battle, Hexi became the territory actually controlled by the Han Dynasty, and even if there were remnants of the Xiongnu, but the strength was not as good as before, the important thing was that the Xiongnu tribes were no longer united, laying the foundation for the victory of the subsequent battle of Mobei.
3. Seal the wolf
Even in the two battles of the Battle of Monan and the Battle of Hexi, the strength of the Xiongnu had been greatly defeated by the Han Dynasty, and even to the point of mutual suspicion between them, so that internal strife began.
But Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was still not satisfied with this situation, what he wanted was to completely defeat the royal court of the Xiongnu, so that the Xiongnu would be the real scattered sand.
So two years after the Battle of Hexi, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty decided to go out again, with Wei Qing and Huo Quai's uncles and nephews as generals, leading a team of troops respectively, this time directly attacking the Xiongnu royal court.
The original plan was to let Huo Qubing go straight to the Xiongnu royal court, but there were some mistakes in the middle, and finally Wei Qing and Huo Qubing switched their goals, so Huo Qubing led 50,000 cavalry deep into Mobei to meet the Huns.
In this battle, Huo Qubing not only won a complete victory, but also directly led the troops to pursue the Wolf Juxu Mountain, and carried out a ceremony of sealing Zen on the territory of the Xiongnu, highlighting the might of the Han army.
After returning to China after the victory, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not hesitate to appoint Wei Qing and Huo Quzhi, two heroes of the Han Dynasty, as the Great Sima, which can be said to be the second only to the emperor in the imperial court, and Huo Qubing was only 22 years old this year.
In fact, this ceremony was carried out on behalf of the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty, which was equivalent to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty himself coming to Mobei and announcing that the place would be taken over by the Han Dynasty from now on.
To use a more familiar thing to analogy, after "sealing the wolf Juxu", the wolf Juxu Mountain will be equivalent to the boundary monument of the Han Dynasty in the future, and this territory that originally belonged to the Xiongnu will be the land of the Han Dynasty certified by God in the future.
As for what this act is equivalent to today, some say that it is equivalent to planting the Chinese flag on Mt. Fuji and declaring that the entire Japanese archipelago will henceforth be China's territory.
Some people also expressed their opposition, believing that although the national feud between China and Japan can be compared to the Han-Hungarian relations at that time, the difficulty is too simple for China now, and it cannot show Huo Quai's strength.
However, it is more appropriate to plant the national flag on Capitol Hill, not only as an evenly matched enemy, but also across the sea, which is very difficult, so as to show Huo Quzhi's great achievements in those years.
People have different opinions on the standard of this matter, but the common consensus is that "sealing the wolf Juxu" is equivalent to taking the enemy's head in the chaotic army, in this regard, what do you think is the glory of sealing the wolf in modern times?