This is Sima Qian's evaluation of Li Guang in "Historical Records: The Biography of General Li". In this biography, Sima Qian affectionately described him, a veteran, and did not hide anything because Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sentenced him to palace punishment.
In Sima Qian's pen, Li Guang is a unique hero, he has fought horses all his life, made countless contributions, in the eyes of later generations, how can it be impossible to meet the conditions of the marquis due to lack of military achievements.
But in fact, if you carefully read Sima Qian's personal biography of him, you will find that the biography uses a very vague method to describe his military exploits, is this Sima Qian's negligence?
Of course not, the reality is even more cruel, that is, Li Guangshi does not have many decent military exploits to go down in history.
Li Guang was born in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, is a famous "flying general" in Chinese history, his life in the army for more than 40 years, after hundreds of battles, in the Huns one after another vicious battles, he is brave and good at fighting, the Huns soldiers are terrified.
He loved his subordinates, was honest and honest, and never withheld his subordinates' salaries; he was a master of art and courage, and the more critical he was, the more he was able to win by surprise.
However, from the age of thirty, he was promoted to the post of Taishou of Longxi, and until his death, there was no substantial improvement. His cousin Li Cai is inferior to Li Guang in terms of morality, talent and fame, but he has risen from a small martial cavalry attendant to a prime minister above 10,000 people under one person.
Even some of Li Guang's old subordinates also had many Jin lords and marquis, and even his own youngest son was also made the marquis of Guannei.
Seeing that those who were inferior to him were rising step by step, but he only held 2,000 stones, Li Guang was also uneasy.
Later, when he was reprimanded by Wei Qing in the Battle of Mobei, Li Guang was even more ashamed, so he pulled out his sword and committed suicide in a fit of anger.
Judging from Li Guang's extreme way to end his life, he is very dissatisfied with his life, and at the same time, it also exposes his own big problems.
First of all, although a person of his character is brave and good at fighting, he is not actually a good general.
Li Guang's competitiveness is too strong, although it is a good thing, but it also depends on the situation. For example, he once insisted on chasing the three Huns Condor Archers regardless of the overall situation, and Sima Qian also recorded this incident.
Sima Qian's pen shows his superb archery and riding skills, but as the commander of the first army, he put aside the strategic policy of the imperial court in order to shoot and kill three Huns.
If the commander makes a mistake, the leaderless army will immediately collapse, because of a small loss, this is not the behavior of a commander.
During the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, Sun Kunxie, a prince of the state, commented on him, saying, "Li Guang is talented and unparalleled in the world." conceited his ability, fighting with the enemy, fearing death. ”
Secondly, although Li Guang is okay with his subordinates, he does not pay attention to the strategy of governing the military, and his personal casual behavior is too heavy.
For example, he never governed the army with military discipline, and the soldiers' drills were very simple, and the ranks were scattered. When attacking the Huns, the team also had no queues and formations, and there was no patrol at night.
Compared with Cheng Buzhi in the same period, Li Guang's shortcomings are more obvious. Cheng Buzhi has strict requirements for the formation of the team, the marching army and the garrison formation, and he insists on playing more sentry posts at night, and handling official affairs in a timely manner, and the troops have never been involved in danger.
Therefore, Cheng Buzhi once said that Li Guang's army was simple and easy, but if the enemy suddenly attacked, it would be difficult to resist. And although his army was complicated, the enemy never dared to invade him.
For another example, when Li Guang lived in seclusion in Lantian, he went out of the city to hunt and came back too late one night, and the gate of Baling Pavilion was closed. Li Guang's entourage said that this was the former General Li, while Captain Baling disdainfully said that the current general was still impassable, let alone the predecessor. So Li Guang and his entourage were detained overnight in Baling Pavilion.
Not long after the incident, Li Guang was reactivated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Li Guang immediately requested to send Baling Lieutenant to accompany him to his post. However, the result was that as soon as Captain Baling arrived in the army, Li Guang killed him, just to avenge his previous personal vendetta.
In the previous incident, although Baling Wei was a little arrogant, he also acted according to the rules, and Li Guang killed him, which showed his narrow-mindedness, how could Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty dare to reuse him?
Therefore, Li Guangwei will lack too much.
Finally, let's take a look at whether Li Guang's military exploits can reach the level of a feudal marquis.
For the feudal marquis, the Western Han Dynasty has specific regulations, and the reward for military exploits is based on the number of enemy heads, roughly speaking, it is your battle results, that is, the number of enemy troops killed must be greater than a certain number of casualties of your own to be able to be a marquis.
Li Guang's results are as follows:
In the second year of Yuanguang (133 BC), the siege of Mayi was leaked, and 300,000 Han troops returned without merit, and Li Guang naturally had no merit;
In the sixth year of Yuanguang (129 B.C.), Li Guang led 10,000 horsemen to attack the Xiongnu from the Yanmen, but he suffered a defeat, lost his troops, and was captured by the Xiongnu, and then escaped alone.
In the sixth year of Yuan Shuo (123 BC), Li Guang followed Wei Qing to attack the Xiongnu from Dingxiang, and the Han army won a great victory in this battle, and many generals were awarded meritorious service and marquis, but Li Guangbu was in vain.
In the second year of Yuanzhan (121 B.C.), Li Guang led 4,000 cavalry from Youbeiping as Lang Zhongling, but was besieged by 40,000 Xiongnu, and fought hard for several days, with more than half of the soldiers killed and wounded, and naturally there was no reward for defeat;
In the fourth year of Yuanzhan (119 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched the Battle of Mobei, and Emperor Wu did not plan to send him to the expedition, but Li Guang insisted on going, but he got lost and finally committed suicide.
From the above several battles experienced by Li Guang, it is not difficult to see that Li Guang has a fierce performance, but the victory rate is too low, and his performance is far from meeting the requirements of the feudal marquis.
To sum up, it can be seen from the above aspects that Li Guang was brave and fearless in his lifelong campaign, but as a general, he also had great problems in managing the army; he was narrow-minded and had some extremes in his personality, such as being conceited and self-willed.
It is undeniable that he has excellent sides, such as archery and horsemanship, but only for his personal factors, his individualism is far greater than his general's charm.
And Sima Qian complained about him, including later speaking for his grandson Li Ling, and was punished by the palace for this, one thing cannot be ignored, that is, they are all from high-ranking families, and Wei Qing, Huo Quai, and even Queen Wei Zifu, they are all slaves with no family background.
Therefore, for Sima Qian, he must have praised Li Guang and stepped on Wei Qing and Huo Quai, Sima Qian once bluntly said that they were flattering, which is proof.
In Sima Qian's pen, Li Guang is a world-class hero, who has made countless achievements in his life, but in fact this is an illusion. With the eloquence of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he still has enough discernment, so Emperor Wu did not wronged Li Guang.