Li Mu: Drove the Huns for thousands of miles, resisted the Qin for 5 years, the four famous generals of the Warring States, he did not die, and the Zhao State was not destroyed. This sentence sounds puzzling. Although Li Mu was a famous general of the Zhao State, he was eventually murdered due to infighting, and the Zhao State was also destroyed by Qin a few years later. What exactly does this contradictory statement mean?
Li Mu showed his edge and captured the Huns
Li Mu was born in the nobility of Zhao State, and studied martial arts and the art of war since childhood. He was ambitious and unwilling to settle for the family business, so he resolutely resigned from his family and went to Yanmen County on the northern border to serve as a county warden. At that time, Yanmen was harassed by the Xiongnu all the year round, and the people lived in dire straits.
After taking office, Li Mu implemented the strategy of "showing weakness and luring the enemy". He ordered the construction of forts, rewarded the sergeants, and included the border people in the army for special training. Whenever the Hun cavalry went south, Li Mu pretended to be afraid and closed the city to defend himself. This made the Huns arrogant and returned empty-handed again and again.
Many years later, Li Mu finally waited for the time to come. He carefully selected brave soldiers and secretly prepared a large number of soldiers and horses. When the Huns took the bait and gathered more than 200,000 cavalry to go deep into the Zhao realm, Li Mu laid a net.
Heavy infantry and chariots were planted to meet the attack, then elite archers flanked from both flanks, and finally the cavalry cut off the rear. The Huns were greatly injured in this attack, losing more than half of their lives, and fled thousands of miles away in disarray.
This battle greatly dampened the spirit of the Xiongnu, and also made Li Mu famous, and he was recalled to Handan. King Zhao appreciated his courage and talent, canonized him as Wu Anjun, and became one of the four famous generals of the Warring States period.
However, just as Li Mukai's song was playing, disasters from within the Zhao State were also brewing. An even more tragic infighting and war began.
repeatedly broke the Qin army and was awarded the title of Wu Anjun
With the capture of 200,000 Hun cavalry, Li Mu's reputation was greatly enhanced and he was recalled to Handan. King Zhao appreciated his outstanding military talent and posthumously named him Wu Anjun, becoming one of the four famous generals of the Warring States.
At this time, the Ying Zheng of Qin was annexing the princes on a large scale, posing a threat to the Zhao State. The Qin general Huan Qi led an army of 150,000 people to press the border and enter the city of Handan. In the autumn of critical survival, King Zhao had to order Wu Anjun Li Mu to go on an expedition.
Li Mu carefully deployed and used guerrilla tactics to exhaust the Qin army. It was the autumn rain, and the Qin army was trapped in Heyang. Li Mu took the opportunity to launch a general attack, breaking the Huan Qi Army and annihilating 150,000 enemy troops.
After the seizure, King Yingzheng of Qin personally led an army of 300,000 to the west to conquer Zhao. When Li Mu heard the news, he urgently transferred tens of thousands of Zhao troops and rushed straight to the enemy's camp. At night, he laid out heavy troops, covered the center of the Qin army, waited for the dawn to open fierce fire, and camped for three days and three nights, completely annihilating the Yingzheng pro-army. Yingzheng was hit hard and reluctantly retreated.
In this battle, Li Mu made another miraculous feat, and King Zhao rewarded thousands of households. However, as the external troubles gradually disappeared, the internal contradictions of the Zhao State also intensified. The ministers and ministers rose up, the government and the opposition were divided, and Li Mu was the focus of the contradiction.
Zhao Guoquan's ministers conspired and calculated
Li Mulian broke the Qin army, and his great exploits won the weight of King Zhao, and his status was rising. However, his fame and influence also made Zhao Guoquan's ministers jealous and jealous, and they secretly plotted and calculated.
The central figures of the conspiracy are Guo Kai and Zhao Qian. Guo Kai was originally a eunuch, but he was disturbed by Li Mu's reputation and imperceptibly provoked King Zhao. And Zhao Qian is the crown prince, the nominal prince, but in fact he has little power. He was also terrified of Li Mu's prestige.
The two colluded with each other and secretly slandered Li Mu for "broad-sightedness" and "peeping on the throne". Although King Zhao was very meritorious to Li Mu, he was finally bewitched and began to alienate this good general who protected the country.
Guo Kai and others saw that the plan had achieved initial results, and spread rumors of "Li Mu's rebellion" to the outside world, fanning the flames. King Zhao had no choice but to order his cronies Zhao Cong and Yan Ju to go to the army to guard the frontier instead of Li Muzhen.
However, Zhao Cong and Yan Ju are not good generals, and they are not afraid of Li Mu at all. In order to hide people's eyes, Guo Kai persuaded King Zhao to secretly decide that even if Li Mu refused to hand over power, he would be killed on the spot.
The news was quickly discovered by the spies in the army. Li Mu, who did not expect such a sinister conspiracy, still had doubts and insisted on staying on the frontier. Zhao Cong and others took the opportunity to take it by surprise and sent an ambush killer to assassinate him on the spot, and Li Mu was brutally murdered.
King Zhao didn't know the demeanor of a general
Instigated by Guo Kai, Zhao Qian and others, King Zhao became suspicious of Li Mu. He actually listened to the rumors of Li Mu's "rebellion", and decided to abandon Li Mu without verification.
At that time, Zhao Cong and Yan Ju were ordered to go to the army, intending to replace Li Mu in commanding the border army. However, neither of them was born as a military general, so they could not be compared with Li Mu at all. Seeing that Li Mu was unwilling to hand over military power, Zhao Cong followed his private orders and attempted to assassinate Li Mu.
Sure enough, Li Mu still had a glimmer of respect for King Zhao and insisted that the frontier should not be empty. He was unsuspecting, and only regretted that the dissuasion of the deputy general Sima Shang was unsuccessful. At the critical moment, the assassins who had been in ambush for a long time suddenly rushed into the tent and assassinated Li Mu alive.
This murderous act caused an uproar among King Zhao's subjects. Li Mugong was so meritorious that he would rather die on the battlefield than think of rebelling and usurping the throne. Guo Kai and the others were purely alarmist, but King Zhao listened to the slander in a daze.
After Li Mu was killed, Zhao Jun's vitality was greatly damaged. Wang Jian and other Qin troops took advantage of the situation and defeated Zhao Cong and Yan Ju for many years. In just three months, the state of Zhao, which lasted for nearly two hundred years, perished. Zhao Qian, as the last monarch of Zhao State, was severely punished, and was thrown into the mountains and forests by Yingzheng and tortured.
It wasn't until many years later in his later years that Zhao Qian realized the heinous mistake he had made back then. It's a pity that the hero has passed away, and there will be no return. If Li Mu does not die, perhaps the fall of the Zhao State can be delayed for several years. King Zhao did not know the demeanor of a general and self-destroyed the Zhao family, which was destined to be his irreparable historical regret.
The world mourns the untimely death of the hero
Li Mu has been fighting horses for half a century in his life and has made great achievements. He came from a humble background, but with his extraordinary courage and martial arts, he became one of the four famous generals of the Warring States step by step. Expelled the Xiongnu thousands of miles away, repeatedly broke the great enemy of the Qin army, and could be called the protector of the Zhao State.
It's a pity that the hero didn't last long, and Li Mu finally collapsed due to Zhao's internal fighting. In the power struggle that year, Guo Kai and other villains used slander to divide King Zhao and slander Li Mu for rebellion. King Zhao, who lacked foresight, listened to the slander, ignored Li Mu's high merits, and even killed this important weapon of the country with the help of assassination.
As soon as Li Mu died, the Zhao army was demoralized and defeated one after another. In just a few months, the Zhao family, which had been guarded by Qi Lai for more than 100 years, was destroyed. At that time, everyone lamented that the hero was poisoned, and he knew that there was no owner. If it weren't for King Zhao's dimmy, he would definitely reuse Li Mu and continue the national fortune.
Looking at the history books, it is really unfair to evaluate Li Mu's treatment. He made extraordinary military achievements, but was eventually suspected of betrayal by his cronies. This is a microcosm of Zhao's internal strife and self-destruction, fueling Qin's ambition to annex the Six Kingdoms. As the historian said: "If the country lives and dies for profit, it will not be avoided because of misfortune and good fortune."
end
It was not until the later years of exile that Zhao Qian regretted killing Zhongyong by mistake and dug up the ancestral grave of Zhao State. If Li Mu's life is safe, perhaps the vitality of Zhao Guo can be maintained for a longer time. People of insight have lamented the untimely death of this rare famous general since ancient times, failed to perform his studies, and was finally dragged down by the disasters of the country.