Copywriting planner, executive producer: Yuan Zaiyu; Editor: Round Face Rabbit
In 119 BC, the Famous Battle of Mobei in the Western Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu began.
On this day, the sky was dusk, and the smoke of war was filled with smoke at this moment on the empty desert, and the sound of war horses hissing, the clash of swords and halberds, and the sound of soldiers charging was mixed together, and the sound was harsh. The smell of blood and smoke mixed and spread over this desert, almost suffocating and disgusting; the wailing and sword shadows that had just dissipated opened in the howling cold wind, and the remnants of the soldiers piled up were terrifying and terrible, and the soldiers of the Xiongnu and Han armies were seriously injured.
However, what the Xiongnu soldiers never expected was that the leading Western Han general waved his weapons in his hands and swept back the surrounding enemy troops on a high-headed warhorse, without having the intention of retreating, the soldiers were encouraged by the general, and once again waved their tired arms to kill the enemy, and finally won the Battle of Mobei. This heroic general was the Western Han Dynasty general Wei Qing.
Wei Qing's life is like a running account, always winning a certain battle in a certain year or fighting a certain battle in a certain year. In terms of merit, he made great contributions to the Western Han Dynasty. From this point of view, Wei Qing is undoubtedly an excellent general. But for such a person, the relevant historical books give us a feeling that the Han Dynasty people did not respect Wei Qing, so why is this?
Everyone should have read the book "Shi Ji", in daily life, when we think of the historical books and historical knowledge, we will think of the "Shi Ji" written by the Western Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian, a historical work, mr. Lu Xun's mouth "the great singing of historians, the departure of no rhyme."
However, our protagonist today, the great general Wei Qing, was transferred by Sima Qian to the "Biography of Yu Xinglie" in the "Records of History". The Biography of Yu Xinglie is a joint biography of Sima Qian specifically used to criticize the Western Han traitors Deng Tong, Zhao Tong, and Li Yannian, revealing that the three of them did not have any talent, but because they were good at clever words and color, they could please the emperor, so as to gain great power, and they ran amok in the imperial city, bullying men and women, committing all kinds of evil deeds and their ugly faces.
From this point of view, the "History" attributed Wei Qing to this biography, which is definitely a derogatory meaning. In this way, not only would the Han Dynasty people not praise Wei Qing, but later generations would have a poor impression of Wei Qing when they read the "Records of History", and even dilute Wei Qing's image.
In fact, Sima Qian not only attributed Wei Qing to the Biography of Yu Xinglie, but also described Wei Qing's battle exploits very plainly.
So why did Sima Qian look down on the great general Wei Qing so much that there were very few books about Wei Qing in later generations? In fact, digging deeper into the cause is the word foreign relative.
Wei Qing was originally the illegitimate son of his mother and Zheng Jigou, a minor official in the Marquis of Pingyang. Unable to raise his mother, Wei Qing was sent to the home of his biological father, Zheng Ji. However, Zheng Ji and the sons of the Zheng family were not good to Wei Qing and abused Wei Qing as a slave beast. After Wei Qing was a little older, he did not want to be enslaved by the Zheng family anymore, so he returned to his mother and became the riding slave of princess Pingyang.
In 139 BC, Wei Qing's sister Wei Zifu was recommended by Princess Pingyang to Emperor Wu of Han as a "concubine", and Wei Zifu was also angry, after many disasters in the palace, he actually sat all the way to the position of empress, Wei Qing was also appreciated by Emperor Wu of Han for his sister, and fought many battles against the Xiongnu, and later served as a general of Sima Da, becoming one of the top leaders of the military under Emperor Wu of Han.
The sister is the existence of the empress, and her own official fortune is prosperous, which directly causes that in the eyes of the people of the Han Dynasty, Wei Qing may not have any ability at all, and he can become a general of Sima Da, entirely because his sister Wei Zifu charms the lord and becomes an empress. In addition to Wei Qing, the Wei clan also received preferential treatment for Wei Zifu's sake, so that in the eyes of outsiders, the prosperity of the Wei family was completely a living "one person gets the Tao, and the chicken and dog ascend to heaven."
Her sister became empress, and Wei Qing was appreciated by Emperor Wu, but it also led to Wei Qing having a special identity that was not popular with posterity- a foreign relative. Sima Qian also wrote in the Biography of Yu Xinglie, "Since then, the family of foreign relatives who have been favored by the inner favor is not enough. Wei Qing and Huo Went ill were also foreign relatives Guixing, but they were quite able to advance themselves with materials", and it is enough to see from this that Sima Qian also believed that although Wei Qing had talents, he also played out later, and he was initially appreciated, that is, because he was a foreign relative.
I believe that everyone knows to a greater or lesser extent that the reason why the Eastern Han Dynasty declined and its vitality was seriously injured was because foreign relatives interfered in politics. "Hanshu Foreign Relatives Praise": "The prosperity of the husband's daughter's favor, from the smallest to the most respected, poor and rich and noble without merit, this solid Taoist fear, the blessing of the sect also." The preface from Han Xing, and finally Xiao Ping, the foreign relatives in the back court color spoiled Wen more than twenty people. This is also the reason why posterity has a very poor impression of foreign relatives. And Wei Qing happened to be a foreign relative, a foreign relative that future generations could not look up to.
In fact, in the author's opinion, Wei Qing is a very capable person. He not only had military talent, seven battles against the Xiongnu and great victory; in terms of being a man, he was courteous and courteous, respected the virtuous, handled things in a low-key manner, and was worthy of the position of grand sima to himself. But what is very frustrating is that even if the merits are outstanding, because they are foreign relatives, they are not favored by the "History" and are not praised by future generations. This is also Wei Qing's helplessness.
References: History Revealed: Famous Battles in History: The Battle of Mobei - A Wonderful Life at Home
Wikipedia entry "Wei Qing"