In 133 BC, the merchant Nie Yi came to Longcheng in Mobei and met with the military minister Shan Yu. He said that Ma Yi County Ling had a blood feud with him, and he would lead people to kill Mayi County Ling, and sacrifice The city of Mayi to Shan Yu, and the population, grain, grass, and property in the city would all belong to the Xiongnu. He only hoped that Shan Yu would be able to shelter him after the fact, and contract him to manage the markets for north-south trade in all parts of the southern part of the desert. Nie Yi's ambition is really not small, only in this way can shan Yu be suspicious, if there is no intention, simply for revenge, it is equivalent to writing the word deception on his face.
Located in the southern part of the Datong Basin, Mayi is an important town in Yanmen County, and it crosses the Jurchen Mountains to enter Taiyuan County. Mayi was the center of trade between the south and the north, with horses, cattle and sheep, and mountains of grain and cloth. Since Liu Bang and Mao Dun and his relatives, there has been no war baptism for many years, and its prosperity has reached its peak, and this kind of bait can match Shan Yu's appetite. For the Han Dynasty, the Datong Basin was a long and narrow plain from north to south, with only a few entrances and exits, and other places were high mountains, which were difficult to fly with wings, and excellent ambush sites. At the beginning, Li Mu broke the Xiongnu, and the ambush point was also near Mayi in the Datong Basin.
In the Han Dynasty, there were usually two levels of official positions in the counties and counties, Taishou (official position three pins) and county order (official position five pins), and the border counties set up lieutenants (military rank four pins) in important towns. Yanmen County, Shanwucheng set up Taishou Province, Woyang set up the Western Governor's Mansion, Pingcheng set up the Eastern Duwei Mansion, and Mayi set up a county order. The first three places were of high rank and were places where heavy troops were stationed, all north of Mayi, and if the Xiongnu sacked Mayi and withdrew with a large amount of goods, they would be easily shut down and beaten.
After capturing the population and goods of Mayi, the Xiongnu wanted to retreat, and they needed enough troops to protect them.
Although the military minister Shan Yu was suspicious, in June of that year, he still gathered an army of 100,000 and marched south into the northern part of Yanmen County.
Nie Yi led a few Xiongnu into Mayi first, led his family to rush into the county lingfu, and killed several people dressed in official clothes in the county lingfu at night, one of which was the county order with a copper seal and black silk. A group of people took the first rank, hung above the city gate, and reported to the Huns.
After listening to the scout's report, the military minister immediately rolled up the flag and armor and marched in the direction of Mayi.
The Han Dynasty army has long been waiting for the rabbit, with a total strength of about 320,000. Yushi Dafu (one of the Three Dukes, with an official title) Han Anguo was a general who guarded the army and restrained the other generals. Wei Wei (one of the Nine Qings, official erpin) Li Guang was a general of Xiao Qi, TaiBu (one of the nine secretaries, one of the official erpin) Gongsun He was a general of light vehicles, Wang Hui of Daxing was made a general of General Tun, and Taizhong Dafu (official rank of Six Pins) Li Xi was made a general of material officials.
The layout of the Han army in the Datong Basin, Han An Guobu rode 120,000 horses, and deployed not far south of Mayi, which was also the hiding place when Li Mu broke the Xiongnu. Gongsun He's 70,000 horsemen were stationed near Shanwucheng in Yanmen County, and Li Guang's 80,000 horsemen were stationed near the Guangwu Fortress in Taiyuan County, and when Han Anguo and the Xiongnu began to fight, they quickly supported. Wang Hui led 30,000 horsemen, as well as thousands of men and hundreds of ox carts, to garrison Gaoliu (高柳, in modern Yanggao, Shanxi), and when the two sides were engaged, they marched south to the vicinity of Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong, Shanxi) to block the Xiongnu retreat. Li Xi led 20,000 infantry to quietly hide in Pingcheng, and when the Xiongnu retreated, they joined Wang Hui's army to block the Xiongnu.
Originally, the Han army thought that the Xiongnu would pass through Pingcheng, so Li Xijun deliberately showed weakness in Pingcheng, the city gate was closed, and there was not even a shadow on the city wall. If the Xiongnu attacked Pingcheng, Li Xi gradually threw in defensive forces and dragged the Xiongnu army to Pingcheng, and the other four people and horses would be in Pingcheng. Although it was impossible to encircle the Xiongnu, it was also possible to inflict heavy damage on the opponent.
Instead of taking the conventional route, the military ministers took a detour to the west, from the Source River, a tributary of the Sanggan River, to the Datong Basin from the north of the Hongtao Mountains. It was equivalent to passing through the east of Shanwucheng in Yanmen County, and passing by Gongsun He's army.
The Scouts of the Han army were disguised as herders, or hid or hung the Huns from afar. When Gongsun He learned that the Xiongnu brigade was passing nearby, he did not lead an army to meet the enemy, but instead ordered the scouts to act carefully and not to disturb the Xiongnu from entering the Datong Basin.
The Xiongnu army entered the Datong Basin without bloodshed and bypassed Pingcheng perfectly. Then all the way south, to a place more than a hundred miles away from Mayi. On this road, cattle and sheep were in groups of three or five, all over the mountains, but there was not a single shepherd.
It turned out that in this move of the Han Dynasty, Han Anguo ordered the border herders not to take away their livestock if they wanted to leave, which was learned from Li Mu. In that year, Li Mu ambushed the Xiongnu and exiled the people, cattle and sheep to the mountains, and let the Huns come to rob them. The military courtiers were surprised to see that the livestock were not grazed, and they intended to find someone to listen to the news, just when the Xiongnu scouts found someone hiding in the pavilion barrier.
The Western Han Dynasty set up a lieutenant (official position four pins) in the fortress, and then built a pavilion barrier in a dangerous place and sent people to guard it. There are two lieutenants under the lieutenant Shi Shi and two Wei Shi, who are responsible for patrolling the border pavilion barrier. These four men were of the same rank as Shi Chang, with seventeen official ranks, and the lowest rank among the officials of the Western Han Dynasty.
A lieutenant in Yanmen County, came out to patrol the border and met the Xiongnu. Wei Shi rushed into the nearby pavilion barrier to temporarily avoid, and the military minister Shan Yuwenzhi personally urged the troops to attack. The Xiongnu surrounded the pavilion barrier on all sides, and Wei Shi knew that he would not be able to escape by inserting his wings, so he went downstairs and surrendered, telling all the plans of the Han Dynasty's Mayi Siege.
The military minister Shan Yu listened and exclaimed, "As it is, I have long been suspicious and almost caught in the ruse." Saying that Shan Yu immediately returned to the army, he later named this lieutenant Shi "Heavenly King".
The Xiongnu's withdrawal route was also drawn up long ago by the military ministers Shan Yu and the kings of all sizes, and they would not return the same way, but would go north through Pingcheng to return to the north of Yanmen County.
At this time, Wang Hui's 30,000-strong army was close to Pingcheng, about a day later than originally planned. It turned out that the Xiongnu had a heavy army of thousands of people, driving tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, and was approaching Pingcheng to meet the main Xiongnu force. The military ministers divided into two routes, the main combat troops bypassed Pingcheng, but the heavy supply went to Pingcheng, planning to sack Ma Yi and meet near Pingcheng.
Originally planned, Wang Hui's army should have rushed to Pingcheng to make peace with Li Xihui, removed a large number of defensive equipment such as resisting horses from the city, and set up a position to block the remnants of the Xiongnu. Wang Hui's army was a day late, because Wang Hui wanted to put the Xiongnu heavy troops into the encirclement.
Now that the military ministers had suddenly withdrawn their troops, Wang Hui's army had not yet been in place, and a blockade battle was about to become a cavalry assault and shooting battle.
Li Xi stood at the head of Pingcheng City, scanning the piles of rejecting horses in the upper and lower parts of the city, and his mood was anxious. The Han army made good use of rejecting horses, and in order to prevent the enemy from sneaking attacks, where there were military camps, there were rejected horses. The so-called rejecting horse is to use three long logs, multiple short vertical logs, a triangular instrument bundled into a bundle, and a sharpened wooden gun tied to the top vertical wood. Placed around the camp, it can effectively block the charge and leap of the enemy cavalry. Even when fleeing, it can effectively slow down the speed of the pursuing soldiers.
Li Xijun went out day and night, transported a lot of wood into the city, and drove more than three thousand horses. These horses are tall and short, jagged and inconsistent. The original open space can be arranged in a large array composed of multiple horses, and the Xiongnu cavalry horse resistance array is interspersed with detours, completely losing the impact, but the spears and axes of the Han army can show great power. Unfortunately, these rejecting horses are now in the city and have no effect at all.
The day before, Li Xi received an order from Wang Hui that he must release the Xiongnu to cross the Pingcheng City with heavy cattle and sheep, and wait for Wang Hui's cavalry to join the division, and then go out of the city to discharge the horse-rejecting array.
However, the plan could not catch up with the change, and the Xiongnu in the north still had not yet reached Pingcheng, but the main Xiongnu force in the south suddenly turned around and headed towards Pingcheng. The Xiongnu cavalry came and went like the wind, and in another hour or two, the main force would reach pingcheng.
If Li Xi went out of the city at this moment to put up a horse-rejecting formation, without the cover of cavalry, his infantry would be the target of the Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu would not need to charge at all. Li Xi rubbed his hands and feet, and his heart was burning, but he could not wait for Wang Hui's military orders.
More than an hour later, thousands of Xiongnu came to the vicinity of Pingcheng, and they were very cautious, spreading out for more than a dozen miles to do a good job of reconnaissance for the main retreat. At this time, Wang Hui also led the front team to the vicinity of Pingcheng, but he did not dare to attack. In the final analysis, Wang Hui's cavalry can only be regarded as infantry that can ride horses, and the difference between riding and shooting kung fu is too far from that of the Xiongnu.
Wang Hui looked at the dust raised by the main Xiongnu cavalry not far away and sighed. According to the original plan, Li Xi put up a sniper position of 20,000 people to resist the horse, and Wang Hui's 30,000 cavalry met the Xiongnu cavalry that had lost their impact in the passage of the horse refusal. With a defensive array of 50,000 people to resist the remnants of the Xiongnu, Wang Hui thought that the odds of victory were greater.
However, at this moment, Wang Hui only had 30,000 infantry on horseback, and 20,000 infantry in the city, and it was too late to deploy the front, but the other side had 100,000 iron horses.
Wang Hui closed his eyes tightly, his heart ached, and he had carefully planned for many years, but in the end he still lost everything in front of his eyes.