The Xiongnu, a nomadic people of the ancient Mongolian plateau, arose in the foothills of the Yin Mountains in today's Inner Mongolia.
In the Spring and Autumn Warring States period when a hundred flowers bloomed and a hundred schools of thought contended, the Xiongnu already posed a great threat to the Central Plains regime, and you may say that the Princes of the Central Plains fought so lively, why didn't they see the Xiongnu taking the opportunity to share a piece of the pie?
This was because the Xiongnu forces at that time were not very strong, and coupled with the fact that Li Mu, one of the four famous generals of the Warring States, was guarding the border town, the Xiongnu simply could not intervene in the struggle of the central plains princes.
After the Battle of Changping, the State of Zhao was almost destroyed, and as a last resort, the State of Zhao transferred Li Mu back from the border to resist the State of Qin, but unfortunately, Li Mu failed to save the State of Zhao.
After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, in order to solve the problem of the Xiongnu, Qin Shi Huang ordered the general Meng Tian to guard the frontier, and Meng Tian lived up to the expectations of the people and drove the Xiongnu out of the Hetao region.
However, in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, Meng Tian was innocently accused, Zhao Gao and Qin II acted recklessly, and the Xiongnu saw the opportunity and became strong again.
After Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu repeatedly invaded, posing a great danger to the Western Han regime.
In order to eliminate the Xiongnu threat, Liu Bang also personally led a large army to fight against the Xiongnu, but was besieged by the Xiongnu in Baideng, and later reluctantly escaped, after which he lowered his posture in front of the Xiongnu, a situation that was not reversed until the time of Emperor Wu of han.
However, Emperor Wu of Han was able to break the balance of power with the Xiongnu thanks to Liu Bang's wife Lü Yan.
After Liu Bang's death, the power of the Western Han Fell into the hands of Lü Hou, but the Xiongnu Shan Yu took the opportunity to flirt with her, in order to defeat the Xiongnu, Lü Hou endured humiliation and sent two luxury cars, and then gave orders to girls over the age of 15 in the country.
57 years later, Fang Zhi lu hou's cleverness, let's look at it together.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > Liu Bang died, and Lü Hou came to the dynasty</h1>
We all know that the first and only female emperor in history was Wu Zetian, but the woman who first controlled the entire dynasty after the Qin Dynasty was not her, but Lü Yan.
To put it mildly, after Liu Bang's death, Lü Yan was no different from the emperor, except that she did not take the step of finally becoming emperor, of course, this is not to say that Lü Hou's ability is not enough, but she does not want to.
During the eight years that Liu Bang claimed to be emperor, Lü Hou did not idle, and he made great contributions to suppressing the rebellion of the princes, fighting against the separatist forces, and consolidating the unified power of the Han Dynasty.
For example, when dealing with han xin, the most tricky hero, it was Lü Hou who came forward to kill Han Xin in the secret room with a lightning speed.
Of course, Lü Hou's active activities in the court were purposeful, and all this also laid the foundation for her to take power after Liu Bang's death.
As the saying goes: the most poisonous beauty heart.
Lü Hou was a rather vicious beauty, and after she took power, she not only made her lover Lady Qi a human figure, but also planned to slaughter all the heroes who followed Liu Bang to fight the world.
Fortunately, at this time, a minister named Li Shang stood up and advised Lü Yan not to do so, and to grant amnesty to the world in order to win the hearts and minds of the people.
When Lü Hou was calling for wind and rain at home, the Xiongnu naturally did not idle, not only stepping up the harassment of the Han Dynasty border, but also their leader Mao Dun Shan Yu also hit Lü Hou's body.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="53" > the Xiongnu were strong and flirted with Lü Hou</h1>
Mao Dundan was then the military commander of the Xiongnu tribe, of course, this person was also the number one fierce man, in the first year of Qin II, he killed his father and became Shan Yu.
Later, under his four-sided conquest, he unified the northern steppe for the first time and established a large and powerful Xiongnu Empire.
After Liu Bang became emperor, he personally led troops to conquer the siege of Baideng encountered by the Xiongnu, and it was Mao Dun who pretended to be a failure to lure Liu Bang into Baideng Mountain, and then besieged Liu Bang and the Han army on Baideng Mountain with a large army.
The two sides fought several times, the Xiongnu could not occupy Baideng Mountain, the Han army could not break through, and they could not hold each other, and later the general Han Wangxin, who had discussed with Mo Dun to deal with Liu Bang, did not arrive at the battlefield on time, which made Mo Dun suspicious and opened a corner of the encirclement.
Liu Bang saw the opportunity, so he broke through from here and fled.
After Liu Bang escaped, Mo Dun was even more invincible, and Liu Bang had no choice but to adopt a policy of peace and affinity, stabilizing Mo Dun, and the two sides entered a short period of peace.
After Liu Bang's death, Mao Dun saw the opportunity again, and wanted to provoke Lü Hou and provoke a war, so he wrote to Lü Hou:
The lonely prince, born in the midst of depression, grew up in the realm of flat bison and horses, counted to the border, and was willing to travel to China. His Majesty is independent and lives alone. The two lords are not happy, they have nothing to fear, and they are willing to give everything and change what they have.
This means that I am a countryman, always thinking of going around to your place, and now Liu Bang is dead, leaving you alone for a lifetime, just because I live alone, there is no pastime activity, if you don't mind, let's live together, so that we can take what we need.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="55" > Lü Hou endured humiliation, and Emperor Wu rose up</h1>
After receiving Mo Dun's letter, Lü Hou was quite concerned, and for this naked flirtation, she was almost blown up, so she prepared to kill the Xiongnu emissaries and send troops to fight the Xiongnu.
Fortunately, at this time, Ji Bu stood up again, and he analyzed the situation for Lü Hou, believing that it was not a good idea to send troops, after all, Liu Bang's personal conquest was almost unable to return, and at this time to attack the Xiongnu was not a sheep into the tiger's mouth?
After hearing this, Lü Hou felt that he was right, so he could only bear the burden of humiliation and humbly wrote a reply to Mo Dun:
Don't forget the evils, give them books, and fear the evils. Retreating to oneself, old age and decay, teeth decay, walking out of step, just listening, not enough to defile yourself. The ills are innocent and should be forgiven. There are two chariots and two horses, so as to drive regularly.
This means that I am old and frail, and I can't live with you, but fortunately, I have two luxury cars, both of which are given to you.
When Mo Dun received Lü Hou's letter, knowing that the purpose of intimidation and flirtation had been achieved, he went down the donkey, saying that he did not know the etiquette of the Central Plains, and that he had offended a lot, and asked Lü Hou to forgive him.
The correspondence diplomacy between the two sides came to an end, but Lü Hou, who had always been angry about this time, wrote an order to women over the age of 15 in the country, namely:
A woman who is over fifteen to thirty years old does not marry, and five is counted.
This means that if you do not marry after the age of fifteen, you will be directly fined five times the tax.
Clear-eyed people can see that Lü Hou's order is intended to increase the population of the Central Plains, and in the era of cold weapons, the number of soldiers is crucial to the victory or defeat of the war.
Of course, increasing the number of people was a long process, and this policy did not show much power until the death of Lü Hou, but by the time of Emperor Wu of Han 57 years later, the population of the Han Dynasty had increased from more than 10 million to more than 32 million.
It was precisely by virtue of his confidence in population numbers that Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty was able to conquer the Xiongnu again and again until he drove them back into the desert.
Therefore, behind emperor Wu of Han's repeated attacks on the Xiongnu, Lü Hou was indispensable...
References: Book of Han, History of History, etc.
(Figure net, invasion and deletion)