Battle of Monan: The First Battle of Western Han Champion Hou Huo Qubing

Battle of Monan: The First Battle of Western Han Champion Hou Huo Qubing

Brief introduction of Monan campaign

From the fifth year of the Western Han Dynasty (BC 124) to the sixth year, in the war between the Western Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent 100,000 troops three times to counterattack the right king in the desert south of Mongolia and a small battle.

The process of the battle of the south of the desert

In the second year of Yuanshuo, after the Battle of Henan (now in the area of Yikezhao League in southern Inner Mongolia and Hetao area of the Yellow River) (see the Battle of Henan), the Huns were unwilling to fail, and successively raided Dai Jun (the county ruled the county, now the northeast city of Yuxian County in Hebei Province), Yanmen (the county was well governed, now the south of Youyu City in Shanxi Province), Dingxiang (the county was well governed, now Tuchengzi in northwest Inner Mongolia and Linger) and Shang Jun.

He toured Wang Xian several times to attack Hanbian County, merged into Henan, harassed Shuofang County (now north of Hangjinqi, Inner Mongolia), and killed the captured people. Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, decided to fight back against Wang Xian and Xiongnu Khan. In the spring of five years, Emperor Wu counterattacked the right king with 65,438+10,000 cavalry. Wei Qing, a general riding a bicycle, rode out of Gaoque with a rate of 30,000 (now Jilan Pass in the middle of Langshan Mountain in Inner Mongolia), and commanded four generals, namely guerrilla general Su Jian, strong crossbow general Li Ju, riding general Gong Sunhe and Qingqi general Cai Li, to go north and attack the Youxian Wangting from a distance; At the same time, the big bank stabbed the public and led his troops out of right Beiping (the county ruled Pinggang, now northwest of Lingyuan, Liaoning) to contain the left.

Wei went hundreds of miles out of the city, surrounded by night, and attacked the son of heaven. Right Wang Xian, unguarded, led hundreds of elite riders to escape. Wei Qing captured more than 0.5 million men and women and hundreds of thousands of livestock. In the spring of six years, Liang Wudi ordered general Wei Qing to lead general Gong, left general Gong Sunhe, former general Zhao Xin, right general Su Jian, later general Li Guang and strong crossbow general Li Ju to ride out of Dingxiang to attack Xiongnu, beheaded thousands, and rested in Dingxiang, Yun Yun and Yanmen. In the summer of the same year, Wei Qing led six generals with more than 65,438+100,000 to attack the Xiongnu in Dingxiang again, killing more than 65,438+100,000 prisoners. Dingxiang went out two times, killing Xiongnu 1.9 million.

In the second year after the recovery of Henan in the Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu army minister Khan died, and his brother Zuo Wang became Khan with wisdom and self-reliance, and sent troops to break the army minister Khan and the prince Khan. Khan was defeated and surrendered to the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty named him Hou An, and he died in the Han Dynasty soon. After Yi Zhi-sub Khan ascended the throne, he harassed the border counties of the Western Han Dynasty more frequently. In the summer of the third year of Yuan Shuo (BC 126), the Xiongnu enterprises invaded Dai Jun, killed the satrap and took thousands of people. In autumn, Xiongnu entered Yanmen again, killing more than a thousand people.

In the second year, Xiongnu soldiers were divided into three roads, each with 30,000 riders, and entered Dai Jun, Dingxiang (now northeast of Inner Mongolia and Linger) and Shang Jun, killing thousands of people.

Xiongnu Right Wang Xian held a grudge against the Western Han Dynasty for recovering Henan land and building Shuofang City, and attacked Shuofang several times, killing many officials and people in an attempt to recapture Henan land. In order to ensure the northern part of the country and further attack the Huns, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty decided to implement the second-step strategic plan, and sent more than10,000 troops to attack Wang Xian, the right wing of the Huns who occupied the southern desert. Han army soldiers are divided into two roads, with marked army as the main direction, with Wei Qing directly commanding 30,000 cavalry, going out of Gaoque to the north, commanding guerrilla general Su Jian, general Li Ju with a strong crossbow, riding general Gong Sunhe, general Cai Li without pomp and other tens of thousands of troops, and going out to the north to take the right king Wang Ting.

The Eastern Route Army, led by big banks Li Xi and Zhang Cigong, left Beiping and attacked Xiongnu Left to contain its forces and cooperate with Wei's attack. In the spring of the fifth year of Yuan Shuo (BC 124), Wei Qing led an army to the Great Wall, and quietly surrounded the right Wang Xian Wang Ting (about present-day Mongolians and South Gobi Province) at night. You thought that Wang Ting was far away from the Han territory, and it was impossible for the Han army to attack here, so he didn't take any preventive measures. That night, you Wang Xian was drunk. Wei Qing took the opportunity to command the Han army to launch a surprise attack, and the Huns immediately made a mess. You Wangxian woke up from his dream, frightened to disgrace, unable to organize resistance, and quickly took his concubine and led hundreds of elite cavalry to break through and escape.

Wei Qing urged Guo Cheng, a captain of Qing Qi, to lead the army to pursue north. Guo Cheng and others chased for hundreds of miles, but they didn't come back until they couldn't catch up. In this campaign, the Han army captured men and women 15000 people, Wang Bi (Xiongnu Xiao Wang) 10 people, and hundreds of thousands of livestock, which won a great victory. The East Route Army commanded by Li Xi and Zhang Cigong also won. When the Han army returned to the frontier fortress triumphantly, the envoys sent by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty rushed to the army with the general's seal, worshipped Wei Qing as the general, and sealed 8,700 food cities, all of which were under the command of Wei Qing.

The rest of the generals were also greatly commended. In order to reward Wei Qing, Liang Wudi even named Wei Qing's three infant sons Hou, named Yi Chun Hou (Wei Heng), Ming An Hou (Wei Yi) and Hou (Wei Deng). Wei Qing refused, Liang Wudi firmly refused. After the defeat of Xiongnu's right Wang Xian, Yi Zhi Xie Khan was extremely unwilling. In the autumn of the same year, more than 65,438+0,000 cavalry men were sent to attack Daixian County, killing Zhu Ying, a surname of Daixian County, and plundering thousands of people.

In order to hunt down the Huns and consolidate the frontier defense, in the spring of the sixth year of Yuanshuo (BC 123), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered general Wei Qing to send troops from Dingxiang, with general Gong Wei as the left general, general Zhao Xin as the former general, general Su Jian as the right general, general Li Guang as the rear general, and general Li Ju as the strong crossbow, leading hundreds of cavalry and slaying thousands of enemies. More than a month later, they all sent troops from Dingxiang to attack the Huns, killing and injuring more than ten thousand people.

Huo Qubing (BC 140 ~ BC 1 17), nephew of Wei Qing, a captain of a title of generals in ancient times, took part in the battle against Huns for the first time at the age of 17. He led 800 cavalry, pursued hundreds of miles, captured more than 2,000 Huns, killed Xie Khan's father (contemporaries with Khan's grandfather), captured Khan's uncle Luogu, Xiongnu, Danghu and other senior officials, and returned safely.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty crowned the whole army with achievements, made it the number one scholar, and gave 2,500 food cities. In this campaign, Wei Qing combined Zhao Xin and Su Jian's two armies into one, and marched separately. As a result, they met Khan alone, and more than 3,000 Han riders fought against tens of thousands of tarquin. After a fierce battle, the Han army was exhausted and almost wiped out. Zhao Xin was originally a Xiongnu capitulator. After the Han Dynasty, he was made a marquis. Seeing that the Xiongnu army was strong, he wavered and led more than 800 disabled soldiers to surrender to the Xiongnu. Su Jian broke through and fled back alone. Wei Qing didn't want to kill the general, so he sent someone to send Su Jian to Chang 'an. Emperor Wu pardoned Su Jian and banished him to Shu Ren.

After Zhao Xin surrendered to the Huns, he gave advice to Yizhi Xiekhan, moved the Huns' human and animal troops northward, induced the Han army to go deep, and then sneaked in from a distance when the Han army was tired. Seeing the growing strength of the Han army, Zhiyi Xiehan adopted this suggestion, ordered to leave the desert south area and move to Mobei, and sent troops to continue harassing the Han side. The next year, Zuo led another 10,000 cavalry into the valley, killing hundreds of people. In the two battles of Dingxiang, the Han army changed the previous practice of temporarily organizing troops before the war, and set up four armies, namely, the middle army, the left army, the right army, the front army and the back army, under the unified command of General Wei Qing, and directly mastered the strong crossbow army, which improved the ability of all armies to cooperate in combat.

This is the most rigorous military formation since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used troops against the Huns. However, in actual combat, due to poor communication and exchange, the right guard army failed to cooperate well, which led to its encounter with the Xiongnu Khan army, and more than 3,000 riders were wiped out. The Han army went to Dingxiang, although * * * wiped out 19000 fighters, but it did not achieve the expected purpose of attacking the Khan headquarters. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty rewarded Wei Qing, the commander in chief, for his small military achievements, but he didn't benefit any more.

The influence of the battle of Monan

The battle of desert south was a strange war, which was not recorded in the history books, so later generations had different evaluations. This is the first time that the Han army fought against the Huns Khan, and it has a certain exploratory nature, so Wei Qing played very carefully. The first time was in February of the lunar calendar. After killing 3,000 enemies, I went back to Shanhaiguan for repair. According to historians' speculation, the Han army was ambushed by Xiongnu and suffered heavy losses, so Wei Qing returned to Shanhaiguan and waited for the next instructions of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty.

In April of the lunar calendar, the Han army went to the fortress again. Although the enemy cut 1000 this time, the 3000 troops led by Su Jian and Zhao Xin were defeated, Su Jian fled back alone, and Zhao Xin surrendered to the Huns and became the right-hand man of Huns Khan. Strictly speaking, the expedition of the Han army ended in failure. Afterwards, Emperor Wu did not seal Wei Qing. However, although it failed on the whole, Huo Qubing's victory greatly increased the face of Emperor Wu. He led 800 Qingqi, left the army, pursued the Huns for hundreds of miles alone, ambushed a camp of the Huns, defeated the enemy in 2028, and captured a large number of important Huns.

The defeat of the Battle of Shamonan shows that the insurmountable problem encountered by Wei Qing Corps in the mid-term operation is that the Huns have clearly understood Hanting's intention and retreated to form a strategic depth, while Wei Qing Corps is afraid to drive directly for fear of being divided by Xiongnu, which proves that Wei Qing Corps' operation is still an improved positional warfare, and it has not formed an effective high-mobility movement mode, nor has it formed a deterrent to Xiongnu strategically. During the two years of the Han Dynasty, 100,000 troops were dispatched to attack the Xiongnu three times in a row, which caused a heavy burden to the national economy.

In the battle in the sixth year of Yuan Shuo (BC 123), the Han Dynasty lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, not counting the water and land transportation expenses of weapons, armor and other things. The money and taxes in the Han dynasty were still not enough to pay for the soldiers. In this year, Liang Wudi set up Wu Jue, which made people pay for it and ransom to reduce crimes such as imprisonment, so as to supplement military supplies. The Xiongnu's northward movement also caused dual military and economic pressures on the counterattack of the Han army.

Although the Battle of Monan won, it did not complete the strategic goal of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty to annihilate the main force of Xiongnu, and Xiongnu military forces could still plunder the Han territory and come and go like the wind. So after the battle, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not give Wei a reward, which showed that he was not satisfied with the result of the battle. However, Emperor Wu praised Huo Qubing, and Huo Qubing began to emerge.