Li Ling’s affairs

In the summer of the second year of the Tianhan Dynasty (99 BC), in May, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent General Li Guang of the Second Division to lead 30,000 cavalry out of Jiuquan to attack King Youxian of the Xiongnu in the Tiankun Mountain area.*** After capturing more than 10,000 Huns, they returned. On the way, he was surrounded by Huns. The Han army was short of food for several days and suffered heavy casualties. Zhao Chongguo, a native of Longxi who acted for Sima, led more than 100 strong soldiers to break through the Xiongnu siege. Li Guang led the army to follow closely, and he was able to get out of the predicament. In this battle, sixty-seven out of ten Han soldiers were killed, and Zhao Chongguo was injured in more than twenty places. Li Guangli reported to the court, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty summoned Zhao Chongguo to his residence and received him personally. After inspecting his injuries, he sighed and named Zhao Chongguo Zhonglang.

This battle was actually a bad battle for the Han Dynasty. The Han army won first and then lost. However, because Li Guangli was a relative of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he was not beheaded. Instead, he continued to lead the army. There were victories and defeats in the campaign in the Western Regions, with few victories and many defeats. In the end, they were defeated and surrendered to the Huns, who were exterminated by the emperor. In this battle in the second year of Tianhan, apart from ordinary soldiers who did not leave their names in history, the unlucky ones were Li Ling, the grandson of the famous general Li Guang.

Li Ling's first position was that of a servant. Because he was proficient in horseback riding and archery, loved his soldiers, and treated the wise men with humility, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty thought that he had the style of his grandfather Li Guang and named him the Cavalry Commander. , ordered him to lead five thousand people from Danyang and Chu to teach archery in Jiuquan and Zhangye to guard against the Huns. When Li Guangli attacked the Huns, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty summoned Li Ling and wanted to order him to escort Li Guangli's baggage. Li Ling kowtowed and asked, "The people I am leading to garrison the frontier are all brave men and talented swordsmen from the Jingchu area. In terms of strength, they can slay a tiger, and in terms of archery, they are perfect with every shot. I hope that I can lead a team of men myself." , Go to the area south of Lanyu Mountain to disperse the Xiongnu Chanyu's forces so that they cannot fully resist the troops of General Ershi." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said: "Don't you want to be someone else's subordinate? There are too many, and there are no horses for you." Li Ling said: "I have no need for horses, and I would like to lead five thousand infantry to the palace of the Xiongnu Chanyu with a small number of enemies."

Seeing this, we You may wonder why Li Ling would rather lead an expedition of five thousand infantry than be Li Guangli's subordinate. The good thing about history is that it is a fact that has already happened. People can always find many reasons afterwards for the fact to happen as a matter of course. So we might as well analyze it.

This probably starts with the title of General Li Guangli of the Second Division.

At that time, the envoys sent by the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions came back and reported to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "There are good horses in Dayuan, hidden in the city of Ershi, and they are not willing to give them to the Han envoys." So Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent a warrior chariot. Ling and others went to Dawan with a thousand pounds of gold and a golden horse to ask for exchange. The King of Dayuan discussed with his ministers: "The Han Dynasty is far away from our country, and the road in the salt swamp is difficult and often leads to death; if you come from the north, you will be harassed by the Huns; if you come from the south, there will be no water and grass, and there will often be a lack of city walls." , food. The Han Dynasty sent hundreds of people as envoys, and more than half of them died due to lack of food. How could the Han Dynasty send a large army? So the horses of Ershi City are our Dawan Kingdom. BMW." So he refused to give it to the Han Dynasty. The Han envoy was angry, cursed loudly, broke the golden horse with a hammer and left (many Han envoys at that time were poor, hooligans, and desperadoes. This Han envoy was very hooligan). The nobles of Dawan said angrily: "The Han envoys look down on us!" They asked the Han envoys to leave, and then ordered King Yu Cheng, who was stationed on the eastern border, to lead his troops to intercept, kill the Han envoys, and seize the property carried by the Han envoys. (If you want rogues, everyone will be rogues)

So Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious. Yao Dinghan and others who once sent envoys to Dayuan reported: "Dayuan's military strength is weak. As long as we send 3,000 troops and shoot them with powerful crossbows, we can capture them all." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once sent Zhao Ponu, the Marquis of Zhaoye. He led 700 cavalry to capture the King of Loulan alive and believed that Yao Dinghan and others were right. Moreover, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to make his favorite concubine Mrs. Li's family a marquis at this time, so he appointed Mrs. Li's brother Li Guangli as the general of the second division and recruited six cavalrymen from the vassal country. Tens of thousands of young people with bad conduct from various counties and countries went to conquer Dawan Kingdom. He hoped that Li Guangli would go to Ershi City to obtain good horses, so he was named General of Ershi.

As a result, Li Guang led his troops to march westward. After crossing the salt swamp, the small countries along the way all defended themselves in the city and refused to supply the Han army with food. After coming down, you can only continue to move forward and fight the next one. By the time they reached Yucheng, there were only a few thousand men left in the army, and they were all hungry and exhausted. Attacking Yucheng, they were defeated by the army guarding Yucheng, causing heavy casualties. He had no choice but to lead his troops back. By the time they arrived at Dunhuang, the soldiers were only one-tenth and two-tenths of what they had when they left for the expedition. Li Guangli sent someone to report to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: "The road is far away and food is scarce. Although the soldiers are not afraid of fighting, they are unbearably hungry. Besides, the number is too small to capture Dawan. I hope to stop the troops temporarily and wait for more evidence to be dispatched." The army will then go to conquer." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious when he heard the report and sent envoys to Yumen to stop him. At the same time, he ordered: "Anyone in the army who dares to retreat into Yumen Pass will be beheaded!" Li Guangli was so frightened that he stayed in Dunhuang.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty then pardoned the prisoners who were serving their sentences and recruited young men with bad conduct and cavalry from the frontier areas. In more than a year, more than 60,000 people were sent to Dunhuang to reinforce Li Guangli, the general of the Second Division. Those who followed carrying personal equipment were not counted. In addition, 100,000 cattle, 30,000 horses, tens of thousands of donkeys, camels, etc. were recruited, as well as sufficient food and weapons and crossbows.

There were more than 50 officers transferred from various places to the army to conquer Dawan. Even because there were no wells in Dawan City and they relied on drawing water from the river outside the city, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent hydraulic workers to accompany the army to prepare to divert the river water outside Dawan City to other places and use the old water channels to dig holes to attack the city. An additional 180,000 garrison soldiers were deployed to the area north of Jiuquan and Zhangye, and troops were stationed in Juyan and Xiutu to protect Jiuquan. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also issued an order: All seven types of criminal officials, fugitives, men who married into married women, merchants, people who were originally registered as merchants, whose parents or grandparents were registered as merchants, and all seven types of people in the country will be punished as soldiers. There was an endless stream of vehicles and laborers transporting food. After such a big movement, Li Guangli failed to capture the city of Dayuan in the end. He only asked Dayuan to surrender and sacrifice horses. However, Dayuan immediately killed the puppet monarch established by the Han Dynasty after the Han army withdrew.

From this point of view, even if Li Guangli is not a fool general, his ability is at best average. As the grandson of the famous general Li Guang, Li Ling may really only look at him with his nostrils. Li Ling's grandfather, Li Guang, was ostracized in Wei Qing's army (Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty told Wei Qing not to allow Li Guang to participate in the battle to encircle and suppress the Xiongnu Chanyu because of Li Guang's "number of oddities" and bad luck), and because he got lost during the march, he committed suicide in grief and anger. . Li Guang's son Li Gan was so angry that he attacked Wei Qing and injured Wei Qing. Wei Qing did not argue with him, but Huo Qubing found out and shot him. Emperor Wu concealed it for Huo Qubing and only said that Li Gan was hit by a deer and died. The reason why Li Ling insisted on leading the army alone may be that he looked down on the crony general Li Guangli, and he also planned to make extraordinary achievements in order to reverse the case of his father and grandfather in the future.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appreciated Li Ling's heroic ambition, agreed to his request, and ordered Lu Bode to meet Li Ling halfway. Lu Bode and Li Ling's father Li Gan were both under the command of Huo Qubing, and they were granted the title of marquis together. Let's not talk about whether there was any conflict. As the father, he was also ashamed to be Li Ling's backup force. It seems that the Han people at that time were quite bloody, although it caused many troubles. There are fewer problems, but it seems to be better than the warm-hearted character of Chinese people today. So Lu Bode reported: "It is autumn now, and the Xiongnu horses are fat. It is not suitable to fight with the Xiongnu at this time. I hope that your majesty will order Li Ling to wait until next spring and go out together again." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very angry, and suspected that Li Ling was timid and regretful. , did not want to go out, but asked Lu Bode to submit a letter, and then issued an edict ordering Lu Bode to lead his troops to Xihe to attack the Huns. At the same time, Li Ling was ordered to set out from Yanzheluzhao in September and go deep into the Longle River south of Dongjunji Mountain to patrol and observe the Huns. If there is no sign of the enemy, they will return to the surrendered city to rest their soldiers. It was this misunderstanding that caused Li Ling to go deep alone, which eventually led to the tragic ending.

After receiving the order, Li Ling led 5,000 infantrymen and advanced northward from Juyan. Thirty days later, he arrived at Junji Mountain, where he stopped and set up camp. Along the way, he ordered people to map the mountains and rivers he passed. Figure, sent his subordinate cavalry Chen Bule back to Chang'an. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty summoned Chen Bule and heard his report that Li Ling could make his subordinates fight to the death. He was very happy and named Chen Bule a Langguan. Li Ling met the Xiongnu army led by Shan Yu at Junji Mountain. The Huns surrounded Li Ling's army with about 30,000 cavalry. Li Ling stationed his troops between the two mountains and formed a camp with carts. He personally led his soldiers to form a battle formation outside the camp. The front row held halberds and shields, and the back row held bows and crossbows. Seeing that there were few Han soldiers, the Xiongnu soldiers advanced directly to the position in front of the camp. Li Ling led his troops to attack and started fighting. The Han army fired thousands of crossbows. The Xiongnu soldiers fell to the ground one after another and had to retreat to the mountain. The Han army pursued and killed thousands of Xiongnu. Chanyu was shocked and summoned more than 80,000 cavalry from the left and right wing armies to besiege Li Ling.

Li Ling led his troops to fight and retreat, and retreated south. A few days later, they came to a valley. The Han army fought one after another, and most of the soldiers were wounded by arrows, but they still fought hard. Only those with three or more injuries were qualified to sit in the car, those with two injuries were driving, and those with one injury continued to fight with weapons in hand. The real ones were only slightly injured. At the front of the line of fire, more than 3,000 Huns were killed. The army retreated southeast along the old Longcheng Road. After four or five days, they retreated into a large swamp of reeds. The Xiongnu set fire to the upper wind in an attempt to burn the Han army to death; Li Ling also ordered his men to set fire to the surrounding reeds to save themselves. As a result, the army escaped from the sea of ????fire and continued southward until they came to the foot of a mountain. Chanyu ordered his son to lead the cavalry to attack the Han army on Nanshan Mountain. The Han army fought on foot in the woods, killing thousands of Xiongnu people, and shot the Chanyu with repeating crossbows, causing the Chanyu to go down the mountain to escape. On this day, the Han army captured some Xiongnu prisoners. According to them, "We heard Shan Yu say: "These are the elite soldiers of the Han Dynasty. The fierce attack failed to wipe them out. They led us southward to approach the Han Dynasty day and night. Could it be that they were Is there an ambush army? 'All the officials and rulers said: "The Chanyu personally led tens of thousands of cavalry to attack thousands of Han troops but failed to destroy them. In the future, he will no longer be able to order the border ministers, and it will also make the Han Dynasty despise the Xiongnu even more. Therefore, we must Fight hard again in the valley, and there are still forty or fifty miles before reaching the plains. If you still can't win, you will return.'"

But at this time, the situation of the Han army became more and more dangerous. The Huns had many cavalry, and they fought dozens of rounds a day. The Han army killed and wounded more than 2,000 Xiongnu. The Xiongnu were having trouble fighting and planned to withdraw their troops.

Things seemed to have turned around at this point, but at this time, a military commander named Guan Gan in Li Ling's army fled to the Huns and surrendered because he was bullied by the captain. The traitor was responsible for the trouble) and told the true situation of the Han army one by one: "Li Ling's troops have no backup and are about to run out of arrows. Only the general's subordinates and the troops of Colonel Cheng'an Marquis Han Yannian, each of 800 people, are opening the way in front, with yellow flags and The white flag serves as a symbol. Elite cavalry should be sent to shoot them with bows and arrows, and the Han army can defeat them immediately.

"Chanyu was overjoyed to get Guan Gan, and ordered the Huns cavalry to attack the Han army together. At the same time, people shouted loudly: "Li Ling and Han Yannian surrender quickly! "He also sent troops to cut off the Han army's road and attack Li Ling fiercely. Li Ling's troops were trapped in the valley. The Huns were on the mountain, shooting arrows from all sides, and arrows rained down.

Li Ling continued to retreat south, but he had not yet When they arrived at Khan Mountain, they had used up all the 500,000 arrows in one day, so they abandoned the baggage vehicles and continued their journey. At this time, there were still more than 3,000 soldiers in the army, so they could only cut off the spokes of the vehicles and use them as weapons. The soldiers also joined the battle with short swords. The Han army retreated into the narrow valley. Shan Yu personally led his troops to cut off the Han army's retreat, and ordered the Huns soldiers to roll the huge rocks from the mountain into the valley. Most of the Han army died and could not advance. After dusk, Li Ling. He walked out of the camp alone in plain clothes, stopped his entourage and said: "Don't follow me, I want to capture Shanyu alone!" After a long time, Li Ling returned to the camp and sighed: "We have been defeated and will die here!" ", it seems that he acted as an assassin at the last moment, but unfortunately returned without success.

So Li Ling ordered all the flags to be chopped down, buried together with the treasures in the ground, and sighed. , said to his men: “If there are dozens more arrows, we will be able to escape. Now that we have no weapons to fight anymore, we can only sit back and wait to be captured after dawn. It is better to escape for our lives. Some people can escape and go back to report to the emperor. So he ordered the soldiers to each bring two liters of dry food and a piece of ice, and agreed to meet at the barrier. At midnight, Li Ling ordered people to beat drums to wake up the soldiers, but the drums were broken and could not be beaten. Li Ling and Han Yannian both mounted their horses. , a dozen strong men followed, and thousands of Xiongnu cavalry followed, and Han Yannian died in the battle. Li Ling said: "I have no face to repay His Majesty the Emperor!" " So he surrendered. The others dispersed and broke through, and more than 400 people fled back to the frontier fortress. The place where Li Ling was defeated was only more than a hundred miles away from the frontier fortress. Unfortunately, there was no one to respond, and he could not hold on for the remaining day and night.

The frontier general reported the matter to the court. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty originally hoped that Li Ling would fight to the death, but when he heard that Li Ling had surrendered to the Huns, he was very angry (like Chiang Kai-shek in the three subsequent battles) and blamed him for having just been promoted to Lang. Official Chen Bule, Chen Bule committed suicide.

The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty said that Li Ling was guilty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked Sima Qian, the Taishi Ling, for his opinion on the matter. Sima Qian tried his best to defend Li Ling and said: "Li Ling is filial to his parents and to his scholars. He is a man of faith and often goes to the country when the country is in need, regardless of his own safety. This is exactly his usual ambition, and he has the demeanor of a national scholar. Now that the expedition failed unfortunately, the ministers who saved their own lives, wives and children then fabricated his shortcomings. It is really sad! Moreover, Li Ling led less than 5,000 infantrymen deep into the hinterland of the Xiongnu, which was full of war horses, and resisted tens of thousands of enemy troops. The Xiongnu were beaten to the point where they could not even save lives and heal the wounded, so they mobilized all the people in the country who could draw bows and arrows to besiege Li Ling. Li Ling led his troops to fight thousands of miles away. They ran out of arrows and had no way to go. The soldiers held empty crossbows without arrows and braved the sharp blades of the enemy's spears. They still faced the north and fought desperately. They were able to get such desperate service from their subordinates. , even a famous general in ancient times is nothing more than this! Although Li Ling was defeated, his attack on the Xiongnu was enough to make him famous throughout the world. The reason why Li Ling did not die was because he wanted to find an opportunity to serve the country. " Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty believed that Sima Qian was making false accusations and deception in order to slander Li Guangli and excuse Li Ling's lobbying, so he ordered Sima Qian to be castrated.

Much later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty expressed regret for having originally put Li Ling into an isolated and helpless situation. , said: "When Li Ling led his army out of the fortress, the strong crossbow general Lu Bode should be sent to assist him; but I issued an edict in advance, which made the veteran general Lu Bode feel treacherous and refused to assist Li Ling. "So envoys were sent to comfort and reward the remaining members of Li Ling who had escaped.

The matter did not end here. In the fourth year of the Tianhan Dynasty (97 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty conscripted the untouchables across the country into "seven disciplines and relegated them" and bravery Li Guangli, the general of the Second Division, led 60,000 cavalry and 70,000 infantry to march out of Shuofang. The strong crossbow captain Lu Bode led more than 10,000 men to join Li Guangli. The guerrilla general Han Yue led 30,000 infantry to march out of Wuyuan. Yingan General Gongsun Ao led 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry out of Yanmen to attack the Xiongnu. After hearing the news, the Xiongnu moved all their family members, property, etc. to the area north of Yuwushui, and then Shanyu personally led them. A hundred thousand troops faced the Han army led by Li Guangli on the south bank of the Yuwu River. Li Guangli fought with Shanyu's army for more than ten days, but Han said that his troops had no gain in fighting against the Xiongnu Zuoxian King. After defeat, he withdrew his troops.

This was another unlucky battle. The unlucky Gongsun Ao also had another unlucky mission during his trip, that is, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent him to lead his troops deep into the hinterland of the Xiongnu to pick up Li Ling. This shows that At this time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty still valued Li Ling very much. The unlucky Gongsun Ao returned without success, so he reported: "According to the captured Xiongnu prisoners, Li Ling taught the Shanyu to make weapons to defend against the Han army, so I gained nothing. ”

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was of course furious, so he ordered all of Li Ling’s family members to be executed. Soon I heard that it was Li Xu, the general of the Han Dynasty who surrendered to the Huns, who had done this, not Li Ling, but Li Ling had already been killed. , There is no way to save him even if you want to.

Afterwards, Li Ling sent someone to assassinate Li Xu. We can also see from this that Li Ling was unwilling to surrender to the Huns at first, if Li Xu had not ruined his return to the Han Dynasty. He would not be so angry with him because of his plan. Now that the Han Dynasty had cut off Li Ling's return, Li Ling had no choice but to gather his thoughts and wait for the Huns to die of old age.

It's just that three generations of a family have nowhere to vent their anger and nowhere to redress their grievances. Such a "number" is too strange.

The Xiongnu Chanyu's mother, Dayan, wanted to kill Li Ling, so the Chanyu hid him in the north. It was not until Dayuan's death that Li Ling returned to the royal court. It can be seen that not only Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty valued Li Ling, but also the Xiongnu Chanyu. Talents were welcomed wherever they went. Chanyu married his daughter to Li Ling and named her the King of Youxiao. Both Wei Lu and Wei Lu, who had surrendered to the Huns earlier, were respected and held power. Wei Lu was always by Chanyu's side, while Li Ling led the army in other places. Only when important matters came to the royal court for discussion.

In the third year of Zhenghe (90 BC), the Huns invaded Wuyuan and Jiuquan and killed the captains of the two counties. In March, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Li Guang to lead 70,000 troops out of Wuyuan, Shang Qiucheng to lead 20,000 troops out of Xihe, and Ma Tong to lead 40,000 cavalry out of Jiuquan to attack the Xiongnu. When the Xiongnu Chanyu received the news that the Han Dynasty was sending troops, he moved all the baggage north to the Zhiju River. King Zuo Xian drove the Xiongnu people under his jurisdiction to cross the Yuwu River and move six to seven hundred miles to live in Doumian Mountain. Yu personally led his elite troops across the temporary river. Shang Qiucheng came with his troops and took a shortcut to pursue the Huns, but saw no trace of the Huns, so he withdrew his troops and returned. The Xiongnu sent a general and Li Ling to lead more than 30,000 cavalry to pursue the Han army. The two sides fought for nine days and came to Punu River. The Xiongnu army lost the battle and retreated.

This is the only record in history that Li Ling led an army to fight the Han army after surrendering to the Huns. He pursued the Han army for nine days and failed. Compared with the five thousand infantry who could fight against the tens of thousands of Huns' cavalry, the combat level at that time was The decline was too sharp. It is estimated that Li Ling's battle was a serious one. From then on, there is no mention of Li Ling leading an army in battle in the annals of history. If it weren't for another person, Li Ling's deeds after surrendering to the Huns might have been forgotten. This man was Su Wu, the envoy of the Han Dynasty who refused to surrender to the Xiongnu.

After Su Wu was exiled to the North Sea by the Xiongnu, he could not get food supplies, so he dug up wild rats and ate the grass seeds in their holes. He held the Han Dynasty's talisman for shepherding, and carried it with him whether he was sleeping or getting up, so that all the hairy tassels on the staff fell off. When Su Wu was in the Han Dynasty, he and Li Ling were both servants. After Li Ling surrendered to the Huns, he did not dare to ask to see Su Wu. After a long time, Shanyu sent Li Ling to the North Sea to hold a banquet for Su Wu and entertained him with a band. Li Ling said to Su Wu: "The Chanyu heard that I have always had a deep friendship with you, so he sent me to persuade you that the Chanyu is willing to treat you with humility. After all, you can't go back to the Han Dynasty and suffer in vain in this desolate place. Who has seen your integrity? Your two brothers had committed suicide before. When I came here, your mother had also passed away. Your wife was young and I heard that she had remarried someone else. The remaining two sisters, two daughters, and one son are still alive after more than ten years. It is unknown whether a person's life is as short as the dew in the morning, so why do you have to suffer so much for so long. ! When I first surrendered to the Xiongnu, I was in a daze and felt like I was going crazy. I hated myself for letting down the Han Dynasty and causing my mother to be imprisoned. How could you be more unwilling to surrender to the Xiongnu than me? Besides, the emperor is old and the laws are fickle! , the ministers were not guilty but were raided and killed in dozens of families, their safety is unknown, who are you going to do this for?" From these words, it seems that Li Ling is no longer like his father Li Gan, who only wants to find Wei Qing. To take revenge, he has found the right enemy, that is, the confused court and the violent monarch. Su Wu said: "My father and my son have no talent, virtue or merit. It is only because of the emperor's cultivation that we can hold a high position, alongside the princes and generals, and enable our brothers to get close to the emperor. Therefore, I often hope to be able to repay the emperor's great kindness." . Now that I can sacrifice my life to serve the emperor, I am willing to serve the emperor even if it is a sword or a sword! I serve the king just like a son serves his father. I hope you will stop talking about it when you die for your father. "Li Ling and Su Wu drank for several days, and then persuaded: "Ziqing, please listen to me again." Su Wu said, "I have been expecting to die for a long time. Your Majesty, you must ask me, Su Wu, to surrender, so please end today's gathering. , let me die in front of you!" Seeing Su Wu's sincerity, Li Ling sighed: "Oh! You are such a righteous man! My sins with Wei Lu are as high as heaven!" He said goodbye to Su Wu with tears in his eyes. . Su Wu was given dozens of cattle and sheep.

Later, Li Ling came to Beihai and told Su Wu that Emperor Wu of Han had passed away. For several months, Su Wu faced the south every morning and night, howling and crying, and even vomiting blood. After Huyan Shanyu came to the throne, his mother Yan's behavior was not good, and the country fell apart. She was often afraid of attacks by the Han army, so Wei Lu made a plan for Shanyu and asked for peace with the Han Dynasty. Han envoys came to the Xiongnu and demanded that Su Wu and others be released back to their country. The Xiongnu pretended that Su Wu was dead. Later, the Han envoy came to the Xiongnu again. Chang Hui met the Han envoy secretly and told the envoy to Shanyu: "The emperor of the Han Dynasty was hunting in Shanglin Garden and shot down a wild goose. There was a piece of silk with writing on the goose's foot, which said Su Wu We are waiting in a certain lake." The envoy was overjoyed and asked the Chan Yu according to Chang Hui's words. Shan Yu looked around at his attendants and was shocked. Then he apologized to the Han envoy and said, "Su Wu is indeed alive." Then he released Su Wu, Ma Hong and others. Ma Hong was previously an envoy sent by the Han Dynasty to various countries in the Western Regions, and was the deputy envoy of Guanglu doctor Wang Zhong. When he was intercepted by the Huns, Wang Zhong died in battle and Ma Hong was captured, but he refused to surrender to the Huns. Therefore, the Xiongnu released Su Wu and Ma Hong this time in order to show their goodwill to the Han Dynasty.

So Li Ling held a banquet to congratulate Su Wu and said: "Now that you have returned to your motherland, your fame has spread throughout the Xiongnu, and your achievements have been prominent in the Han Dynasty. Even if you are a person recorded in historical records and depicted in paintings, how can you surpass you! Although I am stupid and cowardly If the Han Dynasty could have forgiven my sins and saved my mother so that I could endure the humiliation, Cao GUI's feat of kidnapping Duke Huan of Qi in Kemeng in the Spring and Autumn Period was exactly what I had always wanted to do. Who would have thought that the Han Dynasty would have all my family members executed? , this is the most cruel killing in the world, what else can I care about! Now that everything has passed, I just want you to know my heart!" Li Ling said goodbye to Su Wu with tears streaming down his face.

Shanyu summoned the officials and followers of the Han Dynasty who came with Su Wu. Except for those who had surrendered to the Huns and those who had died, nine of them returned to the Han Dynasty with Su Wu. After Su Wu and his party arrived in Chang'an, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty ordered Su Wu to use an ox, a sheep, and a pig each to worship Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the mausoleum of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty with the most solemn ceremony. Su Wu had two million yuan, two hectares of public land, and one residence. Su Wu was detained by the Huns for nineteen years. He was in the prime of life when he left, but his hair and beard were all white when he returned. At this time, it had been eighteen years since Li Ling surrendered to the Huns. His inner demons were raging, and he was probably not much worse than Su Wu. Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie, who were in charge of the court at that time, had always had a good relationship with Li Ling, so they sent Li Ling's old friend Ren Lizheng from Longxi and three other people to go to the Huns to persuade Li Ling to return home. Li Ling said to them: "It's easy to go back, but a man can't be humiliated twice!" Finally, he died of old age from the Huns.

After Su Wu returned to China, there was no trace of Li Ling's deeds in history. Only in the records of 56 BC, there is a brief mention of Li Ling's descendants. That year, the Xiongnu Huhanxie Chanyu sent his younger brother Yougu Li King and others to the west to attack Tuqi Chanyu's army, killing and plundering more than 10,000 people. After Tuqi Chanyu heard about it, he immediately led 60,000 cavalry to attack Huhanxie Chanyu. As a result, Tu Qi Shanyu was defeated and committed suicide. Dulongqi fled to the Han Dynasty and surrendered to the Han Dynasty with his youngest son Youguli Wanggu. Cha Li Chanyu returned to the east and surrendered to Hu Hanye Chanyu. In winter, in November, Wuliqu, the general of the left under Huhanxie Shanyu, and his father Hulewuliwendun saw that the Huns were still in civil strife, and led tens of thousands of their troops to surrender to the Han Dynasty. Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty named Wuliqu the Marquis of Xincheng and Wuli Wendun the Marquis of Yiyang. At this time, Li Ling's son supported Wujiu as the chanyu, but was hunted and killed by Huhanxie chanyu.

It is this Han surrendered general, or more accurately, this abandoned son of the Han Dynasty, who has left a tragic and lonely shadow in the hearts of many Han people. After thousands of years, it is still It makes people sigh. But what he influenced was by no means just the Han people’s understanding and reflection on that era. Similarly, his shadow also lingers in the hearts of the minority people in the Western Regions. In their history, there is an equally tragic and lonely figure that rises and falls, disappears and appears.