Video Clip: Opening Inventory of the Ten Emperors

Chapter 171 How Powerful is Wei Qing?Seven battles and seven victories

Did Wei Qing simply rely on national strength to crush the Huns?

The problem is that some people rely on their strong national power, but they are crushed by the Huns all day long, and they are also sung as famous generals through the ages.

At this point, Wei Qing can be called the No. 1 in Chinese cavalry warfare.

Although the ancient Chinese Central Plains dynasty attached great importance to the development of cavalry, most of the dynasty's troops could not break away from the infantry combat mode.

For example, in the powerful Tang army, although the cavalry was already at the top level at the time, the main force of the army was still infantry, and the role of the cavalry was more to serve as cover and chase characters on the flanks of the battlefield.

In ancient China, there were very few generals who could truly master large-scale cavalry combat skills.

There is a term in the ancient Chinese army called "infantry on horseback". Most of the so-called cavalry tactics are like this.

Undoubtedly, among the many famous generals in ancient times, compared with the cavalry combat of the Central Plains Dynasty, Wei Qing played a pioneering role.

Speaking of this, many people may question that Li Mu, who led Zhao Bianqi, was the earliest general in cavalry warfare.

This kind of understanding is a bit biased. Li Mu's good use of cavalry is compared to the Warring States period when infantry warfare was the mainstay.

However, Li Mu was really in Yanmen Border County, and the battle against the Huns was mainly defensive. The war to defeat the Huns was also based on the tactics of luring the enemy to go deep and cooperating with infantry and cavalry. It cannot be called a real cavalry battle.

However, Wei Qing was different. General Wei's famous battle was a long-distance raid with [-] cavalry to surprise the Huns' Dragon City Holy Land. Caught the dumplings and recaptured the Hetao area.

Wei Qing's combat style, which does not aim at defense, actively seeks out the enemy's weaknesses for surprise attacks, gives full play to the long-distance and flexible combat characteristics of cavalry, and strikes the enemy first, is the real cavalry warfare.

In this regard, Wei Qing's nephew Huo Qubing performed even better.

Wei Qing and Huo Qubing are super famous players who have surpassed their contemporaries for hundreds of years.

The role of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing in the Han Dynasty was completely an artificial increase in combat effectiveness.

If Wei Qing and Huo Qubing hadn't been born, the great talents of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty would have died young.

It can be said unceremoniously that during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the Han army was unable to go out to compete with the Huns. It was the existence of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing that made the Han army go out of the fortress from fantasy to reality.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's earliest military deployment against the Xiongnu was the "Mayi Conspiracy". As a result, the Huns knew about it in advance and turned back.

In the fifth year of Yuanguang, the four cavalry of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty went out of the fortress. If Wei Qing's record is removed, the Han army can be said to have suffered a disastrous defeat.

5000 cavalry went out and lost more than [-] people. Li Guang's troops were wiped out, and Li Guang himself was captured. It can be said that before Wei Qing appeared, the Han army was suppressed and beaten by the Xiongnu everywhere.

After Wei Qing and Huo Qubing withered, Li Guangli became the leading figure in the Han army. He lost troops and lost generals when he went to Dawan, and had to take the treasury with him in order to win this remote small country.

After that, Li Guangli fought against the Xiongnu many times, losing more than [-] troops, but harvested very little. In the end, he wiped out the entire [-] Han army in Yanran Mountain, and the Huns, who were severely injured by Wei Huo, gradually recovered. up.

After Wei Huo, the Han Dynasty was really able to make a move, and the only general who carried out long-distance raids was Chen Tang, who killed Zhizhi Shanyu.

In the future, only Dou Gu and Dou Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty will be able to lead the army to defeat the Huns. Therefore, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing are rare famous generals throughout the Han Dynasty for more than 400 years.

Wei Qing's reputation among scholar-bureaucrats is not obvious, which greatly affects his historical status.

Compared with Sima Qian's praise of Li Guang's words: "Peaches and plums don't say anything, they will form a trail by themselves" "If their body is upright, they will follow their orders; For the sake of mourning", among the literati and bureaucrats, all the words of praise were given to Li Guang, who had few achievements in his life.

As for Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, who made great military exploits, Sima Qian's final evaluation was relatively flat.

As far as it is concerned, when a person is recorded in a history book, the author's personal feelings and evaluations are very easy to confuse the public's understanding of historical figures.

Mr. Sima's evaluation of Wei Huo is not a compliment, and even has the meaning of disapproval. Naturally, the recognition of Wei Qing by later generations will be discounted.

Moreover, historical public opinion has been in the hands of scholar-bureaucrats since ancient times.

Wei Qing was a general in the Han Dynasty at that time. Although he made great military achievements, the scholar-bureaucrats did not recognize him very much.

Su Wu's father Su Jian, as Wei Qing's old subordinate, once said to Wei Qing, "Generals are most respected, but the world's most virtuous officials are not worthy of praise." He suggested that Wei Qing recruit followers and improve his reputation, but Wei Qing refused.

Therefore, the reputation in history needs to be bought with a price. Wei Qing is unwilling to pay in this regard, and gave all the property rewarded by the emperor to his subordinates and soldiers. Naturally, he will not be recognized by the scholar-bureaucrats.

Some people say that Wei Qing could defeat the Huns only by relying on the big mountain of the big man.

Is the strength of the Han Dynasty really enough to crush the Huns?
In ancient Chinese dynasties, one of the basic factors for evaluating the strength of a country was population, followed by land area.

But population is the foundation, because the core area of ​​the ancient Central Plains Dynasty was a large piece of land unified by Qin Shihuang, and it was the core production area of ​​the Central Plains Dynasty.

The land that expands further to the periphery belongs to the leftover area, which belongs to the area of ​​making money at a loss and decorating the appearance.

Based on the low level of productivity in ancient times, the more population you have, the more national strength you can get, and the treasury can have more income and be able to do more major things.

China belongs to the farming civilization, and there must be enough manpower to farm in order to feed the army and support its operations.

Therefore, most of the time in ancient times, the drawing of Ding Ding was maintained at the level of five Ding Ding, and when it was increased to three Ding Ding, it was basically on the verge of collapse. If converted into population, it was basically twelve to fifteen people. There is a service.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the Western Han Dynasty, the total population of the country was approximately 600 million. At this time, the number of troops that the Han Dynasty could support was about 50. Including the family property left by the ancestors of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty could only support One hundred thousand cavalry.

As for the calculation of the national strength of the grassland nation, it is completely different from the Central Plains dynasty. The determinant of its national strength is firstly the territory, followed by the population, and the proportion of soldiers of the grassland nation is generally one out of five, or one out of four, which is more important. The most important thing is that the grassland people grew up on horseback since they were young, and men taller than horses have the ability to fight.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu Empire was also in its heyday. Its tribal population reached more than 300 million. It is not weaker than the Han Dynasty, so how can it be crushed?

Therefore, it is absolutely wrong to say that Wei Qing can defeat the Xiongnu by relying on the strong national power of the big man.

They ignored Wei Qing's military talent.

…………

"Cavalry! Cavalry again!"

"It seems that the importance of cavalry is self-evident!"

"I must pay attention to the development of cavalry!"

When the First Emperor Yingzheng saw Wei Qing's inventory video, he paid more attention to the importance of cavalry in his heart.

Ying Zheng said to Meng Tian who was on the side: "General Meng, pass on the order to pay attention to the development of cavalry."

"Go down and recruit a lot of tall men who are good at horseback riding and archery among the people, and train me specifically in this area."

"My Great Qin should not only have infantry, cavalry is also very important."

"Huo Qubing, Han Xin, Wei Qing, all of them have excellent cavalry abilities, which shows that cavalry is very suitable for the battlefield."

"I understand."

Meng Tian knelt down on one knee and asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, please put it down, I must do this well."

Ying Zheng said: "Do it well, my Great Qin's territory shouldn't be so narrow."

"My goal is still big!"

Ying Zheng looked into the distance, very firm.

…………

To evaluate whether a general is good or not, of course, depends on his record.

rather than empty theory.

So what is Wei Qing's record?

Wei Qing, the brother-in-law of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was also a famous general in the Western Han Dynasty who fought against the Huns.

Wei Qing fought against the Xiongnu seven times in his life, and achieved great victories seven times. He captured the leader of the Xiongnu alive, helped the Han Dynasty recover the Hexi Corridor and Hetao area, and established a security barrier for Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions.

So in these seven battles, what was the most exciting battle?
Among these seven battles, many people think that the most exciting is the first battle of Wei Qing's defeat of the Huns - the Battle of Heshuo.

At that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent four armies to attack the Huns. As a result, the other three armies either returned without success or were wiped out. The general Li Guang was captured by the Huns. Only Wei Qing went straight to Longcheng and defeated the Huns. Said that more than 700 captives and countless cattle and sheep were brought back.

This battle was the first victory in the Western Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu in hundreds of years. It was of great significance, so many people believed that it was the most exciting battle in Wei Qing's life.

But the most exciting battle in Wei Qing's life should be the fifth contest with the Huns.

In the spring of the fifth year of Yuanshuo, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered Wei Qing to lead an army of [-] from Gaoque, and then ordered other generals to assist Wei Qing.

At that time, Wei Qing was fighting against the Youxian King among the Huns. He was very conceited. According to the information reported by the spies, Wei Qing could not reach the location of Youxian King's barracks - Wang Ting before dark.

Therefore, King Youxian was not only defenseless, but also gathered people to drink and enjoy singing and dancing at night!
At night, Wei Qing led the army to the royal court, and originally wanted to wait until dawn before attacking the royal court.

First send spies to find out the enemy's situation. When the spies come to report, King Youxian is gathering a crowd to drink, and the soldiers around him are unguarded and look very disorganized.

The two armies are facing each other. In order to prevent the enemy from attacking the camp, the soldiers should be very energetic and keep vigilant at all times. What is the intention of King Youxian's performance in front of you?
Wei Qing wondered if there was any deceit, but also thought that the opportunity was fleeting, and the opportunity was rare and should not be missed.

So after arranging the deployment of attacking the camp and rescue, Wei Qing personally led the army to attack the royal court at night. King Youxian was shocked when he heard that Wei Qing had come, and hurriedly escaped with his concubine and hundreds of elite troops.

Wei Qing sent people to chase after him, but they failed to catch up until dawn, so he ordered these people to return to the barracks quickly.

In this battle, Wei Qing's casualties were extremely small, and he defeated Youxian King almost without any effort, and finally captured more than ten of Youxian King's Xiaowang, more than [-] men and women, and tens of millions of livestock.

This was Wei Qing's easiest win since he fought against the Huns.

For example, Wei Qing defeated the Xiongnu in the battle of Heshuo. Although he finally won the battle, the casualties of the Han army were also very heavy. A total of four armies were sent, and only Wei Qing won the victory, and his own army also lost. There are many people.

Let’s talk about Wei Qing’s last battle against the leader of the Xiongnu, Shanyu—the Battle of Mobei. In this battle, the Han army defeated the main force of the Huns and won the Battle of Mobei. , but of the 14 people Wei Qing took over, only 3 came back alive in the end. One can imagine the heavy casualties.

And let's look at Wei Qing's battle against King Youxian again. The casualties were small, and the number of heads and horses captured in the end was large. Isn't this what you want to see most in the war?

Use the smallest loss of our side to defeat the opponent's main force, defeat the opponent, and finally win.

This kind of victory is the most worthwhile.

When Wei Qing was alive, the Huns did not dare to go south, and even had to migrate north.

The Huns once and even continued to migrate near the Arctic Circle.

It has to be said that at that time, except for Li Mu's experience in fighting the Huns, no one else had any experience at all.

It is really rare in the world that Wei Qing can achieve such a great record.

The key is to evaluate Wei Qing without forgetting the background of the times.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, no one knew the topography of the area where the nomads lived, the tactics and the organizational structure.

It can be said that the Han people do not understand all aspects of nomadic peoples.

Wei Qing's greatest contribution has two points.

One is to train China's first large-scale cavalry unit.

The other is that he created a new style of play against the nomads, and used it well in his career, winning seven battles and seven victories.

Later generations think that Han Xin is very powerful, but Han Xin is very familiar with China's terrain and opponent's tactics, but before Wei Qing, no one knew these things.

This is compared to, you have been living on land, and now you are suddenly sent to an island in the middle of the sea, what situation are you facing?
Put you in an unknown country, what is your situation?
First of all, you have to relearn your language, otherwise you will be unable to understand the language and you will be unable to move forward.

Second, your schedule needs to be re-adapted.

There is also eating habits to readjust.

It can be said that all aspects have to relearn and adapt.

You are like a fish in water in a land country, and you can get along very well, but when you go to an ocean country, can you still get along so well?
Therefore, the pioneering significance of Wei Qing is very important and difficult to surpass.

(End of this chapter)