Chapter 39 Endless Beacon

After the matter of moving the capital came to an end, in order to consolidate the regime, the matter of winning people's hearts was put on the agenda again.What needs to be solved urgently at this time is how to reward those heroes who have followed Liu Bang in conquering the world and made great contributions. However, it is not easy to solve this problem well. At this time, on the one hand, there were indeed many people coveting the throne, but more importantly, the emperor was in a high position, and the high position was extremely cold, so it was easy to feel suspicious of the ministers around him.In the spring of the sixth year of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang believed that the Hanwang's envelope was a strategically important area that military strategists must contend for. He worried that Han Wangxin might pose a threat in the future, so he moved the Hanwang's envelope to Taiyuan County in the name of defending against the northern barbarians, and made Jinyang his capital. .Han Wangxin wrote a request to change the capital to Mayi, which was approved by Liu Bang.Later, when the Xiongnu attacked Mayi, the court suspected that Han Wangxin had secretly communicated with the Xiongnu, and Liu Bang even wrote a letter to blame Han Wangxin.

In the autumn of 201 BC, Han Wangxin was worried that he would be punished, so he agreed with the Xiongnu to attack Han together, surrendered the land of Mayi, and marched into Taiyuan. In the winter of the second year, Liu Bang personally led an army of more than 300,000 troops to defeat Han Wangxin.So Han Wangxin fled to the Huns. At that time, it was snowing heavily and the weather was extremely cold. The soldiers in the Central Plains had never encountered such cold weather. Many people were froze, and some even lost their fingers.However, as soon as the army of the Han Dynasty came into contact with the Xiongnu soldiers, the Xiongnu soldiers were defeated.He won several battles in a row.Later, it was heard that Maodun Shanyu fled to Daigu (now northwest of Dai County, Shanxi).

Liu Bang entered Jinyang and sent soldiers to reconnaissance. Those who came back said that Maodun's subordinates were all old and weak soldiers, and even their horses were quite thin.If you take advantage of the situation and fight in the past, you will surely win the battle. Liu Bang was also afraid that the reconnaissance of these soldiers would be unreliable, so he sent Lou Jing to the Xiongnu camp to spy. Lou Jing came back and said: "The Huns we saw were indeed old and weak soldiers, but I think Maodun must have ambushed the elite soldiers. Your Majesty must not be fooled by this."

Liu Bang was furious and said: "You dare to talk nonsense and want to stop my advance." With that said, Lou Jing was imprisoned. As soon as Liu Bang led a group of troops to Pingcheng (now northeast of Datong City, Shanxi), countless Xiongnu soldiers suddenly poured out from all directions.Liu Bang desperately fought his way out and retreated to Baideng Mountain east of Pingcheng. Mao Dun Shanyu sent 400,000 elite soldiers to besiege Liu Bang in Baideng Mountain.The surrounding Han army was unable to rescue, and some of Liu Bang's troops were in Baideng, and they were besieged for seven days, unable to escape.

Liu Bang watched the Han army's food and grass dwindle and the casualties continued to increase. He was anxious like ants on a hot pot, restless. For the past few days, Chen Ping has been thinking hard about a way to break out of the siege. On this day, he was observing the movement in the enemy camp on the mountain, and saw a man and a woman commanding the Huns soldiers down the mountain.After inquiring, I found out that it was Mao Dun Shanyu and his wife Yanshi. Chen Ping suddenly made a plan and hurriedly sued Liu Bang.Liu Bang was overjoyed after hearing this, and hurriedly followed his plan.

Chen Ping sent an eloquent envoy, prepared a picture of beauties, and a lot of gold, silver and jewels, went down the mountain secretly, bribed Fanbing, and asked to meet Mao Dun Shanyu Xinli's official wife by name—Yan Shi.When Yan heard that the Han envoy had named her to meet her, she didn't know what was going on, so she kept the Han envoy into the internal account privately and asked him what he had to say. When the Han envoy saw Yan, he first offered gold, silver and jewels, and then said: "We are besieged and climbed the mountain. We want to negotiate peace with Shan Yu. We know that Yan is very good at speaking to Shan Yu. The emperor means that the two are not the same. I committed a crime and made peace forever. I am afraid that Shan Yu will not allow it, so I will honor the Yan family with these gold and silver jewels. It would be the best if we can make peace. If Shan Yu does not allow it, here is a picture, which is China Because the number one beauty is not in the army, send the picture first, and then send people back, pick up this beauty, and present it to Shan Yu."

When Yan opened the picture, he was shocked.The beauties painted in the picture are indeed beautiful and beautiful. Compared with myself, it is simply a world of difference. Yan secretly said: "If my Shanyu sees such a woman, she will definitely marry into the palace. At that time, she will enjoy the favor of Shanyu alone, and she will definitely take away her current status." Thinking of this, Yan said unconsciously: "You must not send this beauty here." The envoy of the Han Dynasty saw that the Yan family had fallen into a trap, and said: "We couldn't bear to let the beauties come, but the situation forced it. If the Yan family can manage to save them, the Emperor of Han will naturally not send the beauties back. After returning, I would rather send more beauties. A lot of gold beads are filial to the Yan family."

Yan's whole mouth agreed: "You go back and report, I will try to find a way, please rest assured." After the Han envoy left, Yan thought to himself that if the Emperor of Han did not get out of danger, he would definitely send the beauties.After thinking before and after, it is not too late, so I have to speak up quickly to relieve my own danger. That night, the Yan family used pillow kung fu on Mao Dun: "We have occupied the territory of the Han Dynasty, and we cannot live for a long time. Besides, the emperor of the Han Dynasty will have someone to rescue him. Let's withdraw our troops as soon as possible!" After hearing Yan's words, he was moved. Early the next morning, he ordered to withdraw a corner of the encirclement net and let the Han soldiers go out.

Early the next morning, when there was thick fog, Liu Bang quietly withdrew from Baideng.Chen Ping was still worried, and asked the archers to draw their bows to the left and right sides to protect Han Liu Bang from going down the mountain.This is the "Biden Siege" in history. The "Siege of Baideng" was the first full-scale confrontation with the Xiongnu army after the founding of the Han Dynasty, but it ended with Liu Bang's Baideng being besieged and escaped by tricks.Since then, Liu Bang was very afraid of the Huns, and repeatedly warned his descendants not to provoke them lightly.

This war shows that the Han has no strength to fight against the Xiongnu.In order to recuperate and accumulate strength, Liu Bang adopted the advice of his ministers and adopted a "marriage" policy towards the Xiongnu, marrying the daughter of the clan as a princess to the Xiongnu Shanyu.Every year, a large amount of silk, grain, wine, etc. are sent, and they are brothers with the Huns to ease the harassment of the Huns.This kind of "marriage" policy is humiliating. From Han Gaozu to Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, it has been used for sixty or seventy years, but it cannot relieve the threat of the Xiongnu to the Western Han Dynasty.