Chapter 12 Sima Qian VI

The whole story of the Li Ling incident is as follows: Li Ling fought bravely and was promoted to the rank of Cavalry Captain. He took the lead and treated others with humility, so he had a high reputation in the army.In these two points, Li Ling is exactly like his grandfather Li Guang.Sima Qian had a general friendship with him. Although he missed his grandfather and admired his personality, he did not have a deep friendship with him.Sima Qian made few friends because he was busy and poor.He watched many things in the court silently, and wrote them in the book when he went home.There was a man named Li Guangli who, like Wei Qing, had a nepotism relationship with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. His younger sister was born with a natural beauty, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty would not let such a woman be spared. He made her a concubine and called her Mrs. Li. "There are beauties in the southern country, who are independent from the world. Once you look at the city, you will look at the country." This poem is dedicated to Mrs. Li.She also has an older brother, Li Yannian, who composes music and plays musical instruments in the palace, known as an actor.Li Yannian composed the music, and a literati like Sima Xiangru wrote the lyrics. The emperor liked it very much.Li Yannian was also born with good looks, he was very good at being an actor, and he often winked at Emperor Wu.Han Yan, who used to "sit and sleep" with the emperor, is now old, and Li Yannian just fills in the vacancy. After a lot of hard work, she finally sleeps on the same bed with the emperor.In this way, the two brothers and sisters took turns serving the bed, and both were favored.Soon, Li Guangli also began to flourish.The rights of the three brothers and sisters are all over the court, and Sima Qian can't help but think of Wei Qing, Wei Zifu and Huo Qubing.There is a common term in history books: foreign relatives' dictatorship.Feudal dynasty, this phenomenon is not new.Wei Qing and Huo Qubing could fight the Xiongnu, but what about Li Guangli?Emperor Wu made a detour to let him make meritorious deeds, only because of the iron law set by Liu Bang: those who have no great merit cannot be named marquis.Li Yannian, who was not good at fighting, led an army of tens of thousands to Dawan to snatch good horses. He was beaten by thousands of Dawan people and fled to Dunhuang. He sent someone back to Chang'an to report.Emperor Wu didn't blame him at all, and gave him another 60,000 people, 30,000 of which were elite cavalry, plus countless luggage, and went to grab the horses.Emperor Wu ordered to mobilize 180,000 troops from all over the country to serve as Li Guangli's guard in Jiuquan, and to serve his brother-in-law as a marquis.He first named Li Guangli "General Ershi" because the good horses of Dawan Kingdom were concentrated in Ershi City.This time Li Guangli got the horses, more than 60 good horses, and lost about 50,000 soldiers.Emperor Wu celebrated his achievements, ordered officials and actors to praise his great achievements, and named him "Marquis of Haixi", with eight thousand households in the city.

Watching all this, Sima Qian looked up to the sky and sighed. But Li Ling felt humiliated: his grandfather Li Guang failed to become a marquis after more than 70 battles.He refused to be Li Guangli's subordinate, which offended the Ershi general.In the second year of the Tianhan Dynasty (99 BC), Emperor Wu sent Li Guangli to lead 30,000 people out of Jiuquan to attack Youxian King of the Xiongnu, and sent Li Ling to lead 5,000 people to attack the Huns' Great Shanyu, restraining the main force of the Huns and ensuring the victory of the second division general.Li Ling marched for 30 days and arrived at the predetermined location. After drawing the topographical map, he sent his subordinate Chen Bule to report to Emperor Wu.But not long after, bad news came from the front: Li Ling's 5,000 people were defeated by the Huns, Li Ling surrendered, and the remaining 400 people fled back to the border.Emperor Wu was furious, Li Ling's three families (father's family, mother's family, and wife's family) were thrown into prison, and Chen Bule, who had just become a Lang official, committed suicide in fear of crime.

In this battle, Li Guangli defeated the weak with the strong, killed 10,000 enemies, and lost 20,000 himself.However, Li Ling's 5,000 men fought against the main force of the Xiongnu in the depths of the grassland, and no reinforcements were seen for a long time.The Xiongnu Shanyu besieged 5,000 people with 80,000 people, and fought three bloody battles in more than ten days, leaving 20,000 corpses before defeating Li Ling.The battle situation ahead was reported back to Chang'an one after another, and all the officials whispered to each other, condemning Li Ling at the same time.Sima Qian felt very uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything.Emperor Wu summoned his ministers to discuss the matter, with a stern face, "the dragon's face is displeased", and the ministers scrambled to reprimand Li Ling for betraying and surrendering.Civilian officials in the Han Dynasty were divided into nine ranks, and Sima Qian was the ninth rank, with a rank ratio of six hundred stones, ranking last.For a historian, the last position is also very good, and he can hear a lot of things he wants to hear in the court proceedings.He generally does not speak, because it is not his turn to speak.If he wanted to talk, he would go home and talk, holding a brush and facing history.He asked history and passed on his voice to future generations. There was really no need to compete with the officials in front of him.However, he is also a man from the Northwest, a man of temperament, an admirer of the parachutist, and a witness to Li Gan's assassination, which is troublesome and contradictory.And once the contradiction intensifies, it will cause trouble.Misfortune comes from the mouth, and the same is true in ancient and modern times. In 1957, when the rightists were born, how many intellectuals wanted to tear their mouths apart.Sima Qian held the wat and stood in his last place, with his lips tightly closed.What rang in my ears was full of obscenities, not only splashed on Li Ling, but also splashed on Li Guang, the parachutist.Sima Qian's hands were shaking, his blood was burning and his heart was beating.The thoughts focused on his lips: don't speak! He forgot his legs—they took a step forward on their own initiative and walked out. Later, there was a special term called "chuban", which means that the "weichen" has something to say.

Tai Shiling spoke, and Emperor Wu of Han looked at him coldly.This Sima Qian secretly writes history, and is usually not interested in singing praises. What is he going to say with this mouth? Emperor Wu frowned, and it was as he expected. Although Sima Qian stuttered due to excitement, he still heard clearly. Sima Qian said to the effect that: Li Ling fought a powerful enemy with a bloody division, and even shot the last arrow. , killed nearly 20,000 enemies without any reinforcements, he surrendered and was guilty, but can the emperor consider paying off his merits? Emperor Wu's eyes shone coldly, but Sima Qian was still expressing emotion: At the beginning, Li Ling made great military exploits and was flattered by everyone, but now that the army is defeated, those who flattered him are afraid that they will not be able to catch up with him. Didn't the reputation come too soon?

When Sima Qian spoke like this, he not only offended Long Yan, but also offended the public.Someone immediately refuted him, saying that he implied that Haixi Hou Li Guangli did not go to rescue Li Ling, which led to the defeat of the war.Li Guangli, Li Yannian, and Mrs. Li are either Emperor Wu's big hits or the sweetheart of Emperor Wu. The three of them are so popular that all officials are eager for them. Is this little Taishi Ling Sima Qian eating the gall of a leopard or suffering from a mental illness? With a wave of his hand, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty moved Sima to prison.The crime was "Ju Er Division", Ju Tong Curse, which means attacking Er Division General Li Guangli.The crime is not small, and attacking Emperor Wu's favorite general is not the same as attacking Emperor Wu himself?Be beheaded according to Han law.In prison, he tasted the torture of the cruel officials. He had only heard about it before, but now he has "personal experience" - "when he sees the prison officer, he will grab the ground with his head", and he was tortured physically and mentally.The cruel officials under Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty were notorious, they made up all kinds of crimes and killed people like nothing.Cruel officials are addicted to killing, and the speed of the judgment is jaw-dropping. One cruel official named Yi Zong cut off more than 400 heads in one day.Another cruel official seized the time to kill prisoners in winter, because according to the rules set by Liu Bang, executions stopped in spring. This cruel official sighed and said: How good it would be to give me another month, and I will kill all those guys!Sima Qian wrote "Biography of the Cruel Officials", and later used four words: "The emperor thinks they can"-the emperor thinks these cruel officials are very capable.

Sima Qian fell into the hands of cruel officials, was interrogated, tortured, and frightened.Whether the head can be kept is a big question.There are also variables, depending on how the situation develops, and Emperor Wu himself has always been moody.One day, he suddenly felt that Li Ling might indeed have fought the enemy bravely, and was taken prisoner only after he ran out of ammunition and food, so he sent Gongsun Ao to take a team to the territory of the Xiongnu to understand the situation, and took Li Ling back if he had the opportunity.However, Gongsun Ao quickly returned to Chang'an and reported to Emperor Wu: Li Ling was busy training troops for the Huns, and all the training items were aimed at the tactics of the Han army.

"Longyan was furious" and wiped out Li Ling's father's family, mother's family, and wife's family. Hundreds of people were killed in the city, most of them were women and children.Zhang Tang, a famous cruel official, carefully arranged the steps. First, he stabbed the faces of the prisoners with a knife, then cut off their noses one by one, and then cut off their toes. The head is hung on a flagpole, and the body is chopped into meat paste. But things went wrong. The person who trained the army for the Huns was called Li Xu, not Li Ling.Gongsun Ao was eager to ask for credit, so he turned around and left after hearing half of it.When the news of the extermination of the three tribes spread outside the Great Wall, Li Ling cried and hacked Li Xu to death. From then on, he wholeheartedly joined the Xiongnu and married Shan Yu's daughter to reproduce.

When the truth came out, Emperor Wu also regretted it in his heart, but he didn't say a word. Rulers are justified in committing crimes.What needs to be done has to be done-- Sima Qian, who interceded for Li Ling, continued to be imprisoned.