Chapter 81 80 Ban Chao throws a pen and joins the army

After Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty established the Eastern Han Dynasty, he invited a scholar, Ban Biao, to sort out the history of the Western Han Dynasty.Ban Biao had two sons named Ban Gu and Ban Chao, and a daughter named Ban Zhao. They studied literature and history from their father since childhood. After Ban Biao died, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty asked Ban Gu to be the official history of Lantai, and continued to complete the history book written by his father, which was "Hanshu" (a book recording the history of the Western Han Dynasty).Ban Chao followed his brother in copying.The two brothers are very knowledgeable, but they have different temperaments. Ban Gu likes to study theories of a hundred schools of thought, and concentrates on writing his "Han Shu".Ban Chao didn't want to stay at his desk and write.When he heard that the Huns were constantly harassing the frontier and plundering the residents and livestock, he threw away his pen and said angrily: "A man should go outside the Great Wall to perform meritorious service like Zhang Qian did. How can he die in his study forever?"

In this way, he decided to abandon his desk work and join the army (in classical Chinese it is called "throwing a pen and joining the army"). In 73 A.D., General Dou Gu sent troops to fight against the Xiongnu. Ban Chao served as an acting Sima under him and made great military exploits. In order to resist the Xiongnu, Dou Gu wanted to use the method of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to send people to contact the countries in the Western Regions to deal with the Xiongnu together.He appreciated Ban Chao's talent and sent Ban Chao as an envoy to the Western Regions. Ban Chao arrived at Shanshan (in Shanyinshan in today's Xinjiang) with thirty-six entourages.Shanshan originally belonged to the Xiongnu, because the Xiongnu forced them to pay taxes and extort property, and the king of Shanshan was very dissatisfied.But in the past few decades, the Han Dynasty could not take care of the Western Regions, so he had to reluctantly obey the orders of the Huns. This time when he saw the Han Dynasty sent envoys, he entertained them very graciously.

A few days later, Ban Chao found that King Shanshan suddenly became indifferent to them.He became suspicious, and his followers said, "Can you see that? The king of Shanshan treated us differently than he did a few days ago. I guess it must be the envoys of the Huns who came here." That being said, it's just a guess after all.It happened that the servant of King Shanshan brought wine and food.Ban Chao pretended to know about it long ago and said, "The envoy of the Huns has been here for a few days? Where do you live?" King Shanshan's dealings with the Huns' envoys was originally kept from Ban Chao.The servant frightened Ban Chao, thinking that Ban Chao already knew about it, so he replied honestly, "They have been here for three days, and they live thirty miles away from here."

Ban Chao detained the servant, immediately summoned thirty-six entourages, and said to them: "Everyone came to the Western Regions with me, nothing more than to serve the country with meritorious deeds. Now the envoy of the Huns has only arrived for a few days, and the attitude of King Shanshan has changed." If he captures us and gives them to the Huns, our bones will not be able to return home. What do you think?" Everyone said: "The situation is critical now, life and death are all up to you!" Ban Chao said: "If a man doesn't enter the tiger's den, how can he get a cub (the classical Chinese is 'If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you get a tiger cub')? Now there is only one way. In the dark, go around the tent of the Huns and set fire to it. Attack. They don't know how many troops we have, so they must be panicking. As long as we kill the envoy of the Huns, things will be easy."

Everyone said: "Okay, let's fight like this!" In the middle of the night, Ban Chao led thirty-six strong men to attack the Huns' tent.That night, there was a strong wind.Ban Chao ordered ten strong men to hide behind the Huns' tent with drums, and twenty strong men to lie in ambush in front of the tent. He and the other six men set fire to the wind.As soon as the fire started, ten people beat drums and shouted at the same time, while the remaining twenty people rushed into the tent with shouts. The Huns woke up from their dreams and ran around.Ban Chao took the lead and rushed into the tent, and the rest of the strong men followed Ban Chao, killed the Huns envoy and more than 30 followers, and burned all the tents.

When Ban Chao returned to his barracks, the sky was just turning pale.Ban Chao asked Shanshan King to come over.As soon as King Shanshan saw that the envoy of the Huns had been killed by Ban Chao, he expressed to Ban Chao that he was willing to obey the order of the Han Dynasty. When Ban Chao returned to the Han Dynasty, Emperor Han Ming promoted Ban Chao to be the military commander and sent him to Khotan.Emperor Ming asked him to bring more troops, and Ban Chao said: "Khotan is a big country and the distance is far away. Even if you take a few hundred more people there, it won't do any good. If there is any accident, more people will cause more trouble."

As a result, Ban Chao still took the original thirty-six people to Khotan. King Khotan saw that there were few people brought by Ban Chao, so he was not very enthusiastic when he received him.Ban Chao advised him to leave the Xiongnu and make friends with the Han Dynasty.Unable to make up his mind, he asked a wizard to ask God for instructions. The sorcerer originally opposed King Tian's friendship with the Han Dynasty. He pretended to be a ghost and said to King Tian: "Why do you want to make friends with the Han Dynasty? The light black horse of the Han Dynasty envoy is not bad. You can bring it to me."

The king of Khotan sent his country minister to Ban Chao to ask for horses.Ban Chao said: "Yes, let the wizard come and get it by himself." The wizard triumphantly went to Ban Chao to fetch the horse.Ban Chao didn't tell him any more, and immediately pulled out his knife and beheaded him.Then, he raised the wizard's head to see the king of Khotan, and reprimanded him: "If you collude with the Huns again, this wizard will be your example." King Khotan had heard of Ban Chao's reputation a long time ago, and when he saw this scene, he was also frightened and softened, saying, "I am willing to make peace with the Han Dynasty."

Shanshan and Khotan are the main countries in the Western Regions. They made friends with the Han Dynasty. They all made peace with the Han Dynasty. The countries in the Western Regions have had no contact with the Han Dynasty for 65 years since Wang Mang was in power.At this time, the situation in Zhang Qian's time in the Western Regions was restored, and the two sides often communicated with envoys and merchants. Two years later, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty died, and his son Liu Da (sound da) came to the throne, which was Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty.