Chapter 51 Chapter 51: The Veteran Will Not Die

Appointing Wei Qing brings a new atmosphere—but what about the old atmosphere in the Han army?Han Anguo, the commander-in-chief of the Battle of Mayi, participated in state affairs as a deputy prime minister, and it seems that he cannot be called a purely professional soldier.Wang Hui, the proposer of the First Battle of Mayi, had been dismissed at this time. Among the generals galloping on the battlefield, Li Guang and Cheng Bushi were known as the Shuangbi at that time.These two people are probably representative figures of the old fashion. Although these two generals are often called together, their personalities are very different.

Li Guang can be regarded as a general among generals.He is from Longxi Chengji, and his family has been a Qin general for generations.Among the ancestors was a general named Li Xin, who lived in the time of Qin Shihuang. ——Chu will be defeated with an army of 200,000! This man was the young general who boasted so much, but suffered a disastrous defeat. Later, the first emperor had to ask the old general Wang Jian to come out.He later recovered his reputation for destroying Prince Dan of Yan. After the fall of Qin, the Li family still served in the Han Dynasty as a military officer.Archery has been passed down from generation to generation in the Li family, which can be said to be the family skill of this family.Li Guang joined the army when the Xiongnu invaded Xiaoguan, Gansu in the fourteenth year of Emperor Wendi.Because of his excellent riding and archery skills, he killed countless enemies, so he was promoted to be a regular servant of martial arts.This is the general and school serving the emperor in the cavalry regiment of the imperial guards. Those who have been promoted to this position will definitely become senior cadres in the future.

During this campaign, Li Guang's cousin Li Cai also joined the army and was also promoted to be a regular servant of Wuqi. Emperor Wen once said to them: It's a pity that you were born at an untimely time.If you were born in the time of Gaozu (Liu Bang), you must have become the princes of thousands of households. Li Guang set off as the Captain of Xiaoqi during the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion between Wu and Chu.He later served as the prefect of Longxi, Beidi, Yanmen, Yunzhong, Shangjun and other places.Although the county prefect is the local governor, these counties all border on the Xiongnu.Therefore, when there were border disputes with the Huns, he repeatedly appeared as a commander.

After Emperor Wu came to the throne, he was promoted to Weiyang Palace Weiwei.Wei Wei is the garrison director of the forbidden gate, and his status is roughly equivalent to today's head of the guard division.The emperor lived in Weiyang Palace at that time, and the empress dowager lived in Changle Palace.Guard divisions were set up in these two palaces. Compared with Weiyang Palace Weiwei Li Guang, Cheng Bushi was appointed Changle Palace Weiwei.Although these two people are quite similar in experience, they are quite different in character. ——There is no team, no line. This is Li Guang's style.That is to say, his army does not take the team as the most important thing, and the formation situation is quite casual.When setting up camp, he just ordered: "Find a suitable place for each of you, and set up camp!" There are no hard and fast rules for trivial matters.

He also tried his best to keep the liaison documents of the headquarters as simple as possible, and saved as much as possible. His style seems to be indulgent, but in fact he is thorough and careful where he should be careful. Taking scouts as an example, he has never been sloppy at all. Because of his high vigilance, his troops have never been attacked by surprise. In contrast, Cheng Bushi's style is that everything is orderly and meticulous.Taking marching as an example, his requirement for soldiers is that the pace is neat and the team must not be disordered. In Cheng Bushi's headquarters, he had to record everything in detail, and he had to make unnecessary documents.His personnel often had to stay up all night to sort out paperwork or account books, and did not have a good rest.

He inspected the equipment of soldiers very strictly, and some soldiers were punished just because their belts were not tied properly. Soldiers, of course, hated this draconian headquarters.When the troops were reorganized, those assigned to Li Guang's troops were all joyful, while those assigned to Cheng Bushi's troops were downcast. Of course Cheng Bushi also knew this, so he once complained: "It may be easier to be in Li Guang's army, but once it is attacked by surprise, it will definitely be defeated. My army does have strict discipline requirements, which makes people feel unbearable. However, there will never be an attack by the enemy. The security here is much higher than that over there, and everyone is overjoyed when they hear that they have been incorporated into Li Guang's army. Isn't this inexplicable?"

The Xiongnu who fought with them seemed to think that Li Guang was more troublesome than Cheng Bushi.Li Guang, who likes to fight unrestrainedly, often made the Huns tired of coping. Perhaps because of their completely opposite personalities, their names are often juxtaposed together.Later, they each took office as the heads of the guard divisions of the East (Changle Palace) and West (Weiyang Palace) palaces at the same time. During the Battle of Mayi, Cheng Bushi did not participate, while Li Guang joined the battle as General Xiaoqi.As mentioned earlier, this campaign did not become a real war.

At that time, the courtiers were divided into two factions, one faction supported Li Guang, and the other faction supported Cheng Bushi.But this is not a faction war, the situation is like the current fans, everyone supports their favorite team. In the era of Emperor Wu, there used to be a minister named Guan Fu who was very bad at drinking.One day at a banquet, he came to Linruhou and Cheng Bushi who were talking and got entangled.Seeing this, Marquis Wu An stepped forward to dissuade him: "Cheng Bushi and Li Guang are the commanders of the Eastern and Western Guards respectively. Don't you know that insulting General Cheng like this is tantamount to insulting General Li who has the same status as him?"

This matter is contained in "Historical Records".Guan Fu, who is not good at drinking, is a person who supports Li Guang very much, which is why Wu Anhou said this sentence. However, the drunk Guan Fu not only refused to listen to the persuasion, but even yelled loudly: "If you want to kill me, you can kill me! If you want to chop it up or cut it up, you will do as you please! Now I don't care who is Li Guang and who is Cheng." I don't know!" In short, Li Guang, who is so supported by others, has become a passing figure.Because the newcomer has already appeared.

This newcomer is of course Wei Zifu's younger brother Wei Qing. This alternation of old and new is very dramatic. During the Battle of Mayi, the Huns were very angry because they were cheated.Wei Qing knew this from the father of a friend of the Huns when he left Pingyang. The Xiongnu army engaged in plunder many times at the border with the Han Dynasty.Although not large-scale aggression, the frequency is extremely frequent.If this situation continues, a large-scale war will break out one day. ——The Huns must be destroyed! Emperor Wu, who had always had this idea, thought that the time seemed ripe.However, he no longer dared to use tricks.Last time, under Wang Hui's brilliant tongue, he accidentally used tricks, so he lost face in Mayi a lot.In the future, the war must be fought in an upright manner-Emperor Wu had this determination.

In the sixth year of Yuanguang (129 BC), Emperor Wu finally launched a crusade against the Huns. Both the old man Li Guang and the newcomer Wei Qing participated in this year's battle as generals of one side. As a chariot general, Wei Qing led 10,000 cavalry to attack the Xiongnu from Juyongguan in the north of Hebei Province. Li Guang, as the head of the original guard regiment, led the army to attack the Huns in the north from the vicinity of Yanmen in Shanxi Province. For Li Guang, this is the first time he has fought against the Huns.Over the years, he has carried out local small-scale battles with the Xiongnu as the prefect of the county, so many times that he himself can't remember clearly. Wei Qing participated in the war as a general for the first time, no, it was the first time in his life even to participate in the war.He directly attacked the Xiongnu base - Dragon City with the attitude of directly attacking the Yellow Dragon. Crossing the Great Wall—an event that he did not take seriously, was actually an epoch-making event. The Great Wall was originally built for the purpose of defending against the Huns.The Great Wall was originally built by various countries in the Warring States Period. After Qin unified the world, it was connected and reinforced by the First Emperor.This is a wall for defense, not for attack. The Huns had crossed the Great Wall many times in the past and invaded Han territory.However, it was unprecedented for the Han army to cross the Great Wall and step into the land of the Huns in the north.Wei Qing did just that.Breaking into Dragon City and killing hundreds of enemies is of course a great achievement, but compared to the fact that they crossed the Great Wall, this is nothing. "Good job!" The whole Chang'an was in an uproar when they heard the news that Wei Qing had crossed the Great Wall. Wei Zifu was so moved that he almost shed tears. Her current situation is very delicate.After the Chen family was abolished, the position of queen has been vacant until now.There are still many voices of opposition inside and outside the court to change her to be the queen.The main reason is that her origin is too humble. If it were another woman, she could have her natal family as a backer, but she didn't even have a natal family. Before her younger brother Wei Qing appeared, she didn't even know if he existed.To her, he was an extremely important "family" member.She was so happy to be sure that there was such a relative, and now this younger brother has accomplished the feat since the founding of the Han Dynasty! The degree of Wei Zifu's joy can be inferred from this.She lays her hand on her belly - expecting her fourth child.She felt the baby move in her hand.If the child is a boy... Compared with the illustrious military exploits of the newcomer Wei Qing, what one can't help but sympathize with is the defeat of the old man Li Guang. Li Guang, who set off from Yanmen, faced the army of Huns like clouds.Judging from the comparison of military strength, this is already an impossible war to win.What's more, Wei Qing's victory was too brilliant, and Li Guang's defeat looked even more tragic. Just as the Han did a thorough investigation of the Xiongnu's movements, the Xiongnu's investigation of the Han was also very detailed. ——It was General Li Guang who set off from Yanmen. The Xiongnu, who received this information, decided to challenge Li Guang with their main force. ——The Huns were repeatedly beaten by General Li Guang in the past.As mentioned earlier, the Huns were more afraid of Li Guang than Cheng Bushi.Shan Yu issued the following order: capture Li Guang alive! Capture the strongest enemy and make it work for you-this is the traditional tactic of the Huns.There are many precedents for the Han generals to surrender and be reused by the Xiongnu.In contrast, although there were quite a few people who surrendered to the Han and were entrusted with the title of Marquis, or received preferential treatment in name, those who were given important positions in military or state affairs were extremely limited. The Xiongnu learned from the report of the spies that the Han army came from three routes. As a result of the research, they decided to use the main force to face Li Guangjun from Yanmen. --what?There is a general named Wei Qing attacking from the direction of Juyongguan!I've never heard of this name before, probably a novice general, right?This kind of army is not to be feared, let's take Li Guang as the main target! As a result, the Xiongnu did not care about Wei Qing's troops and concentrated their main force on Yanmen. Wei Qing was an outstanding general, and he was even more blessed at the beginning.With the attitude of the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves, he attacked the weakly defended area of ​​the enemy.Since the elite troops from Longcheng, the Xiongnu base, were sent to Yanmen, Wei Qing was able to ravage the area with 10,000 cavalry. Li Guang was extremely unlucky. Surrounded by the Huns, even Li Guang himself was wounded by arrows.He is not young anymore.Thirty-seven years have passed since Emperor Wen joined the army as a young general in the fourteenth year.Although his reaction to combat guidance is still twice as strong, his physical strength has weakened a lot.The arrow wound, which he could not take seriously when he was young, is really too much for him now.The Huns often used arrows coated with venom, which was sometimes highly poisonous, and sometimes merely festered wounds. Li Guang developed a high fever due to the arrow wound and fell unconscious for several days.Unfortunately, the decisive battle of the battle occurred while he was unconscious.The main camp of the Han army was destroyed by a surprise attack by the Huns. "It's Li Guang—General Li Guang!" When it was discovered that the patient lying in the innermost part of the Han army's main camp was Li Guang, the Huns soldiers all jumped up in ecstasy. ——If you get Li Guang, you will be born. This is because they are under this strict order. The fatal high fever turned out to be caused by poisoned arrows.The Xiongnu can not only make poison, but also have antidote.The Xiongnu military doctor made Li Guang drink antipyretics and transported him away by horse.Of course, unconscious patients can't ride horses. Their method is to tie two horses side by side, put a door panel on the horse's back, and then make Li Guang lie on it. Li Guang regained consciousness while being transported.After squinting his eyes on the door panel placed on the horse's back and looking around, he knew what had happened—it turned out that he had become a prisoner. Due to the serious condition of the enemy general in the escort, the guard was not very strict.A young Hun soldier on a fine horse follows.This person was probably Shan Yu's son or a member of his clan. Li Guang felt that he had a chance to escape.As long as the horses are good, escape in such a place is not impossible. — as long as he can capture the young man's steed! Although he was bound to the door panel, the binding was only to prevent him from slipping down, and the rope was only lightly buckled. He quietly untied the rope. Here's your chance!He suddenly jumped up, rushed at the young man, grabbed the other's bow and arrow, and pushed the man off, jumped on the horse and immediately turned the horse's head, galloping all the way to the south. This happened in an instant.The Xiongnu soldiers hurriedly chased after them, but Li Guang, a famous cavalry and archer, shot the captain who was running ahead with an arrow. He fled all the way back to the Han army's position relying on the strength of his horse.