Chapter 56 The fifty-sixth chapter, the second division general conquers the west

Mrs. Lee has two older brothers.One is Li Yannian, known as a talented musician.After the death of his sister, Li Yannian was promoted to the captaincy of Xie Lv.This position is the head of the court band, which is quite suitable in terms of assignment.In order to make the family of the woman he loves prosperous, Emperor Wu often gave them the opportunity to make meritorious deeds.Empress Wei's younger brother Wei Qing and nephew Huo Qubing were appointed generals for this reason.As a result, neither Wei Qing nor Huo Qubing disappointed Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu had the same expectation for Li Guangli.But Li Guangli's talent is far inferior to that of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing.

The Second Division is a place name. In today's Fergana area of ​​the Uzbek Republic, judging from the country name at that time, it should be a city in Dawan. Because of Zhang Qian's travels, the affairs of the Western Regions became widely known in the Han Dynasty. In the wars of this era, victory or defeat depends entirely on the footpower of the horses. The war against the Huns proved this point.The mobility of the army lies in the horses. The side with more horses has better combat power and is also the main reason for victory. Obtaining high-quality horses is the best interest of the country, and people know that the Western Regions are the origin of famous horses.

Among them, Dawan Second Division City is the most famous origin of famous horses.Han wanted to get the famous horse of Second Division City no matter what, so he sent envoys there. ——Let's buy some famous horses from Second Division City. When the envoys negotiated, they even sent a pure gold horse statue of the same size as the real thing. The negotiations with the famous horses in the second division city failed in the end.Because Dawan has already grasped the weakness of Han. ——Famous horses are the national treasures of the Dawan Kingdom, so there is no reason to sell one's own national treasures to other countries!

The Dawan official said sarcastically. ——If the negotiations cannot be established, the Emperor of Han will send a large army to attack.At that time, small countries like Dawan will be vulnerable. But Da Wan didn't pay any attention to it.Although Han Chinese caravans and envoys occasionally came, they usually lost half of their troops due to lack of food or drinking water when crossing the desert.What's more, the Huns in the north will attack at any time, so it is impossible for the Han to send a large army. ——At your disposal, attack at any time! The Dawan official said with a sneer.

Enraged, the Han envoy smashed the golden horse statue with a hammer. Things have come to this point where it has become an emotional issue.The Dawan side believed that the Han envoys who spoke rudely could not be let go, so they ordered Yu Chengguo, one of the vassal states: to stop the Han envoys on their way back, kill their personnel, and seize their property! Yu Chengguo did as expected. The emperor's envoy was killed! Emperor Wu was furious after receiving the report.Being so provoked, how can there be no reason not to retaliate! Yao Dinghan, who had been to Dawan as an envoy and was very familiar with the situation there, said: "Dawan's military strength is very weak, sending 3,000 elite troops is enough."

"Is three thousand enough?" Emperor Wu nodded. The year before last, when the Loulan Kingdom interfered with the envoys of the Han Dynasty, General Zhao Puonu led 700 Qingqi to defeat Loulan and captured its king. Loulan is one of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions. It is a so-called desert oasis city-state, and its situation is roughly similar to that of Dawan.Although Dawan was slightly larger than Loulan, it was only a little farther away, and its military strength should not be strong either. Yes, use this opportunity to let Mrs. Li's brother do something good!Emperor Wu thought of this.

Li Guangli was then appointed as the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, and was awarded the title of "General of the Second Division" with the name of the city of the Second Division of Dawan, where the crusade was carried out. He led 6,000 cavalry under the captain of the subordinate country and tens of thousands of bad boys from various countries. For an expedition in which "3,000 elite soldiers are enough", but such a large army is mobilized, the war will certainly be victorious.That's why Emperor Wu used his deceased lover's elder brother as the main general in this war.

This happened in the first year of Taichu (104 BC). The expeditionary force led by Li Guangli gathered at Dunhuang and then set off from there.It is from this time that the place name of Dunhuang appeared in history. The expeditionary force passed through the salt water and headed west.There are many salty lakes in the desert, which may be why it got this name.Such water cannot be used for drinking. Desert oasis countries can be seen everywhere on the way, and the expeditionary force collects food wherever it goes.If the opponent does not obediently provide food, they will immediately send troops to attack.However, after a few days of attack, they were still unable to capture, so they gave up the battle and continued to advance.It's such a casual march.

Finally arrived at Dawan Kingdom, and began to attack Yu Cheng in the east.It was King Yu Cheng who was ordered by Dawan to kill the Han envoy.But Yu Cheng was unexpectedly tenacious.Moreover, Li Guangli has no military talent and leadership ability.As a result, this army was beaten by Yu Cheng's army and fled in embarrassment. Li Guangli wrote to the emperor: "The road is far away and there is no food. The soldiers don't worry about fighting, but they worry about hunger."In addition, because of the small number of soldiers, it is very difficult to capture Dawan.Shang hoped to stop the battle plan and allow the troops to retreat.

Emperor Wu was furious after reading it.This is giving him a chance to make meritorious deeds, but he shamelessly said that he would withdraw his troops, isn't that plausible! Emperor Wu then ordered: Anyone who escapes and crosses the Yumen Pass will be killed! Li Guangli, the general of the second division, was so frightened that he had no choice but to stay in Dunhuang.But the number of troops retreated here by Yu Cheng is only one-two tenth of the total number.Li Guangli is an ordinary general who cannot be compared with Wei Qing or Huo Qubing. The imperial edict is not allowed to return to the land east of Yumen Pass, and Li Guangli must continue to fight.So he stayed in Dunhuang for a year, preparing to fight again.

Dawan was not as powerful as the Xiongnu, and the attack prepared by the Han Dynasty was astonishingly large.They pardoned the prisoners, and also sent local ruffians to Dunhuang, numbering as many as 60,000.Moreover, this is only the number of soldiers, and the soldiers and husband's service have not been included.One hundred thousand cattle and thirty thousand horses were used to carry the luggage, and tens of thousands of mules, donkeys, horses, and camels were also used. The Han army's second expedition to Dawan was effective by cutting off the enemy's water source.There is no well in Dawan City, and drinking water is imported from outside the city.The Han army destroyed the water source and diverted the waterway. Dawan was besieged by the Han army for 40 days, and the water source was cut off, so it fell into a desperate situation. ——The reason why we have suffered so much is that the king did not sell good horses to the envoys of the Han Dynasty, and even killed them.If we present the king's head and provide good horses, the Han army will stop fighting, right? The elder Dawan killed the king and surrendered to the Han army. General Li Guangli of the Second Division made a Dawan nobleman named Meicai whom he had met with a Han envoy favorably in the past, and made him King of Dawan. The killing of the Han envoy, which became the direct cause of the war, was done by King Yu Cheng, a vassal of Dawan.Of course the Han army sent troops to attack Yu Cheng, and Yu Cheng fled to Kangju in fear. This matter made Kang Ju feel embarrassed. The Han Dynasty's expeditionary army was so powerful that it was not worthwhile to be attacked in order to protect King Yu Cheng.Therefore, Kang Ju tied up Yu Chengwang who had fled and sent him to the general of the second division.King Yu Cheng was beheaded. So narrated, the expedition of the general of the Second Division seems to have achieved brilliant results.In fact, the expeditionary force who returned to Dunhuang to accept the roll call showed incomprehensible numbers. Only a little more than 10,000 soldiers remained in triumph. What the expeditionary force did in Guishan City, the capital of the Dawan Kingdom, was only to encircle and cut off the waterway, and there was no formal battle at all.What's more, when they set off from Dunhuang, they carried a lot of food. During this period, there were cases where officers abused soldiers and deserted soldiers emerged in endlessly.Because most of the non-commissioned officers are prisoners who have been pardoned, one can imagine the difference in their quality. In addition, the number of 60,000 soldiers at the time of the expedition is likely to be falsely reported by the cadres in order to receive salaries. However, Emperor Wu did not conduct an in-depth investigation.He was eager to make his deceased lover's elder brother a marquis, thinking that since he had subdued Dawan and obtained a famous horse, it was a great achievement.Therefore, General Li Guangli of the Second Division was granted the title of "Marquis of Haixi". As mentioned earlier, the purpose of the Han expedition to Dawan was to obtain famous horses, and the motivation for obtaining famous horses was to increase the mobility of the Han army in preparation for fighting against the Xiongnu. In Dawan, the newly enthroned king had a very bad opinion of Cai Feng. ——It was that guy who flattered Han blindly, which led to today's result.This is unfair to the former king. About a year after the Han army lifted the siege and left, some ambitious people in Dawan killed the new king and supported the former king's nephew as king. The people of Dawan, who knew the ferocious fighting situation of the Han army, tried their best to explain to the Han that the replacement of the king was purely due to the domestic situation, and there was absolutely no change in the diplomatic policy (pro-Han line). The new king sent his own son to Han as a hostage to prove it. Han also expressed his understanding. For the Han, the greatest enemy in terms of military and diplomacy was the Xiongnu.As long as you get a famous horse, the domestic problems of a small country like Dawan are not worth mentioning. The year when General Li Guangli of the Second Division went to Dawan was the second year after the death of General Wei Qing. The national army of Han has lost its central figure. After the last large-scale battle in the fourth year of Yuanshou (119 BC), although there were some local wars, there was no large-scale mobilization to fight against the Huns. This was due to the weakening of the Huns.In short, the place remained stable for twenty years. Emperor Wu was not satisfied with this, he expected to completely wipe out the Huns from the world.For this old enemy who once insulted the ancestor of the Han Dynasty (Liu Bang) in Pingcheng and treated the Empress Dowager Lu with a high-handed attitude, Emperor Wu never forgot to give destructive revenge. "During the Spring and Autumn Period, Qi Xianggong once avenged his ancestors nine generations ago!" Emperor Wu often said this sentence, meaning that he regretted that he had not yet been able to avenge his ancestors three generations ago. After pacifying South Vietnam, North Korea and Dawan in turn, it is time to completely attack the Xiongnu. In the second year of Tianhan (99 BC), Emperor Wu sent an expeditionary force to attack the Xiongnu for the first time in twenty years.He appointed Li Guangli, General Li Guangli, who had just returned from Dawan triumphantly, as the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force. Li Guangli led 30,000 cavalry to attack the Xiongnu Youxian King in Qilian Mountains and Tianshan Mountains. "My God! I have to go to the Gobi Desert again..." Li Guangli sighed deeply. Most people think that "Gobi" is a proper term, but in fact it refers to the desert full of rocks, that is, the plain of sand and gravel.In contrast, places full of fine sand are called "sand dunes" or "deserts". Stone deserts are generally vast and boundless, just like the vast sea, so they are called "beach". The author has passed through such a Gobi in a jeep many times, and every time I feel that fighting in such a place must be very hard. No wonder Li Guangli sighed.After four years of expedition to Dawan, he had suffered a lot in the Gobi Desert.After finally returning home triumphantly, he was enshrined as a Marquis, but in the end, he had to go to the Gobi again in less than two years! What's more, he was not a real general at all, but was appointed as a general by relying on the shadow of his deceased sister, Mrs. Li.Mrs. Li was originally a dancer, while his brother Li Yannian was a composer and singer.His family is good at talent shows, and has nothing to do with martial arts. If I had known this would be the case, I should have devoted myself to learning music.If you become an official with music expertise, you won't suffer so much!Li Guangli even thought so. Although he led 30,000 cavalry, once he was attacked by the Xiongnu, he did not have the confidence to defeat the enemy at all. It is necessary to disperse the Huns' army.For this, the best way is to send troops to attack from different directions to divert the main force of the Huns. At that time, the Han Dynasty set up four counties in the corridor from the west of the Yellow River to the Western Regions, the so-called Hexi Four Counties. From the east, they were Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang. In Jiuquan at that time, there were 5,000 soldiers selected by Hubei Province to receive combat training against the Huns there.And the riding captain who is in charge of training in the local area is Li Ling. Li Guang, who mistook an arrow for a tiger and shot an arrow into a rock, and Li Guangli, who is not very powerful, have similar names, but they are staunch warriors with very different personalities. Li Guang's eldest son, Li Danghu, was also a tough guy. Danghu died young, and his posthumous son was Li Ling. Li Guangli said to Li Ling: "In order to contain the Xiongnu, I hope you can lead five thousand cavalry to attack more than a thousand miles north of Juyan." "Yes, as ordered." Li Ling immediately led five thousand athletes from Chu (Hubei) and set off from Jiuquan.