Chapter 57 Chapter 57: Stigma

The 5,000 troops led by Li Ling were decoy troops from the beginning.Try to lure the enemy troops over as much as possible, even if all your troops are wiped out, it can be regarded as a successful completion of the mission. Li Ling encountered the army of the Huns, and after a fierce battle, he was finally defeated, but the enemy suffered huge losses.Although Li Ling himself was captured, as far as the decoy troops were concerned, this was already a great achievement. But Emperor Wu did not recognize Li Ling's contribution.Emperor Wu was fifty-eight years old at this time, and his fortune was declining.His observation of things gradually becomes less clear, with a tendency to focus on emotions.

When he heard that Li Ling became the captain of the mobile unit, Emperor Wu murmured in his heart: That guy! Emperor Wu thought that Li Ling was unwilling to accept the command of others, so he volunteered to be the captain of the mobile force. — that's what he is, it's all in his nature! Emperor Wu's view of Li Ling was extremely emotional. Han Yan, who once violently beat Emperor Wu's favorite, was Li Ling's father, Li Danghu.Li Danghu is dead, and Han Yan is no longer alive.The fact that Han Yan was convicted by the Empress Dowager on the grounds of having an affair with a court lady is as mentioned above.

——It must have hurt when you were beaten, right? Although Han Yan's death has nothing to do with Li Danghu, Emperor Wu still has it in his heart. Li Ling's grandfather, Li Guang, was dissatisfied with the assigned tasks and showed disobedience from beginning to end, even though he served as a general of Wei Qing.In the end, he lost his way in the desert and failed to catch up with the time for the battle. He committed suicide without being willing to be interrogated by a judge.To Emperor Wu, Li Guang committed suicide to make it look like he wanted to die.I heard that the whole army cried loudly for Li Guangzhi's death, which made Emperor Wu extremely annoyed.

For this matter, Li Ling's uncle Li Gan went so far as to beat General Wei Qing to vent his anger on his deceased father. Since Wei Qing didn't want to make it public, Emperor Wu therefore let Li Gan go.However, he was very unhappy inside.This incident was later resolved because Wei Qing's nephew Huo Qubing took the opportunity to kill Li Gan while hunting. Father, grandfather, and uncle are all intense personalities!Li Ling must have also inherited this lineage - Emperor Wu had such preconceived notions.Volunteering as the captain of the mobile unit, isn't that what such a person would do?

As a result of the battle meeting in the base camp, it was decided to award troops to a general named Lu Bode, who joined Li Ling's mobile troops on the way and was in charge of the battle in the rear. Lu Bode used to be General Fubo, but because of his lack of merit, he was downgraded to captain.This person's self-awareness and self-esteem are quite strong, and he is older than Li Ling's father Li Danghu, so he treats Li Ling as a junior. What?I will serve as Li Ling's rear army?Want me to follow in that kid's footsteps?I don't do such things!Lu Bode's self-esteem would never allow him to serve as Li Ling's rear army.So he wrote to Emperor Wu:

The time sequence has entered autumn, which is the period when the Huns are fattening their horses. It is really unfavorable to fight at this time.Therefore, it is advisable to keep Li Ling's army until the coming spring, and then attack the Xiongnu in Junji, and there is no doubt that they will win... Emperor Wu was furious after reading the letter.However, the object of his anger was not Lubord. Li Ling felt timid just before going out into battle, so he asked Lu Bode to submit a letter to postpone the attack.Emperor Wu thought so. It is said that there are as many as 80,000 Xiongnu soldiers on the Junji Mountain side.Although it was only a decoy army, it was inevitable to feel timid in the face of five thousand soldiers-this was Emperor Wu's idea.

Li Ling was inexplicably reprimanded by the imperial edict.Its content is: It is extremely wrong to have a private agreement with Lu Bode, and I hereby condemn it.Ordered to go to the south of Dongjunji Mountain-the Longle River to scout the enemy's situation according to the plan.If there is no encounter with the enemy, then go through the old road of Zhao Puonu to the surrendered city (Inner Mongolia) to rest. Li Ling had no idea what the "private agreement with Lubold" referred to.However, judging from the words, it seems true that the emperor was very angry. Of course Li Ling sent his troops northward in September as planned.

The Xiongnu in Junji Mountain first surrounded Li Ling's army with 30,000 cavalry.Li Ling arranged large baggage vehicles in a circle as a temporary castle to cope with the encirclement.All the soldiers walked out of the castle, with the soldiers holding spears and shields as the front row, and the archers hid behind.In addition to holding the bow, the archer is also located next to the thousand barbed crossbow. Seeing that the Han army numbered only five thousand, the Xiongnu launched a fierce attack with a mighty force.But after the thousand stilettos and giant crossbows were fired in unison, the whole army headed by Li Ling came to fight hand-to-hand with swords.Because the Xiongnu underestimated the enemy, they lost thousands of troops and retreated in this battle.

Only then did the Xiongnu Shanyu realize that this group of enemy troops should not be underestimated, so he mobilized an army of 80,000.As a result, the 5,000 troops were of course unable to cope, and were gradually forced to retreat southward under the situation of being outnumbered.The decoy unit's job is to do as much damage as possible to the enemy and do whatever it takes to keep the enemy in place. Li Ling successfully completed this task.When retreating into the mountain gorge, Li Ling found that the troops lacked vigor in their actions.He beat the war drum again and again, but there was no sign of rising.Li Ling's army used war drums as a signal to advance and gongs as a signal to stop.

"There must be women in the army!" Li Ling immediately ordered a search of the entire army. At that time, the wife or daughter of the perpetrator was often sent to the border to serve as a military prostitute for the garrison.It seemed that such a woman followed her.As a result of the search, it turned out that there were quite a few women in the car.Li Ling ordered someone to drag them out and beheaded them all on the spot.His behavior is too cruel. But the next day, the general's fighting will improved a lot, and he won more than 3,000 enemy heads.Li Ling was still fighting while retreating towards the south.When entering the swamp four or five days later, because the Huns set fire from the upwind direction, a large piece of dry reed turned into a raging flame and approached Li Jun.Li Ling immediately took advantage of the change in wind direction and set fire to the nearby reeds, finally getting out of trouble.

The Huns are best at fighting on horseback, and they regard infantry warfare as fearful.Li Ling once lured the Xiongnu army into a forest where they could not ride their horses, and killed thousands of enemy soldiers. The situation is that an army of 80,000 is attacking 5,000 soldiers—the Huns have known for a long time that this is a decoy army, and they have realized that Li Ling's army retreated all the way to the south because there was an army of Han ambushing there. Forget about being alert.For fear of being fooled, he lacks courage in attacking. Unexpectedly, at this time, a military marquis (intermediate general) named Guan Gan in Li Ling's army had a conflict with his superior, and he left the team and surrendered to the Huns. ——There was no Han army in the direction of Li Ling's retreat.At the same time, Li Ling's army was almost exhausted of arrows. This Guan Gan actually provided such information to the Huns. "In that case, let's launch a full-scale attack!" Shan Yu then issued a general attack order on the entire army. Li Ling lined up in the canyon, while the Xiongnu shot arrows like raindrops from the surrounding mountains.Li Ling's army fought bravely, shooting as many as 500,000 arrows a day, and the stock of arrows was exhausted.Although Li Ling still commanded 3,000 soldiers, he could no longer fight without arrows. As a last resort, he abandoned the car, took off the axle of the wheel and replaced it with a knife, and finally escaped to the valley of Dahan Mountain.And the Xiongnu, who knew that the Han had no reinforcements, never let go of their attacks.They both broke the road and threw stones, which put Li Ling's army in a desperate situation. "I think there is no hope for us." Li Ling distributed the remaining food to his subordinates and ordered, "You run away!" The nearest castle of the Han army is at a place called Sheluzhang about fifty kilometers away.There are only about 400 people who escaped here by chance. Commander Li Ling buried important documents and flags in the ground, and led more than ten soldiers to ride out of the canyon.He had no choice but to surrender to the Huns when his sword was broken and his arrows were exhausted. At the same time, there was a general named Zhao Puonu. Although he was captured by the enemy for a time, he escaped and returned.Li Ling's combat exploits were far greater than that of Zhao Ponu. ——I will definitely be pardoned and treated favorably. At least Li Ling himself was convinced of this. Emperor Wu had a bad preconceived notion of Li Ling.All the ministers know this. "It is said that Li Ling surrendered to the Huns, what should he do with him?" Emperor Wu asked his ministers. The courtiers who knew how to cater to the emperor's wishes immediately replied in unison: "It is a serious crime for a general of an imposing army to surrender to the enemy, and it must be dealt with severely." At such a banquet, Tai Shiling, who is in charge of the past records, will definitely be summoned. The purpose is to find out the past facts for reference.At this time, Tai Shiling was Sima Qian. Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan, was also Taishi Ling. In the first year of Yuanfeng (110 BC), Emperor Wu held a ceremony of enshrining Zen in Mount Tai.The purpose of this ceremony is to announce to the heavens that they have accepted the destiny to take the throne. However, not every emperor will hold the Zen ceremony. Since Qin Shihuang, no one has held Fengchan, not even Gaozu, the founder of the Han Dynasty.When Emperor Wudi's father, Emperor Jingdi, was encouraged to hold this ceremony, he shook his head and said: I have no such virtue. The holy emperor who can bring peace to the world with his virtue - such a person is qualified to be enshrined in Zen. Emperor Wu decided to hold Fengchan in the 32nd year of his accession to the throne. Since this is a ritual that has been discontinued for a long time, it is necessary to find various examples from past records as a reference.Sima Tan thought that Tai Shiling, who was in charge of keeping records, should be invited to participate in this grand ceremony.However, Sima Tan was not on the list when the personnel order on Fengchan affairs was issued.It turned out that a historian who received a salary of 600 shi was not qualified to participate in the Fengchan ceremony. Sima Tan was quite indignant.His poor health at the time was exacerbated by anger. Sima Qian, who joined the army in Yunnan, just returned to Beijing at this time and was able to see his father for the last time.Sima Tan grabbed his son's hand and said in tears, "It's my fate not to be able to participate in the Fengchan Grand Ceremony. Since it's fate, I won't say anything more. However, as Taishi Ling, I am responsible for recording history. , but have not yet completed this task. I only completed this stage of data collection. After my death, you must inherit my will and complete the cause of recording history." "I will definitely complete my father's legacy. I will record the materials and old news that my father has sorted out in detail." Sima Qian swore to his father with tears in his eyes. In the third year after his father's death, Sima Qian was appointed Taishi Ling.In the eighth year after taking office as Taishi Ling, Sima Qian was ordered to express his opinion on Li Ling's defeat in front of the emperor. Sima Qian only sat with Li Ling on a certain occasion, and there was no deep friendship between the two.Sima Qian, who was questioned, analyzed Li Ling's fighting situation at that time with an objective attitude, and expressed his views concretely. Sima Qian defended Li Ling's defeat. "Li Ling has not lost the battle." He said.With less than 5,000 soldiers to deal with the enemy's 80,000 army, it is a matter of course to be wiped out. The problem is how to fight.And it is an iron fact that Li Ling is good at fighting. ——The arrows were shot, the road was cut off, and finally he attacked the enemy with his blade, and was arrested in hatred.The reason why he did not kill himself must be to find an opportunity to serve Yu Han again. He is so defensive.People who lived a comfortable life in the imperial capital of Chang'an without risking their lives blamed Li Ling for fighting to the death in the land of Mobei - he felt sincere indignation at this point. Emperor Wu frowned displeasedly. The purpose of this attack was to crusade against the Huns, but there was another purpose in addition, which was to give Li Guangli, the elder brother of his late lover Mrs. Li, a chance.In the previous crusade against Dawan, Li Guangli's performance was actually very useless, so he must be given another chance to make contributions. As a result, Li Ling faced the entire main force of the 80,000 enemy army alone, while Li Guangli had an army of 30,000, but he almost never fought the enemy. "This battle is completely fought by Li Ling alone. Please the emperor clearly observe." When Sima Qian said this, Emperor Wu had become furious. "How could it be that Li Ling is fighting alone! You are mocking the general of the second division (Li Guangli)! You have bad intentions, put this person in jail!" Before the wrath of the dictator, the extremely correct opinions of the knowledgeable historians were also denied.Not only that, Sima Qian was sentenced to extremely cruel castration because of this speech. Castration is the punishment of castration, a punishment of corruption.A man who has been tortured is no longer a man, and will be considered abnormal by the scholar-bureaucrat class, and he will never even think about raising his head in front of others for the rest of his life. "Just die..." Sima Qian thought of this many times.But at times like this, every time he remembered what his father said before he died.I must write history!If you die, isn't this thing impossible to complete!I have to bear the humiliation to survive and finish writing history! Sima Qian finally lived strong and completed "Historical Records".This book consists of 130 chapters with a total of 526,500 words.