32 Wei Qing & Huo Qubing
Two Military Commanders Who Beat off Xiong Nu
During the early stage of Han Dynasty, the ethnic minority Xiong Nu’s strength was being at its peak. Among Han military commanders, Wei Qing (?-106 BC) was the first one who dared to confront Xiong Nu’s assaulting. Wei Qing was originally surnamed Zheng. After his half-sister (same mother) surnamed Wei became the Queen, Emperor Wudi’s wife, he converted his surname from Zheng to Wei. Some historians alleged that Wei Qing as a commander, won victory all by his good luck or Godsend. But, as a matter of fact, one could possibly win a battle by luck, Wei had made seven consecutive expeditions commanding troops to fight Xiong Nu for as long as ten years, and all the wars ended up with his winning, a fact that couldn’t be explained away by “Godsend”. In 127 BC, Emperor Wudi appointed four commanders commanding four separated divisions of troops attacking Xiong Nu. The other three divisions all failed, only Wei’s troops won a great victory. The last time, Emperor appointed Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to command 100,000 troops respectively advancing deep into Xiong Nu’s inland. They captured Xiong Nu capital Long Cheng (Dragon City, in present Mongolia). Its emperor made a narrow escape in a dark and blizzard night. Since then, Xiong Nu’s military threat was alleviated for hundreds of years.
Huo Qubing (140-117 BC) was the nephew of Wei Qing, came out to be a strategist when he was only 18. After he achieved great deeds, Emperor Wudi granted to build a big residence for him, but he said: “Xiong Nu has not yet been destroyed, it’s not the time to build house for me.” His brave words had famously passed down in history. But, Huo died unexpectedly at the age of 23. The Emperor, grieving over his death, ordered to construct a tomb for him in the imperial mausoleum area, decorated with rows of stone carved warriors and horses. Among them, a stone horse named “Treading Xiong Nu”, featured a Xiong Nu soldier be pressed under a horse hoof, had been highly valued as a rare art masterpiece in history.