Huo Qubing

Huo Qubing took the Gansu corridor from the Xiongnu. In 121 BC his cavalry crossed the Yanzhi mountains and struck the kings of the west. They then went on to the Qilian range.^[1] That autumn the Hunye king came over to the Han with his following. The Han then opened the Jiuquan country on the land the Xiongnu had lost.^[1]^[2] In 119 BC he rode more than 2,000 li out of Dai and beat the Left Worthy King.^[3] He died three years later.^[4]

The first sortie, 123 BC

Huo Qubing was the son of Shao’er, the elder sister of Wei Qing. His father was Huo Zhongru, with whom Shao’er had earlier had a liaison. Shao’er became the wife of Chen Zhang when the empress Wei rose in rank.^[4] At eighteen, Huo Qubing came to court as an attendant, as the empress’s nephew. He rode and shot well. Twice he went out with Wei Qing.^[5]

By imperial order he was given strong men and made a Piaoyao colonel. He took 800 light and daring horse.^[5] He rode several hundred li ahead of the main army. He took heads and captives beyond the usual measure.^[5]

The edict counted 2,028 heads. He had taken a chancellor and a danghu. He had killed Jiruo Hou Chan, who was of the generation of the chanyu’s grandfather, and captured the chanyu’s uncle Luogubi. The edict said that he had twice been first in the army, and it made him Marquis of Guanjun.^[1] The Shiji gives the fief as 1,600 households. The Han Shu, however, gives 2,500.^[1]

Yanzhi and Qilian, 121 BC

In the spring of 121 BC, three years after his marquisate, Huo Qubing was made General of Swift Cavalry. He was sent out of Longxi with 10,000 horse.^[6] The edict that praised him gives the route. He crossed the Wuzhi mountains and attacked the Subu. He crossed the Huunu river and passed through five kingdoms. He left the baggage and the frightened people aside and came near to taking the chanyu’s son. He fought for six days and went more than 1,000 li past the Yanzhi mountains. At the foot of Gaolan he closed with the enemy and fought with short weapons. He killed the king of Zhelan. He took the son of the Hunye king, together with a chancellor and a commandant.^[4] He took the golden image with which the Xiutu king sacrificed to Heaven.^[1] The capture may have taken place in the land of the Xiutu king around Wuwei, since the images were too large to be carried on the field. If so, the place named in the Shiji, near Yanzhi mountain, is imprecise.^[7] A commentary of the Tang period says that the image was later set up at Ganquan.^[8] The Han Shu counts 8,960 heads. It adds that the army was reduced by seven in ten.^[4] The Shiji chapter on the Xiongnu counts 18,000 heads. The Han Shu chapter on the Xiongnu counts more than 8,000.^[9] That chapter also writes the name of the mountain as Yanqi (焉耆), where the Shiji writes Yanzhi (焉支).^[10] Under the sacred mountains, Turkic Atlas deals with the golden image, together with the song the Xiongnu are said to have sung for the loss of Yanzhi and Qilian. The sacrifice of the Xiutu king may be a lesser copy, in his own land, of the great sacrifice that the chanyu held at Longcheng.^[11] Others take the golden men for a Han-period cast made after the twelve bronze figures of the First Emperor of Qin. It rejects the Buddha, the Indian god and the Xiongnu god.^[12]

That summer Huo Qubing and Gongsun Ao went out of Beidi by separate roads. At the same time Zhang Qian and Li Guang went out of Youbeiping, also by separate roads. Li Guang arrived first with 4,000 horse. The Left Worthy King surrounded him with several tens of thousands of horse, and they fought for two days. More than half of Li Guang’s men died, and the Xiongnu lost heavily too. Zhang Qian came up with 10,000 horse, and the Xiongnu withdrew. Zhang Qian was due to be beheaded for his delay. He bought his way down to the status of a commoner.^[5]

Huo Qubing meanwhile went deep. Gongsun Ao lost the road, so the two did not meet. Huo Qubing crossed Juyan and reached the Qilian mountains.^[5] Juyan has been identified with the Etsina river with its lake. The Qilian mountains are taken for the branch of the Nanshan between the Etsina and the Tola, on the border of Zhangye and Jiuquan.^[13] According to the edict’s route, he crossed the Jun’gi, crossed Juyan and came to the Small Yuezhi. He attacked the Qilian mountains and showed his arms at Luande. He took the Qiutu king. A chancellor and a commandant came over to him with 2,500 men.^[4] The edict counted 30,200 heads. It also listed five kings with the mothers of the five kings, the chanyu’s consorts, 59 princes, and 63 chancellors, generals, danghu and commandants. The army was reduced by three in ten.^[1] The Shiji chapter on the Xiongnu counts seventy and more lesser kings and officers among the captives. The Han Shu chapter on the Xiongnu counts ten and more.^[9]

The Shiji explains the success by the choice of men. The troops and horses of the old generals were not equal to Huo Qubing’s. His army was always picked. He dared to go deep, and he rode ahead of the main army with strong riders. The army had Heaven’s luck and was never cut off. The old generals, by contrast, were left behind and failed to meet. As a result, Huo Qubing grew closer to the emperor and stood level with Wei Qing.^[5]

The Hunye king

That autumn the chanyu was angry with the Hunye king. The king controlled the west. The Han had beaten him several times, and he had lost tens of thousands of men. The chanyu wanted to call him in and have him killed. The Hunye king planned with the Xiutu king to go over to the Han. He sent men to the frontier ahead of him.^[1] Li Xi, the Grand Herald, was building a city on the river and received the envoys. He sent word to the court by relay.^[5] The emperor Wudi feared that the surrender was a trick to strike the frontier. He ordered Huo Qubing to go with troops and meet the Hunye king.^[5]

Huo Qubing crossed the river, and the two hosts sighted each other. Many of the Hunye king’s lesser kings did not want to surrender, and some slipped away. Huo Qubing galloped into their midst and met the Hunye king. He killed 8,000 of those who wanted to flee. He sent the Hunye king ahead, alone, by relay to the emperor, and brought the whole host across the river. The people who came over numbered tens of thousands, but they were given out as 100,000.^[1] The edict counted thirty-two kings who came over.^[1] The Shiji chapter on the Xiongnu tells it differently. In that account the Hunye king killed the Xiutu king and brought over 40,000 and more. They were called 100,000.^[9]

The Hunye king was made Marquis of Tayin with 10,000 households. His lesser kings and his great danghu were made marquises too.^[1] The Han settled the people who had come over outside the old frontier forts of five commanderies, all of them south of the river. The Han let them keep their own customs as dependent states.^[1] The garrisons of Longxi, Beidi and Shang were cut by half. The Shiji adds that the western country had fewer Hu raiders from then on.^[5]

Mobei, 119 BC

In the spring of 119 BC, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing took 50,000 horse each. The best fighters, those who dared deep and hard fighting, were put under Huo Qubing.^[5] Huo Qubing was to go out of Dingxiang and meet the chanyu. A captured Xiongnu said that the chanyu was in the east. The orders were therefore changed. Huo Qubing went out of Dai, and Wei Qing went out of Dingxiang.^[5] Huo Qubing marched more than 2,000 li and met the Left Worthy King. The Shiji chapter on Huo Qubing, however, says more than 1,000 li.^[14] The Han took 70,443 heads and captives. The Left Worthy King’s generals fled.^[1]

The edict lists his deeds. He led the Hunyu warriors he had taken and travelled light. He crossed the great desert. He took Zhangqu, killed Bei Cheqi and turned on the Left Great General Shuang. He took the flags and drums. He captured the Tuntou king, the Xiongnu king titled Han (韓王) and a third, together with 83 generals, chancellors, danghu and commandants. He made the feng sacrifice on Mount Langjuxu and the shan sacrifice at Guyan. He climbed to the Hanhai.^[1] The army fed on the enemy and was not short of grain, although the march was very long.^[5] The Han Shu counts the army’s losses at two in ten. The Shiji counts them at three in ten.^[14]

Two kings of the Hu served under him and earned fiefs. They were Fuluzhi, king of Yinchun and formerly Marquis of Guiyi, and Yijiqian, king of Loutuan.^[4] Turkic Atlas tells the campaign in full under Mobei.

Character and death

After the campaign the post of Grand Marshal was created. Huo Qubing’s salary was set equal to Wei Qing’s. Wei Qing’s old followers left him and went over to Huo Qubing.^[5]

The Shiji describes him as a man of few words. He kept his counsel and had the spirit to dare. When the emperor wished to teach him the art of war of Sun and Wu, Huo Qubing said that it was a matter of working out a plan and that he had no need to study the old books. When the emperor had a house built for him and told him to look at it, Huo Qubing answered that while the Xiongnu were not destroyed he had no use for a home.^[1] The same passage says that he had been an attendant from his youth and was noble. It also says that he did not look after his men. When he went with the army, the emperor sent several tens of carts of food. On the return, the heavy carts threw away surplus grain and meat while his soldiers went hungry. On the frontier his men lacked grain, and some could not stand. Huo Qubing marked out a ground to play ball.^[5]

Huo Qubing died in the ninth month of 117 BC, the sixth year of the Yuanshou period.^[15] The emperor mourned. He called out the black-armoured troops of the dependent states and lined them up from Chang’an to Maoling. He had the grave raised in the shape of the Qilian mountains. The posthumous name was Jinghuan, made from the words for martial and for widening the land.^[1] The dependent states were the settlements of the people who had come over with the Hunye king. These troops therefore probably included Xiongnu.

His son Shan, styled Zihou, was loved by the emperor. The emperor made him commandant of the imperial carriage and took him to the feng sacrifice at Mount Tai. Shan died there. He left no son, and the fief ended.^[1] Huo Qubing’s brother Huo Guang rose to great honour later. The Han Shu gives him a chapter of his own.^[4]

The Shiji and the Han Shu sum up his career in the same words. He made six sorties against the Xiongnu, four of them as a general. He took more than 110,000 heads and captives. The Hunye king came over with tens of thousands, the Hexi country opened to Jiuquan, and in the west there were fewer Hu raiders from then on.^[1]

References

^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Shiji, juan 111; Han Shu, juan 55
^ Chavannes 1913, v
^ Shiji, juan 110; Han Shu, juan 55
^ a b c d e f g Han Shu, juan 55
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Shiji, juan 111
^ Shiji, juan 111; Han Shu, juan 6
^ Kurakichi 1930, p. 11–12
^ Shiji, juan 110
^ a b c Shiji, juan 110; Han Shu, juan 94
^ Han Shu, juan 94; Shiji, juan 111
^ Kurakichi 1930, p. 29–30
^ Kurakichi 1930, p. 36–52
^ Kurakichi 1930, p. 14
^ a b Han Shu, juan 55; Shiji, juan 111
^ Han Shu, juan 55; Han Shu, juan 6

Sources

Shiji, juan 110, 111
Han Shu, juan 6, 55, 94 (after Shiji)

Literature

Édouard Chavannes, Les documents chinois découverts par Aurel Stein dans les sables du Turkestan oriental (1913)
Shiratori Kurakichi, On the Territory of the Hsiung-nu Prince Hsiu-t'u Wang and His Metal Statues for Heaven-worship (1930)