Why was the Xiongnu in history, as a people who lived in pursuit of water and grass, able to match the powerful Han Dynasty army in the 400-year Han-Hungarian War?
As we all know, in the era of cold weapons, the main reason for determining the victory of a war, in addition to the differences in military management and strategy, the most critical factor must be the most powerful and advanced equipment of the two armies.
So the problem is, whether it is in politics, economy, minerals, smelting technology, military strength, etc., the Xiongnu can not be compared with the dynasty in the Central Plains
Hun cavalry)1. Grasslands and deserts are lacking in materials
During the Qin and Han dynasties, the Xiongnu were mainly active in the present-day Inner Mongolia Plateau. That is, west of the Great Khing'an Mountains, north of the Yanshan Mountains, Taihang Mountains, and the Loess Plateau, there are forests, grasslands, grasslands and deserts, and the grassland area accounts for about two-thirds of the total activity area.
The Xiongnu were a people on horseback, mainly nomadic, with few fixed residences, no basic agricultural cultivation, and regional characteristics led to low social productivity. This also determines that they must maintain the survival of their ethnic group through foreign wars.
Five or six thousand years ago, there was already a fairly developed farming civilization in China's Yellow River Valley, Yangtze River Basin, and many other regions, creating a splendid farming culture.
As early as the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, China has developed a relatively mature iron-smelting technology.
Archaeological discoveries have found that in the unearthed tombs of the late Spring and Autumn Period, a piece of white-mouthed pig iron was unearthed from Liuhecheng Bridge in Jiangsu, and a steel sword was unearthed in Yangjiashan, Changsha, Hunan.
Pig iron, also known as cast iron, is smelted at temperatures ranging from 1150 to 1300 degrees Celsius. Pig iron is in a liquid state when it is baked, can be produced continuously, cast and molded, has less non-metallic inclusions, and has a relatively hard texture, and its smelting requirements and quality are higher than those of block iron. As for smelting iron into steel, it requires higher technology.
In the late Warring States period, with the progress of the handicraft industry, iron weapons gradually appeared on the stage of history. The armies of the major vassal states of the Central Plains have used more new equipment such as iron halberds, iron spears, iron knives, iron swords, iron staffs, iron armor, and iron daggers, and have begun to gradually replace bronze.
After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, China entered the feudal society, carried out a series of reforms, implemented the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, vigorously supported the development of private ownership of feudal land, and the agricultural civilization blossomed everywhere, which also directly promoted the further development of the iron-smelting handicraft industry.
The first-class equipment of the Qin Dynasty army has rapidly transitioned from the original bronze weapons to the iron weapons.
The Central Plains entered the Western Han Dynasty, with an arsenal order, responsible for the storage and manufacture of weapons, and the production of ** was directly controlled by the state. There are more than 40 iron officials all over the country, and the production process has reached the level of 100 steelmaking.
When the Xiongnu developed to the Western Han Dynasty, their army equipment was still very poor, with bronze weapons and few iron weapons. There are also very few types of weapons, basically only bows and arrows and short knives. Arrow clusters are even made of bone and stony. There was no shortage of horses, but there were basically no harnesses, and the soldiers fought on "bare horses".
Warring States Bronze).
2. Repeated offenders, border robberies and plunder
The abundant products of the Central Plains made the Xiongnu people salivate, and the fertile land made them eye. Since the Qin Dynasty, the Xiongnu began to invade the border territory of the Central Plains many times, and became a major problem for the imperial courts of previous dynasties.
Because the Xiongnu people lived in the grassland, the long-term harsh living environment gave them their own national characteristics. They have rough faces, tall statures, and strong physiques. The food is mainly nomadic and also hunting, so they can be said to be all soldiers, everyone can shoot with a sword and arrow, and the force value is extremely high.
The common people of the Central Plains are all living on farming, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and inherit the traditional culture of the state of etiquette, and the degree of civilization is very high.
When these two ethnic groups collided, the common people of the Han nationality had no power to fight back, but were crushed fiercely.
The Huns were good at riding and shooting, almost every shot, and came and went without a trace, often looting the border villages, and they robbed grain, cloth, farm tools, pots and pans and all other iron products. Burning, killing, and looting made the common people in the frontier feel miserable.
The Huns obtained a large number of iron products and a small number of iron weapons through robbery, as well as handicraftsmen and other craftsmen, so as to have the iron-smelting technology of the Central Plains.
Hun cavalry shooting).3. Self-manufactured and improved equipment
According to historical records, the Xiongnu began to settle down and live in the period of Mao Dun Danyu, and many Xiongnu city sites appeared. For example, "the ruins of the settlement of Plugleni Village", "the site of Dabaodang City of Shenmu in Shaanxi", etc., these relics illustrate the settlement of the Xiongnu at that time.
It was found in the ancient city of Ivorga, the site in the north where the Xiongnu culture was distributed, which was a frontier city integrating agriculture, handicrafts, and military. This shows that a specific production base appeared in the Xiongnu, and some of the Xiongnu people broke away from animal husbandry and turned to the handicraft industry to engage in specialized production.
In a large Xiongnu copper mine site in Inner Mongolia, iron-making furnaces and iron slag were unearthed. Judging from the cultural relics unearthed from the Xiongnu tomb, the burial goods are mainly weapons, mainly arrows, short swords and knives.
Iron weapons) Hanshu Xiongnu Biography records, "long soldiers are bows and arrows, and short soldiers are swords". The main tools of warfare of the Xiongnu were bows and short arrows.
The bow consists of three parts: the bow body and the shaft, the bowstring, and the arrow. Arrowheads developed from bone and stone to bronze and iron. The bow body is made of wood or bamboo (Central Plains region). The bowstring is made of animal skins or silk (Central Plains).
During the active period of the Xiongnu, in the hilly areas of Qilian Mountain, Helan Mountain, Wula Mountain, Daqing Mountain, and the southwest of the Daxing'an Mountains, the forest resources were very abundant, and it became the timber production base of the nomads at that time.
Cold weapon bow and arrow).
The large primeval forest not only provided the Xiongnu with the manufacturing resources of domes and felt cars, but also provided sufficient raw materials for the army to make bows and arrows.
Using animal fur such as cow tendon or raw cowhide as raw materials for bowstrings is not easy for the Huns, who take animal husbandry as their main food.
Speaking of the Hun bow and arrow, we must mention a ** accessory - Mingdi. Mao Dun, the eldest son of Touman Danyu, invented an arrow that made a sound when the bow and arrow were fired, and the soldiers could judge which direction the target was in just by listening to the sound, which could play a huge role in fighting in the dark or when sneak attacking.
Mingdi)Fourth, the border ** and the victories of the war
In 209 BC (the first year of Qin II), Mao Dun went out hunting with his father, and used the secret ** Ming Di to shoot Tou Man Shan Yu to death in the chaos of arrows, and successfully seized the position of Shan Yu. This is the famous Ming Di Killing Father.
At this time, the Central Plains was in the midst of the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings, and time gave the Xiongnu a chance to breathe. Mao Dunshan was brave and strategic, and gradually unified the various nomadic tribes around the Xiongnu, and a prosperous and powerful Xiongnu Empire stood in the steppes of northern China.
The Xiongnu rose rapidly, and the Western Han regime had just stabilized. In the face of repeated invasions by the Xiongnu, the Han Dynasty had to negotiate peace while secretly recuperating.
Map of the territory of the Western Han Dynasty).
The Han Dynasty opened its borders with the Xiongnu**. People on both sides can exchange food and daily necessities through mutual markets. The Han people could exchange horses, animal skins, cattle and sheep, etc., and the Xiongnu could exchange them for grain, cloth, farm tools, and iron tools.
Han **strictly prohibited***There are also quantitative restrictions on the Yi market of ironware. The Xiongnu can get a part of the iron from the normal trade at the border pass, and they can also get a part of the iron from smuggling. The powerful Xiongnu Empire also captured a large number of advanced ** in the long years of foreign wars.
According to the Historical Records, each Hun warrior in the war had a fighting horse and even one or even two spare horses. It can be seen that the number of Huns and horses is very large. They trained and improved the wild horses into thousands of horses, and their combat capabilities were much higher than those of the Central Plains army.
Horse stepping on the Hun sculpture).
Horses can not only ensure the mobility of the Xiongnu army on the battlefield, but also in terms of logistics support, horses can transport goods over long distances to ensure that the Xiongnu war conscription materials are sufficient. Therefore, horses became an indispensable and important strategic material in the Xiongnu's foreign warfare.
The Xiongnu were a people who were good at learning and not afraid of difficulties, and they established a fixed residence in the steppe with an extremely harsh living environment, and made full use of the grassland environment to develop animal husbandry. It also played an important role in consolidating the Silk Road route.
References: 1. "The Logistics Support of the Xiongnu in the Han-Hungarian War", Journal of Hebei North University (Social Science Edition), Hou Zhuo, Issue 01, 2021, CNKI Journal.
2. "Historical Records", (Western Han Dynasty) Sima Qian, Guangming ** Publishing House.