In the early days of the Western Han Dynasty, in order to calm the border troubles, it adopted the strategy of making peace with the Xiongnu. As a result, later generations had many misunderstandings, thinking that the Han army at that time could not defeat the Xiongnu, so they were forced to make peace.
However, in fact, the Han army was not unable to defeat the Xiongnu, but because it could not defend against the Xiongnu. And it must have been fought, but the Han army, with infantry as the main force, really couldn't prevent the invasion of the Huns, and that's why!
First of all, what is a hanging?
The meaning of hanging and beating is that no matter how you fight, such as the decisive battle in the field between the two sides, or the offensive and defensive battle of the position, or the offensive and defensive battle of the city, the frontal battle can be won steadily, and that is the so-called hanging fighting.
But could the Huns do it? Obviously it can't be done!
The comparison between the Han army and the Xiongnu in the early Western Han Dynasty is as follows.
1) The strength of the Huns' soldiers and horses: all of them are good at riding and shooting, and all of them are cavalry, coming and going like the wind. This is the common characteristic of the horseback people, and it is also the greatest advantage of the Xiongnu against the Han army.
However, the Xiongnu were only one such only advantage.
2) The strengths of the Han army: Compared with the Xiongnu in the early days, the Han army was actually superior in all other aspects, except for the disadvantage of cavalry.
The military system of the Central Plains, from the theory of the art of war to the practice, already had a rigorous and complete system in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which is by no means comparable to the grassland peoples.
Therefore, the organizational system and discipline of the Han army were far superior to those of the Xiongnu; The Han army was strict in rewards and punishments, well-trained, and well-armoured; It also has a sharp blade, a strong bow and a crossbow that is unparalleled in the world! The above is the real embodiment of hard power. And these things are not possessed by the Huns!
Han Dynasty strong crossbowmen on the Internet**.
Then, assuming that the Xiongnu and the Han army face off head-on and fight a decisive battle, it is the following situation.
If the Xiongnu and the Han army lined up in a field battle, they would face off in a tough duel. Then as long as there are enough bows and crossbows, a thousand Han troops can form a field battle, and they can destroy at least 10,000 Hun cavalry.
This argument can be confirmed in the example of Li Ling's 5,000 infantry against the siege of 80,000 Xiongnu cavalry.
Note that the Han army in the Li Ling era was exactly the same as the Han army in the early Western Han Dynasty in terms of equipment, tactics and military system.
If the Xiongnu and the Han army fought the city and fortified the fortress to attack and defend the battle, then the result was as follows.
First: If the Han army is fortified, the Xiongnu, who are not good at attacking the city, will not be able to attack it.
Second: If the Xiongnu built a fortress and held on, then it would definitely be conquered by the Han army, which was the best at attacking cities.
From this, it can be concluded that even at the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu did not want to defeat the Han army in a frontal battle!
Mounted archery of nomadic cavalry.
The first option is a sneak attack.
Needless to say, a sneak attack is always a panacea for all battles. Anyone who succeeds in a sneak attack can defeat any opponent.
The second method is to lure the enemy deep and annihilate the enemy in maneuver.
This tactic is worth talking about. Because this is the advantage tactics that the Hun cavalry is best at, and it is also the biggest shortcoming of the Han army that lacked cavalry in the early years of the Han Dynasty.
The use of cavalry lies in maneuvering, gathering and dispersing impermanence, so the art of war is also called "clutched soldiers".
Characteristics of the Hun cavalry tactics:
* The Xiongnu, who were rudimentary and loosely organized in the military system, were well aware of their shortcomings and were simply unable to fight the Han army head-on.
Whenever they fought with the Han army, the Xiongnu would definitely make the most of their cavalry superiority, first lure the enemy with a feint, retreat in great strides, lure the Han army to pursue deeply, expand the scope of the battlefield, and lengthen the logistics supply line of the Han army.
The Han army, which has a complete system and is fully equipped, is extremely dependent on logistics.
Then, the Hun cavalry made a detour and attacked the Han army's weak baggage team, cutting off the Han army's grain route, so that the deep Han army fell into a situation of running out of food.
The Siege of Baiden. This is the best tactics of the Xiongnu. This is how Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, fell for the feint of defeat of the Xiongnu, and led a chariot to drive deep into pursuit of the Xiongnu before falling into the siege of Baideng.
However, it is important to note that:
First, during the siege of Baideng, the Han army took the car as the city and held it high, if the Xiongnu wanted to attack hard, then without paying the price of tens of thousands of lives, it would definitely not be able to attack.
Second, if the Han army has enough arrows, even if the Xiongnu do not hesitate to tens of thousands, they may not be able to break through the Han army's defenses. Because this is the army of the Son of Heaven personally led by Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, it is the most well-equipped, well-trained, and combat-ready army in the Han Dynasty. If the hand-to-hand combat is hand-to-hand and white-knuckle combat, the Han army relies on strong armor and sharp soldiers, and it is no problem at all to use one as five.
It was precisely because the Xiongnu felt that although they could besiege with heavy troops, they were really unable to attack hard, so they agreed to accept treasures and bribe them to retreat.
Otherwise, if they could break through the defense of the Han army, the Huns would have attacked hard a long time ago, and if they could capture the emperor of the Han family, wouldn't they be able to ask for more benefits from the Han Dynasty?
Then someone asked: since the Huns could not conquer it, what gold and silver treasures should they give? Wouldn't it be better to hold out until reinforcements arrive?
This is standing and talking without backache!
The soldiers are in danger, the battlefield is full of variables, and the Son of Heaven is surrounded, can this be delayed? Of course, no one dares to delay, and if we can solve the problem with gold and silver and goods and solve the siege as soon as possible, then of course we must solve the siege as soon as possible at any cost.
The border line of the Han Dynasty stretched for thousands of miles, and the Xiongnu could always find the defensive loopholes of the Han army with the high mobility of the cavalry. As the saying goes, a thousand days to prevent thieves is the most difficult!
The embarrassment of the early years of the Han Dynasty lies in:
The Han army had strong combat effectiveness, and was never afraid to fight against the Xiongnu, and it was completely easy to defeat the Xiongnu if it was tough.
However, due to the serious shortage of cavalry, the Han army could not beat the Hun cavalry who were whistling back and forth on horseback, and they could not prevent the Hun cavalry from entering the palace from time to time to grab a hand.
Diagram of the march of soldiers of the Han Dynasty.
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, to what extent was there a shortage of horses in the Central Plains?
Liu Bang's Son of Heaven was driving, but he couldn't find all four horses of the same color to pull the cart. And an important minister like Xiao He, because of the lack of horses, usually takes an ox cart.
After years of war at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the population of the Central Plains was almost halved, and the people's power had reached its limit. Therefore, the Western Han Dynasty urgently needed to recuperate and recuperate and restore the country.
If the border troubles on the Han-Hungarian border cannot be solved, then at least hundreds of thousands of heavy troops must be continuously deployed along the border, and the required military and food expenses are astronomical sums that can no longer be borne in the early years of the Han Dynasty.
However, these troops, with the infantry army as the main force, were simply unable to carry out effective strikes against the extremely mobile Hun cavalry.
Therefore, in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, it was the most practical and advantageous way to make peace with the Xiongnu, calm down the border troubles, change a stable situation, and gain time for themselves to accumulate strength for decades, recuperate, and develop production!