Our country's long history is unmatched by anyone in the whole world. That's because from ancient times to the present, during the five thousand years of development of our country, this history has never been interrupted, just like the Milky Way made possible by the stars in the sky. In the same way, the unknown world from ancient times has spread to today, with twists and turns but never stopped.
The history of our country is like this. Perhaps it has experienced many ups and downs in the process of historical development, and even faced life-and-death critical moments, but our history has never been interrupted. The galaxy of has continued to this day, and it has He left us many precious things.
One night, looking up at the stars, each flicker carries a moving story. Those major events submerged in the river of history are often mentioned and told by us. For China, it will take a period of time, which is as long as two years. Feudal society has existed for more than a thousand years. As the saying goes, the general trend of the world is that if we divide for a long time, we will unite, and if we unite for a long time, we will divide. War and peace are the main states of my country's feudal society.
Of course, in this troubled society, peace is still maintained in a mainstream state, because under the institutional requirements of feudal autocratic monarchy , major wars will basically only break out when dynasties change. After all, A court rises and falls, and new things replace old things. It is inevitable in history. Therefore, it is normal for a new dynasty to be established and war breaks out.
However, although such wars are relatively large-scale, they only occur once every few hundred years. Therefore, for ancient societies, the most common wars were the frequent border wars that broke out at that time. Whether in ancient times or now, the early unification cannot be said to be It is complete unity. Every country has border problems in the early days of its establishment.
Even extremely powerful countries like the Qin and Han Dynasties are no exception, but each country will always have its own measures and countermeasures to deal with these emerging border troubles. We may have never heard of some strange operations. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, To deal with Huns often plant elm trees at the border? Facts have proved that the method is very clever.
Policies against Xiongnu during the Qin and Han Dynasties
First of all, there is a saying in ancient times that the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. This means that no matter how the situation changes at that time and how the dynasties change, there are always some places that are difficult for the country to manage because of the existence of those remote areas. There are many ethnic minorities who are incompatible with the Central Plains ruling areas in terms of their living places and some of their daily habits.
They are mainly nomadic, and they have not been ruled by kings for a long time, and have developed a relatively barbaric style of behavior. This is why we call them Huns. Over time, those nomadic peoples often live in border areas. Although he caused trouble and did not launch a large-scale war, it brought a lot of trouble to the court at that time.
So since Qin Shihuang completed his grand ambition to unify the six countries, he first carried out a series of domestic unifications, and soon dealt with the Huns. At that time, Qin Shihuang was still very far-sighted, in order to maintain it for a long time In order to stabilize the border, he first sent General Meng Tian to attack the Huns and dampen their vigor.
We know that the Qin Kingdom was at its peak at that time, so it was not timid at all when fighting against the Huns. The Huns, who often harassed the border at that time, did not expect to take the initiative, so they were unprepared. After that, Qin Shihuang directly ordered the construction of the Great Wall to resist the Xiongnu.
The construction of this great project can be said to have contributed to the contemporary era and will benefit the future. Starting from Qin Dynasty , this Great Wall has been repaired and improved as a defensive barrier against the Xiongnu, and then in Han Dynasty , for The defense of the Huns has almost become the norm, and there are even classic poems about the expedition against the Huns in subsequent dynasties.
All kinds of rhetoric reflect some of the battles and policies against the Xiongnu at that time. The Han Dynasty's methods against the Xiongnu were even worse than those of the Qin Dynasty.
In the early days of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Han Emperor Liu Bang pursued a kind of tolerant policy of hiding one's strength and biding one's time. The Xiongnu at that time saw that the court was in this situation, so they became bolder and continued to invade the borders of the Han Dynasty. Harassment, but the world had just stabilized at that time and was not suitable for large-scale wars, so Liu Bang adopted a passive policy of defense at that time.
This situation lasted until the Emperor Wu of the Han period. In fact, no measures were taken against the Xiongnu in the early years, because at that time Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was busy using favor orders to strengthen the power of the central government and weaken the vassal states, so he had no time to take care of these There was a small-scale rebellion on the border. As a result, the Xiongnu took advantage of the imperial court's indifference.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took the initiative to attack the Xiongnu after the implementation of the decree was almost complete. With the famous Huo Qubing and Wei Qing as the main generals, he took the initiative to attack. This war was the beginning of the Xiongnu’s nightmare. At the age of eighteen, Huo Qubing was in his prime, and he won a complete victory in his first war with the Huns.
However, the battle against the Huns did not end at this time. Instead, they pursued the victory and launched the second war, directly capturing the Hexi Corridor and Huangshui valley. The third war was even more brave. Huo Qubing led the cavalry and went deep into Mobei , this battle not only killed hundreds of people, but also captured the Xiongnu nobles. It can be said that the Han Dynasty's war against the Xiongnu brought a long period of peace in the border areas, but hidden dangers still existed.
Neither the Qin Dynasty nor the Han Dynasty completely eradicated the Xiongnu. That is to say, "the wild fire will not burn out, but the spring breeze will blow again." Sooner or later, the border areas will be harassed by the Xiongnu. After research, we will find that at that time The Qin and Han Dynasties took a common measure, which was to plant elm trees in border areas.
Many people felt very strange at that time. We know that the border areas where the Xiongnu lived were deserts and windy sand. Why on earth did they plant elm trees, and only elm trees and not other trees?
Powerful defensive effect
In response to this question, many people actually say that it is windproof and sand-fixing. If you answer this, it only shows that the generals of the Qin Dynasty understood it too forward. If you really want to achieve the purpose of windproof and sand-fixing, then first I thought of planting Populus euphratica forest . After all, as the most tenacious tree in the desert, it is the best choice for windbreak and sand fixation.
In fact, when the Qin and Han Dynasties chose to plant trees, they had already thought of trees like Populus euphratica forest, but in the final screening, they were eventually eliminated. This can only explain one reason, that is, the role of Populus euphratica forest in windbreak and sand fixation. The effect is not the result they want.
For the people at that time, their ideas were not that avant-garde. For them, facing the Huns who were constantly harassing the border areas, the only purpose was to prevent their invasion. So they finally chose to plant elm trees on a large scale. In fact, it was just to see Hit by its huge role in defense. The first advantage of
is its fast growth. We know that the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. In order to better realize its strategic effect, we must find a tree with a relatively short growth cycle to resist the Huns the fastest. Otherwise, even though others are calling you, you are still a small sapling growing. Isn’t this a joke?
The second is that the elm tree not only grows fast, but also has very strong vitality. Not only can it endure many days of sunshine, it can also tolerate drought and alkali. This living habit makes it still tenacious in the difficult environment of the border desert. growth, in addition, its finished trees also have a great strategic role.
The tenacious vitality and rapid growth rate of the elm tree can allow it to grow into a towering tree in a short period of time. When the elm tree grows up, it will have many trunks and very dense branches and leaves. This is a kind of thing that kills two birds with one stone. For the soldiers stationed here, it can play a role in enjoying the cool and avoiding the heat, and can even avoid the harsh natural weather caused by strong winds in the desert.
For the Xiongnu, as a nomadic people in the desert, elm trees can play a very good restrictive role in their invasion. Those cavalry may still run freely in the desert, but with this elm forest, Their advantage was completely lost. It was simply impossible to ride through this elm forest.
Secondly, even if the infantry marches here, the elm forest will serve as a warning. When the infantry or cavalry sneak through the elm forest, the elm leaves will move, thus alerting the garrisoned troops to avoid being attacked by others. Sneak attack on .
Effective strategic materials
In the ancient battle process, the most important thing for soldiers was food and grass. When Zhuge Liang came out of Qishan in Liuzhou, it was the shortage of food and grass that led to the final failure of the war, so it is said Food and grass are the first priority, especially for defense work in border areas, food and grass are even more important.
However, these remote areas are too far from the center, and the country's long-distance transportation is simply unrealistic, so most of them adopt a self-sufficient method of using local materials. At this time, the role of the elm tree is once again reflected. When it comes to eating, this elm tree is It can be said that it is full of treasures, because its fruits, leaves and even bark are edible.
Although the taste is not good, it is the best choice for emergency use, especially during the war. In some crisis situations, it is good to eat some. After three years of natural disasters in our country, during the most difficult times, we just relied on eating trees. It's easy to survive, so the large areas of elm trees in the border areas are as precious as treasures to the army.
In addition, even those elm trees that cannot withstand the harsh environment and die still play a huge role. The trunks of elm trees are very hard. For the combat armies at that time, they were definitely excellent materials for building fortifications. It can be seen from this , it was also a very reasonable place to plant elm trees on a large scale during the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Summary
It can be seen that the wisdom of the ancient people is not only contained in our historical books and historical relics, but even wars were carefully thought out.
