Han Dynasty and the Huns were enemies for generations. During the reign of Liu Bang, the Huns were the leader among the nomadic peoples, and Liu Bang once wanted to use the power of the Huns to unify the world. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the two countries continued to fight, and they had deep grudges between each other. Many Han people regarded the Huns as a major concern. After the Huns surrendered, some Han merchants chose to sell iron tools to the Huns, but were severely punished by Emperor Wu of Han, killing all these merchants, and rewarding the Hu people with great rewards. After learning the truth, many people bluntly said that they were clever. What's going on?
Huo Qubing was a famous general during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. He was originally Wei Qing's nephew and a relative of the Han Dynasty. When he was in his teens, Huo Qubing showed outstanding military talent, won the position of general for himself, and was ordered to go to the Huns. During the battle, Huo Qubing sent surprise troops many times, defeating all the Huns from the flanks, and finally even capturing the Huns alive. At this point, the Hun tribes in the Hexi Corridor area surrendered to the Han people, and Huo Qubing also escorted more than 40,000 Xiongnu prisoners to Chang'an .
Han Emperor Wu was very happy to learn about this. He took the achievements that his predecessors had never achieved. However, his attitude towards the captives of the Huns is thought-provoking. He hated the Huns in China. Years of fighting have caused many Han people to die at the hands of the Huns, and the Huns also extremely hated the Han people. However, this time they were defeated, as prisoners, they had no room for resistance. After Emperor Wu of Han knew that there were more than 40,000 prisoners, he arranged more than 20,000 carriages near Guanzhong to transport daily necessities to these Xiongnu prisoners.
But this order did not allocate funds from the treasury, which also led to the responsible officials having no money to buy horses, and had no choice but to borrow horses from the people of Chang'an. Unfortunately, these people did not trust the government at all, which eventually led to the Chang'an order being unable to complete the task in time. When Emperor Wu of Han learned about it, he was furious and wanted to execute Chang'an Order on the spot. Fortunately, the minister in the court, Ji An, stood up. He said that the Huns were prisoners and could have the counties along the way provide them with supplies. This mobilization of troops would make the people feel disappointed, and there was no mistake in the Chang'an Order.
Han Emperor Wu thought after hearing this. Although he was still unhappy in his heart, he still let go of Chang'an Order. After these Huns came to Chang'an, the merchants saw business opportunities. They decisively took out various commodities to trade with the Huns, many of which were sold at high prices, and many of them made a lot of money because of it. This incident also spread to the palace soon after. What is surprising is that Emperor Wu of Han was very angry about it. He actually executed all 500 merchants, which shocked many people.
After a detailed investigation, the officials found that many merchants sold some weapons to the Huns, which had violated the laws of the Western Han Dynasty and should have been executed, but it was only because the Huns involved caused some people's curiosity. The matter was not over yet, and Emperor Wu of Han did something shocking. He took out a lot of money from the treasury to reward the Huns, and also divided them into five regions of the Western Han Dynasty, becoming important officials of the country.
According to modern perspective, Emperor Wu of Han was too cruel and the Huns were enemies. If it was understandable that merchants were executed in violation of the law, then the behavior of rewarding the Huns was difficult to explain. In fact, this is not the case. As a wise monarch of Han, Emperor Wu of Han also had his own considerations in his decision, and his real purpose was very clever.
First of all, the Han Dynasty defeated only one branch of the Huns. There were a large number of Hun tribes outside the Great Wall. They were still a huge threat to the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of Han rewarded the Huns very clearly, which was to lure those Huns outside the Great Wall and let them know the benefits of surrender.In addition, the environment outside the border was harsh and many people could not eat. After this incident, many Huns came to surrender.
And the execution of the merchant is a signal, representing the end of the traitor. You should know that the most powerful empires often start to collapse from within. These merchants sold weapons to the Huns as treason. Emperor Wu of Han was a behavior that was to kill the chicken to warn the monkey, telling those who were interested that even if they sold weapons to the surrendered Huns, they would have no way to die. If they were sold to the enemy, they would definitely die.
In addition, Emperor Wu of Han also arranged these Huns to various borders of the Western Han Dynasty, tempting them to fight with their compatriots with various benefits, achieving the goal of using Hu to control Hu, and ensuring the security of the borders of the Western Han Dynasty. From this we can see that Emperor Wu of Han’s idea was not that simple. He did indeed achieve the desired goal after careful consideration and finally achieved his goal. He had to admire his cleverness.
Reference: "Going to the Frontier"
