Fatal signs of weakness: Li Mu defeated the Huns
Introduction Read
As the saying goes, the brave will win when they meet on a narrow road. The most taboo thing in the war is that the coach is greedy for life and afraid of death and dare not take the initiative to fight. Zhao Mu, a famous general of the Warring States Period, experienced many battles, was strong and powerful, and had the strength to fight the enemy in a decisive battle, but he repeatedly ordered his subordinates not to go out of the city to fight. Why is Li Mu so cowardly?
◎The "cowardly" coach
In 309 BC, Zhao Wuling King achieved great success in implementing the "Hu Clothing and Casual" policy in China. Zhao State 's military strength has been greatly enhanced, and he repeatedly defeated the northern nomadic tribes such as the Huns. But later, after adjustment and rest, the Hun tribes in the north made a comeback and began to constantly harass the northern border of Zhao. The border areas have always been in tranquility, and the local people are also complaining. So the King of Zhao sent general Li Mu to guard Yanmen, the northern division of Zhao State, to guard the Xiongnu for a long time.
After Li Mu received the order of King Zhao, he immediately took office. As a general, Li Mu has his own combat and defense plan. As soon as he arrived in the Yanmen area, he began to implement his military plan. Since Li Mu took office, he has ordered people to slaughter a few cows every day to reward the soldiers guarding the city. He also personally taught the soldiers the skills of archery and horse riding, ordered them to carefully guard the beacon tower, and the number of people sent to reconnaissance the enemy situation is increasing. Li Mu also needs reconnaissance personnel to report information about the Huns and other enemies in a timely manner, and do not delay. Li Mu also established rules and regulations in Yanmen City, stating: "If the Huns invade Yanmen, the soldiers should quickly gather their troops to retreat into the camp and defend. Any soldiers who violated the regulations and go out to fight the enemy will beheaded immediately and show their heads."
After hearing this, the Huns' Chanyu felt very novel and wanted to see if the newly appointed general was really timid and afraid of things and could only defend. Sure enough, every time the Huns invaded, whenever the beacon fire came, Li Mu immediately ordered the soldiers to retreat into the city to defend, and no one dared to go out of the city to fight. After a long time like this, Zhao State's troops and supplies did not suffer any major losses. But the Huns thought Li Mu was a timid general, and gradually they did not take Li Mu seriously. After such a long tug-of-war, the officers and soldiers guarding the border in Zhao State also thought that their commander was timid and timid. King Zhao also severely blamed Li Mu many times, but Li Mu still did his own thing and did not make any changes. Seeing that Li Mu had never repented, King Zhao was very angry, so he ordered people to recall Li Mu from Yanmen to the capital and sent someone else to defend the place.
Li Mu was a military strategist of the State of Zhao during the Warring States Period. Later generations called him "the four famous generals of the Warring States Period" together with Bai Qi, , Wang Jian, and Lian Po. He was the only general among the six Eastern countries who could compete with the Qin army in the late Warring States Period. He showed his superb military command art in combat, especially the Battle of the Huns. It was a typical example of the infantry corps and the encirclement and annihilation battle in the history of ancient Chinese wars. The picture shows the ancient Yanmen Pass ruins.
In the year after that, every time the Huns attacked, the defending generals would send soldiers to fight. But strangely, the losses caused by the battle were much greater than when Li Mu was defending the city. Moreover, almost every battle is a defeat in Zhao State, which has suffered serious losses, and the border cannot plow and grazle due to war. King Zhao had no choice but to invite Li Mu out again. But this time, Li Mu refused to serve as the general of the city defending the city on the grounds of illness. In desperation, King Zhao issued an order to force Li Mu to go. But Li Mu agreed with King Zhao: If the king must use me, I can go, but I will still do the same as before, and I hope the king will not interfere in my actions. King Zhao agreed to Li Mu's request based on the overall situation.
◎Li Mu defeated the Huns
Li Mu came to the border again, still the same as before. The Huns have not gained any benefits in recent years, and hope to gain some benefits from Zhao State. The soldiers guarding the border trained every day, but they could not show the results of their training. They also longed to fight the Huns.
Li Mu saw his morale rising unprecedentedly and felt that the conditions for combat were ripe. He selected 1,300 soldiers, 13,000 horses, 50,000 warriors who could charge into battle, and 100,000 soldiers who could shoot archers, forming an elite team.Li Mu personally led this team every day to practice combat skills and methods based on the characteristics of the Hun army.
In order to further create an illusion for the Hun army and lure the Hun army to go out in full swing, Li Mu asked the people on the border to go out to grazle, scattered all over the mountains and fields. The Huns sent a unit to invade, and he sent a small group of troops to fight. As soon as the two armies contacted each other, the Zhao army pretended to be defeated and fled back to the camp, deliberately left some of their property and let the Huns army plunder.
After hearing this, the Khan of the Huns was very happy and thought that Li Mu was so incompetent as he saw, so he became bolder and personally led a large number of troops to attack Yanmen.
However, when their men approached Yanmen, a strange phenomenon shocked the Shanyu and the Xiongnu soldiers: a team of very majestic Zhao troops were arranged neatly, including chariots, cavalry, infantry, and a large number of crossbowmen, all of whom were energetic and ready to go. This was completely beyond the expectations of the Shanyu and the Xiongnu soldiers. They did not expect that the Zhao army, who often became their defeated soldiers, and the Zhao general Li Mu, who was "cowardly as a mouse", would come out to fight to the death with their large group of troops.
Before the Huns' soldiers recovered, Li Mu immediately arranged a formation that had been planned long ago, spread his left and right wings and attacked the Huns from both sides at the same time. The Huns' soldiers were beaten to flee by Li Mu's army, losing more than 100,000 troops. The Zhao army took advantage of the victory to defeat the Donghu tribe and surrendered the Linhu tribe. The Xiongnu Khan also fled. After this battle, the Huns did not dare to approach the border towns of Zhao for more than ten years, let alone invasion.
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To defeat the enemy, you must first weaken the enemy's strength. There are many ways to weaken the enemy, and Li Mu uses paralyzing the enemy. He first pretended to be timid, so that the enemy would gradually relax his vigilance, and then he found an opportunity to give the enemy a heavy blow, leaving the opponent with no power to fight back. War requires the right time, place, and people. The situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, and it is also important to seize the opportunity. The wrong timing or missed it may lead to the failure of the battle. Li Mu attacked when the enemy underestimated the enemy, accurately grasped the opportunity and won the war.
