Li Mu was a military strategist in the Zhao State at the end of the Warring States Period. He was a good general who supported the crisis in the Zhao State at the time. He was also one of the very few military generals in the six eastern nations who could contend with the strong Qin.
Li Mu's life can be divided into two periods. In the early period, he stationed at the northern border of Zhao State to fight against the Huns, and later turned to resist the Qin State. In the fight against the Huns, Li Mu adopted the strategy of "be able to show the impossible" and waited for the opportunity to lure the Huns into annihilation. When the time came, Li Mu led the 150,000 Zhao army to annihilate more than 100,000 horses of the Huns and achieved a decisive victory in the war against the Huns. After more than ten years, the Huns dared not go south and maintained the stability of the northern border of the Zhao Kingdom.
In the later process of fighting against the Qin army, Li Mu also achieved a brilliant record. In the first battle in Yi'an, he defeated the Qin army and won the title of "Wu'an Jun" for himself. In 229 BC, the general of the State of Qin, Wang Jian, invaded the State of Zhao and approached the capital of Handan. Zhao Guo sent two generals, Li Mu and Sima Shang, to resist. Seeing that he could not win on the battlefield, the Qin State resorted to countermeasures against Zhao State and sent people to bribe Zhao Wang’s favorite minister Guo Kai with heavy money, falsely accusing Li Mu and Sima Shang of rebellion. As expected, King Zhao was beheaded to kill Li Mu. Three months later, Wang Jian defeated the Zhao army and captured Handan, and the kingdom of Zhao was destroyed.
Zhao Guo is not the first time that the Qin State has turned against him. Before the Battle of Changping, the State of Zhao fell into the plan of the State of Qin and changed his command. He replaced the experienced veteran Lian Po with Zhao Kuo who could only talk about soldiers on paper. As a result, Zhao Jun 400,000 was killed by the Qin Army. Badly hurt.
Since the founding of the country, Zhao Guo has continued to have coups, which makes Zhao Wang always distrustful of non-Zhao generals. From the founding of the Zhao family in the first year of Zhao Xiangzi to the capture of Zhao Wangqian, there have been nine major mutinies in the Zhao Kingdom. Even Zhao Wuling, the most outstanding monarch of the Zhao Kingdom, was trapped and died in the Dune Change.
Affected by the geographical environment, although Zhao State is a Central Plains country, it borders many northern nomadic nations, which makes the national structure of Zhao State extremely complicated. The Zhao people were aggressive, advocating force, emphasizing righteousness and despising the law, "its people are light and difficult to use, orders are not ruled, rewards and punishments do not believe, the terrain is inconvenient, Shangfei can do its best with the people, and conquer the country." Under such a "rule by man" national conditions, Zhao State handled state affairs relatively casually, and the legal system was imperfect, which created conditions for Li Mu's death.
In addition to objective factors such as the mistrust of the emperor and ministers of the State of Zhao and the imperfect legal system, Li Mu's own reasons are also the key factors that are inevitable in this tragedy. Li Mu has the talents of generals, and the corresponding power is also great. The appointment and dismissal of officials at the border gates of the State of Zhao and the power of finance and taxation are in the hands of Li Mu. Li Mu holds more than one hundred thousand heavy soldiers and "favors soldiers", which has long aroused the jealousy of treacherous officials and the suspicion of the monarch.
Li Mu's character is unique. The "Historical Records" says: "Wang Zhao let Li Mu, and Li Mu as he did. Zhao Wang was angry, summon him, and make others a general." If Li Mu thinks one piece The thing is right, not even King Zhao's orders. When King Zhao Xiaocheng wanted to use Li Mu, "Mudu gate cannot go out, so it is called disease. Zhao Wang is a strong envoy. Mu said: `The king must use the ministers, the ministers are the same as before, but dare to give orders. "Wang Xuzhi". From this incident, we can see Li Mu's stubborn character. When King Zhao ordered to recall Li Mu who was on the front line and replaced him with other generals, Li Mu refused to hand over the right to send troops without knowing that a catastrophe was coming. This is tantamount to giving up the last chance to save life. As the king of a country, Zhao Wang's majesty was despised, and Li Mu's bad luck was not far away. The dissatisfaction and suspicion of King Zhao, coupled with the provocation of Qin's divorce, finally brought death to Li Mu.
Li Mu’s tragedy occurred not only because of the mistrust of monarchs and ministers caused by traditional factors such as Zhao Guoduo’s mutiny, folk customs and fighting, as well as objective reasons such as the imperfection of the legal system and the fascination of the temple, but also his high power and personality. Stubbornness, too much adherence to principles, and other reasons. The tragedy of Li Mu's tragic death is the result of these multiple reasons. The outcome of this kind of hero has been repeated in history, and it is also inevitable.
