Wei Qing

Wèi Qīng , born in Linfen, Shanxi, was a great general during Han Dynasty of China, whose campaigns against Xiongnu earned him great acclaim. He was the younger half-brother of and the uncle of , as well as the 's late brother-in-law.

Family background and early career

Wei was born from humble means, as an illegitimate child from an adulterous relationship. His father Zheng Ji was a low level official for Pingyang County and was commissioned to serve at the estate of Cao Shou , the Marquess of Pingyang , and his wife . There, he met and had a relationship with a female servant named Wei, and their relationship produced a son, Wei Qing, who took his mother's family name because of the illegitimacy . As an illegitimate child, the young Wei Qing was detested by his stepmother, father and half-siblings, and was made to live the life of lowly servants. Unable to tolerate the maltreatment, Wei Qing eventually ran away back to his mother's side during his early teenage years, and served as a horsekeeper in the marquess's estate of Pingyang.

After Princess Pingyang offered the singer/dancer to as a concubine circa 139 BC, Wei Qing followed as an accompanying gift to serve as a palace horsekeeper. However, as his sister gained the Emperor's love, near disaster would strike for Wei. The powerful Grand Princess Liu Piao , the mother of , angry that Consort Wei had siphoned off the imperial favor that her daughter had previously enjoyed, kidnapped Wei Qing, and wanted to kill him privately as retaliation. However, Wei was rescued at the last moment by his friends, a group of fellow palace horseman led by Gongsun Ao . In response to the incident, and as a show of his own annoyance towards Empress Chen and Grand Princess Liu, Emperor Wu made Wei Qing the head official of the household at Jianzhang Palace , away from where the princess might be able to harm him, and awarded Wei Qing with great wealth.

Career as general

Great wealth would not be all that Wei would have. Emperor Wu saw qualities in him that he believed would make a great general -- brilliant horsemanship, archery, bravery, as well as excellent leadership qualities, including the ability to sympathize with his soldiers and obtain their loyalty. Emperor Wu would promote Wei Qing to be his closest consul/lieutenant for the next few years, until he had secured all the power of his throne.

In 129 BC, when Xiongnu attacked the Commandery of Shanggu , Emperor Wu dispatched Wei Qing , Gongsun Ao, Gongsun He and against Xiongnu, each leading 10,000 cavalries. Li Guang and Gongsun Ao suffered major losses at Xiongnu's hands, while Gongsun He failed to encounter and engage the enemy. Wei, however, distinguished himself by raiding Xiongnu's holy site Longcheng , killing over 700 Xiongnu soldiers guarding the place in the process. As a reward for the victory , Wei was promoted to a higher command and created an acting marquess .

In 128 BC, Wei would have a larger victory against Xiongnu, killing thousands of Xiongnu soldiers.

In 127 BC, Wei had a major victory against Xiongnu's Princes of Loufan and Baiyang after totally outmaneuvering and surrounding the Xiongnu forces, killing thousands of Xiongnu soldiers and capturing over a million Xiongnu cattles. The Han recapture of the territory forced the two Xiongnu clans to withdraw from the fertile Hetao region , and dealt devastating blow to the economy of these Xiongnu tribes. The City of Shuofang was built, and would later become a key stronghold from which offensive and defensive campaigns against Xiongnu would be launched. For his achievement, Wei was created the Marquess of Changping , and his subordinates Su Jian and Zhang Cigong were also created marquesses.

In 124 BC, Wei would be the vital part of the greatest Han victory over Xiongnu to date. When Xiongnu's Worthy Prince of the Right made harassing raids against Shuofang, Wei and his other generals surprised them by launching a crushing night assault on Xiongnu's main camp, surrounding them from the rear. Not only did they sent the Worthy Prince running for his life from his drunken sleep , they also took about 15,000 captives, including large numbers of Xiongnu princes and nobles, and great herds of cattles. At this compaign, his nephew Huo Qubing distinguished himself in battle and was given his own command. For this victory, Wei was made the Grand Commander of all armed forces , and his was enlarged. His three young sons Wei Kang , Wei Buyi , and Wei Deng were also made marquesses , as were seven generals under Wei's command.

In 123 BC, Wei would fight a relatively inconclusive battle. After initially killing or capturing thousands of Xiongnu soldiers, part of his vanguard forces, a 3,000-strong regiment commanded by Generals Su Jian and , was surprised and surrounded by the forces led by Xiongnu's Chanyu Yizhixie , and almost annihilated. Zhao defected, while Su escaped after losing all his men in the desperate fighting. Showing compassion on Su, Wei spared him even though some advocates advised that Su be executed on the spot after court martial to enforce Wei's commanding authority.

Despite his great honor and power, Wei remained humble in many ways. Because of the great favor Emperor Wu showed him, all of the other officials at court flattered him, except for Ji An , who treated him as an equal. Wei was impressed by Ji's integrity in face of pressure and respected Ji greatly, often requesting Ji's opinion on important matters. Throughout his career, he refused to hire scholars to praising him and create favorable public opinions, and tried to maintain a relative low-profile fashion of life. Despite his humble way of life, Wei's status in the Han army made him a distinguished figure in the country, attracting admiration, jealousy and hostility alike. Emperor Wu's uncle, the Prince of Huainan , who had been conspiring military coup for a long time, saw Wei as his prime political obstacle that must be removed.

The Battle of Mobei and Involvement in Li Guang's death

In 119 BC, Wei, as the Grand Commander of the armed forces, would be involved in a battle controversially leading to the death of another famous general, Li Guang. In this engagement, Emperor Wu broke the normal pattern of reaction against Xiongnu attacks by making a major excursion against Xiongnu's headquarters in the north of the Gobi Desert. This is known to history as the . Wei and Huo were in command of the two main armies. Under Wei's command were four other generals Li, Gongsun He, Zhao Yiji and Cao Xiang . Contrary to the arrangements promised to Li by Emperor Wu, where he would command the advance division, Emperor Wu secretly told Wei not to assign Li to important missions due to Li's history of "bad lucks". Wei, after the army had already departed, merged Li's forces with Zhao's and ordered them to take an eastern side route through a barren region. According to the historian , Wei had done this to give his old friend Gongsun Ao, who had recently been stripped of his title, a chance to win a major battle and be re-promoted. However, it should be noted that sending Generals of Front and Right on flanking routes was Wei's typical tactical arrangement. This was evidented by his deployment of Zhao Xin and Su Jian, who were Generals of Front and Right respectively during the less-than-successful 123 BC campaign.

Wei's army unexpectedly encountered on Chanyu Yizhixie's main forces, who was waiting in anticipation of ambushing the Han army. Despite being significantly outnumbered and fatigued after the long journey, Wei was able to counter Xiongnu's cavalry charge with archery defence created by heavy-armored chariots arranged in ring formations, which was reinforced with cavalry counteroffensives. Late into the battle, seizing the moment of a sandstorm , Wei broke the stalemate and launched bilateral flanking attacks with his cavalries. This decisive move shattered the Chanyu's line, nearly capturing him and completely overrunning his forces, killing over 10,000 Xiongnu soldiers in the process. The Han army pursued all the way to the modern Ulan Bator region, destroying the Xiongnu stronghold Zhao Xin Castle before returning in triumph with a total of about 30,000 enemy kills. Chanyu Yizhixie was forced to escape with very few men, lost communication with his tribe for days, and did not return until his clan presumed his death and installed a new Chanyu. This was a narrow but critically significant victory for the Han empire. Xiongnu was greatly weakened to the point that they would huddle up into the barren northern Gobi desert , and unable to raid south for the next few decades. did not occur until after the Han dynasty collapsed, some 400 years later during the .

Meanwhile, Li and Zhao got lost in the desert and failed to arrive in time for battle, despite meeting little Xiongnu resistance. As the battle ends, Li and Zhao were both summoned for court martial on the charge of failure to accomplish orders. Feeling humiliated over the charges against him and frustrated over missing his final chance at martial glory, Li committed suicide rather than facing the court. Many people blamed Wei for causing Li's death, including historian Sima Qian as well as Li's younger son Li Gan . Li Gan later went to Wei's home and attempted assassination but only managed to injure him. This incidence resulted in Li Gan's superior Huo Qubing personally killing Li Gan for insulting his uncle.

Late career and death

After the 119 BC battle, Wei would see little combat action himself. He largely remained at the capital to advise Emperor Wu on military and sometimes political matters as the Chief Defence Minister , and also assisted his nephew in governing the state when Emperor Wu was away on official tours.

Wei died in 106 BC and was buried at large tomb built to be a model of Mount Lu . The tomb was connected to that of his nephew Huo Qubing, who had died in 117 BC, and the future tomb for . Wei would not live to see the destruction of his clan , as well as the tragic fate of his sister Empress Wei and his nephew Crown Prince Liu, during the .