So, why did Huo Qubing, who had no battlefield experience, make such great achievements at the beginning? Here, I can use a few key words to summarize the characteristics of Huo Qubing's commanding operations.
First, bullying people. Huo Qubing commanded the battle, full of domineering. This domineering comes from two aspects. First, he grew up in a noble family. Although his mother, Wei Xiaoer, was only a slave, his father, Huo Zhongru, was a small official and had no contact for a long time, which was equivalent to abandoning Huo Qubing's mother and son. But Huo Qubing was taken care of by Princess Pingyang since childhood. Moreover, because Wei Zier's sister Wei Zifu was favored by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Huo Qubing became a relative of the country. Not only that, Huo Qubing arrived at the side of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty very early and followed the supreme commander of the country.
It can be said that Huo Qubing is a man who has seen big scenes since childhood, and he is quite domineering in his bones. Second, Huo Qubing is Wei Qing's nephew. At that time, Wei Qing had made a name for himself in the battle against Xiongnu, and his position was very high. As Wei Qing's nephew, Huo Qubing naturally gathered Wei Qing's domineering spirit. Due to Huo Qubing's natural domineering, he has great prestige in the army, and loyalists are very attentive to greeting, which makes his army have a unified will. And with a unified will, there is a guarantee of victory.
Second, hurry. One of the most important features of Huo Qubing's fighting is its quickness and agility. In the period of ancient cold weapons, fighting depended on troops and weapons. However, strength and weapons are actually a relative value. In other words, you may have a lot of total troops, but in a local war, the input of troops is limited, and you may not win this battle. Many wars in history have always been like this. If you want to invest enough troops in local wars, you need to move and assemble troops quickly.
Let your relative strength become more in a relative period of time, so as to defeat the enemy. For example, in the later Battle of Hexi, Huo Qubing made a rapid advance of more than 1,000 miles in six years, which was a miracle in the history of the whole ancient war. It can be said that every time Huo Qubing relies on the rapid and rapid assembly of troops, concentrates its effective forces, and attacks the weak links of the enemy, thus mobilizing the enemy and finally winning an all-round victory.
Third, live. The most difficult thing about the Xiongnu war is that the front is very long. Huo Qubing, for example, traveled more than 2,000 miles at most until it reached the edge of Lake Baikal. In ancient times, Lake Baikal was called "North Sea", and the ancients thought it was the northernmost place. With such a long front, the biggest problem is the problem of grain and grass. Of course, cavalry can move quickly and assemble quickly. But the grain and grass can't keep up. If the grain and grass can't keep up, the army will have no food and won't win. Let's take a look at the late Three Kingdoms. Zhuge Liang organized five northern expeditions in his life.
These five northern expeditions were basically lack of food. The reason is that the front is too long and the grain and grass can't keep up. Huo Qubing wants to fight fast, but the hay can't keep up and can't fight. But why can Huo Qubing fight again? It turned out that he used the method of using local materials and didn't need food and grass at all. Although this method is suspected of robbery, it is not "civilized". However, war is inherently uncivilized. If we play "xianggong" in Song Like, where can we win? In fact, this way of Huo Qubing was later learned by the Mongols. With this, Mongolian cavalry swept across Europe and Asia and were invincible.
Fourth, courage. When you meet in a narrow road, the brave win. This was most obvious when Huo Qubing commanded the operation. Huo Qubing led the troops behind enemy lines for many times, looking for the enemy's main battlefield. He can't win without courage. In BC 12 1 year, when he was fighting against Xiongnu in Hexi, he suddenly led his troops into enemy lines and captured enemy prisoners alive, thus easily defeating Xiongnu and destroying 30,000 people, which proved that Huo Qubing was very brave in fighting. In a word, Huo Qubing is a war wizard. It is a pity that such an outstanding general, like a meteor, died young and failed to create more war miracles. (Reference:
Historical records)