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One question that attracted much attention was: the Huns were powerful at that time, but why did they lose their former strength in the counter attack of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and they are said to have killed more than 100000 people?
In fact, to assess the impact of a war on society, we should not only take the number of casualties at the military level as the sole criterion, but also consider economic, social and livelihood factors.
The answer to this question is relatively simple. Although only 100000 Hun troops were killed and wounded in the series of wars of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty against the Huns, this series of wars had a fatal impact on other aspects of the Huns.
The fatal impact was that the economic basis on which the Huns depended for their livelihood was destroyed, and they lost their only living resources, which was the most fatal result.
What is the economic foundation of the Huns?
On the ancient northern grasslands more than 2000 years ago, the main economic pillar of the Huns was animal husbandry. Because the grassland terrain is not suitable for farming, the Huns can only rely on cattle and sheep to become the only living resources through grazing.
Note that animal husbandry is not only the main economic foundation for the Huns, but also the only living resource!
Once they lose both, the Huns will face the threat of survival.
In the case of underdeveloped technology in ancient times, animal husbandry, like farming in the Central Plains, largely depended on nature. To have a good development of animal husbandry, first of all, we need to avoid natural disasters, and then we need to have good grazing sites.
Once natural disasters occurred in ancient times, their impact would be extremely serious. However, the Huns and the Central Plains had completely different ways of dealing with disasters.
The Huns suffered from natural disasters, such as extreme low temperature, which led to the frozen death of cattle and sheep on the grassland, making the Huns lack of living resources.
In order to make a living, the Huns will march into the Central Plains, plunder the Central Plains with cavalry and look for supplies.
In the Central Plains, because the natural disaster only affected local areas, the imperial court would mobilize the materials from the government treasury and other regions to the affected areas for relief.
From this perspective, China's agricultural civilization has a stronger resistance to natural disasters.
Of course, the real key lies in the following points.
Grazing requires good pastures, and cattle and sheep are the only living resources of the Huns. The casualties of Xiongnu soldiers on the battlefield were actually secondary. The real fatal impact was the occupation of Xiongnu's fine pastures and the capture of cattle and sheep.
Their only economic pillar was destroyed, and their only living resources were occupied by the Han Dynasty.
Among them, there is a crucial area - Yinshan Mountains!
Yinshan Mountain is located in the middle of Inner Mongolia today, and Hetao Grassland is to the south. In the Han Dynasty, the vast area from Yinshan Mountain to Hetao Grassland was a natural fine pasture and the lifeline of the Huns.
The Han Dynasty's counterattack against the Huns began in this vast area.
How did the Han Dynasty destroy the economic foundation of the Huns?
In his seven military expeditions to the Huns, Wei Qing had several times of strategic importance.
The first was the "Battle of Henan". Through two large-scale military operations, Wei Qing successfully recaptured "Henan Province (Hetao Grassland)". The second time was the surprise attack of Gao Que. Wei Qing defeated the power of the Hun Youxian King in the Yinshan Mountains.
It seems that the number of enemy casualties in these two campaigns on paper is not large. In the Henan War, Wei Qing captured and killed only more than 3000 enemy troops. In the Gaoque Raid, the history books did not record the number of enemy casualties in detail, only mentioned 15000 prisoners.
However, the key of these two battles was not the number of casualties of the Huns, but the fatal blow to the Huns at the strategic level!
In the battle of Henan, Wei Qing recovered the Hetao area and captured millions of livestock, which was the most deadly blow.
Hetao region is a natural fine pasture, and cattle and sheep are the only survival resources of the Huns. Both of them were captured by Wei Qing in the First World War. The Huns lost their pastures and living resources, and they will face a huge survival crisis.
Unlike crops, livestock cannot be harvested as many times as farmland. The Xiongnu people's cattle and sheep have a long breeding cycle, but have lost their pastures, and other environmental conditions are not suitable for grazing.
In addition, the third year after the end of the Henan War, Wei Qing attacked again and carried out the Gaoque surprise attack, completely defeating the Xiongnu Youxian King stationed in the Yinshan Mountains.
In the Gaoque raid, the number of livestock captured reached the scale of tens of millions, which directly destroyed the only survival resource for the Huns.
The loss of the natural fine pastures in the Yinshan and Hetao grasslands, and the loss of millions of livestock, can be said that the lifeline on which the Huns rely for survival has been completely cut off, which is a fatal blow.
Another battle of strategic significance was led by Huo Qubing, which also had a fatal impact on the Huns.
The first battle was the first Hexi Battle. Huo Qubing led his army thousands of miles to fight across Yanzhi Mountain, causing heavy damage to the Huns and killing the Huns' King Zhelan and King Luhou.
