Li Guang

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Lĭ Guăng (Chinese: 李廣; Wade-Giles: Li Kuang, d. 119 BC), born in Tianshui, Gansu, was a famous general of the Han Dynasty. Nicknamed The Flying General, he fought primarily in the campaigns against the Xiongnu peoples to the north of Han China. Li Guang committed suicide shortly after the Battle of Mobei in 119 BC. He was blamed for failure of arrive in the battlefield in time (after getting lost in the desert), allowing Yizhixie Chanyu to escape after a confrontation battle between Wei Qing and Yizhixie Chanyu, which the Han army managed to narrowly defeat the Chanyu's main force. Refusing to accept the humiliation of court martial, Li Guang took his own life.

According to the Shiji by Sima Qian, Li Guang was a man of great build, with long arms and good archery skills ^[1], able to shoot an arrow deeply into a stone (which resembles the shape of a crouching tiger) on one occasion. At the same time, like his contemporaries Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, he was a caring and well-respected general who earned the respect of his soldiers. He also earned the favour of Emperor Wen, who said of him: "If he had been born in the time of Emperor Gaozu, he would have been given a fief of ten thousand households without any difficulty."

However, Li Guang's late military career was constantly haunted by repeated bad lucks, including incidents of losing direction, as well as being outnumbered and surrounded by superior enemies. While Li Guang's fame attracted much of his enemies' attention, Li Guang's troop's relative indiscipline and his lack of strategic planning often put him and his regiments in nasty situations. Li Guang himself narrowly escaped capture after his army was annihilated during an offensive campaign at Yanmen (雁門) in 129 BC, was stripped off official titles and demoted to commoner with fellow defeated general Gongsun Ao (公孫敖) after paying parole^[2]. During a separate campaign in 120 BC , Li Guang, this time with his son Li Gan (李敢) by his side, was surrounded again by superior enemies^[3]. His 4,000 troops suffered heavy casualties^[4] before reforcements led by Zhang Qian (張騫) arrived in time for the rescue^[5]. These, together with Li Guang's political naivety, denied him of any chance of promotion to marquessate, his lifelong dream. Emperor Wu even secretly ordered Wei Qing not to assign Li Guang to important missions, on the ground of Li Guang's famed "terrible fortune" ^[6].