Huo Qubing

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is 霍 (Huo).

Huo Qubing (Chinese: 霍去病; Wade-Giles: Huo Ch'üping, b. 140 BC - d. 117 BC), born in Linfen, Shanxi, was a general of the western Han dynasty under Emperor Wu. Being the illegitimate son of Wei Shaoer, he was the nephew of Wei Qing and Empress Wei Zifu^[1].

Although raised in reasonable prosperity during the early glory days of the Wei family, he exhibited outstanding military talent as a teenager. Deployed as a commander in Wei Qing's expeditions, Huo Qubing regularly led his own troops deep into enemy territory and inflicted great defeats on the Xiongnu with rapid running assaults, on one occasion claiming victory by capturing the Xiongnu artifact Golden Statue^[2]. As a result, he gained great favour with the Emperor^[3].

When he was 20 years old, he and Wei Qing were sent with separate armies to attack the Xiongnu on the largest-scale Han offensive to date. Huo Qubing, leading the elite divisions of the Han army, engaged the Xiongnu's Princes Zuoxian (左賢王, literally meaning "Wise King of the Left") and routed his troops, inflicting the lethal blow of a devastating 70,443 casualties on the Xiongnu clan^[4]. He was greatly rewarded for his efforts, and his fief reached in excess of 10,000 households^[5].

Though a brave general and highly regarded by Emperor Wu, he paid little regard to his men^[6]. Sima Qian noted in Shiji that Huo Qubing refused to share his food with his soldiers when their provisions were low, and also regularly ordered his troops to dig up football fields for his personal amusement^[7]. However, when it came to martial glory, Huo Qubing never hesitated to share the honor with his men. One of the most famous tale is that when Emperor Wu awarded Huo a jar of precious wine for his achievement, he poured it into a creek so all his troopers drinking the water could share a taste of it. This tale gave rise to the name of the city Jiuquan (酒泉, meaning "wine spring"). At the height of his career, many low-ranking commanders previously served under Wei Qing voluntarily came to Huo's service in the hope of achieving military glory with him^[8].

Huo Qubing died at the early age of 24 due to a plague, possibly the result of a primitive form of biological warfare. It is believed that Xiongnu soldiers put dead horses, cows and sheeps in lakes during the Gobi Desert war to contaminate water supplies and spread infectious diseases among the Han soldiers, in a form of native witchcraft curse. (Ironically, the fleeing Xiongnu tribes ended up suffering the worse due to their bad living conditions and poor knowledge in medicine.)

Huo's half-brother Huo Guang was later a great Han statesman who was the chief consul behind Emperor Zhao, and was instrumental in the succession of Emperor Xuan to the throne after Emperor Zhao's death.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ 霍去病，大將軍青姊少皃子也。其父霍仲孺先与少皃通，生去病
2. ^ 票騎將軍率戎士逾烏韡，討脩濮，涉狐奴，歷五王國，輜重人眾攝讋者弗取，几獲單于子。轉戰六日，過焉支山千有余里，合短兵，鏖皋蘭下，殺折蘭王，斬盧侯王，銳悍者誅，全甲獲丑，執渾邪王子及相國、都尉，捷首虜八千九百六十級，收休屠祭天金人，師率減什七
3. ^ 益封去病二千二百戶
4. ^ 票騎將軍去病率師躬將所獲葷允之士，約輕繼，絕大幕，涉獲單于章渠，以誅北車耆，轉擊左大將雙，獲旗鼓，歷度難侯，濟弓盧，獲屯頭王、韓王等三人，將軍、相國、當戶、都尉八十三人，封狼居胥山，禪于姑衍，登臨翰海，執訊獲丑七万有四百四十三級，師率減什二，取食于敵，卓行殊遠而糧不絕
5. ^ 以五千八百戶益封票騎將軍
6. ^ 然少而侍中，貴不省士
7. ^ 其從軍，上為遣太官繼數十乘，既還，重車余棄粱肉，而士有饑者。其在塞外，卒乏糧，或不能自振，而去病尚穿域蹋鞠也。事多此類
8. ^ 自是后，青日衰而去病日益貴。青故人門下多去，事去病，輒得官爵