Some people say that Sima Qian used the spring and autumn brushwork to describe Huo Qubing in Historical Records, and I agree. What is "Spring and Autumn brushwork"? The spring and autumn brushwork, also known as "Spring and Autumn Calligraphy" or "Outlining the Great Righteousness", is a narrative method of writing history in ancient times, which was initiated by Confucius. This writing method is characterized by expressing the author's ideological tendency in narration, rather than expressing it through rhetoric of argumentative writing.
In the historical records, Sima Qian hardly praised Huo Qubing positively, but at most said "straight bend, wide Henan, broken Qilian, western countries and northern Hunan". This sentence seems to have a high evaluation of Huo Qubing's achievements, but in fact it is only a statement of facts, and Huo Qubing did do these things.
In addition, in many articles about Huo Qubing, Sima Qian only described the process of Huo Qubing's conquest and the reward of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty to Huo Qubing, and never expressed his views. This seems to be a historian's practice of directly following the script, but in fact, there are many flattering words and some exaggerated elements in the letters that Emperor Wu of Han gave Huo Qubing, which also implies that Huo Qubing's achievements were promoted by Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty.
I think Sima Qian may be a little biased against Huo Qubing, because Huo Qubing and Wei Qing are relatives of Wei Zifu, and Wei Zifu is very popular with Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. Sima Qian's record is not only similar to that of Huo Qubing, but also similar to that of Wei Qing. He may have always felt that the success of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing depended on Wei Zifu's nepotism, thus winning the favor of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.