Scholars of all ages wrote poems to remember and praise him. Although Li Guang is famous, it is generally believed that his record in history is much worse than that of contemporary generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing who fought against foreign enemies. Wei's music has not become a frequent visitor in the works of later poets. Why did Li Guang get so much praise?
Li Guang's ancestor was Li Xin, a very famous general in the pre-Qin period. The Li family has been good at archery for generations, especially so. According to Records of the Historian, Li Guang has amazing arm strength and is good at riding and shooting. When hunting, he mistook the stone for a tiger. When he shot an arrow, the arrow hit the stone, which showed his courage.
In the 14th year of Emperor Wendi, Xiongnu invaded the border of Han Dynasty, and Li Guang joined the army to fight against Xiongnu. Li Guang killed many enemies with his superb archery, and was appointed as Hanzhong Lang. Later, Li Guang was ordered to move around and defend the city. Although he devoted his life to fighting against the Huns and defending the country, he has been in a state of hard work and no knighthood, so he has it? Li Guang is hard to seal? This idiom.
But there is one thing that Li Guangyou has been criticized by later generations, that is, when he followed Wei Qing to attack the Xiongnu in his later years, Wei Qing ordered him to lead an army to make a detour, camp with the main force at a designated place, and capture the Xiongnu Khan alive. However, due to the difficult circuitous road, the army had no guide, and Li Guang led the team to get lost, which delayed the camping time, leaving Wei Qing helpless and helpless to the Xiongnu Khan. Although he defeated the Huns, he let Khan escape.
Afterwards, Wei Qing let Li Guang go astray, so that some post-war summaries could be reported to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. But Li Guang kept his mouth shut, and Wei Qing had no choice but to take Li Guang's men to find out and was stopped by Li Guang. Li Guang promised to appear in court in person. Li Guang told his men that he had fought against Xiongnu for more than 70 times since he was a child, and finally he was able to fight Khan, but General Wei Qing deliberately let me make a detour, so I lost my way. Isn't this providence? Besides, I'm over 60 years old now, and I can't stand the insults of those knife and pencil collectors anymore, so I drew my sword and hurt myself.
It is true that Wei Qing deliberately let Li Guang go a long way, but it was not Wei Qing's idea, but the emperor's idea. The emperor thought that Li Guang was too old to be a lucky general, and he didn't want to let him go at all, but he couldn't help Li Guang's resignation, so he specifically told Wei Qing not to let Li Guang face it. Wei Qing gave the order to let Li Guang detour, and finally let Li Guang commit suicide.
When Li Guang's son found out, he thought it was Wei Qing who was secretly obstructing him, so he hit Wei Qing. Wei Qing felt guilty about Li Guang, so he suppressed the matter and didn't want to mention it again. But Wei Qing's nephew Huo Qubing is determined. In order to avenge Wei Qing, he shot Li Guang's son with an arrow.
Sima Qian recorded all these stories in Historical Records. His words were mostly praise for Li Guang, but he didn't agree with what Wei Qing and Huo Qubing did. This is because of Sima Qian's personal worship of Li Guang. Can Sima Qian be regarded as Li Guang's? Iron powder? He not only speaks for the Li family everywhere, but also feels aggrieved for the Li family. Even himself was sentenced to castration because Li Guang's grandson, Li Ling, spoke for Li Ling after surrendering to the Huns and offended Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
There is a reason why Sima Qian admired Li Guang so much, but showed disdain for Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. After Li Guang was a noble family, he was favored by historians like Sima Qian because of his orthodox background, while Wei Qing was a slave and Huo Qubing was an illegitimate child, so the official history was unacceptable. So Sima Qian's likes and dislikes are so obvious in historical records.
Poets of past dynasties are more willing to remember Li Guang in their poems, one is their admiration, and the other is their sympathy. I admire Li Guang's persistence in fighting against Huns and defending the motherland for many years. Although he was not awarded the title, he was also a very rare heroic general. The ancients had deep feelings for the soldiers who fought bravely on the battlefield.
At the same time, they also sympathize with Li Guang who died for his country, but ended up in such a tragic end, which inevitably made those talented and enthusiastic immigrants feel the same way. Therefore, Li Guang appeared many times in their poems, expressing his resentment at the unpaid ambition.
Poets praise generals like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing who were sworn in as generals at a young age, but think that they are inextricably linked in North Korea and belong to the consort class. They are not the favorite models of literati who struggle from humble people to ultimate success, and they can't get the same sense of sadness. So compared with Li Guang, few poets miss them. In the final analysis, it is because sad heroes are always easier to remember.