Lǐ Guǎng 李廣, 66,33G

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Guang

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 by his Xiongnu enemies (Chinese:飛將軍李廣), he fought primarily in the campaigns against the Xiongnu peoples to the north of Han China. He was known to the Xiongnu as a tough opponent when it came to fortress defense, and his presence was sometimes discouraging enough for Xiongnu to abort the siege. Li Guang committed suicide shortly after the Battle of Mobei in 119 BC. He was blamed for failing to arrive at the battlefield in time (after getting lost in the desert), creating a gap in the encirclement and allowing Yizhixie Chanyu to escape after a confrontation between Wei Qing and the Chanyu's main force, whom the Han army narrowly managed to defeat. Refusing to accept the humiliation of a court martial, Li Guang took his own life.

[edit] Biography

According to the Shiji (Chinese:史記) by Sima Qian (Chinese:司馬遷), 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."(Chinese:萬户侯)

Li Guang first distinguished himself during the Rebellion of the Seven States, where he served under the Grand General Zhou Yafu (Chinese:周亚夫). However, Emperor Jing was unhappy that he had accepted a seal given by the Liu Wu the Prince of Liang, hence Li did not get promoted to a marquisate despite his anti-rebellion achievement.

However, Li Guang's late military career was constantly haunted by repeated incidents of what would be regarded as "bad luck" by later scholars. He had a nasty tendency of losing direction during mobilisations, and in field battles he was often outnumbered and surrounded by superior enemies. While Li Guang's fame attracted much of his enemies' attention, Li Guang's troops relative lack of discipline and his lack of strategic planning often put him and his regiments in awkward 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 of official titles and demoted to commoner status 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 reinforcements led by Zhang Qian (張騫) arrived in time for the rescue[5]. The rules of the Han army dictated a commander's achievement was measured only according to his number of enemy kills minus the casualties of his own side. These, together with Li Guang's political naivety, denied him of any chance of promotion to a marquisate, his lifelong dream. Emperor Wu even secretly ordered Wei Qing not to assign Li Guang to important missions (such as the vanguard position), on the grounds of Li Guang's famed "terrible fortune" [6].

http://sevencastles.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!7C5A2F3DB6C97D9A!22759...

Li Guang (?-119 BC), born in Tianshui, Gansu, was a famous general of the Han Dynasty. He was the descendant of Li Xin, a star of Qin's generals, who drove Qin troops to pursue crown prince Dan of the Yan Kingdom to Liaodong. In 166 BC, he joined the army as a young man to fight back Huns aggression. Nine years later, he was promoted to General of Cavalry to protect Emperor Jing for he fought bravely, killing several enemies. In the period of the rebellion by Princes of Wu and Chu, he followed Commander Zhou Yafu to suppress the rebels, and he captured the enemy's standard at the battle of Changyi. After the suppression of the rebels, he was successively sent as a governor to defend against the Huns.

Nicknamed The Flying General, he fought primarily in the campaigns against the Huns to the north of Han China. Huns knew him as a tough opponent when it came to fortress defense, and his presence was sometimes discouraging enough for Huns to abort the siege. In 119 BC, he took the post as the General of Vanguard when he was over 60 years old, following Commander Wei Qing to hunt the Huns. However, he committed suicide shortly after the battle of Mobei. He was blamed for failure to arrive in the battlefield in time (after getting lost in the desert), creating a gap in the encirclement and allowing the Huns King to escape after a confrontation battle between Wei and the Huns King's main force, whom the Han army narrowly managed to defeat. Refusing to accept the humiliation of a court martial, he took his own life.

According to the documents, he was a man of great build, with long arms and good archery skills, able to shoot an arrow deeply into a stone (which resembles the shape of a crouching tiger) on one occasion when he went out hunting. He saw a rock in grass and mistook it for a tiger. So that he fired at the rock. Upon a closer look, he found that it was just a tiger-shaped rock, and his arrowhead had completely penetrated into it. He fired several more arrows at it, but he could not penetrate it with any more of his shots.

He once with his men chased after three Huns riders after they killed all the guards of an official appointed by the emperor. However, when he killed two and tied the last one to his horse, thousands Huns appeared. The Huns suspected a trap, so they hurried hold themselves on a higher position. His 100 soldiers were scared and wanted to get on horses to escape. He told them: "We will be killed if we flee, because it is too far to get back our main force. If we remain calm, they will believe that we are decoys and they will be scared to attack." Then he led the soldiers towards the Huns force. They stopped at where was one kilometer from the enemy, and he asked his soldiers to take off the saddles and pretended to settle down. The Huns were puzzled; they just sent a chieftain to reconnoiter. Suddenly, he mounted and shot the chieftain dead. He dismounted again. Through the night, the Huns thought he was waiting to ambush them in the darkness. They soon withdrew. He and his men survived.

Like his contemporaries Wei and Huo Qubing, he was a caring and well-respected general who earned the respect of his soldiers. He also earned the favor 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."

In 136 BC, he led the army to go out of Yanmen Pass, but was surrounded by twice his number of Huns. The Huns King ordered his men to capture him alive, and he was captured during the fierce battle. On the way to Huns' headquarters, he stole the horse and bow of one of his captors, and shot down several of his pursuers, escaping back to the Han camp. From then on, he was respected as "The Flying General of Han". He was sentenced to death for his defeat in battle, but ransomed himself and was instead demoted to commoner status.

However, his late military career was constantly haunted by repeated incidents of what would be regarded as "bad lucks" by later scholars. He had a nasty tendency of losing directions during mobilizations, and in field battles he was often outnumbered and surrounded by superior enemies. While his fame attracted much of his enemies' attention, his troop's relative indiscipline and his lack of strategic planning often put him and his regiments in awkward situations. During a separate campaign in 120 BC, superior enemies surrounded him (this time with his son Li Gan by his side) again. His 4,000 troops suffered heavy casualties before reinforcements led by Zhang Qian arrived in time for the rescue. The rules of the Han army dictated a commander's achievement was measured only according to his number of enemy kills minus the casualties of his own side. These, together with his political naivety, denied him of any chance of promotion, his lifelong dream. Emperor Wu even secretly ordered Wei not to assign him to important missions (such as the vanguard position), on the ground of his famed "terrible fortune".

Some experts believed that it is obvious that he had some jealously towards Wei and Huo. When Wei came at the first time to army service, he underestimated his skills. However, Wei proved that he could make great achievement; therefore the Emperor Wu put him as a great commander of Han's army instead of Li Guang. And Li asked Wei to put him as a general that leads for rear attack to the Huns, but Wei rejected that and he was a bit upset. So everyone knows there is hatred between them at that time and King of Huainan saw this conflict and tried to persuade Li to come assist him for rebellion, but Li decline that because of his loyalty toward the Emperor Wu surpassed his jealously toward Wei.

His unfortunate story did not end at his death. His son Li Gan (a good warrior by his own right) was angered by his father's death. He stormed into Wei's tent and beat him up. Wei himself felt guilty about pushing Li Guang to his death and did not want to punish Li Gan. But his relative, the famous Huo, was not so forgiving. Huo shot Li Gan in the back during a hunting trip with Emperor Wu, who witnessed the murder, but did nothing to punish his favorite general Huo. By the way the emperor is also related to Huo and Wei through marriage.

General Li Ling was Li Guang's grandson.

《漢書 卷54》

李廣，隴西成紀人也。其先曰李信，秦時為將，逐得燕太子丹者也。廣世世受射。孝文十四年，匈奴大入蕭關，而廣以良家子從軍擊胡，用善射，殺首虜多，為郎，騎常侍。數從射獵，格殺猛獸，文帝曰：「惜廣不逢時，令當高祖世，萬戶侯豈足道哉！」

景帝即位，為騎郎將。吳、楚反時，為驍騎都尉，從太尉亞夫戰昌邑下，顯名。以梁王授廣將軍印，故還，賞不行。為上谷太守，數與匈奴戰。典屬國公孫昆邪為上泣曰：「李廣材氣，天下亡雙，自負其能，數與虜確，恐亡之。」上乃徙廣為上郡太守。

匈奴侵上郡，上使中貴人從廣勒習兵擊匈奴。中貴人者數十騎從，見匈奴三人，與戰。射傷中貴人，殺其騎且盡。中貴人走廣，廣曰：「是必射鵰者也。」廣乃從百騎往馳三人。三人亡馬步行，行數十里。廣令其騎張左右翼，而廣身自射彼三人者，殺其二人，生得一人，果匈奴射鵰者也。已縛之上山，望匈奴數千騎，見廣，以為誘騎，驚，上山陳。廣之百騎皆大恐，欲馳還走。廣曰：「我去大軍數十里，今如此走，匈奴追射，我立盡。今我留，匈奴必以我為大軍之誘，不我擊。」廣令曰：「前！」未到匈奴陳二里所，止，令曰：「皆下馬解鞍！」騎曰：「虜多如是，解鞍，即急，奈何？」廣曰：「彼虜以我為走，今解鞍以示不去，用堅其意。」有白馬將出護兵。廣上馬，與十餘騎奔射殺白馬將，而復還至其百騎中，解鞍，縱馬臥。時會暮，胡兵終怪之，弗敢擊。夜半，胡兵以為漢有伏軍於傍欲夜取之，即引去。平旦，廣乃歸其大軍。後徙為隴西、北地、雁門中雲中太守。

武帝即位，左右言廣名將也，由是入為未央衛尉，而程不識時亦為長樂衛尉。程不識故與廣俱以邊太守將屯。及出擊胡，而廣行無部曲行陳，就善水草頓捨，人人自便，不擊刁斗自衛，莫府省文書，然亦遠斥候，未嘗遇害。程不識正部曲行伍營陳，擊刁斗，吏治軍簿至明，軍不得自便。不識曰：「李將軍極簡易，然虜卒犯之，無以禁；而其士亦佚樂，為之死。我軍雖煩憂，虜亦不得犯我。」是時，漢邊郡李廣、程不識為名將，然匈奴畏廣，士卒多樂從，而苦程不識。不識孝景時以數直諫為太中大夫，為人廉，謹於文法。

後漢誘單于以馬邑城，使大軍伏馬邑傍，而廣為驍騎將軍，屬護軍將軍。單于覺之，去，漢軍皆無功。後四歲，廣以衛尉為將軍，出雁門擊匈奴。匈奴兵多，破廣軍，生得廣。單于素聞廣賢，令曰：「得李廣必生致之。」胡騎得廣，廣時傷，置兩馬間。絡而盛臥。行十餘里，廣陽死，睨其傍有一兒騎善馬，暫騰而上胡兒馬，因抱兒鞭馬南馳數十里，得其餘軍。匈奴騎數百追之，廣行取兒弓射殺追騎，以故得脫。於是至漢，漢下廣吏。吏當廣亡失多，為虜所生得，當斬，贖為庶人。

數歲，與故穎陰侯屏居藍田南山中射獵。嘗夜從一騎出，從人田間飲。還至亭，霸陵尉醉，呵止廣，廣騎曰：「故李將軍。」尉曰：「今將軍尚不得夜行，何故也！」宿廣亭下。居無何，匈奴入遼西，殺太守，敗韓將軍。韓將軍後徙居右北平，死。於是上乃召拜廣為右北平太守。廣請霸陵尉與俱，至軍而斬之，上書自陳謝罪。上報曰：「將軍者，國之爪牙也。《司馬法》曰：『登車不式，遭喪不服，振旅撫師，以征不服，率三軍之心，同戰士之力，故怒形則千里竦，威振則萬物狀；是以名聲暴於夷貉，威稜DE75乎鄰國。』夫報忿除害，捐殘去殺，朕之所圖於將軍也；若乃免冠徒跣，稽顙請罪，豈朕之指哉！將軍其率師東轅，彌節白檀，以臨右北平盛秋。」廣在郡，匈奴號曰「漢飛將軍」，避之，數歲不入界。

廣出獵，見草中石，以為虎而射之，中石沒矢，視之，石也，他日射之，終不能入矣。廣所居郡聞有虎，常自射之。及居右北平射虎，虎騰傷廣，廣亦射殺之。

石建卒，上召廣代為郎中令。元朔六年，廣復為將軍，從大將軍出定襄。諸將多中首虜率為侯者，而廣軍無功。後三歲，廣以郎中令將四千騎出右北平，博望侯張騫將萬騎與廣俱，異道。行數百里，匈奴左賢王將四萬騎圍廣，廣軍士皆恐，廣乃使其子敢往馳之。敢從數十騎直貫胡騎，出其左右而還，報廣曰：「胡虜易與耳。」軍士乃安。為圜陳外鄉，胡急擊，矢下如雨。漢兵死者過半，漢矢且盡。廣乃令持滿毋發，而廣身自以大黃射其裨將，殺數人，胡虜益解。會暮，吏士無人色，而廣意氣自如，益治軍。軍中服其勇也。明日，復力戰，而博望侯軍亦軍，匈奴乃解去。漢軍邑，弗能追。是時，廣軍幾沒，罷歸。漢法，博望侯後期，當死，贖為庶人。廣軍自當，亡賞。

初，廣與從弟李蔡俱為郎，事文帝。景帝時，蔡積功至二千石。武帝元朔中，為輕車將軍，從大將軍擊右賢王，有功中率，封為樂安侯。元狩二年，代公孫弘為丞相。蔡為人在下中，名聲出廣下遠甚，然廣不得爵邑，官不過九卿。廣之軍吏及士卒或取封侯。廣與望氣王朔語云：「自漢擊匈奴，廣未嘗不在其中，而諸妄校尉已下，材能不及中，以軍功取侯者數十人。廣不為後人，然終無尺寸功以得封邑者，何也？豈吾相不當侯邪？」朔曰：「將軍自念，豈嘗有恨者乎？」廣曰：「吾為隴西守，羌嘗反，吾誘降者八百餘人，詐而同日殺之，至今恨獨此耳。」朔曰：「禍莫大於殺已降，此乃將軍所以不得侯者也。」

廣歷七郡太守，前後四十餘年，得賞賜，輒分其戲下，飲食與士卒共之。家無余財，終不言生產事。為人長，爰臂，其善射亦天性，雖子孫他人學者莫能及。廣吶口少言，與人居，則畫地為軍陳，射闊狹以飲。專以射為戲。將兵，乏絕處見水，士卒不盡飲，不近水；不盡餐，不嚐食；寬緩不苛，士以此愛樂為用。其射，見敵，非在數十步之內，度不中不發，發即應弦而倒。用此，其將數困辱，及射猛獸，亦數為所傷雲。

元狩四年，大將軍票騎將軍大擊匈奴，廣數自請行。上以為老，不許；良久乃許之，以為前將軍。

大將軍青出塞，捕虜知單于所居，乃自以精兵走之，而令廣並於右將軍軍，出東道。東道少回遠，大軍行，水草少，其勢不屯行。廣辭曰：「臣部為前將軍，今大將軍乃徙臣出東道，且臣結髮而與匈奴戰，乃令一得當單于，臣願居前，先死單于。」大將軍陰受上指，以為李廣數奇，毋令當單于，恐不得所欲。是時，公孫敖新失侯，為中將軍，大將軍亦欲使敖與俱當單于，故徙廣。廣知之，固辭。大將軍弗聽，令長史封書與廣之莫府，曰：「急詣部，如書。」廣不謝大將軍而起行，意象慍怒而就部，引兵與右將軍食其合軍出東道。惑失道，後大將軍。大將軍與單于接戰，單于遁走，弗能得而還。南絕幕，乃遇兩將軍。廣已見大將軍，還入軍。大將軍使長史持E05F醪遺廣，因問廣、食其失道狀，曰：「青欲上書報天子失軍曲折。」廣未對。大將軍長史急責廣之莫府上簿。廣曰：「諸校尉亡罪，乃我自失道。吾今自上簿。」

至莫府，謂其麾下曰：「廣結髮與匈奴大小七十餘戰，今幸從大將軍出接單于兵，而大將軍徙廣部行回遠，又迷失道，豈非天哉！且廣年六十餘，終不能復對刀筆之吏矣！」遂引刀自剄。百姓聞之，知與不知，老壯皆為垂泣。而右將軍獨下吏，當死，贖為遮人。

廣三子，曰當戶、椒、敢，皆為郎。上與韓嫣戲，嫣少不遜，當戶擊嫣，嫣走，於是上以為能。當戶蚤死，乃拜椒為代郡太守，皆先廣死。廣死軍中時，敢從票騎將軍。廣死明年，李蔡以丞相坐詔賜塚地陽陵當得二十畝，蔡盜取三頃，頗賣得四十餘萬，又盜取神道外E346地一畝葬其中，當下獄，自殺。敢以校尉從票騎將軍擊胡左賢王，力戰，奪左賢王旗鼓，斬首多，賜爵關內侯，食邑二百戶，代廣為郎中令。頃之，怨大將軍青之恨其父，乃擊傷大將軍，大將軍匿諱之。居無何，敢從上雍，至甘泉宮獵，票騎將軍去病怨敢傷青，射殺敢。去病時方貴幸，上為諱，雲「鹿觸殺之」。居歲餘，去病死。

敢有女為太子中人，愛幸。敢男禹有寵於太子，然好利，亦有勇。嘗與侍中貴人飲，侵陵之，莫敢應。後訴之上，上召禹，使刺虎，縣下圈中，未至地，有詔引出之。禹從落中以劍斫絕累，欲刺虎。上壯之，遂救止焉。而當戶有遺腹子陵，將兵擊胡，兵敗，降匈奴。後人告禹謀欲亡從陵，下吏死。