Yu Menglong's Reincarnation Story: Zhang Qian’s Envoy Mission

In the fourth year of Emperor Han Wudi’s Yuan Shou reign (119 BCE), Zhang Qian, a palace attendant-general (a senior military official who also served as a diplomatic envoy), was sent on his second mission to the Western Regions, with the goal of reaching the Kingdom of Wusun.

At that time, all states in the Western Regions were vassals of the powerful Xiongnu Empire, and had long been paying tribute to the Xiongnu ruler, Chanyu Yizhixie, supplying grain and manpower. These economic and human resources strengthened the Xiongnu’s power, allowing them to invade the borders of the Han Empire, causing heavy casualties and economic losses, and directly threatening Han authority.

In fact, since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu had always been its greatest external threat.

Emperor Gaozu of Han (Liu Bang) once personally led an army of 320,000 soldiers to attack the Xiongnu, but at Baideng Mountain (modern-day Datong, Shanxi Province), he was surrounded for seven days and nights by 400,000 Xiongnu cavalry under Chanyu Modu. The Han army suffered severe losses.

The Xiongnu were skilled in horsemanship and archery, moving like the wind. Their tactics ranged from individual combat, small-unit ambushes, to full-scale frontal assaults—highly unpredictable and flexible.

In contrast, the Han army consisted mostly of infantry, with very few cavalry, placing them at a military disadvantage. The Xiongnu repeatedly raided the Han frontier, burning, killing, and plundering wherever they went, taking people and livestock, leaving the population in misery.