1. Huo Qubing was a nephew of the general Wei Qing and Empress Wei Zifu, and a half-brother of the statesman Huo Guang.
25 Facts About Huo Qubing
2.
Huo Qubing was one of the most legendary commanders in Chinese history, and still lives on in Chinese culture today.
3.
Huo Qubing was an illegitimate son from the love affair between Wei Shaoer, the daughter of a lowly maid from the household of Princess Pingyang, and Huo Zhongru, a low-ranking civil servant employed there at the time.
4.
However, Huo Zhongru did not want to marry a lower class serf girl like Wei Shaoer, so he abandoned her and went away to marry a woman from his home town instead.
5.
Huo Qubing exhibited outstanding military talent even as a teenager.
6.
In 123 BC, Emperor Wu sent Wei Qing from Dingxiang to engage the invading Xiongnu, and appointed the 18-year-old Huo Qubing to serve as the Captain of Piaoyao under his uncle, seeing real combat for the first time.
7.
Huo Qubing set off from Longxi with over 10,000 cavalry, supported by Gongsun Ao, who set off from the Beidi Commandery.
8.
Huo Qubing's victories dealt heavy blows to the tribes of the Xiongnu princes of Hunxie and Xiutu that occupied the Hexi Corridor.
9.
Han forces were deployed in two separate columns, each consisting of 50,000 cavalry and over 100,000 infantry, with Wei Qing and Huo Qubing serving as the supreme commander for each.
10.
Battles at the eastern Dai Commandery theatre were quite straightforward, as Huo Qubing's forces were far superior to their enemies.
11.
Huo Qubing then went on to conduct a series of rituals upon his arrival at the Khentii Mountains to symbolize the historic Han victory, then continued his pursuit as far as Lake Baikal, effectively annihilating the Xiongnu clan and allowing conquering tribe such as the Donghu People to retake back their land to establish their own confederacy to declared independent from Xiongnu Overlord following the subjugation for over a few decade.
12.
Emperor Wu offered to help Huo Qubing build up a household for marriage.
13.
Sima Qian noted in Shiji that Huo Qubing paid little regard to his men, refusing to share his food with his soldiers, and regularly ordering his troops to conduct cuju games despite them being short on rations.
14.
When Emperor Wu suggested him to study The Art of War by Sun Tzu and Wuzi by Wu Qi, Huo Qubing claimed that he naturally understood war strategies and had no need to study.
15.
Emperor Wu covered for Huo Qubing, stating that Li Gan was "killed by a deer".
16.
When it came to military glory, Huo Qubing was said to be more generous.
17.
Huo Qubing was then posthumously appointed the title Marquess of Jinghuan, and a large "Horse Stomping Xiongnu" stone statue was built in front of his tomb, near Emperor Wu's tomb of Maoling.
18.
Huo Qubing was among the most decorated military commanders in Chinese history.
19.
The Book of Han records that in 121 BCE when General Huo Qubing defeated the armies of King Xiutu, in modern-day Gansu, he "captured a golden man used by the King of Xiutu to worship Heaven".
20.
The Han expedition to the west and the capture of booty by general Huo Qubing is well documented, but the later Buddhist interpretation at the Mogao Caves of the worship of these statues as a means to propagate Buddhism in China is probably apocryphal, since Han Wudi is not known to have ever worshipped the Buddha, and Buddhist statues probably did not exist yet at this time.
21.
Huo Qubing must have been influenced by stone statues he saw during his campaigns in the west.
22.
The Mausoleum of Huo Qubing has 15 more stone sculptures.
23.
Huo Qubing is one of the 32 historical figures who appear as special characters in the video game Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI by Koei.
24.
Huo Qubing was played by Li Junfeng in the popular 2005 historical epics TV series The Emperor in Han Dynasty.
25.
Huo Qubing is mentioned in the blockbuster film Dragon Blade, where the main character, played by Jackie Chan, is said to have been raised up by him.