Study On Huo Qubing Of The Historical Records

During one hundred years of the war between Han and Xiongnu, an excellent strategist—Huo Qubing was born. He has created an unbeaten legend in war history in his transient 24 years of life. He insisted to active attacking Xiongnu six times which created a myriad of achievements and defended the border stability of the Han Dynasty, the great success of the battle in He Xi Corridor and the battle of Mobei which promoted the national integration between Han and Xiongnu.Sima Qian mainly describe this character from three aspects: Firstly, in the biography of Huo Qubing, Sima Qian citing the imperial edicts written by Emperor Wu of Han as the basis of history, through the archives records to confirm his outstanding military exploits. Secondly, the application of contrast, for instance, to compare Huo Qubing with other generals at the same period such as Wei Qing et al, to further praise his achievements. Last, Sima Qian depict the lofty and fortitude heroic image of Huo Qubing by means of detail description and language description, furthermore, by using the method of supplement narrative and “cross reference” to downplay his shortcoming and utmost to maintain his image of a hero.From here we see that Sima Qian was highly praised Huo Qubing in the historical records and kept a very positive attitude to him. The historical contribution of Huo Qubing is not only his influence on the history of war and military, but also his achievements have a considerable impact on the posterity literature and art.