What kind of person is Ban Chao?

Ban Chao is Ban Gu's younger brother. His early life was very difficult and he could only survive by copying books for others. Copying books every day made him dizzy from exhaustion. One day, Ban Chao threw away the brush in his hand and sighed and said: "A man can't make meritorious service on the frontier and become a marquis. What's the point of living in this ink all day long!" Later, he was indeed granted the title of Dingyuan for his military merits. Hou, this is the origin of the idiom "Throw a pen and join the army."

Ban Chao was very ambitious, but his colleagues laughed at him. However, Dou Gu, who held power in the court at that time, valued Ban Chao very much and appointed Ban Chao as a fake Sima. Together with Guo Xun, Ban Chao and Guo Xun arrived at Shanshan State as their first stop. The king was very enthusiastic when he saw the Han Dynasty envoys coming, but after a few days, Ban Chao gradually became cold. He asked his entourage: "King Shanshan was very enthusiastic when we first came, but in the past few days he has become obviously cold. Do you know the reason?

Everyone shook their heads. Ban Chao said: "In my opinion, other countries in the north must have sent envoys to form an alliance with the Shanshan Kingdom. The King of Shanshan has not made up his mind yet and is considering it!" "

The next day, Ban Chao went to see King Shanshan and asked immediately: "The Huns envoy has been here for several days. Where are they now? "The king thought that Ban Chao already knew about the Hun envoy, so he had to tell Ban Chao about the Hun envoy one by one.

Ban Chao returned to his residence and discussed with his companions: "The Hun envoy has arrived. Within a few days, King Shanshan became rude to us. If they listened to the Huns and arrested us, I'm afraid we would never be able to return home in this life. "After hearing Ban Chao's words, everyone was so anxious that they couldn't help it. They all asked Ban Chao what they should do. Ban Chao said: "There is no other way now, but to kill the Huns envoy to make King Shanshan afraid and force him to form an alliance with us. Tonight we set fire outside, then took advantage of the chaos to rush into the place where the Huns envoy lived, and killed the Huns envoy! "The people who came with Ban Chao were very scared at first, but they had no choice but to agree.

That night, the northwest wind was blowing loudly, and Ban Chao asked others to stay at the residence of the Huns envoy. After setting up an ambush outside, he led a few people and set fires on all sides. When the fire started, he shouted to kill. Ban Chao took the lead and rushed into the tent of the Huns envoys, killing three envoys. Early the next morning, he took the heads of the Huns envoys and killed them. It was given to King Shanshan. Seeing how powerful the Han Dynasty envoy was, King Shanshan quickly apologized and asked Ban Chao to take his son back to Chang'an as a hostage, and said that he would always reconcile with the Han Dynasty.

Ban Chao returned. When they arrived in Chang'an, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty Liu Zhuang was overjoyed and sent Ban Chao to the west again to form an alliance with Khotan.

The king of Khotan was named Guangde, and he was very arrogant towards Ban Chao and others. He did not believe what the Han Dynasty was doing. He was so powerful that he summoned a witch and asked the witch to ask God if he could form an alliance with the Han Dynasty. The witch danced for a while, opened her eyes and said, "Don't listen to the Han Dynasty envoy!" The man of God got angry. The God said that the Han envoy had a good horse and asked that the horse be killed to sacrifice to him! "Ban Chao had heard what the witch said a long time ago. He told Guangde that he could only give it to the witch herself if she came to get the horse. When the witch came to ask for the horse, Ban Chao pulled out his saber and cut off the witch's head with one blow. He carried the witch The leader came to see Guangde and told Guangde how he killed the Huns envoy and forced King Shanshan to surrender. When Guangde heard this, he felt that an ordinary envoy from the Han Dynasty was so great. The Han Dynasty must be very powerful, so he killed him. The Xiongnu officials stationed in Khotan also expressed their willingness to form an alliance with the Han Dynasty and pay tribute every year.

Shanshan and Khotan were both big countries in the Western Regions. These two big countries surrendered to the Han Dynasty. The small tribes surrendered to the Han Dynasty together, and Ban Chao reported to Dou Gu, who asked him to station in the Western Regions.

In 83 years, it was already the period of Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Ban Chao had been stationed in the Western Regions for a long time. . This year, the Shache, Shule, and Qiuci states broke their alliances with the Han Dynasty and raised troops to rebel against the Han Dynasty. In the Western Regions, Ban Chao took advantage of the conflicts between the countries and killed the rebel leaders one by one. , and once again pacified the Western Regions. Ban Chao's army showed great power, and the kings and ministers of the small countries were frightened by Ban Chao and no longer dared to rebel. Everyone was peaceful for many years, and Ban Chao was named the Protector of the Western Regions.

In 90, the second year of Hanhe Emperor Liu Zhao, King Yuezhi wrote to Ban Chao, asking the Han Dynasty to marry a princess to him, and expressed that the two families would always be reconciled. Ban Chao sent King Yuezhi's letter. Throwing it to the ground and rejecting the request, King Yuezhi was very angry and immediately sent deputy king Xie to lead more than 70,000 troops to attack Banchao.

Ban Chao only had a few thousand soldiers at this time, how could he withstand the Yueshi's more than 70,000 soldiers? Ban Chao's men were very nervous, but Ban Chao himself was very calm. He said to his subordinates: "Although the Yueshi have many soldiers, they have to travel too far, and they will not be able to keep up with the food and grass. As long as we can't hold on, it won't take a month. They will surrender."

Sure enough, the Yuezhi soldiers besieged them for many days, but Ban Chao never left the city for a decisive battle. The Yuezhi had no more food, so they sent an envoy with money to Qiuci to borrow food. However, Banchao ambushed the soldiers in advance and killed the Yuezhi's envoy on the way. He also took the head back to the city and hung it on a corner of the city wall. Xie, the deputy king of Shiguo, was shocked and had no choice but to ask Ban Chao for a truce, saying that he would never fight the Han Dynasty again. Ban Chao accepted the request of Xie, the deputy king of Yuezhi, and let him lead the troops back. When he went back and told the king of Yuezhi, the king was also very scared and never dared to attack Ban Chao again. After the defeat of the Yuezhi, all the countries in the Western Regions once again requested peace with the Han Dynasty. Ban Chao petitioned the court. The emperor was particularly happy and granted Ban Chao the title of Marquis of Dingyuan. As expected, Ban Chao's words of "Marquis of the Western Regions" were fulfilled.

Ban Chao has lived in the Western Regions for decades. At the age of 71, because he missed his hometown, he repeatedly asked the emperor to let him return to Chang'an. The emperor always allowed him to continue to make contributions in the Western Regions. Later, Ban Chao presented a petition to Emperor He of the Han Dynasty through his sister Ban Zhao, which moved the Emperor He of the Han Dynasty, and then he agreed to Ban Chao's return to Chang'an. Only a few months after returning to Chang'an, Ban Chao fell ill and died.