Draft:Battle of Tian Shan

Battle of Tian Shan
Part of the Han–Xiongnu War
Date 99 BC Location The Tian Shan mountain range in Xinjiang Result Xiongnu victory
Belligerents
Han Dynasty	Xiongnu
Commanders and leaders
Li Guangli Li Ling  Sima Zhao	Youxian
Strength
35,000	unknown, most likely more than 100,000
Casualties and losses
Heavy, 18,000+ Dead	Light, 10,000+ Killed or Captured

The Battle of Tian Shan (simplified Chinese: 天山之战; traditional Chinese: 天山之戰; pinyin: Tiānshān zhī zhàn) was fought in Tian Shan (in modern-day Xinjiang) in 99 BC during the Han–Xiongnu War. The battle ended with the defeat of the Han dynasty, whose forces were led by Li Guangli.

Prelude

After the Battle of Mobei, the Xiongnu fled north of the desert and their strength was greatly reduced. The Western Han Dynasty was also unable to cross the desert to counterattack because of the lack of horses. The two sides temporarily ceased fighting. After that, the Huns gradually regained their strength and moved northwest. Its left part moved westward to the north of Yunzhong (the county was governed by Yunzhong, now northeast of Togtuo, Inner Mongolia), and its right part was opposite Hanjiuquan (the county was governed by Lufu, today's Jiuquan City, Gansu). In the fifth year of Yuanding (112 BC), they began to raid Han border counties again. Then finally, Emperor Liu Che ordered Li Guangli to lead an attack on Xiongnu.

Battle

The main direction of the attack was Li Guang, who led 30,000 horses out of Jiuquan and entered the Tianshan Mountains. He defeated King Youxian of the Xiongnu and killed and captured more than 10,000 people. On the way back to the army, they were surrounded by heavy Xiongnu troops. They went without food for several days and suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, Sima Zhao led more than a hundred warriors to break through the Xiongnu siege, and Li Guang led his army to follow closely, and he was able to escape. The Han army was victorious first and then defeated, with six or seven tenths of them killed. Yingan General Gongsun Ao came out of Xihe (the county was pacified, in today's Dongsheng Territory of Inner Mongolia) and Lu Bode, the strong crossbow commander, met at Zhuotu Mountain (formerly known as Zhuoxie Mountain, now in Tuyin, Henan, Mongolia), but both returned with nothing. In order to contain the Huns, he sent the cavalry captain Li Ling and led 5,000 infantrymen more than a thousand miles north of Juyan (now southeast of Ejina Banner in Inner Mongolia). They were surrounded by the Shanyu cavalry. Li Ling was defeated and surrendered to the Huns.