Huo Qubing Huo Qubing ( , 140 BC – 117 BC ) , born in Linfen , Shanxi , was a distinguished military tactician of the Western Han dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wu . He was the nephew of the famous general Wei Qing and Empress Wei Zifu ( Emperor Wu ' s wife ) , and the half - brother of the later Han statesman Huo Guang . Early life . Huo Qubing is born an illegitimate son from the premarital affair between Wei Shaoer ( 衛少兒 ) , daughter of a lowly maid from the household of Princess Pingyang , and Huo Zhongru ( 霍仲孺 ) , a low - class civil servant who were employed there also at the time . However , Huo Zhongru did not want to marry a girl from serf background , so he dumped Wei Shaoer and went back to his hometown to marry a local woman instead . Wei Shaoer insisted keeping the child , raising him with help of her siblings . When Huo Qubing was around two years old , his younger aunt Wei Zifu , who was serving as an in - house singer / dancer for Princess Pingyang , caught the eyes of a visiting young Emperor Wu , who took her and her half - brother Wei Qing back to his palace in the capital Chang ' an . More than a year later , the newly favored concubine Wei Zifu became pregnant with Emperor Wu ' s first child , earning her the jealousy and hatred of Emperor Wu ' s then formal wife , Empress Chen . Empress Chen ' s mother , Eldest Princess Guantao ( 館陶長公主 ) , then attempted to retaliate at Wei Zifu by kidnapping and attempting to murder Wei Qing , who was then serving as a horseman at the Jianzhang Camp ( 建章營 , Emperor Wu ' s royal guard s ) . After Wei Qing was rescued by his fellow palace guards led by his close friend Gongsun Ao ( 公孫敖 ) , Emperor Wu took the opportunity to humiliate Empress Chen and Princess Guantao , by promoting Wei Zifu to a consort ( 夫人 , a concubine position lower only to the Empress ) and Wei Qing to the triple role of Chief of Jianzhang Camp ( 建章監 ) , Chief of Staff ( 侍中 ) and Chief Councillor ( 太中大夫 ) , effectively making him one of Emperor Wu ' s closest lieutenant s . The rest of the Wei family were also heavily awarded , including the decreed marriage of Wei Shaoer ' s older sister Wei Junru ( 衛君孺 ) to Emperor Wu ' s personal assistant Gongsun He ( 公孫賀 ) . At the time , Wei Shaoer was having a romantic relationship with Chen Zhang ( 陳掌 ) , a great - grandson of Emperor Gaozu ' s adviser Chen Ping , and their relationship was also legitimized by Emperor Wu through the form of decreed marriage . With the rocketing rise of the Wei family , the young Huo Qubing grew up in prosperity and prestige . Military career . Although raised in reasonable wealth during the early glory days of the Wei family , Huo Qubing was nowhere like the good - for - nothing rich kids frequently seen out of noble families . He exhibited outstanding military talent even as a teenager . Emperor Wu saw highly of Huo ' s potential , and made Huo his personal assistant . In 123 BC , Emperor Wu sent Wei Qing from Dingxiang ( 定襄 ) to engage the invading Xiongnu , and appointed the 18 - year - old Huo Qubing to serve as the Captain of Piaoyao ( 票姚校尉 ) under his uncle , seeing real combat for the first time . Although Wei Qing was able to kill or capture more than 10 , 000 Xiongnu soldiers , part of his vanguard forces , a 3 , 000 - strong regiment commanded by generals Su Jian ( 蘇建 , father of the great Han patriot Su Wu ) and Zhao Xin ( 趙信 , a surrendered Xiongnu prince ) was outnumbered and annihilated after encountering the Xiongnu force led by Yizhixie Chanyu ( 伊稚斜單于 ) . Zhao Xin defected on the field with his 800 ethnic Xiongnu subordinates , while Su Jian escaped after losing all his men in the desperate fighting . Due to the loss of this detachment , Wei Qing ' s troops did not earn any promotion , but Huo Qubing distinguished himself by leading a long - distance search - and - destroy mission with 800 light cavalry men , killing the Chanyu ' s grandfather and 2 , 028 enemies , as well as capturing numerous Xiongnu nobles . A very impressed Emperor Wu then made Huo Qubing the Marquess of Champion ( 冠軍侯 ) with march of 2 , 500 households . In 121 BC , Emperor Wu deployed Huo Qubing twice in that year against Xiongnu in the Hexi Corridor . During spring , Huo Qubing led 10 , 000 cavalry , fought through five Western Regions kingdoms within 6 days , advanced over 1 , 000 " li " over Mount Yanzhi ( 焉支山 ) , killed two Xiongnu princes along with 8 , 960 enemies , and captured several Xiongnu nobles as well as the Golden Statue used by Xiongnu as an artifact for holy rituals . For this achievement , his march was increased by 2 , 200 households . During the summer of the same year , Xiongnu attacked Dai Commandery and Yanmen . Huo Qubing set off from Longxi ( modern - day Gansu ) with over 10 , 000 cavalry , supported by Gongsun Ao , who set off from Beidi Commandery ( 北地郡 , modern - day Huan County , Gansu ) . Despite Gongsun Ao lost track and did not keep up later , Huo Qubing fought over 2 , 000 " li " without backup " , " all the way past Juyan Lake to Qilian Mountains , killing over 30 , 000 Xiongnu soldiers and capturing a dozen Xiongnu princes . His march was then increased further by 5 , 400 households for the victory . The loss inflicted by Huo Qubing was felt hard by the Xiongnu , who sang : Huo Qubing ' s victories dealt heavy blows to the tribes of the Xiongnu princes of Hunxie ( 渾邪王 ) and Xiutu ( 休屠王 ) , who was occupying the Hexi Corridor . Out of frustration , Yizhixie Chanyu wanted to mercilessly execute those two princes as punishment . Feared for his own safety , the Prince of Hunxie contacted the Han Dynasty in autumn of 121 BC to negotiate surrender . After being unable to persuade the his fellow prince to do the same , he killed the Prince of Xiutu and ordered Xiutu ' s forces to also surrender . When the two tribes went to meet the Han forces , Xiutu ' s forces rioted . Seeing the situation changed , Huo Qubing headed to the Xiongnu camp by himself , ordered the Prince of Hunxie to calm his men and stand down , before forcefully putting down 8 , 000 Xiongnu men who refused to disarm , effectively quelling the riot . The Hunxie tribe was then resettled into the Central Plain . The surrender of the Xiutu and Hunxie tribes stripped Xiongnu of any control over the Western Regions , depriving them a large grazing area . As a result , Han Dynasty successfully opened up the Northern Silk Road , allowing direct trade access to Central Asia . This also provided new supply of high - quality horse breeds from Central Asia , including the famed Ferghana horse ( ancestors of the modern Akhal - Teke ) , further strengthening the Han army . Emperor Wu then reinforced this strategic asset by establishing five commanderies and constructing a length of fortified wall along the border of the Hexi Corridor , colonized the area with 700 , 000 Chinese soldier - settlers . After the series of defeats by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing , Yizhixie Chanyu took Zhao Xin ' s advice and retreated his tribes to the north of the Gobi Desert , hoping that the barren land would serve as a natural barrier against Han offensives . Emperor Wu however , was far from giving up , and planned a massive expeditionary campaign in 119 BC . 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 . Emperor Wu , who had been distancing Wei Qing and giving the younger Huo Qubing more attention and favor , hoped for Huo to engage the stronger Chanyu ' s tribe and preferentially assigned him the most elite troopers . The initial plan called for Huo Qubing to attack from Dingxiang ( 定襄 , modern - day Qingshuihe County , Inner Mongolia ) and engage the Chanyu , with Wei Qing supporting him in the east from Dai Commandery ( 代郡 , modern - day , Yu County , Hebei ) to engage the Left Worthy Prince ( 左賢王 ) . However , a Xiongnu prisoner of war confessed that the Chanyu ' s main force was at the east side . Unaware that this was actually a false information by Xiongnu , Emperor Wu ordered the two columns to switch routes , with Wei Qing now setting off on the western side from Dingxiang , and Huo Qubing marching on the eastern side from Dai Commandery . Battles at the eastern Dai Commandery theater were quite straightforward , as Huo Qubing ' s forces were far superior to their enemies . Huo Qubing advanced over 2 , 000 " li " and directly engaged the Left Worthy Prince in a swift and decisive battle , quickly encircled and overran the Xiongnu , killing 70 , 443 men , and capturing three lords and 83 nobles , while suffering a 20 % casualty rate that was quickly resupplied from local captures . He then went on to conduct a series of rituals upon arrival at the Khentii Mountains ( 狼居胥山 , and the more northern 姑衍山 ) to symbolize the historic Han victory , then continued his pursuit as far as Lake Baikal ( 瀚海 ) , effectively annihilating the Xiongnu clan . A separate division led by Lu Bode ( 路博德 ) , set off on a strategically flanking route from Right Beiping ( 右北平 , modern - day Ningcheng County , Inner Mongolia ) , joined forces with Huo Qubing after arriving in time with 2 , 800 enemy kills , and the combined forces then returned in triumph . This victory earned Huo Qubing a further 5 , 800 households of fiefdom as reward , making him more distinguished than his uncle Wei Qing . At the height of his career , many low - ranking commanders previously served under Wei Qing voluntarily jumped ship to Huo Qubing ' s service in the hope of achieving military glory with him . Death and legacy . Being a brave and extremely talented general , Huo Qubing was highly regarded by Emperor Wu , who offered to help him build up a ousehold for marriage . Huo Qubing however turned down the offer , citing that " the Xiongnu are not yet eliminated , why should I start a family ? ( 匈奴未滅 ， 何以家為 ？ ) " , a statement that became one of the most inspirational Chinese patriotic motto ever since . Though Huo Qubing was recorded as a quiet man with few words , he was far from humble . Sima Qian noted in " Shiji " that Huo Qubing paid little regard to his men , refused to share his food with his soldiers , and regularly ordered his troops to conduct " cuju " games despite them being short on rations . When Emperor Wu suggested him to study " The Art of War " by Sun Tzu and " Wuzi " by Wu Qi , Huo Qubing claimed that he knew strategy naturally and had no need to study . When his subordinate Li Gan ( 李敢 , son of Li Guang ) assaulted Wei Qing , who mercifully decided to settle the heat by letting the incident slide , Huo Qubing however refused to tolerate such disrespect towards his uncle and personally shot dead Li Gan during a hunting trip , resulting in Emperor Wu having to cover up for him by stating that Li Gan was " killed by a deer " . However , when it came to martial glory , Huo Qubing never hesitated to share the honor with his men . One of the most famous tale is that when Emperor Wu awarded Huo a jar of precious wine for his achievement , he poured it into a creek so all his troopers drinking the water could share a taste of it , giving name to the city of Jiuquan ( 酒泉 , literally " wine spring " ) . Huo Qubing died in 117 BC at the early age of 24 due to a plague , possibly the result of a primitive form of biological warfare . It is believed that Xiongnu soldiers put dead horses , cows and sheep in lakes during the Gobi Desert war to contaminate water supplies and spread infectious diseases among the Han soldiers , in a form of shamanistic witchcraft curse . After Huo Qubing ' s death , the sorrowed Emperor Wu ordered the elite troops from the five border commanderies to line up all the way from Chang ' an to Maoling , where Huo Qubing ' s tomb was constructed in the shape of the Qilian Mountains to commemorate his military achievements . Huo Qubing was then posthumously appointed the title Marquess of Jinghuan ( 景桓侯 ) , and a large " Horse Stomping Xiongnu " ( 馬踏匈奴 ) stone statue was build in front of his tomb . Along with his uncle Wei Qing , Huo Qubing was among the most decorated military commanders in Chinese history . The Eastern Han Dynasty historian Ban Gu , summarized in his " Book of Han " Huo Qubing ' s achievements with a poem : Huo Qubing ' s half - brother Huo Guang , whom he took custody away from his father , was later a great statesman who was the chief consul behind Emperor Zhao , and was instrumental in the succession of Emperor Xuan to the throne after Emperor Zhao ' s death . Huo Qubing ' s son Huo Shàn ( 霍嬗 ) , who succeeded him as the Marquess of Champion but died young in 110 BC , so his title became extinct . His grandson Huo Shān ( 霍山 , later Marquess of Leping ) and Huo Yun ( 霍云 , later Marquess of Guanyang ) was involved in a failed plot to overthrow Emperor Xuan of Han in 66 BC , resulting in both of them committing suicide and the Huo clan was executed . It was presumably that no male descendant of Huo Qubing nor Huo Guang survived , as during the reign of Emperor Ping of Han , it was Huo Yang , a great - grandson of Huo Qubing ' s paternal cousin , chosen to inherit Huo Guang as Marquess of Bolu . Popular culture . 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 . Huo Qubing was played by Li Junfeng ( 李俊锋 ) in the popular 2005 historical epics TV series " Han Wu Da Di " ( 汉武大帝 ) , the best TV drama that has described the short - lived hero so far .