Su Wu was a governor of Dai County, a Chinese aspirant and the son of Su Jian. In his early years, he was a lang with his father's shade, and moved a little to be a stable supervisor in Rhea.
In 100 B.C., the new monarch of the Xiong Nu regime took the throne and honored Han as the abbot. In order to show his friendship, Emperor Wu of Han sent Su Wu to Xiong Nu with more than one hundred men to escort the Xiong Nu envoys detained in Han back to his country with banner, and by the way, he gave monarchs a very generous gift to thank monarchs. ? Unexpectedly, just as Su Wu completed his mission and was about to return to his own country, civil unrest broke out in the upper echelons of the Xiong Nu, and Su Wu and his party were implicated and detained, and were asked to betray the Han Dynasty and submit to Shan Yu.
Initially, Shan Yu sent Weilu to persuade Su Wu, promising him a generous salary and a high-ranking position, which Su Wu sternly refused. Seeing that persuasion was useless, the Xiongnu decided to use torture. At that time, it was winter, and there was a heavy snowfall in the sky. Shan Yu ordered Su Wu to be locked up in a large open cave and cut off from providing food and water, hoping that this would change Su Wu's belief.
Time passed day by day, and Su Wu suffered in the cellar. When he was thirsty, he ate a handful of snow, when he was hungry, he chewed on the sheepskin jacket he wore, and when he was cold, he huddled in the corner with the jacket for warmth. After some days, Shan Yu saw the dying Su Wu still did not yield to show, so he had to release Su Wu.
Single Yu knew that no matter soft, or hard, persuade Suwu surrender are hopeless, but more and more respect Suwu's temperament, can not bear to kill Suwu, but also do not want to let him return to their own country, so decided to Suwu exile to Siberia's Baikal Lake area, so that he went to shepherd sheep. Before his departure, Shan Yu summoned Su Wu and said, "Since you won't surrender, I'll let you go and herd the sheep, and when those sheep give birth to lambs, I'll let you return to your Great Han."
Separated from his companions, Su Wu was exiled to the shores of Lake Baikal, which was off the beaten track. He found that the sheep were all rams. Here, an individual alone could not escape in any way. The only company Su Wu had was the envoy representing the Han Dynasty and a small flock of sheep.
Su Wu took this envoy and herded the sheep every day, thinking that one day he would be able to return to his own country with it. When he was thirsty, he ate a handful of snow, when he was hungry, he dug for wild fruits collected by wild mice to fill his hunger, and when he was cold, he warmed himself with the sheep. Day after day, year after year, the banner ox-tail decorations hanging on the envoys fell off, and Su Wu's hair and beard turned gray.
In Lake Baikal, Su Wu shepherded the sheep for nineteen years. Over the past ten years, the Xiong Nu monarch who had given the order to imprison him had died, and so had Emperor Wu of Han, whose son, Emperor Zhao of Han, succeeded him to the throne.
In 85 B.C., the Xiong Nu was in civil unrest, and Shan Yu, who had no strength to fight with the Han Dynasty, sent an emissary to ask for peace. Emperor Zhaodi of Han Dynasty sent an envoy to Xiongnu to ask for the release of Su Wu and Chang Hui. The Xiongnu lied to the emissaries that Su Wu was dead.
The second time, the Han Dynasty sent another emissary to Xiongnu. Chang Hui bribed Shan Yu's men to meet with the emissary in private. When the emissary understood the details, he sternly rebuked Shan Yu, saying, "Our emperor shot down a goose in the upper forest garden, and tied to the goose's foot was a silk, a letter written by Su Wu himself.
He said he was herding sheep in the North Sea. How can you lie?" Shan Yu was shocked to hear this and said, "Su Wu's loyalty has touched the flying birds!" He apologized to the messenger and promised to send Su Wu back for sure.?
When Su Wu went on his first mission, he had more than a hundred people in his entourage, but this time only Chang Hui and a few others were left to follow him back; Su Wu was just forty years old when he went on his mission, and he suffered for nineteen years in Xiong Nu, and in the sixth year of Emperor Zhao's Shiyuan year, in 81 B.C.E., Su Wu finally came back to Changan, and the people went out to meet him when he returned to Changan, and praised him for being a man of honor and courage.
The next year, the father and son of Shangguan Jie and Shangguan An and Sang Hongyang were accused of plotting a rebellion. Su Wu was dismissed from his post after he and Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang were originally on good terms with each other and his son was involved in the plot. After the death of Emperor Zhaodi, Su Wu was given the title of Marquis of Guannei because of his involvement in supporting Emperor Xuan of Han.
Extended Information
Character Evaluation:
Li Bai: "Su Wu was in the Xiongnu, and for ten years he held the Han Festival. The white geese flew up to the forest, and a letter was sent to him. He had a hard time in the borderland, and the sun set on his return. Thirsty to drink the ice in the moon cave, hungry to eat the snow in the sky. The east is still far away from Shasai, and the north is sad to say goodbye to Heliang. Sobbing Li Ling clothes, see each other tears into blood." ?
Wen Tingyun: "Su Wu's soul is lost in front of the Han Ambassador, the ancient ancestral shrine and tall trees two blank. The clouds of geese broken Hu Tian Yue, Long Shang sheep return to the grass smoke. Back in the day, the platform is not a tent, go to the crown sword is d years. Maoling not see the seal of the feudal lords, empty to the autumn wave crying dead river. "
Ouyang Xiu: "cover the poem, the seedlings of music and. Han's Su, Li, Wei's Cao, Liu, got its right start." ?
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