In the spring of 139 B.C., Wei Zifu, Wei Qing's sister, was chosen by Emperor Wu of Han to join the palace, and Wei Qing was called to work as an errand boy at Jianzhang Palace. This was a major turning point in Wei Qing's fate.
In 129 B.C., the Xiong Nu once again raised an army to the south, with its vanguard pointing directly at Shanggu (present-day Huailai County, Hebei Province). Emperor Wu of Han decisively appointed Wei Qing as a general of the Che Cavalry to meet the Xiongnu. From then on, Wei Qing began his military career.
This time, Han Wu Di assigned four ways to attack. Riding general Wei Qing went straight out of Shanggu, riding general Gongsun Ao from Daixian County (northeast of present-day Weixian County, Hebei Province), light vehicle general Gongsun He from Yunzhong (northeast of present-day Toktor, Inner Mongolia), and primus general Li Guang from Yanmen. Each of the four generals led 10,000 cavalry. Wei Qing made his first expedition, but he fought valiantly and won the victory by attacking Longcheng (a place where Xiong Nu sacrificed their ancestors on heaven and earth) and beheading 700 people. Of the other three, two failed and one returned without success. When Emperor Wu of Han saw that only Wei Qing was victorious, he appreciated him very much and added the title of Marquis of Guannei.
The Han Dynasty's counterattack on the Xiongnu made their advances even more furious. In the fall of 128 B.C., the Xiongnu cavalry came south in force, first attacking Liao Xi, killing the governor of Liao Xi, and then defeating Han An Guo, the governor of Yu Yang, and plundering more than 2,000 people. Han Wu Di sent Li Guang, the Flying General feared by the Xiongnu, to defend Right Beiping (southwest of Lingyuan, Liaoning Province). The Xiongnu soldiers avoided Li Guang and entered the border through Yanmen Pass, attacking the northern border counties of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu of Han sent Wei Qing on another expedition and sent Li Xi to attack the Xiong Nu from behind by sending troops from Dai County. Wei Qing led 30,000 cavalry and drove to the front line. Wei Qing himself was the first to fight, and his generals were even more courageous. Thousands of enemies were killed and captured, and the Xiongnu fled in great defeat.
In 127 BC, the Xiongnu nobles gathered a large force and attacked Shanggu and Yuyang. Emperor Wu decided to avoid the realities and send Wei Qing to lead a large army to attack the Henan land (the Yellow River Loop area), which had long been entrenched by the Xiongnu. This was the first major battle of the Western Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu.
Wei Qing led an army of 40,000 men from Yunzhong, using the tactic of "detour and flanking", circled west to the rear of the Xiongnu army, and quickly captured Gaoque (present-day Hangjin Houqi in Inner Mongolia), cutting off the connection between the Xiongnu King Baiyang and Louwu, who were stationed in the Henan area, and the monarch's royal court. Then Wei Qing led his elite cavalry to fly south to Longxi, forming an encirclement of Baiyang and Louzhou. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Xiong Nu King of Baiyang and the King of Loumou fled with their troops in fear. The Han army captured thousands of enemy soldiers alive, seized more than one million head of livestock, and completely controlled the Hetao area. Because of the fertile water and grass in this area and the dangerous situation, Emperor Wu of Han built Shuofang City (northwest of Hangjin Banner of Inner Mongolia today), set up Shuofang County and Wuyuan County, migrated 100,000 people from the mainland to settle there, and repaired the border fortresses built by Mengtian in Qin Dynasty and the fortifications along the river. In this way, not only the direct threat of Xiongnu cavalry to Chang'an was lifted, but also a forward base for further counterattacks against the Xiongnu was established. Wei Qing made great achievements and was named Marquis of Changping with 3,800 households.
The Xiongnu nobles were not happy with their defeat in the southern part of the river, and were bent on retaking Shuo Fang, so they sent out a number of troops over a period of several years, but all of them were held back by the Han army. In the spring of 124 B.C., Emperor Wu of Han ordered Wei Qing to lead 30,000 cavalry troops from Gao Que; Su Jian, Li Frustration, Gongsun He, and Li Cai, all under Wei Qing's control, led troops from Shuo Fang; and Li Xi, and Zhang Jigong, led troops from Right Bei Ping. The total force this time was more than 100,000 men. The Right Honorable King of Xiongnu relaxed his guard as he thought that the Han army was far away and could not come for a while. Wei Qing led his army to march six or seven hundred miles, and surrounded the tent of King Yu Xian in the darkness of the night. At this time, the right virtuous king is in the tent embracing beautiful concubines, drinking wine, has eight or nine points of drunkenness. Suddenly, he heard the sound of killing outside the tent and the firelight was everywhere. King Yu Xian was so panic-stricken that he put his beautiful concubine on the horse and fled to the north with a few hundred strong riders. The Han army, led by Guo Cheng, did not catch up with him for hundreds of miles, but captured more than ten young kings, more than fifteen thousand men and women, and millions of head of cattle and animals of the Right Honorable King. The Han army won a great victory and returned to the imperial court with a triumphant song.
When Emperor Wu of Han received the report of the battle, he was overjoyed and sent an envoy with a seal to the army to worship Wei Qing as a great general, adding 8,700 cognacs, and all the generals were under his command. Wei Qing's three sons, all of whom were still in their infancy, were also made vassals by Emperor Wu of Han. Wei Qing was very modest, and firmly refused, saying: "I am honored to be in the army, and thanks to Your Majesty's spirit, our army has won the victory, which is all due to the soldiers' desperate battle. Your majesty has already granted me an additional cognac, but my sons are still young and have no merit, yet your majesty divides the land and grants them marquisships. This will not encourage the soldiers to fight. How dare the three of them accept the reward." Emperor Wu of Han then rewarded Gongsun Ao, Han said, Gongsun He, Li Cai, Li Shuo, Zhao Buyu, Gongsun Rongnu, Li Frustration, Li Xie, and Dou Ruyi, who had accompanied Wei Qing in battle.
After several strikes, the Xiongnu remained rampant. They entered the Daiji area, attacked Yanmen, and plundered Dingxiang (present-day Helinger, Inner Mongolia) and Shangxun (present-day southeast of Suide County, Shaanxi). In February 123 BC, Emperor Wu of Han again ordered Wei Qing to attack the Xiongnu. Gongsun Ao was the center general, Gongsun He was the left general, Zhao Xin was the front general, Su Jian was the right general, Li Guang was the rear general, and Li Frustration was the general of the strong crossbow, leading six armies, which were under the command of the great general Wei Qing, and set out from Dingxiang in great numbers and marched northward for several hundred miles, wiping out thousands of Xiong Nu troops. In this battle, Huo Daizi, the nephew of Wei Qing, led 800 elite cavalry to participate in the battle for the first time, and achieved the brilliant result of annihilating more than 2,000 enemies. After the battle, the whole army returned to Dingxiang to rest and reorganize, and a month later, he went out again and killed more than 10,000 Xiong Nu troops. However, the right general Su Jian and the former general Zhao Xin fought an encounter with the Xiongnu, and the Han army suffered heavy casualties. Su Jian escaped and fled back, and Zhao Xin, who was originally a surrendered general of the Xiongnu, surrendered to the Xiongnu again after the defeat.
In 121 B.C., the second major Western Han campaign against the Xiongnu began, commanded by Huo Daizi, which resulted in the Han Dynasty taking full control of the western part of the Hexi region and cutting off the Xiongnu from the Qiang people.
In order to completely crush the main force of the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty concentrated the nation's financial and material resources in preparation for the launching of the Third Great Campaign against the Xiongnu. In the spring of 119 B.C., Emperor Wu of Han called a meeting with his generals to discuss the strategy of the advance. He said, "Xiong Nu Shan Yu took Zhao Xin's advice and traveled far north of the desert, thinking that our Han army could not cross the desert, and even if it did, it would not dare to stay longer. This time we shall launch a powerful offensive to achieve our purpose." So 100,000 sturdy warhorses were selected, and the Great General Wei Qing and the Hussar General Huo Daizi each led 50,000 elite cavalrymen in an expedition to the north of the Desert, divided into two routes, east and west. In order to solve the problem of grain and grass supply, Emperor Wu of Han also mobilized more than 40,000 private horses, and more than 100,000 infantrymen were in charge of transporting grain and grass supply wagons, following closely behind the army.
The original plan was for the expeditionary army to travel north from Dingxiang, with Huo Daizi leading the valiant generals to focus on dealing with the Xiong Nu monarchs. Later, he learned from captured Xiong Nu soldiers that Xiong Nu Yi Zhi Shi Shan Yu was far to the east, so the Han army readjusted its battle sequence. Emperor Wu of Han ordered Huo Zaodi to go out from Dai County in the east and Wei Qing to go out from Dingxiang.
Under the banner of the great general Wei Qing, there were many strong generals. Li Guang was the former general, Gong Sun He was the left general, Zhao Shiqi was the right general and Cao Xiang was the rear general. Considering that the former general Li Guang was old and unlucky, Wei Qing did not let him be the vanguard, but merged the two armies with the right general Zhao Shiqi to encircle from the right flank. Wei Qing himself led the left general Gongsun He and the rear general Cao Xiang to advance from the front and penetrate straight into the Xiong Nu Shan Yu's residence.
Zhao Xin advised Yi Zhi Shi Shan Yu, "The Han army does not know how powerful it is, and even intends to cross the desert. By then, the men will be exhausted, and we can capture them by waiting for them." So he ordered all the grain and provisions to be moved northward again, while burying his elite troops on the north side of the desert.
Wei Qing's army traveled more than 1,000 miles north, crossed the great desert, and encountered the Xiongnu army, which was standing in close proximity. Undaunted by the danger, Wei Qing ordered his troops to quickly surround themselves with wugang wagons (iron armored soldier wagons) to form a fortified position, then sent 5,000 cavalrymen to storm the enemy lines. Xiong Nu sent out more than 10,000 cavalry to meet them. The two sides fought fiercely together, very grueling. At dusk, a storm suddenly broke out, dust rolled in, gravel pounded on the face, and there was darkness, so that the two armies could not distinguish each other. Wei Qing took the opportunity to send out two raw armies, from the left and right flanks to the back of Shan Yu, and surrounded Shan Yu's camp. Yizhi Shan Yu found that the Han army was so many in number, and the people were strong and horses were fat, the morale was high, greatly shaken, and knowing that he could not win, he panicked and straddled the horse, and fought to break out under the protection of several rows of elite cavalry. The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
At this time, night has fallen, the battlefield on both sides of the generals are still in the blood fight, shouting and killing sound shocking. Wei Qing learned that Yi Zhi Shi Shan Yu had broken through the siege and fled, and immediately sent out light cavalry to chase after him. When the Xiong Nu soldiers lost Shan Yu, their army was in great confusion and they scattered and fled for their lives. Wei Qing led his army to advance by night. At dawn. Han army has chased out more than 200 miles, although no trace of Shan Yu, but killed and captured more than 19,000 Xiong Nu soldiers and officers. Wei Qing's army advanced as far as Zhaoxin City in Zhenyan Mountain (west of present-day Ulan Bator, Mongolia), where they obtained the grain and grass that the Xiongnu had stocked up to replenish their military forces. They stayed here for a day． Then they burned Zhaoxin City and the remaining grain. They were victorious in the battle.
The east road army led by Huo Daizi advanced more than 2,000 miles north and encountered the army of King Zuo Xian of Xiongnu. After a fierce battle, he captured three small kings of the Xiongnu, as well as 83 entries of generals, phasers, dangtu, and captains, and destroyed more than 70,000 Xiongnu. King Zuo Xian fled in defeat.
In this battle, the Han army defeated the main force of the Xiongnu, causing the Xiongnu's vitality to be greatly injured. From then on, the Xiongnu gradually migrated to the northwest, and there was "no royal court in the south of the desert", and the military threat of the Xiongnu to the Han Dynasty was basically lifted.
The Emperor recognized the great achievements of Wei Qing and Huo Zhaodi by appointing them as the Grand Secretary. Wei Qing became close to Emperor Wu and became even more favored. However, Wei Qing was a modest and kind person, respecting the wise and talented, and never used his power to oppress others.
In 106 B.C., when General Wei Qing died, Emperor Wu of Han ordered the construction of a special tomb for Wei Qing east of his Maoling Mausoleum to symbolize Wei Qing's life of great achievements.