Campaigners › Frontier Generals
Li Mu
Zhao general who guarded the northern frontier against the Xiongnu, twice threw back Qin armies, and was put to death after Qin bribes turned his king against him
On a desert ridge, a rammed-earth watchtower and a long wall run across sand and rock toward the distance; a sentry stands on the tower with his back turned, smoke rises from a far beacon tower, and a small camel caravan crosses the sand at the right.
Li Mu was a Zhao general who spent years guarding the commanderies of Dai and Yanmen against the Xiongnu. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says he spent the market taxes on his men and drilled them in mounted archery but forbade them to give battle. When the king thought him timid and replaced him, the frontier suffered; restored, he lured the raiders in and destroyed more than a hundred thousand horsemen, and for over ten years they kept away. In 233 BC he crushed the Qin general Huan Yi at Fei and was made Lord of Wu'an, and the next year he repelled Qin again at Panwu. When Wang Jian invaded in 229 BC, Qin bribed the favourite Guo Kai to accuse Li Mu of plotting rebellion; he refused to hand over his command and was seized and beheaded. Three months later King Qian was captured. The Thousand Character Classic names him with Bai Qi, Wang Jian and Lian Po as the ablest generals.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–229 BCE