Campaigners › Frontier Generals
Li Guang
Western Han frontier general from Longxi whom the Xiongnu called the Flying General, who fought them some seventy times but was never made a marquis
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.
Also known as Flying General
Li Guang, from Chengji in Longxi, descended from the Qin general Li Xin. When the Xiongnu broke through the Xiao Pass in 166 BC he joined the army as the son of a good family and won a post as palace gentleman for his shooting. Under Emperor Jing he captured an enemy banner at Changyi during the war against Wu and Chu, but went unrewarded because he had accepted a general's seal from the King of Liang. In 129 BC he was defeated beyond Yanmen and taken prisoner, escaped on a seized horse and was reduced to commoner; as governor of Youbeiping he was called the Flying General of Han by the Xiongnu, who kept away for years. In the northern campaign of 119 BC Wei Qing sent him by the eastern route; he lost his way, arrived late and cut his own throat rather than face the clerks. Sima Qian's verdict quotes the proverb that peach and plum trees say nothing, yet a path forms beneath them.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–119 BCE
- 133 BCEHan Ambush at Mayi Fails