Defending the north

This extract is from Sian Qian, the Grand Historian. He describes a battle between the Chinese forces and the Xiongnu nomads to the north of China.

Now, the troops Li Ling led numbered fewer than 5,000. When they marched deep into the territory of the mounted nomads, they might as well have been marching straight into the Xiongnu court itself. It was like dangling bait in a tiger’s mouth. They challenged the barbarian strength on all sides, facing an army of millions. For over ten days they fought the shanyu, killing more than their own number. The enemy had no time to bear off their dead or succour their wounded. Their pelt-clad leaders trembled in fear. But then the commanders of their left and right divisions sent out a call for every able archer, and all the tribes joined as one to attack Li Ling together, and they surrounded his troops. Yet Li Ling’s army still fought on in retreat for a thousand li, until all their arrows were gone, their path was blocked, and the armies of relief had failed to arrive. By then the dead and wounded lay in heaps. And still, when Li Ling called out to rouse his army not a soldier failed to leap to the fight, wiping their tears over their bloodied faces. Stifling their sobs they brandished empty bows and braved naked blades, facing north and fighting the enemy to the death.

Sima Qian’s Letter to Ren An found at http://www.indiana.edu/~g380/4.12-Sima-2010.pdf