1
李廣，隴西成紀人也。 其先曰李信，秦時為將，逐得燕太子丹者也。 廣世世受射。 孝文十四年，匈奴大入蕭關，而廣以良家子從軍擊胡，用善射，殺首虜多，為郎，騎常侍。 數從射獵，格殺猛獸，文帝曰：「惜廣不逢時，令當高祖世，萬戶侯豈足道哉！」
Li Guang came from Chengji in Longxi commandery. His forebear Li Xin had served as a Qin general and was the officer who ran down and captured the crown prince of Yan, Dan. Archery had been handed down in Li Guang's family for generations. In 166 BCE the Xiongnu poured through Xiaoguan. Li Guang enlisted as a young man of good family, fought them with the army, and distinguished himself with the bow—so many kills that he was appointed gentleman-attendant and then cavalry attendant-in-ordinary at court. He often rode out on the hunt with the emperor and killed dangerous game at close quarters. Emperor Wen remarked, "What a pity Li Guang was not born in Gaozu's day—a mere marquisate of ten thousand households would have been beneath him."
2
匈奴侵上郡，上使中貴人從廣勒習兵擊匈奴。 中貴人者數十騎從，見匈奴三人，與戰。 射傷中貴人，殺其騎且盡。 中貴人走廣，廣曰：「是必射鵰者也。」 廣乃從百騎往馳三人。 三人亡馬步行，行數十里。 廣令其騎張左右翼，而廣身自射彼三人者，殺其二人，生得一人，果匈奴射鵰者也。 已縛之上山，望匈奴數千騎，見廣，以為誘騎，驚，上山陳。 廣之百騎皆大恐，欲馳還走。 廣曰：「我去大軍數十里，今如此走，匈奴追射，我立盡。 今我留，匈奴必以我為大軍之誘，不我擊。」 廣令曰：「前！」 未到匈奴陳二里所，止，令曰：「皆下馬解鞍！」 騎曰：「虜多如是，解鞍，即急，奈何？」 廣曰：「彼虜以我為走，今解鞍以示不去，用堅其意。」 有白馬將出護兵。 廣上馬，與十餘騎奔射殺白馬將，而復還至其百騎中，解鞍，縱馬臥。 時會暮，胡兵終怪之，弗敢擊。 夜半，胡兵以為漢有伏軍於傍欲夜取之，即引去。 平旦，廣乃歸其大軍。 後徙為隴西、北地、雁門中雲中太守。
When the Xiongnu raided Shang commandery, the emperor dispatched a eunuch favorite to train under Li Guang and practice campaigning against them. The favorite rode out with a few dozen cavalry, encountered three Xiongnu horsemen, and engaged them. The Xiongnu wounded the favorite with their bows and all but wiped out his escort. The favorite galloped to Li Guang, who said, "Those were Xiongnu eagle-archers—men who can bring down a golden eagle on the wing." Li Guang took a hundred horsemen and rode hard after the three. They had lost their mounts and were walking—already many li from where they had fought. Li Guang fanned his men to left and right, then shot the three himself—two dead, one taken alive—and they turned out to be the eagle-archers after all. They had tied up their prisoner and climbed a rise when they sighted thousands of enemy horse. The Xiongnu mistook Li Guang's tiny band for a decoy, hesitated, and drew up on the heights in formation. His hundred men panicked and wanted to wheel and run for it. Li Guang said, "We are dozens of li from the main force. If we bolt now, they'll run us down and pick us off—we'll be dead in moments. If we stay put, they'll assume we're bait for a larger ambush and hold their fire." Li Guang gave the order: "Advance!" They rode to within about two li of the enemy line, then he halted the column and shouted, "Dismount—loosen every saddle girth!" His men protested: "There are so many of them—if we take off our saddles and things turn ugly, what then?" Li Guang replied, "They think we're running. Dismounting and stripping the gear shows we mean to stay—that will fix their idea that we're only a screen for something bigger." A Xiongnu officer on a white horse rode out to supervise his men. Li Guang vaulted into the saddle, took a dozen riders in a dash, killed the white-horse commander with a volley, then cantered back to his line, loosened the saddles again, and let the horses graze and lie down as before. Dusk was falling; the enemy remained baffled by the display and still would not close. Around midnight they decided Han ambushers must be waiting to strike in the dark, and broke camp. At first light Li Guang rejoined the main column. He was later posted in turn as governor of Longxi, Beidi, Yanmen, Dai commandery, and Yunzhong along the northern frontier.
3
後漢誘單于以馬邑城，使大軍伏馬邑傍，而廣為驍騎將軍，屬護軍將軍。 單于覺之，去，漢軍皆無功。 後四歲，廣以衛尉為將軍，出雁門擊匈奴。 匈奴兵多，破廣軍，生得廣。 單于素聞廣賢，令曰：「得李廣必生致之。」 胡騎得廣，廣時傷，置兩馬間。 絡而盛臥。 行十餘里，廣陽死，睨其傍有一兒騎善馬，暫騰而上胡兒馬，因抱兒鞭馬南馳數十里，得其餘軍。 匈奴騎數百追之，廣行取兒弓射殺追騎，以故得脫。 於是至漢，漢下廣吏。 吏當廣亡失多，為虜所生得，當斬，贖為庶人。
Later the court tried to lure the Chanyu into Mayi with a ruse while the main army lay in wait; Li Guang was appointed dashing-cavalry general under the protector-general's command. The Chanyu saw through the trap and withdrew, and the Han expedition came away with nothing. Four years after that he left the capital as commandant of the guards, took the title of general, and marched out through Yanmen against the Xiongnu. The enemy outnumbered him, broke his force, and took Li Guang prisoner. The Chanyu had heard of Li Guang's reputation and issued orders: "Li Guang is to be captured alive." The horsemen had him—wounded—and slung him in a rope cradle between two mounts. They bound him in a net and carried him along supine between the animals. After some ten li he feigned death, spotted a young rider on a fine horse at his side, vaulted onto the animal behind him, locked an arm around the boy to hold him fast, and spurred south for dozens of li until he reached the rest of his troops. Hundreds of pursuers closed on him; he snatched the lad's bow as he rode and picked off the leaders until they broke off the chase. Back on Han soil the court turned him over to the judiciary for trial. The judges found him guilty of heavy casualties and capture by the enemy—capital crimes—but he commuted the sentence with a fine and was stripped of rank.
4
數歲，與故穎陰侯屏居藍田南山中射獵。 嘗夜從一騎出，從人田間飲。 還至亭，霸陵尉醉，呵止廣，廣騎曰：「故李將軍。」 尉曰：「今將軍尚不得夜行，何故也！」 宿廣亭下。 居無何，匈奴入遼西，殺太守，敗韓將軍。 韓將軍後徙居右北平，死。 於是上乃召拜廣為右北平太守。 廣請霸陵尉與俱，至軍而斬之，上書自陳謝罪。 上報曰：「將軍者，國之爪牙也。 《司馬法》曰：『登車不式，遭喪不服，振旅撫師，以征不服，率三軍之心，同戰士之力，故怒形則千里竦，威振則萬物狀； 是以名聲暴於夷貉，威稜憺乎鄰國。』 夫報忿除害，捐殘去殺，朕之所圖於將軍也； 若乃免冠徒跣，稽顙請罪，豈朕之指哉！ 將軍其率師東轅，彌節白檀，以臨右北平盛秋。」 廣在郡，匈奴號曰「漢飛將軍」，避之，數歲不入界。
For some years he lived in seclusion in the Lantian hills with the former Marquis of Yingyin, passing the days hunting. One night he rode out with a single attendant and stopped at a farmhouse for wine. On the way back they were halted at a courier station by a drunken captain of Baling, who challenged them; Li Guang's man called out, "That is the former General Li." The captain retorted, "Even an active general is not allowed through here after dark—what business have you?" He made Li Guang spend the night under the station eaves. Not long afterward the Xiongnu struck Liaoxi, killed the governor there, and routed General Han Anguo. General Han was later transferred to Youbeiping, where he died in office. The emperor then recalled Li Guang and named him governor of Youbeiping. Li Guang insisted that the Baling captain accompany him to headquarters and had him executed on arrival, then filed a memorial explaining himself and asking to be punished. The emperor answered: "A general is the fangs and claws of the realm. The Military Canons of Sima say: 'Board your chariot without bowing in courtesy; on campaign set mourning aside; marshal the host and steady the ranks to chastise rebellion; bind the three armies to one purpose and the soldiery to one will—then a flash of wrath makes the realm tremble for a thousand li, and the sweep of your majesty gives shape to all beneath heaven; so that your name thunders among the barbarians and the glint of your power overawes every neighbor.'" To settle scores with wrongdoers, root out evil, and curb needless bloodshed—that is what I expect of you as a commander; not for you to bare your head, go barefoot, and beat your brow in the posture of a criminal—that was never my meaning! Turn your column east, take up position at Baitan, and be in Youbeiping by the height of autumn." While he held the commandery the Xiongnu dubbed him the Flying General of Han and gave his district a wide berth for years.
5
廣出獵，見草中石，以為虎而射之，中石沒矢，視之，石也，他日射之，終不能入矣。 廣所居郡聞有虎，常自射之。 及居右北平射虎，虎騰傷廣，廣亦射殺之。
Once on a hunt he mistook a boulder in tall grass for a tiger and let fly; the shaft buried itself to the fletching in solid rock. When he saw what it was, he tried again on another day and could never repeat the shot. Wherever he was posted, if word came of a man-eater, he went after it himself. At Youbeiping a tiger he had wounded sprang and mauled him; he still brought it down with his bow.
6
石建卒，上召廣代為郎中令。 元朔六年，廣復為將軍，從大將軍出定襄。 諸將多中首虜率為侯者，而廣軍無功。 後三歲，廣以郎中令將四千騎出右北平，博望侯張騫將萬騎與廣俱，異道。 行數百里，匈奴左賢王將四萬騎圍廣，廣軍士皆恐，廣乃使其子敢往馳之。 敢從數十騎直貫胡騎，出其左右而還，報廣曰：「胡虜易與耳。」 軍士乃安。 為圜陳外鄉，胡急擊，矢下如雨。 漢兵死者過半，漢矢且盡。 廣乃令持滿毋發，而廣身自以大黃射其裨將，殺數人，胡虜益解。 會暮，吏士無人色，而廣意氣自如，益治軍。 軍中服其勇也。 明日，復力戰，而博望侯軍亦軍，匈奴乃解去。 漢軍邑，弗能追。 是時，廣軍幾沒，罷歸。 漢法，博望侯後期，當死，贖為庶人。 廣軍自當，亡賞。
When Shi Jian died, the emperor called Li Guang to the capital to succeed him as superintendent of the palace gentlemen. In 123 BCE he was again given a general's commission and marched from Dingxiang under the supreme commander Wei Qing. Most of the subordinate commanders earned enough kills to be ennobled; Li Guang's column alone came back empty-handed. Three years later he led four thousand horse out of Youbeiping in his capacity as superintendent of gentlemen, while the Marquis of Bowang Zhang Qian took ten thousand cavalry by another line of march to support him. Several hundred li into the steppe the Worthy King of the Left ringed him with forty thousand horse. His men were terrified until Li Guang sent his son Li Gan to charge the encirclement. Li Gan took a few dozen troopers, punched straight through the enemy line, wheeled around their flanks, and rode back to report, "The barbarians are nothing much." Only then did the ranks steady. He formed a hollow square facing outward; the Xiongnu pressed the assault and arrows fell in sheets. Casualties passed fifty percent and their quivers were almost empty. Li Guang ordered his men to hold at full draw without loosing while he himself worked a heavy crossbow and dropped several of their subordinate commanders; the pressure on the ring began to ease. Night came on; officers and men were grey-faced with exhaustion, but Li Guang was calm as ever and went about tightening the formation. The whole command admired his nerve. They fought again at daybreak, and when Zhang Qian's column finally came up the Xiongnu lifted the siege and withdrew. Li Guang's men were too shaken and worn to follow the retreating enemy. His force had been all but wiped out; they were stood down and marched home. Under military law Zhang Qian's late arrival was a capital offense; he bought off the sentence and was reduced to commoner status. Li Guang had held the enemy alone and received no enfeoffment or bounty.
7
初，廣與從弟李蔡俱為郎，事文帝。 景帝時，蔡積功至二千石。 武帝元朔中，為輕車將軍，從大將軍擊右賢王，有功中率，封為樂安侯。 元狩二年，代公孫弘為丞相。 蔡為人在下中，名聲出廣下遠甚，然廣不得爵邑，官不過九卿。 廣之軍吏及士卒或取封侯。 廣與望氣王朔語云：「自漢擊匈奴，廣未嘗不在其中，而諸妄校尉已下，材能不及中，以軍功取侯者數十人。 廣不為後人，然終無尺寸功以得封邑者，何也？ 豈吾相不當侯邪？」 朔曰：「將軍自念，豈嘗有恨者乎？」 廣曰：「吾為隴西守，羌嘗反，吾誘降者八百餘人，詐而同日殺之，至今恨獨此耳。」 朔曰：「禍莫大於殺已降，此乃將軍所以不得侯者也。」
In his youth Li Guang and his cousin Li Cai had both served as gentlemen-attendants under Emperor Wen. Under Emperor Jing, Li Cai rose through successive posts until he held a two-thousand-dan salary. In Emperor Wu's Yuanshuo years he led the light chariots under the supreme commander against the Worthy King of the Right, cleared the kill quota for enfeoffment, and was made Marquis of Le'an. In 121 BCE he succeeded Gongsun Hong as chancellor of the empire. Li Cai was a mediocre man whose reputation could not compare with Li Guang's, yet it was Cai who won a marquisate while Li Guang never rose above the nine ministers and took no fief. Some of Li Guang's own subalterns and privates had been ennobled for merit. Li Guang said to Wang Shuo, who read omens in the clouds, that he had fought in every Han campaign against the Xiongnu while dozens of colonels and men beneath them—talent no better than middling—had been ennobled for their service alone. I have never lagged behind my peers, so why have I never earned even the smallest fief? Could it be I was never fated by my face to hold a marquisate?" Wang Shuo asked, "Think back, General—is there anything you still regret?" Li Guang answered, "When I governed Longxi the Qiang rose; I persuaded more than eight hundred of them to lay down their arms, then broke faith and had every one executed the same day. That is the one act I cannot forget." Wang Shuo replied, "Nothing brings down a heavier curse than slaughtering men who have already yielded. That, General, is why the marquisate has never come."
8
廣歷七郡太守，前後四十餘年，得賞賜，輒分其戲下，飲食與士卒共之。 家無余財，終不言生產事。 為人長，爰臂，其善射亦天性，雖子孫他人學者莫能及。 廣吶口少言，與人居，則畫地為軍陳，射闊狹以飲。 專以射為戲。 將兵，乏絕處見水，士卒不盡飲，不近水； 不盡餐，不嚐食； 寬緩不苛，士以此愛樂為用。 其射，見敵，非在數十步之內，度不中不發，發即應弦而倒。 用此，其將數困辱，及射猛獸，亦數為所傷雲。
He governed seven frontier commanderies over more than forty years; every imperial gift went to his men, and he ate and drank with the ranks as they did. He died without savings and never bothered with land or trade. He was a tall man with long apelike arms, and his archery was a gift of nature that neither his heirs nor any pupil could duplicate. He was a man of few words; in company he would sketch battle lines in the dust and wager drinks on contests of archery at narrow targets. Archery was his only pastime. On campaign, if his men had not all drunk from a found water source, he would not touch it himself; if they had not all been fed, he would not eat; yet his discipline was loose rather than cruel, and for that the troops loved him and fought willingly for him. He would not loose an arrow until the target stood within a few dozen paces and he was sure of the shot; when he did shoot, the man dropped with the twang of the bowstring. That habit of closing to point-blank range cost him more than one battlefield setback, and the same boldness brought him repeated wounds from the beasts he hunted.
9
元狩四年，大將軍票騎將軍大擊匈奴，廣數自請行。 上以為老，不許； 良久乃許之，以為前將軍。
In 119 BCE the court launched the great double offensive under Wei Qing and Huo Qubing; Li Guang petitioned again and again to take the field. The emperor judged him too old and refused; after long insistence he relented and named him vanguard general.
10
大將軍青出塞，捕虜知單于所居，乃自以精兵走之，而令廣並於右將軍軍，出東道。 東道少回遠，大軍行，水草少，其勢不屯行。 廣辭曰：「臣部為前將軍，今大將軍乃徙臣出東道，且臣結髮而與匈奴戰，乃令一得當單于，臣願居前，先死單于。」 大將軍陰受上指，以為李廣數奇，毋令當單于，恐不得所欲。 是時，公孫敖新失侯，為中將軍，大將軍亦欲使敖與俱當單于，故徙廣。 廣知之，固辭。 大將軍弗聽，令長史封書與廣之莫府，曰：「急詣部，如書。」 廣不謝大將軍而起行，意象慍怒而就部，引兵與右將軍食其合軍出東道。 惑失道，後大將軍。 大將軍與單于接戰，單于遁走，弗能得而還。 南絕幕，乃遇兩將軍。 廣已見大將軍，還入軍。 大將軍使長史持糒醪遺廣，因問廣、食其失道狀，曰：「青欲上書報天子失軍曲折。」 廣未對。 大將軍長史急責廣之莫府上簿。 廣曰：「諸校尉亡罪，乃我自失道。 吾今自上簿。」
Wei Qing crossed the frontier, learned from prisoners where the Chanyu lay, and drove for that point with his elite while ordering Li Guang to combine his column with the general of the right's and take the longer eastern route. The eastern track swung wide, offered little forage or water, and could not support a large force moving in stages. Li Guang protested: "I was named vanguard, yet the commander-in-chief has shunted me onto the eastern track. I have fought the Xiongnu since I was a young man; now that I might finally meet the Chanyu in battle, I ask to lead the first line and strike him head-on." Wei Qing had private orders from the throne: Li Guang's luck was thought ill-starred, so he must not be allowed to bear the brunt against the Chanyu lest the campaign miscarry. Gongsun Ao had just been stripped of his fief and was serving as central general; Wei Qing wanted him at his side for the strike on the Chanyu, which is why Li Guang was reassigned. Li Guang saw through the arrangement and refused again and again. Wei Qing would not hear him out and sent his chief clerk with sealed orders to Li Guang's field office: "Report to your command at once—no argument." Li Guang left without a word of thanks, his face dark with anger, took his post, and marched to join General of the Right Zhao Shiqi for the eastern approach. They wandered off the route and arrived too late to support Wei Qing's main blow. Wei Qing engaged the Chanyu, who broke off and escaped; the Han pursuit could not run him down. On the march south across the Gobi they at last met Li Guang's and Zhao Shiqi's columns. After a brief interview with Wei Qing, Li Guang withdrew to his own camp. Wei Qing sent his chief clerk with food and wine for Li Guang and questioned him and Zhao Shiqi about getting lost, adding that he meant to report the whole tangled affair to the emperor. Li Guang said nothing. The chief clerk then demanded that Li Guang's staff present him for the formal inquiry. Li Guang said, "My colonels are blameless—the fault for losing the way is mine alone. I will go myself to make the deposition."
11
至莫府，謂其麾下曰：「廣結髮與匈奴大小七十餘戰，今幸從大將軍出接單于兵，而大將軍徙廣部行回遠，又迷失道，豈非天哉！ 且廣年六十餘，終不能復對刀筆之吏矣！」 遂引刀自剄。 百姓聞之，知與不知，老壯皆為垂泣。 而右將軍獨下吏，當死，贖為遮人。
At his headquarters he told his officers, "Since I first took up arms I have fought the Xiongnu more than seventy times, large and small. I thought I would finally ride with the commander-in-chief against the Chanyu—only to be sent the long way round and lose the trail. Can this be anything but fate? I am past sixty—I will not end my days answering to some clerk with his brush and knife!" He drew his sword and cut his own throat. When word spread, everyone who heard it, whether they had known him or not, wept—old and young alike. General of the Right Zhao Shiqi alone was handed over to the judges, faced execution, and bought his life back at the price of commoner status.
12
廣三子，曰當戶、椒、敢，皆為郎。 上與韓嫣戲，嫣少不遜，當戶擊嫣，嫣走，於是上以為能。 當戶蚤死，乃拜椒為代郡太守，皆先廣死。 廣死軍中時，敢從票騎將軍。 廣死明年，李蔡以丞相坐詔賜冢地陽陵當得二十畝，蔡盜取三頃，頗賣得四十餘萬，又盜取神道外壖地一畝葬其中，當下獄，自殺。 敢以校尉從票騎將軍擊胡左賢王，力戰，奪左賢王旗鼓，斬首多，賜爵關內侯，食邑二百戶，代廣為郎中令。 頃之，怨大將軍青之恨其父，乃擊傷大將軍，大將軍匿諱之。 居無何，敢從上雍，至甘泉宮獵，票騎將軍去病怨敢傷青，射殺敢。 去病時方貴幸，上為諱，云「鹿觸殺之」。 居歲餘，去病死。
Li Guang had three sons—Danghu, Jiao, and Gan—each of whom held a post as gentleman-attendant at court. Once when the emperor was joking with his favorite Han Yan, the man grew impertinent and Li Danghu struck him; Yan ran off, and the emperor judged the young man spirited. Danghu died young; Jiao was later made governor of Dai. Both predeceased their father. When Li Guang killed himself on campaign, Li Gan was serving under Huo Qubing. The following year Chancellor Li Cai was charged with embezzling imperial tomb land at Yangling—twenty mu by decree, but he had seized three qing, sold off much of it for over four hundred thousand cash, and appropriated another mu beside the spirit way for a private burial. Facing prison, he took his own life. Li Gan followed Huo Qubing as a colonel against the Worthy King of the Left, fought fiercely, captured the enemy drums and standards, piled up enough heads to be made marquis within the passes with an income of two hundred households, and succeeded his father as superintendent of gentlemen. Soon afterward, nursing a grudge against Wei Qing for his father's death, he assaulted the commander-in-chief and wounded him; Wei Qing kept the matter quiet. Not long after, while Li Gan was escorting the emperor on a hunt at Ganquan, Huo Qubing—still furious over the attack on his uncle—shot him dead. Huo Qubing was then at the height of imperial favor, so the court passed off the killing as a hunting accident—a stag had gored Li Gan. A little over a year later Huo Qubing himself died of illness.
13
敢有女為太子中人，愛幸。 敢男禹有寵於太子，然好利，亦有勇。 嘗與侍中貴人飲，侵陵之，莫敢應。 後訴之上，上召禹，使刺虎，縣下圈中，未至地，有詔引出之。 禹從落中以劍斫絕累，欲刺虎。 上壯之，遂救止焉。 而當戶有遺腹子陵，將兵擊胡，兵敗，降匈奴。 後人告禹謀欲亡從陵，下吏死。
Li Gan left a daughter who served as an attendant in the heir apparent's inner quarters and won the young prince's favor. His son Li Yu was a favorite of the heir apparent—bold, but greedy. Once at wine with several high-ranking attendants he browbeat them until no one dared answer back. They complained to the throne; the emperor summoned Li Yu for a tiger hunt and had him lowered into the pit on ropes, then countermanded the drop and had him winched up before his feet touched the ground. Halfway down he cut himself free with his blade and made as if to fight the animal anyway. The emperor admired his nerve and called off the test. Danghu's posthumous son was Li Ling, who led troops against the Xiongnu, was defeated, and went over to the enemy. Later someone accused Li Yu of plotting to defect to Li Ling; he was arrested and died in custody.
14
陵字少卿，少為侍中建章監。 善騎射，愛人，謙讓下士，甚得名譽。 武帝以為有廣之風，使將八百騎，深入匈奴二千餘里，過居延視地形，不見虜，還。 拜為騎都尉，將勇敢五千人，教射酒泉、張掖以備胡。 數年，漢遣貳師將軍伐大宛，使陵將五校兵隨後。 行至塞，會貳師還。 上賜陵書，陵留吏士，與輕騎五百出敦煌，至鹽水，迎貳師還，復留屯張掖。
Li Ling, courtesy name Shaoqing, began his career as palace attendant and supervisor of the Jianzhang Palace. He excelled in horsemanship and the bow, treated others generously, and was modest toward his juniors—qualities that won him wide esteem. The emperor saw in him something of Li Guang's dash and sent him with eight hundred horse more than two thousand li into the steppe, beyond Juyan to map the ground. He encountered no Xiongnu and marched home. He was promoted to cavalry commandant with five thousand picked troops, drilling archery at Jiuquan and Zhangye against future raids. Some years afterward, when the Ershi general marched against Dayuan, Li Ling was ordered to follow with the five colonels' contingents. He reached the frontier just as the Ershi column was returning. An edict from the emperor reached Li Ling: he was to hold his troops, take five hundred light cavalry from Dunhuang to the saline lakes to meet the returning Ershi force, then go back to his camp at Zhangye.
15
天漢二年，貳師將三萬騎出酒泉，擊右賢王於天山。 召陵，欲使為貳師將輜重。 陵召見武台，叩頭自請曰：「臣所將屯邊者，皆荊楚勇士奇材劍客也，力扼虎，射命中，願得自當一隊，到蘭干山南以分單于兵，毋令專鄉貳師軍。」 上曰：「將惡相屬邪！ 吾發軍多，毋騎予女。」 陵對：「無所事騎，臣願以少擊眾，步兵五千人涉單于庭。」 上壯而許之，因詔強弩都尉路博德將兵半道迎陵軍。 博德故伏波將軍，亦羞為陵後距，奏言：「方秋匈奴馬肥，未可與戰，臣願留陵至春，俱將酒泉、張掖騎各五千人並擊東西浚稽，可必禽也。」 書奏，上怒，疑陵悔不欲出而教博德上書，乃詔博德：「吾欲予李陵騎，云『欲以少擊眾』。 今虜入西河，其引兵走西河，遮鉤營之道。」 詔陵：「以九月發，出庶虜鄣，至東浚稽山南龍勒水上，徘徊觀虜，即亡所見，從浞野侯趙破奴故道抵受降城休士，因騎置以聞。 所與博德言者云何？ 具以書對。」 陵於是將其步卒五千人出居延，北行三十日，至浚稽山止營，舉圖所過山川地形，使麾下騎陳步樂還以聞。 步樂召見，道陵將率得士死力，上甚說，拜步樂為郎。
In 99 BCE the Ershi general took thirty thousand cavalry from Jiuquan against the Worthy King of the Right on the Tian Shan range. Li Ling was summoned to escort supplies for the Ershi army. Summoned to the Wu Terrace, Li Ling kowtowed and begged to lead his own detachment: the men he had trained on the frontier were Jing-Chu fighters who could strangle a tiger and never miss with the bow; let him march south of Mount Langgan to pin part of the Chanyu's host so it could not fall entirely on the Ershi column. The emperor snapped, "So generals refuse to serve under one another! I have committed every spare mount—there are no cavalry left for you." Li Ling answered, "I do not need horse. Give me five thousand foot soldiers and I will march into the heart of the Chanyu's domain." Struck by his boldness, the emperor approved and ordered Lu Bode, commandant of strong crossbowmen, to move up the line and cover Li Ling's retreat. Lu Bode, a former wave-subduing general, was mortified at playing rear guard to Li Ling and memorialized that autumn was the wrong season—the herds were fat; better to hold Li Ling until spring, then strike east and west Junji together with five thousand horse from Jiuquan and five thousand from Zhangye for a sure victory. The emperor took the memorial as a conspiracy—Li Ling backing out and putting Lu Bode up to delay—and sent Lu Bode a blistering reply: "I had offered Li Ling cavalry; he insisted on attacking a host with a handful." The barbarians are in Xihe—march there at once and seal the approaches to the encampment at Gouying." Li Ling was told: "Leave in the ninth month, pass the Zhelu barrier, and take position south of Eastern Junji on the Longle River to scout. If you find no sign of the enemy, follow Zhao Ponu's old track to Accept-Surrender City, rest the column, and send word by relay." What passed between you and Lu Bode? Answer every point in a written memorial." Li Ling took his five thousand foot out of Juyan, marched north for thirty days, and halted on Junji Mountain, where he charted every ridge and river. He sent his trooper Chen Bule back to court with the maps and a full report. Chen Bule was brought before the throne and described how Li Ling had inspired his men to fight to the death. The emperor was delighted and made Chen a gentleman-attendant.
16
陵至浚稽山，與單于相直，騎可三萬圍陵軍。 軍居兩山間，以大車為營。 陵引士出營外為陳，前行持戟盾，後行持弓弩，令曰：「聞鼓聲而縱，聞金聲而止。」 虜見漢軍少，直前就營。 陵搏戰攻之，千弩俱發，應弦而倒。 虜還走上山，漢軍追擊，殺數千人。 單于大驚，召左右地兵八萬餘騎攻陵。 陵且戰且引，南行數日，抵山谷中。 連戰，士卒中矢傷，三創者載輦，兩創者將車，一創者持兵戰。 陵曰：「吾士氣少衰而鼓不起者，何也？ 軍中豈有女子乎？」 始軍出時，關東群盜妻子徙邊者隨軍為卒妻婦，大匿車中。 陵搜得，皆劍斬之。 明日復戰，斬首三千餘級。 引兵東南，循故龍城道行四五日，抵大澤葭葦中，虜從上風縱火，陵亦令軍中縱火以自救。 南行至山下，單于在南山上，使其子將騎擊陵。 陵軍步鬬樹木間，復殺數千人，因發連弩射單于，單于下走。 是日捕得虜，言：「單于曰：『此漢精兵，擊之不能下，日夜引吾南近塞，得毋有伏兵乎？』 諸當戶君長皆言：『單于自將數萬騎擊漢數千人不能滅，後無以復使邊臣，令漢益輕匈奴。』 復力戰山谷間，尚四五十里得平地，不能破，乃還。」
On Junji Mountain Li Ling ran head-on into the Chanyu; some thirty thousand horsemen closed a ring around his camp. He drew his wagons into a laager between two ridges. He marched his men outside the wagon ring: spearmen and shieldmen in front, archers behind, with the standing order—advance on the drum, halt at the gong. The Xiongnu, seeing how small the Han detachment was, drove straight for the laager. Li Ling met the charge; a thousand crossbows spoke at once and the enemy wave collapsed. The enemy fled uphill; Li Ling's men pursued and cut down several thousand. Alarmed, the Chanyu called in more than eighty thousand horse from his left and right wings to crush Li Ling. Li Ling fought a fighting retreat southward for days until he reached a defile. Battle followed battle; men with three wounds were carried in supply carts, those with two drove the wagons, the lightly wounded still stood in the line. Li Ling asked, "Our men are flagging, yet the drums will not carry—what is wrong? Are there women hidden in this column?" At the outset of the march the wives of exiled bandits from east of the passes had stowed away in the baggage train to live as soldiers' women. Li Ling had them dragged out and executed every one at sword point. The next day's fighting cost the enemy another three thousand dead. He struck southeast along the old Dragon City track for four or five days into a reed-choked marsh. The Xiongnu set the reeds alight upwind; Li Ling burned a ring of his own to keep the flames off his men. Farther south the Chanyu watched from a southern height and sent his son down at the head of cavalry. Li Ling's infantry fought from tree to tree, killed thousands more, then volleyed repeating crossbows at the Chanyu and drove him from the ridge. A prisoner taken that day reported the Chanyu's words: "These are Han crack troops—we cannot break them, yet they keep drawing us south toward the passes. Is there an ambush ahead?" The clan headmen replied: "If the Chanyu in person cannot wipe out a few thousand Han with his main host, he will never again command respect on the frontier—the Han will only despise us more." Keep pressing them in the defiles; the plain is still forty or fifty li off—if we cannot destroy them before that, we should break off and retire."
17
是時，陵軍益急，匈奴騎多，戰一日數十合，復傷殺虜二千餘人。 虜不利，欲去，會陵軍候管敢為校尉所辱，亡降匈奴，具言「陵軍無後救，射矢且盡，獨將軍麾下及成安侯校各八百人為前行，以黃與白為幟，當使精騎射之即破矣。」 成安侯者，穎川人，父韓千秋，故濟南相，奮擊南越戰死，武帝封子延年為侯，以校尉隨陵。 單于得敢大喜，使騎並攻漢軍，疾呼曰：「李陵、韓延年趣降！」 遂遮道急攻陵。 陵居谷中，虜在山上，四面射，矢如雨下。 漢軍南行，未至鞮汗山，一日五十萬矢皆盡，即棄車去。 士尚三千餘人，徒斬車輻而持之，軍吏持尺刀，抵山入陿谷。 單于遮其後，乘隅下壘石，士卒多死，不得行。 昏後，陵便衣獨步出營，止左右：「毋隨我，丈夫一取單于耳！」 良久，陵還，大息曰：「兵敗，死矣！」 軍吏或曰：「將軍威震匈奴，天命不遂，後求道徑還歸，如浞野侯為虜所得，後亡還，天子客遇之，況於將軍乎！」 陵曰：「公止！ 吾不死，非壯士也。」 於是盡斬旌旗，及珍寶埋地中，陵歎曰：「復得數十矢，足以脫矣。 今無兵復戰，天明坐受縛矣！ 各鳥獸散，猶有得脫歸報天子者。」 令軍士人持二升糒，一半冰，期至遮虜鄣者相待。 夜半時，擊鼓起士，鼓不鳴。 陵與韓延年俱上馬，壯士從者十餘人。 虜騎數千追之，韓延年戰死。 陵曰：「無面目報陛下！」 遂降。 軍人分散，脫至塞者四百餘人。
The pressure on Li Ling tightened: the Xiongnu horse swarmed the field, and in dozens of clashes that day his men cut down another two thousand of the enemy. The Xiongnu were on the point of quitting when a Han scout named Guan Gan, humiliated by his colonel, defected and betrayed the whole situation: no reserves, arrows almost gone, Li Ling and Han Yannian each leading eight hundred elite in the van under yellow and white pennons—strike that screen with picked bowmen, he said, and the column would shatter. Han Yannian, Marquis of Cheng'an, came from Yingchuan; his father Han Qianqiu had died fighting the Southern Yue, and the son had inherited the marquisate. He now served Li Ling as a colonel. The Chanyu was jubilant. He threw every rider forward in a massed assault, shouting for Li Ling and Han Yannian to yield at once. They sealed the defile and threw wave after wave at Li Ling. Li Ling was trapped in the bottom of a gorge while the Xiongnu ringed the heights and poured arrows into the bowl. They fought southward toward Di-han Mountain until half a million shafts were gone in a single day; then they abandoned the wagons. Barely three thousand men remained, armed with hacked-off wheel spokes while the officers clutched short swords; they clawed their way toward a narrow pass. The Chanyu closed the rear of the column and rolled boulders from the cliffs; the dead piled up and the Han could not move. After dark Li Ling changed into civilian dress, slipped out of camp alone, and waved his men back: "Stay where you are—I mean to bring back the Chanyu's head myself." He came back a long while later, breathing hard: "The fight is lost—we are finished." One of his officers urged him on: "Your name still terrifies the Xiongnu. Heaven has simply turned its face; find a track home as Zhao Ponu did after capture—the emperor received him courteously. How much more would he welcome you?" Li Ling cut him short: A man who will not die now is no soldier at all." They hacked down the standards, buried what treasure they had, and Li Ling groaned, "Another sheaf of arrows and we might still break out. We have no weapons left—at dawn we sit here to be tied like sheep! Scatter like birds and beasts—some of you may yet reach the emperor with word of what happened." He issued each man two measures of dry rations and a lump of ice and told them to rally again at the Zhelu barrier if they could win through. At midnight he ordered the general alarm; the drum gave no answering roll. Li Ling and Han Yannian vaulted into the saddle; a dozen picked men rode with them. Thousands of enemy horse overtook them; Han Yannian fell fighting. Li Ling cried, "I cannot face the emperor again!" He yielded to the Xiongnu. The command broke and ran; a little over four hundred men won through to the frontier.
18
陵敗處去塞百餘里，邊塞以聞。 上欲陵死戰，召陵母及婦，使相者視之，無死喪色。 後聞陵降，上怒甚，責問陳步樂，步樂自殺。 群臣皆罪陵，上以問太史令司馬遷，遷盛言：「陵事親孝，與士信，常奮不顧身以殉國家之急。 其素所畜積也，有國士之風。 今舉事一不幸，全軀保妻子之臣隨而媒糵其短，誠可痛也！ 且陵提步卒不滿五千，深輮戎馬之地，抑數萬之師，虜救死扶傷不暇，悉舉引弓之民共攻圍之。 轉鬪千里，矢盡道窮，士張空拳，冒白刃，北首爭死敵，得人之死力，雖古名將不過也。 身雖䧟敗，然其所摧敗亦足暴於天下。 彼之不死，宜欲得當以報漢也。」
The field where Li Ling went down lay only a hundred-odd li from the passes, and couriers soon brought word to court. The emperor had wanted Li Ling to fight to the finish; he even called in Li Ling's mother and wife for face-readers to inspect, and neither bore the marks of imminent bereavement. When the news of surrender came, the emperor's fury fell on Chen Bule, who had praised Li Ling's troops; under interrogation he took his own life. The whole court denounced Li Ling, so the emperor turned to Sima Qian, who spoke up at length: Li Ling had been a dutiful son, a commander his men trusted, a man who had repeatedly risked his life for the realm. That was the man he had always been—a true knight of the empire. One reverse, and every courtier who cares only for his own skin and his family is ready to brew slander against him—it is shameful. Consider: he took fewer than five thousand foot deep into cavalry country, held off tens of thousands, and kept the enemy so busy tending their wounded that the Chanyu had to call up every archer on the steppe to ring him in. They fought a retreat of a thousand li until shafts and road alike gave out; his men faced naked steel with bare hands, turning north to die on the enemy—such devotion would have honored any general in history. Though Li Ling himself was broken, the damage he dealt the Xiongnu was enough to resound across the realm. His staying alive probably means he hopes for another chance to serve the empire."
19
初，上遣貳師大軍出，財令陵為助兵，及陵與單于相值，而貳師功少。 上以遷誣罔，欲沮貳師，為陵遊說，下遷腐刑。 久之，上悔陵無救，曰：「陵當發出塞，乃詔強弩都尉令迎軍。 坐預詔之，得令老將生奸詐。」 乃遣使勞賜陵餘軍得脫者。
At first the emperor had meant Li Ling only to support the main Ershi expedition; when Li Ling met the Chanyu in person, the Ershi column had little to show for itself. The emperor read Sima Qian's defense as slander meant to undermine the Ershi general and cover for Li Ling; Sima Qian was sentenced to castration. In time the emperor regretted leaving Li Ling unsupported: "He was already beyond the passes when I ordered the commandant of strong crossbowmen to move up and cover his retreat. By issuing that order too early I only gave an old fox room for intrigue." He then sent envoys with rewards to the survivors of Li Ling's command who had reached Han soil.
20
陵在匈奴歲餘，上遣因杅將軍公孫敖將兵深入匈奴迎陵。 敖軍無功還，曰：「捕得生口，言李陵教單于為兵以備漢軍，故臣無所得。」 上聞，於是族陵家，母弟妻子皆伏誅。 隴西士大夫以李氏為愧。 其後，漢遣使使匈奴，陵謂使者曰：「吾為漢將步卒五千人橫行匈奴，以亡救而敗，何負於漢而誅吾家？」 使者曰：「漢聞李少卿教匈奴為兵。」 陵曰：「乃李緒，非我也。」 李緒本漢塞外都尉，居奚侯城，匈奴攻之，緒降，而單于客遇緒，常坐陵上。 陵痛其家以李緒而誅，使人刺殺緒。 大閼氏欲殺陵，單于匿之北方，大閼氏死乃還。
After Li Ling had spent a year with the Xiongnu, the emperor sent Gongsun Ao, general of Yangan, on a deep raid to bring him home. Gongsun Ao came back empty-handed and reported that prisoners claimed Li Ling was training Xiongnu troops for war on Han—which was why he had found no trace of him. Believing it, the emperor wiped out Li Ling's entire family—mother, brothers, wife, and children all executed. The gentry of Longxi were ashamed to bear the name Li. Later, when a Han envoy reached the steppe, Li Ling confronted him: "I led five thousand foot for the empire deep in Xiongnu territory and lost only because no relief came. What crime did my family commit?" The envoy answered, "Court rumor said Li Shaoqing was drilling Xiongnu soldiers." Li Ling replied, "That was another man, Li Xu—not me." Li Xu had been a Han frontier commandant at Xihou; when the Xiongnu took the place he surrendered and won such favor that the Chanyu seated him above Li Ling at feasts. Li Ling blamed Li Xu for the slaughter of his kin and had him assassinated. The Chanyu's chief wife wanted Li Ling dead; the Chanyu hid him in the far north until she died and he could return.
21
單于壯陵，以女妻之，立為右校王，衛律為丁靈王，皆貴用事。 衛律者，父本長水胡人。 律生長漢，善協律都尉李延年，延年薦言律使匈奴。 使還，會延年家收，律懼並誅，亡還降匈奴。 匈奴愛之，常在單于左右。 陵居外，有大事，乃入議。
The Chanyu admired him, married a daughter to him, and created him king of the right commandant; Wei Lu was made king of the Dingling—both rose to high office at court. Wei Lu's father had been a Hu tribesman enrolled in the Changshui corps. Wei Lu was raised at court, befriended the music-commandant Li Yannian, and was sent to the Xiongnu on Yannian's recommendation. On his return he learned that Li Yannian's family had been arrested; fearing he would be executed as an accomplice, he fled to the steppe and defected. The Xiongnu valued him and kept him always at the Chanyu's side. Li Ling lived apart from court and was summoned only for weighty councils of state.
22
昭帝立，大將軍霍光、左將軍上官桀輔政，素與陵善，遣陵故人隴西任立政等三人俱至匈奴招陵。 立政等至，單于置酒賜漢使者，李陵、衛律皆侍坐。 立政等見陵，未得私語，即目視陵，而數數自循其刀環，握其足，陰諭之，言可還歸漢也。 後陵、律持牛酒勞漢使，博飲，兩人皆胡服椎結。 立政大言曰：「漢已大赦，中國安樂，主上富於春秋，霍子孟、上官少叔用事。」 以此言微動之。 陵墨不應，孰視而自循其髪，答曰：「吾已胡服矣！」 有頃，律起更衣，立政曰：「咄，少卿良苦！ 霍子孟、上官少叔謝女。」 陵曰：「霍與上官無恙乎？」 立政曰：「請少卿來歸故鄉，毋憂富貴。」 陵字立政曰：「少公，歸易耳，恐再辱，奈何！」 語未卒，衛律還，頗聞餘語，曰：「李少卿賢者，不獨居一國。 范蠡徧遊天下，由余去戎入秦，今何語之親也！」 因罷去。 立政隨謂陵曰：「亦有意乎？」 陵曰：「丈夫不能再辱。」
After Emperor Zhao came to the throne, Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie—who had long been friends of Li Ling—sent Ren Lizheng of Longxi and two other old comrades to the Xiongnu to persuade him to return. The Chanyu gave a banquet for the Han envoys; Li Ling and Wei Lu both had seats at the table. Unable to speak alone with Li Ling, Ren Lizheng caught his eye, fingered the ring on his sword hilt, and tapped his own foot—signals that he could still go home to Han. Later Li Ling and Wei Lu brought beef and wine to entertain the envoys over dice and wine, both dressed as Xiongnu with hair in topknots. Ren Lizheng said loudly for all to hear: "The Han has proclaimed a general amnesty; the realm is at peace; the young emperor thrives; Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie hold the reins of government." He meant the news to stir Li Ling without saying so outright. Li Ling said nothing for a long moment, then ran a hand through his hair and answered softly, "I already wear the dress of the steppe." Presently Wei Lu left to change his robe. Ren Lizheng leaned in: "Shaoqing, you have suffered enough! Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie send their regards." Li Ling asked, "Are Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie well?" Ren Lizheng answered, "Come home, Shaoqing—rank and riches need not concern you." Li Ling said, "Shaogong, going back would be easy; living through another disgrace would not." Wei Lu walked in before Li Ling had finished and caught the tail end of the talk. "A worthy such as Li Shaoqing," he said, "need not belong to one realm alone. Fan Li wandered the world; You Yu left the Rong for Qin—why this whispered intimacy?" With that he broke off the meeting and withdrew. Ren Lizheng caught up with Li Ling and murmured, "Will you come?" Li Ling replied, "A gentleman does not endure a second shame."
23
陵在匈奴二十餘年，元平元年病死。
Li Ling lived more than twenty years among the Xiongnu and died of illness in 74 BCE.
24
蘇建，杜陵人也。 以校尉從大將軍青擊匈奴，封平陵侯。 以將軍築朔方。 後以衛尉為游擊將軍，從大將軍出朔方。 後一歲，以右將軍再從大將軍出定襄，亡翕侯，失軍當斬，贖為庶人。 其後為代郡太守，卒官。 有三子：嘉為奉車都尉，賢為騎都尉，中子武最知名。
Su Jian came from Duling near the capital. He served Wei Qing as a colonel against the Xiongnu and was ennobled as Marquis of Pingling. As a general officer he supervised construction of the Shuofang frontier commandery. He was later made mobile-strike general while commandant of the guards and again marched from Shuofang under Wei Qing. The following year, as general of the right on another Dingxiang campaign, he lost the Xi marquis Zhao Xin and his entire command—capital crimes commuted to commoner status by ransom. He ended his career as governor of Dai and died in that post. He had three sons—Jia, who became chariot commandant; Xian, cavalry commandant; and the middle son Wu, who became the most famous of the three.
25
武字子卿，少以父任，兄弟並為郎，稍遷至栘中廄監。 時漢連伐胡，數通使相窺觀，匈奴留漢使郭吉、路充國等，前後十餘輩。 匈奴使來，漢亦留之以相當。 天漢元年，且鞮侯單于初立，恐漢襲之，乃曰：「漢天子我丈人行也。」 盡歸漢使路充國等。 武帝嘉其義，乃遣武以中郎將使持節送匈奴使留在漢者，因厚賂單于，答其善意。 武與副中郎將張勝及假吏常惠等募士斥候百餘人俱。 既至匈奴，置幣遺單于。 單于益驕，非漢所望也。
Su Wu, courtesy name Ziqing, entered official life through his father's rank; he and his brothers all became gentlemen-attendants, and he rose in time to supervisor of the imperial stables at Yizhong. The Han were campaigning constantly against the Hu and exchanged hostage-like embassies for reconnaissance; the Xiongnu had held more than ten Han missions, including Guo Ji and Lu Chongguo. Whenever Xiongnu envoys arrived, the Han detained them in turn as counter-hostages. In 100 BCE the new Chanyu Juandi-hou, fearing a Han strike, declared that he honored the Han emperor as an elder. He released all detained Han envoys, including Lu Chongguo. Emperor Wu welcomed the gesture and sent Su Wu as gentleman of the palace with the imperial staff to escort the Xiongnu envoys home, bearing lavish gifts for the Chanyu in return. Su Wu set out with his deputy Zhang Sheng, the clerk Chang Hui, and a train of more than a hundred hired guards and scouts. On arrival they presented the diplomatic gifts to the Chanyu. The Chanyu grew only more arrogant—far from the courtesy the Han had expected.
26
方欲發使送武等，會緱王與長水虞常等謀反匈奴中。 緱王者，昆邪王姊子也，與昆邪王俱降漢，後隨浞野侯沒胡中。 及衛律所將降者，陰相與謀劫單于母閼氏歸漢。 會武等至匈奴，虞常在漢時素與副張勝相知，私候勝曰：「聞漢天子甚怨衛律，常能為漢伏弩射殺之。 吾母與弟在漢，幸蒙其賞賜。」 張勝許之，以貨物與常。 後月餘，單于出獵，獨閼氏子弟在。 虞常等七十餘人欲發，其一人夜亡，告之。 單于子弟發兵與戰。 緱王等皆死，虞常生得。
The Chanyu was about to send Su Wu home when Gou Wang and Yu Chang of the Changshui Hu plotted a coup on the steppe. Gou Wang was a nephew of the surrendering King Hunye; he had later been stranded among the Xiongnu with Zhao Ponu's lost column. They conspired in secret with other Han defectors under Wei Lu to kidnap the Chanyu's mother and ride back to the empire. Yu Chang had known Zhang Sheng in Chang'an; he came to him privately and said, "The emperor hates Wei Lu. Let me ambush him with a crossbow for Han. My mother and brother still live in Han—perhaps the court will reward us." Zhang Sheng agreed and gave him supplies. A month later the Chanyu rode out on a hunt, leaving only the queen's household at court. More than seventy conspirators were ready to move when one man slipped away in the night and betrayed them. The Chanyu's kinsmen called out the guard and fought them in the camp. Gou Wang and his party were killed; Yu Chang was taken alive.
27
單于使衛律治其事。 張勝聞之，恐前語發，以狀語武。 武曰：「事如此，此必及我。 見犯乃死，重負國。」 欲自殺，勝、惠共止之。 虞常果引張勝。 單于怒，召諸貴人議，欲殺漢使者。 左伊秩訾曰：「即謀單于，何以復加？ 宜皆降之。」 單于使衛律召武受辭，武謂惠等：「屈節辱命，雖生，何面目以歸漢！」 引佩刀自刺。 衛律驚，自抱持武，馳召毉。 鑿地為坎，置煴火，覆武其上，蹈其背以出血。 武氣絕半日，復息。 惠等哭，輿歸營。 單于壯其節，朝夕遣人候問武，而收系張勝。
The Chanyu put Wei Lu in charge of the investigation. Zhang Sheng, afraid his part would be exposed, confessed the whole plot to Su Wu. Su Wu said, "Matters have come to this—they will drag me in as well. To endure outrage and only then die would shame the empire twice over." He tried to kill himself, but Zhang Sheng and Chang Hui restrained him. Under torture Yu Chang denounced Zhang Sheng. The Chanyu in his rage called a council of nobles and demanded the Han envoys' deaths. The Left Yizhi objected: "They aimed at the Chanyu himself—execution is already the limit of the law. Better force them all to submit." Wei Lu was sent to take Su Wu's deposition. Su Wu told Chang Hui and the rest, "I will not disgrace my charge and then crawl home alive." He drew his court dagger and drove it into his breast. Wei Lu caught him as he fell and sent gallopers for a physician. They dug a shallow pit, laid a bed of warm ashes, stretched Su Wu on top, and stamped his back to free the wound of blood. He lay without breath for half a day before life returned. Chang Hui and the others wept and carried him on a litter to his tent. The Chanyu admired his courage and sent messengers morning and night to ask after him, while Zhang Sheng was thrown in chains.
28
武益愈，單于使使曉武。 會論虞常，欲因此時降武。 劍斬虞常已，律曰：「漢使張勝謀殺單于近臣，當死，單于募降者赦罪。」 舉劍欲擊之，勝請降。 律謂武曰：「副有罪，當相坐。」 武曰：「本無謀，又非親屬，何謂相坐？」 復舉劍擬之，武不動。 律曰：「蘇君，律前負漢歸匈奴，幸蒙大恩，賜號稱王，擁眾數萬，馬畜彌山，富貴如此。 蘇君今日降，明日復然。 空以身膏草野，誰復知之！」 武不應。 律曰：「君因我降，與君為兄弟，今不聽吾計，後雖欲復見我，尚可得乎？」 武罵律曰：「女為人臣子，不顧恩義，畔主背親，為降虜於蠻夷，何以女為見？ 且單于信女，使決人死生，不平心持正，反欲斗兩主，觀禍敗。 南越殺漢使者，屠為九郡； 宛王殺漢使者，頭縣北闕； 朝鮮殺漢使者，即時誅滅。 獨匈奴未耳。 若知我不降明，欲令兩國相攻，匈奴之禍從我始矣。」
When Su Wu began to mend, the Chanyu sent men to reason with him. They staged a public trial of Yu Chang, intending to break Su Wu's will at the same moment. Wei Lu beheaded Yu Chang with a stroke, then announced, "Zhang Sheng plotted murder of a great officer of the Chanyu—capital crime. The Chanyu offers pardon to those who yield." He raised the blade over Zhang Sheng; Zhang cried out that he submitted. Wei Lu turned to Su Wu: "Your deputy is guilty—you share his fate." Su Wu replied, "I had no part in the plot and I am not Zhang Sheng's kinsman—why should I share his guilt?" Wei Lu raised the blade again; Su Wu did not flinch. "Lord Su," said Wei Lu, "I once deserted Han for the steppe and was rewarded with a king's title, tens of thousands of followers, and herds that covered the hills—such is the fortune of those who yield." Surrender today, and tomorrow you will stand where I stand." Or you may fatten the steppe with your bones—and who will remember your name?" Su Wu was silent. Wei Lu pressed him: "Yield through my good offices and we shall be as brothers; refuse now, and you will never look on my face again." Su Wu railed at him: "You were a subject and a son—faithless to ruler and family, a traitor groveling among barbarians. Why should I dignify you with my gaze? The Chanyu trusts you with men's lives, yet instead of judging fairly you would set our two sovereigns at each other's throats and gloat over the ruin. Southern Yue murdered Han envoys and was carved into nine commanderies; the king of Dayuan killed Han envoys—his head hung over the Changle gate; Korea slew Han envoys and was wiped out overnight. Only the Xiongnu have not yet paid that price. You know I will never yield; use that to goad our two realms into war, and the Xiongnu will rue the day they began with me."
29
律知武終不可脅，白單于。 單于愈益欲降之，乃幽武置大窖中，絕不飲食。 天雨雪，武臥嚙雪與旃毛並咽之，數日不死。 匈奴以為神，乃徙武北海上無人處，使牧羝，羝乳乃得歸。 別其官屬常惠等，各置他所。
Seeing that Su Wu would not break, Wei Lu reported to the Chanyu. The Chanyu was more determined than ever to break him and shut him in a dry cellar without food or water. Snow fell; he chewed snow and felt from his cloak and lived for days. They took him for something more than human and banished him to the shores of the Northern Sea to herd rams, saying he could go home only when the wethers gave milk. His officers, including Chang Hui, were scattered to separate posts.
30
武既至海上，廩食不至，掘野鼠去草實而食之。 杖漢節牧羊，臥起操持，節旄盡落。 積五、六年，單于弟於靬王弋射海上。 武能網紡繳，檠弓弩，於靬王愛之，給其衣食。 三歲餘，王病，賜武馬畜、服匿、穹廬。 王死後，人眾徙去。 其冬，丁令盜武牛羊，武復窮厄。
On the coast no imperial grain reached him; he dug field mice from their stores and ate weed seeds. He leaned on the Han staff as he tended the flock, waking and sleeping with it in his hand until every tuft of silk had worn away. Five or six years passed; the Chanyu's younger brother, the King of Yujian, came hunting along the shore. Su Wu could weave nets and bowstrings and tune crossbows; the king took a liking to him and saw that he was fed and clothed. More than three years later the king fell ill and gave him mounts, herds, felt boots, and a yurt. When the king died, his people struck camp and left. That winter Dingling raiders drove off his flocks and he was destitute again.
31
初，武與李陵俱為侍中，武使匈奴明年，陵降，不敢求武。 久之，單于使陵至海上，為武置酒設樂，因謂武曰：「單于聞陵與子卿素厚，故使陵來說足下，虛心欲相待。 終不得歸漢，空自苦亡人之地，信義安所見乎？ 前長君為奉車，從至雍棫陽宮，扶輦下除，觸柱折轅，劾大不敬，伏劍自刎，賜錢二百萬以葬。 孺卿從祠河東后土，宦騎與黃門駙馬爭船，推墮駙馬河中溺死，宦騎亡，詔使孺卿逐捕不得，惶恐飲藥而死。 來時，大夫人已不幸，陵送葬至陽陵。 子卿婦年少，聞已更嫁矣。 獨有女弟二人，兩女一男，今復十餘年，存亡不可知。 人生如朝露，何久自苦如此！ 陵始降時，忽忽如狂，自痛負漢，加以老母系保宮，子卿不欲降，何以過陵？ 且陛下春秋高，法令亡常，大臣亡罪夷滅者數十家，安危不可知，子卿尚復誰為乎？ 願聽陵計，勿復有雲。」 武曰：「武父子亡功德，皆為陛下所成就，位列將，爵通侯，兄弟親近，常願肝腦塗地。 今得殺身自效，雖蒙斧鉞湯鑊，誠甘樂之。 臣事君，猶子事父也。 子為父死亡所恨。 願勿復再言。」 陵與武飲數日，復曰：「子卿壹聽陵言。」 武曰：「自分已死久矣！ 王必欲降武，請畢今日之歡，效死於前！」 陵見其至誠，喟然歎曰：「嗟乎，義士！ 陵與衛律之罪上通於天。」 因泣下沾衿，與武決去。
Su Wu and Li Ling had once served together as palace attendants; the year after Su Wu's mission Li Ling surrendered and was too ashamed to visit him. In time the Chanyu sent Li Ling to the Northern Sea with wine and music for Su Wu and said through him, "He knows we were old friends and bids me invite you in earnest—he means to honor you if you yield." You will never see Chang'an again; you waste your strength in exile—who will know your loyalty? Your elder brother once served as chariot attendant; at the Yuyang Palace in Yong he guided the imperial carriage from the steps, snapped an axle against a pillar, was charged with lèse-majesté, and opened his own throat—the court gave two million cash for his funeral. Your younger brother Ruqing escorted the sacrifice at Hedong; a palace rider quarreled with a groom over a boat, knocked the groom into the river, and fled; the emperor ordered your brother to run the man down. When he failed, he took poison in terror. When I left for the steppe your mother had already died; I walked her hearse to Yangling myself. Your wife was young—I hear she has married again. You left two sisters behind and three young children—two girls and a boy. Another decade has passed; who knows if any of them still live? A man's life is morning dew—why torture yourself year after year? When I first yielded I was half mad with shame for Han; my mother was locked in the Guard Palace. If you will not bend, you outdo even me in stubbornness. The emperor is old; laws shift overnight; dozens of great houses have been wiped out without cause. Who can say what morning will bring—for whom do you still hold out? Hear me out, Ziqing—and do not answer yet." Su Wu replied, "My father and I had little merit; the throne raised us to general's rank and full marquis, kept my brothers at court—we owed the emperor our lives. To die now in the emperor's service—even the axe or the cauldron would be joy. A subject owes his ruler what a son owes his father. A son who dies for his father has nothing to regret. Say no more." They drank together for days before Li Ling tried again: "Ziqing—just this once, hear me out." Su Wu said, "I have been a dead man for years! If the Chanyu will have my head before my surrender, let this banquet end—I will die here at once!" Li Ling saw he could not be moved and sighed, "Ah—you are a true knight! For Wei Lu and me, our guilt reaches to heaven." Tears soaked his robe as he took leave of Su Wu.
32
陵惡自賜武，使其妻賜武牛羊數十頭。 後陵復至北海上，語武：「區脫捕得雲中生口，言太守以下吏民皆白服，曰上崩。」 武聞之，南鄉號哭，歐血，旦夕臨數月。
Ashamed to offer gifts in his own name, Li Ling sent his wife with dozens of head of livestock for Su Wu. Li Ling returned to the Northern Sea and told him: "Frontier scouts took a prisoner from Yunzhong who says every official and commoner wears mourning white—the emperor is dead." Su Wu turned south and howled until he coughed blood; for months he mourned morning and night.
33
武以始元六年春至京師。 詔武奉一太守謁武帝園廟，拜為典屬國，秩中二千石，賜錢二百萬，公田二頃，宅一區。 常惠、徐聖、趙終根皆拜為中郎，賜帛各二百匹。 其餘六人老歸家，賜錢人十萬，復終身。 常惠後至右將軍，封列侯，自有傳。 武留匈奴凡十九歲，始以強壯出，及還，鬚髮盡白。
In the spring of 81 BCE he arrived in Chang'an. The court ordered him to join a governor in sacrifice at Emperor Wu's mausoleum, then named him colonel for dependent states at full two-thousand-dan rank, with two million cash, two qing of land, and a house. Chang Hui, Xu Sheng, and Zhao Zhonggen were each made gentleman of the palace with two hundred bolts of silk. The other six, too old for office, were sent home with a hundred thousand cash apiece and lifetime exemption from labor service. Chang Hui later rose to general of the right and a full marquisate; he has a separate biography. Nineteen years among the Xiongnu had turned a vigorous envoy into a man of snow-white hair.
34
武來歸明年，上官桀、子安與桑弘羊及燕王、蓋主謀反。 武子男元與安有謀，坐死。
The year after his return Shangguan Jie, Shangguan An, Sang Hongyang, the Prince of Yan, and Princess Gai plotted a coup. Su Wu's son Su Yuan was implicated with Shangguan An and executed.
35
初，桀、安與大將軍霍光爭權，數疏光過失予燕王，令上書告之。 又言蘇武使匈奴二十年不降，還乃為典屬國，大將軍長史無功勞，為搜粟都尉，光顓權自恣。 及燕王等反誅，窮治黨與，武素與桀、弘羊有舊，數為燕王所訟，子又在謀中，廷尉奏請逮捕武。 霍光寢其奏，免武官。
Earlier, Shangguan Jie and his son had vied with Huo Guang for power, feeding the Prince of Yan memorials listing Huo Guang's supposed crimes. They charged that Su Wu had endured twenty years without yielding yet received only a colonel's post while Huo Guang's chief clerk, who had done nothing, became grain-search commandant—proof that Huo abused power for his own men. When the Yan faction fell, the purge reached everyone connected; Su Wu had old ties to Jie and Sang Hongyang, had been named in the prince's memorials, and his son had joined the plot—the commandant of justice asked for his arrest. Huo Guang tabled the indictment and merely stripped Su Wu of his post.
36
數年，昭帝崩，武以故二千石與計謀立宣帝，賜爵關內侯，食邑三百戶。 久之，衛將軍張安世薦武明習故事，奉使不辱命，先帝以為遺言。 宣帝即時召武待詔宦者署，數進見，復為右曹典屬國。 以武著節老臣，命朝朔望，號稱祭酒，甚優寵之。
A few years later, when Emperor Zhao died, Su Wu joined the ministers who enthroned Emperor Xuan and was made marquis within the passes with three hundred households. Zhang Anshi later recommended him: Su Wu knew Han ritual inside out and had never failed an embassy—the late emperor had singled him out with his dying words. Emperor Xuan recalled him to the eunuch directorate as a waiting official, received him often, and restored him as colonel of dependent states in the right bureau. Honoring him as an aged minister of unbending principle, the emperor ordered him to attend court on the first and fifteenth of each month, gave him the title of libationer, and treated him with exceptional favor.
37
武所得賞賜，盡以施予昆弟故人，家不餘財。 皇后父平恩侯、帝舅平昌侯、樂昌侯、車騎將軍韓增、丞相魏相、御史大夫丙吉皆敬重武。 武年老，子前坐事死，上閔之，問左右：「武在匈奴久，豈有子乎？」 武因平恩侯自白：「前發匈奴時，胡婦適產一子通國，有聲問來，願因使者致金帛贖之。」 上許焉。 後通國隨使者至，上以為郎。 又以武弟子為右曹。 武年八十餘，神爵二年病卒。
Every gift and stipend went to kinsmen and old friends; he kept nothing for himself. The Marquis of Ping'en, the emperor's uncles of Pingchang and Lechang, General Han Zeng, Chancellor Wei Xiang, and Imperial Counselor Bing Ji all held him in the highest regard. Su Wu was old and his son had been executed; the emperor pitied him and asked his attendants whether he might have left a child on the steppe. Through the Marquis of Ping'en he explained that a Xiongnu wife had borne him a son named Tongguo before he left, and he begged to send gold and silk with the next embassy to buy the boy back. The emperor agreed. Tongguo later came in with an envoy and was appointed gentleman-attendant. A nephew of Su Wu was also given a place in the right bureau. He died of illness in 60 BCE, aged over eighty.
38
甘露三年，單于始入朝。 上思股肱之美，乃圖畫其人於麒麟閣，法其形貌，署其官爵、姓名。 唯霍光不名，曰大司馬大將軍博陸侯姓霍氏，次曰衛將軍富平侯張安世，次曰車騎將軍龍額侯韓增，次曰後將軍營平侯趙充國，次曰丞相高平侯魏相，次曰丞相博陽侯丙吉，次曰御史大夫建平侯杜延年，次曰宗正陽城侯劉德，次曰少府梁丘賀，次曰太子太傅蕭望之，次曰典屬國蘇武。 皆有功德，知名當世，是以表而揚之，明著中興輔佐，列於方叔、召虎、仲山甫焉。 凡十一人，皆有傳。 自丞相黃霸、廷尉於定國、大司農朱邑、京兆尹張敞、右扶風尹翁歸及儒者夏侯勝等，皆以善終，著名宣帝之世，然不得列於名臣之圖，以此知其選矣。
In 51 BCE the Chanyu came to Chang'an for the first time. Remembering his greatest ministers, the emperor had their portraits painted in the Qilin Pavilion, true to each man's face, with title and name appended. Only Huo Guang appears by title alone—Grand Marshal, Supreme Commander, Marquis of Bolu, of the house of Huo—followed by Zhang Anshi, Han Zeng, Zhao Chongguo, Wei Xiang, Bing Ji, Du Yannian, Liu De, Liangqiu He, Xiao Wangzhi, and finally Su Wu, colonel of dependent states. Each had served the revival of Han with merit and fame; their portraits proclaimed them peers of the Zhou kings' greatest ministers. Eleven men in all—each has his own biography elsewhere. Huang Ba, Yu Dingguo, Zhu Yi, Zhang Chang, Yin Wengui, Xia Hou Sheng, and others ended honored careers under Emperor Xuan yet were not painted on that wall—which shows how strict the choice was.
39
贊曰：李將軍恂恂如鄙人，口不能出辭，及死之日，天下知與不知皆為流涕，彼其中心誠信於士大夫也。 諺曰：「桃李不言，下自成蹊。」 此言雖小，可以喻大。 然三代之將，道家所忌，自廣至陵，遂亡其宗，哀哉！ 孔子稱「志士仁人，有殺身以成仁，無求生以害仁」，「使於四方，不辱君命」，蘇武有之矣。
The historian's judgment: Li Guang had the modest air of a countryman and seldom spoke well, yet the day he died everyone who had ever heard his name wept—for he had won the hearts of the gentry in truth. The proverb runs: "The peach and the plum do not speak, yet a path forms beneath their branches." A small saying may illumine a great truth. Yet fate is said to turn against families that produce generation after generation of generals—from Li Guang to Li Ling the house of Li was destroyed. How bitter! Confucius said that the noble man may give his life to perfect humaneness but will not cling to life at its expense, and that an envoy must never shame his lord's commission—in Su Wu both sayings found their man.