Su Wu - Mission To Xiongnu

Mission To Xiongnu

Not much is known about Su's life or career until his most well known mission beyond the borders of China involving the Xiongnu: a mission which turned out to be drastically more trying and lengthy than expected.

In 100 BC, there was a short-lived détente between long-term adversaries Han and Xiongnu. One year earlier, in 101 BC, there had been a new chanyu who came into power in Xiongnu—Chanyu Qiedihou (且鞮侯), who had expressed interest in peace with Han and who, as a goodwill gesture, had allowed some Han diplomats who had been detained by Xiongnu to return to Han, along with gifts from the chanyu.

In response, in 100 BC, Emperor Wu commissioned Su, then the deputy commander of the imperial guards, to serve as an ambassador to Xiongnu. His deputy was fellow deputy commander Zhang Sheng (張勝), and the third in command was Chang Hui (常惠). However, once they arrived at the Xiongnu chanyu's headquarters, Chanyu Qiedihou was far more arrogant than expected, which angered Zhang. In response, Zhang plotted with two Xiongnu officials, the Prince of Gou (緱王) and Yu Chang (虞常), to assassinate Chanyu Qiedihou's half-Chinese advisor Wei Lü (衛律) and kidnap the chanyu's mother.

The Prince of Gou and Yu Chang carried out their plot while the chanyu was away on a hunt, but someone alerted the chanyu, who quickly returned and killed the Prince of Gou in battle and captured Yu. Yu admitted to plotting with Zhang. Zhang, alarmed, informed Su, who had been unaware of Zhang's plot. Aware that the chanyu was planning on forcing him to surrender to Xiongnu, Su tried to preserve his dignity by committing suicide with his sword. Wei, who had wanted Su to surrender and become an advisor to the chanyu as well, quickly summoned doctors and barely saved Su's life. Chanyu Qiedihou, impressed with Su's heroism, also sent messengers to care for Su's recovery, while putting Zhang and Chang under arrest.

After Su recovered, Chanyu Qiedihou decided to publicly executed Yu as an example and to force the entire Han mission to surrender. Zhang became apprehensive and surrendered. Su, however, was not shaken even when Wei put his sword onto Su's neck, and tried also to reason that as the chanyu's advisor, he would be greatly honored. Su rebuked him for his faithlessness to Han and refused to surrender.