Battle of Mayi

With similar tactics, General Meng Tian of the Qin dynasty drove the Xiongnu north for 750 km and built the Great Wall at the edge of the Loess Plateau to guard against future raids.

After Emperor Gao's humiliating defeat at Baideng by Modu in 200 BC, the newly established Han dynasty was forced to resort to an appeasement policy in order to decrease the scale of Xiongnu hostility, as the nation had yet to fully recover from the attrition of the Chu-Han contention.

However, despite the periodic gifts and heqin ("peace through marriage"), border townships and villages were still seasonally ravaged by nomads, as the prosperous Han Chinese lands remained attractive to Xiongnu raids.

Emperor Wu initially maintained a policy of peace and appeasement in his early reign, but began to formulate ideas of striking a major blow back against the Xiongnu.

Back at the imperial court, Wang Hui's political enemies blamed him for the plan's failure and his reluctance to pursue the retreating Xiongnu army, and had him impeached.

The result of the battle made Emperor Wu realize the difficulty for the traditionally chariot/infantry-orientated Han army to achieve tactical superiority against the more mobile Xiongnu cavalry.

That led to the rise of famous new-generation tacticians like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, and old-school commanders like Li Guang and Han Anguo began to fall out of favor.