[2] Along with Wei Qing, he led a campaign into the Gobi Desert of what is now Mongolia to defeat the Xiongnu nomadic confederation, winning decisive victories such as the Battle of Mobei in 119 BC.

In 123 BC, Emperor Wu sent Wei Qing from Dingxiang (定襄) to engage the invading Xiongnu, and appointed the 18-year-old Huo Qubing to serve as the Captain of Piaoyao (票姚校尉) under his uncle,[6] seeing real combat for the first time.

Zhao Xin defected on the field with his 800 ethnic Xiongnu subordinates, while Su Jian escaped after losing all his men in the desperate fighting.

Huo Qubing's victories dealt heavy blows to the tribes of the Xiongnu princes of Hunxie (渾邪王) and Xiutu (休屠王) that occupied the Hexi Corridor.

As a result, the Han dynasty successfully opened up the Northern Silk Road, allowing direct trade access to Central Asia.

Emperor Wu then reinforced this strategic asset by establishing five commanderies and constructing a length of fortified wall along the border of the Hexi Corridor.

After the series of defeats by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, Yizhixie Chanyu took Zhao Xin's advice and retreated with his tribes to the north of the Gobi Desert, hoping that the barren land would serve as a natural barrier against Han offensives.

Han forces were deployed in two separate columns, each consisting of 50,000 cavalry and over 100,000 infantry, with Wei Qing and Huo Qubing serving as the supreme commander for each.

He then went on to conduct a series of rituals upon his arrival at the Khentii Mountains (狼居胥山, and the more northern 姑衍山) to symbolize the historic Han victory, then continued his pursuit as far as Lake Baikal (瀚海), effectively annihilating the Xiongnu clan and allowing conquering tribe such as the Donghu People to retake back their land to establish their own confederacy to declared independent from Xiongnu Overlord following the subjugation for over a few decade.

[15] At the height of his career, many low-ranking commanders previously served under Wei Qing voluntarily transferred to Huo Qubing's service in the hope of achieving military glory with him.

[18] Sima Qian noted in Shiji that Huo Qubing paid little regard to his men,[19] refusing to share his food with his soldiers,[20] and regularly ordering his troops to conduct cuju games despite them being short on rations.

Huo Qubing, on the other hand, refused to tolerate such disrespect towards his uncle and personally shot Li Gan during a hunting trip.

The Eastern Han dynasty historian Ban Gu summarized in his Book of Han Huo Qubing's achievements with a poem: The Champion of Piaoji, fast and brave.Six long-distance assaults, like lightning and thunder.Watering horse at Lake Baikal, conducting rituals at Khentii Mountains.Conquering the area west of great river, establishing commanderies along Qilian Mountains.

[30] The statues were later moved to the Yunyang 雲陽 Temple, near or in the royal summer Ganquan Palace 甘泉 (modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), which had also the capital of the Qin Empire.

[28][31] In Cave 323 in Mogao caves (near Dunhuang in the Tarim Basin), Emperor Wudi is shown worshipping two golden statues, with the following inscription (which closely paraphrases the traditional accounts of Huo Qubing's expedition):[28] 漢武帝將其部眾討凶奴,並獲得二金(人),(各)長丈餘,刊〔列〕之於甘泉宮,帝(以)為大神,常行拜褐時 Emperor Han Wudi directed his troops to fight the Xiongnu and obtained two golden statues more than one zhàng [3 meters] tall, that he displayed in the Ganquan Palace and regularly worshipped.The Han expedition to the west and the capture of booty by general Huo Qubing is well documented, but the later Buddhist interpretation at the Mogao Caves of the worship of these statues as a means to propagate Buddhism in China is probably apocryphal, since Han Wudi is not known to have ever worshipped the Buddha, and Buddhist statues probably did not exist yet at this time.

[32] In literary sources, there is only a single 3rd-4th century CE record of a possible earlier example: two alleged monumental stone statues of qilin (Chinese unicorns) that had been set up on top of the tomb of the First Emperor Qin Shihuang.

Huo Qubing was played by Li Junfeng (李俊锋) in the popular 2005 historical epics TV series The Emperor in Han Dynasty (汉武大帝).

Huo Qubing is also mentioned in the blockbuster film Dragon Blade, where the main character, played by Jackie Chan, is said to have been raised up by him.