The Han general Li Guangli marches west from Jiuquan with 30,000 cavalrymen to attack the Tuqi King of the Right in the Tian Shan Mountains. After an initial victory, the Han are surrounded, and they lose more than 20,000 men while breaking out of the encirclement.
The Han generals Lu Bode and Gongsun Ao march into the Zhuoxie Mountains, but they encounter no Xiongnu forces and turn back.[1]
Autumn – The Han general Li Ling leads 5000 crack infantry and a cavalry force from Juyan Lake into the eastern Altay Mountains but is pursued by Qiedihou Chanyu. After a desperate fighting retreat across more than 500km of Xiongnu territory, the Han expedition runs out of arrows. Li Ling surrenders and his force disintegrates in the Tihan Mountains, about 50km from the Great Wall of China.
Emperor Wu of Han has the 'Grand Historian' Sima Qian castrated after the latter argues in defense of Li Ling's surrender.[2]
Emperor Wu of Han sends the Han general Gongsun Ao on a mission to rescue general Li Ling from Xiongnu captivity. Gongsun achieves little but receives incorrect information that Li has been training Xiongnu soldiers. Enraged, Emperor Wu exterminates Li's clan.[3]
The Han generals Li Guangli, Gongsun Ao, Han Yue and Lu Bode lead armies into Xiongnu territory. The campaign achieves little, and Gongsun Ao suffers a defeat. Emperor Wu of Han condemns him to death due to his troops suffering heavy losses, but he escapes by feigning his death. He is eventually discovered and executed during the witchcraft trials of 91 BC.[4]
Joseph, the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus, and his "earthly-father" - in distinction to God the Father, his "heavenly father" - is born. According to some accounts, Joseph was 92 years old when Jesus was born.
In the first diplomatic contact between Rome and Parthia, Sulla meets with a Parthian envoy, resulting in the parties recognizing the Euphrates as a common frontier.
Emperor Wu of Han executes Prime Minister Gongsun He (the brother-in-law of Empress Wei Zifu) and his clan because Gongsun's son is accused of adultery with the emperor's daughter Princess Yangshi and witchcraft.
Following further accusations of witchcraft, the emperor executes hundreds of imperial officials and concubines.
After convincing the emperor that his ill health is caused by witchcraft, the prosecutor Jiang Chong is given charge of investigating the matter. People accuse each other of witchcraft, and tens of thousands are executed across China, including former generals Zhao Ponu and Gongsun Ao.[7]
July - After Jiang Chong frames Crown Prince Liu Ju of witchcraft and prevents communication between the prince and his father, Liu Ju kills Jiang, former general Han Yue and their followers. Due to miscommunication, the emperor misinterprets this as a rebellion against himself, and he orders Prime Minister Liu Qumao to march against Liu Ju.
After being defeated in Chang'an, Liu Ju and his mother, Empress Wei Zifu, commit suicide. Emperor Wu exterminates the followers of Liu Ju and their families.
Learning that the charges against Liu Ju were fabricated, Emperor Wu orders further executions.[8]
September - The Xiongnu invade the prefectures of Shanggu and Wuyuan.[9]
The Xiongnu invade the Prefectures of Wuyuan and Jiuquan and kill the commandants of both Prefectures.
Emperor Wu of Han sends three armies against the Xiongnu under General-in-Chief Li Guangli, Ma Tong and Shang Qiucheng, marching from Wuyuan, Jiuqian and Xihe respectively. An army of Central Asian vassals of Han, under Cheng Mian, captures the king of the vassal state of Jushi, who is suspected of treachery. The Xiongnu General-in-Chief and the former Han general Li Ling fight indecisively against Shang's army.
Li Guangli and his in-law Prime Minister Liu Qumao seek to recommend Liu Bo, Li Guangli's nephew, as the new Crown Prince, and while Li Guangli is on campaign, Liu Qumao and his wife are executed and Li Guangli's wife imprisoned, having been charged with cursing the emperor and seeking to replace him with Liu Bo.
Wishing to please the emperor, Li Guangli and his 70,000 men penetrate as far as the Selenga River. A detachment crosses the river and defeats an army of 20,000 under the Xiongnu Left General-in-Chief, who is killed. However, Li Guangli is then defeated by Hulugu Chanyu's army of 50,000 in the Khangai Mountains and surrenders. Li Guangli marries Hulugu's daughter, and Emperor Wu exterminates Li's clan.[10]