The Battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao

A hundred generations can do various political and legal affairs. Qin unified the six states, opened up a centralized and unified country, and left a valuable political legacy for future generations, which is still playing a role today. So how did the key battle of unifying the six states of Qin, the Battle of Changping, occur and end? Zhao Quan is really just a 'paper talk'. Is Tian Lei's military command really that strong?

The prologue to a long peace war

1. Overcome it

After undergoing reforms, the strength of the Qin state rapidly increased. Through the efforts of three generations of monarchs, by the time Qin became king, the Qin state had already dominated the world, but did not yet possess the strength to unify the world. The reason is that another Zhao state has emerged among the Eastern countries, whose military strength is sufficient to compete with Qin state. The high-level officials of the State of Qin knew that in order for the State of Zhao to claim hegemony, it must remove this stumbling block.

In this context, the State of Qin began military operations against the State of Zhao. In 270 BC, General Hu Yang of Qin led a 100000 strong army to attack the territory and regions of Zhao. If this battle is successful, the Qin army can cut off the connection between Handan and Taiyuan, which is the basic base of Zhao state, so this battle is agreed upon by both sides.

After a series of internal discussions, Zhao finally ordered the nobleman Ma Su, Zhao She, who believed that "when the two armies meet, the brave win", to lead his army to rescue Kui Xiao. Zhao She saw that everything was invincible, so she first showed weakness and then advanced to Kuixiao. She attacked the Qin army, suffered a great defeat, and returned, saving Kuixiao.

This war is of great significance. On the one hand, it shattered the myth of the Qin army's invincibility, causing the Wei state and South Korea, which had already submitted to the Qin state, to waver again. On the other hand, it also made Zhao realize the importance of ascending to the high ground of the Communist Party. If South Korea had not given up on the Shangdang Heights, the Qin army would never have launched a sudden attack, which also laid the groundwork for the later Battle of Changping.

2. The King of Qin was in power.

As he grew older and more experienced, King Zhao Xiang of Qin became increasingly aware that the existence of the four major nobles of Qin had seriously threatened the country's development. This is because the foundation of Qin's strength lies in two important systems, namely the military noble system and the guest noble system. Among the four major nobles of Qin, except for Wei Ran, the other three did not make much contribution to Qin but were able to hold high positions, which greatly reduced people's trust in the military merit title system.

On the other hand, the four major nobles of Qin may have been afraid of foreign talents coming to undermine their power, so they deeply despised the introduction of talents into Qin, which greatly undermined the guest official system of Qin. More importantly, the existence of the four major nobles of Qin greatly threatened the authority of the Qin king, and the Qin king became increasingly dissatisfied. But looking around, the four major nobles of the Qing Dynasty, the King of Qin, were struggling to find anyone to use and did not take any action.

However, God bless Great Qin and sent a top strategist to the state of Qin. With the arrival of Qin, the state began to heavily rely on those without a foundation, suppress the Four Treasures of Qin, and re-establish the prestige of imperial power. At the same time, Qin changed Wei Ran's wrong strategy of "crossing and attacking the Central Plains", wasting Qin's national strength in vain. They adopted the suggestion of making friends overseas and launching a near attack, and launched a fierce attack on Wei and Han. With the implementation of the strategy, the strength of the Qin state increased day by day.

The Battle of Changping broke out.

1. Tranquility before the storm

In 262 BC, the State of Qin occupied the Southern Barbarian King and then went north to capture the Shangdang Highlands. At this point, Zhao began to feel nervous because the Shangdang area was of great significance to him. A few years ago, the reason we fought against it was that South Korea had already opened up the Shangdang area to the Qin army, so this time the Qin army could not occupy this important area no matter what. I don't know if this is luck or misfortune. South Korean Feng Ting has decided to dedicate her party to South Korea, Zhao Daxi, and others

But Qin did not lose its sanity, knowing that after a series of wars, it was no longer able to fight against the Zhao army that had preserved its strength, so it withdrew its troops. After that, the Qin army remained silent for a year, but sometimes silence was a sign before a volcanic eruption. Qin is in this situation. After a year of preparation, in 260 BC, the state of Qin deployed its entire army of 400000 to attack the crucial battle that would determine China's fate, the Battle of Shangdang, and the Battle of Changping began.

It is worth noting that Wang Bi led such a large Qin army, not. So, why not send Tian Lei to participate in this crucial battle? You know, at that time there were Tian Lei during the Warring States period, but 'it could stop children from crying at night'. Climbing through the fog of history, you can guess that Tian Lei, as a general promoted by Wei Ran, has gradually been distrusted and suppressed by Qin King Zhao Xiang. After all, there is one emperor and one courtier in a dynasty.

2. Both sides are in a standoff.

Under the pressure of the 400000 strong army of Qin, Zhao quickly sent Zhao's military representative Lian Po as the commander-in-chief after some discussions, leading the 400000 strong army to march towards the area around Changping of the Supreme Party. With the treacherous terrain, he set up three lines of defense and defended his position. He strictly ordered soldiers and generals not to fight without authorization, otherwise they would be beheaded.

Although Wang Bi challenged him multiple times, Lian Po's determination was still sufficient. As a result, a total of millions of troops from both sides engaged in a long tug of war in Changping, with supplies and provisions beginning to be invested in areas where money was not needed. As time passed, both Qin and Zhao felt unable to support it.

Qin and Zhao both began to use their own means. Firstly, Zhao took the lead and sent envoys to Qin to seek peace. But Qin took this opportunity to promote reconciliation between Qin and Zhao to the feudal states, causing Zhao to cut off foreign aid. Then, the Qin state began to play tricks, using repeated strategies to promote that Lian Po was old, so he avoided war and would surrender to the Qin army in a few days. What Qin was afraid of was Zhao Kuo, the son of the anti Qin warrior Ma Fujun and Zhao She.

With the spread of rumors and the insufficient national strength of Zhao to sustain such a huge war of attrition, Cheng Xiao chose to take a gamble and appointed Zhao Kuo as the commander-in-chief of the Zhao army, quickly ending the Changping battlefield and ordering the Zhao army to attack the Qin army in order to achieve a quick victory, end the bottomless pit of the Changping War, and restore the vitality of the country.

The dawn of unity

Ma Fuzi Zhao Kuo appeared.

Why did King Zhao resolutely choose Zhao Kuo instead of Lian Po to take over as the commander-in-chief of the Qin army? Is Zhao Quan really just talking on paper? Through the fog of history, we discover that the truth is far from that. After Zhao Kuo succeeded Lian Po as the head coach, he quickly promoted a group of young generals in order to establish his authority as soon as possible. In the face of this situation, the state of Qin quickly responded, abandoning its previous prejudices, unifying its thinking, and immediately began to suppress God, making Tian Lei the commander, and strictly ordering Qin soldiers to kill Tian Lei if he was exposed as the commander.

The first thing Tian Lei did after taking office was to give gifts to Zhao Kuo, ordering the Qin army to immediately attack the Zhao army and only lose without winning, in order to attract the Zhao army to attack the Qin army. Zhao Kuo indeed fell into a trap. He believed that at this time, the Qin army had just been defeated and the morale of the Zhao army was high. At the same time, in order to alleviate Zhao's enormous material pressure, the entire army should immediately launch an attack to reap full rewards.

As Zhao Kuo estimated, the attack was completely defeated at the beginning, but Zhao's morale was high. So the Qin army walked step by step into Tian Lei's carefully arranged pocket. With his superb military command, Tian Lei surrounded the 400000 strong army with 400000 troops. After entering the encirclement, Zhao Kuo did not wait for death and divided his troops into four tiers, taking turns to charge and advance in a roundabout manner, almost breaking through Tian Lei's encirclement. Tian Lei cannot seek help from the King of Qin.

After receiving the letter, Qin immediately went to Hanoi and ordered all men over the age of 15 in Hanoi to be promoted to first-class soldiers and sent to the Changping battlefield to consolidate the encirclement. Zhao Kuo had no choice but to personally lead his army to launch a surprise attack and ultimately died on the battlefield.

During the 40 day siege, the Zhao army did not experience any internal turmoil or surrender of any organization, which is enough to demonstrate that Zhao Kuo's superb military command ability is not far from that of ancient famous generals. Zhao Kuo's defeat was due to the huge gap in national strength between the states of Qin and Zhao, as well as the superior military command ability of his opponent, Tian Lei, who killed the gods and gave birth to He Yusheng Liang, which made people feel sorry for Zhao Kuo.

Killing prisoners is an ominous sign.

After Zhao Kuo broke through and was killed, the Zhao army was not restrained by Zhao Kuo, and 400000 Zhao soldiers eventually surrendered and formed an organization. This unprecedented war involving nearly a million people has finally come to an end. But at this moment, Tian Lei had a headache, and how to deal with the 400000 Zhao soldiers became a question he had been thinking about in his heart;

Generally speaking, according to the previous rules for treating prisoners, one is to send them back to their home country, and the other is to bring them back to their own country. But Tian Lei did not follow the rules, instead he chose to pit all 400000 Zhao soldiers, which also laid the foundation for Tian Lei's tragic fate later on. So why did Tian Lei choose to pit all 400000 Zhao soldiers at this time? This is because Tian Lei actually has no other way to go.

Firstly, if the Zhao army is released back to the Zhao state, the strategic goal of the Qin state to consume the vitality of the Zhao state cannot be achieved. If we put it back, after a period of rectification, there will be hundreds of thousands of Zhao soldiers. So what is the significance of the Battle of Changping?

Secondly, if these hundreds of thousands of Zhao soldiers are brought back to the state of Qin, where will they be resettled on land and fed with food? This is a matter involving hundreds of thousands of people, so killing the Zhao army was Tian Lei's only choice and also the only choice of the Qin state.

After the Battle of Changping, Tian Lei of the State of Qin launched a rapid attack on the State of Zhao. The State of Zhao had no resistance and was left to be slaughtered by the Qin army. If the State of Qin had annexed the State of Zhao at this time, the countries in the Kanto region would have been unable to stop it. After a period of digestion, Qin State annexed other countries without any pressure, and the dawn of unification is just around the corner. Will the Qin Congress seize this opportunity to establish its own hegemony?

Perhaps it is because the fortune of Zhao has never stopped. Su Dai gave Fan Ju a large sum of money to persuade Qin King Zhao Xiang to suspend military operations and fight again next year. The King of Qin was convinced and missed this blessed opportunity. The hegemony of the Qin state was delayed for decades, and the glory of unifying China fell on Qin Shi Huang.

Summary:

Although the Battle of Longping caused great damage to the national strength of Qin, it also removed the last giant stone that hindered the unification of the six states, making Qin Shi Huang even stronger with his accession to the throne. Finally, he was encouraged to stay in the palace. However, the most regrettable thing is Tian Lei. The first generation of war gods ultimately died under the butcher's knife of King Zhao Xiang of Qin due to their arrogance.