Comrade | Guevara
From 230 BC to 221 BC, it took only 10 years for the Qin Dynasty to eliminate the Six Kingdoms of Shandong and achieve the first great unification in Chinese history, and his achievements attracted the attention of future generations. During this period, the Tiger and Wolf Division of the Qin State was victorious in almost every battle, but it suffered a fierce defeat in a battle in The Chu Dynasty, which was also the biggest defeat in the life of Qin Shi Huang. This unforgettable battle for Qin Shi Huang was the Battle of Chengfu (Note: Chengfu was located in the south of the city of Chencheng in present-day Bozhou City, Anhui Province).
01 Appointment of non-persons
In the twenty-second year of the reign of the Qin Dynasty (225 BC), qin's cause of destroying the six kingdoms of Shandong gradually reached the final stage. At this time, the three kingdoms of Han (229 BC), Zhao (228 BC), and Wei (225 BC) had fallen, and the Yan state suffered a crushing defeat and retreated to a corner of Liaodong (226 BC), and only the three kingdoms of Chu, Qi, and Dai had not yet suffered a devastating blow (Note: Daiguo was a state founded by the fugitive nobleman Zhao Jia after the fall of the Zhao state). The next question, therefore, is to decide which country to attack.
Map of the situation of the Six Kingdoms of Qin
Among the three kingdoms, Qi was the most loyal "running dog" of the Qin state, and instead of helping other princely states when attacked, he often sent emissaries to congratulate the Qin state on its military victory; the daiguo lived in the north of Shanxi, and it was still too late to defend itself, and it was simply unable to launch an attack on the Qin state; only the chu state in the south was not only still strong, but also full of bitter hatred for the qin state, which could be called the latter's real strong enemy. Therefore, The King of Qin, who was determined to unify the world as soon as possible, decided to concentrate his superior forces to launch a war to destroy Chu.
At the military conference, According to the custom, Yin Zheng first consulted the veteran general Wang Qi and asked him to say the troops and time needed for The Chu Dynasty. As the leader of the moderate faction, Wang Qi, who has experienced hundreds of battles, claims that it is impossible to achieve without 600,000 troops, and it will take about 2-3 years. However, when Yingzheng consulted the generals of the Shaozhuang faction, Li Xin, who had previously played a heroic role in the war against Zhao and Yan, declared that as long as he was given 200,000 troops, he could set foot in the Chu state within 1 year.
Portrait of Qin Shi Huang
From a realistic point of view, although the State of Chu had been repeatedly hit hard by the State of Qin before, the main force and territory had lost most of the half, and even the capital city of Ying had been captured, it still occupied a large area of land in Jiangdong, and its strength should not be underestimated. Therefore, Wang Qi's strategy of advocating the use of heavy troops to encroach on the Chu state is undoubtedly correct. However, Yingzheng, who was overwhelmed by a series of previous victories, at this time thought that Wang Qi was old and timid and unable to bear the responsibility, and finally accepted Li Xin's suggestion and appointed him as the commander-in-chief of Chu Chu, but the fact soon dealt a heavy blow to Yingzheng.
02 Medium
In 225 BC, the 200,000 Qin army, with Li Xin and Meng Tian as the main and deputy commanders, marched south from the destroyed Wei capital Daliang, and the soldiers pointed directly at the new capital of the Chu state, Shouchun. In view of the fact that the Qin-Chu border was mostly plain and there was no danger to defend, Li Xin decided that the Chu army would concentrate its forces on both sides of the Ru River and use the river to block the Qin army's attack. To this end, Li Xin decisively decided to divide the main force of the Qin army into two, with him and Meng Tian under the command of him and Meng Tian, marching along the banks of the Ru River, hoping to achieve the goal of encircling the Chu army with a pincer offensive and gathering and annihilating it.
Portrait of Li Xin
However, to Li Xin's surprise, xiang Yan, the commander of the Chu army, did not organize a strong defense on both sides of the Ru River, and some small Chu troops resisted slightly and fled in the direction of Shouchun. After several battles, Li Xin had a sense of disappointment that "the iron fist hit the cotton", and he did not know what medicine was sold in Xiang Yan's gourd. However, despite this, Li Xin led the Qin army across the Yingshui River to continue eastward, and soon approached Shouchun. At the same time, the Qin army led by Meng Tian captured the city and marched in the direction of the father of the city.
Li Xin's confusion soon had an answer. Originally, when the Qin army was "marching in triumph" in the territory of the Chu state, Xiang Yan sent a secret envoy to Ying Chen, using the throne as a bait to persuade Xiong Qi, the former minister of the Qin state who was guarding the local town, to "oppose the water". Xiong Qi was originally a prince of the State of Chu, and although he was a high-ranking official in the State of Qin, he always had his heart set on his homeland, and in addition to the suspicion of Yingzheng who had been repeatedly attacked by Yingzheng recently, he cheerfully agreed to Xiang Yan's persuasion to surrender. Later, Xiong Qi led the people of Yuanchu and Han near Ying chen to launch a large-scale anti-Qin uprising and cut off the return of the Qin forces of Li Xin and Meng Tian.
Li Xinfa Chu RoadMap
The news of the rebellion in the rear reached the front, and the people of the Qin army camp were floating, and the generals could no longer lift the will to fight. Under these circumstances, Li Xin was forced to lead his army to retreat westward, preparing to make a U-turn and attack the Chu state after Chengfu and Meng Tian had met the division and waited to quell the rebellion in the rear. However, Li Xin's troops had just retreated, and Xiang Yan, who had been waiting for a long time in Shouchun, commanded the main force of the Chu state to pursue.
03 Fiasco and aftermath
After 3 days and 3 nights of raids, Xiang Yan finally annihilated the Qin army in chengfu. After this battle, 2 military camps of the Qin state were captured, 7 lieutenants were killed, and almost all the 200,000 troops were destroyed, only Li Xin and Meng Tian were able to escape under the desperate protection of several close associates ("The Jing people followed, three days and three nights without hesitation, broke Li Xin's army, entered two walls, killed the seven lieutenants, and the Qin army left." See Historia, vol. 73). Since launching the campaign to destroy the Six Kingdoms of Shandong, Yin Zheng had never suffered a defeat, but he did not expect to be hit hard by Chengfu, which was the biggest defeat in his life.
Wang Zhao Images
The news of the qin army's disastrous defeat at Chengfu reached Xianyang, and the government was violent, but instead of executing Li Xin and Meng Tian, who had humiliated the country, he continued to send them to the front line to make meritorious contributions. At the same time, Yin Zheng put down his body and personally went to Pinyang to greet Wang Qi, who had returned to his hometown, to "go out of the mountain" and ordered him to lead an army of 600,000 to cut down Chu. Wang Qi did not fail in his mission, and spent nearly two years to completely defeat the main force of the Chu state, attack Shouchun, capture the king of Chu, and force Xiang Yan to commit suicide. At this point, the humiliating failure of the Qin state in the city father was washed away to some extent.
bibliography
Sima Qian (Western Han Dynasty): Records of History, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1982.
Sima Guang (Song): Zizhi Tongjian, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2015.