Comrade | Guevara
In the process of Qin Shi Huang's annexation of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong and the unification of the world, a large number of talented generals emerged, of which the bravest and most meritorious one was none other than Wang Ben, who could be called the number one fierce general under Qin Shi Huang. So, who is Wang Ben? What are his impressive achievements?
A door tiger
Due to the political turmoil and lack of archives at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Wang Ben's birth year and early service experience are unknown, and according to the existing historical data, we know that he was a native of Pinyang County (formerly located in the area of Gucheng Village, Meiyuan Town, Fuping County, Shaanxi Province), and his father Wang Qi was a first-class general, ranked among the "Four Great Military Gods of the Warring States". As an aside, Wang Qi was also a blessed general, but his meritorious deeds could avoid the suspicion of the emperor, and in the end he became rich and noble, and the ending was far more fortunate than wu qi, Bai Qi, and Li Mu, who died of death.
Wang Zhao Images
Although there is no clear historical record, it can be speculated according to common sense that Wang Ben received careful instruction from his father from an early age, and learned a good skill at a young age, not only good at riding and shooting, but also skillful in military tactics and solid military theoretical literacy. Not only that, because he had long followed his father in the southern conquest of the northern war, Wang Ben also had excellent military practical experience, and knew how to flexibly use the art of war and arrange troops in accordance with the ever-changing situation on the battlefield, which was far better than Zhao Kuo and the like, who could only "talk about soldiers on paper."
After the Shang martingale reform law, the Qin state began to abolish the aristocratic hereditary system and instead generally implemented the "military merit system", and all those who had military merit could enjoy the knighthood regardless of their origin, class and class, and "the clan room could not be a subordinate without military merit" (see "History of Shang Junlie"). In this way, when a soldier fights a war and relies on swords and guns to win fame, it has become the common dream of all aspiring young people in the Qin Kingdom, especially Wang Ben, who was born in the Family of Generals.
Wang Zhao Images
As the best of the Shaozhuang generals, Wang Ben's first great performance was in the Battle of Chu in the twenty-first year of the Reign of the Qin Dynasty (226 BC). At that time, the Qin emperor Sent Wang Ben to attack the Chu state, and the latter did not fail in his mission, and along the way he won successive battles and conquered more than ten cities. After this battle, Yin Zheng greatly appreciated Wang Ben's ability, believing that his performance on the battlefield was no less than that of his father Wang Qi. Because of this, Yingzheng decided to let Wang Ben take on a more important responsibility in the war to eliminate the Six Kingdoms of Shandong.
2. Destroy four countries in a row
In the 22nd year of the reign of King Zheng of Qin (225 BC), the year after the end of the Battle of Fachu, Wang Ben was sent by Yingzheng to lead an army to attack the State of Wei. Since the State of Wei had previously been repeatedly encroached upon by the State of Qin and lost most of its counties, it did not last long before the capital city of Daliang was attacked by the Qin army. After Wang Ben led his army to besiege Daliang, he did not directly launch a siege battle, but led the Yellow River to flood the city. In March of the same year, the city of Daliang collapsed, and the desperate King of Wei was forced to surrender, and was immediately killed by Wang Ben. As a result, the Qin army almost destroyed the State of Wei without bloodshed.
Portrait of Qin Shi Huang
In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of the Qin Dynasty (222 BC), With Wang Ben as the commander and Li Xin as his deputy general, Yingzheng led the Qin army on the Eastern Expedition, aiming directly at the Yan state in a remote corner of Liaodong. Four years before that, Wang Qi led an army to attack the Yan state, seizing most of the counties including the capital Ji, forcing The Yan king Xi to flee to Liaodong for refuge, and the national strength also declined sharply. Therefore, after Wang Ben entered the territory of Liaodong, he almost defeated all yan armies with the momentum of the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves, and destroyed the Yan state in only a few months and captured Wang Xi of Yan.
After destroying the Yan state, Wang Ben led his army back to the division, but instead of returning to Xianyang, he attacked the Dai state from the south. Here we need to explain. The Daiguo was a short-lived regime established by the fugitive nobleman Zhao Jia in present-day northern Shanxi Province after the fall of the Zhao state (228 BC), and due to its weak strength, it could only adopt a strategy of self-preservation. Therefore, when the Qin army led by Wang Ben invaded the territory of the Daiguo, although Zhao Jia led the army and the people to resist, he eventually perished due to the invincibility of the people, and he also ended up committing suicide.
Schematic diagram of the Six Kingdoms of Qin
Since Wang Qi had already destroyed the State of Chu in the previous year (223 BC), when the State of Daiguo fell, the State of Qi became the only survivor of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong. In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Zheng of Qin (221 BC), Tian Jian, the King of Qi, in order to protect himself, sent troops to guard the western border and severed his alliance with the State of Qin, thus providing an excellent excuse for Yingzheng to attack. In the same year, Wang Ben and Li Xin raised troops to the south and attacked the capital of the State of Qi, Linzi, with the force of destruction and decay, forcing Tian Jian to surrender to the State of Qin, and the State of Qi was destroyed.
Three achievements and retirement
With the demise of the State of Qi, Yingzheng finally fulfilled his dream of annexing the Six Kingdoms, enabling China to achieve the first great unification in history. Afterwards, Wang Ben was awarded the title of Marquis of Tongwu for his merits in destroying 4 kingdoms in a row. The Qin Dynasty (state) implemented a twenty-rank military merit knighthood system, of which the highest rank was Che Hou (in the Han Dynasty, it was renamed "Tong Hou" to avoid the name of Emperor Wu Liu Che), and those who did not have the merits of the World were not allowed to be canonized, and "Tong Wu Hou" belonged to Chu Hou. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Wang Ben at this time can really be described as an extremely popular subject.
List of Qin and Han 20th-level military merits
After the completion of the great cause of unification, Yingzheng proclaimed himself the First Emperor, and the Qin State also developed into the Qin Dynasty stage. After that, Qin Shi Huang, with the assistance of the chancellor Li Si, began to turn his energy to internal affairs construction, and external expansion was no longer the top priority of the empire. Under these circumstances, in addition to Meng Tian, who was responsible for defending against the Xiongnu and building the Great Wall in the north, a large number of famous generals, including Wang Qi and Wang Ben, had withdrawn from the army, or returned to their hometowns, or worked as civilian officials in the DPRK.
Due to the lack of historical data, Wang Ben's activities in the Qin Dynasty are rarely recorded. According to the existing historical data, we only know that Wang Ben followed Qin Shi Huang on an eastern tour in the twenty-eighth year of Qin Shi Huang (219 BC), reaching as far as Langya (in the territory of Huangdao District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province). Here, Wang Ben, Together with Wang Qi, Tingwei Li Si and others at sea, participated in the evaluation of the merits of Qin Shi Huang and carved stones to record the merits. After that, Wang Ben's deeds did not appear in the canonical history, as if the world had evaporated, but according to common sense, he should be rich and noble.
Tomb of Wang Ben
After Wang Ben withdrew from the military stage, it was of course his son Wang Li who inherited his "mantle". However, compared with his grandfather Wang Qi and his father Wang Ben, who used soldiers like gods, Wang Li's military ability seemed to be very average, and there was no praiseworthy merit except for leading the army to guard against the southern invasion of the Hu people. In the chaos of the Great War at the end of Qin, Wang Li was ordered to lead an army south, and together with Zhang Handan and others besieged Zhang Er and other anti-Qin forces at Julu, only to be defeated by reinforcements led by Xiang Yu and taken prisoner, after which his life and death are unknown. Wang Benruoquan knew that he should be deeply ashamed of his son's performance, right?
bibliography
Sima Qian (Western Han Dynasty): Records of History, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1982.
Sima Guang (Song): Zizhi Tongjian, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2015.