The Battle of Changping was a famous battle between Qin and Zhao during the Warring States period. Zhao Kuo has also become a well-known historical figure because of this war, and the allusion of "talking on paper" produced by him is also well known. Was Zhao Kuo's defeat all to blame, and how much responsibility should he bear for this defeat? Does he have a better option?
Shangdang: The fuse that triggered the Battle of Changping in Qin and Zhao
According to the Records of History, the direct cause of this battle between Qin and Zhao was the problem of Shangdang County. In 262 BC, the State of Qin captured Yewang of Korea (present-day Qinyang, Henan), directly cutting off the link between Shangdang County and The Korean mainland, that is, making Shangdang an enclave away from Korea. Therefore, the Korean monarch Han Huanhui simply asked Shangdang County Shou Feng Ting to present Shangdang to the Qin state in order to ask the Qin state to strike the army. As a result, Feng Ting was unwilling to surrender to the State of Qin, so he simply dedicated the Shangdang to the neighboring State of Zhao, which led to the Battle of Changping of Qin and Zhao. At that time, when Feng Ting presented the Seventeen Cities of Shangdang County to zhao guo, there were two factions of opinion in zhao guo:
Refusal faction: This faction is represented by Zhao Bao, the Emperor of Pingyang in the Zhao State Sect, who believes that Shangdang County was already in the pocket of the Qin State, and if it is taken away hastily, it will be equivalent to giving the Qin State a slap in the face, which will inevitably lead to the attack of the Qin State, and also give the Qin State a reason to go to war, and believes that this kind of tiger-mouthed food grab is very dangerous.
Acceptance faction: This faction is represented by Zhao Sheng, the Prince of Pingyuan, who is also the emperor of the Zhao State, and Zhao Sheng, as the fourth prince of the Warring States, has always been a hardline faction, and has repeatedly made enemies with the Qin state. Therefore, he believed that even if a large army was dispatched, it was not necessarily possible to lay down many cities, and now that he had obtained seventeen cities without wasting his efforts, this interest could not be discarded in vain.
The final result was that King Xiaocheng of Zhao followed the advice of Zhao Sheng, the Prince of Pingyuan, accepted Shangdang County, and sent Lian Po to garrison troops at Changping to guard against the attack launched by the Qin state. This act of the State of Zhao obviously infuriated the State of Qin, so the State of Qin began to plan an attack on the State of Zhao, which became known as the Battle of Changping. Judging from the results of the Battle of Changping, this view of Zhao Sheng, the Prince of Pingyuan, was obviously an important reason for the later Zhao State to enter a deadlock that could not be trusted, although it was not necessarily accepted that the Shangdang would not be able to defeat the Qin State in the end to unify the world, but as a weak person, it was inevitably unwise to take the initiative to provoke the strong. Moreover, because of the covetousness of these seventeen cities, the state of Zhao also consumed the national strength accumulated for hundreds of years, and thus lost its status as a military power that could challenge the qin state. From this point of view, Zhao Sheng, the Prince of Pingyuan, could not escape the blame.
Protracted war and quick decisive battle, in fact, Zhao Guo is difficult to win
In the Battle of Changping, which officially broke out in 260 BC, Lian Po, as the main general of the Zhao army, chose the defensive strategy of sticking to the camp instead of several unfavorable confrontations with the Qin army. The strategy that could not be adhered to made it difficult for the Qin army to win for a while, and the two sides fell into a stalemate. However, King Xiaocheng of Zhao was so dissatisfied with Lian Po's strategy of sticking to the battle that he later changed commanders and replaced Lian Po with Zhao Kuo, who advocated a quick battle, as the main general, and then Zhao Kuo was besieged by the Qin army in the active attack, which eventually led to the collapse of the entire war. Judging from the course of this campaign, it seems that the strategy of honesty is correct, and Zhao Kuo's strategy is a wrong strategy on paper, so Zhao Kuo has the greatest responsibility, and if the strategy of honesty continues, perhaps Zhao Guo will have a chance to win.
Quick Decision Strategy: This strategy has in fact been proved undesirable by the final results, after all, the strength of the Qin army has been proven many times, and Lian Po fought with the Qin army in the early stage of the Battle of Changping, and the results have proved that it is difficult to win the field battle against the Qin army. Moreover, even if Lian Po retreated into the camp and firmly defended, there were still many camps that were breached by the Qin army, and the casualties of the senior officers in the Zhao army were relatively large, which fully showed that the Zhao army was very difficult even if it was defended. Therefore, Zhao Kuo's idea of a quick war is dangerous and adventurous, so Zhao Kuo really bears an unshirkable responsibility.
Protracted strategy: This strategy did delay the Qin army's offensive on the battlefield and achieved certain results, at least keeping the Zhao army from collapsing, and the battle situation could barely maintain balance. However, we zoomed in from the Changping battlefield to qin and Zhao, in fact, if the stalemate continues, the Zhao state may not be able to win, after all, the stalemate at that time has basically depleted the logistical savings of the Zhao state, and we find from the history books that the Zhao state has begun to borrow grain from the state of Qi, and although the state of Zhao can compete with the state of Qin in terms of military strength, it is far worse than the state of Qin in terms of comprehensive national strength, so the possibility of the state of Qin still winning the stalemate is greater. Therefore, the protracted strategy can only be said to be the most correct choice on the battlefield at that time, but if it is magnified to the competition between the national strengths of the two countries, it is still not enough to change the outcome of the entire campaign.
Diplomatic failures were another important reason for the defeat at the Battle of Changping
When you are caught up in a situation on the battlefield, you often need other factors to seek change, and diplomacy is the most effective way. At that time, Zhao Guojun did indeed take this into account. But it is a pity that King Zhao Xiaocheng chose the wrong method.
Asking for help from the Kwantung states: This is the plan proposed by Yu Qing, an official of the Zhao state, who suggested that he seek help from the Shandong states of Chu and Wei, and use the power of these countries to change the pattern of the campaign, so that the Qin state is afraid of the six eastern kingdoms to attack Qin, and then negotiate peace with the Qin state. This suggestion is very reasonable, after all, at that time, Qin and Zhao almost did their best, the Qin state may not give up without external pressure, only by co-opting other countries to form a joint force can the Qin state have some scruples, will see the good and receive, even if the Zhao state loses some interests, it will not hurt the bones.
Directly ask Qin for peace: This is the suggestion of another Zhao official, Lou Chang. He simply believed that sending emissaries to the Qin state to seek peace would solve the dilemma of Changping. In response to his suggestion, Yu Qing proposed that the Qin state would not easily strike the army, and the qin state would also take advantage of the opportunity of the Zhao state to seek peace and pretend to negotiate, so that the princes of the world would not continue to fight between Qin and Zhao, and the possibility of other countries joining forces to rescue the Zhao state would become smaller.
The young King Xiaocheng of Zhao had obviously made another wrong decision, and the State of Qin had indeed pretended to agree to the peace as Yu Qing had expected, which not only paralyzed the State of Zhao, but also made other countries believe that the State of Zhao was not in danger of being destroyed and was unwilling to risk rescuing the State of Zhao. It was not until the Zhao state was defeated in the Battle of Changping and was already facing the danger of subjugation that other countries reorganized to rescue Zhao. It has to be said that this diplomatic misstep basically determined that Zhao Guo had fallen into a dead end in the Battle of Changping.
Zhao Xiaocheng Wang: A helpless culprit
From a comprehensive point of view, the biggest responsibility for the entire Battle of Changping is actually Zhao Xiaocheng Wang, after all, he has his responsibility in accepting the party, diplomatic mistakes, and changing commanders in the middle. But we should also see that he also has many helpless points:
Pro-government: The Battle of Changping was essentially the first major war since King Xiaocheng of Zhao came to power. At this time, he had only been in power for three years, and he was still a young monarch, and he was still far from the old Qin Zhaoxiang King in terms of governing the country. Therefore, he was still not sophisticated enough in many decisions, although he did not seem to see the process of consultation with the minister except for the last change of coach in these choices, but he consulted the minister in accepting the party and foreign policy decisions, but he made the wrong choice.
His experience gave him the illusion: although we cannot learn in detail about the life experience before Zhao Xiaocheng became king, we can make a deduction, he was made crown prince in 277 BC, and in 266 BC he inherited the throne of the Zhao state, but because he was still young when he succeeded to the throne, so the mother came to the court to listen to the government, and the ancients could be counted as adults at the age of fifteen or sixteen, so the fact that his mother came to the dynasty should not be more than fifteen or sixteen years old when he succeeded to the throne, then we estimate that he should only be about twenty years old at the time of the Battle of Changping. So let's look at what he can contact and know before he turns twenty? From the time he was made crown prince in 277 BC to 262 BC, we find from the historical records that the Zhao state was almost undefeated, winning all the battles against the Qi, Wei, Hu and Xiongnu, and even in the battle with the Qin state, it was only lost twice in small battles that were not crucial, but the famous battles were won by the Zhao state and the Qin army was defeated. For example, Zhao Kuo's father Zhao Hao commanded the Battle of Fu and the Battle of Zhao after King Xiaocheng of Zhao succeeded to the throne. These victories inevitably caused the young King Xiaocheng of Zhao to underestimate the power of the Qin state.
It was precisely because of his youth and the deviation of his perception of the strength of the Qin state that King Xiaocheng of Zhao repeatedly made wrong decisions in the Battle of Changping. However, after this battle, he grew rapidly, and under the dangerous situation of the fiasco of Changping, King Xiaocheng of Zhao united the army and the people to defend Handan, keeping the Zhao state from destroying, and also defeated the Yan state that wanted to take advantage of the fire. After that, his rule should be quite good, but the Battle of Changping did lose too much, and it was difficult for the Zhao state to restore its national strength in the short term, coupled with the lackluster successor of the later Zhao Xiaocheng King, and eventually the Zhao state was difficult to rise.
In summary, the defeat of the Battle of Changping obviously cannot be blamed on Zhao Kuo, if anyone is more responsible, it should be the young Zhao Xiaocheng King, after all, these wrong decisions are made by him. However, PingYuan Jun, who proposed to accept the Shangdang, and proposed to directly ask Qin Qiu and Lou Chang to have certain responsibilities. Of course, the same young Zhao Kuo proposed or catered to the strategy of quick war, and continued to implement this strategy after entering the Changping battlefield, and eventually led to the defeat of the army, which also had an unshirkable responsibility.