Liu Xiu was a founding emperor who was very good at fighting, represented by the Battle of Kunyang. So what level of work is this Battle of Kunyang?
Throughout the ages, there have not been many examples of wars in which less wins more, but due to the differences in the times and the changes in the social environment, it is meaningless to compare those examples of wars with a large time span.
The Battle of Kunyang pushed up the Battle of Julu with Xiang Yu, the Battle of Jingxing by Han Xin, and the Battle of Guandu by Cao Cao. They were about two hundred years apart, but Han Xin's Battle of Jingxing and the Battle of Kunyang had some similarities, and it was more convincing to compare the two.
To win more with less, the first thing to discuss is naturally the comparison of troop strength. According to the "Records of History", after Han Xin finished fighting Wei and Dai, he and Zhang Er sent tens of thousands of troops to the east to attack Zhao. Sima Qian did not write tens of thousands of tens of thousands, but the Zizhi Tongjian arranged thirty thousand people.
How many Zhao Guo troops are there on the other side? King Zhao and Cheng Anjun Chen Yu gathered troops and dispatched generals, claiming to be 200,000. Thirty thousand bars and two hundred thousand, about one to seven ratio.
How many troops did Liu Xiukunyang have in the Battle of Kunyang? At the beginning, the various units of the Green Forest Army blossomed everywhere, and the eldest brother Liu Ji led the main army to attack Wancheng. After liu xiu's small unit saw Wang Mangjun, it was frightened and hid in the small city of Kunyang, where there were eight or nine thousand troops.
Later, Liu Xiu broke through with dozens of people and went to Dingling and other places to seek support, and at this moment, the siege troops of King Xun of the Great Sikong Were recorded as 50,000 or 60,000 in the Records of the Eastern Han Dynasty and 100,000 in the Book of Later Han.
So how many rescuers came from Dingling and Haodi? The Book of Han records that thousands of soldiers from The Ancestors of the Hui Dynasty came to save Kunyang.
Thousands are also a divisor, but from the analysis of other data, it should be in the number of seven or eight thousand. Therefore, in the Battle of Kunyang, which Liu Xiu organized and led, the strength of the army was estimated to be fifteen thousand people a little higher.
So what is the number of Wang Mang's army? The Great Situ Wang Yi and the Great Sikong King Xun sent soldiers from various counties, claiming to be millions, and 420,000 people would be in Luoyang.
However, it always takes time to march to Bu chen, and the various armies are like a hundred rivers and a sea, and 420,000 is the total number. When the Second King reached Kunyang City, there were only 50,000 or 60,000 people, and when Liu Xiu moved to rescue the troops, how many troops Wang Mang's army gathered, there is no exact record.
Then according to the minimum standard, the Book of the Later Han Dynasty records the 100,000 yuan at the time of the Guangwu breakthrough, which is exactly the same as Han Xin's one-to-seven unification.
After the comparison and analysis of the troop strength, let's talk about their respective strategies. Chen Yu of Cheng'an Jun had a clever strategist Li Zuoche by his side, who had advised Han Xin to take advantage of the victory and be indestructible, and that he should hold still, and when his morale declined, and then send a strange army to cut off his grain route, then Han Zhang and the two could be captured.
However, Chen Yu was an honest man, and bluntly said that using soldiers to commit tricks was not the work of a gentleman, and moreover, our 200,000 people were afraid of a bird, and it was over.
As a famous general, Han Xin never fought unprepared battles, he had already planted a detailed work in the Zhao Army, and when he heard that Chen Yu did not make a routine, he quickly came to the village thirty miles from the mouth of Jingxing.
And Wang Xun under Kunyang City is also a real person, and someone advised him that although Kunyang is small, it is a stubborn stone, it is better to detour through Wancheng and destroy the main force of the Green Forest Army, and this side will not attack itself. But Wang Xun was terrified, saying that he would not be able to push the millions of people all the way, and would not let the people of the world laugh in shame.
Later, the defenders of Kunyang City were beaten so hard that they wanted to open the door and surrender, but Wang Xun felt that he could not show the means in this way, and he was not allowed to surrender, but had to break the city with strength.
Therefore, the opponents that Han Xin and Liu Xiu encountered both made fatal mistakes, that is, light enemy arrogance. The difference is that one gets enemy information, and one has to fire arrows on the string.
Then it was Han Xin's turn to strategy, he first sent 10,000 people to carry the water back, lure the snake out of the hole, and then sent two thousand light horses to detour behind the enemy, capture the city and the flag, and push the enemy crystal directly.
As for Liu Xiu, he chose to shake the hearts of the enemy army and shot the false news of the attack on Wancheng into Kunyang City with a bow and arrow, which on the one hand raised the morale of the defenders in the city, and on the other hand, made Wang Mang's troops who learned the false news impetuous.
But strategy is on the one hand, and the victory or defeat of the battle must be done with real swords and guns in order to see the difference. Morale is a crucial factor with fewer enemies and more enemies.
The method taken by Han Xin was to fight a battle against the water, leaving the soldiers with no way to retreat, leaving them dead and reborn. When Chen Yu's troops could not chew the hard bones and led the team home for dinner, they suddenly found that their hometown had been stolen, so the military's heart fluctuated, and the collapse inevitably occurred. Han Xin attacked on both sides, like a pig holding a sheep, and easily handled it.
And Liu Xiu did not have such conditions, he could only take the lead and take the lead in the charge. Three thousand death squads were selected, directly attacking the second King's army, beheading The Great Situ Wang Yi under his horse, and then the Kunyang City defenders and the Dingling reinforcements attacked in two ways, causing Wang Mang's army to collapse, and it coincided with the heavy rain, which gave Liu Xiu a boost, and destroyed the Wang clan army in a battle.
In the Book of Han, the record of this camp is very interesting. The Great Sikong King Xun was full of spirits, and he himself took ten thousand people to show off his might, and he had to fight with Liu Xiu's death squad, and also ordered the rest of the troops not to move without orders.
Who knew that old Liu Weiwu would behead Wang Yi at the ringing of the bell, and those troops who did not get the order watched Wang Xun being chased and run.
But these records are too humane, and some are suspected of being high and low. The most realistic thing is that after Wang Yi died in the rebellion, Wang Mang's army, which was already impetuous, collapsed under the attack of the Green Forest Army on both sides.
Coupled with the weather, hundreds of thousands of troops were trampled to death and drowned countless times, which led to the Kunyang Victory. If there were no weather reasons, Wang Yi estimated that he would not have lost so badly.
So, finally, compare the Battle of Jingxing and the Great Victory of Kunyang. Han Xin was at ease, and he was on his own between actions and stops; Liu Xiu was attacking with a large army, and if he did not fight hard, he would die. The degree of danger is a little higher than that of Old Liu, and at the same time, his luck is a little better, but if he blames it all on luck, then he will wrongfully accuse Liu Xiu. The meteors recorded in the history books fell to the ground, I don't know whether they are true or false, and the wild storm is only the icing on the cake.
From the Battle of Kunyang, it can be seen that Liu Xiu is at the top in grasping people's hearts, drumming up morale, and strategically carrying out Chen. But if you want to distinguish between high and low with Han Xin, it is again a matter of benevolence and wisdom.