Zhao Kuo was a general of the State of Zhao, and Zhao Kuo's most famous battle was the Battle of Changping, when he replaced Lian Po's command, which eventually led to the defeat of the State of Zhao and the victory of the State of Qin, and from then on the State of Zhao no longer had the strength to compete with the State of Qin, and it was only a matter of time before the State of Qin was unified. In the Battle of Changping, Zhao Guo lost about 450,000 people, of which 50,000 soldiers, 400,000 people were killed by Bai Qi.
Defeated, 400,000 people surrendered to Wu Anjun. Wu Anjun counted the day: "Former Qin has been pulled up to the party, and the people of the party are not happy to return to Zhao for Qin." Zhao Pawn repeatedly, not killing everything, fearing chaos. "He was blackmailed and killed them, and sent two hundred and forty of his little ones to Zhao." 450,000 people were beheaded. Zhao was shocked. - "The Chronicle of the White Qi King"
Zhao Guo lost 450,000 people, Zhao Guo's real vitality was seriously injured, in the Zhao State can see either white-haired old people, or yellow-haired children, Zhao Guo, a big country that has risen since King Zhao Wuling, has finally withdrawn from the stage of a strong country, and is no longer able to compete with the Qin State. Therefore, the battle of Changping can be called the battle of the national fortunes of the Qin State, and the Battle of Changping was lost at the hands of Zhao Kuo, and some people even blamed Zhao Kuo for the defeat.
The reason is nothing more than that Zhao Kuo changed the strategy that the original veteran general Lian Po could not stick to, and he himself was just a verbal general who could talk about soldiers on paper, that is, what we often say now, a giant in thought and a dwarf in action, so talking about soldiers on paper has also become a proper noun for laughing at Zhao Kuo.
So Zhao Kuo really only talks on paper, is really useless, really made a lot of mistakes in the Battle of Changping, and does he really have to take full responsibility for the Battle of Changping? Let's take a closer look.
The cause of the Battle of Changping was that the Qin state captured the Wild King of Korea, and Korea was very panicked, so Korea asked the Qin state for peace and ceded Shangdang to the Qin state, but Shangdang County Shoufeng Ting was unwilling to surrender Qin, and the people of Shangdang County plotted to use the power of the Zhao state to resist Qin, and dedicated the seventeen cities of Shangdang County to the Zhao state. King Zhao also accepted Shangdang County, and sent Lian Po to garrison Shangdang County.
Qin Guo saw that his fat meat to his mouth was cut off like this, naturally he was unwilling, this is the land ceded to me by South Korea, you Zhao Guo are not small, this is a matter of face, absolutely will not give up, of course, not only the problem of face, but more importantly, the party is simply too important.
"Overlooking Zhongzhou, the elbow arm of the east of the river, and the state of Hezhou, it is said that the throat of the Jin state is also."
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Shangdang was the throat of the Jin Dynasty, and the terrain was very dangerous, and it has been a place of contention for soldiers since ancient times. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Jin State was able to hold the Qin army out of the east, relying on the Shangdang Heavenly Danger.
The Shangdang area is known as the ridge of the world, the eastern part is bordered by the Taihang Mountains and the North China Plain, and the western part is bordered by the Taiyue Mountains and the Zhongtiao Mountains and Jinnan (also known as Hedong), which is a plateau basin, while the western part of the Shangdang, the military town of Anyi of the Qin State, passes through the Handan Plain of the Zhao State, and once the Qin State occupies the Shangdang, then the capital of the Zhao State, Handan, will be exposed to the attack of the Qin army, and the strategic posture will be very passive, which will be a major blow to the strategic goal of the Zhao State's intention to compete with the Qin Army for dominance and world domination.
Therefore, for both the Qin state and the Zhao state, the Shangdang area cannot be ignored, and the Shangdang is occupied by the Qin state and can threaten the Zhao and Wei states. If the Shangdang is in the hands of the State of Zhao, then the State of Zhao can contain the eastward exit of the State of Qin, and both countries are bound to win against the Shangdang, especially the State of Qin.
The State of Qin saw that the State of Zhao had accepted the Shangdang and immediately attacked it. At the beginning of the fifty-fifth year of the Zhou Dynasty (260 BC), King Zhao of Qin ordered Zuo Shu chang Wang Gong to lead an army to attack and occupy Shangdang. The people of Shangdang fled to the territory of the State of Zhao, and the army of the State of Zhao met the people of the State of Shangping at Changping (長平, in present-day Gaoping, Jincheng, Shanxi).
In April of the same year, the Qin general Wang Gong launched an attack on the Zhao army in Changping, and King Xiaocheng of Zhao ordered Lian Po to meet the battle, and Lian Po led his army to attack the Qin army. The Zhao army wounded the scouts of the Qin army, and the scouts of the Qin army beheaded the general of the Zhao army, and the first confrontation between the Qin state won.
Two months later, Wang Gong led his army to attack again, and the Qin army was heroic, defeating the Zhao general Lian Po, killing four lieutenants of the Zhao army, and the two important strongholds of the Zhao state, Erzhang City and Guangwolf City, were captured by the Qin army. After that, the Zhao army built a wall and did not dare to come out to fight.
The Qin army launched a strong attack, captured the camp west of the Zhao army, and killed two lieutenants of the Zhao army, the Zhao army failed continuously, and Lian Po led the army to retreat to the east bank of the Dan River and build a barrier, and the Zhao army has since retreated without fighting. Therefore, King Xiaocheng of Zhao was quite dissatisfied with Lian's fear of the Qin army and his long delay, and sent people to rebuke Lian po several times!
In fact, the strategy of honesty is correct, and if it is not adhered to, the Qin state will be dragged down. And King Xiaocheng of Zhao rebuked Lian Po not only because Lian Po did not go to war, but because Zhao Guo could not afford to drag, the large army was stationed, the grain and grass cost a lot every day, and the same Qin army could not afford to spend. However, the situation of the Qin state was better than that of the Zhao state.
After the first Qin state implemented the shang martingale transformation method, the cultivation and weaving were rewarded, and the enthusiasm of everyone to grow grain was very high, and the domestic grain was reorganized.
Secondly, the State of Qin had obtained Shu Land as early as the time of King Huiwen of Qin, which was a granary, so the State of Qin could be invincible to the world, on the one hand, relying on the Qin army and advanced weapons, but also relying on grain and grass to supply the army.
Therefore, in terms of grain and grass, the Qin state can still drag on, but there is one thing he is also worried about, in case other countries take the opportunity to attack the qin state, it will be troublesome, so the qin state also wants to fight a quick decision.
However, no matter what King Zhao said, Lian Po did not send troops, and the State of Qin was also anxious, and immediately sent people to make a counter-plan to spread rumors in the State of Zhao: and spread rumors saying: "Lian Po is easy to deal with, and the most feared person in the State of Qin is Zhao Kuo, the son of Ma Fujun Zhao Hao." Together with this rumor, plus King Zhao also had the intention of changing generals, he was not at ease with other generals in the country, so he decided to replace Zhao Kuo to fight.
When King Zhao asked Zhao Kuo if he could defeat the Qin army, Zhao Kuo said, "If the Qin state sends Bai up, I still have to consider dealing with it." Now it is Wang Gong, who is only a cheap opponent. If you replace me, beat him. I don't know whether Zhao Kuo was too crazy or too confident, and King Zhao immediately replaced Lian Po with Zhao Kuo when he heard this.
In the seventh month of the lunar calendar in 260 BC, Zhao Kuo led 200,000 reinforcements to Changping to succeed Lian Po as the main general. So is Zhao Kuo really only talking on paper? No, after Zhao Kuo arrived in Changping, he did the following things:
1. Replace the generals of the troops
After Zhao Kuo arrived in the front-line army, he investigated the situation of the army on the spot and replaced some generals. Seeing that there was none, he changed some generals according to the actual situation. That is to say, Zhao Kuo is a soldier.
Second, change the military system
Lian Po was a famous general in the Warring States period, but this famous general repeatedly failed in the face of the Qin army, which was not only a matter of combat effectiveness, but also a problem of the military system, and zhao Kuo changed the military system after he took office, which was also in line with the situation at that time.
Third, change the incorruptible operational policy and take the initiative to attack the Qin army
King Zhao let Zhao Kuo come to turn the tide of battle, how to turn the tide of war, relying on perseverance is definitely not enough, the only thing is to change the previous strategy, no longer to hold, can only take the initiative to attack the Qin army.
Therefore, Zhao Kuo's three articles were also in line with the situation at that time, not to mention the incorruptible adherence, that was meaningless at all, to know that the Battle of Changping was almost a battle related to the national fortunes, and not being able to stick to it would also affect morale, which was not what Zhao Guo hoped to see.
Now we say that at that time, Zhao Kuo did not want to replace Lian Po with Zhao Kuo at all, and Zhao Kuo should not have attacked, in fact, Zhao Kuo took the initiative to attack at that time, which was very in line with the situation, he himself brought 200,000 reinforcements, and he was determined to fight with the Qin army.
To say that Zhao Kuo is incompetent is nonsense, from the actions of the Qin army, it can also be seen that they are jealous of Zhao Kuo and the Zhao army, after King Qin Zhaowang learned that Zhao Kuo replaced Lian Po as the main general, secretly transferred Wu Anjun Baiqi as a general, changed Wang Gong to serve as a lieutenant and deputy general, and at the same time ordered the army to strictly guard the secret of changing commanders, and there was a shooting and killing that leaked news, if Zhao Kuo was really so incompetent, why did the Qin state secretly send Bai to secretly, but also to keep it secret?
Zhao Kuo was really so incompetent, the Qin army had no need to be so careful, it could be very generous, and Zhao Kuo's strategy itself had no problems, but he encountered the more powerful Bai Qi, this man slaughtered, and there was almost no defeat in his life.
Moreover, the Qin army successfully cut off the zhao army's grain route and surrounded the Zhao army regiment, Zhao Kuo was killed in battle when leading the army to break through, and the Zhao army was leaderless, and finally surrendered, and was killed by Bai Qi!
When the Qin army later besieged Handan, Bai Qi said that the Qin army suffered more than half of the casualties in the Battle of Changping, and it was not suitable for the army. From this, it can be seen that Zhao Kuo is not a nest of waste, there is still real material, there is no ability, how can he destroy half of the tiger and wolf division's military strength, so Zhao Kuo still has the ability.
The Battle of Changping caused the Zhao State to lose its national fortunes, the domestic young and strong labor force was seriously insufficient, the strength of the troops was even more stretched, when the Qin army defended Handan, it was all up to the Wei State and the Chu State to rescue, so Zhao Kuo's defeat in Changping simply ruined the Zhao State, which always had to be responsible.
At the beginning, it was the Shangdang accepted by king Zhao, which was the cause of the war, and it was the honesty that he wanted to change, but these mistakes could not be carried by a monarch, plus there were complaints in the country at this time, naturally there must be a person who carries the pot, this person is Zhao Kuo, who has been killed in battle, after all, others have died, and it is also a good thing for Zhao Guo.