As a world of great strife that lasted for hundreds of years in ancient Chinese history, the Spring and Autumn Warring States has attracted thousands of years of exploration by groups of scholars, and why the State of Chu, which has always influenced the situation of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, has rapidly declined in the late Warring States period is the object of many scholars' painstaking study of the past half a lifetime. Many people attribute it to Zhang Yi's deception of Chu and Huai Wang's fainting, but we should look at the problem comprehensively, in the world of the great controversy over the destruction of the country and the extinction of the species without a little attention, the Chu state was born for hundreds of years and flourished, and it was impossible to achieve it with only some of the famous kings of Jingchu, more of a political system of theirs. However, the Chu state was born hundreds of years ago, the internal system has matured, and the King of Huai, under the constraints of the system and etiquette, cannot act arbitrarily. What's more, the Chu Kingdom already had a lesson from the past: the Chu Kingdom's ancestor King Chu Ling, because of his unpopularity, rebelled and committed suicide! With king Huai's early performance and posthumous name, the system and his own heart did not allow the stepping spirit queen to follow. Therefore, the decline of the Chu state is a multifaceted reason, in addition to Zhang Yi's deception of Chu, the fiasco of Danyang Lantian, and more importantly, the Battle of Chuisha! Because although Danyang and Lantian were defeated, but the Qin state was also weakened, friends who did not believe could look at the distance between Lantian and Xianyang, the capital of the Qin state, not to mention that after the Chu state experienced Danyang and Lantian, it was still destroyed in the later stage.
Figure 1, Battle of weeping sand
So let's first look at the international relations at the time of the Battle of Weeping Sand, which caused the decline of the Chu state in the First World War!
In 475 BC, the historical ring stepped into the Warring States era, and after three branches of the Jin Dynasty and the Tian Dynasty, the pattern of the Seven Kingdoms was completely formed, and the name of the Warring States was deserved. Because the State of Wei after the three divisions of the Jin Dynasty took the lead in implementing the change of law, the national strength of the State of Wei was the first of the countries, and the national strength even exceeded that of the old princely states such as Qi Chu at one time! But in the end, the State of Wei did not escape the law of three generations of wealth, and after the marquis of Wei Wenhou, the Marquis of Wei Wu to the time of King Hui of Wei, because of the repeated attacks of Qin Qichu and other established princely states, the state of Wei completely declined. As recorded in the Fifth Chapter of Mencius Lianghui Wang:
The east was defeated by Qi, the west was lost to Qin for more than 700 miles, and the south was humiliated by Chu.
After that, the State of Wei completely declined, followed by the main state that led to the decline of the State of Wei - Qin Qichu, and before the Battle of Chuisha, the State of Qin had already experienced the third generation of Yu Lie, after The Duke of Xiaogong and King Huiwen, at this time reigning was another lord of the State of Qin, the King of Zhaoxiang; the State of Qi was at this time the strongest era in the history of the Warring States, and the reign was the Second King of Weixuan; and the State of Chu and the State of Qi were not spared, and this was the era of the mourning of the Warring States of Chu; the three kingdoms were evenly matched, and the strength of the three kingdoms was equal. But because one person broke the balance of power in the Three Kingdoms, he was the Optimus Prime of the Warring States of Qi - Kuang Zhang!
Figure 2, Qi Optimus Prime - Kuang Zhang
The reason why I say this is that not only was he the founder of the Battle of the Chu State that caused the decline of the Chu State in the First World War, but other battles also made indelible contributions to the State of Qi.
Two flowers, one on each side, let's first look at the Battle of weeping sand.
This battle took place in 301 BC, Kuang Zhang led the combined forces of Qi, Han, and Wei to confront the Chu state for half a year, and finally with the help of local fishermen, successfully crossed the river, defeated the Chu state, killed the Chu general Tang Ming, and beheaded 20,000 people, after which the Chu state withdrew from the three camps, and the state of Qi defeated an important competitor, and finally became the pattern of Eastern Qi and Western Qin!
However, the reason why the State of Qi before this can become one of the three major powers, in addition to the efforts of the two generations of monarchs, also has a lot to do with foreign wars. Because of the influence of Sun Pang Douzhi, the world knows that the State of Qi fought against the Wei state of Guilin and Maling, and few people know that there were many victories against other big countries during the Weixuan period, such as the almost annihilation of Yan during the reign of King Qi Xuan, which is also the main reason why Later King Yan Zhao endured humiliation and made great efforts to govern, and finally went down to more than seventy cities in Qi. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang, who was known as Zhi Jie, compared himself to Guan Zhong and Le Yi, and it was also because Le Yi almost destroyed Qi's merits that he was respected. The most important general of the State of Qi who almost destroyed Yan is still Kuang Zhang, who led the troops of the Five Capitals of the State of Qi to attack the Yan Capital in nearly fifty days, almost destroying the country, although the later period did not achieve the goal for various reasons, but history has proved his merits!
This was another opponent that the State of Qi had completely destroyed after the State of Chu! Also because of KuangZhang!
Figure 3, Qi Guo Broke Yan
In fact, in addition to Chu Yan's two major foreign countries, Kuang Zhang led two victories against the number one power at that time, the State of Qin: the first was around 323 BC, when the State of Chu had just captured eight cities of the State of Wei, and the State of Qi also laid the altar of the former overlord Wei State in the Battle of Maling more than ten years ago, and at this time the State of Qin was in full swing because of the Shang Martingale Transformation Law, so it decided to adopt Zhang Yi:
He wanted to use the qin, Han, and Wei forces to cut down Qi and Chu.
In their plan, they first aimed the spearhead at the relatively weak State of Qi at this time, and the two armies were facing each other at Sangqiu, which was the first head-on confrontation between Qi and Qin since the Qin State Shang Martingale Changed The Law, but unfortunately, the Qin State's wishful thinking failed, and the State of Qi finally defeated the Qin State under the tie of Kuang Zhang, breaking the Qin State as a vassal. The Warring States Strategy, Qi Ce I, Qin False Road, Han Wei to Attack Qi, records in detail the course of this campaign:
Qin falsely attacked Han and Wei to attack Qi, and the king of Qi Wei made Zhang Zi respond. With qin and renunciation, the number of emissaries came and went, and ZhangZi changed its badge to mix the Qin army. The waiter Yan Zhangzi entered Qin with Qi troops, and the King of Wei should not. In a few moments, the waiter repeated the words of Zhangzi to surrender Qin with Qi soldiers, and the King of Wei should not. And this one three. There is a request: "The loser of the words and chapters, the same words." Why didn't the king strike at him? Wang Yue: "This is not a traitor to the widow, but to strike at it!" Suddenly, yan qi's army won a great victory, and the Qin army was greatly defeated, so the king of Qin thanked Qi for his ministers from the Western Domain.
This battle was kuangzhang's battle of fame, and it was later deeply valued by the two generations of monarchs of Weixuan. In the same way, this battle also caused Zhang Yi's strategy to bankrupt in the State of Wei, and resolved a major crisis for the State of Qi!
Figure 4, Battle of Sancho
And in the second battle of the Qi-Qin confrontation, Kuang Zhang made an immortal contribution!
In 299 BC, because the King of Zhaoxiang of the Qin State detained Meng Tianjun, and later Meng Tianjun used the chicken and dog thieves to escape back to the Qi State, which aroused Meng Tianjun's resentment towards the Qin State, so in the following year, He sent Kuang Zhang to join forces with Han Wei to attack the Qin State, which lasted three years, and in 296 BC, he broke through the Hangu Pass, causing the Qin State to divide the land and seek peace, and achieved the greatest victory of the Six Kingdoms against Qin many times, which was also the only time that the Six Kingdoms repeatedly attacked the Hangu Pass.
Unfortunately, the state of Qi did not expand its achievements in this battle, but it was still a battle that proved that the national strength of the state of Qi at this time was the first of all the countries. Eight years later, in 288 BC, King Zhaoxiang called himself The Western Emperor and King Zun Qi Min the Eastern Emperor, which can be imagined at that time when the national strength of the State of Qi was great!
Figure 5, Qi Qin and the Second Emperor of the East and West
Looking at the strength and prosperity of the State of Qi around the third century BC, there are two generations of monarchs who have made great efforts to govern, and it is inseparable from the joint efforts of the civilian and military generals under them! Among these civilian and military generals, the one who made the greatest contribution was Kuang Zhang, who broke the Chu Imperial Qin for the State of Qi in the middle of the Warring States period, and almost destroyed yan, so that the national strength of the State of Qi even surpassed the State of Qin at a certain time, and the national strength was the first of the countries! There is such a good foundation, if there is no Min Wang's riot operation! There is a great probability that the State of Qi will unify the world, because after the Battle of Chuisha and the breaking of the Hangu Pass, the State of Chu has declined, the State of Zhao has not risen, the State of Yan has not become a climate, the State of Qin has been newly defeated, with the threat of great victory to destroy Qin to serve Chu, silkworm Han Wei, then the world can be in the pocket, but unfortunately history does not have if! All causal loops are only waiting to be explored by later generations!
Compared with the State of Qi, which has few famous generals, Kuang Zhang is the brightest general star in the Hundreds of Years of the State of Qi! The State of Qi during his service period: Southern Chu, Suit Qin, Northern Defeat Yan, and Shock the World! Unfortunately, few people today know such a famous player, and at this point, it is difficult to say that it is a good thing. I think we should remember that anyone who has achieved success in history should not only learn from their merits, but also the soul of the Chinese nation, and it is precisely because there are so many outstanding historical figures that the wheel of history is rolling forward!
The above is only a family's words, if there is an error, I hope you will point out in time, the copyright is still owned by the sun and the moon millennium, please indicate the source when reprinting!
References "Mencius Liang Huiwang Chapter 5", "Warring States Policy Qi Ce I Qin False Dao Han Wei To Attack Qi".