When Wang Fuzhi read the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, he once said, "Guoheng is destroyed by weakness, and the only Han is destroyed by strength."
In fact, this sentence is also applicable to describe the Qin Dynasty of Qin Shi Huang, and in the impression of the people, it is always believed that after Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up, the rebel army destroyed the Qin Dynasty with the momentum of destruction and decay.
Is this the reality? This understanding is completely wrong, and when the Qin Dynasty fell, the combat effectiveness of the Qin army was still very strong.
There are many reasons for the demise of the Qin Dynasty, but there is no reason for the lack of combat strength of the Qin army.
The "firefighter" Zhang Handan, with the army of criminals, almost extinguished the raging uprising
In the first year of Qin II, Chen Sheng rose up in Daze Township and established himself as the King of Chu, and the nobles of the Six Kingdoms rose up one after another in response to Chen Sheng. Rebel armies from all over the country united to fight against the Qin Dynasty, and the imperial court was suddenly a head of nine.
In the second year of Qin II, Chen Sheng sent the general Zhou Wen to lead hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Guanzhong, all the way to the water. Hu Hai was greatly shocked, and Zhang Handan suggested that LiShan's prisoners be released and organized into an army to defend against the Chu army.
Qin II accepted Zhang Handan's suggestion, pardoned the world, and with Zhang Handan as a general, led the army of prisoners at Lishan to meet the Chu army.
Zhang Handan defeated Zhou Wen in the waters, Zhou Wen escaped all the way out of Hangu Pass, retreated to Caoyang, was defeated by Zhang Handan again, and finally completely defeated by Zhang Handan at Shichi, and Zhou Wen committed suicide.
Zhang Handan then marched into Xingyang, defeated the elite rebel army led by Tian Zang at Boiling Cang, killed Tian Zang, and took Xingyang with a single blow. Zhang Handan led the Qin army all the way to the top, winning many battles, breaking the rebel generals and forcing Chen Sheng to retreat to chengfu.
At Chengfu, Zhang Handan defeated Zhang He and besieged Chen Sheng, Chen Sheng was killed by the coachman, and Chengfu Kaesong surrendered.
After Chen Sheng's death, Zhang Handan's army recaptured Chen County, and soon after besieged the Wei king Wei Gui at Linji, facing the joint rescue of the Chu army and the Qi army, Zhang Handan still broke the coalition army, killing Wei Xiangzhou city and Qi Wang Tian Dan, and Wei Wei committed suicide.
After Linji killed the King of Qi and the King of Wei, Zhang Handan continued to pursue the nobleman Tian Rong of the State of Qi. At this time, Xiang Liang led an army to rescue Tian Rong, Zhang Handan was defeated by the Chu army in Dong'a and Puyang, the Qin Dynasty quickly increased the number of troops Zhang Handan, and Zhang Handan led the army to retreat to the Puyang area.
Liu Bang and Xiang Yu led an army around Zhang Handan's Qin army and attacked Dingtao, and soon Xiang Liang led his army into Dingtao. After receiving reinforcements, Zhang Handan's strength was greatly enhanced, taking advantage of Xiang Liang's careless contempt for the Qin army.
Zhang Handan led the Qin army at night, quietly approached the Chu army, launched a surprise attack on Xiang Liang's army, defeated the Chu army, and Xiang Liang was killed. Liu Bang, Xiang Yu and other Chu rebels retreated into Pengcheng to hold firm, and Zhang Handan moved his army north to attack the Zhao army.
Liu Bang led his army to the west, and was almost blocked by the Qin army's partial division
Zhang Handan attacked the State of Zhao from the north, defeated the Zhao army, and besieged King Zhao and Zhang Er at Julu City. The State of Zhao asked the State of Chu for help, and after consulting with the generals, the King of Chu Huai decided to rescue and attack Guanzhong in two ways.
King Huai made Song Yi the general, Xiang Yu the second general, Fan Zeng the last general, and the north saved Zhao. Ling Pei Gong Xi slightly entered the customs. Make an appointment with the generals, and enter the king of the first to enter the pass.
As a descendant, seeing that Liu Bang did not encounter any decent resistance and attacked Guanzhong, many people thought that the Qin army had no combat effectiveness. In fact, this understanding is very shallow, completely ignoring Liu Bang's political ability and the combat effectiveness of the Qin army.
To put it bluntly, if Liu Bang was replaced by Xiang Yu, he might not be able to easily enter Guanzhong, because Liu Bang had the ability to make Qin generals surrender without a fight. And Xiang Yu only had the ability to make the Qin army swear to resist to the death, which was better or worse, and everyone had a different opinion.
Liu Bang led an army from Yan Commandery (砀郡) to collect the soldiers who had been scattered by Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang along the way, and all the way to the west to prepare to attack Xianyang, but he did not expect to be hit in the head when he went out.
At Changyi, Liu Bang rendezvoused with Peng Yue and attacked Changyi, but did not fight. Liu Bang withdrew to Li County, and after adding 4,000 troops, he joined forces with the Wei generals Huang Xin and Wei Shen to attack Changyi again, but still did not capture, Liu Bang had to abandon Changyi and continue to the west.
Liu Bang's road to the west is like this, if you can fight, you can fight, and if you can't fight, you will go around. Along the way, Liu Bang's army only captured Chen Liu, Yingyang, Yangcheng, Xiling, Huyang and other cities.
He persuaded the Nanyang defender to surrender, and took advantage of the opportunity to surrender and attacked Wuguan. Finally, in Lantian, he defeated the last army temporarily formed by the Qin court.
Liu Bang originally planned to pass through Hangu Pass from Luoyang and attack Guanzhong, but because of the many battles in Daliang and Luoyang, it was unfavorable. Therefore, at Zhang Liang's suggestion, he went south to Nanyang and detoured through Wuguan to attack Guanzhong.
At that time, what was the configuration of Liu Bang's army, in addition to Han Xin and Chen Pingping who joined later, the famous generals of the Western Han Dynasty who came out of Pei County, Cao Shan, Fan Duo, Zhou Bo, Dou Bao, and other people were all in Liu Bang's army.
Basically, it was Liu Bang's team that defeated Xiang Yu later, and after Liu Bang also decided to attack Xiang Yu, the Chu army that led them out to attack Xiang Yu was like a bamboo.
However, it was such a Western Han Dynasty founding heavenly regiment that stumbled on the way to the west and almost couldn't go through Nanyang, can this be said to be the combat effectiveness of the Qin army?
Liu Bang really dared to confront the Qin army hard, it was after Nanyang surrendered, all the Qin generals surrendered, Liu Bang's strength increased rapidly, and he had the last strength to defeat Qin Ting outside Xianyang City, which is probably the result of the Qin army fighting the Qin army!
Liu Bang was able to quickly invade Guanzhong, showing his excellent political skills, in fact, before the division of the army to the west, King Huai of Chu and his ministers did not report much hope for Liu Bang's western route army.
However, Liu Bang used the tactic of avoiding the real and attacking the false, seized the psychological weaknesses of all sides, and surrendered the Qin generals along the way, and attacked Xianyang as quickly as possible at the lowest cost.
In the Battle of Julu, although the Qin army was defeated, it did not lose its combat effectiveness
The defeat in the Battle of Julu was fatal to the Qin Dynasty, but this battle did not completely incapacitate the Qin army. After Zhang Handan led the Qin army across the Yellow River, he joined the 200,000 Great Wall Army led by Wang Li, totaling 400,000 troops to attack the Zhao state and defeat the Zhao army.
Zhao Wang Xie, Zhao Xiang Zhang Er and the general Chen Yu retreated into Julu, King Zhao and Zhang Er retreated to Julu City, and Chen Yu led tens of thousands of troops to garrison the north of Julu City. King Zhao had no choice but to ask for help from various princes.
Zhang Handan ordered Wang Li and Shijian to lead an army of 200,000 to besiege Julu, and he himself led 200,000 Qin troops to garrison the south of Julu City. A yongdao was built to deliver grain and grass to the wang's army.
At that time, the Qin army was very strong, and the reinforcements of various princes rushed to the outskirts of Julu, and no one dared to engage the Qin army. Chen Yu sent thousands of troops to test the Qin army, but as a result, the meat bun beat the dog and there was no return, and the whole army was destroyed.
After the Chu army that rescued the Zhao state arrived in Anyang, it stopped and stayed for more than forty days, and Xiang Yu was furious and killed the main general Song Yi and seized control of the army.
King Huai of Chu had no choice but to appoint Xiang Yu as a general to lead the Chu army, and at the same time put the two armies of Yingbu and General Pu under Xiang Yu's jurisdiction.
After Xiang Yu led the Chu army to the Yellow River south of Julu, he first sent Generals Yingbu and Pu to lead 20,000 troops to cross the river to fight, repelling the small-scale harassment of the Qin army.
Zhao Guo repeatedly urged Xiang Yu to enter the army as soon as possible, and Xiang Yu led the main force of the Chu army to cross the river and launch a battle of "breaking the kettle and sinking the boat". The Chu army repelled Zhang Handan's army protecting Yongdao and surrounded Wang Li's army, Wang Li's army was cut off from food and grass, and Zhang Handan led his army to rescue Wang Li, but was repelled by Xiang Yu after nine fierce battles.
Various princes' armies then participated in Xiang Yu's siege of Wang Li's Qin army, and Xiang Yu led an army to kill the Qin general Su Jiao, forcing Wajian to commit suicide, capturing Wang Li, and lifting the siege of Julu, and the princes surrendered to Xiang Yu.
After the Battle of Julu, Zhang Handan led the remaining nearly 200,000 Qin troops stationed in Jiyuan, Xiang Yu's army was stationed on the south bank of the Zhanghe River, and the two armies entered the stage of confrontation.
Because of the continuous defeat of the Giant Deer Qin army, Qin II was very angry and sent someone to hold Zhang Handan accountable, and Zhang Handan sent Sima Xin back to Xianyang to explain the situation, and was framed by Zhao Gao.
At this time, Chen Yu wrote a letter to Zhang Handan, wanting to persuade Zhang Handan to surrender, Zhang Handan was very impressed, and sent people to make peace treaties with Xiang Yu, but did not succeed, Xiang Yu led the army across the Zhanghe River, and once again defeated the Qin army.
Zhang Handan sent emissaries to see Xiang Yu and ask for a peace treaty, at this time the Chu army's grain and grass were running out, and Xiang Yu agreed to Zhang Handan's request.
Xiang Yu left Zhang Handan in the Chu army, let Sima Xin lead the Qin army as the vanguard, and soon killed 200,000 Qin troops in Xin'an Pit.
Judging from the entire Battle of Julu, although the Qin army suffered heavy losses and Wang Lijun's army was completely destroyed, the Qin army still had Zhang Handan's main force of 200,000 people, and the strength of the First World War.
It was unlikely that the active attack would win, but self-preservation was completely no problem, and when Zhang Handan surrendered, the Chu army did not have much grain and grass, and it was difficult for Xiang Yu to launch a sustained attack.
The Qin army had the advantage before the Battle of Julu, and the battle of Julu lost more than half, in fact, this was not because the Qin army was unable to fight. It was completely that they encountered an opponent who was not at one level, "Wang Bu Xiang", Xiang Yu, with his personal charm, raised the Chu army to the level of defeating the Qin army.
In the Qin army, whether it is Zhang Handan or Wang Li, they do not have the ability, Zhang Handan can be regarded as an excellent general, but compared with Xiang Yu, the gap is a bit large, which is what people often say" "a leader determines the upper limit of a team"!
The reason for the demise of the Qin Dynasty was not the combat effectiveness of the army, but entirely a political factor
After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, the Qin Dynasty died in a short period of time, not because the combat effectiveness of the Qin army was not good, but all the battle examples can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the Qin army still exists.
But why did the Qin Dynasty perish so quickly? It was entirely because of political failures that resulted in worse outcomes on the battlefield.
The most obvious is the surrender of Zhang Handan, Zhang Handan led the last main force of the Qin army, if he was loyal to the Qin Dynasty and devoted himself to protecting the Qin Dynasty, then the Qin Dynasty would not perish so quickly.
After the Battle of Julu, the Qin army shifted from strategic offensive to strategic defense, and Zhang Handan's main army took the opportunity to withdraw into Guanguan to defend. It was fully capable of preserving the foundation of Great Qin, and even if Liu Bang sneaked in from Wuguan, the Qin army would be able to repel it.
However, due to Qin II's distrust and Zhao Gao's dictatorial persecution, Zhang Handan deviated from Germany, and after being defeated by Xiang Yu several times, he chose to surrender, completely cutting off the hopes of the Qin Dynasty.
The Qin army on the front line from Nanyang to Lantian surrendered to Liu Bang one after another, for reasons similar to Zhang Handan. After Qin II succeeded to the throne, he began to condone Zhao Gao's persecution of the ministers of the central government and various counties, so that the ministers walked on thin ice every day and were precarious, and the county guards in various places had already dared to be angry and dare not speak.
Coinciding with the appearance of Liu Bang, a person with political acumen who can speak and talk about benevolence and righteousness, for all the generals of the Qin Army, this is completely everyone's savior.